The Narmer Palette
One of the most famous artefacts found in ancient Egypt, this 60x40 cm slab of carved greenish siltstone. The stone is tough enough to carve without flaking and well consolidated, and comes from a quarry used since pre-dynastic times at Wadi Hammamat. The stone has some of the earliest examples of hieroglyphics carved on its shaped surface, along with a series of pictures whose interpretation has proved controversial. It dates from 3,100 BCE and some believe it to commemorate the unification of the two kingdoms of Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt around this time, since the pharaoh is depicted wearing the crown of one half of the empire on each side and smiting his enemies. It was found in the ancient city of Nekhen, the city of the falcon god Horus, which was the capital of Upper Egypt in the last pre-dynastic Naqada 3 period. Its artwork shows that many stylistic conventions of Egyptian art were present from the very beginning (much like the 32,000 year old painted cave at Chauvet for Palaeolithic parietal art, see http://tinyurl.com/k2jtrlu).
Its use is unknown, possibly a votive or temple treasure, though smaller palettes were used to grind minerals like stibnite into cosmetics such as kohl (see http://tinyurl.com/lj6hlxx). The name Narmer comes from a hieroglyphic rebus on the stone, depicting the syllables n'r (catfish) and mr (chisel).
Debate has continued over whether it depicts historical events, or to create a mythology for the ruling dynasty of the newly united empire, what historians such Eric Hobsbawm and others have called the invention of tradition. It is now kept in the Cairo Museum.
Loz
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