Mystery of 5,000-year-old stone bowl leaves experts baffled

An elaborate stone bowl found in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian official has left experts puzzled for nearly a century about its true use.

The elaborate stone bowl was discovered in the tomb of Sabu, an ancient Egyptian official, at the Saqqara necropolis in 1936. Sabu was buried during the First Dynasty. Photo: Alain Guilleux / Alamy.

When it was found, the stone bowl was broken into many pieces, so experts restored it and put it in the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Photo: Jose Javier Martin Espartosa / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Sabu’s tomb is rectangular with sloping walls and a flat roof. British Egyptologist Walter Emery excavated the ancient tomb. In his publication describing the Saqqara tombs, Emery wrote that the burial chamber had been broken into by robbers who stole jewelry and precious metals. Photo: Gretarsson / Public Domain.

Fortunately, Sabu’s body was still intact inside the wooden coffin, and his tomb contained dozens of stone and ceramic vessels, flint and bronze tools, the skeletons of two cows, and a unique bowl. Photo: Asurnipal / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Egyptologist Emery describes the bowl found in Sabu’s tomb as having three decorative lobes measuring 61 centimeters in diameter and 10 centimeters high. The artifact was carved from sedimentary rock that had undergone some metamorphic processes. Photo: Matrioshka / Adobe Stock.

According to Egyptian archaeologist Ali El-Khouli, flat, wide stone bowls were common during the first to third dynasties of ancient Egypt. However, the bowl found in Sabu's tomb is more distinctive because of the three delicately carved curved wings that protrude from the rim. Viewed from above, the decoration resembles a modern steering wheel, propeller, or hubcap. Photo: Ancient-origins.

The unique design of the stone bowl has sparked many theories about its use, from part of a water turbine to a piece of an alien spacecraft's hyperdrive engine. Photo: milleetunetasses.com.

A more recent theory suggests that the bowl was used as a “mash keg,” a vessel for holding grain and hot water for brewing beer. Photo: earthlymission.com.

However, the most likely explanation is that the elaborate stone bowl was used similarly to other wide, flat bowls in ancient Egyptian culture. It could have held food or oil. Photo: Hermitically.

The delicate nature of the metasilt and the carvings suggest that the bowl was not used on a daily basis and may have been placed in Sabu's tomb as an offering to the afterlife . Photo: historicaleve.com.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Revealing lost civilizations through archaeological remains.

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