One of the topics of dispute concerning the animal world of ancient egypt is the presence (indigenous or introduced) of deer. though depicted on several occasions in (pre)dynastic iconography, osseous remains of deer from archaeological contexts have been rare. excavations at Qantir/piramesse in the eastern delta produced a comparatively large sample totalling 35 deer bones. Most finds date to the late eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties. Both cranial and post-cranial skeletal elements are present, implying the presence of living deer near Qantir. Based on the size of these bone specimens the taxonomic status of the animals recorded from the eastern delta during the second millennium bc has been verified. the results summarised here permit a reconsideration of the issue of the presence of deer in ancient egypt.* edgar pusch (hildesheim) kindly allowed me to study the animal remains from Qantir. angela von den driesch (Munich), who worked at Qantir in 1985 and 1994, generously provided me with important data. Sincere thanks are also due to cornelia Becker (Berlin) for putting the osteometric data from Kastanas at my disposal. Michael Schulz (Munich) made the redrawings of deer depictions shown in figures 1 to 4. Joris peters (Munich) made valuable suggestions on this paper and on my archaeofaunal research in the egyptian delta. this study is supported by the Japan Society for the promotion of Science (grant no. 07444).
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