REPORT ON THE ORIGINS 3
COLLOQUIUM AT THE BRITISH
MUSEUM (28 JULY – 1 AUGUST 2008)
by JUAN JOSÉ CASTILLOS
This Colloquium on recent work on Predynastic Egyptian archaeology that brought together a record attendance of 450 scholars from all over the world, took place at the British Museum in London, United Kingdom. It was arranged by the organizers at an unusual season for this sort of meetings, which are usually conceived for autumn, and coincided with the worst heat wave of the summer, which affected to some extent those of us who are not made for such extremely high temperatures, especially in an auditorium without air conditioning or any other means to make the participation comfortable at this time of the year.
The heat and other related inconveniences having to do with the London transportation system, led the writer to catching a very bad cold of which he was still recovering long after the event ended, which prevented him from attending the last two days of the Colloquium, so this report will refer to the papers delivered during the first three days only.
Also due to excessive time restrictions of up to just 15 minutes per speaker, people often spoke very fast and it was difficult to follow and write down the points being made and data from the power point presentations that provided more detailed information, so this will necessarily be a partial summary of what was said, trying to capture what to me were the main statements made by the speakers.
In accordance with my belief that new knowledge should be shared and spread as soon and as widely as possible, I wrote this report that conveys my notes on the papers I attended.
As usual in these reports, I can only hope to have been successful in accurately reflecting such information as may be useful to those who were unable to attend this Colloquium.
D. HUYGE – LASCAUX ALONG THE NILE – The speaker described his work at El Hosh, south of Edfu, having to do with rock drawings that could be dated to the Late Palaeolithic or Mesolithic, early 7th millennium BC. Some of the examples of petroglyphs he showed exhibited severe weathering mainly due to water run off, to such an extent that he had seldom seen before. He finished the recording of these petroglyphs which included animal figures (bovids were about 65% of the total number), the figures involved large animals and the images themselves were larger than later predynastic examples and quite different from them. There were also birds such as geese or ducks, hippos, fish, very stylized human figures consisting mainly of the lower part of the body of women, similar to European prehistoric rock art. These early artists were sophisticated enough to use natural features of the rock surface to complete some of the figures. Unfortunately, no dating could be done, but they are currently working using several methods that could be applied to them. They were also working at Qurta and similar work is being carried out as well at sites farther south recording rock art that has so far escaped the results of quarrying. In these sites, contrary to what they expected, hartebeest was more common as compared to other species. The rock art was found so high on the rock formations that perhaps huge sand dunes were located there at the time to provide access to those areas of the rock surface.
M. HONNEGGER – UPPER NUBIA BEFORE THE EMERGENCE OF KERMA: A FORTIFIED SETTLEMENT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE 3rd MILLENNIUM BC – The end of Group A in Lower Nubia from around 3,700 BC is not very clear yet. Kerma farther south is well known only from 2,500 BC. From the epipalaeolithic around 8,300 BC to Kerma about 2,000 BC a large number of sites has been found and studied (62 dates from 16 sites). The most significant gap belongs to the 4th millennium BC and its existence creates problems for our attempts to reconstruct the cultural sequence in this region. Besides the cemeteries, postholes allowed them to identify large structures (rectangular buildings, temple?) and fenced areas, probably cattle enclosures. Most of the pits found could have been meant for the storage of foodstuffs. They found cattle tracks inside, near the centre of one of the fenced areas, similar to the ones in modern villages. Other postholes correspond to palisades as part of a sort of fortification, this might have been used as a consolidating device to avoid the collapse of the mud walls. Ethnographic parallels can be found for instance, in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania. The Pre-Kerma evidence seems to show that Kerma emerged from local developments but the evidence from the cemeteries also shows that the population was not homogeneous. Many tombs were richly endowed and there is plenty of evidence for looting in the cemeteries.
