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Figure 2 - from "Making an ancient Egyptian contraceptive: learning from experiment and experience"

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arrow_backarrow_forward31.2 Discussion points from the ostraca activity as written up on the whiteboard. (Photograph by the author.)

31.2 Discussion points from the ostraca activity as written up on the whiteboard. (Photograph by the author.)

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the fine ostracon showing a monkey scratching a girl’s nose housed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (UG 15946), as ulustrated on the front cover of Page’s book on the Petrie ostraca (1983). Even more fundamental was the in-depth discussion that took place immediately after each experiment, as evidenced by the conclusions drawn from the ostraca activity which I wrote up on the whiteboard as an aide-memoire (Figure 31.2).
31.2 Discussion points from the ostraca activity as written up on the whiteboard. (Photograph by the author.)
During the ensuing discussion considerable doubts were not surprisingly expressed as to the optimistic ‘up to three years’ shelf-life of the product (Figure 31.4). The students were all of the opinion that the only possible expla- nation could be that putting this concoction anywhere near the vagina would, to quote Szpakowska (2007: 213) in reference to the use of crocodile dung in the contraceptive prescription Kahun at, ‘quickly quench any amorous advances’.
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31.4 The author discussing the experiment with two City Lit students. (Photograph by David Taylor.)
Rosalind Janssen
Rosalind Janssen
Making an ancient Egyptian contraceptive: learning from experiment and experience
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