von erdkugeln, saattaschen und alten behältern
[the botanical treasures of tutankhamun]

seedballs are basically an invention of the ancient egypts. they manufactured them to repair their fields after the annual flooding of the nile. i researched what they were growing in ancient egypt and discovered the intriguiging article 'the botanical treasures of tutankhamun' by charlene herselman. she writes about the seeds that were found in the tomb of tutankhamun. i was suprised that many of them are still well known and like flax have such a long botanical history. we are connected to these plants since a long time.

flax (linum)  | flachs

ammelcorn (triticum dicoccum)  | emmer

safflower (carthamus tinctorius l.)   | färberdistel

black cumin (nigella saliva l.)  |  schwarzkümmel
coriander (coriandrum sativum l.)  | koriander
fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum)  |  bockshornklee
a kind of cornflower (centaurea)  | kornblume
poppy (papaver rhoeas) | klatschmohn

inspired by all those finds and writings, i made pouches and boxes of handmade paper and beeswax as well as seedballs (as means of a small atmospherical installation). the seedballs in the boxes contain the plants that are for such a long time botanical companions of us humans.

beekeeping was highly developed in ancient egypt. back then the hives were made of clay tubes. the bee itself was of high symbolical value for the ancient egyptians. it was the heraldic animal of upper egypt before the two parts (upper and lower egypt) joined together. the bee remained heraldic animal together with the rush (symbol for lower egypt). honey was even used as payment back then.