Fragment of the Palermo Stone (stone)

Fragment of the 'Palermo stone' or similar late Old Kingdom annals stone, in basalt (registered as of jet black quartzose rock), inscribed on one side, preserving part of lower area of the register with records from the reign of Khasekhemwy, and top of register with year-sign and parts of two other hieroglyphs from the records from the reign of Sneferu. Petrie records the purchase of the fragment from an antiquities trader in a letter of 5th March, 1909 to his wife Hilda Petrie (original in Griffith Institute among 'Petrie Journals', copy in Petrie Museum archive). In the journal 'Ancient Egypt' 196, volume3, p. 115 Petrie describes how he purchased this piece froma 'petty dealer' while at Memphis and that it was reportedly found in Upper Egypt, although no more detailed provenance was available