R. FRIEDMAN – ORIGINS OF MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE: INVESTIGATIONS AT HIERAKONPOLIS HK6 – A recently found tomb (T23) of similar size to tomb 100 but about 200 years earlier (Naqada IIb) shows the presence of postholes that indicate that it had a superstructure, the first example of such in a funerary context. They also found fragments of a life-size human statue, the first such in predynastic Egypt. One of the fragments indicates that it was a male statue. Other tombs in the area like T26 also show evidence of a superstructure. Other buildings were also found with a number of columns inside that foreshadow much later Third Dynasty funerary architecture. The statuette of a falcon found here is also the first predynastic example, they became common only in Naqada III, related to the emerging royalty. Sometimes the architecture was altered, for instance, to accommodate the remains of an elephant and it is not sure whether this building was a funerary enclosure similar to Abydos tomb Uj or an enclosure devoted to the funerary cult of the ancestors. Some surprising results were the pits containing the bodies of several dogs and another with the remains of cats, the latter probably not domestic, which would otherwise predate their presence in Egypt by many centuries, but the evidence of some human assistance in healing a wound might indicate early attempts at domestication. Perhaps these animals were buried there with the purpose of protecting the dead human remains and their fate in the hereafter. There is evidence of replacement of some of these structures by other more substantial ones as we move forward in time. We would be in the presence of funerary temples, the first to be identified in Egypt as well as the association of tomb and temple, if that was in fact their purpose. There is also the possibility that Third Dynasty stone architecture may have reflected earlier wooden versions from Hierakonpolis.
T. HIKADE – ORIGINS OF MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE: EXCAVATIONS AT HIERAKONPOLIS HK29B AND HK25 – As to HK29A, the holes found in the ground there exhibited when excavated remains of wood but so deteriorated that it could not be identified. Their alignment was parallel to HK29A. These were probably postholes or the placement of tall wooden statues, similar to the Koptos colossus, meant to protect the site. The superposition of some holes showed that they do not all belong to the same phase of construction, building and rebuilding. They also found a palisade consisting of 50 small postholes next to the larger ones, which would belong to an earlier phase of construction. As to HK25, wooden stumps were also found but the wood could not be identified due to severe deterioration. At some distance of these stumps nearly five rows of postholes were found corresponding to a structure about 8 metres long and 10 metres wide. The pottery found here could be dated to Naqada IIb-c, although some sherds of Naqada Ic-IIa were also found (C-ware), as well as other objects such as flint nodules and maceheads, arrowheads, all curiously bearing evidence of having been burnt. These objects were more to be expected from settlements than from funerary contexts, so it could be a structure that was an early temple with foundation deposits, which would explain the nature of the objects found therein. Adding the extant results from HK29A and HK25 it would seem that it was all a funerary and religious group of buildings covering about one hectare of Hierakonpolis that could be dated to Naqada IIb-c.
M. ADAMS and D. O’ CONNOR – MONUMENTS OF EGYPT’S EARLY KINGS AT ABYDOS – The groups of graves around First Dynasty rectangular mudbrick structures near the still extant belonging to Khasekhemui and were described by earlier scholars like Petrie as not containing any structures, the work carried out there a few decades ago proved that one had a structure with a chapel inside and another most likely will be shown to be similar once the excavation is completed. Dark stains on the ground could be the remaining evidence of libations which would indicate that these buildings were used for the purpose for which they were built. In this campaign they found the richly endowed tombs of several First Dynasty individuals, four adults (three women and a man) and an unusual one belonging to a five year old child who had been buried with several ivory bangles and lapis-lazuli amulets. All the bodies exhibited signs of having been very healthy in life, with no signs of labour or a deficient diet. The only deformation found in the lower limbs of the adults agrees with those found today due to riding donkeys. Such high status individuals were probably borne on donkeys through their lives so they would not have to walk. No signs of gradual decay were found in Aha’s enclosure but rather evidence of it having been pulled down a few years after being built, so that at any time there would only be the reigning king’s structure standing at the site. Other structures situated north of Aha’s enclosure were also surrounded by subsidiary graves, the occupants of these were young women and had been buried with only some pots as funerary goods, they do not seem to have enjoyed the same high status as the ones previously described. So now Aha’s enclosure consists of three large structures next to one another, surrounded by subsidiary graves. The two northernmost ones might have belonged to royal women. A surprising discovery was the subsidiary graves of ten donkeys, right next to the king’s cultic enclosure, the animals exhibited evidence of having been very heavily worked and their presence here may be due to the fact that at this time they were not yet widely domesticated. All these findings confirm the chronological building activity here (north Abydos) as having gone from northwest to southeast. The speaker hoped to find in the vicinity a structure belonging to Narmer which would fill a gap in what they were expecting to find. This work has expanded our knowledge of the relationship between the royal tombs and the cultic enclosures at Abydos.
