THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 34 Deciphering the Was scepter: if the Was can hold a bow and appear twisted it's because the Was is a Drill bit and the bow a bow Drill

In summary: in previous chapter we've seen that god Seth has been created by ancient Egyptians to glorify the very important piece of equipment that is the bollard in general and the twin-horn bollard of the Great Pyramid's impactor in particular; but if most of the bollard is visible, one part isn't and that is the part anchored into the ground or inside a wooden structure like the impactor; in both cases a tool has to be used for the bolts of the bollard, and that tool is a drill.

In this chapter, we'll see that if the Was is most of the time represented with a head representing Seth, it only is because the mandatory tool needed to install Seth, precisely is the Was scepter. In other words, the Was scepter is all about the glorification of a drill bit. That explains why some Was are represented holding a bow: you can use a regular drill, but you can also use a bow-drill.

[illustration of what Seth is actually all about: the glorification of the bollard] Head bollard with its mandatory anchorbolts: https://www.reliance-foundry.com/shop/bollard/r-7512-t-head-mooring-bollard

Relief showing Was scepters in the Temple of Sobek at Kom Ombo. [image slightly edited] Original photograph by Kemet Expert: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1956463601286562&set=pb.100064424212481.-2207520000

34.01  The academic interpretation of the Was 'scepter': why would a 'pillar' ever been represented holding a pole?

Egyptologists are claiming that the Was scepter represented power and dominion in ancient Egypt, but they never explain why or what it really is, and why such a thing could hold a bow in its little arms; they also keep describing the Was as a scepter, even if it clearly wasn’t as it is so said by many people.

In this chapter of The Pyramids of the Cold, we’ll see what the Was really was for ancient Egyptians.

“The was-scepter is one of the highly recognizable symbols , or emblems, found in two dimensional representations and in three dimensional objects of ancient Egypt. It is a well known object to most ancient Egyptian enthusiasts, though actually this name for it is a bit deceptive. Technically, it is certainly not always in the form of a scepter, but can also take the form of a stave, or staff, and can also be displayed as a type of border, and in other manners. In fact, Geoffrey Graham, in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, refers to it as a w3s-staff (w3s being a type of notation used by Egyptologists to denote the spelling of an Egyptian term where there is actually no modern English equivalent for some of the letters of the word), and tells us that it is "often erroneously called a 'scepter'. However, that seems a bit misleading, because it could indeed be displayed in the same manner as others scepters, though it took other forms as well.” By Jimmy Dunn: https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/was-scepter.htm

“Was sceptres were used as symbols of power or dominion, and were associated with ancient Egyptian deities such as Set or Anubis as well as with the pharaoh. Was sceptres also represent the Set animal or Khnum. In later use, it was a symbol of control over the force of chaos that Set represented.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Was-sceptre

"Study of a man using an auger, from The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin", by Albrecht Dürer, c. 1496.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_auger#/media/File:ADurerAugerBayonne.jpg and [Was scepter] at the Metropolitan museum in New-York. Photograph by Joan Lansberry: http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/nk-was.html

34.02  The real meaning of the Was scepter is the glorification of a drilling tool with a twisted end, whether it is a simple drill bit, a manual auger or a more sophisticated bow drill: Egyptians simply didn't represent the part of the tool already forced into the material drilled

What we have here with the Was ‘scepter’ is typical of the ancient Egyptian way of depicting very concrete things in action, and our own incapacity of understanding them: we all collectively think that the representations of the Was are depicting the whole artifact; and that so the Was ends up with something that looks just like a fork. But this is an illusion. The reality is that the whole lower part of the Was is twisted and deeply embedded in the ground, a piece of wood or a block of stone.

In other words, the fork-like lower end of the Was is only the very beginning of its twisted part, that simply disappears into the material it is in contact with; and it’s only because the Was really is some kind of drill: a drill bit, an auger or a bow drill.

