ABSTRACTS. Forgotten Excavations, Part IV: The first Excavation Season at Kufur Nigm /Ezbet El-Tell, MSA Cairo - Egypt

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1 ABSTRACTS Full Papers ASHMAWY, Aiman Ali Forgotten Excavations, Part IV: The first Excavation Season at Kufur Nigm /Ezbet El-Tell, MSA Cairo - Egypt The site of Kafur Nigm is situated about 2 km north of the village of Kafur Nigm, in Ibrahimia district, Sharquia province, about 30 km north of the city of Zagazig. The site is called also Ezbet El- Tell as it is situated south east of the village bearing the same name. The topography of the site shows three tells separated by modern canals and roads. The tell was first investigated by archaeologists in 1960, when the agricultural committee asked the archaeological authorities to explore the area and clean it from antiquities, in order to use the land, as laid out in agricultural reforms. So, in 1961 the Egyptian Antiquities Organization (EAO) carried out an excavation season at the site. The work led to the discovery of an Archaic cemetery, a rare find in the Delta. As a result of this find, the EAO decided to exclude the area from the reclamation project and retained it under its supervision. In 1978 the EAO carried out another excavation season under the direction of Mr. Hamdey Yussef. Four additional seasons, under the auspices of Zagazig University, were carried out under the direction of Dr.Mohamed Ibrahim Bakr between 1984 and The results of these campaigns were partly published (Bakr, in Hommages a Jean Leclant, vol. 4, 1994, p.9 15). This paper focuses on the 1961 season, whose results were not published. The small finds were packed in boxes and moved to the basement of the Cairo Museum, awaiting study. Over 70 tombs were discovered during this season, beside hundreds of small finds. Noteworthy among the finds are pottery jars with pot marks bearing serekh signs inside a royal domain belonging to kings of Daynasty 0 and the First Dynasty, including Ka and Semerkhet that shed light on the history and culture of the Delta, and its relationship to Upper Egypt in this early period of Egyptian history. BABA, Masahiro Ceramic Assemblages from HK11C at Hierakonpolis: Specialization examined More than a decade of excavations in the Locality HK11C at Hierakonpolis has shown that industrial scale production activities took place in the Naqada II period. Located on a desert terrace in the Wadi Abu Suffian, HK11C is a well-preserved area of settlement remains. Here investigation have revealed a complex installation at Operation B consisting of five pit-kilns for pottery-making and five freestanding vats for preparing beer wort in use during Naqada IC-IIB. More recent research has uncovered a mud-brick structure at Operation C probably of mid to late Naqada II date. The 14 hearths

2 and large quantity of animal and fish bones found within it indicate that it functioned as an intensive food preparation facility. The size of these installations and the evidence for mass production they contain indicate that at Hierakonpolis, specialized manufacture had emerged by the early Naqada II period. Craft specialization in Predynastic Egypt has been much discussed as a correlate to the development of complex society and the political economy. Evidence for this has been sought mainly from the study of luxury goods. However, the ceramic assemblages collected at HK11C now provide a rare opportunity to examine this topic from the viewpoint of utility wares deriving from structures of known function. In this paper, the pottery assemblages will be discussed with regard to the evidence they provide for determining vessel use and function within the respective structures. The pottery will then be examined in terms of standardization. Standardization is commonly used to detect specialization, on the hypothesis that goods produced in mass quantities by specialists can be recognized by their high degree of standardization. That is, if there is the relative degree of homogeneity in vessel dimension and manufacturing technology, it could reflect specialized production. During excavations at both Operations, all rim and diagnostic sherds were collected, amongst which the straw-tempered Nile silt modeled rim jar was found to be the most common shape, making up approximately 60% of the assemblage. This jar will therefore be the main focus for standardization analysis using metric data of rim diameter and coefficient of variation (CV), as well as a detailed examination of routinized formation techniques. The development of the modelled rim jar and their mode of production as a window on specialization will also be discussed in the light of their functional, geographical and sociopolitical context. BĄK-PRYC, Grzegorz Lower Egyptian Culture within the Nile Delta on the Basis of Archaeological Research at Tell el- Murra In recent years, knowledge of the Lower Egyptian culture significantly expanded. This state of affairs is primarily due to the results of the archaeological research conducted at many sites located in northeastern part of Nile Delta. As a result, the Lower Egyptian culture, which developed in the northern Egypt during the IVth Millennium BC, is presently known not only from such sites as Maadi, Heliopolis and Buto. Residues in the form of settlement structures and cemeteries were discovered also at several other localities e.g. Tell el-farkha, Tell Ibrahim-Awad, Tell el-iswid, Kom el-khilgan or Tell el-mashal a. The data obtained in recent years proved that, contrary to the former views on the Lower Egyptian society, it have been much more developed and stratified. In addition to high developed material culture, intensive contacts of Delta inhabitants with neighboring areas, mainly the Levant but also the south of the country, are certified. The new date, concerning that culture were obtained recently also at Tell el-murra, located only several kilometers to the east of Tell el-farkha. The research at Tell el-murra, are conducted by Polish Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków since Beside the main trenches S3 and T5, two test trenches S3B and S4, both 5 x 5 m, were also explored respectively in the south-western and eastern part of the Tell. The finds from these test trenches included Old Kingdom (S4) and Naqada III (S4, S3B) material but the lowermost layers were associated with Lower Egyptian culture. Fragments of pottery with a distinctive decorative motif in the shape of zigzags a well as lemon-shaped jars, both considered as cultural and chronological markers of the latter culture, proved such chronology. Other finds include flint and stone objects

