Palette – zoomorphic, hartebeest PAL-0024
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown
London, Petrie Museum, UC 15769.
Date : Naqada IIA–B
General date of type pal_bov_2a, see Droux (2019).
Material : Greywacke
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The front horn and tail are missing; chips along the edges, especially on the belly.
Description
The palette has a mostly ovoid shape with added stylised zoomorphic details. The hartebeest is shown standing, with its head in a low position protruding toward the front. A small hole is drilled through the back, likely for attaching a string or thong.
Decoration
The head is rendered with only little detail. The horns have a diminutive size compared to that of the animal; they are lyre-shaped and seen frontally, as is characteristic of the hartebeest. A hole pierced between them separates them from one another, and they seem to not have connected again above the hole. The eyes are represented by a depression drilled on each side of the palette. Incised lines are visible a short distance from the eyes, reaching the pierced hole between the horns; their meaning or significance are not clear. A small protuberance at the back of the neck, below the horn, may represent the ear. The muzzle is short and hardly protrudes away from the throat.
There is a marked hump at the back before the junction with the neck. The legs were likely limited to two small, rounded protuberances. The tail was carved at the back, seemingly separated from the body.
Dimensions (cm)
9
19.8
Additional information
pal_bov_2a
Comments
Palettes of shape-type pal_bov_2 are all carved in the shape of the hartebeest, although identification is sometimes tentative; sub-type 2a seems to pre-date sub-type 2b; see Droux (2019); this assumption is based on stylistic considerations since no palette of sub-type 2b comes from a known, precise archaeological context.
Acknowledgements
We thank Alice Stevenson for facilitating the study of this artefact.
References
1920
Prehistoric Egypt. British School of Archaeology in Egypt & Egyptian Research Account, twenty-third year, 1917. London
, pl. XLIII, 3J.