The Faiyum Depression and Western Delta:
Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods
Author/ Date/ Current Version
Author
Andie Byrnes
Date
December 5th, 2003
Current Version
Version 2.1
Version Control
Version/Date
Version 2.1/5th December 2003
Version 2.0/4th December 2003
Version 1.2/5th December 2003
Version 1.1/31st October 2003
Version 1.0/19th September 2003
Draft 0.1
Purpose
Submission
Document
Completed
document
To update paper
using additional
references and
resources
Editing corrections
Submission
document
First draft
Changes/Comment
Immediately prior to submission I rewrote the Conclusion section
Completed second version, with
additional archaeology content and
extensive revision of Geology section.
See Introduction for details. A third
version will incorporate the Early
Dynastic.
Further information from additional
references added.
Changes to
bibliography. Appendix E (C14 dates)
corrected and updated
Typographical and grammatical errors
corrected throughout entire document
Completed first version
Working document
Online Locations
Section
Main Text and Appendices
Location
Available from andie@easynet.co.uk 07899 977255. Web version
will be posted at www.faiyum.historians.co.uk in the near future.
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Contents
Contents .............................................................................................................................2
PART 1: ..................................................................................................................................3
Document Details and Introduction ..........................................................................................3
1.0
Introduction............................................................................................................4
2.0
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................4
3.0
Definitions, Scope, Structure and Naming .................................................................5
PART 2: ..................................................................................................................................7
The Archaeology of the Faiyum and Western Delta ...................................................................7
1.0
The Faiyum in Context ............................................................................................8
2.0
Prehistoric and Early Predynastic Faiyum ................................................................ 13
3.0
Neolithic and Chalcolithic: Faiyum Area and South Cairo .......................................... 58
4.0
Middle and Late Predynastic: Faiyum, Faiyum Area and Western Delta ................... 104
PART 3: .............................................................................................................................. 119
Geology and Geomorphology ............................................................................................... 119
1.0
Approach and Objectives ..................................................................................... 120
2.0
The Making of Egypt ........................................................................................... 120
3.0
The Making of the Western Desert ....................................................................... 126
4.0
The Making of the Nile ........................................................................................ 130
5.0
The Making of the Faiyum ................................................................................... 133
6.0
Note on Sources ................................................................................................. 145
PART 4: .............................................................................................................................. 147
Summary, Conclusions and Research ................................................................................... 147
1.0
Summary: Prehistoric and Predynastic Faiyum, South Cairo and Western Delta ....... 148
2.0
Conclusions, Research and Projects ...................................................................... 149
Appendices and Bibliography ............................................................................................... 157
Appendix A – Previous Excavation and Survey Projects ...................................................... 158
Appendix B – Raw Materials Sources used in Faiyum Tool Manufacture ............................... 161
Appendix C - Maps ........................................................................................................... 162
Appendix D – Satellite Images of the Faiyum and Western Delta ........................................ 164
Appendix E: Radiocarbon Dates for Faiyum and Western Delta .......................................... 165
Appendix F: The Faiyum – A Brief History of Dynastic Faiyum ............................................ 172
Appendix G: The Faiyum Today ....................................................................................... 174
Appendix H: The Faiyum and Western Delta – Site Listing with Date Ranges ....................... 175
Appendix I: Site Decoder ................................................................................................. 176
Appendix J: Complete List of Flora and Fauna from Maadi .................................................. 177
Appendix J: A Comparison of body orientation in Cairo Area Predynastic Cemeteries ........... 179
Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 180
DETAILED CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... 192
N.B. Detailed contents showing three levels of sub-headings appears on page 193.
Page 2
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
PART 1:
Document Details and Introduction
Page 3
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
1.0
Andie Byrnes 2003
Introduction
This is the second version of this paper, the purpose of which continues to be the bringing
together of known information about the Faiyum Depression in the Prehistoric and Predynastic
periods, to describe the early archaeology of the area and the geological framework within which
it was located and to identify key areas requiring additional research. There is a great deal of
information available about the prehistoric and predynastic past of the Faiyum, and Western
Delta but is exists in many different books and papers. This paper is designed to take these
fragmentary pieces of information and to arrange them as a single commentary about the areas
concerned.
This synthesis has helped highlight gaps that need to be filled by additional research, and these
will be discussed.
The second version has changed in a number of ways as follows
1. The geology section has been completely re-written and updated, using new sources
and newly available papers, and the scope has been extended from the Faiyum alone to
Egypt as a whole, to ensure that the full context is represented. The only section to
remain largely unchanged is the Hydrology section.
As with Version 1, I received a
considerable amount of help with this section.
2. The archaeology section has been edited, clarified, and structured more efficiently,
presenting information in a more digestible way where possible.
3. The archaeology section has been expanded where information was missing or
inadequate, using additional texts to build upon the original material contained within
the paper. All new texts used have been added to the bibliography in italics
4. Where available, illustrations and photographs intended to complement the text have
been added
5. The geology section of the text have been designed to appeal to a wider audience than
the original, due to my intention of publishing this on a dedicated website (where
glossaries, not included here, will also be added).
6. The Research section has been rationalised and prioritised
7. The Conclusions have been thoroughly updated
A condensed version of this second version is planned, specifically for the web, although the full
unchanged version will also be available as a download from the site. It will have fewer
quotations and images. This will be version 2.1W
2.0
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Fekri Hassan for suggesting the project; Geoffrey Tassie and Dr
Mohammed for their expert introduction to the Faiyum; Dr. Okasha el Daly for his continuing
support and encouragement; W.G.Byrnes for helping me to refine my section on the geology of
the Faiyum and M.I. Byrnes for her ongoing encouragement and for her considerable patience –
at a particularly trying time for both of them; and the Petrie Museum for granting me their kind
permission to use images from their website (www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk) both in this paper and on my
own website www.predynastic.com. I am solely responsible for the contents in this paper.
Those who have encouraged and assisted me are not to be taken as endorsing the contents.
Page 4
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.0
Definitions, Scope, Structure and Naming
3.1
Definitions
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Faiyum is defined here as the Faiyum Depression itself, together with those sites
immediately outside the Kahun entrance to the Faiyum, which are clearly related to those within
the basin. Due to the nature of the archaeology, discussion will not be confined to Faiyumian
sites but will also include a number of sites in the Cairo area and the Western Delta - sites which
are clearly connected to those in the Faiyum.
3.2
Scope
This second version of this paper has been written over the period of five weeks, and therefore
continues to be limited in terms of detail and scope. This is an ongoing project and will be
improved over consecutive releases.
The paper aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of the archaeology of the prehistoric and
predynastic periods of the Faiyum, in order to build a clear picture of the area at these times and
identify some of the most pressing areas for future research. It does not, at this stage, attempt
to offer detailed comment or criticism. In the final part of the paper, suggestions for required
research are listed, together with summary comments and a conclusion.
As described in Version 1, a detailed analysis of the excavation and survey work that has been
carried out on the Faiyum and related sites will require a longer-term project, involving an
assessment against other Egyptian, North African and Near Eastern assemblages and cultural
traits
As the living conditions within the Faiyum are inextricably tied in with its geology, and particularly
with the fluctuating levels of Lake Qarun over time, these areas are given particular coverage.
3.3
Structure
Part 2, The Faiyum: The main subject matter of this paper is the prehistoric and Predynastic
archaeology of the Faiyum area, and this takes up most of the text. However, a number of
western Delta sites are clearly related to the Faiyum sites. In order to avoid artificial boundaries
these have been included in this survey.
