ART HISTORY 1313 THE ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT PREDYNASTIC PERIOD: EARLY STATE FORMATION

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Topics:

Mythology of a united Egypt; problems of cultural sequences and Sequence-Dating System; reconstructing social and political processes from burials; the question of influence from Mesopotamia; the formation of the Egyptian state.

OI Egyptian Site Map
Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, a great resource

Readings:

Bard and Robins refer to the course texts. All other references are to books on reserve.

Article for Discussion T 7 September

Please read this article in preparation for class on TH 6 September (the article is available on T-Learn).

Bard, K.A., "Toward an Interpretation of the Role of Ideology in the Evolution of Complex Society in Egypt," Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 11 (1992):1-24.

Chronology and Select Rulers:

All dates are B.C. and approximate; dates may be off as much as 500-880 years for the earliest periods. As you get closer to Dynasty 1, the absolute dates are probably off by less than 300 years. SD = Sequence-Date, a relative chronology established by F. Petrie in various publications (1899, 1901, 1913, 1939). Petrie (1939) established three broad cultural horizons: Amratian (SD 30/31-37), Gerzean (SD 38-60) and Semainean (SD 60/63-75/78). The Sequence-Dating System has been revised and incorporated into many later studies, the most important of which are those of Kaiser (1956, 1957), who, based upon his study of Cemetery 1400-1500 at Marmant, introduced the Nagada I-III cultural sequence, which has almost completely supplanted Petrie's Sequence-Dating System and terminology. Kaiser subdivided this Nagada sequence into eleven stages ("Stufen"). Kaiser (1990), based upon his analysis of the Tura cemetery and new data from other cemeteries, extended his Nagada sequence from eleven to fifteen "Stufen," carrying it as far down as the end of Dynasty I. The absolute dates in the table below come from Wilkinson (1996).

Paleolithic 700,000/500,000-20,000/10,000

Badarian (overlap with Fayum A, Merimeda, El Omari in Lower Egypt) c. 4500?-4000/3800 B.C.

Reading: Wengrow, 41-62, 69-71

SD 21-29
Named from the site el-Badari.

Already elaborate concern for the dead.
c. 5500-5000 farming villages first appear.

Naqada I (= Amratian; overlap with Buto-Maadi culture in Lower Egypt) c. 4000/3800-3600/3500 B.C.

Reading: Wengrow, 72-80, 89-92, 99-109

SD 30-38 (Kaiser)
Named from the sites of Naqada and el-Amra.

Continuity from the Badarian period, but the material evidence for the Amratian confined only to Upper Egypt.
Exploitation of Nile resources.

Important sites:
Hierakonpolis HK29

Naqada II (= Gerzean; overlap with Maadi and Buto in Lower Egypt) c. 3600/3500-3300 B.C.

Reading: Wengrow, 77-90, 92-98, 102-111, 114-123

Naqada IIa - IIb: SD 38/40-45 (Kaiser)
Naqada IIc - IId2: SD 40/45-63 (Kaiser)

Named from the sites of Naqada and el-Gerzah.
Documented in Upper Egypt and part of Lower Egypt.
Probably first appearance of writing and early urbanization (technology borrowed from Mesopotamia).
Clearly hostilities between local "urban" units, as well as larger "kingdoms."
Cultural uniformity of Egypt by Naqada IId2 (end of Maadi culture in Delta).

Important tombs:
Tomb T5, cemetery T, Naqada.
Tomb 23, Locality HK6, Hierakonpolis
Tomb 100, Hierakonpolis (Naqada IIc).

Appearance of D Ware.
Votive cosmetic palettes may start to appear.

Naqada IIIa1-IIIa2 (= Semainean; overlap with Buto in Lower Egypt) c. 3300-3200 B.C.

Reading: Wengrow, 128-134, 151-175, 176-198 (palettes and knives), 198-207 (tomb U-j, Abydos)

SD 63-80 (for whole of Nagada III; Kaiser)
Named from the site of Naqada.

See continuation of spread of Naqada culture into Lower Egypt.
Abrupt change in quality of burials and emergence of clear state symbolism suggest formation of centralized state.
Burials indicate social hierarchies and competition among elites.
Exact nature of social organization is unclear.
Evidence for emergence of complex society, probably in the form of early states (Naqada, Abydos/This and Hierakonpolis [Kemp]).
Emergence of elite cemetery at North Saqqara.
Probably a series of rulers who attempt to unite the Nile valley as competition reaches a peak.
Center of power for Upper Egypt seems to have been Hierakonpolis.

Important tombs:
Tomb U-j, Abydos (Naqada IIIa) (earliest evidence for writing).

Elaborate votive cosmetic palettes appear.
Gebel el-Arak knife-handle.

Naqada IIIb1-IIIb2 (= Dynasty 0) c. 3200-3100 B.C.

Reading: Wengrow, 207-217 (palettes, Scorpion macehead)

Some early Horus-names attested in the archaeological record have been assigned to a "Dynasty 0":
Rosette-Scorpion (macehead)
Sekhen/Ka
Narmar (palette and macehead)
Hor-Aha

Other early Horus-names whose precise reading and chronological position are uncertain:
Krokodil (from Tarkhan)
Falcon with 3 hd-signs
*Iri-Hor (from Tombs B0/1/2 at Abydos) (but never found in a serekh)
*Per-Hor (from Cemetery L, Qustul, in Nubia)
*Ny-Hor (Tura cemetery; perhaps cursive version of Narmar?)
*Hat-Hor (wine jar from Tarkhan; perhaps cursive version of Narmar?)

Manetho's (3rd century B.C.) king list for Dynasty 1 includes none of the names listed above for Dyn. 0. His list runs as follows:
Menes
Athothis
Kenkenes
Uenephes
Usaphaidos
Miebidos
Semempses
Bieneches

Some equate Menes (Herodotus calls him Min) with Narmar, owing to the Narmar palette and macehead (both from Hierakonpolis) and discoveries of jar sealings with the name of Narmar at Abydos. Narmar's name is, however, conspicuously absent at Saqqara, and many scholars would prefer equating Menes with Hor-Aha, owing to the occurrence of the word "mn" followed by the name Hor-Aha on an ivory label for an oil jar from Naqada.

Architecture:
Hierakonpolis sanctuary and wall.

Naqada cemeteries
Tomb T5, cemetery T

Hierakonpolis cemeteries
Tomb 23, Locality HK6

Tomb 100

Abydos cemeteries (with ivory, bone and wood "labels"):
Cemetery U:
Tomb U-j

Cemetery B:
B1/2 (Iri-Hor)
B7/9 (Ka)
B17/18 (Narmar)
B10/15/19, with subsidiary burials B16 (Hor-Aha)

Qustal cemetery (Nubia)
Tomb L24

Sculpture and Pottery:
Amratian Black-Topped pottery (B Ware)

Amratian Figurines

Gerzean pottery (D Ware)

Flint knives

Stone bowls.

Main Deposit, Hierakonpolis:
Scorpion Macehead
Narmar Palette [recto and verso]
Narmar Macehead
ivory plaques/labels
King Den's ivory plaque

Palettes:
Bird-headed palette
Oxford Palette
Two Giraffe Palette, Louvre
Louvre Palette
Two Bull Palette [recto and verso]
Lion Hunt Palette
Battlefield Palette
Libya Palette (Towns Palette)

Gebel el-Arak flint knife

Gebel el-Tarif flint knife

Abu Zendan flint knife

Painting:
Gebelein textile

Tomb 100, Hierakonpolis