[illustration] “Traces from various photos. The djam scepter [a Djam is a 'twisted' Was] is from the funeral procession of Nespekishuti at the Oriental Museum in Chicago”: http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/nk-was.html

The surprisingly extremely easy process to make a traditional wood auger. Look at the tilted temporary handle! Video by WorkShopEnglish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRttdyxskiQ

34.03  There is the 'twisted' or 'spiral' shaft ot the Was, but there is also the weird looking head of both Seth and the Was: and that is the temporary handle used in the making process of a drill bit or an auger

During the making process of the drill bit, a temporary handle is used; but because this handle must be quick to fit and remove, it also has a lot of play once installed and naturally assumes a strongly inclined position. That is the reason of the so weird shape of the head of the Was.

Of course, the weird 'spiral shaft' that some Was scepters are showing has nothing to do with the representation of the lightning.

[illustration of a Djam scepter, that is a Was scepter with a twisted shaft] "The spiral shaft of the djam-sceptre might be an imitation of lightning." Gods of Confusion, by TeVelde, page 90: http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/earlywas.html

Photograph showing the big 'eye' of the temporary 'tilted' handle in the making process of a drill bit.

34.04  The beautiful Eyes of the Was scepter's head is about the central hole of the temporary handle that is used during the drill bit making process to insert the drill in: it just looks like an eye

Here, we have another illustration of how ancient Egyptians loved to represent everything that looked like an eye (like the 'eye' at the end of a rope, or the 'eyes' which assembled are forming chains) with a real eye. Most of the time, it is the Eye of Horus that has been used (or the Eye of Ra, both being about the two ring-shape connecting parts of the hauling plug being physically inserted onto the two protruding bollards of the impactor); but here, Egyptians rather used the Seth animal’s head instead because the very thin temporary handle used for the making of the drill bit pretty much looks like the very thin snout of an anteater.

34.05  Look at where is really located the Eye on the Was 

Indeed, the intent of the craftsman and artist was clearly to represent the Eye right in the center of the handle of the Was, but also right in the continuation of the staff. In short, the Eye is right where the three parts of the Was meet, just like it is in the real thing, on the handle of drill bit being made.

Drill bits of various sizes, by Glenn McKechnie: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LongSeriesDrill-11_32.jpg

Wooden Was scepter from a late Middle Kingdom burial, at the Metropolitan museum in New-York "subsequently identified as coming from Pit 211 of the 'priests' cemetary' at Deir el Bahri, belonging to a certain Snwsrt-'nh, no earlier than the end of the Twelfth Dynasty". from  “Notes on Sticks and Staves in Ancient Egypt”, by Henry G. Fischer, Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1979; color photo ©JAL 2008: http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/earlywas.html

The same wooden Was: https://boudewijnhuijgens.getarchive.net/amp/media/model-fire-stick-753af4

34.06  The stange arrow shape-like artifacts but without the pointy arrow head that are accompanying some wooden Was 'scepters' only are the exact reproductions of flat drill bits designed to cut through wood (this is why they're made of wood)

If you already have read the chapter about Bes (the pressure sensitive fuse that anchored the Taweret block at the bottom of the inclined during the entire time of operation of the Great Pyramid), you already know that ancient Egyptians used to represent both the actual piece of equipment they’ve used with its glorifying representation, both on the same representation at the same time; they loved to couple reality with its religious reinterpretation; and here on the above image we have the same thing:

• we have the Was itself (or Djam staff as it looks twisted) that only is the glorification of the drill bit

• and we also have the real deal: the drill bit itself which looks exactly like a real arrow, but without the pointy head of the arrow

Flat Wood Drill Bit set from ebay: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363435041871

34.07  The covered head metaphor: today, the heads of the drill bits are often Titanium coated, but ancient Egyptians didn't have Titanium so they covered the heads of their drill bits with electrum