Part 3, Geology and Geomorphology: To understand the prehistory of the Faiyum it is necessary
to understand the geological and geomorphological environment in which occupation took place,
and in which material remains are encountered. The Faiyum has been described both as part of
the Nile floodplain and as one of the seven major depressions of the Western Desert. Ideally an
account of the Faiyum itself should be placed in the context of the geology of the Western
Desert, North East Africa and the evolving Nile. Thanks to the availability of additional books and
papers this context has been expanded in this version. These accounts are intended for
archaeologists rather than geologists. They pretend no technical knowledge of the earth
sciences.
Page 5
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Part 4, Conclusions and Research: The document finishes with general conclusions and suggested
areas for future research.
Appendices: The appendices contain additional information to support the text, including site
maps.
3.4
Naming
Translation of Arabic names into English has resulted in a wide panoply of different spellings. I
have chosen one spelling for each Arabic name that I use in this text and have stayed with it
throughout. However, where I have quoted other writers I have not altered the spelling as it
appears in the original text, so different spellings will appear throughout. Most names are very
clear, but please note that Lake Qarun is often referred to as Birket Qarun.
3.5
Terminology
Term
Description
Agriculture
Epipalaeolithic
Cultivation of domesticated plants and animals on a sedentary or semisedentary basis
I use the term in the loosest possible sense to indicate how groups manage
resources for survival and livelihood
In literature on prehistoric Egypt the terms Epipalaeolithic and Terminal
Palaeolithic are used interchangeably.
This paper uses the term
Epipalaeolithic to refer to the type of industry that appears in the Faiyum at
the end of the Palaeolithic and is the final industry before the Neolithic
appears.
Faiyum Neolithic
The term used to describe the Faiyum A or Faiyumian
Maadian
The term Maadian is used to describe sites in preference to Maadi-Buto
Predynastic
The term “Predynastic” is used to describe dates that follow Merimda, up
until the end of Naqada II.
Prehistory
The term “Prehistory” is used to include Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic and
Neolithic sites, up to and including Merimda.
Protodynastic
The term “Protodynastic” is used to describe sites post-Naqada II, i.e.
Naqada III (sometimes referred to as Dynasty 0).
Qarunian
The term used to describe the Faiyum B, the Faiyum’s main Epipalaeolithic
phase
Economy
Page 6
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
PART 2:
The Archaeology of the Faiyum and
Western Delta
(From Wenke et al 1989)
Page 7
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
1.0
The Faiyum in Context
1.1
Geographical Information
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Faiyum depression covers an area of around 1700km 2. It is close to the Nile Valley: “A
divide, from 8 to 14km wide and with an elevation of from 30 to 90m above sea level separates
the Fayum from the Nile Valley” (Said et al 1970). Only 60 km from Cairo and the division of the
Nile into the number of channels making up the Delta, it was
at one time connected during the inundation season to the
Nile itself, and shares borders with the Western Desert,
meaning that it was at a junction between Upper and Lower
Egypt and the Western Desert: “the Faiyum Neolithic should
thus be viewed as a culture at the intersection of three
routes: one from the eastern Sahara, one from the Near East
and one from the Nile Valley itself” (Midant Reynes
1992/2000 p.106).
There are seven major depressions in the Western Desert
(Qattara, Bahariya, Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra, Siwa), of which
the Faiyum is one, as well as a number of minor ones
(including the nearby Wadi Rayyan). In many ways, the
Faiyum has much in common, geomorphologically, with depressions of the Western Desert, but
“its natural connection with the Nile and the fact that its soil is made up of alluvial silts both
mean that it is usually included within the general area of the Nile Valley” (Midant Reynes
1992/2000, p.18-19). This natural connection to the Nile is the major differentiator between the
Faiyum and other depressions. The Faiyum is below the average level of the desert and is well
below sea level (Lake Qarun, in the lowest part of the depression, is today 45m below sea level).
Bar Yussef emerges from the Nile and follows the course of an ancient Nile branch, more or less
parallel with the Nile until it branches off to enter the Faiyum, today via the Hawara Canal and in
prehistoric times breaking naturally into the depression during the annual inundation to flood it
and lay down fertile silts.
The Faiyum Depression is carved out of Eocene and Oligocene strata and is encircled by a
northern escarpment, a small scarp to the west and south, which divides it from Wadi Rayyan
and a wide ridge to the east which separates it from the Nile valley. It is overlooked by two
mountains: the fossiliferous sandstone Gebel Qatrani to the north and Gebel Guhannam to the
west. There is one wadi, Masraf el-Wadi (“Outlet of the Mountain”) near Nazla.
The Faiyum contains some of the best palaeontological sites in the world and is particularly
famous for its five varieties of Eocene whales (over 390 at Wadi Hitan alone), as well as its
Oligocene sites including “some of the oldest primate fossils in the world [which]. . . provide one
of the most complete records of early mammalian evolution in the world” (AAPG 2000, p.9).
There are also several large petrified forests “preserved in giant point-bar channel deposits of the
Palaeo-Nile river” (AAPG 2000, p.9). Other fossils found in the Faiyum area include shark’s teeth,
invertebrates, fish skeletons, mangrove roots, plants and termite and insect burrows.
Page 8
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Although it is probably best known for its Middle Kingdom, Ptolemaic and Roman sites, it is
particularly important for its contribution to knowledge on the Epipalaeolithic in Egypt and for
providing some of the earliest evidence of farming in Egypt.
It is always artificial to study areas in isolation. Even islands, although providing an interestingly
discrete area for study, are subject to outside influences, both natural and cultural. The Faiyum
is a clearly defined area but it is very firmly connected to the main Nile valley area just south of
the junction between the Nile and the Delta. It is important to identify characteristics which
distinguish it in significant ways from other environments, to suggest relationships with other
cultural areas, and to identify features which give it continuity and integrity despite the many
recorded changes in the context of the Lower Egyptian cultural and environmental world in which
it clearly sits.
1.2
Chronologies and Dating
Dating in Egypt has long been something of a problem due to the lack of chronometric dates.
Relative dating sequences have given archaeologists a way of organizing and comparing
excavated material. However, while these relative systems have been useful, they are no
replacement for calendrical dates. The position is exacerbated in Lower Egypt where the material
is nowhere near as prolific as in Upper Egypt, and helpful relative typologies have not until
recently (Seeher 1992, for example) been possible for later Neolithic and predynastic sites into
the early Dynastic sequences for which calendrical dates do exist. As Hassan puts it: “reliance
on relative dating has led to many different interpretations of the sequence of events . . .
controversy over the basic chronological framework of early farming communities along the Nile
Valley undermines any attempt to construct credible models of the cultural changes that led to
the rise of the Egyptian civilization” (Hassan 1985, p. 97). In short, more chronometric dates are
required.
In the Faiyum, dating of geological contexts by both contents and radiocarbon dates has helped
to develop sequences, but these can not always be tied into sequences elsewhere in Egypt.
The main source of chronometric dates in Lower Egypt is the radiocarbon dating of organic items
located in secure stratigraphic sequences. Although Thermoluminesence and other types of
scientific dating techniques have been used elsewhere in Egypt, and Wenke (1991) has
suggested that dendrochronology may have applications in the future, they have not been
applied in Lower Egypt.
