Siltstone palettes are one of the characteristic artefacts of the Predynastic civilization which existed in the Nile Valley of southern Egypt between about 4000 and about 3000 BC. They were made from a siltstone extracted at Wadi Hammamat in the Eastern Desert, carved into a palette shape, then smoothed to give a functional surface, and decorated by engraving and sometimes inlaying patterns. They were used to grind and mix pigments applied as cosmetics, or perhaps more accurately, body paints (since it is not clear that the purpose of the pigments was to enhance the wearer's appearance).
As with most cultural artefacts, the nature of these palettes changed over their history. During the Naqada I period, from about 4000 BC to about 3500 BC, most palettes were simple rhomboidal forms, for the most part undecorated, but with some carved Human and/or Animal figures, often in riverine settings. During the Naqada II period, from 3500 BC to about 3250 BC, the majority of palettes had zoomorphic shapes.
In a paper published in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology on 11 May 2023, Jordan Miller of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford examines a zoomorphic palette from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The palette, MMA 10.176.84, was obtained from an antiquities dealer called Mohammed Mohassib in Luxor in 1910, and lacks provenance (i.e it is not known where the item originated), a common problem with many museum acquisitions of this period. It is 11 cm long and 3.9 cm high, with a zoomorphic form which suggests it dates from the Naqada II period, although it is unclear exactly what sort of Animal the original artist had in mind when the figure was carved.
The creature has a roughly rectangular head with an elongated muzzle and four straight protrusions extending from its crown; the palette has a deliberately undulating surface here, with protrusions forming ridges separated from one another by depressions. The ends protrusions on the crown have been chipped off preventing any estimation of their original length. Neither side of the head has an eye-socket, although an indention suggestive of such a socket is present at the front of the snout, an apparently unlikely position. The neck is long and sinuous, while the body is oval with a distinct shoulder ridge. The top and rump of the Animal are covered by a long line of tiny incisions, and a circular hole is present near the midpoint of the back. The underside is gently curving, with two small protrusions, which might represent limbs, snapped off close to the body. Both sides of the palette have extensive brown discolouration, and cracks across the midsection, as well as some fine striations which were probably made as the stone was carved and smoothed. No sign of any staining from a pigment can be observed.
The commonest form of Animal palettes are Fish, generally Tilapia, with other Animals from the floodplains, savanna, and desert also found, but rarer. The most common of these are Birds, with Elephants, a variety of Ruminants, Hippopotami, and Turtles also being known. The different Animals may represent different cultural groups, possibly living in different environments, or may be connected symbolically to the purpose of the palettes. The rhomboidal Naqada I palettes often have a central depression in which traces of ground pigment are commonly found. The later, zoomorphic, palettes lack this depression, but still sometimes have traces of pigment, suggesting that the form of the palette had become more important than its functionality.
Composite Animals are also known, albeit unusual, with the most common being pairs of Birds joined at the back and facing outward. Another, less common form of composite is a roughly ovular palette with two Antelope heads at the top corners, and the head and forelimbs of a Turtle on the bottom. These forms either have two conjoined bodies giving a large central area, or are built around a large central area with elements of several Animals protruding from the rims. MMA 10.176.84 appears to be something different, apparently depicting a chimera, with elements of different Animals combined to form a coherent whole.
An initial inspection of the palette might suggest that it represents an Antelope, or perhaps an Ibex, Barbary Sheep, or Hartebeest, all of which are depicted on palettes, with long necks, crowns of projections, a hind limb made from a tapering downward projection of the rump, and an oblong projection forming the forelimb. Two previously described palettes, EA 35049, in the collection of the British Museum, and 1967.45, in the collection of the Museum August Kestner in Hannover, are particularly similar to MMA 10.176.84, having curving elongated necks, prominent humps of the back, and similarly positioned minimally modelled legs. The Museum August Kestner specimen has been tentatively identified as a Hartebeest, and dated to the Naqada IIA–B interval.
Animal figures are also found on decorated knife handles from Naqada II. With an of an Ibex found on a fragmentary knife handle excavated from Abydos grave U-503, which has been dated to Naqada IIC-D. This is slanted at an angle relative to the handle, probably to accommodate the leather straps which bound it to the blade. This has a similar humped back, sinuous neck, and straight snout to MMA 10.176.84, although it has more detailed legs, folded beneath its body, suggesting that the abbreviated legs are an adaptation to the palette form. This Animal also has damaged protrusions on the crown of its head, apparently representing a notched ear and large horn.
However, none of the images of Antelopes or similar Animals have rows of incisions along the back as seen in MMA 10.176.84. Potentially these could have worn away on other items, though the carving on the handle of the knife seems unlikely to have ever had such due to its positioning, while the Hanover palette, does have a pair of incisions, clearly intended to represent a tail. Other palettes with Antelope shapes have incisions used to depict the positions of horns, and manes on the back or chest, but nothing like the long row seen on MMA 10.176.84. Instead, this more closely resembles the rays which make up the dorsal fins of Fish on Fish-shaped palettes, suggesting that MMA 10.176.84 may represent a Fish-Antelope composite Animal.
