The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic

Predynastic Egypt

The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BC, starting with King Menes/Narmer....

 Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 are archaeological artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and possibly ceremonial. They generally were made of softer and workable stone such as slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 or mudstone

Mudstone

Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...

.

Many of the palettes were found at Hierakonpolis, a centre of power in pre-dynastic

Predynastic Egypt

The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BC, starting with King Menes/Narmer....

 Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...

. After the unification of the country, the palettes ceased to be included in tomb assemblages.

Notable palettes

Notable decorative palettes are:

• The Narmer Palette
  Narmer Palette
  The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
  
  , thought by some to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the pharaoh
  Pharaoh
  Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
  
   Narmer, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Libyan Palette
  Libyan Palette
  The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
  
  , Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• The Dogs Palette, displaying canines, giraffes, and other quadrupeds, Louvre
• The Battlefield Palette
  Battlefield Palette
  The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
  
  , British Museum
  British Museum
  The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
  
   and Ashmolean Museum
  Ashmolean Museum
  The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
  
  
• The Bulls Palette, showing a bull, representing the king, goring his enemies
• The Hunters Palette
  Hunters Palette
  The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...
  
  , British Museum and Louvre

Even undecorated palettes were often given pleasing shapes, such as the zoomorphic palette

Zoomorphic palette

The Zoomorphic palette is a type of Cosmetic palette made during the predynastic period of Egypt. The palettes are found at burial sites, for example Abydos in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.-Overview:...

s, which included turtles and, very commonly, fish. The fish zoomorphic palette often had an upper-centrally formed hole, presumably for suspension, and thus display.

The Near East

Near East

The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...

 stone palette

Stone palette

Stone palettes, also called toilet trays, are round trays commonly found in the areas of Bactria and Gandhara, which usually represent Greek mythological scenes...

s are from Canaan

Canaan

Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...

, Bactria

Bactria

Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...

, and Gandhara

Gandhara

Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...

.

History of Egyptian palettes

The first stone palettes appear in the predynastic societies of Ancient Egypt. They are the rhomboidal palettes. They did not contain the circular mixing-pool found on later palettes.

List of ancient Egyptian Predynastic palettes

Name	Dimensions	Location	Notes + Topic
Battlefield Palette Battlefield Palette The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt... Vultures Palette, etc	Full Height? 50 x 32 cm-(?) (20 x 13 in)	British Museum	Side A: war; Side B: peace ('Order vs Chaos')
Bull Palette Bull Palette The Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
Hunters Palette Hunters Palette The Hunters Palette is an Ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette showing a complex iconographic lion hunt as well as other animals...	30.5 x 15 cm (12 x 6 in)	British Museum
Libyan Palette Libyan Palette The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III or Protodynastic Period of Egypt...
Min Palette Min Palette The Min Palette, or El Amrah Palette is an ancient Egyptian cosmetic palette from El Amrah , found in Naqada, tomb B62. It is held in the British Museum, no. 35501.-Description:...
Narmer Palette Narmer Palette The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of... Great Hierakonpolis Palette	64 x 42 cm (25 x 17 in)	Louvre	Unification of Southern Egypt, Delta Egypt

External links

• Corpus of Egyptian Late Predynastic Palettes by Francesco Raffaele
• Cosmetic Palettes, University College London