In the late Egyptian predynastic period, during the fourth millennium BC, residents of the Lower Nile valley used stone palettes used to grind eye shadow. They were flat, elegantly sculpted, and reproduced a stylized animal shape, most often a fish, but they were sometimes fashioned into diamond or even shields-shapes topped with animal heads. We assume that the green eye shadow, made from copper ore, played an important role in their customs and must have been viewed as containing magical powers. The palettes were art objects, placed near the heads of the deceased in their tombs.