V. MÜLLER – RELEASED FROM THE SAND: NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE ROYAL NECROPOLIS AT ABYDOS / UMM EL QA’AB – The subsidiary tomb arrangements around the royal tombs always left the southwest corner free of tombs, it was the side looking to the wadi and the kings probably wanted that area free of subsidiary graves to allow unimpeded access to their monuments from that side. The wood used for some of the beams in the tombs was local wood and cedar was used for the upper beams. The more recent excavations of the Abydos royal tombs have shown some discrepancies with Petrie’s plans and provided a more accurate perception of these monuments. Thus, tombs that have been excavated and re-excavated many times over the years can still provide new information.
E. KÖHLER – MEMPHIS AT THE DAWN OF HISTORY: RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN THE EARLY DYNASTIC NECROPOLIS AT HELWAN – The occupation started as early as Naqada IIc-d and continued to the Old Kingdom. Helwan is the largest site of this type in all Egypt, which underlines its importance. The study of these tombs allows a better understanding of the development of a complex society. At the bottom of this pyramid we find the farmers, labourers and servants, then one step above craftsmen, soldiers, guards, then higher up lower officials and the scribes, then the royal family and higher officials and at the top, the king. Zaki Saad between 1942 and 1954 excavated more than 10,000 tombs, the Australian team since 1997 have found 156 new tombs and re-excavated others applying more modern archaeological methods. The presence of a large number of Second Dynasty tombs throws much needed light on an obscure period which they have been able to subdivide into three different phases. Some of the burials are very simple, hole-in-the-ground type with no or very few objects as funerary offerings, in some cases like that of an infant child, the walls were plastered with mud in order to strengthen the sides. Although most of the tombs were robbed in ancient times, enough has survived to provide insights on funerary practices at the time. Some of the tombs were more complex with subdivisions made of mudbrick walls in order to create a storage room for the funerary objects. Some of the stone vases were of poor quality which shows that we cannot take their numbers alone as an indicator of wealth in these tombs. The speaker showed a graph which revealed increasingly more elaborate tombs as we move forward in time during the periods covered by this cemetery. Numerous new objects like inscribed labels, many types of artefacts, commodity labels, tools, stone vases were also found. Most of the tombs studied so far show demographically speaking a majority of adults over 25 years of age and mature adults over 46 years, this shows a selectivity favouring males and adults, but this picture represents work in progress and can be modified by later results. The relative absence of pathology in the human remains as well as the lack of evidence of hard physical work shows that these people were a privileged group. Variations in body orientation show individual preferences, but the majority were buried with the head north.
B. MIDANT-REYNES – A TALE OF TWO FUNERARY TRADITIONS: THE PREDYNASTIC CEMETERY AT KOM EL-KHILGAN (EAST DELTA) – From the study of this cemetery emerges a dynamic process of what could be called a progressive change, a process of unification in time and in space, which could be best understood by the use of terms such as acculturation, blending of traditions and assimilation. From the point of view of cultural anthropology, there are different perceptions of these phenomena, but they involve conflicts, adjustments, assimilation, counter-acculturation. These phenomena can be linked as well to sociological process of competition, adaptation and integration. For instance, the oldest tombs of cemeteries like Gerzeh and Harageh represent a transitional cultural phase, a blending of traits. In the Lower Egyptian contexts contemporary with Naqada IIc like at Kom el-Khilgan and Minshat Abou Omar, we can detect the presence of undecorated pots, imitation of decorated Upper Egyptian types or possibly reminiscences of indigenous traits. If in Naqada IIc we can see an interaction of cultural traditions, by Naqada IId we see on the one hand a small influence of the Lower Egyptian traditions on Naqada culture but on the other hand, an assimilation of this culture by the Lower Egyptian population with a parallel abandonment of their previous cultural identity. It is not possible at this stage to say whether this situation reflected the migration of people, friendly or hostile contacts or a change in values on the side of the people at the receiving end of these phenomena.
