Two of the earliest examples of narrative art date back to 3000 B.C.E. The Warka Vase discovered in Uruk and the Palette of King Narmer from Egypt. Both are low-relief carvings depicting symbols of social hierarchy that are organized into separated zones. The over three-foot vase is a tall, cylindrical form and made of alabaster, and the over two-foot palette is siltstone carved into the shape of an arrow tip. The two were found in temples in their separate regions dedicated to gods and surrounded by other sacred objects. The significant size and placement, along with its detailed carvings, suggest the importance of these objects to their people. Starting at the bottom of the Warka Vase (refer to Figure 1), crops are pictured emerging from…show more content… Another blank band is the top, last band, which shows one of the nude men presenting a vessel of produce to a tall, robed woman with long hair and a crown. She has two reed bundles behind her and is facing another, a damaged figure behind the naked man. This is assumed to be a king with a long skirt, its ends being held by a shorter, skirted servant. Behind the reed bundles are two rams with statues on their backs that depict a person holding a sign and another in front of a reed bundle. The rams are followed by piles of gifts like what the men in the tier below are holding and the man in this tier is presenting (see Figure 2). The Palette of King Narmer is double-sided (see Figure 3 for “left” and “right” sides). On the bottom tier of the left side are two fallen figures. Above is the main tier, the subject being a man wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, a short skirt, and an animal tail. One hand clutches a staff, the other is planted atop a kneeling man whom he is about to strike. Above is a falcon with a human hand in a marsh holding a rope attached to a head that looks similar to that of the kneeling
