Detail of the so-called Battlefield Palette, one of several 'ceremonial' palettes that date to the prehistory of Egypt. This one dates to the Late Predynastic Period (Naqada III Period; circa 3300-3100 BCE). It is carved out of greywacke, a variety of sandstone characterized by its hardness and dark color.Ceremonial palettes are connected by a single subject matter: bringing control to settings that, by virtue of their inherent nature, are uneasily dominated. Their theme reflects the same concepts later conveyed by the large battle, smiting and hunting scenes carved on the exterior walls of temples, imagery that served a protective function. These palettes may well have been installed near the entrances to shrines."[The Battlefield Palette] convey[s] the establishment of control through a human battle scene... The obverse... depicts the end of a conflict, with the losers splayed across the field of combat. The lion... symbolizes the king, who has defeated Egypt's enemies, a people at this time generally believed to have lived in a marshy area, probably in some part of the Delta not under the sphere of a slowly coalescing Egyptian state. As the lion eats the entrails of the enemy leader, vultures and crows pluck out the eyes of the other slain men... Although this vulture's form did not survive beyond the Early Dynastic Period, the bird remained a significant royal emblem as well as the animal symbol for the goddess Nekhbet of Upper Egypt..."― Craig Patch, Diana, Dawn of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA, 2011.This fascinating object (EA 20791) is now in the British Museum, London, England.Photo: The Trustees of the British Museum