Egypt Qnd Lhe Leuqnt
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Egyptqnd lhe leuqnt INTERRETATIONSFROMTHE 4TH THROUGH THE EARTY 3RDMITTENNIUM BCE Edited by Edwin C. M. vqn den Brink ond Thomqs E. Lery LeicesterUniversity Press London. New York TheRelotiveChronologicol Posilion of EgypliunPredynustic ondEorly Dynoslic Tombswilh 0biecls lmpofied from the NeorEustond the Nufure of Inferregionol Conlocls STANHENDRICKX AND LAURENTBAVAY lnfroduction their chronological position compared with the chronolog- ical sequence of the Naqada culture cannot be established Foreign objects found in Egyptian Predynastic and Early with enough precision. Dynastic tombs received much attention in the past, and For the excavations carried out at the end of the have frequently been discussed during recent years (see, nineteenth century or during the first decades of the among others, Adams and Friedman 1992; Andelkovic twentieth, the identification of imports is in many cases 1995; Braun and van den Brink 1998; Hartung 1994; very difficult, because the objects themselves can often no Hennessy 1967; I(antor 1992; I(roeper 1989; Tutundzic longer be located. It is also probable that a number of 1993). The discovery of a large quantity of Canaanite imported artifacts or materials were not recognized as such pottery at cemetery U in Abydos (Hartung 1993,1996; see at the time. The problem is even more important because however Porat and Goren, this volume) in tombs dating the cemeteries excavated in those days represent the large to the late Naqada II and early Naqada III period, i.e. majority of published Predynastic and Early Dynastic before the beginning of the First Dynasty, is of particular tombs, and will certainly continue to do so for a long time. importance. Nevertheless, a number of problems concern- The well-known decorated Predynastic objects, such as ing Egypt's relations with the Near East still remain. the Gebel el-Arak knife handle or the decorated palettes, Among them are the relative chronology of these relations which have often been used as evidence for Mesopota- and a few elements concerning their nature, which will mian influence (see Boehmer 1974; Sievertsen 1992), be discussedhere. were, in reality, produced in Egypt, as is shown by the use The chronological framework used for this paper fol- of hippopotamus ivory for the knife handles and mud- lows a revision (Hendrickx 1989) of I(aiser's Stufen chro- stone or grauwacke for the palettes, which are most nology (I(aiser 1957, 1990). The attribution of the certainiy native Egyptian raw materials. Although stylistic individual tombs with foreign imports to particular chro- influences cannot be excluded, they are Ieft out of the nological phases has been taken directly from this revision, present discussion because their chronological relevance is the full details of which have not yet been published (see, very limited, not only because they would only attest however, Hendrickx 1996, 1999\. A few tombs for which indirect relations with the Near East, but also because the the funerary assemblage has never been published have archeological context of most of these objects is unknown. been dated approximately by comparison with the Foreign influences have also been recognized for the Sequence Dates attributed by Petrie to these tombs (Petrie stamp and cylinder seals (Boehmer 1974; Kantor 1952), l92O: pl. LI-LII). The most notable differences with l(ai- but since in most casesit has remained unknown if they ser's original work are to be found in the late Naqada II- represent genuine imports or Egyptian imitations, they early Naqada III periods (Hendrickx 1996) (Fig. 3. I ). There will not be discussedin detail either. is no break in the material culture at the beginning of the It is obvious that foreign pottery found in Egypt was historic period, and when no written information is avail- probably not imported for the pottery itself, but for the able the archaeological evidence does not allow an indi- contents, which unfortunately remain difficult to deter- vidual tomb to be dated to the reign of a particular king. mine (see however McGovern et al. 1997; Serpico and Therefore, the Naqada culture, as archaeologically defined, White 1996). Therefore, the most interesting source of includes the First and Second Dynasties. The cemeteries of information regarding Egypt's foreign relations are raw the Buto-Maadi culture (Debono and Mortensen 1988; materials which do not occur naturally in Egypt, because Habachi and I(aiser 1985; Rizkana and Seeher 1990) have they directly refer to the reasons for these contacts. Objects not been taken into consideration for this paper, because in obsidian, Iapis lazuli, turquoise and silver play an EGYPTIANPREDYNASTIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC TCMBS I 59 Kaiser 1957,1990 Hendrickx 1989.1996 no cylindricaljars NaqadaIIID 50t StUfCIIIC3 50 b-c,h-t NaqadaIIIC2 l [.,- - .