DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0293
206
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crocodile’, says Pliny, 'anoint themselves with its fat.’10 In the same way that the croco-
dile hunter thus assimilates himself to his quarry by a direct contagion, so the owner of a
palette could possess himself of the power in the slate likeness by painting himself with
the 'medicine’ ground upon it. An interesting illustration of this type of idea is seen in
Ashanti. The natives of that part of Africa share the wide spread belief that neolithic
celts are thunderbolts or meteorites. Medicines ground with them, they affirm, protect
the user from lightning and from falling stars, and also give speed to the limbs. The
reason is plain — he who takes the medicine is innoculated with the virtues of the stone:
he need not fear the lightning, and to some degree he becomes a partaker in its swiftness.11
If we suppose that the predynastic Egyptian, when about to go in pursuit of game or fish,
chose an appropriate palette on which he ground a paint to serve him as 'medicine’ in
his undertaking, we have a simple hypothesis which not only fits perfectly with the cul-
tural state of the predynastic people, but which satisfactorily explains why, in graves
containing more than one palette, the specimens are apt to represent different kinds of
animals;12 why, as agriculture and the arts of settled life came to engage an increasing
element in the population, the manufacture of palettes declined; why, in Nubia — where
the restricted cultivable areas offered less temptation to the hunters and fishers than did
the ampler lands of Egypt — the palettes survived longer than below the First Cataract;
and why, as the palettes and the custom of amuletic face or body painting declined, amu-
letic beads and pendants became more common.
By this theory, moreover, can be explained the purpose of the great royal palettes
of the protodynastic period. Long after the use of palettes and magical painting had
declined, the king, upon whom were incumbent so many magico-religious duties, would
still make use of the old 'medicine’ for sundry purposes. Viewed in this light, a monu-
ment such as the famous palette of Narmar loses much that is enigmatical in its char-
acter: its shield form, and the triumphs it depicts, make it an eminently suitable slab on
W. H. Holmes, ‘Certain notched or scalloped stone tablets of the Mound-Builders’ (Amer. Anthr., N. S., vol. 8, Jan.-
Mar., 1906, p. 101-108) p. 106. Palettes representing edible birds and fish occur in the Brazilian shell mounds;
some excellent examples are figured by L. Netto, ‘ Investigates sobre a archeologia brazileira’ (Archives do Museu
national do Rio de Janeiro, vol. 6, Rio de Janeiro, 1885), p. 501 sq. pl. 6, figs. 10 and 21. I am indebted for these
references to my colleague R. B. Dixon.
10 Pliny, Naturalis historia, ed. D. Detlefsen, Berlin, 1866-1882, XXX, 3 (8).
11 A. W. Cardigan, ‘Stone implements from Ashanti’ (Man, vol. 17, no. 1, London, Jan., 1917, no. 5), p. 12.
12 E. g., Maclver and Mace, El Amrah and Abydos, pl. 7, fig. 1; pl. 8, figs. 1, 2, 3. It may here be mentioned
that Maclver found that at el-Amrah the palettes were in most cases placed in the graves of women or children;
Ibid., p. 47. This would militate against the theory set forth above but for two facts — the conditions et el-Amrah
were exceptional, and even there the palettes were found associated with weapons: e. g., Ibid., pl. 7, fig. 1. This
association with weapons was common in the predynastic graves of Nubia: cf., e. g., Reisner, op. cit., p. 118-120
(Cem. 17, grave 50, no. 36, mace head; no. 41, palette; no. 44, flint lance head); p. 122-123 (Cem. 17, grave 68,
no. 3, mace head; nos. 8 and 7, flint fish tail knives or lance heads; no. 20, palette); p. 127 (Cem. 17, grave 89, no. 2,
mace head; no. 5, palette).
0. Bates
crocodile’, says Pliny, 'anoint themselves with its fat.’10 In the same way that the croco-
dile hunter thus assimilates himself to his quarry by a direct contagion, so the owner of a
palette could possess himself of the power in the slate likeness by painting himself with
the 'medicine’ ground upon it. An interesting illustration of this type of idea is seen in
Ashanti. The natives of that part of Africa share the wide spread belief that neolithic
celts are thunderbolts or meteorites. Medicines ground with them, they affirm, protect
the user from lightning and from falling stars, and also give speed to the limbs. The
reason is plain — he who takes the medicine is innoculated with the virtues of the stone:
he need not fear the lightning, and to some degree he becomes a partaker in its swiftness.11
If we suppose that the predynastic Egyptian, when about to go in pursuit of game or fish,
chose an appropriate palette on which he ground a paint to serve him as 'medicine’ in
his undertaking, we have a simple hypothesis which not only fits perfectly with the cul-
tural state of the predynastic people, but which satisfactorily explains why, in graves
containing more than one palette, the specimens are apt to represent different kinds of
animals;12 why, as agriculture and the arts of settled life came to engage an increasing
element in the population, the manufacture of palettes declined; why, in Nubia — where
the restricted cultivable areas offered less temptation to the hunters and fishers than did
the ampler lands of Egypt — the palettes survived longer than below the First Cataract;
and why, as the palettes and the custom of amuletic face or body painting declined, amu-
letic beads and pendants became more common.
By this theory, moreover, can be explained the purpose of the great royal palettes
of the protodynastic period. Long after the use of palettes and magical painting had
declined, the king, upon whom were incumbent so many magico-religious duties, would
still make use of the old 'medicine’ for sundry purposes. Viewed in this light, a monu-
ment such as the famous palette of Narmar loses much that is enigmatical in its char-
acter: its shield form, and the triumphs it depicts, make it an eminently suitable slab on
W. H. Holmes, ‘Certain notched or scalloped stone tablets of the Mound-Builders’ (Amer. Anthr., N. S., vol. 8, Jan.-
Mar., 1906, p. 101-108) p. 106. Palettes representing edible birds and fish occur in the Brazilian shell mounds;
some excellent examples are figured by L. Netto, ‘ Investigates sobre a archeologia brazileira’ (Archives do Museu
national do Rio de Janeiro, vol. 6, Rio de Janeiro, 1885), p. 501 sq. pl. 6, figs. 10 and 21. I am indebted for these
references to my colleague R. B. Dixon.
10 Pliny, Naturalis historia, ed. D. Detlefsen, Berlin, 1866-1882, XXX, 3 (8).
11 A. W. Cardigan, ‘Stone implements from Ashanti’ (Man, vol. 17, no. 1, London, Jan., 1917, no. 5), p. 12.
12 E. g., Maclver and Mace, El Amrah and Abydos, pl. 7, fig. 1; pl. 8, figs. 1, 2, 3. It may here be mentioned
that Maclver found that at el-Amrah the palettes were in most cases placed in the graves of women or children;
Ibid., p. 47. This would militate against the theory set forth above but for two facts — the conditions et el-Amrah
were exceptional, and even there the palettes were found associated with weapons: e. g., Ibid., pl. 7, fig. 1. This
association with weapons was common in the predynastic graves of Nubia: cf., e. g., Reisner, op. cit., p. 118-120
(Cem. 17, grave 50, no. 36, mace head; no. 41, palette; no. 44, flint lance head); p. 122-123 (Cem. 17, grave 68,
no. 3, mace head; nos. 8 and 7, flint fish tail knives or lance heads; no. 20, palette); p. 127 (Cem. 17, grave 89, no. 2,
mace head; no. 5, palette).