3 (among them probably unfinished mace-head). The settlement remains comprise storage pits and different simple wooden and wattle-and-daub constructions, showing affinity to structures excavated at other sites of that culture. These findings, from the lowermost levels of trench S3B and S4 of Tell el-murra site, proved that the settlement which existed there since the Predynastic period had been inhabited at the beginning by people belonging to the said culture. Furthermore, its presence at yet another site in the north-eastern part of Nile Delta, located in the vicinity of other settlements of said period, seems to prove the area could be densely populated then. The finds from Tell el-murra are also invaluable archaeological material for comparison with other sites (e.g. Tell el-farkha) in order to capture some common features and differences at the same period. The aim of the lecture will be to present the Lower Egyptian finds from Tell el-murra and to compare them with findings from the neighboring archaeological sites located in the northeastern part of Nile Delta. BÖHM, Herbert Of Skulls and Feet Animal Remains of the Early Dynastic/Early Old Kingdom Cemetery of Helwan Animal remains constitute one of the most frequently occurring types of archaeological findings, bearing significant information for nearly all aspects of past societies. Their potential relevance ranges from economic issues to religious belief systems and their manifestations. Therefore, zooarchaeological findings from burial contexts serve as an important source of information for the metaphysical interactions between the deceased and the bereaved. Furthermore, animal skeletons or skeleton parts represent a valuable database not only for questions of zoology and domestication but also for human-animal interrelations, even beyond lifetime. During the excavations of the early dynastic/early old kingdom necropolis of Helwan (Operation 4), thousands of animal remains were unearthed, building a substantial corpus of data. Even if skeletal remains of domestic ruminants represent the vast majority of the zooarchaeological material, a remarkable diversity of animal species can be noted, including a variety of other mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. In this regard, it can be demonstrated, that the accurate contextualisation of species representation and archaeological feature is of crucial importance not only for the interpretation of use and meaning of various animals but also for a better understanding of site formation processes and taphonomic histories. Another important issue is the representation of skeletal parts and their economic, culinary and possibly religious or symbolic value. This material provides strong evidence for a strict selectivity for certain body parts and highly standardised processes related to them. This high degree of standardisation affected not only the representation of species and their body parts, but also their spatial distribution within the tomb contexts as well as processes of carcass dismemberment, as human-induced bone modifications indicate. Based on these observations and taking into account further zooarchaeological and taphonomic data collected, this presentation aims to broaden our understanding of the largest and one of the most important non-elite cemeteries of Early Dynastic Egypt. This material gives detailed insights into the funeral customs of the poorly known low- and middle class Memphite population and provides valuable comparisons to well known elite grave contexts of this time period. In this sense, the zooarchaeological material of Helwan is of far reaching importance, since it has the potential to make a substantial contribution to gain a deeper understanding of the main population of one of the focal points of early urbanism in times of ancient Egypt s state formation.

4 BRAUN, Eliot External Interaction in the Fourth Millennium Ancient Near East: Comparing Egyptian Colonial Activity in the Southern Levant with the Uruk Expansion In a recent study, Raphael Greenberg and Giulio Palumbi (2015) virtually equated the Uruk Expansion into Anatolia with Egyptian colonial activity in the southern Levant in the late fourth Millennium. The present study takes a hard look at archaeological evidence, which, contrary to the claims of these scholars, documents significantly different scales of activity that followed very different trajectories in those regions. On the one hand the Uruk expansion seems to have been more intensively organized, of far longer duration and of much wider extent; a true colonial expansion involving the physical translocation of communities of southern origin, in new and within existing settlements. That expansion from southern Mesopotamia transformed society in the Euphrates Valley and the northern Levant, leaving it more complex and hierarchical. The collapse of that society led to greater emergence of another cultural phenomenon, one associated with Kura-Araks people and its spread southward to as far as the northern reaches of the southern Levant as at the site of Beth Yerah (Khirbet Kerak). By contrast, Egyptian activity in the southern Levant was far less pervasive, limited to a very few settlements, of apparently relatively brief duration and likely associated with a not particularly populous group of Nilotic people transplanted to the southern Levant. It encountered a region where the transformation from village and hamlet level of social organization had been transcended to one that was, at least in large agglomerations of populations, complex and hierarchical. The disappearance of the Egyptian colony seems to have had no lasting effect on the trajectory of south Levantine development, at least until the end of the Early Bronze Age proper (EB 2 3), as quantitatively, Egyptian material culture is virtually absent in those phases of the southern Levant. Even oft-touted examples of purportedly south Levantine imports in royal and elite tombs in Egypt seem, on the basis of recent research, to be more likely derived from the southern Levant. In that context one may question the interpretation afforded a locally made jug with a purported Egyptian hieroglyph from an EB 2 context at Beth Yerah as evidence of intense Egyptian activity there. BRIOIS, François MIDANT-REYNES, Béatrix The Flint Quarries of north Galâlâ (Eastern Desert) The first evidence of flint quarries in the Wadi Nikhaybar (north Galala) were put in light at the end of the XIXth century by the German botanist Georg Schweinfurth. That led us to carry on new investigation in order to locate the mentioned sites and to extend the exploration on a larger area. The exploration first was based on satellite imagery for detecting anomalies among the features of the natural landscape. Field survey began in We were able to identify the sites discovered 140 years ago, but also to put in light many other quarries distributed on about 600 km 2, including Wadi Sannur, Wadi Nikhaybar and several other wadis. This flint quarry complex constitutes the largest one known

