The Naqada Iii-First Intermediate Period Stratification

Chapter 3 The Naqada iii-First Intermediate Period Stratification

Matthew J. Adams

1 Introduction

This report supplements the previous report on the excavations in Field AJ North at Mendes, adding updated stratigraphic data from the 2007 and 2009 seasons and modifying interpretations as appropriate.1 While excavation from these seasons added new data for all strata presented previously, this report fo- cuses primarily on those preceding and contemporary with the Old Kingdom temple podium and the cemetery of Phase I, with only brief notes on other strata. The 2007 excavations continued in unit AJ-A ext., adding another early First Dynasty phase (Phase ix), and in unit AJ-B ext., expanding the unit 1.5m to the north to conform to our new 10m grid (Table 3.1).2 In 2009, units AJ-A ext. and AJ-B ext. were expanded eastward to conform to the 10m grid (one unit of which now includes the units known as AJ-A ext. and AJ-B ext.; fig. 3.1) and, importantly, to connect them stratigraphically to the Old Kingdom temple podium (figs. 3.1–3.2). Our season’s efforts focused on as- sessing the stratigraphic relationship between the established phasing of Field AJ North and the temple podium.3 Additionally, in 2009 we also opened a new

1 Matthew J. Adams, “An Interim Report on the Naqada iii – First Intermediate Period Strati- fication at Mendes, 1999–2005,” in Delta Reports 1, ed. D.B. Redford (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009) 121–206. Errata: please note that the labels on several of the images from the first report were inadvertently shifted during the final production of the volume. Where these mistakes are relevant to this report, they will be noted, but will otherwise be corrected in the final pub- lication which is in preparation. This report is designed as a companion to this earlier report, and at several points throughout the report I assume that the reader can reference the earlier report while reading this one. 2 See Matthew J. Adams, “An Interim Report on the Naqada iii – First Intermediate Period Stratification at Mendes, 1999–2005,” in Delta Reports 1, ed. D.B. Redford (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009) 197. 3 For hypotheses concerning the date of the podium, see Matthew J. Adams, “An Interim Report on the Naqada iii – First Intermediate Period Stratification at Mendes, 1999–2005,” in Delta Reports 1, ed. D.B. Redford (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009) 199–200; for a detailed discussion of the podium and bibliography, see pages 156–159. See also Donald B. Redford, City of the

The Naqada iii-First Intermediate Period Stratification 49

Table 3.1 Revised interim stratigraphy from Mendes Field AJ North

Mendes Description Naqada Chronology Dynastic Chronology

Post Phase I Temple MK – Saite Period AJ-Phase Ib/c Cemetery First Intermediate Period AJ-Phase ii Early fip AJ-Phase iii Podium “Priest’s 4th/5th – 6th Houses” Dynasty AJ-Phase iv Domestic? Naqada iiid3–iva 3rd – 4th/5th Dynasty AJ-Phase iv/v Large Building Naqada iiid 2nd – 3rd Dynasty AJ Phase va Dense Sherd Layer AJ Phase vb Admin/Domestic Naqada iiic2–iiid2 Late 1st – 2nd Structure Dynasty AJ Phase vi Admin/Domestic Naqada IIIC1–iiic2 ? – Den – ? Structure AJ Phase vii Domestic Structures Naqada iiib–iiic1 Early 1st Dynasty AJ Phase viii Domestic Structures Naqada iiib–iiic1 Early 1st Dynasty AJ Phase ix Occupational Naqada iiib–iiic1 Early 1st debris; Burial 09-B Dynasty Sherds only Naqada (iid1)-iiia2 Sherds only Naqada iia-iid1 Sherds only Naqada IA-IC a Naqada iiid divisions are based on the preliminary chronology proposed by Köhler, see E. Christiana Köhler, “On the Origins of Memphis – The New Excavations in the Early Dynastic Necropolis at Helwan,” pages 296–315 in Egypt at its Origins: Studies in Memory of Barbara Adams, edited by S. Hendrickx, R.F. Friedman, K.M. Ciałowicz, and M. Chłodnicki, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 128, Leuven: Peeters (2004).

Ram-man: The Story of Ancient Mendes (Princeton: Princeton University Press: 2010) 36–40, 45–50.