U. HARTUNG – RECENT INVESTIGATIONS AT TELL EL-FARA’IN / BUTO IN THE WESTERN NILE DELTA – The surveys made so far in this large site which appears mentioned in many labels and other inscribed objects from Early Dynastic date and later, has reached only 1.5 metres and that also covers late dynastic and graeco-roman evidence. In order to reach deeper layers drillings had to be made and the results revealed an Early Dynastic building complex. A number of evenly sized stone objects used in the later architecture must have belonged to a stone structure that would date to the First or Second Dynasty. It was then used as a quarry and would be the earliest stone building in Egypt. The sequence of occupation at Buto shows predynastic and early dynastic phases, Old and Middle Kingdom and then after a gap of over 1,000 years, during the Third Intermediate Period. The Buto sequence seems to contradict classical versions and provide a different outlook, but it is often the case that traditions are not validated by the archaeological evidence.
M. CHLODNICKI – CENTRAL KOM OF TELL EL-FARKHA, 1,000 YEARS OF HISTORY (ca. 3,600 – 2,600 BC) – The site covers the Naqada IIb-c-d periods to the Old Kingdom (Third and Fourth Dynasties). As time went by many changes took place, in the buildings, in the economic activities, from an emphasis on farming and fishing to a later greater shift to grain production, which is also reflected in the species of animals bred by these communities. Parallel changes in the flint tools also show the changing emphasis towards smaller sickle blades and other types of small blades. In the production of small statues animals appear at first and human figures later on as well as an example of what could be part of the later Lower Egyptian red royal crown. The prosperity and the extent of trade in the later phases is shown by cylinder seals and sealings, but later on this prosperity ended.
A. MACZYNSKA – LOWER EGYPTIAN-NAGADIAN TRANSITION: A VIEW FROM TELL EL-FARKHA – Some time ago we knew very little of Lower Egyptian culture (Maadi and Maadi-Buto), but now we know about as many as 21 sites and more may be discovered in the near future. Views differ about whether Naqadans arrived in the Delta and caused acculturation or whether the changes that took place were due to internal evolution. One of the characteristics of this culture is that it was a fully agricultural society with lesser emphasis on animal breeding. Lower Egyptian culture had more intense and closer relations with western Asian communities. The chronological evolution of Tell el-Farkha can be outlined in basically three phases, starting with Naqada Ia-b, through Naqada IIc-d and a later transitional period. Then the speaker entered into a detailed analysis of the Lower Egyptian pottery found in this site and how it evolved through time. The speaker prefers the name Lower Egyptian culture to the other Maadi-Buto option and also supports the view that the changes that took place were an internal development of the Lower Egyptian culture rather than a phenomenon of acculturation and that Lower and Upper Egyptian cultures should be treated on an equal basis, not that one of them eventually overwhelmed the other. After this paper a private series of long and lively exchanges took place between the speaker, Köhler, Midant-Reynes and Castillos concerning the use of the term acculturation and the true extent of social complexity in Lower Egypt before Naqada III, with the last mentioned scholar being skeptic and the two first mentioned ones denying acculturation and implying that there was social complexity in Lower Egypt at the time. Also that we should not compare the funerary data from both areas since the Lower Egyptians might have expressed complexity in other ways. Castillos’ main statements were first that it is a natural human weakness that scholars working on a site or a region would tend to exaggerate some aspects of the culture they were digging up, that if the Lower Egyptians expressed an alleged high social complexity before Naqada III it is nowhere to be found in monumental or other forms of display and also that in his opinion it would be a very daring proposition to say that Lower Egypt before Naqada III had a similar level of social, political and economic complexity than that of Upper Egypt.
