An Incised Hieratic Ostracon (Ashmolean HO 655) 1

Hieratic Ostracon 655 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, bears an unusual legal text in which a dispute about a hut is apparently settled by arbitration. The method of writing is unique for this period; the hieratic text is deeply incised and filled with blue frit. It is suggested that the ostracon was erected as a stela in the hut by its new owner, as evidence of his rights. The unusual format may have been intended to give the appearance of an archival document on an ostracon or papyrus.