Here, the whole point of the scene isn't about the head of the character holding the Was, but about the head of the Was itself. But we have to be very precautious, because of course if the guy holding a piece of furniture over his head in one hand, and a Was ‘scepter’ in the other hand, is only because he is demonstrating that the head of the drill bit that really is the Was is ‘covered’, or ‘coated’ with something, the fact that it is a ‘twisted’ Was, called a ‘Djam scepter’ could be interpreted in many ways. My assumption is that the meaning of the scene is entirely about the head of the drill bit: the twisted part of the tool and the part of the tool that is today covered with Titanium. But there is a problem: Djam seems to be the ancient Egyptian word for ‘electrum’; and the problem is that electrum is a very soft metal.

Djam scepter with a spiral-shaped twisted shaft, from the funeral procession of Nespekishuti, at the Oriental Museum in Chicago: http://www.joanannlansberry.com/fotoart/oim/oim18236.html

 So there is two possibilities I can see:

• either Egyptians really coated the heads of their drill bits with some unknown material, that only got glorified into electrum for unknown reason

• either Egyptians really used electrum on the heads of their drill bits, but then it probably wouldn’t be because they wanted to harden the drill bits; so could they have used electrum coated drill bits for polishing holes they would have previously made by using simple drill bits made of bronze?

“It should probably be distinguished from a d'm-staff (or djam-staff), which is identical to the was-staff with the exception of an undulated shaft. Some sources have referred to these two different objects as being identical, but in fact the djam staff's hieroglyphic meaning is "electrum", a precious natural alloy of gold and silver, and it is more closely associated with Geb, god of the earth.” By Jimmy Dun: https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/was-scepter.htm

[illustration] Creston HSS Titanium coated Drill Bit from the Build Mate shop

Finely carved reliefs from the tomb of Kheruef (TT192, the largest private tomb to be located on the West Bank at Luxor. Photograph by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/50653299303/in/photostream/

34.08  The Was Drill bit in action (with a filter basket?)

The above photograph is showing the extremely finely carved reliefs from the tomb of Kheruef, and what is very interesting here is the hieroglyph showing the Was scepter. It is interesting because even if its exact meaning is still to be understood, now that we know that the Was is a drill bit, the associated basket is starting to make sense, or at least the beginning of some sense, because it really looks like some kind of pierced basket, with some kind of drops dripping from it.

We’ve seen with the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve that Egyptians used the basket as a metaphor of the filter basket that was coupled with the valve; so is this what it is all about here? I’ve no idea, but again, the understanding of the Was scepter is giving us the start of the answer.

Making a wooden comb by using a drilling tool to create holes to avoid cracks to form between the teeth. Make Your Own Wood Comb! By gearboxdesigns: https://www.instructables.com/Make-your-own-wood-comb/

34.09  The link between the Was scepter and a comb is about how you make the comb by using a drilling tool

Apparently, when you make a wooden comb by hand, even if the tool you’re gonna use the most is a saw, you first have to use a drilling tool to drill the holes that are gonna be the ends of each individual tooth. I only imagine that these holes are mandatory to avoid any crack to form once you’re gonna use the saw. So, in some ways that is this drilling tool, whether it is an auger with a handle or a drill bit fixed on a bow drill that is the most important tool in the fabrication of a wooden comb. And of course, if the holes are mandatory when using wood material to make the comb, these holes become even more important when using a very fragile and brittle material like ivory.

This is why the above ivory comb is so proudly showing two magnificent Was scepters.

Ivory Comb with the name of King Djet. Early Dynastic Period, 1st Dynasty, around 2980 B.C.E. Tomb of king Djet, Abydos. Now in the Egyptian Museum: https://egypt-museum.egypt-museum.com/post/753204547220094977/ivory-comb-of-king-djet

34.10  The Was scepter is one of the ancient Egyptian deities or symbols known since the very First Dynasty

The Was is the perfect illustration of the complexity that is the deciphering of the ancient Egyptian ‘religion’: if there isn’t any religious text that predates the construction of the Great Pyramid that has been built near the end of the Fourth Dynasty  (the oldest texts are the so-called Pyramid Texts, dating from the Fifth Dynasty), the Was scepter is one of these examples of deities or symbols that were known a long time before the Great Pyramid was built. The earliest representations known of the Was date from the very First Dynasty, about 500 years before the Great Pyramid.

