LOWER EGYPTIAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH SOUTHERN LEVANT IN THE 4TH MILLENNIUM BC Studies in African Archaeology Vol. 12 Agnieszka Mączyńska LOWER EGYPTIAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH SOUTHERN LEVANT TH IN THE 4 MILLENNIUM BC Poznań 2013 "LOWER EGYPTIAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH SOUTHERN LEVANT IN THE 4TH MILLENNIUM BC" Poznań archaeological MuseuM STUDIES IN AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY VOL. 12 TRANSLATION AND PROOFREADING: Michał Cieślak PHOTOGRAPHS: Robert Słaboński, Maciej Jórdeczka, Marcin Czarnowicz DRAWINGS: Jolanta Kędelska, Barbara Bednarczyk, Agnieszka Mączyńska LAYOUT AND SETTING: Maciej Jórdeczka COVER DESIGNER: Maciej Jórdeczka © Poznań Archaeological Museum and author PL ISSN 0866-9244 ISBN 978-83-60109-33-5 Published under the project: The Nile Delta as a centre of cultural interactions between Upper Egypt and Southern Levant in 4th millennium BC financed by the Foundation for Polish Science (Programme PARENT BRIDGE 2/2010) FOR MY FAMILY TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 13 INTRODUctiON 15 1. Goals 15 2. Chronological range 19 3. Territorial range 21 4. Methodology 23 PART I – THE NILE DELTA AND THE SOUTHERN LEVANT IN THE 5TH AND IN THE FIRST PART OF 4TH MILLENNIA BC Chapter 1 – Key issues in and the current state of research 31 1. Overview of issues in and the state of research on the Predynastic period and the Lower Egyptian culture 31 2. Overview of issues in and the state of research on the relations between the Lower Egyptian and Southern Levantine communities 33 2.1. Relations between Egypt and the Southern Levant 33 2.2. Relations between Egypt and Sinai 42 2.3. Relations between Egypt and Syria/Mesopotamia 45 3. Summary 47 Chapter 2 – The Nile Delta in the Predynastic period 48 1. Background 48 2. Neolithisation process in Egypt 49 3. Predynastic period 53 3.1. Terminology 53 3.2. Periodization of the Predynastic period 54 3.2.1. Naqada culture 3.2.2. Early Predynastic cultures of Lower Egypt 4. Lower Egyptian cultures 58 4.1. Faiyumian culture 58 4.2. Merimde culture 61 4.3. El-Omari culture 64 Chapter 3 – Southern Levant in the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age I 67 1. Chalcolithic period (4500-3650 BC) 67 2. Early Bronze Age I (3650-3000 BC) 73 PART II – LOWER EGYPTIAN CULTURE Chapter 4 – Lower Egyptian settlement system 79 1. Settlements 79 1.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in 80 1.2. Maadi 80 1.3. Sais – Sa el-Hagar 83 1.4. Tell el-Farkha 84 1.5. Tell el-Iswid 88 1.6. Tell el-Masha’la 89 1.7. Tell Ibrahim Awad 89 2. Cemeteries 90 2.1. Heliopolis 90 2.2. Kom el-Khilgan 91 2.3. Maadi 92 2.4. Minshat Abu Omar 92 2.5. Wadi Digla 94 3. Summary 98 Chapter 5 – Lower Egyptian economy and social system 101 1. Economy 101 1.1. Farming 101 1.2. Animal breeding 102 1.3. Hunting, gathering and fishing 104 1.4. Summary 105 2. Social system 106 Chapter 6 – The Lower Egyptian ceramic assemblages 112 1. Pottery classification systems 112 1.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in, Ezbet el-Qerdahi 112 1.2. Heliopolis 113 1.3. Kom el-Khilgan 113 1.4. Maadi, Wadi Digla 113 1.5. Minshat Abu Omar 114 1.6. Tell el-Farkha 114 1.7. Tell el-Iswid, Tell Ibrahim Awad 114 1.8. Other sites 115 1.9. Summary 115 2. Technology 116 2.1. Raw materials 116 2.2. Vessel making process 117 3. Wares and forms 117 3.1. Wares 117 3.2. Vessel forms 120 3.3. Miniature vessels 129 3.4. Special forms 131 3.5. Miscellanea 132 4. Decoration 134 5. Vessel functions 138 6. Social aspects of pottery production 139 7. Summary 140 Chapter 7 – Other assemblages of the Lower Egyptian culture 143 1. Flint assemblages 143 1.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in 143 1.2. Ezbet el-Qerdahi 144 1.3. Heliopolis 145 1.4. Maadi – settlement 145 1.5. Maadi, Wadi Digla – cemeteries 147 1.6. Minshat Abu Omar 148 1.7. Tell el-Farkha 148 1.8. Tell el-Iswid, Tell Ibrahim Awad 151 1.9. Chaîne opératoire of the Lower Egyptian culture 153 2. Clay items 156 2.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in 156 2.2. Ezbet el-Qerdahi 156 2.3. Maadi – settlement 157 2.4. Tell el-Farkha 157 2.5. Tell el-Iswid, Tell Ibrahim Awad 159 3. Stone items 159 3.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in 159 3.2. Giza 160 3.3. Heliopolis 161 3.4. Maadi – settlement 162 3.5. Minshat Abu Omar 164 3.6. Tell el-Farkha 165 3.7. Wadi Digla 166 4. Metal products 167 4.