J. DEBOWSKA-LUDWIN – SEPULCHRAL ARCHITECTURE IN DETAIL: NEW DATA FROM TELL EL-FARKHA – Chronologically speaking three groups could be established: a first one going from the end of Dynasty 0 to the early First Dynasty, then a second from the middle First Dynasty to early Second Dynasty and a third in the Old Kingdom. Many of the tombs had a brick superstructure that in most cases was destroyed by later human activity at the site, in many cases a niched façade could be identified and there is also evidence that it was repaired after it had been damaged or been affected by decay. The remains of several species of animals were found here including donkeys. Some of the tombs were subdivided into several chambers and had as many as 100 items as funerary offerings. Some of the tombs also had underground chambers attached to them. There was a change in the orientation between groups 1 and 2, which may indicate that we would be dealing with two different groups of people buried there.
M. JUCHA – THE DEVELOPMENT OF POTTERY PRODUCTION DURING THE EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD AND THE BEGINNING OF THE OLD KINGDOM: A VIEW FROM TELL EL-FARKHA – There are two basic types: tall pointed and cylindrical ones, other forms occur less frequently (globular and others), as well as other abnormal types with several bands of relief around the pot. Some of the jars had pot marks, some bearing royal names such as Iry-Hor and Narmer. The speaker discussed several types of beer jars from Naqada III a-b to Naqada IIId and their peculiarities, with scraped, smoother or wavy surfaces and their combinations (ie. for instance, scraped and wavy). Then he dealt in detail with the characteristics of the pottery in the different strata (rim, shapes, surface) and their presence or absence in the different sub-periods covered by his research.
L. KUBIAK MARTENS – PRE- AND EARLY DYNASTIC PLANT HUSBANDRY AT TELL EL-FARKHA IN THE EASTERN DELTA AS REVEALED BY ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE – Two of the problems addressed were the patterns of subsistence economy (production and processing of cereals) during this period and whether there were any similarities or differences with later Early Dynastic practices in Lower Egypt. Emmer (mainly used for making bread) and barley (mainly for making beer) appear together in most sites but as we move towards the Early Dynastic, barley seems to predominate. In one of the tombs, in one pot, processed barley in the shape of a kind of porridge was found. Remains of other plants like tubers (nutgrass) were also found in hearths and were also commonly processed and consumed, although they could have used them for their medicinal properties. The absence here of types of fruit such as figs or grapes is surprising although they are present in other Delta sites.
A. FAHMY, L. PERRY and R. FRIEDMAN – ARCHAEOBOTANY OF FOOD PRODUCTION AT PREDYNASTIC HIERAKONPOLIS – Human dental calculus and gut contents consisted of emmer and barley, some sprouted, the first such discovery in Egypt so far. Also remains of Christ’s thorn fruit were also found that have been attested in funerary offerings of later periods. Emmer seems to have predominated here with a much lower presence of barley and other foodstuffs. No grape pips or palm date stones were found here. Phytolith morphotypes could be identified in almost all excavated areas. Starch grains and gelatinized starch were also found in vats. Vats could have been used to make a kind of thick sour porridge that was consumed or for making beer.
I. TAKAMIYA – A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HEATING / FIRING INSTALLATIONS AT HIERAKONPOLIS – The former were vats and the latter pottery kilns. Firing installations in these groups belong mostly to Naqada II. For instance, large vats were found in HK11C squares B4/B5, still standing, showing that each vat might have been ventilated independently. Pottery kilns found in square B4 exhibit the differences in design from achieving warming in the vats to firing pots in the former. Granaries were also found in this area, at first dated by Quibell to the Old Kingdom but now considered to be of predynastic date. To a question whether she could be sure those structures were actually granaries, the speaker replied that they could not be sure but that they would try to ascertain that in the next season. The whole evidence shows an overall picture of economic activity at Hierakonpolis at the time.
J. BUNBURY and A. GRAHAM – NEKHEN ISLAND ORIGINS AND THE MIGRATING NILE – They sieved their soil samples between 2 to 4 mm and greater than 4 mm and recorded the species of clasts. The summary log showed a series of events from the Predynastic to New Kingdom floods. During Naqada I to III the Nile channel originated an island formation, the Nile changed its course westward and in the Early Dynastic the islands had become part of the banks of the Nile. In periods of higher discharge the Nile was probably full of islands more so than today. The course of the Nile was also affected by rainfall in the eastern and western deserts by impinging on the river with wadi outwash.