“Was sceptres were depicted as being carried by gods, pharaohs, and priests. They commonly occur in paintings, drawings, and carvings of gods, and often parallel with emblems such as the ankh and the djed-pillar. Remnants of physical was sceptres have been found. They are constructed of faience or wood, where the head and forked tail of the Set animal are visible. The earliest examples date to the First Dynasty.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Was-sceptre

34.11  The groove of the twisted drill bit and the link with Geb: the Egyptian pulley's cradle is indeed a groove

In the above excerpt, it is said that the twisted Was scepter, called a Djam staff, which was the glorification of the twisted part or many drill bits was actually mostly associated with Geb; but we’ve already seen that Geb is nothing but the glorification of the cradle of an Egyptian pulley; and of course that cradle has been hollowed out to create a groove inside which the pulley would be able to rotate inside. So here, Egyptians simply wanted to glorify even more the cradle of the pulley by associating it with what could have been seen as the Great Master of the groove, and that is Geb.

[illustration] from https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005004587225528.html

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the twin-horn bollard that was set on the composite weighted impactor and that was glorified long before its use in the Great Pyramid into god Seth. The head of the Seth-animal has been then used to represent the idea of a handle, because pretty much every single type of bollard can serve as a model for a handle.

The central wooden Djed caisson was made of individual wooden cases, all sewn together like it was a sewn boat.

34.12  If dozens and dozens of holes are needed in the manufacturing process of a harp, thousands of holes had to be drilled to sew all the individual wooden cases that formed the central wooden Djed caisson of the Great Pyramid

What’s getting very interesting now is that many representations made by ancient Egyptians can be deciphered; just like in this so beautiful painting of the Djed pillar holding two huge Was scepters, in the tomb of Nefertari. We’ve already seen that the Djed pillar is the glorification of the very important and complex piece of equipment that was set inside the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, and in which was produced both compressed air and pressurized water needed for the flash-evaporative cooling passage (it is possible though, that many other wooden structures of the kind have been used by Egyptians long before the Great Pyramid; again, it’s just that the Great Pyramid probably gained all the attention because of its extraordinary purpose). Anyway, the Djed pillar is the association of two different pieces of equipment that were in constant interaction: the central wooden Djed caisson and the wooden gantry of the hauling Beetle, operated by its six crewmembers.

We’ve seen that the central wooden Djed caisson is the trunk of the Djed pillar, and the hauling Gantry with its six individual compartments is the four transversal and horizontal parts. And finally, we’ve also seen that the central wooden Djed caisson was made of a series of individual wooden cases, all sewn together, in the exact same manner used by Egyptians to build sewn boats. It means that in order to build the caisson, it is thousands and thousands of tiny little holes that would have to be drilled; and that is the meaning of the Djed pillar holding Was scepters in his hands. But every one knows that when drill holes in wood, a problem comes pretty quickly, and that is the overheating problem: if you don’t pay attention and if you don’t find a way to cool down the drill, you may end up with burnt wood. And this is the reason for the presence of the Ankh in the picture.

