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Hard stone Palettes

W1064Hard stone palettes such as these made of stones other than greywacke/silstone appear have been produced earlier in date than the greywacke ones, though some are as late. They have been found in both Nubia and in Egypt. 

Examples have been found at Naqada and Gerzeh which Petrie dated as probably Early Dynastic (Petrie 1920, 39-40). One also comes from Morgan’s excavations at el Masa’id dated to Naqada III (Needler 1984, 319, 326). More recently, two diorite palettes (like the one illustrated here), one rhomboidal and one rectangular, were found with pebble rubbing stones, malachite and ochre from tomb 72 at Hierakonpolis HK6 (http://www.hierakonpolis-online.org/index.php/explore-the-predynastic-cemeteries/hk6-elite-cemetery/tomb-72). Petrie and Needler believed that examples found in Egypt originated in Nubia and indeed there seem to have been strong contacts between the A-Group Nubian culture and Predynastic Egypt. 

Hard stone palettes are also found in Nubian A-Group burials (Nordström 1972, pl. 191) dated 3700-3250BC. A Nubian grave in Kadruka dated to c 6000-6500 BC contained a diorite palette with the remains of an adult male (Pardo Mata 2004, 140). Many others are made from quartzite.Hard stone palettes such as these made of stones other than greywacke appear have been produced earlier in date than the greywacke ones, though some are as late. They have been found in both Nubia and in Egypt. 

Examples have been found at Naqada and Gerzeh which Petrie dated as probably Early Dynastic (Petrie 1920, 39-40). One also comes from Morgan’s excavations at el Masa’id dated to Naqada III (Needler 1984, 319, 326). More recently, two diorite palettes (like the one illustrated here), one rhomboidal and one rectangular, were found with pebble rubbing stones, malachite and ochre from tomb 72 at Hierakonpolis HK6 (http://www.hierakonpolis-online.org/index.php/explore-the-predynastic-cemeteries/hk6-elite-cemetery/tomb-72). Petrie and Needler believed that examples found in Egypt originated in Nubia and indeed there seem to have been strong contacts between the A-Group Nubian culture and Predynastic Egypt. 

Hard stone palettes are also found in Nubian A-Group burials (Nordström 1972, pl. 191) dated 3700-3250BC. A Nubian grave in Kadruka dated to c 6000-6500 BC contained a diorite palette with the remains of an adult male (Pardo Mata 2004, 140). Many others are made from quartzite.

 

References 

Needler, W. 1984. Predynastic and Archaic Egypt in the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Museum. 

Nordström, H. –A., 1972. Neolithic and A-Group Sites. 2 vols. (Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia 3). Copanhagen: Scandinavian University Books.

Pardo Mata, P.P. 2004, Possible parallels between Egyptian and Sudanese Neolithic figurines, and another contemporaneous ones coming from the near Eastern area. Boletín de la Asociación Espanola de Orientalistas 40, 135-147. 

Petrie, W.M.F. 1920. Prehistoric Egypt. London: British School of Archaeology in Egypt.

Other Predynastic items in the Egypt Centre

Siltstone palettes in the Egypt Centre

 

 

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