Narmer Palette



According to The Sumerian king list, dDumu-zi(d) "the fisherman" was taken captive by the single hand of En-me-barage-si.


According to The Sumerian king list, dDumu-zi(d)   šu-peš


šu-peš is to be identified with šu-ku6 "fisherman" as is generally assumed, for the meaning of šu-peš is unknown.

Sumerian: pešku6 = "a fish"


Sumerian: šu = hand,   Sumerian: peš = three


Wall painting from Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis, ca. 3500-3200 BC

Narmer Palette (recto) from "main deposit" at Hierakonpolis, ca. 3000 BC

HK43 Burial 147 at Hierakonpolis belonged to an elderly pair found buried together. The male was aged 60+ and the female was aged 50-59. The heads had been cut off and placed on the chests of the essentially intact bodies. Over 15 cut marks were found on the neck vertebrae of the male, in addition, potsherds were found stuffed into the nasal cavity of the man's skull.


Narmer Palette (recto), Hierakonpolis

Narmer Palette (recto), Hierakonpolis

Dorsal view of the skulls of a crocodile

Narmer Palette (recto), Hierakonpolis

Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein, ca. 3600 BC

At the edge of the main Predynastic town (the settlement cluster HK29/29A) in Hierakonpolis is the house and workshop of a potter. The evidence suggests that one day, the flames from his pottery kiln, located just over 5m away, spread to the house and burn it to the ground. The remnants of foundation trenches for post and reed walls of additional buildings and animal pens as well as the eroded (unburnt) remains of other sunken floor structures surround the house, but some may date to earlier or later phases of occupation. The averaged C14 date for this establishment is 3590+/-117BC, placing it in the early to mid Naqada II period. However, numerous sherds of white-cross line (C ware) pottery as well as pieces of marl ware indicate the area had a long history.


A man standing with a hut and reed walls on Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein

Narmer Palette (verso), Hierakonpolis

According to The Sumerian king list, dDumu-zi(d)   šu-peš


šu-peš was interpreted as "three stones" on the verso of the Narmer Palette.

Akkadian: šû = stone,   Sumerian: peš = three


Libyan Palette (back), Abydos, ca. 3200-3000 BC

  Proto-cuneiform SZU (šu) = hand

Cylinder seal, Khafajeh, 3350-2900 BC



References:

https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/as11.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/40813076/Tomb_100_The_Painted_Tomb_of_Hierakonpolis
https://egyptianmuseumcairo.eg/artefacts/narmer-palette-collection/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0279137
https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/S_17138
http://www.hierakonpolis-online.org/index.php/explore-the-predynastic-settlement/the-burnt-house
https://archive.org/details/ERA_66/page/n23/mode/1up
https://cdli-gh.github.io/proto-cuneiform_signs/
https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/id/ae755e34-1204-42d7-8123-bf994bff89bb

2024/06/30   Takahiko Nakagawa