An interdisciplinary analysis on the state formation and kingship in the Predynastic Egypt Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie am Fachbereich Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften der Freien Universität Berlin vorgelegt von Paolo Medici Berlin 2020 Erstgutachter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jochem Kahl Zweitgutachter: PD Dr. Jan Moje Tag der Disputation: 10 Dezember 2019 INDEX Introduction ......................................................................................6 Defi nitions of ‘evolution’ and ‘development’ ........................................6 PART 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................8 1.1 The theories and studies on state formation and the development of social complexity: from the origins to modern period. ................9 1.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................9 1.1.2 The fi rst studies .......................................................................9 The period before the nineteenth century .......................................10 1.1.3 From the nineteenth century to the 1970s .................................14 Lewis Henry Morgan and Karl Marx, the fi rst theories ......................14 The legacy of Karl Marx – Engels’ studies .......................................15 The Austria-German intellectuals ...................................................19 The evolutionary approach and the renaissance of the social studies. .22 1.2 The theories and studies on the state formation and social complexity development: the contemporary theories . 2 5 1.2.1 The new deal: the new archeology and the neoevolutionism .......25 The neoevolutionism: Sahlinis and Service ......................................25 The new archaeology and processualism ........................................27 Post-processual archaeology ..........................................................30 Charles Spencer and Kent Flannery: the reconsideration of the evolutionary approach and the introduction of the agency .....34 1.2.2 Carneiro and the Circumscription theory ....................................37 First theorisation ..........................................................................37 Evolution of his theory ..................................................................41 1.2.3 Claessen and the focus on Early States ......................................45 The theorization of Early State.......................................................45 The Evolutionary question .............................................................51 The complex interaction model ......................................................51 1.2.4 Earle’s process of state formation and the sources of power ........53 The fi rst theorization of the Sources of Power. ................................54 Bottlenecks and interconnection between powers. ..........................56 The materialization of Ideology ......................................................57 1.2.5 The discussion over the war and the confl ict ..............................59 War as main cause .......................................................................60 War as one of the possible causes .................................................63 1.2.6 The rise of inequality in the societies .........................................67 Charles Stanish and the game theory. ............................................67 Flannery, Marcus, and the work on “The creation of inequality” ........70 1.3 Defi nitions of chiefdom, state and their diff erences ................72 1.3.1 The chiefdom ..........................................................................72 Introduction .................................................................................72 What is a Chiefdom? .....................................................................73 3 1.3.2 The defi nition of a “state” .........................................................75 Introduction .................................................................................75 The characteristics of a state .........................................................76 Leonid Grinin and early state analogues .........................................79 1.4 Applied studies on state formation and social complexity. Examples of uses of theoretical frameworks and archaeological evidences ..........................................................................................84 Europe .........................................................................................84 Near East .....................................................................................87 Mesoamerica ................................................................................90 China ...........................................................................................92 Hawaii .........................................................................................95 1.5 Where to fi nd the archaeological evidences .............................97 Introduction .................................................................................97 Archaeological evidences for the societal structure ..........................97 Archaeological evidence for the social development ........................100 1.6 List of the state criteria divided by archaeological evidences .......102 PART 2: ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES .............................................105 2.1 Chronology .................................................................................106 2.2 The state of art on the formative period ...................................110 2.2.1 Introduction ............................................................................110 2.2.2 Predynastic period ...................................................................111 Naqada I......................................................................................111 Naqada II ....................................................................................111 Naqada III ...................................................................................115 2.2.3 Early dynastic period ................................................................116 Introduction .................................................................................116 Dynasty 0 ....................................................................................117 Dynasty 1 ....................................................................................119 Dynasty 2 ....................................................................................120 2.3 Egyptian evidences during the Pre- and Early Dynastic Period for economy, administration and delegation of power, and religion and ideology .....................................................................................122 2.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................122 2.3.2 Economy ..................................................................................122 2.3.2.1 Introduction ..........................................................................122 2.3.2.2 Estates and domains .............................................................123 The royal foundations system ........................................................123 Domains – niwt .............................................................................125 Estates – Hw.t ...............................................................................127 2.3.2.3 Collection, Taxation and treasury ............................................130 The follower of Horus – Sms Hr .......................................................130 The ‘big house’ – pr.w-wr ..............................................................132 The ‘white house’ – pr.w-HD and the ‘red house’ – pr.w-dSr ...............133 The institution of the pr.w-nsw .......................................................135 2.3.2.4 Storage, production and redistribution ....................................136 Introduction .................................................................................136 4 The storage departments – Snwt, vases storages, pr.w-Sna.w, and is. .136 The administration of the supplying – is-DfA ....................................138 The redistribution offi ce – pr-Hri-wDb ..............................................138 The production centres .................................................................139 2.3.2.5 Conclusions ..........................................................................142 2.3.3 Administration and delegation of power ...............................144 2.3.3.1 Introduction ..........................................................................144 2.3.3.2 Territorial subdivision .............................................................145 The division of the territory and the system of the Nomoi ................145 The settlements hierarchy – “Zentralort teorie” ...............................146 2.3.3.3 The administrative apparatus .................................................149 2.3.3.4 The titles linked to the Egyptian court .....................................149 The iry-paw.t title ..........................................................................149 The tAiti zAb TAti title, the vizir. .........................................................150 Other court titles ..........................................................................150 2.3.3.5 Toward a highly structured literate administration ....................151 The