Tomb of Nefertari, QV66, Valley of the Queens. “Detail of the inner east wall, the djed pillar who holds a was-sceptre in each hand and has an ankh hanging from each wrist.” Photograph by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/33911391395

Seth represented with the Was ‘scepter’ merged with the Ankh symbol, in Tomb KV34 (Thutmose III), Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt. Photograph taken by Hajor, December 2002: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Egypt.KV34.06.jpg

34.13  The Ankh symbols associated with the Was scetper are about the unavoidable overheating problem when drilling holes: the umpteenth proof that the Ankh is about the cold

I refer you to the chapter explaining what really happened with the heretic King Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, where the deciphering of the Ankh symbol has already been treated; in short in many reliefs we see that Ankhs are ‘exchanged’ between these two and the Aten sun, but I demonstrate that the Aten isn’t about light but about heat (like the scene representing Akhenaten as a lion, basking in the sun).

And that is what the Ankh is all about: it is cold offered to heat; whether it is the heat of the Aten sun, or the heat generated by the process of drilling holes through hard materials, because what is certain is that Egyptians used for the central wooden Djed caisson, and the hauling Beetle as well, the hardest and the most resistant wood they could find. This is why we have the above representations of the Was scepter with the Ankh, and why one of these Ankhs is holding a fan.

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu for flash-evaporative cold production.

Whether Egyptians wanted to build harps, sewn boats or the central wooden Djed caisson of the Great Pyramid itself, they would have needed to drill thousands of tiny holes, and of course they used drill bits or augers in every case. “Carpenter Murat Tosun, one of Osman Erkurt trusted assistants, tighten the ligatures of a "sewn" planking of a conjectural reconstruction of Cycladic boats, in Osman Erkurt's workshop”. Photograph by Piero Castellano: https://www.lightrocket.com/galleries/30976/experimental-archaeologist-rebuilds-ancient-ships

Ancient Egyptian carpenters using a bow drill. Painted relief in the tomb of Rekhmire TT100, Dynasty 18. Nina M. Davis: https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Carpenters_at_Work,_Tomb_of_Rekhmire_MET_35.101.1_detail.jpg

34.14  If some Was scepters can be represented holding a bow it is because the bow is a bow drill: a drill bit operated not by a simple handle like on an auger, but with a tool resembling to a real bow

The little Was holding  a bow is such a cute representation; it really tells a lot about the spirit in with which ancient Egyptians invested themselves in the process of glorifying every single tool, in the broadest sense of the word, they’ve come to use in their scientific and technological endeavor: everything they’ve done was not only efficient, it was also beautiful artistically and full of deep meaning.

The bow drill really is a beautiful and wonderful metaphor, perfectly illustrating both the state of mind used by ancient Egyptians, but also the state of mind one has to be in to understand the complexity and sophistication of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Was scepters facing each other in the Hatshepsut's birth scene, with a tying knot between the two of them. [Hatshepsut’s birth scene] from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari" (London, 1896). Image courtesy of the University Library Heidelberg: The Ebony shrine, northern half of the middle platform: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/naville1896bd2/0050

34.15  The sewing process only needs two facing holes and a binding rope

What an incredible and highly significant document this depiction of Hatshepsut's birth scene represents; this truly is outstanding. For a very long time, I could only understand the right side of the image with the immobilization of the Taweret sealing block of the inclined well by the Bes and Beset anchor block, but the left side of the image still remained a mystery.

However, during the last days of July 2025, I was finally able to decipher the Was scepter, the glorification that ancient Egyptians made of a drilling tool, and everything simply became crystal clear: if the Bes and Beset scene depicts what happened at the very end of the inclined well, then what comes before must be about the central wooden Djed caisson, right above the initial position of the Taweret block. Since we know that the caisson was made of individual wooden cases sewn together, the presence of two drilling tools facing each other can only mean one thing: what we have here is the representation by the Egyptians of the drilled holes that would have allowed them to sew and bind the cases together. This explains why the Was scepters are facing each other and why there is a binding knot right in between them.

Stèle de Djedkhonsouioufânkh, at the Louvre: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010014483

34.16  The Was has nothing to do with a scepter or a pillar: it only is a tool, a drilling tool; and probably the most perfect illustration of the use of this drilling tool is the harp, which needs dozens and dozens of tiny little holes for the strings

This stele is probably one of the most satisfactorily deciphered works I could have made so far of the ancient Egyptians’ work, thanks to the large number of elements that can be deciphered.

