Card/Transcription No.: 266b-08

4

The lid was firmly secured to the box by the following means: Two gold staples (of copper or bronze coated with sheet gold)
inserted and plugged into the N. & S. sides of the frieze of the
lid, and corresponding staples inserted and plugged into the
upper part of the N. & S. sides of the box. To these staples a
stout cord was tightly bound and sealed with clay which, while
plastic, was thrice impressed with a seal - the device of the
seal being the usual recumbent figure of Anubis over nine
prisoners disposed in three rows of three. "These prisoners
represent the nine races of mankind - the Nine Bows, as the
Egyptians called them; so that the magic significance of the seal
is that Anubis will protect the deceased against every possible
human intruder."1

1 (Gardiner, The tomb of Amenemhet, p.110)