Hassan (1985) had provided an invaluable analysis of existing radiocarbon dates at that time, and
has developed a “general, tentative chronometric scheme” using the radiocarbon dates available.
A table showing how they relate to Lower Egypt is included in Appendix E, derived from that
article and from a much larger list of additional sources than those included in Version 1.
References to this dating scheme will be made throughout this paper.
The following maps (from Trigger 1983) show which sites were contemporary with each other
during the Neolithic, Middle and Late Predynastic.
Page 9
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
(Taken from Trigger 1983)
1.3
Limitations
It is important to understand the limitations of the data (and therefore the limitations of this and
other documents on the subject) in order to take a realistic view on the summary and conclusion
sections.
1.3.1
Differential Survival
In the Faiyum and the Western Delta, sites have suffered from the effect of natural processes.
In the Faiyum the fluctuating levels of Lake Qarun have probably laid down silts burying earlier
occupation levels.
The Nile’s fluctuations will also have impacted sites located along its banks. Earlier floods may
have removed sites altogether while the rise of the level of the Nile will have hidden lower-level
sites and accounts for the small number of sites available for study in the Nile and Delta areas.
Although remaining sites appear today to be located along the Nile’s edges they would have been
further away from the river when they were established. At the same time, sites built near to the
contemporary water edge have been lost beneath the water.
Aeolian erosion is the process of deflation and redeposition can affect sites locally.
Other Faiyum sites may be buried under Ptolemaic settlement and cemetery ruins, modern
villages and land under cultivation.
Page 10
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
In the northern Delta sites like Buto had to be excavated from beneath the water table, and
recent test excavations at prehistoric Sais had to be halted when the excavation reached the
water table. It is possible that other sites, or earlier levels of more recent sites, have been
hidden under similar circumstances.
One can conclude that “only a small proportion of the late prehistoric sties once situation on the
desert margins have survived to this day” (Butzer, 1966 p.217).
Additionally, some sites have been subject to harmful human intervention, preventing new
excavation or clarification of previously excavated zones. A number of sites have been destroyed
by land reclamation for agricultural uses, and others have been damaged by construction work
such as road building. Examples of sites that have been damaged are Kom K and El Omari.
1.3.2
Nature of site Types
In the Neolithic of Lower Egypt most sites are settlement sites and there are few burial sites.
There are no burial sites of the Early Neolithic in the Faiyum and only one dating to the Qarunian.
In the Cairo area and the Western Delta cemetery evidence certainly exists but the cemeteries
are relatively simple with few and very plain grave goods. In the Neolithic of Upper Egypt, the
reverse is true.
In this paper, which is not a comparative study, this is not important until Naqada II when the
differing evidence from north and south potentially confuses elucidation of the processes of
change that took place at that time.
1.3.3
Differential quality of excavation and publication
Some early excavations of Lower Egyptian sites were quite poor, and some have either not been
published properly or have not been published at all. In some cases researchers who have gone
back to assess the excavated materials have found them dispersed, damaged or lost (e.g. the
Heliopolis finds). At the same time, some early excavations may have been excavated and
published to high standards, but, through no fault of their own, not to modern standards. This
has led to a rather unbalanced portfolio of data.
1.3.4
Lack of data
Due to the small number of prehistoric and Predynastic sites in the Faiyum and in the south Cairo
and Western Delta areas, the sample of sites and artefacts. It is impossible to make any firm
generalisations about the sites, particularly in terms of social organization and change
1.3.5
Lack of chronometric dates
The relative dating schemes that were possible in the south have not been possible in the north
due to the lack of sites in general and burials with grave-goods in particular.
Although similarities between sites have helped to establish relative chronologies, and the
radiocarbon dates so far available have helped to tie these into a scientific system, far more
dates are needed in order to build some statistical reliability into the dating sequences.
Page 11
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
1.3.6
Andie Byrnes 2003
Lack of interest
Before 1970, the prehistoric and predynastic of Egypt was relatively unexposed. Only in the last
few decades have prehistoric studies taken off, and these have mostly been centred in Upper
Egypt and more recently in the Western Desert. However, intermittent surveys during the last
few decades together with changes in the Supreme Council of Antiquities policy which now
focuses foreign attention on desert and Lower Egyptian areas may begin to result in an
increasing level of interest in the Faiyum and Lower Egypt, and more questions are posed about
the origins and evolution of agriculture.
The following is an introductory and simplified listing of the Faiyum and Western Delta periods.
For a detailed listing of radiocarbon dates see Appendix F:
Period
Industry
Site
Location
Palaeolithic
Early, Middle,
Upper
Qarunian, other
(?) Faiyum
industry
Helwan
(Unknown)
Referred to in
Hayes (1964,
1965)
Various
Faiyum Depression
Various
Faiyum Depression
Helwan sites
Abu Suwair
Shibeem al Qanatir
Heliopolis
Abassiya
V/79
Kom W, K
Upper Levels Kom K
Helwan
Wadi Tumilat
Delta. Nr. The
Ismailia canal
Delta
Delta
Faiyum
Faiyum
Faiyum
Late Faiyum
Neolithic
E29 Neolithic series
VIIA/80
SW Faiyum
Faiyum
Faiyum
Faiyum
Moerian
Merimden
IX/81, X/81, XI/81
Merimde BeniSalame
El Omari (date from
Omari A)
Maadi, Wadi Digla,
Heliopolis, Tell
Fara’in Tura, Es-Saff
Haragah, Sedment,
Tell Fara’in (Buto)
Tell Fara’in (Buto)
Gerzeh
Abusir el-Maleq
Faiyum
Western Delta
Neolithic
Faiyum
Epipalaeolithic
Early Faiyum
Neolithic
Omarian
Late Neolithic/
Chalcolithic
Maadian
Post-Maadian
Predynastic
Naqada II
Protodynastic
Naqada III
Western Delta
Western Delta
Faiyum Area
Northern Delta
Faiyum Area
Faiyum Area
Tarkhan
Tell Fara’in (Buto)
Northern Delta
Harageh
Faiyum Area
Page 12
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
2.0
Prehistoric and Early Predynastic Faiyum
2.1
An Introduction to Prehistoric and Early Predynastic Egypt and Faiyum
Egypt has a very rich Palaeolithic past, dating from the Lower Palaeolithic. Much of it is quite
poorly understood, partly because of the destructive effects of natural processes, and partly due
to having been neglected in favour of Upper Egyptian studies.
The Faiyum has a fundamentally important role to play in developing an understanding of
Egyptian prehistory. As well as a distinctive Epipalaeolithic industry, it has some of the earliest
evidence in Egypt of agricultural activities: “Between about 7000 and 4000BC the Fayum
Depression appears to have been one of the most densely occupied areas in all of Egypt” (Wenke
and Brewer 1992, p.175).
After the Neolithic of the Faiyum Neolithic and Moerian, the Faiyum appears to have been
abandoned in favour of the Western Delta. Only in Naqada II does settlement return to the
Faiyum area, and then to the area outside the mouth of the Faiyum Depression.
2.2
The Palaeolithic
The following description of the Palaeolithic is based on the Sandford and Arkell survey of 1929,
and is therefore almost certainly out of date. Caton-Thompson based a number of conclusions on
Middle Palaeolithic sites on small samples of artefacts she found in the Faiyum, but these
samples are generally considered to be too small to permit categorization (e.g. Hoffman 1979,
p.61), so they are not included here.
