ABSTRACT
A Festschrift to honour Olga Tufnell must include at least one essay on scarabs if only to memorialize her contributions, over many years, to the interpretation and dating of these fascinating little objects. The present writer, in attempting such a task, must make it clear at the outset that he labours under several disadvantages: he is not an Egyptologist; because of the circumstances he cannot turn to the one person (Miss Tufnell herself) who could provide the specific kinds of assistance he needs; he does not have a small but significant group of scarabs with established provenience. Nevertheless, he has had the good fortune to be associated with Egyptologists, one of whom – Dr Nicholas Millett – is head of that department at the Royal Ontario Museum, and has given friendly and expert help whenever asked; where inaccuracies or infelicities in interpretation occur in what follows the reader must assume that Dr Millett was not implicated. Further, the writer was fortunate to be in Jerusalem in the early 1950s (associated with the American School of Oriental Research – now the Albright Institute) and was able to put together a rather interesting collection of seals, mostly by purchase (including a few from the well-known dealer, Mr Ohan), which were later granted an export licence by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. It is with this background of expert assistance supported by study of many works on scarabs and scaraboids noted in the Bibliography, and with a selection from his collection, that the writer presents his tribute to the scholarship and publications of Olga Tufnell and acknowledges, with pleasure and affection, her friendship over many years.
