Scale from Armor

Although bronze and iron scales have been found in Egypt, body armor—a foreign import—was probably not commonly worn there. Two sets of armor appear in a presentation scene in the tomb of Kenamun at Thebes, and a cuirass of leather scales was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. The ten scales (11.215.452a-j) were excavated from the palace of Amenhotep III, but their position, embedded in an enclosure wall, does not allow us to speculate as to who might have worn them. The scales would have been sewn to a linen or leather backing. Although they vary, they still might have constituted the same armor.

Credit: Rogers Fund, 1911