Description

Small fish amulet with inlaid eye. Species identification is difficult, but the large black eye and cross-hatch pattern of scales and the bifurcated lobes of the tail suggest the Tilapia or bulti fish. Tilapia were associated with the sun, daylight and resurrection which connects with the  red-orange colour of the carnelian gemstone. The amulet may have symbolized fecundity, as well as with new life, because the fish shelters its eggs and hatches its young in its mouth. A slight break on the top of the fish may indicate the location of a missing dorsal fin. The eye made of glass is preserved on one side, but broken off on the other. There is a fleck of gold in resin around the surviving eye. The lower body of the fish is relatively flat and the front of the upper body slopes upward peaking just past the eye. Then the body slopes down ending in a bifurcated tail.  There is incised cross-hatching on both sides of the back of the  body. A small hole pierced through the upper back area allows for the suspension of the amulet. (Rexine Hummel & S.B. Shubert)