Abstract
In Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, various ancient Near Eastern cultures deposited copper alloy artisan tool blades in the elite and also less wealthy burials, from Nubia to Caucasus. In Egypt, this deposition begins in burials of Naqada culture and continued into the Early Dynastic period.
Full-size tools were later changed into models, and Egypt was again not alone, with model tools occurring e.g. in Mesopotamia and Aegean. Metal tools and their models occurred in Egypt mostly in burial equipment and from the Middle Kingdom on also in foundation deposits, approach to their use and production changed almost in each period and dynasty.
Egypt was not the only culture depositing tools and model tools. Yet what is specific to Egypt is the wealth of other sources, written, iconographic and palaeographic.
The tool definitions in the paper will be based on semiotic triangle of meaning, as presented in the monograph "Old Kingdom Copper Tools and Model Tools", published this year at Archaeopress. On the basis of available sources, we can attempt correct reading and interpretation of the tool and model tool assemblages in ancient Egyptian contexts.