• First of all, one have to understand that the main subject of the scene isn’t Horus, but the two Was ‘scepters’. Everything here is made to highlight what the Was really is all about: a drilling bit.

Egyptians simply used the one piece of craftsmanship that probably needs the more a drilling tool, and that is the harp: each string of the instrument actually needs four or five holes each, that is approximately a total of about one hundred holes per instrument; and each and every one of these holes needed the most accurate drilling tool available at the time: the drill bit.

This is why the two Was on the painting are so big and are forming some kind of a frame. But this is also why the two Was are directly linked together by their top parts, and also why right under the connecting part are two magnificent Eyes. By now, you probably already have understood what really is this magnificent connecting part: the string itself.

Look again at the scene, and try to imagine the two Was not as the drilling tool they really are about, but as the two holes made by the drilling tools: do you see the string now? Do you understand why there are two Eyes as well right underneath the string? Just like we've already seen with the way ancient Egyptians represented the magnifying glass with an Eye of Horus on the glass, there is another example of the use of the Eye of Horus, without any link at all with Horus himself: the strings of a harp are passing through eyes drilled in the wood, so Egyptians simply reused the Eye of Horus. The needed to represent eyes, and everybody knew this one. Many times, the Eye of Horus only is some kind of standardized tool itself.

• Of course, it isn’t by accident that this is Horus who is represented here: the whole point of a harp is to use ‘pressurized air’ right? So Egyptians simply used Horus as a tool as well, because Horus (the composite impactor falling at high speed inside the central wooden Djed caisson of the Gallery) was the one to create pressurized air (remember that pressurized air is the real meaning of what Horus has above the head: that is the ‘air inflated snake metaphor’). 

[illustration] How to make a harp: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Harp

34.17  The extreme diversity in the sizes and shapes of the Was scepters is because of the extreme diversity of the drill bits and augers that have been used, just like it is today

What’s very unusual with the Was scepters is that they come in so many different sizes, some of them having arms and others without the arms, some of them with a straight shaft and some others with twisted shafts. This diversity is phenomenal, and of course it only is because of the extreme diversity of the drilling tools themselves: most probably the Was scepters without the arms are about Drill bits only, and the fact that some Was have straight or twisted shafts is about the exact same shape of the drilling tools as well. And it is the same thing for the sizes of the Was: Egyptians needed extremely small tools to use on very fine work like when they wanted to make a harp for example; but they also needed extra big drills to make very big pieces like the cradles or the pulleys of the Egyptian pulleys. It’s possible that the biggest Was scepters found are directly the glorification of how these Egyptian pulleys have been made.

Very short Was scepter at the Brooklyn Museum: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/fr-FR/objects/118174

Monumental Was Scepter with tiny little arms, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ombos/4018285697/in/set-72157619553952236/

34.18  The reason why some Was scepters have tiny little arms

Some Was scepters have arms, little or big, and some haven’t, but its pretty hard to tell if the tiny little arms we see on some of these Was are about something real (like the very short ‘handles’ of an auger), of if Egyptians simply wanted to say that there really wasn’t any ‘arm’ at all on the drill bits; because once again, they’ve used metaphors in such an intensive level that it’s really hard to say when it starts and when it ends. So, are the Was scepters with tiny little arms about an auger, or also about a basic Drill bit with no ‘arm’ at all is very hard to say.

Wooden Manual Drill Bit with Four Slots Survival Manual for Outdoor Camping: https://www.amazon.fr/Niktule-Bushcraft-Survival-multi-usages-camping/dp/B09WRJ9XGB

The spiral shape of a snake upon a Was scepter. Block from a building of Amenemhat I, from the MET; Dynasty 12 [slightly edited]: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544141

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Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

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