5 today in Egypt, before the Wadi Sheikh quarries, which have been longtime the only reference since they were discovered by Seton-Karr at the end of the XIXth century. The work undertaken since 2014 allowed not only to identify and to analyse the high level flint technology, but also to spot caravan tracks linking the Nile valley with the Red Sea via the Wadi Araba. Clear relations with the Wadi Jarf were established. Several camps linked with the quarries were excavated and could precisely be dated from the IVth dynasty. However, some evidence strongly suggest that the North Galâlâ quarry exploiting began as early as Naqada IIIA B, and knew intensifying production from Naqada IIIC D on. BUCHEZ, Natalie MIDANT-REYNES, Béatrix BAJEOT, Jade BRIOIS, François EL-HAJAOUI, Rachid GEREZ, Julie GUÉRIN, Samuel GUYOT, Frédéric HOCHSTRASSER-PETIT, Christiane MINOTTI, Mathilde ROBITAILLE, Jérôme, New Data about the Buto II Period, Results of the Tell el-iswid Excavations Since 2013, the work at Tell el-iswid (eastern Delta) focuses on the extensive digging of the Lower Egyptian Cultures levels. In 2016, the area 4 excavated since 2010 was extended to the south where a Buto II mudbrick construction was expected. Walls having a thickness of 1,20 m were uncovered there. The aim of this paper is to present the results from the study of a large mudbrick enclosure constructed on the top part of the Gezira. The organization of the light material constructions, buildings and fences, which were unearthed around it, will also be discussed as well as its development. This large enclosure echoes a similar discovery in the contemporaneous levels of Tell el-farkha and leads us to see this kind of construction as a structural feature of the Buto II settlements. CAMPAGNO, Marcelo Expanding Logics. Another View on the political Unification Process in the Nile Valley In the beginning of 4th Millennium BC, the political situation in the Nile Valley can be characterized by the existence of a multitude of village communities, about which we can assume with some conviction that the scope of sociopolitical bonds did not exceed the local realm. A Millennium later, within a context of increasing urbanism and social complexity, a single political entity would rule between the Nile First Cataract and the Mediterranean Sea. How such a change could take place? Despite its magnitude, it is a poorly known process (Köhler 2008: 535 6; 2010: 47). In general terms, from the old fashioned ideas about a conquering dynastic race (e.g., Petrie 1912) to the more nuanced contemporary proposals (e.g., Kaiser 1990; Wilkinson 2000), there has been some inclination to equate the process of political unification with a political history, in the traditional sense of a history of the events. This strategy has at least two problems. In the first place, it does not fit well with the kind of archaeological and iconographic evidence we have at hand. In the second place, it tends to subordinate the reasons of the political process to the practices that could convey the expansion, such as warfare, migrations, or exchanges. From the point of view of the social logics inherent in such a process, it is possible to think first of all about the critical importance of kinship in the internal articulation of those village communities since remote times. However, from mid-4th Millennium on, or perhaps earlier, transformations that occur in some Upper Egyptian nuclei (Hierakonpolis, Nagada, Abydos) allow us to notice the emergence of a

6 new social logic related to the state. And early on, both logics could have coexisted with a third one, the logic of patronage, which imply a specific mode of personal subordination. In this context, the state logic, expansive in nature and based on the monopoly of coercion, is fundamental to understand the process that generates new political ties at the supra-local scale. But at the same time, the logics of patronage and kinship may have been key to make stable bonds of subordination, through practices related to consensus, at least at the level of elites. In this work, we will try to reflect on the unfolding of these logics in relation to the process of political unification of the Nile Valley. Although there is very little evidence to think about, we will suggest that theoretical research should be less focused on the elaboration of a narrative purporting to recreate specific events, and more directed towards the formulation of a model which takes into account the complementary articulation between the logics of the state, patronage and kinship in the shaping of a new sociopolitical order. CHŁODNICKI, Marek Lower Egyptian Residence at Tell el-farkha In remains of the so-called Lower Egyptian Residence were discovered at the Central Kom of Tell el-farkha. This huge construction was surrounded by a wooden fence, later replaced by a thick mudbrick wall 25 m wide and at least 20 m long. Inside, we discovered a complex of wooden constructions and storage pits as well as, built in the later phase of the residence, mudbrick rooms. These discoveries have already been published (Chłodnicki 2012, 92 96). But, the southern outline of the residence was only hypothetical because these parts of it were undiscovered. In 2011, trench on the Central Kom was extended to reach the whole southern part of the residence. Finally in 2015 we reached the Lower Egyptian level and in 2016 we started to explore remains of the residence. Thanks to the new excavations we need to modify our hypothesis about the course of the mudbrick walls surrounding the spacious room inside the residence. It is not joined with the external wall but there is a narrow passage between the two walls. We can also say more about the space organization to the south, in front of the residence. Objects found outside and inside the residence cast light on the function of that building in the early history of Tell el-farkha. CIAŁOWICZ, Krzysztof M. The first southern Egyptians at Tell el-farkha. Results of recent Excavations Few years ago an eastern part of huge Naqadian building was excavated, western one will be explored in the nearest season. It was a big complex, so far the largest known in Egypt from NIID1/IID2 beg. NIIIA1 (c ). It was rebuilt several times. The oldest building had a simple layout. A huge complex was surrounded with thick mud-brick walls ( m) probably from all sides. Inside the remains of poorly preserved small rooms with cm wide walls were recognized. It is then possible that the main function of thick outside walls was separation from the rest of the settlement or perhaps they should be even treated as defensive walls. The youngest (S) building (c. 25 x 25 m) could be described as monumental. It was internally divided into several rooms which opened onto an interior courtyard. The edifice was burnt at the beginning of Naqada IIIA1. It should also be taken into consideration that it could be the result of an intentional action. This supposition is confirmed by the situation recorded at the Eastern and Central Koms at Tell el-farkha. There all younger than beginning of Naqada IIIA1 edifices were settled on the thick burnt layer which