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in 167 4.2. Heliopolis 168 4.3. Maadi – settlement 168 4.4. Minshat Abu Omar 169 4.5. Tell el-Farkha 169 4.6. Wadi Digla 170 5. Products of organic materials 170 5.1. Buto – Tell el-Fara’in 170 5.2. Heliopolis 170 5.3. Maadi – settlement 170 5.4. Maadi, Wadi Digla – cemeteries 174 5.5. Minshat Abu Omar 175 5.6. Tell el-Farkha 175 5.7. Tell el-Iswid, Tell Ibrahim Awad 176 6. Pigments 176 6.1. Heliopolis 176 6.2. Maadi – settlement 176 6.3. Minshat Abu Omar 177 6.4. Wadi Digla 177 7. Summary 177 PART III – IMPORTS IN THE NILE DELTA AND THE SOUTHERN LEVANT Chapter 8 – Southern Levantine imports and their imitations in the Lower Egyptian culture 181 1. Buto – Tell el-Fara'in 181 2. Heliopolis 184 3. Maadi – settlement 185 4. Maadi, Wadi Digla – cemeteries 189 5. Minshat Abu Omar 190 6. Tell el-Farkha 192 7. Tell Ibrahim Awad, Tell el-Iswid 193 8. Summary 194 Chapter 9 – Egyptian imports at the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age I sites in the Southern Levant 195 1. Pottery 195 2. Stone and flint items 198 3. Miscellanea 199 4. Summary 200 Chapter 10 – Lower Egyptian communities and their interactions with Southern Levant in the 4th millennium BC. Summary 201 References 215 Plates 253 List of tables 253 List of figures 254 List of plates 255 PREFACE This monograph is based on my doctoral dissertation written under the supervision of pro- fessor Lech Krzyżaniak and defended in the fall of 2004. Although many people encouraged me to publish the dissertation and the Council of the Faculty of History at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, issued a positive opinion on the matter, I did not manage to have my thesis printed. Some of the issues addressed there were presented at conferences and published as research papers. In May 2011 I received a grant to finance a 3-year project entitled The Nile Delta as a centre of cultural interactions between Upper Egypt and Southern Levant in 4th millennium BC. The grant was part of the Parent Bridge program financed by the Founda- tion for Polish Science, aimed at providing assistance to young parents-researchers returning to research work after a parenting break. Publishing my doctoral dissertation was originally one of the project tasks. However, I well realized that archeological evidence and its inter- pretation had changed (sometimes significantly) after 2004. Likewise, my own views and knowledge had evolved during those years. It was thus only natural to update the dissertation and to revise my views presented back in 2004. As a result, this monograph is not merely an English translation of the dissertation defended nearly 10 years ago, but also addresses new discoveries from the Nile Delta and Southern Levant. In addition, it presents my current views on the interactions between the Delta, Upper Egypt and Canaan, reflecting the last two years of intensive research. Agnieszka Mączyńska ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ever since I started my lifetime adventure as a member of the Polish Archaeological Expedi- tion to the Eastern Nile Delta my research work has depended heavily on the support of many people whom I would like to thank with all my heart. Firstly, I thank the late professor Lech Krzyżaniak, who was my first mentor and my guide to the archeology of Predynastic Egypt. His knowledge and experience were exceptionally helpful in writing a doctoral dissertation on a topic I was only beginning to understand. Ano- ther important person is dr. Marek Chłodnicki, who made it possible for me to join the team exploring the Tell el-Farkha site and to work for Poznan Archaeological Museum. His kindness and trust offered from the very start allowed me to come the point where I am right now. I would further like to thank professor Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz for his positive review of my dissertation and his scholarly support which I have enjoyed over the years of our cooperation, not only in Ghazala. I am also profoundly grateful to professor Michał Kobusiewicz, the other reviewer of my dissertation. I also thank dr. Marzena Szmyt, manager of Poznan Archaeologi- cal Museum, for her vast and ongoing support. I am also thankful to all my friends and colleagues from the Polish Archaeological Expe- dition to the Eastern Nile Delta who have accompanied me for countless hours, days and months in Ghazala, sharing my joys and sorrows, including in particular my regular roomma- te Renata Abłamowicz, as well as Marcin Czarnowicz, Joanna Dębowska-Ludwin, Mariusz Jucha, Maciej Jórdeczka, Piotr Kołodziejczyk, Ewa Kuciewicz, Jacek Kabaciński, Anna Lon- ga, Lucy Kubiak-Martens, Grzegorz Pryc, Michał Rozwadowski, Robert Słaboński, Michał Wasilewski, and Halina Żarska-Chłodnicka. People like you make successful work possible even in the most difficult conditions. For over a decade of professional work I have experienced kindness and assistance from many international researchers.