Paddle+Doll

Paddle Doll

Found in the graves of both men and women, paddle dolls date from Predynastic times.

Paddle dolls were once thought to be children’s playthings: their abstract wooden shape simplifies a woman’s body like a toy doll, complete with a face and hair made of straw or flax, strung with beads made of clay or faience. The front was often painted to represent jewelry and a dress with colorful geometric patterns of lines and dots. On the back, however, is the image of the goddess Taweret, who protected pregnant women, or rudimentary drawings of couples engaged in sexual intercourse. These images, together with the explicit marking of the pubic triangle on the front, now leads scholars to think that these paddle figures magically encouraged fertility in the tomb, thus allowing rebirth into the afterlife.

"Paddle dolls" earned their nickname because of their resemblance to modern Ping-Pong paddles. The body shape of paddle dolls has been compared to the counterpoise of the menat. It is possible that paddle dolls were used in the same way as the menat, as a musical instrument. It has been suggested that both are stylized versions of the goddess Hathor's body.

Magical Objects