Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 8, 2012



Abuwtiyuw is one of the earliest domestic animals whose name is known. A lightly built Egyptian hunting dog similar to a greyhound, with erect ears and a curly tail, he is believed to have been a royal guard dog of the Sixth Dynasty (2345–2181 BC). He received an elaborate ceremonial burial in the Giza Necropolis at the behest of a pharaoh whose name is not known. An inscribed stone listing the gifts donated by the pharaoh for Abuwtiyuw's funeral was discovered by Egyptologist George A. Reisner in October 1935. It was apparently part of the spoil material incorporated into the structure of a Sixth-Dynasty mastaba (pharaonic-era tomb) in Cemetery G 2100 in Giza West Field, close to the western side of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The inscription on the white limestone tablet, which measures 54.2 *, is composed of ten vertical rows of hieroglyphs, separated by vertical lines. The stone was probably originally installed in the demolished funerary chapel of Abuwtiyuw's owner. (Full article...)

Recently featured: Banksia ilicifolia – Carlson's patrol – Thomas Percy