Falcon Relic Box at The British Museum, London

Egyptian relic boxes were popular antiquities used in ancient Egyptian times to store the embalmed bodies of important deceased animals and humans. This simple sculpture depict a raven, and would have been used as the lid of a box containing the animal it depicts. Relic boxes would occasionally feature a 3D representation above the box to identify the mummified animal inside. The ancient Egyptians viewed ravens as symbols of destruction and malevolance.  This particular relic box's place of origin is unknown but it comes from the Ptolemaic period of Egypt, circa 300 BC This object is part of Scan The World. Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email [e-mail] to find out how you can help.