7 covered earlier construction connected with first Naqada settlement at Tell el-farkha. Now we are on top of this burnt layer. Excavations in the nearest season (spring 2017) should allowed to recognize architectural remains dated on Naqada IIIA1 and to confirm the hypothesis about destruction of settlement at Tell el-farkha as a result of human action at the beginning of Naqada IIIA1. CLAES, Wouter DE DAPPER, Morgan HART, Elizabeth HENDRICKX, Stan IKRAM, Salima KINDERMANN, Karin HUYGE, Dirk The Settlement of Elkab: Results of recent Fieldwork The Upper Egyptian site of Elkab was an important provincial centre during the early stages of Egyptian history. Despite intensive archaeological research since the end of the 19th century, our knowledge of the occupational history of the site is still limited and biased. As is the case for numerous other sites, systematic research regarding the actual settlement was completely lacking for Elkab. Since 2009, the Royal Museums of Art and History are carrying out new excavations in the settlement area of the site with the specific aim to investigate the origin and development of the ancient settlement at Elkab. Prior to this, the actual existence of in situ settlement remains had never been firmly demonstrated. These new excavations, however, have led to some dramatic changes. Over 15 trenches and test pits have thus far been excavated, spread out across different locations of the habitation area, yielding an enormous amount of new data regarding the early occupation of the site and the origin and establishment of the town. The excavations revealed the presence of a vast habitation area, possibly four to five hectares, with well-preserved in situ mud brick buildings and other settlement remains, dating to the terminal phases of Egyptian prehistory, the period of state formation and the early phases of pharaonic civilization (Rowland et al. 2009, Claes et al. 2014, Hendrickx et al. in press). The archaeological material, supported by a series of 14C dates, indicates that the origin of the settlement goes back to the Badari period. Whether or not the Badari settlement at Elkab still had a temporal or seasonal character, there is hardly any doubt that from the Naqada I period onwards, the site was continuously inhabited until Graeco-Roman and Coptic times. This paper will focus on the results of the most recent fieldwork conducted at the site and will present an overview of our current state of knowledge on the origin and development of the Elkab settlement. CZARNOWICZ, Marcin Circulation of Copper at the Dawn of Dynastic Period Copper was introduced in Egypt, for a wider scale, during the 4th Millennium BC. According to B. Rothenberg (1985), early Egyptians due to the problems with smelting and instead of developing own technologies were acquiring the copper from the Southern Levant. Current provenance studies show that during the end of Predynastic and in the Early Dynastic Period copper was not only imported but also mined at the eastern Desert. Other recent finds such as copper ingots from Ma adi, ingot moulds from Chalcolithic/ Early Bronze Age sites located in the vicinity of Aqaba, suggest that the trade with Levant was still an important source of copper. It is highly probable that during the period in question political centers in Egypt, fighting for supremacy over the Nile Valley, were trying to diversificate the sources of copper, to assure the continuous deliveries of valuable raw material. In my paper I would like to summarize the information from the provenance metallurgical studies made on copper finds from Egypt and compare them with the data from the various Southern Levantine

