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BROOKLYN MUSEUM, GIFT OF THE WILBOUR FAMILY

AN ANCIENT SCRIBE’S TOOLKIT included a wooden palette with two inkwells and a few reed pens (kalamos). Reed straw was chewed to form a brushlike edge, and ink was obtained by mixing dry inks with water. This palette from Elephantine dates from the late sixth to mid-fourth century and is inscribed in Aramaic as belonging to a scribe named Haya.