A considerable amount of variation can be expected in the Palaeolithic record, both in time and in
space. The European system for dividing the Palaeolithic into three main chronological segments
is usually applied to Egyptian material: the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. Gamble
describes the framework of the Palaeolithic as “a myriad of industrial, assemblage and
geographical variation within this tripartite division” (Gamble 1986, p.116). The Lower, Middle
and Upper Palaeolithic are followed by the Epipalaeolithic. The Egyptian Palaeolithic records
show considerable local variation. Unfortunately the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic are
poorly understood in the Faiyum and the Delta as a whole, but the later Epipalaeolithic industry
in the Faiyum is both well represented and regionally distinctive which should allow for regional
comparisons. Matters are less clear in the rest of Lower Egypt.
2.2.1
Lower Palaeolithic
Occupation in the Faiyum dates to the earliest times, with beautifully made Lower Palaeolithic
tools occurring in alluvial deposits. Sandford and Arkell, whose survey of the Faiyum and the
Faiyum Divide 1926-27 was an important piece of work about Faiyumian geology, were also
accurate observers of the archaeological record and were competent in their identification of
Palaeolithic tools. They found a number of Lower Palaeolithic tools, attributing them to the
Chellean and the Acheulean. The Chellean artefacts they identified are now often referred to
Abbevillian in Europe, and are considered to be a part of the Acheulean. They were older than
Page 13
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
the classic Acheulean items, were water-worn and were revealed only as a result of erosive
forces that exposed them: “the very fact that they are now available to us means that the gravel
containing them is now in process of destruction and redeposition” (Sandford and Arkell 1929,
p29). More recent Acheulean implements, (“rare examples of beautiful Acheulean work are
almost as fresh and as sharp as on the day of their manufacture” - Sandford and Arkell 1929,
p29), came from Nile terrace gravels of the Palaeolithic channel of the Nile which ran just to the
east of the Faiyum, just outside the Hawara Channel entrance to the Faiyum.
Within the Faiyum Basin, where a terrace at a level similar to that of the above gravels, Sandford
and Arkell identified further Acheulean artefacts “of an indeterminate type” (Sandford and Arkell
1929, p34).
Early Acheulean (Sandford &
Arkell 1929)
2.2.2
Later Acheulean (Sandford and
Arkell 1929)
Middle Palaeolithic
The Middle Palaeolithic was an important phase in the Faiyum: “So far as the Faiyum is
concerned, no period was more critical than this” (Sandford and Arkell 1929, p34). They identify
Hawara as the sole connecting channel between the Nile and the Faiyum Depression. They
identify a break-down in continuity between Lower and Middle Palaeolithic find locations, and
they suggest that earlier examples may have been eradicated by riverine activity.
The Mousterian artefacts appear in the Nile Valley just outside the Faiyum, (near Kom Tima, near
Lahun, and a few miles south of Ibwit), in Nile gravels in the Hawara Channel (large numbers of
finer examples than from Kom Tima) and in the Faiyum Depression itself at a time when the
Faiyum becomes “an overflow reservoir into which the Nile discharged its surplus waters.” Large
numbers of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts were found south of Philadelphia, at Gebel er-Rus, and
at Qasr Basil, where they are found “unworn, unpatinated and are found in situ in silt and beach
gravel”, (Sandford and Arkell 1929 35-42). Sandford and Arkell offered an analysis of the
Mousterian artefacts but I am wary of using it here, given the date of publication. I have so far
not located any other interpretation of the Mousterian artefacts and will only update this section
when I have either found a newer assessment or have had the chance to consider the
Mousterian collections from the Faiyum by reference to other Middle Palaeolithic texts and
interpretations.
Page 14
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Mousterian beach near Hawara Pyramid
(Sandford and Arkell 1929)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Section through Mousterian beach deposits
near Qasr Basil (Sandford and Arckell 1929)
Mousterian cores from (top)
Hammam Monastery, Lahun and
(bottom) near Qasr Basil, Tatun
(Sandford and Arkell 1929
2.2.3
Late Palaeolithic
Sandford and Arkell’s 1929 survey compares the finds interpreted as Late Palaeolithic, to Upper
Egyptian contexts, specifically to the Sebilian and Tardenoisian. While there are sites in the area
which are clearly late industries, Sandford and Arkell’s interpretations seem somewhat dubious,
especially given that the Sebilian was substantially revised after the date of their publication,
when the geology of the Sebilian area was better understood. I would suggest that a review of
this material is required. I have so far been unable to find any other sources that focus on this
material in the Faiyum area.
Page 15
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Late Palaeolithic
1,2,3 from Ezbet George, 4,5 from Kasr Basil (Tatun)
(Sandford and Arkell 1929)
2.3
1,2,3 from near Philadelphia, 4-7 from
near Dimshkin. Last two images from
near Philadelphia (Sandford and Arkell 1929)
Origins of the Epipalaeolithic Qarunian
The Qarunian is an industry dating to the end of the Palaeolithic period, and is particularly
interesting due to a) its relationship with other Epipalaeolithic industries in Egypt and b) its poorly
understood relationship to the succeeding Faiyum Neolithic.
To put the Qarunian into its cultural and/or industrial context, Late Palaeolithic industries are
divided into two categories based on two categories of tool working technique (Hassan 1980):
 A macrolithic industry represented by the following industries
o Gemaian
o Sebilian (15,000-11,000BP)
o Isnan (13,000-12,500BP)
o Menchian (14,000-11,000BP)
 A mainly microlithic blade-tool industry represented by the other localised industries of
this time belt including:
o Halfan (20,000-17,000BP)
o Idfuan (17,800-17,000BP)
o Fakhurian (18,000-17,600BP)
o Ballanan (16,000-14,800BP)
o Affian (c.14,000BP)
o Sebekian (overlies Sebilian)
o Sebilian (16,000-13,611BP)
All industries have been identified in specific local areas, and that although common features may
be shared by each category, sufficient differences exist that make it necessary to distinguish
between them by giving them different cultural names. This gives a fragmented impression to
Egypt’s later Palaeolithic, but also serves to illustrate how Egyptian inhabitants, while learning
and using new techniques, were beginning to form localised cultural traditions of their own which
could not be explained away simply by functional variability.
Page 16
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
These late industries are followed by another set of localised industries, all of which show
affinities to a microlithic tool-making tradition and, for the purposes of this paper, are referred to
as Epipalaeolithic:
 Arkinian (c.9500BP)
 Shamarkian (c.7700BP)
 Elkabian (c.8000BP)
 Qarunian (c.8100-7180BP)
The origins of the Qarunian are uncertain because there are no clear Upper Palaeolithic origins in
the Faiyum itself. It was probably either contemporary with or slightly later than a number of
important sites in the eastern Sahara (Wenke et al 1988 p.37) and may have had connections
with those sites. Qarunian tools have similarities to those from Bir Kiseiba-Nabta. A frequency
analysis suggests that “the overall similarity of these industries is such that one must consider
the probability that the differences in type frequencies . . . . between the Qarunian and eastern
Saharan materials are mainly functional in origin, and perhaps are also related to local differences
in raw materials and to variability in sampling and typological identification” (p.37). However,
this does not help to establish the nature of the probable relationship between the two: “Both,
for example, may have derived from groups in the Nile Valley whose archaeological record is
buried or eroded . . . . Either or both of the eastern Saharan groups and those of the Fayyum
could ultimately have been derived from the ancient pastoralist cultures of central-eastern Africa
and may have been established before groups moved into the Nile Valley proper” (Wenke et al
1988, p.37-38).