*F+':7s. ll l '.:q; tr;l i\ rl i\ 50d StUfEIIIC2 50 d-g NaqadaIIICI rl llllr i1 iIL ',-] ll L_r i I I I \rI t- ri .l€t.$..qoG'so'Gcarr J1 499 - - - r\ 48s,tl49d,l/50d StufeIIIcI ll tl il 48s,tl49d,l Stufe IIIb2 47t /^-/^.ll\-r\- # -f 6AA I "2a,6 1'7 t 47 StufeIIIbI 47r-tl48sl49d, NaqadaIIIB j;\ F- ir o il b L--l L_,-, --< M{ W50/ W5l a w55/W58 MXIw55/W56g Stufe IIIa2 w60 /w61 NaqadaIIIA2 IViI w61/W62 w62 n\l irr U E5 w49/W50 W5l/W56a,g NaqadaIIIAI .+' ,:1," w4ttw43b W47g StUfEIIIAl 1$l\1\7'- \_/ \___J/ - w4ttw43b w4tlw42 lN'1 W47g Stufe IId2 W43blW47a,g, NaqadaIID2 1 \i \1 \T'J W47m \_-,/ i-\ w24lw25 / )\l w24tw25 StufeIIdl w27 Naqada IID1 i )fiw3/w19 Stufe IIc w3/w19 NaqadaIIC Figure 3.I Relative chronological periods of the Naqada culture as distinguishedby I(aiser 1957, 1990 and Hendrickx 1989, 1996, 1999, illustrated by the t!?es of Wavy Handled/Cylindrical Jars (types Petrie1921.1953) 60 I STANHENDRICKX AND TAURENT BAVAY important role in the discussion of Egypt's foreign rela- from the Badari district, there are problems (Tabie 3.1). tions. It is to be noted however that the Egyptian deserts Either the identification as turquoise is questioned by the are very rich in all kinds of raw materials and that there excavators themselves, or the chronological position of the certainly was no pressure for the import of raw materials tomb in which it was found is uncertain, or the turquoise on the economy and subsistence of Egypt in the fourth comes from the fill of a disturbed tomb. Furthermore, the miliennium BC. In this respect, it is important to mention excavators sometimes seem to contradict themselves when that copper can be found in a few places in the Eastern the description of the tombs is compared to the tomb Desert of Egypt (cf. Castel and Pouit L997; Castel and register and the bead typology. Lucas and Harris (1962: Soukiassian I989: ll-12) and that there is no reason at 208, n.4), referring to information supplied by Brunton, 'the all to consider copper as an imported material as has often state that material originally classed doubtfully as been done-especially because the Eastern Desert was turquoise has now been definitely identified as turquoise.' very well known to the Egyptians from the beginning of However, a few of the objects from Brunton's excavations Predynastictimes onward (e.g.Debono 1951; Hobbs L998; are preserved in the British Museum, where Andrews Majer 1992; Resch 1964). (1981) identified two of them as glazed steatite; while the third one she was able to locate was indeed turquoise, it came from the fill of a disturbed tomb (cf. Table 3.1). The Obsidion beads from tomb 5403, preserved in the Petrie Museum, have been identifled as steatite (Adams, pers. comm.). Obsidian sources are to be found in Armenia and Cappa- Finkenstaedt 1t983) considered the technique which pro- docia in the Near East, as well as in Ethiopia and Yemen, duced glazed steatite beads (common in Badarian graves) Tibesti (Central Sahara), and some Mediterranean islands. to originate from northern Mesopotamia. However, the Owing to the geochemical peculiarities of the different existence of numerous steatite sources in the Eastern sources, this glassy material has for a long time been Desert (De Putter and I(arlshausen 1992 140-l), and the recognized as reliable evidence for reconstructing prehis- skillful mastery of firing techniques attested by the un- toric exchange patterns (c/ Williams-Thorpe 1995, with equaled quality of the Badarian pottery, make it most further references). Recently, analytical research has been probable that the technique of glazed steatite was invented carried out on l0 obsidian artifacts found in Pre- and Early independently in the Nile Valley and the Near East. Dynastic contexts at Hierakonpolis, the royal tombs from Turquoise has not been found in tombs dating to the Abydos, Naqada and Qaw el-I(ebir (Bavay et a\.2000). Naqada I and early Naqada II period (Table 3.2), and This study demonstrated all of these objects to originate therefore an interruption in the import of turquoise would from Ethiopian or Yemenite sources, and definitely not have to be supposed, if it did already occur during the from Armenia or Cappadocia. Therefore, the presence of Badarian. However, the material development of the Bad- obsidian should no longer be considered as evidence for ari and early Naqada culture shows no sign of any event relations between Upper Egypt and the Near East. Conse- which could have been the cause for such an interruption. quently, this material wiil not be discussedhere. However, Considering all of this, the oldest unquestionable it should be stressedthat one cannot exclude that obsidian occurrence of turquoise is to be moved to the Naqada IIC of different origins reached the Egyptian Nile Valley during period (Table ).2). It is certainiy not to be excluded that the Predynastic period.