Identification
ID in this catalogue SS Qantara
Type Sloping 
Current Location Unknown 
Catalogue Numbers Unknown
Provenance Qantara, specifically Tel Abu-Seikf, excavated in the 1913/14 season by Clédat 
Date Around 320 BC (Borchardt 1920
Dimensions L 110 mm, H 53 mm, W 29 mm (Clédat 1915)
Material Not specified in Clédat (1915), but presumably some kind of stone 
Markings and inscriptions

Has seven parallel scales running from top to bottom of sloping part, with dots marking hours. The surface at the summit of the slope has month names. Paophi and Pharmouthi have the shortest and longest scales respectively, with each of the other ten months sharing a scale with another month.

Below the rectangular recess on the right side of the gnomon block is a vertical line for the plumb bob reference.

Notes

The rectangular recesses on the gnomon block (right side and top) are the only portions which are not polished and show signs of chisel marks (Clédat 1915

It is just possible that this sundial, which has not been viewed for about one hundred years, is the same object as SS EMC JE 41789. The small sketch in the Journal d'Entrée for that sundial is consistent with SS Qantara. Both are said to come from the eastern delta. A note gives a "length" of 6 cm for JE 41789, but if this is instead the height, it could be the same object. 6 cm long is very small for this type of sundial (although it could be a votive offering). Photographs would settle the question, as the markings of SS Qantara are distinctive. 

At the time that Clédat published this object, he did not identify it as a sundial. This piece, however, remains the most complete example discovered to date, comprising a gnomon block with plumb bob reference line, month labels, month lines, and hour dots.

Literature

Clédat (1915)
Kuentz (1916)
Borchardt (1920) p. 44 ff.
Scott (1935)

Clagett (1995)

Symons (1998)

Symons (1999)

Images

The following drawings are after Clédat (1915):

SS_Qantara_Cledat_side-1.jpg

 

SS_Qantara_Cledat_top-2.jpg

 

SS_Qantara_Cledat_scale-3.jpg