8 sites, known as the smelting or melting centers as same as with data from mining regions. Basing on such prepared data I would like to answer to a various vital questions such as: Was B. Rothenberg right talking about the dominant role of the trade with southern Levant or maybe political rivals were trying to subordinate the mining regions to fulfil its needs for the raw material? Was a Read Sea used as a trade rout joining the Aqaba region with Ma adi, as it is suggested by various scholars or maybe nomadic tribes living in Sinai Peninsula were responsible for trade of the copper? Did Egyptians import only ingots or maybe also copper tools from the production centers such as Ashqelon Barnea? I hope, basing on a most recent finds, to be able to recreate the origins of the copper tools production in Egypt, the trade routes and the patterns of the copper circulation or the role of the political centers in the development of various mining centers. DĘBOWSKA-LUDWIN, Joanna Who were the People? An Insight into some registered Details of Life and Death in Tell el-farkha In archaeological reality very seldom we have the opportunity to analyze data from a settlement and a belonging to its cemetery. The site of Tell el-farkha, located in the eastern Nile Delta, offers the unique chance. Fieldworks conducted by the Polish Archaeological Expedition to the Nile Delta (cooperation of Poznan Archaeological Museum and Jagiellonian University in Krakow) in many areas of the site enabled to identify sectors of various function such as: household activity, production, storage, shrines, residential zone, or cemeteries. Correlation in time of material from these differentiated contexts gives us a fuller than ever picture of daily life in Egypt in the Proto- and Early Dynastic periods. The juxtaposition of the best represented burials of the Proto- and Early Dynastic periods with traces of residential and production activity of the settlement inhabitants representing corresponding to the graves Phases 4, 5 and 6 in the site s history will form the base of the presentation. The presented data will allow us to discuss deepening social complexity in the Protodynastic Delta and gradual decline of the site s political position in the Early Dynastic times. DROUX, Xavier Tomb 72 at HK6: An Elite Tomb in Context The discovery of the nearly intact Tomb 72 in 2014 offered significant insights into the materials and practices that accompanied high elite burial in the HK6 cemetery (Droux, 2014). Following the discovery, the architectural surroundings of the tomb were the focus of investigation in These excavations now supplement our understanding of the tomb contents and context. This paper will review the contents of the tomb in light of further discoveries of high quality pottery found a short distance to the north-west of the tomb, where they were likely thrown out during the initial disturbing of the tomb. The architectural setting of the tomb will then be examined. Tomb 72 was placed within one of the largest funerary enclosures so far known from the elite cemetery (Structure F). The rectilinear walls delimit an inner area in which a number of large posts were erected (Friedman & Droux, 2015; Friedman et al., forthcoming). After being damaged by fire, this structure was subsequently rebuilt, probably in Early Dynastic times, but the footprint of the original structure was mainly respected. Recent work has helped to clarify its internal organisation and construction phasing. Excavations outside the walls, revealing a deposit of intact vessels among other finds, is

9 helping to elucidate the ritual activities that were undertaken in and around it at the time of the burial and later, as well as its relation to surrounding tombs in the mortuary complex associated with it. This paper will put together all the currently available evidence that enables us to view the construction, use, and destruction of Tomb 72 in its context. FRIEDMAN, Renée New Aspects of Predynastic Visual culture Discussions of visual culture in the Predynastic period, amongst datable materials, generally focus on pottery painting and carved palettes deriving from funerary or ceremonial contexts; however, new discoveries at Hierakonpolis and in various museums are revealing other datable media on which imagery was applied. These are expanding the range of context in which certain motifs are being used and may help us to comprehend the resonance these images had at that time and their mode of transmission. HART, Elizabeth The Development of Specialized Production: Evidence from Lithic Artifacts in Nile Valley Settlement Sites Full time attached specialization developed by the Naqada IIC period, as evidenced by production remains at HK29A (Holmes 1992) and items such as ripple-flaked knives (Kelterborn 1984). These developments can be seen as part of a political or prestige goods system (Takamiya 2004, Wengrow 2006:75), where emerging elites sponsored the production of luxury items which were used to display status and build alliances through exchange. However, this model does not account for all specialized production. Other items, such as lithic blades (Ginter et al. 1996), were also produced by specialists, even earlier than the above described remains, and these goods were much more widely distributed, not fitting the definition of prestige goods. Excavations of settlement sites has been steadily increasing over the last few decades, providing the opportunity to take into account production sites and living areas. These contexts provide data on the activities of a larger range of social statuses, not just the ones that have left ample material records in their graves, and thus offer the possibility for a more encompassing picture. Therefore research was undertaken in order to add to the understanding of how specialized production developed over the Naqada period through an analysis of lithic artifacts, with a focus on remains from settlement sites. Flaked stone artifacts were analyzed from el-mahâsna, Abydos, and Nag el-qarmila. These sites are of different scales, from a small farming village to an emerging political center. Furthermore, they include domestic contexts and, at el-mahâsna, a ritual activity area (Anderson 2006). This new research was supplemented with published information on lithic assemblages from other Nile valley settlement sites. Specialized production can be defined as a way of organizing production, where, above the household level, a given class of objects is made by only a subset of people, but the objects are used more widely (Costin 2001: ; Wattenmaker 1998:3). The organization of production for heat-treatment, blades, bladelets, and many types of bifacial stone tools were evaluated by looking at the distribution of production remains and tools and inter-site and intra-site levels. The results demonstrate that there was quite an array of ways that lithic production was organized. The diversity shows that full-time attached specialization emerged among an already rather complex milieu

