Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt: The Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette comes from Hierakonpolis, the location of Tomb 100. You may find an abundance of on-line material for the Palette of Narmer, but a print article by Whitney Davis on “Narrativity and the Narmer Palette” in Narrative and Event in Ancient Art (Cambridge Studies in New Art History and Criticism) proves the most useful and reliable.
This object offers a great opportunity for the observation of fascinating detail and lends itself easily to a discussion of meaning. One may easily explore answers to the following questions: how was the palette originally intended to be viewed? what type of document is it – historical or political? and what is the relationship between image and text?
To appreciate the meaning of the format, the most illuminating resource may be the Corpus of Egyptian Predynastic Palettes. An examination of the Macehead of Narmer at the Ashmoleon Museum provides additional historical and physical context, if time permits additional research (here in a line drawing).