Decorated Ware Jar Depicting Ungulates and Boats with Human Figures

Predynastic, Late Naqada I, ca. 3500–3300 B.C.

Pottery, paint

Metropolitan Museum of Art- New York

The images on this vessel represent important social or religious events, the precise significance of which is not perfectly understood. Two male and two female figures stand aboard a boat, which is depicted with oars and two cabins. In the areas surrounding the boat are mountains, birds that may

represent flamingos, plants, and water.

Such painted jars reflect us the knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian in that abysmal era about the features of his environment. Such jars are the first topographical maps which depict the environment in which he lived, so he is transferred to us as an eyewitness features of the earth and what this latter contains: creatures and daily and religious scenes.