10 of production strategies. These findings are significant because they speak to the involvement of other people besides the elite in the processes of change that occurred during the 4th Millennium BC. HARTMANN, Rita Development and Change of the Pottery Material during the Transitional Phase between the Lower and Upper Egyptian Cultural Tradition according to the recent Excavations at Tell el-fara in/buto Recent excavations at Tell el-fara in/buto exposed settlement remains of the late 4th Millennium BC on a large area. So far the oldest excavated occupation phase which consists of light huts, fire places and open courtyards has yielded ceramics produced predominately in the Lower Egyptian tradition, e.g. coarse straw and sand tempered bowls, fragments of so called lemon-jars and small globular vessels decorated with a dotted zigzag pattern. Most characteristic of the pottery production of Buto is the high proportion (up to 30%) of fibrous tempered sherds belonging almost exclusively to restricted vessels of various sizes with reddish-brown or black polished surfaces. This peculiar type of ceramics, which seems to have played an important role in the production and storage of food, is a cultural marker at Buto. Its development and sudden decrease during the following period reflects the change in the local pottery production and can be seen as a major indicator of the transition between the Lower and Upper Egyptian cultural tradition at Buto during the Naqada IIIA1 2 period. Fibrous ware was already recorded in the material of the 1980s excavations, but could not yet be specified in detail. The material of the new excavations provides an opportunity to trace the typological and technological development of fibrous ware at least from the later strata of the Lower Egyptian Culture until its final stage in the Naqada IIIC1 period. Within the contexts of the Lower Egyptian Culture pottery types characteristic for the Upper Egyptian Naqada culture also occur occasionally, e.g. fragments of Wavy handled jars, providing chronological data, but also very few fragments of Levantine imports. Subsequently, in the Naqada IIIA2 period, a considerable decrease of lower Egyptian ceramics, including fibrous tempered ware, and a general improvement of the quality of the straw tempered pottery can be observed. The assemblage is characterized by the appearance of several new fabrics and types, particularly red polished bowls and bread moulds. Some fragments of bowls with white spiral decoration seem to point to trade connections to the Levant. In the Naqada IIIB period this general development continues and leads finally to a remarkable standardisation of domestic pottery types, e.g. straw tempered conical cups and bread moulds. This paper is an attempt to describe the development and changes of pottery types and wares during the transition between Buto Strata II and III in the light of the new excavations with particular focus on the indigenous fibrous tempered ware. HARTUNG, Ulrich Recent Investigations at Tell el-fara in/buto During the last years, the excavation of Early Dynastic building structures at Tell el-fara in/ Buto revealed the development of a probable royal estate from the very beginning of the 1st Dynasty until the establishment of a palace complex during the late 1st Dynasty and its destruction and abandonment in the middle and late 2nd Dynasty. The architectural evidence and the associated

11 material culture illustrate an increasing standardization and organization of labour closely connected to the consolidation of hierarchic structures during the course of the 1st Dynasty. During the continuation of excavations preceding settlement remains were exposed which allow us to trace this development further back into late predynastic times, until the Naqada IIIB and IIIA periods. Unusual installations consisting of small parallel walls covered by matting hitherto unknown in Predynastic Egypt which might have been used to dry agricultural products shed some light on special activities of the inhabitants of Buto. Apart from such details, the recent excavations exposed radical changes in the architecture and material culture of the settlement during the transition of Naqada IIIA1 and IIIA2. First mud brick structures seem to occur at Buto at least in the excavated part of the settlement not before Naqada IIIA2, replacing previously existing light constructions built in wattle and daub technique. Contemporaneously, a transformation of the pottery assemblages can be observed: Whilst the ceramics associated with the light constructions is clearly connected to the latest phase of the Lower Egyptian Maadi Culture, the pottery from the earliest mud brick constructions are predominately manufactured in Upper Egyptian tradition or even imported from Upper Egypt. Although a more conclusive assessment must await further excavations the paper represents these latest results from the DAI investigations at Buto. HENDRICKX, Stan Bovine Symbolism as an essential Element for the Development of royal Iconography In several contributions published over a number of years, aspects of bovine symbolism have been discussed (Hendrickx 2002; Hendrickx et al. 2014; in press a, in press b). In the present contribution, the results will be summarised and integrated in the context of the establishment of royal iconography during the period of state formation. The origin of bovine symbolism can be traced back to the bovine horn-ear emblem already know during the Naqada I period (Hendrickx 2002). It is probably the most frequently occurring iconographic motif in Predynastic culture up until the end of the Naqada II period. The characteristics of the bovine ear-horn motif are integrated in the Bat emblem, which is particularly well attested in Early Dynastic times and will continue to be used throughout ancient Egyptian history. The facial veins of the bull are another metaphor, probably already attested during the early Naqada II period and certainly important during late Naqada II early Naqada III (Hendrickx et al. in press b). Although featuring on elite objects such as decorated palettes, this element nevertheless did not find its way into dynastic representations but disappears during the onset of the 1st Dynasty. The bovine symbolism culminates in the personification of the king as a wild bull / mighty bull on the Narmer Palette and the Bull Palette. The bull tail attached to the back of the girdle of the king is already known for a long time as royal symbol. Much in the same way, the White Crown (Hendrickx et al. in press a) and the royal false beard (Hendrickx et al. 2014) can be considered aspects of the semantic discourse paralleling the king with the wild bull. The beard as element of male power, in combination with the bovine ear-horn motif, can already be found on the so-called tusk figurines attested during Naqada I II. These same figurines, and more specific their ear-horn motif, are in our opinion also at the origin of the White Crown. JANULÍKOVÁ, Barbora

