- Battlefield Palette
The Battlefield Palette (also known as the Vultures Palette, the Giraffes Palette, or the Lion Palette) is the first "battle scene" representation of the dozen, or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental"
cosmetic palette s ofancient Egypt . Along with the others in this series of palettes, including theNarmer Palette , some of the first representations of figures, or glyphs that became Egyptian hieroglyphs are known. Most notably for the Battlefield Palette is theStandard (iat hieroglyph) , andMan-prisoner (hieroglyph) , probably the forerunner that gave rise to the concept of theNine Bows -(representation of foreign tribal enemies).The palettes probably date mostly from the
Naqada III orProtodynastic Period of Egypt (circa 3200 to3000 BC ).The Battlefied Palette, two fragments
The Battlefield Palette obverse contains the circular defined area for the mixing of a 'cosmetic'; (the archaeological forerunner palettes to these, the
Rhomboidal palette s were without circular-defined mixing regions). It contains thebattlefield scene, and forerunners of hieroglyphs: "prisoner", tribal-territory "wooden standard", the "horus-falcon" bird-(resting on standard), and the "ibis" bird-(resting on standard). The fractured lower half of the prisoner on the obverse right may have a hieroglyph at his front-(the rectangle, as rounded for land) with suspected papyrus plants attached on top.The reverse of the palette has dramatically stylized versions of a 'bird', two "antelope-like" mammals, and a vertical 'palm-tree' trunk and partial top with fruits, and short horizontal palm fronds.
ee also
*
Narmer Palette
*Cosmetic palette External links
* [http://xoomer.alice.it/francescoraf/hesyra/palettes/vulptures.htm Battlefield Palette: Obverse and Reverse]
* [http://xoomer.alice.it/francescoraf/hesyra/palettes/palettes-scale.htm 3rd fragment, and other Ancient Egypt palettes]Palette Reverse
* [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/data/13030/sp/ft7j49p1sp/figures/ft7j49p1sp_00040.jpgPhoto and graphic of 3rd piece] ; [http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft7j49p1sp&doc.view=content&chunk.id=d0e1733&toc.depth=1&anchor.id=0&brand=eschol Article, front side graphic, and Synoptic analysis of Battlefield Palette]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