D. ANDERSON – EVIDENCE FOR EARLY RITUAL ACTIVITY IN THE PREDYNASTIC SETTLEMENT AT EL MAHASNA - Surface collections were made here during a two-month season and excavations of 3 metre by 3 metre squares were carried out in the areas of most heavy artefact concentration. The lines of postholes that were identified were found not to be the two-sided windbreaks reported by Garstang but rather more elaborate structures, similar to those found, for example, at Adaïma. Strata of intact predynastic remains were found dating to Naqada Ic to Naqada IIa-b. Large postholes were found there, larger than others found elsewhere in the site. A wide variety of objects were found including hooks, spindle whorls, etc. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines were also found, associated with one of the structures they found, that seem to have been left deliberately unfired, many of the zoomorphic ones representing bovids. Some of the anthropomorphic figurines represent females and the scatter of the fragments seems to indicate that they were broken and spread over the floor area as part of a ritual. Cattle remains are the larger percentage (33%) as related to other animal species, indicating probable sacrifices at the site, in the substantial structure in Block 3. Among the fish, catfish are the most numerous remains. The situation of the distribution of animal remains here of wild and domestic varieties agrees with that found at Hierakonpolis, strengthening the view that they were associated to ritual practices. This situation also points to an association between cattle and women in cultic practices. NOTE BY JJC – This paper was read by somebody else since the speaker could not come, so I was unable to comment that the association of women and bovids in rituals seems to me to be unsubstantiated since they could be the result of different cultic activities involving women and bovids separately.
V. LINSEELE and W. VANNEER – ANIMAL BONES FROM RITUAL CONTEXTS AT HIERAKONPOLIS – Valuable and exotic objects have been found such as the statuette of a falcon and other representations of animals such as elephants, but the fauna in HK6 and HK29A showed peculiarities compared to other sites in Upper Egypt, especially Adaïma, which is situated in the same region and chronological range as Hierakonpolis. Large fish of up to one metre in length were found, like for instance, at Mahasna. The remains of hunted species were similar to those of other sites in Upper Egypt, there were nevertheless a large number of dog remains, more numerous than at other sites. Domestic animals seem to have been slaughtered at Hierakonpolis at a younger age than at other Upper Egyptian predynastic sites. These results can be connected with elite activities (hunting wild game and thus practicing the use of weapons). Probably the presence of an elite at Hierakonpolis gave other inhabitants access to some extent to higher status food. Many examples of symbolism of control over chaos (crocodile, softshell turtle, other game) were also found. They found evidence as well of wild animals being kept in confinement (caught while young) such as healed bone fractures, but they seem to have been unable to continue to keep them when they reached adult age. Remains of baboons, dogs, donkeys, gazelles, goats, etc. were found. The presence of animals like elephant or baboon might indicate the high status of the Hierakonpolis elite and the power of the deceased owner or being part of the hunting activities of the deceased in the afterlife.
G. GRAFF and S. HENDRICKX – ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATIONS ON D-WARE, IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARISON WITH ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA – Representations on D-ware of cross-lined rectangles (‘hachured’ squares) seem to represent matting, parts of buildings made of perishable materials. Basically three types of architecture (fences, enclosures and buildings) seem to have been made of these light, perishable materials, which later on, as it happened with wood and mudbrick, would be reproduced in stone. Examples from labels and other epigraphy also represent walls and partitions made of these light materials. The evidence points to these structures to have been cultic rather than dwelling places. These representations of perishable materials could be early versions of what would later become the so-called palace façades. Representations in decorated pots of rows of animals could be wild animals that were captured and brought to the temple.