12 Cemeteries of Early Dynastic Memphis: An Analysis Until the urban remains of Early Dynastic Memphis have been unearthed, the cemeteries located in its surrounding desert escarpments remain exclusive sources of information about this first Egyptian national capital and its inhabitants. In this talk, I will present the results of my PhD project, which focused on the Early Dynastic cemeteries of Helwan, Saqqara Serapeum, Turah, and Zawiyet el-aryan. The analysis brought to light some interesting results about the funerary arrangements of the early people of Memphis, but also raised serious concerns about the way quantitative analysis of cemetery sites should be approached. JUCHA, Mariusz A. The Burial Customs in Early Dynastic Egypt a View from the Cemetery at Tell el-murra (Nile Delta) Tell el-murra, located in the north-eastern part of the Nile Delta, about 100 kilometers northeast of Cairo is the subject of research conducted since 2008 by the Polish Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Both cemetery and settlement remains are explored there. In the course of the excavation between 2011 and 2016 within the cemetery area located in the south-western part of the site, a total of thirty eight graves dated to the end of Protodynastic and Early Dynastic Periods were explored and several others were located. Several types of graves were distinguished including simple pits and one chambered or twochambered graves. The grave assemblages comprises mostly pottery and stone vessels however other objects including copper tools, flint knife, stone or bone bracelets as well as beads were also found. The skeletons were not so well preserved, although in several cases it was possible to determine the age of the buried persons and their sex. The deceased persons were frequently covered with mats. In several cases the bodies were placed within a pottery coffin. Among the latter although several types were distinguished, the most popular were coffins with a lower rectangular box and semi-cylindrical two-part lid. In some cases the bottom of the coffin contained drilled-through holes. The presence of coffins in 10, out of 38 graves explored until now at Tell el-murra, distinguished that cemetery among others from neighboring one at Tell el-farkha were, although more than 140 graves were explored, the pottery coffins didn t occur. It should be also noted that certain graves disturbed other ones. Furthermore some of them were cut into the mud-brick walls of older structures, possibly settlement remains. Settlement structures, but of later chronology, were also explored. Thus the presence of both earlier and later settlement remains and graves overlapping each other mirror the observation made also at some other Nile Delta sites including Tell el-farkha and Tell Ibrahim Awad. The large quantity of new data obtained from Tell el-murra cemetery constitutes a sufficient base for study of burial practices in the Nile Delta during the Protodynastic and Early Dynastic periods. That concerns the grave architecture, body treatment, and the rules concerning orientation and position of deceased as well as distribution of certain types of grave goods within the grave. Furthermore more elaborated comparisons with other cemeteries of the same period located in the Nile Delta could be also made. JUNGE, Friederike The Significance of Pottery Vessels concerning private funerary Practices and religious Beliefs in Early Dynastic Egypt emphasising recent Research in Helwan

13 Private burial spots of Early Dynastic times in Egypt were explored since the early 20th century but unfortunately they were often published incompletely and left many questions unanswered. About 100 years later new or re-excavations for example at Adaïma, Tell el-farkha, Abu Roash and Helwan as well as the reprocessing of older material, for example at Gerzeh, establish an expanded basis for the investigation of private burial practice. In this connection the cemetery of Helwan located 20 km south of Cairo has an exceptional position on two main reasons: Firstly it housed burials of an urban population, namely of the nearby ancient city Memphis, which date predominantly to late Naqada III. Secondly the excavators documented all subterranean and aboveground features concerning a tomb. Therefore it was possible to identify grave goods directly associated with the burial and also connected pieces from fillings and upper layers, even including archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological remains. All those collected information finally allow to reconstruct such activities taking place in the surroundings of the tombs in Helwan shortly before, during or after the funeral and thereby it is also possible to catch a glimpse of the funerary customs and the potentially underlying religious beliefs. In doing so, it seems very likely that grave goods were deposited in a certain manner and presented to the bereaved, whereat similar arrangements occur in tombs in Lower Egypt as well as in Upper Egypt at distance of almost 700 km and partially more than 300 years. Furthermore some features hint at feasting meals, deliberate destruction of grave goods and feasting remains, incensing and post-funeral offerings, which are likely components of funerary rites of transition and commemoration. These observations made in Helwan will represent the basis of the intended presentation and will be complemented by and compared with features and findings at synchronous as well as at little earlier and later cemeteries in the Memphite area (Abu Roash, Zawiyet el-aryan, Turah), the Delta (Tell el- Farkha) and Upper Egypt (Adaïma). KÖHLER, E. Christiana KLAUNZER, Michael HART, Elizabeth New Archaeological Research in the Mining Areas of the Wadi el-sheikh The Wadi el-sheikh is located in Middle Egypt and has long been known to be a major source of chert in prehistoric and Pharaonic times but has never been investigated systematically until recently. Since 2014 the University of Vienna, in cooperation with the German Mining Museum in Bochum and the University of Virginia, has been engaged in new archaeological research in this area. The aims of the mission are to systematically investigate this valuable archaeological resource and to fully comprehend the chronology, technologies, extent and economic significance of these mining industries. To this end, the mission has started to systematically survey and map the ancient mines and to excavate in select areas in order to further our understanding of these vast and most intensive mining activities that must have taken place over thousands of years. New and detailed results have been achieved in a number of localities where opencast and underground mining could be observed that provided materials for a variety of bifacial and blade industries in the Nile Valley. In particular, these industries produced blades, bifacial knives and bangles which can be dated to the late 4th - early 3rd Millennium BCE. This paper will provide a comprehensive overview of results achieved to date.