Although there are interesting similarities with other Egyptian and northeast African industries,
which are well worth exploring further, there are significant differences which cannot be
dismissed: “The inhabitants of the Fayyum did not parallel these other areas in the use of
ceramics, in the domestication and intensive exploitation of cattle, or in the establishment of
sedentary communities with permanent architecture” (Wenke et al 1988, p.48).
Wenke
suggests that these variations could be explained by a number of factors including:
 Environmental differences
 Different resource base
 Different type of Neolithic adaptation
 Distance from the centre of the “Saharan Neolithic”
Wendorf et al (1984) also point to similarities and differences, but like Wenke are unable to draw
any firm conclusions: “In the Fayyum . . . the Qarunian sites are approximately contemporary
[with the Nabta occupations] . . . but they are small fishing-camps and lack pottery or any traces
of complex organized settlements. The technology of the Qarunian is very generally comparable
to that of the Early Neolithic in the Eastern Sahara, but the tool structure is different” (Wendorf,
Schild and Close 1984, p. 414).
Mussi et al see similarities between the Qarunian and all other Epipalaeolithic industries in Egypt
and North East Africa, explaining differences, like Wenke above, in terms of local conditions:
“Although the relations between the Arkinian and the Shamarkian, and between the Elkabian and
the Qarunian are still poorly understood there are certainly connections between the industries of
the Nile Valley and the Western Desert (Nabta Playa and Siwa Oasis: Hassan, 1980) as well as
those of the Sahara. For instance, similarities exist between Elkab and site E-72-5 in the Western
Desert (Hassan 1980). While there appear to have been no direct contacts between the Nile
Valley and the Western Desert industries on the one hand, and Iberomaurusian and Caspian on
the other hand, they all are part of the same technocomplex. Local characteristics, differences
and similarities can be explained not only by differences in chronology but also by various
ecological adaptations and economic exploitation patterns with changing emphasis on hunting,
fishing or collecting” (Mussi, Caneva and Zarattini 1984, p.191).
Page 17
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
In summary, although there is broad agreement that similarities between Epipalaeolithic
industries exist, relationships between them are unclear and the origins of the Qarunian are still
poorly understood.
2.4
Epipalaeolithic
2.4.1
Introduction
The Epipalaeolithic is represented by around 20 sites excavated from the 1920s onwards. On the
basis of differences in these sites there are three different Epipalaeolithic phases and will be
described below. These phases are shown in the table below.
Phase
Helwan
Qarunian
Earlier
Sites
Helwan
E29H1, E29G1,
E29G3, FS2
S4, MOE2,
MOE2b, MOE2C
Comments
On typological grounds Mussi et al
suggest
that
there
is
an
Epipalaeolithic phase preceding the
Qarunian.
However, it may be
accounted for by functional variability.
The date range for the Epiplaleolithic in the Faiyum is represented by the earliest and latest
radiocarbon dates derived from a number of sites, and can be summarised as follows:
Earliest C14 Dates
8835890BP (Gd-709) QS I/79
8100130BP (I-4128) E29G1
8070115BP (I-4126) E29H1
Latest C14 Dates
774060BP (Bln-2336) QS II/79
7500125BP (I-4130) E29G3(A)
As a whole, the Epipalaeolithic lasts for around 900 years.
2.4.2
The Qarunian (formerly Faiyum B)
Excavation and Survey
The first Qarunian sites discovered by Caton-Thompson and Gardner to the north of Lake Qarun,
were those of the Faiyum B, which they considered to be a degenerate industry, chronologically
more recent than the more sophisticated Faiyum A. This was based on the fact that the Faiyum
B occupation was nearer to the water’s edge than the Faiyum A, and their assumption that the
lake was shrinking constantly over time (meaning that the site further from the lake was the
older one, even though more technologically advanced). In fact, more recent studies indicate
Page 18
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
that the lake has fluctuated over time, and that the Faiyum B, now known as the Qarunian,
predates the Faiyum A, now usually termed the Faiyum Neolithic or Faiyumian.
The definition of the Faiyum B as an Epipalaeolithic industry came with the discovery of new sites
in the area to the north of Qasr al-Sagha during Wendorf’s survey of the area in the 1970s
(Wendorf and Schild 1976). As well as re-categorizing the Faiyum B they were able to provide
some more radiocarbon dates. These sites include E29H1 and E29G1.
Between 1966 and 1968 the Institute of Palethnology of the University of Rome surveyed the
Fayum Depression north-east of modern Lake Qarun (Puglisi 1967), identifying ten surface
concentrations, discussed by Mussi et al (1984): MB2Sa (the “two sisters” site), S4, MOE 2, MOE
2b, MOE 2c, all located near those published by Wendorf and Schild 1976. Their interpretation is
difficult because of the sparsity of the sample, but is discussed below.
Wenke’s Faiyum Survey project identified a significant surface collection, named FS-2, which was
located on high ground on an ancient beach and is the only Epipalaeolithic site to have been
located to the south of the Lake.
Dating and Geology
The Qarunian, which lasted from approximately 8100BP to 7180BP, is referred to by different
authors as either an Epipalaeolithic or Terminal Palaeolithic industry. Although the Qarunian is
the first clearly defined industry in the Faiyum, and clearly differs in some ways from other similar
industries elsewhere in Egypt, it is part of a clearly identifiable tradition at the end of the
Palaeolithic period. In the 1980’s Wenke’s Faiyum Survey Project (1983, 1988) added to the
picture with the discovery of a number of Epipalaeolithic sites to the east. These sites and
Wendorf’s site E29-G1 Area G provide a span of radiocarbon dates for the Qarunian from
8220+/-105BP and 7140+/-120BP. Wendorf has additionally suggested that site E29G4, in the
northern Faiyum, may be of a later date than Qarunian sites due to the superiority of the
craftsmanship in the manufacture of lithics.
The Qarunian occupation corresponds to a period when a lacustrine marl-diatomite unit formed
at the beginning of the Holocene, at a time when lake levels were fluctuating. Its duration
“corresponds to the transgressions of the Pre- and Proto-Moeris lake as determined by Wendorf
and Schild (1976)” (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989, p.159).
Sites
Although the Faiyum B was originally identified by Caton-Thompson and Gardener in the 1920s,
most of the up to date information about the Qarunian comes from the Wendorf and Schild
survey during the 1970s in the northern Faiyum and Wenke’s site FS2 in the southwestern
Faiyum.
E29G1 consists of more than six artefact
concentrations over an area c.700x120m,
located around two deflated basins,
obviously having been occupied on a
number of occasions, and with which the
burial of a 40 year old woman is
associated. For clarity, because the site
contains one concentration of Faiyum Neolithic and one of Epipalaeolithic, it was divided into
Page 19
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
different areas, from A to F. They carried out investigations identified a settlement dating to the
Pre-Moeris lake (see Part 3 for a discussion of the lake’s levels) with an Epipalaeolithic toolkit,
including a quern for grinding plant materials. The site was obviously occupied a number of
times. Wendorf and Schild (1976) believe that occupation would have taken place in the late
Spring judging by swamp vegetation and a swamp snail specie preserved in the occupation
levels, and by the assumption that the low lake levels occurring at this time of year would have
been the favoured time for fishing activities (1976). In area F, a deeply stratified zone consisting
of 13 identifiable levels, one trench (trench 9) revealed “rare chipped stone artifacts, animal and
fish bones and fragments of human skull” (Wendorf and Schild 1976, p.171). Charcoal
associated with fish bones and chipped stone tools provided a radiocarbon date of 6150BC+/-130
(I-4128).