R. BUSSMAN – LOCAL TRADITIONS IN EARLY EGYPTIAN TEMPLES – The main hypotheses dealt with here have to do with characterizing the degree of variation and its historical implications. Analysis of the faience votive objects suggests little variation and country-wide diffusion. The representations of women, men and boys exhibit a great diversity not only in terms of the country as a whole but even within one single temple. For instance, at Elephantine there are figurines of baboons and also at Abydos, but the representations are larger and different. The most comprehensive body of ivory votives was found at Hierakonpolis, being the male repesentations more formal and rigid and the female ones exhibiting a more flexible attitude. Those found at Tell el-Farkha differ from those at Hierakonpolis, a situation that also extends to non-anthropomorphic ivory votives. For the existence of local traditions there must be country-wide diversity and local regularity. In different Egyptian predynastic sites the picture does not conform to these requirements, with an uneven fulfillment of them in one or other aspect. The lack of strong local traditions facilitated kingship penetration and control of local temples and the reverse was also true, it was more difficult to penetrate if those local traditions were strong. As a criticism to Kemp’s ideas on this subject the speaker said that the rules governing iconography are not identical with rules within power relationships, great ‘little’ traditions can be viewed as part of a mutual exchange relationship and that it is difficult to determine the social status of an object and to relate it to a specific socially defined person (member of the elite or not).
L. MCNAMARA – LOCAL VERSUS NATIONAL TRADITION: EARLY SHRINES AS ‘AUTONOMOUS CENTRES OF CULTURE’ – The speaker proposed that the Early Dynastic ‘funerary palaces’ at Abydos, the large royal enclosures at Sakkara and the temple enclosure at Hierakonpolis all derive from an earlier Sed festival enclosure. The objects in the cache at Hierakonpolis have been interpreted as a symbol of royal power deposited at the temple of Horus there, according to the speaker’s views, they would have been deposited at an enclosure that played a part in royal cultic activity, like the Sed festival. Besides, the two Khasekhem statues found there are significant in this respect because the king appears dressed in the Sed robes. The speaker’s study is confined for the time being to the objects found in the temples and a further study of the temples themselves to see to what en extent they conform to this interpretation. Figurines representing women, children, baboons, etc. exhibit a certain regularity as compared with examples from many parts of Egypt at the time and were clearly commissioned by elite members for depositing in the temples. They may have been connected in some way with the royal cult and kingship as an institution and probably were manufactured in specialized workshops.
B. ANDELKOVIC – FACTORS OF STATE FORMATION IN PROTODYNASTIC EGYPT – A complex matrix of factors was responsible for state formation in protodynastic Egypt and each had varying influence over time in such a development. For instance, the natural setting and included in it central location, the ‘tube effect’, inorganic energy sources, natural fertilization, abundant food resources and the gold mines. Also the social setting, which involved an exploitative foreign policy, economic power concentration, sacred power. Egypt may have been a geographic backwater but in fact it occupied a central location between the Sudan and Western Asia. The long and narrow Nile Valley can be compared to a tube in which a tube effect took place drawing migration of people within rather than having been a passage to other regions. The energy of the stream or wind for traveling south using boats made communication easy all along the valley. Solar energy is also high in Egypt which favored various economic activities. The fertile soil was naturally replaced every year which provided the Nile Valley societies with great advantages. The gold producing region was located between the Red Sea and the Nile Valley and was a source of large amounts of this precious commodity, the ‘flesh of the gods’. There is evidence of conflict in many iconographic examples of the time, contacts with Western Asia underline royal control and power and some of the symbols were borrowed from Mesopotamia. A colonial presence of Egyptians in Palestine reflected these exploitative policies. The concentration of political power reached its critical mass and this involved conflicts over power. Sacred power involved order over chaos with the king as the central figure in this perspective as the one responsible for maintaining the cosmic order in the world.
M. CAMPAGNO – KINSHIP, CONCENTRATION OF POPULATION AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE STATE IN THE NILE VALLEY – The speaker said that he would like to concentrate his paper on the site of Hierakonpolis during Naqada I to IIb. There were two main centres and peripheral villages with an estimated population of between 5,000 and 10,000 people. There is evidence of work specialization, also of religious activities associated to large early temples. In Naqada IIc a probable administrative and ceremonial compound can be detected. Hoffman suggested various reasons for the concentration of population here such as climatic deterioration, alluvium-based subsistence activities, quest for security and the ceremonial centre acting as a point of attraction. Then the speaker discussed various earlier views as to the ‘revolution‘ of state formation. The emergence of a new kind of social organization, different from that corresponding to kinship practices and the monopoly of coercion as a state privilege are important factors in this development. Warfare played an important role during state formation as attested by numerous examples drawn from archaeological contexts. Also the concentration of population and immigration, urban contexts as spaces for convergence of previously unrelated kinship networks incorporating non-kin into a new kinship network, adoption, patronage, factional competition among groups, all must have played a role.
