Hunters Palette

Hunters Palette
Hunters Palette
	Hunters Palette with pieces connected
Material	Schist
Size	c. 66 cm x 26 cm
Created	31st century BC (circa)
Present location	British Museum, Louvre
Identification	British Museum, EA 20790, EA 20792, Louvre E 11254

The Hunters Palette or Lion Hunt Palette is a c. 3100 BCE cosmetic palette from the Naqada III period of late prehistoric Egypt. The palette is broken: part is held by the British Museum and part is in the collection of the Louvre.

Content

The Hunters Palette shows a complex iconography of lion hunting as well as the hunt of other animals such as birds, desert hares, and gazelle types; one gazelle is being contained by a rope. The weapons used in the twenty-man hunt are the bow and arrow, mace, throwing sticks, flint knives, and spears. Two iconographic conjoined bull-forefronts adorn the upper right alongside a hieroglyphic-like symbol similar to the "shrine" hieroglyph, sḥ.