The burial close to site E29G1 is the only burial of prehistoric date found in the Faiyum. It
took the form of a simple flexed skeleton, without grave
goods, and was buried in yellow sands which may
represent an early former beach level 18m above seal
level, southeast of a surface scatter of Qarunian lithics
(E29G1, area C), 135m away from lacustrine deposits
(E29G1, area F). The 1969 season studied the lacustrine
deposits within which the burial was deposited in order to
determine which level of the lake it was associated with.
The excavation determined that the deposit of the
skeleton was contemporary with the Premoeris lake and
although no grave goods were found with the skeleton, its
position in Premoeris levels and its close location to
Qarunian lithics indicates that it is indeed Qarunian
(Henneberg et al 1989). The skeleton was buried on its left side and was flexed so that the knee
and the elbow nearly touched. The left hand was positioned under the head with the right hand
covering the face. This specific arrangement is said by
Henneberg et al (1989) to be very similar to burials of the
same age in northeast Africa. It is also, however, very
similar to later burials in the Cairo Neolithic. None of the
bones were intact, probably due to erosion, but they were
used to estimate that the individual was probably female
and that she has been around 160m tall. Physically “it
may be seen that the skull in question shows the closest
affinity to Wadi Halfa, modern Negroes and Australian
aborigines, being quite different from Epipalaeolithic
materials of Northern Africa usually labelled as “Mechta” type. Unlike the bones, the teeth were
preserved and consisted of an almost complete set. They show that they were used “with
approximately the same intensity, so no pronounced and long lasting food specialisation was
practised by the individual” (Henneberg et al 1989, p189-90). On the basis of wear and molar
eruption it was estimated that the individual was 35-40 years old.
E29H1 consists of “a vast scatter of artefacts on the gently sloping expanse of lacustrine
sediments” (Wendorf and Schild 1976, p.182) in an oval area measuring around 300x100m that
again overlook a basin. Because the Epipalaeolithic site is situated within a larger Neolithic
concentration of artifacts, it was divided into different areas. The Epipalaeolithic areas are
named A, B and C. Areas A and C were partially excavated and collections were carried out in a
small part of Area B. The fauna from E29H1 suggests that it was a fishing economy using hunting
and plant gathering as a back-up. These sites appear to be contemporary with Wenke’s FS-2.
Artefacts include lithics and bone tools. The lithics include:
Page 20
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)










Andie Byrnes 2003
Cores backed flake
straight backed blade
pointed bladelets
various types of arched-backed pointed
bladelets,
backed bladelets with blunt tips,
fragment of backed bladelet,
triangular backed bladelet
A “Krukowski’s” microburin
unfinished broken biface on a chert slab
a single celt
From Said et al 1970:
E29H1, area A, Trench no1:
cores, backed flake and types
of straight backed blade and
pointed bladelets
E29H1, area no.1,: various types of
arch backed and pointed bladelets,
backed bladelets with blunt tips,
fragment of backed bladelet,
triangular backed bladelet and
Krukowski’s microburin
E29H1, area A, surface:, an
unfinished broken biface on a
chert slab and a celt
E29G3 (Caton-Thompson’s Site R) is located
c.1.2km southwest of the Old Kingdom temple
at Qasr el-Sagha.
It consists of both
Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic concentrations,
labelled Sites A and B respectively.
The
Epipalaeolithic part of the site is separate from
the Neolithic area and is located in an eroded
area.
Artifacts were associated with a
“powdered,
loose,
swampy
sediment,
unstratified, with numerous chipped stone
Terminal Palaeolithic artifacts, bones and traces
of burning in places” (Wendorf and Schild
1976, p.204).
Wendorf and Schild (1976)
believed that the site was located so as to take
Page 21
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
advantage of an exposed outcrop of Eocene bedrock that “probably retained a small pool of
water following the high water stage each year, and
encouraged Terminal Palaeolithic people to settle
along the swampy shore, where they could harvest
the fish trapped in the pool (1976, p.209). A date of
5555BC+/-125 (I-4130) was obtained from deposits
containing Epipalaeolithic artefacts and bones.
FS2, so the southwest of the Lake
consisted of hearths, pits, sand surface
scatters, and consists of the remains of
several temporary encampments. The
artefacts at FS-2 “appear to be those left
by small groups of hunter-collectors.
Unlike the later Fayyum occupations and
those of the Bir Kiseiba-Nabta area, the
Qarunian tools from FS2 (Wenke et al 1989)
Qarunian sites contain no ground stone or pottery. Aside from debitage, the best represented
artifact type at these Qarunian sites is a small backed bladelet (Wenke et al 1988, p.37). No
grinding stones were found at these sites, and despite examination of hearth materials, and other
botanical remains from Qarunian sites, almost no evidence of the use of cereals was found
(Wenke et al 1988, p.39). Wild plant remains were found, and these were mainly of a wide
number wetland varieties. The diet included:
 a high proportion of fish, particularly Clarias and Lates (Nile Perch)
 birds
 hartebeest
 turtle
 gazelle
 Bos
 Canis.
Calibrated carbon 14 dates give a date range of c.7100-5450BC
(Hassan 1985). It is apparently contemporary with E29G1 and
E29H1.
Industry
The Faiyum Terminal Palaeolithic industry consists of a number
of assemblages which “share a number of technological and
typological attributes and clearly cluster into a single industry
which has been named the Qarunian” (Wendorf and Schild 1976,
p. 311). The main feature of the Qarunian is a lithic industry,
associated with a diet heavily based on fishing and hunting.
The lithics are manufactured mainly from Oligocene
conglomerates (obtained from Gebel Qatrani) and share a
number of features in common:
From Said et al 1970
Page 22
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)

Cores
o
o
Andie Byrnes 2003
Usually single platform variety for flake and blade manufacture
 No preparation
 Small, less than 5cm long
Opposed platform cores are very rare

Debitage
o 13% of the total assemblage
o Almost entirely composed of bladelets

Toolkit
o The greatest proportion of the industry is made up of bladelets (50% of all tools)
 backed blades (3% of blades)
 curved backed bladelets and truncated and retouched bases (18-30% of
blades)
 straight-backed bladelets often with retouched or truncated bases (1418% of all tools)
o
The rest of the toolkit is made up of
 Retouched notches and denticulates (9-17%)
 Microburins (less than 4%)
 Geometric microliths (less than 5%)
 Basal and distal truncations (3-9%)
 Endscrapers (rare)
 A few perforators
 A conspicuous lack of burins
There is a relatively small bone tool component restricted to:
 catfish jaw harpoons made by “removing the ramus from a catfish jaw and producing an
oblique truncation at the base for hafting” (Clark 1980, p559).
 A few cylindrical bone points (well represented at E29G1 and E29G3)
There is no ground stone or pottery, which are key differences from the later Neolithic period.
In summary, Wendorf and Schild (1976) conclude: “The terminal Palaeolithic Qarunian
assemblages from the Fayum, characterized by extremely high percentages of backed bladelets
and very low geometric components, seem to form a distinct industry, but one that falls within
the general Nilotic and North African lithic complex” (p. 317). They highlight similarities between
the Qarunian and the Shamarkian.
