This figure of a winged cobra with human head was
placed over the neck of the king's mummy, in the
fifth group of amulets. It is made of sheet gold,
embossed and chased. At the back is an eyelet so
that it could be suspended from a linen-thread
necklace.
A number of Egyptian goddesses, such as
Wadjet,
Meretseger, Werethekau, and
Renenutet, were
sometimes represented as winged serpents, but only
Meretseger seems to be shown with a human head. She
was the tutelary deity of the Theban necropolis,
where Tutankhamun's tomb lay. Her presence among the
other head and neck amulets in the group would,
however, be hard to understand. Furthermore, she was
a late creation, whereas the other deities, whose
figures were used as amulets on the king's mummy,
had belonged to the Egyptian pantheon since ancient
times.
Carter, in his slip catalogue of the objects
found in the tomb, was unable to suggest any
identification and merely wrote "significance
unknown."
Although the precise identification of the figure
remains problematical, some evidence of its
associations seems to be offered by the other
amulets in its group. These amulets consist of five
vultures, an erect cobra, or uraeus, and a pair of
similar cobras joined together. The Middle Kingdom
coffins generally depict, on the wall opposite the
head of the deceased occupant, five vultures and
five cobras, the latter usually represented erect,
but one or more may be represented in repose. The
correspondence in the number of vultures suggests
that there should also have been five cobras on the
neck of the mummy. The human-headed winged cobra
could be the fourth cobra, and the cobra in repose
might be the fifth, assuming that it was misplaced
by the embalmers. The texts on the coffins say that
these vultures and cobras are to be put on the head
of the dead person, but they do not mention their
purpose. Perhaps they were intended to be protectors
of the five royal names.