Mudstone Min palette with hieroglyphs in relief. Late Predynastic, Naqada III. 3250-3100 BC. From El-Amra. The exact meaning of there early signs is unclear. The horizontal sign resembles that later used to write the name of the god Min.
The Min Palette is a flat slate palette, unadorned, with no iconographic scenes.
Two topics are displayed on the palette. The Symbol of Min, a compound-type hieroglyph arrangement, is centered at the top of the palette, and comprises 1/4 of the palette's front. The other motifs are opposed-facing bird heads on each top corner; the heads are small, with a thin neck, about a tenth the height of the palette, and the right head is damaged.
A small suspension hole is centered on the palette's top.
. The later horizontal form of the Min symbol (hieroglyph), (consisting of two opposing-faced arrows), is shown in an archaic form. Centered vertically overlaying the Min hieroglyph is a vertical "crook" or staff, the version of the 'straight staff', [2] (see Crook-staff (Luwian hieroglyph)).
