Heart Amulet, 672-30 B.C.E., stone, .905 inches high, Museum Purchase from the Toledo Museum of Art, 1991.7.13.
A heart amulet with a pitted surface, modeled in the round with a deep rim, long lug handle (trimmed artery) on either side, and a blind eyelet at the top. The heart amulet was a personal adornment for magical purposes that was sewn on mummy linen to assure the deceased his or her heart in the afterlife. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the heart, rather than the brain, was the source of human wisdom, as well as emotions, memory, the soul and the personality itself.