Fish-Antelope figures have previously been observed on three knife handles from late Naqada II and IIIA; the Abu Zaidan knife handle, 09.889.118, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, 15137 in the collection of the Berlin Ägyptisches Museum, and UC16294 in the collection of the Petrie Museum. Each of these shows an Antelope-like Animal, probably a Nubian Ibex, Capra nubiana, to which dorsal and caudal fins resembling those of a Tilapia (as depicted in the art of the period) have been added. On each of these knife handles, the Fish-Antelope hybrids are accompanied by other quadruped Animals. Each of these knife-handle chimeras has a sinuous neck, protrusions on the back of the head, and fins along the back and rump. The positioning of the legs on the knife handle Animals is different, but this is consistent with the difference between the depiction of limbs in palette and knife handle Animals in general.
An alternative interpretation of the knife handle Animals has suggested that they are not in fact chimeras, but rather depictions of North African Crested Porcupines, Hystrix cristata. Porcupines are rare in Egyptian art, with only a single example known earlier than the first millennium BC, on a relief from the Fifth Dynasty mastaba of Pehenuka at Saqqara, making artistic comparisons difficult, but the head and horns of these Animals do not appear particularly Porcupine-like making this seem improbable. Furthermore, composite Animals are a common feature of Egyptian art from all eras, including the predynastic period, making the chimera hypothesis quite reasonable.
Based upon this, Miller feels it most likely that the Animal depicted on the palette is an Antelope, probably a Hartebeest, with added Fish elements. A short tail close to the rump is a common feature of depictions of Antelopes and similar Animals in predynastic Egyptian art, and in this case appears to have been combined with a row of incisions similar to that used to depict the caudal fins of Fish in the art of this period.
Another palette considered to show a hybrid Animal is OI E11470, in the collection of the University of Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures: West Asia & North Africa, which has been identified as a Fish-Bull hybrid, dated to Naqada IIIB–IIIC1. This, however, appears depict a Fish to which the head of a Bull has been added, although both belong to a general trend towards depicting Animals with a mixture of features.
Palettes of this type were typically mortuary items, found within tombs placed on or adjacent to Human bodies, along with other items such as combs, jewellery, masks, and knives, as well as textiles and pottery. Many of these other items either had images of Animals or zoomorphic forms. Such faunal images clearly had great importance for predynastic Egyptians, as it did for their dynastic descendants, and it is likely representations of Animals were also a part of body decorations and hair ornamentation.
Burials from this period appear to have placed an emphasis on displays of individual identity, though the goods within them would have been made from materials gathered during communal expeditions to wadis or into deserts, or traded with other peoples. The deposition of such goods within the owners grave implies that the social function of these items ceased when the owner died, and that they were therefore closely linked to the individual's identity. Palettes excavated from graves typically have traces of malachite on them, while those found within settlements typically had traces of red ochre. Possibly this implies malachite eye-makeup being applied to the bodies of the dead. Green was a colour associated with the dead in Egypt, and malachite makeup was applied to the eyes of statues in later periods.
Some of the Animals depicted on knife handles have been interpreted as images of victory, power, or wealth, and the depiction of similar Animals on palettes would presumably have had similar implications. Both palettes and knives were designed to be carried close to the body.
The predynastic period shows increasingly monumental tombs being built by elite groups, combined with an increasing level of pageantry and decoration around funeral practices. The symbolism associated with knives and palettes follows this general trend, becoming more complex as the culture evolved. Knives may have had a greater symbolic significance than palettes, being intrinsically linked to violence and aggression. These objects develop symbolism associated with aggression and dominance quite early, with grave settings such as Hierakonpolis locality HK6, and Hierakonpolis Tomb 100, with their extensive hunting scenes, as well as the numerous Animal depictions on C-ware pottery vessels, suggesting that such symbolism was generally desirable. Palettes, on the other hand, don't generally acquire such symbols until Naqada IIC, with earlier forms more typically having images associated with fertility and rebirth.
In the Naqada IIC–IIIB interval (roughly 3300–3000 BC) palettes become elaborately carved and frequently depict scenes of hunting and battle. Hybrid Animals are present mostly on knife handles prior to Naqada III, and are associated with elites and royal groups. There is a shift in the nature of palettes across Naqada II and III, with their symbolism becoming closer to that of knife handles. The palettes also grew in size across this interval, with Animal-shaped palettes becoming less common, replaces with symmetrically shaped palettes with depictions, including those of Animals, on their surfaces. Also during this period, they, and many other items, became more restricted in their distribution, with their ownership apparently restricted to elite groups, at the expense of other members of society.
Palette MMA 10.176.84 appears to fit within this trend. The similar Hanover palette has been dated to Naqada IIA-B. MMA 10.176.84 adds new features to this general form, and probably dates from the transition between Naqada IIB and Naqada IIC. Another palette, 5476 in the collection of the Manchester Museum, which has been ascribed to Naqada IID, shows a further development on this trend, with the integration of Animal elements using both the overall palette shape and relief decoration on its surface. The top edge of this palette has regularly sized and spaced pointed protrusions, with those at each end modelled as Ostrich heads, while the surface bears relief images of three Ostriches and a man.
If MMA 10.176.84 does represent a Fish-Antelope hybrid, then it increases the range of artworks known from palettes significantly, and if it does date from Naqada IIC, then it predates the representation of such chimeras on knife handles by some way, since all the known examples of this date from Naqada IID to IIIA. It provides additional evidence of the use of common motifs on different objects within the Naqada II culture, albeit with the motif modified to fit within the limitations of a palette.
Although the same, or similar, iconography was found on both knife handles or palettes, it cannot be assumed that their symbolic purpose was exactly the same. Both items were typically found in burials associated with the same individual, and may have carried different symbolic meanings about the person or their role in society.
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