<P> In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from the Latin furca ("pitchfork")) is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to hold them to cut with a knife or to lift them to the mouth . </P> <P> Bone forks have been found in archaeological sites of the Bronze Age Qijia culture (2400--1900 BC), the Shang dynasty (c. 1600--c. 1050 BC), as well as later Chinese dynasties . A stone carving from an Eastern Han tomb (in Ta - kua - liang, Suide County, Shaanxi) depicts three hanging two - pronged forks in a dining scene . Conversely, similar forks has also been depicted on top of a stove in a scene at another Eastern Han tomb (in Suide County, Shaanxi). In Ancient Egypt, large forks were used as cooking utensils . </P>

One of the pointed divisions of a fork