Birth tusk

[4] Some of the birth tusks bear short inscriptions and these always relate to the protection of high-status women and children.

They show a series of figures, most of them deities connected with mother and child birth.

The hippopotamus goddess Ipi (an early form of Taweret) is common; other figures appearing on them are double sphinxes, snakes, standing lions, naked women with lion heads, vultures and sun disks with legs.

These are always shown in the hands of nurses, confirming the impression that they were mainly used in birth rituals, protecting mother and child.

The decorated birth tusks seem to all belong to the late Middle Kingdom up to the Second Intermediate Period.