Economy
Phillipson (1993) provides a short summary of the Qarunian: “The Fayum depression between
7000 and 8000 years ago was the scene of lakeside camps of people who made microlithic
artefacts, mounted fish jaws as points for arrows, and made their livelihood by a combination of
hunting and fishing . . . This Qarunian occupation beside the extensive lake which formerly
occupied the Fayum Depression provides examples of arrow manufacturing techniques which
continued in use in Egypt into dynastic times” (p.105). Qarunian settlements were generally on
high-ground locations overlooking Lake Qarun in its Proto-Moeris phase (Wendorf and Schild
1976).
Page 23
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Qarunian is a consumption rather than a production-based economy, based entirely on the
production of available resources. The efficient exploitation of resources requires a sound
knowledge of the environment on a regional scale in order to create a reliable year-round
strategy for making the most of resources in the short-term with a view to surviving in the longterm: “as the environment reproduces itself on seasonal, annual and longer term cycle so too
does the hunter-gatherer society that is dependent upon its products” (Gamble 1996, p.30).
All the evidence points to the fact that the Faiyum at this time was a damp, marshy and wetland
environment. Bird forms were all shallow-water varieties, several layers analysed by Wendorf
and Schild (1976) were swamp sediments, and Wenke’s Survey produced shallow-water varieties
of plant and fish from FS-2. Most of the Qarunian sites appear to be located along the edges of
previous lake levels, on old beaches (which is consistent with an economy heavily dependent on
lacustrine resources).
However as Wenke warns: “The microlithic aceramic deposits
characteristic of Fayum B seem to be concentrated close to the ancient beach lines on the
eastern edge of the site, but they may be interspersed throughout the many Fayum A
occupations and buried beneath these later deposits” (Wenke 1984, p.195-6).
The diet seems to have been mainly fish-based, supplemented by hunting, plant gathering, and
plant-processing activities. Hassan (1980, p.437) points out that: “Hartebeest bone fragments
are more numerous than those of wild cattle. At one site red-fronted gazelle remains are
reported. The faunal remains also include hippopotamus.” Wild cattle are also represented. By
far the most conspicuous dietary remains are those of fish. There is no evidence in the Faiyum
at this time for domesticated animals (Hassan 1988, p.143). Finds of grinding stones suggest
plant processing but there is no evidence of cereal cultivation (Wenke et al 1989, p.39).
Brewer (1989) analysed one of the Qarunian sites, FS2 (to the southwest of Lake Qarun), and
found that there were no domesticates, but that there were large ungulates (indicating large
game hunting) and a strong emphasis on shallow water and swamp fish, with some deeper water
fish, and shallow water bird life. The predomination in the fish remains of Clarias suggests a
preference for shallow-water fishing – probably because it is easier to select the required fish,
and perhaps because the technique is less effort that deep water fishing. The presence of very
few tilapia to Clarias amongst the shallow water varieties certainly suggests that selection was
practised in shallow water fishing. Deeper water varieties are collected en masse and the lack of
ability to select is clear in the mixture of different varieties represented.
Deep Water Species
Shallow Water Fishing
Tilapia
Synodontis
Clarias
Nile Perch
(Graphs based on data listed for FS2 in Brewer 1989)
This demonstrates two distinct exploitation strategies because the techniques required to acquire
shallow and deep water fish are different. Shallow netting techniques and spearing can be used
in shallow water without the need of a boat – but in deeper waters angling and netting from a
boat are more appropriate. It appears that the occupants of the lake area in the Qarunian used
both strategies, but that they had a distinct preference for shallow water varieties and Clarias in
Page 24
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
particular. At FS2 Brewer’s investigations (1989) determined that there were 2905 shallow water
species as opposed to only 117 deep water varieties.
The preference for shallow water exploitation is confirmed by water birds – out of the nine
species identified only one is an open-water variety.
Fish Varieties
Water Bird Varieties
Shallow vs Deep water fish varieties
Shallow Vs. Deep Water Bird Varieties
Shallow
Shallow
Deep
Deep
(Graphs based on data listed for FS2 in Brewer 1989)
Brewer’s studies of skeletal growth rings on the Clarias fish (1989) indicate that it was collected
at two different periods in the year in late spring/early summer and summer/autumn: “Late
summer-early fall would if Birket Qarun were connected to the Nile, coincide with a seasonally
high Nile and also with Clarias spawning season. During the spawning season Clarias could be
highly aggregated, which would facilitate their capture” (Brewer 1989, p.136). Similarly late
spring-early summer collection would correspond to low lake levels which would leave fish
stranded in shallow pools, again making them easy to catch. Wetterstrom suggests that the
seeds recovered at FS-2 would probably have been harvested in the winter” (Wetterstrom 1993,
1995, p.190).
Hoffman suggests that the Qarunian assemblage indicates different conditions than those of
today: “Chipped stone axes were common, suggesting a heavier tree cover than today and hoelike bifaces were once thought to have been used in agricultural activities although they would
have been equally valuable for digging roots or house or storage pits” (Hoffman 1979, p.185).
Gamble (1986) suggests that assemblages should be on a regional scale as the region as a whole
is the environment to which groups adapt and with which they interact, and because “the
continual process of social reproduction which specifies that the habitat shall be exploited
according to the principles of a hunter-gatherer formation in order to sustain and reproduce
social existence” (p.31). This is an important point when it comes to comparing and contrasting
different Epipalaeolithic industries and cultures in Egypt with a view to establishing a much better
view of the regional character of, and possible connections between different areas and groups.
A small amount of information about subsistence has been suggested by analysis of the remains
of the skeleton in the E29-G1 burial. Although the burial is an isolated example, Henneberg et al
(1989) conclude that wear patterns on the teeth indicate a mixed diet without a preference
showing for any one food type (although they do point out that a large component of fish in the
diet will not make any impact on tooth wear).
Page 25
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Society
In general, as shown by Palaeolithic societies all over the world, there is no reason why huntergathering societies should be less interested in symbolic expression or religious type activities
than any other more modern group – but apart from the burial at E29-G1 there is no evidence of
any attempt at symbolic behaviour, and the grave itself provides only minimal information about
the society that deposited it. At the best it can be said that the burial is indicative of a concern
with the dead, or with the relationship between the living and the dead. There are no grave
goods. Similarities between contemporary northeast African sites and later Neolithic Lower Egypt
ones are clear but not necessarily significant. Similar forms of burial occur all over the world
from different periods. There are, after all, a limited number of ways of depositing an
inhumation.
Studies of other hunter-gatherer societies (modern and ancient) suggest that many were
organised with leaders to organize activities but that these leaderships were usually merit-based
and transient rather than based on inherited social status. There are certainly no indications in
the Faiyum that the Qarunian was any more sophisticated than other Epipalaeolithic industries in
Egypt, but it is clear from the lithics, the selective economy, the distribution of the settlements
and the length of time over which the Qarunian survived, that the Qarunian represents a
successful and organised adaptation to a very specific environment, cyclical in its nature and
skilled in both its industrial output and its method of economic exploitation.
Settlements were found along beaches of the fossil lake, and consisted of campsites placed for
exploitation of the waterside environment. “The sites were usually formed by small artefact
concentrations of a diameter ranging from 20 to 50m. One of the sites comprises several
separate concentrations of archaeological material” (Henneberg et al 1989, p.187).