J. J. CASTILLOS – THE DEVELOPMENT AND NATURE OF INEQUALITY IN EARLY EGYPT – The speaker started by saying that contrary to previous papers in this session on state formation, his subject dealt with the opposite end of the spectrum, that is, the very beginning of the transition from ranked societies with community owned resources to hereditary chiefdoms in which drastic changes took place towards private ownership of means of production, craft specialization, the emergence of an elite enjoying great privileges and power, among other significant changes, in the speaker’s opinion, during Naqada I and early Naqada II. In an attempt to test to what an extent we can apply to early Egypt the interpretation that assigns to individuals called aggrandizers in contemporary anthropological literature the main role in the rise of social complexity in ancient communities, the speaker mentioned examples from archaeological contexts in many parts of the world in which a transition towards the privatization in the ownership of resources took place as well as an increase in the size and number of occupants of individual dwelling places and indications of economic activities being carried out in them rather than as before, in the open, as community owned resources and productive activities. These examples involved the results of archaeological work carried out in the United States of America, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, Mesopotamia and Egypt itself, which provide criteria that would help detect the presence or absence of similar changes in future predynastic settlement archaeological work in Egypt. This would enable us to decide whether these models developed elsewhere can be applied as a satisfactory interpretation for the rise of social complexity and hereditary chiefdoms in predynastic Upper Egypt.
F. GUYOT – SOME PROPOSALS FOR RECONSIDERING THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF PREDYNASTIC LOWER EGYPT AND ITS NEIGHBOURS – The Naqada expansion was in fact a mutual borrowing process that started in Naqada IIc and which was accompanied by a general trend towards standardization. It was not a period of unilateral diffusion of material cultures which led to a homogenization of the overall Egyptian material culture. This trend towards standardization directly ensued from the centralization of the modes of production. Lower Egyptian communities adopted the Naqada modes of production based on the concentration of the productive forces. Then the speaker discussed at length social conditions in the Southern Levant during the 4th millennium BC and the changes that took place involving migrations of people within this region. A strong degree of continuity from earlier periods, an acceleration of social organization and a concentration of sites along the coastal plain can be detected in this time period. The secondary social evolution there can be explained in various ways (climatic change, endogenous evolution, foreign impetus) and the development of new economic modes in Upper and Lower Egypt seems to have been local in character but an ultimate repercussion of the Naqadan stimulus.
C. LORRE – SMALL ARTEFACTS MADE OF CLAY AND STONE AT ADAÏMA – Fired clay, unfired clay and stone small objects are the more numerous in the excavated dwelling places. Some were probably used as tools and others as representations of other objects. The corpus of Adaïma model boats shows objects with flat bottoms and not very high ends. Many animal figurines were also found, bovids and very many tadpoles which were perhaps considered as propitious objects for the house and its occupants. Anthropomorphic figurines, stone artefacts such as maceheads and spindle whorls as well as other spheroid objects were also found. The fragments of stone vessels seem to indicate the use and reuse of such objects within the household.
G. DI PIETRO – MISCELLANEOUS ARTEFACTS FROM ZAWAYDAH (NAQADA, PETRIE’S SOUTH TOWN) – Among them, the speaker mentioned miniature boats made of straw tempered Nile silt and also untempered which were the majority (about 90% of the total). Almost all are in a fragmentary condition and are of the flat and flat bottom, pointed variety. Miniature vessels made in about half the cases of untempered Nile silt were also made assuming various shapes. Also fragments of animal figurines, in many cases of undetermined species, it was not possible to decide if they had been deliberately or accidentally broken. Terracotta ‘palettes’ seem to have been votive objects. Anthropomorphic figurines were also found. Then the speaker showed a distribution plan of these objects in the site with a clustering of the votive objects in the southwest corner, where there could have been an early temple.
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