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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The Howard Carter Archives
Photographs by Harry Burton
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Carter No.: 256uu

Handlist description: Swallow in carnelian, on gold bracelet

Card/Transcription No.: 256uu-2


256 UU. 2

actually round the arm, but in all probability, like 256, WWW. merely placed there within the wrappings.

This <>-bird, of the Book of Dead, is of the family of Cypselidae (swifts) and often confused in religious texts with the <> WR-bird of the genera Hirundinidae (swallows and martins); but it could never be of the Columbidae (doves and pigeons) as I have seen mention. It is either: Cypselus pallidus, (Shelley), Egyptian swift, (or ?Cypselus parvus, (Licht), little grey swift, of the South). While the WR-bird is one of the Hirundinidae - ?Cotyle Obsoleta, (Cab), pale crag-swallow.

The peculiar feature of the Egyptian swift (Cypselus pallidus) is that it makes its abode in large colonies in the cliffs far back in the hills that border the desert; from whence it leaves for the Nile Valley at early morn and returns late in the evening. For the reason

Card no. 256uu-2 relating to Carter no. 256uu
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Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
Concept & Direction: Jaromir Malek
Web Page & Database Designs: Jonathan Moffett
Scanning & transcript: Sue Hutchison, Elizabeth Miles, Diana Magee, Kent Rawlinson