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Description
Hippopotamus Hunt palette
Medelhavsmuséet, Stockholm E.M. 6000
Unprovenanced
(Amratian - Early Gerzean; SD 33-41)

Bibliography
Säve-Söderbergh, On Egyptian representations of Hippopotamus Hunting as a Religious Motive, 1953, 18-19, fig. 8
Asselberghs, Chaos en Beheersing ... p. 42, 138 (69)
Osborn - Osbornova, The Mammals of Ancient Egypt, 1998, 145
J.O. Gransard-Desmond, Les Canidae de la Prehistoire a la Iere Dynastie en Egypte et en Nubie, 1999, (Corpus n. 66)
J. O. Gransard-Desmond, Histoire du chien en Egypte, CCdE 3/4, 2002, 51-74, fig. 3

For a corpus of 14 rhombic palettes with incised decorations see Midant-Reynes et al., BIFAO 98, 1998, 280-1.
Also cf. S. Hendrickx, M. Eyckerman, Decorated rhomboidal palettes from Predynastic Egypt in the Royal Museums for Art and History at Brussels, in prep., 2008


Thanks to Ottar Vendelcrow / Andreasson Leif for the picture and the following comment:

It's a slate palette measuring 33x10x2 cm, from Medelhavsmuséet in Stockholm and is estimated to be from about 4000-3500 BC. The motif is brobably the oldets depictions known of a hippo-hunt. We see a man in a boat harpooning a hippo and at the left end is another (hippo) one standing alone. Note the shape of the hull of the boat and the square cabin and the oar of the old type. In the centre is a hyena (upside down) attacking an ostrich(?) by the foot. (The museum thinks it's a gazelle, but I think it looks like a big ostrich facing left).

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