14 KÖHLER, E. Christiana 20 Years at Helwan -a Summary of Results pertaining to the Early City of Memphis Modern archaeological research has been conducted in the Early Dynastic necropolis at Helwan since 1997 under the concession of Macquarie University in Sydney, and in cooperation with the University of Vienna and the Institute for Bioarchaeology. During this time, 15 seasons of excavations and five years of post-excavation analysis have taken place, which have caused a rapid increase in modern scientific data on the main cemetery of the early city of Memphis. It is today possible to draw a far more accurate picture about the urban population, its social organization and structure, material culture, bioarchaeology and funerary customs than was possible before. This paper will provide a brief summary of those results that are relevant to the development and understanding of the city of Memphis during the formative era of the early Egyptian territorial state. KUCH, Nora Analysis of Stone Vessels in the Necropolis of Helwan: Destructive Manipulation as Part of Early Dynastic Burial Custom The project Helwan a Necropolis of Ancient Memphis deals with the material of the excavations between Integrated in this project, my PhD thesis deals with the archaeological material found in the area Operation 4 of the cemetery, which comprises 218 graves. This analysis of the material provides new data to shed light on Egyptian Early Dynastic burial customs of non-elite context in the Memphite area. The graves were built as oval or rectangular pits, subterranean chamber or shaft tombs, in which the dead were buried in contracted position. The accompanying grave goods include storage vessels for liquids including beer, wine and oils, miniature vessels and items of possibly personal use and demonstrate well established burial customs, indicating believes concerned with a live after death. A puzzling phenomenon of these customs is the manipulation of artefacts, for instance being placed upside down or the intentional breaking. The detailed documentation of the archaeological record allows us to identify various modes of defragmentation: for instance the bisecting of vessels and positioning their fragments in separate places in the burial. Furthermore highly fragmented vessels were found, scattered all over the tomb s descent. Some of these vessels were of above-average size and very thick-walled. Nevertheless, these objects were found highly fragmented, which shows a time consuming effort that can be interpreted as a ritualised action. The breaking of grave goods seems to be a widespread phenomenon and, following early interpretations (e.g. summarised by Grinsel) can be understood as ritual killing in order to accompany the dead in the hereafter. A similar conclusion was drawn by van Gennep, whose ideas are widely accepted, as he proposed the breaking of objects as a part of transitional rites, which are supposed to ensure the dead s existence in an afterlife. However, a more recent theoretical approach enables us to go even a step further: As part of an Actornetwork (Latour), objects possess agency and take part in the creation of social interactions. This allows us to amplify typological or chronological studies, adding aspects of social interaction with objects, including the participants of a burial to the actor-network. This way things (Hodder) provide continuative questions, for instance the provenience of the materials in use, transportation and distribution mechanisms as well as the actual production, which might be summarised in an object s biography. This way, the elaborated treatment of grave goods reflects not only elements of the actual burial rites to accompany the dead but also socioeconomic aspects of behavioural ideas. These can be

15 recognized as rituals or parts of ritual complexes, concerned not only with the dead but also reflecting ideas and thoughts of the living, pertinent to the community of the inhabitants in early Memphis. MĄCYŃSKA, Agnieszka The Origins of the Neolithic Egyptian Pottery Pottery appeared as a novelty in Egypt at the end of 6th Millennium BC. Together with farming and herding it is treated as part of the Neolithic package. Some researchers link Neolithic pottery to the Southern Levant, from which it could have been brought together with the concept of farming and herding (e.g. Wengrow 2006: 44 45; Tassie 2014: 185). Ceramic containers could have appeared in northern Egypt together with Levantine domesticated plants and animals. However, there is no archaeological evidence from the Egyptian Neolithic sites to support this hypothesis. Moreover, other scholars also look for its origins in the Western Desert (Hope 2002; Warfe 2003; Kuper 1996: 89). In 2014, at the conference Egypt at its Origin 5 in Cairo (Mączyńska in press) I proposed a hypothesis on the existence of a single cultural tradition in Lower Egypt in the Neolithic. Since then I have been researching Neolithic pottery from Lower Egypt, also in the context of its origins. In , a series of study visits to the Institute of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna, the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, the Petrie Museum and the British Museum in London the Egyptian Museum in Cairo allowed me to analyze the pottery from old excavations at sites located in the Fayum, at Merimde Beni Salame and the Wadi Hof- Helwan area. Moreover I was able to be introduced in the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic pottery production in the southern Levant during my study visits in Israel. This paper presentation will cover the results of my analyses of Neolithic Lower Egyptian pottery together with some remarks on the relation between early pottery production in Egypt and in the Levant. In addition, links between Lower Egyptian Neolithic pottery and eastern Sahara will be revised in my research on the origins of the Egyptian pottery. MARSHALL, Christine The skeletal Biology of the Helwan Necropolis, Egypt: the preliminary Findings of an Archaic Period Cemetery The Necropolis of Helwan located on the eastern bank of the Nile contained the remains of well over 10,000 individuals seemingly from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Recognized as one of Egypt s largest cemeteries, new excavations began in 1997 under the directorship of E. Christiana Köhler. Adhering to modern archaeological methods, Köhler, her students, and colleagues from Qift excavated 225 tombs dating from the Proto-Dynastic to the Old Kingdom. In addition to providing invaluable data on the material culture from these varying periods, the site affords an opportunity to study human remains excavated from documented contexts and their associated grave goods. This paper will focus on the analysis of the 229 human skeletons recovered from the tombs, and their importance to the wider discipline of bioarchaeology in Egypt. The population is notable for its anomalous demographic findings. A disproportionate number of males representing all age ranges have been identified. The female population, however, is dominated by individuals ranging in age from 45 to 60+ years at time of death. Findings such as these typically suggest a population subject to interpersonal violence. However, evidence for deliberate trauma is