Palette – rhomboid, decorated PAL-0108
By Hendrickx, Stan
, Settlement, near to settlement deposit 3165.
1924 : British School of Archaeology in Egypt excavation.London, Petrie Museum, UC 9526.
Date : early Naqada II (?)
Settlement deposit 3165, next to which the palette was found, was dated to SD 37–38 (Brunton & Caton-Thompson 1928: pl. XXXI). An early Naqada II date can be suggested.
Material : Greywacke (drilled)
Preservation : Almost complete
Preservation information :
The palette is damaged on both extremities and three of the decorative extensions are missing.
Description
The rhomboid palette is rounded at the ends of the shorter axis. One extremity is flat and decorated, while the opposite extremity is missing.
Decoration
One end of the palette is decorated with six projections that were created by drilling a linear series of six small holes through the thickness of the palette; small notches were incised at the level of each perforation on the edge, in order to slightly separate each projection at the top. This decoration recalls a series of turtle heads, but the design may equally have been intended to be geometric.
The palette is furter decorated with a semi-circular series of nine or ten rounded depressions drilled on the surface; it is not clear whether both faces are decorated in the same manner.
Object use
The palette has been used and has slight hollowing in the central area.
Dimensions (cm)
16
33.4