In a comparison of settlement sizes dating to the final phases of the Palaeolithic, Hassan notes
that the Qarunian sites are considerably larger than predecessors and contemporary sites
elsewhere: “The two Qarunian sites at Fayum measure about 65,000 and 3,000 m 2 each with
many small concentrations. This increase in the number of site areas, as a result of a greater
density of archaeological occurrences, is associated with the economic shift to grain utilization. It
is also interesting to note that there is a gradual increase in the number of sites between 22,000
and 14,000BP. This gradual increase in the number of sites and the change in density of
occupations fits well with the observed changes in faunal remains (more reliance on fish and
waterfowl) and the shift to grain utilization. A broad adaptive strategy would have provided a
large food supply which would have permitted an increase in population” (Hassan 1980, p.4378).
Qarunian in Context
The Qarunian has many elements in common with other Epipalaeolithic industries elsewhere in
Egypt and Nubia (Hoffman 1979). The closest, geographically speaking, was in the El-Omari
area. Others may be (after Hayes 1964, 65):
 Abu Suwair (Wadi Tumilat)
 Shibeem al Qanatir (nr the Ismailia canal)
 Heliopolis
 Abassiya
Hayes says that features shared include two separate types:
Page 26
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
 Diminutive Levalloisian flake tradition characterized by small broad flakes
 Bifacial core-tool tradition featuring axes and other pre-Neolithic elements
[Please note, however, that apart from the references in Hayes I have been unable to find any
other mention of these sites].
Stylistically, the Faiyum’s Qarunian Epipalaeolithic is both similar to and distinct from other
Egyptian Epipalaeolithic industries: “The Terminal Palaeolithic of the Nile Valley does not seem to
be as homogenous as Wendorf and Schild suggest (1970; 1976). From a technological point of
view there are some affinities with Elkab (Vermeersch 1978) and the Qarunian sites (E29H1A,
E29H1C: Wendorf and Schild 1976): for example, bladelets were obtained essentially from cores
with unfaceted striking platforms. However, from a typological point of view, the Qarunian is
characterized by backed bladelets with are vary rare at Elkab. Moreover, the microburin
technique which is highly noticeable at Elkab, is lacking in Qarunian sites” (Mussi, Caneva and
Zarattini 1984, p.190).
In summary, the Qarunian is the principal Epipalaeolithic industry in the Faiyum with an economy
adapted to the exploitation of the local ecology, a lake-side and seasonal freshwater basin,
together with wild animals and an increasing reliance on grain. There is no sign of domestication
in the Qarunian and lithics are consistent with other Epipalaeolithic industries. Sites, by their
increased size may indicate greater socio-economic
stability.
2.4.3
Another Epipalaeolithic Faiyum Industry
It is possible that the Qarunian was not the only
Epipalaeolithic industry in the Faiyum, although the
infrequency of alternative sites makes this difficult to
confirm or deny.
Mussi, Caneva and Zarattini (1984) compared the sites
discovered in the 1966-68 University of Rome survey
(MB2Sa or the “two sisters” site, S4, MOE 2, MOE 2b,
MOE 2c) with those discovered by the Wendorf 1970s
Faiyum project, and identified differences which may
argue that there was more than one type of Terminal
Palaeolithic in the Faiyum: “Our collections, while on the
whole similar to those of the Qarunian, are different in a
number of stylistic and possibly functional characteristics”
(Mussi, Caneva and Zarattini p.185). Using Tixier’s 1963
Maghreb typology as a base-line and comparing their
sites with those discussed by Wendorf and Schild (1976)
they conclude the following (paraphrased from Mussi,
Caneva and Zarattini p.185-189):

Site S4 (Mussi et al 1984)
Similar to the Qarunian:
o The striking platforms of cores are usually single and unfaceted and no more than
two thirds of the perimeter is used.
o Burins are rare or absent
o Backed blades are always present but are rare
o Composite tools are absent
Page 27
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
o
o

Andie Byrnes 2003
Backed bladelets of Tixier’s types 45 (pointed straight backed bladelets), 55
(bladelets with curved back end) and 56 (curved backed bladelets) are dominant in
the backed bladelet toolkit.
Only a few geometric microliths are present
Different from the Qarunian
o The toolkit is dominated by backed blades, but they are much less than in typical
Qarunian levels.
o Pointed straight backed bladelets with truncated base are well represented, which
they are not in the Qarunian.
o A much higher than normal percentage of endscrapers is included, with a greater
variety of forms
o A much higher than normal percentage of perforators is included, including borers,
groovers and core tools
o Notches and denticulates account for a very much higher percentage of the tool kit
than in the normal Qarunian.
o Truncations occur more frequently
o There are significant stylistic differences between backed bladelets
Mussi et al conclude: “Between our backed bladelets and the Qarunian ones, stylistic differences
exist. These and the different elevation of the sites may pint to different chronological positions.
The greater number in our collections of end-scrapers, perforators, notches and denticulates and
lower percentage of backed bladelets, as well as the considerable presence of retouched pieces
(at MB2Sa – more than 700) suggest a different range of activities” (Mussi, Caneva and Zarattini,
1984, p.189).
Realistically there are three different scenarios to explain these sites but without further analysis
there is no way of selecting between them:
 An earlier industry
 Functional variability of sites within the Qarunian
 A contemporary but different Epipalaeolithic industry
2.4.4
Helwan Industry
Just outside the mouth of the Faiyum is a set of Epipalaeolithic sites at
Helwan. These sites are famous for 1000s of lithic tools including a
range of microlithic and blade tools, with a particularly distinctive blade
often referred to as the “Helwan Point”.
Lithic tools include:
 Blades
 Bladelets
 Geometric microliths (with a high number of lunates)
 Helwan points (bladelet with retouched edges with notches
and tangs)
Settlement components include hearths, animal bones, ostrich
eggshells and detalium shells.
The Helwan points were named by Caton-Thompson and de
Morgan “after the discovery of a few updateable artifacts at
Helwan in Egypt” (Gopher 1989 p.99). The Helwan excavations by
Page 28
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Debono have not yet been published in full. However, on the basis of the stone tools alone, the
Helwan sites represent a highly distinctive industry which appears to have nothing in common
with those found within the Faiyum itself. Similarities have been drawn with industries in Syria
and Palestine.
Gopher (1989) believes that the Helwan point spread from the Middle Euphrates to a number of
different locations in the Levant. At Negev the most recently dated examples date to c.7600
disappearing at c.6800BC at the site of Beidha. The nearest of the southern Levant sites to Sinai
is Abu Salem, dating to around 7600BC. However, although there are Helwan points in the
southern Levant none have been found in Sinai, so the mechanism by which they could have
spread to Egypt is unclear.
In summary, there is one certain and two possible Epipalaeolithic industries in the Faiyum area.
The Qarunian is the principal Epipalaeolithic industry of the Faiyum, sharing components and
practises with other Epipalaeolithic industries in Egypt, but distinct from them in a number of
ways. It is a hunter-gatherer-fisher society with a high emphasis on fishing in an environment
that was probably very damp with plenty of shallow-water areas which could be exploited for
dietary needs and/or preferences. Occupation was on a temporary basis, probably taking
advantage of three seasonal peaks for food-gathering. An increase in settlement size together
with the collection and processing of plants, including grain, may indicate increasing stability in
both the economy and lifestyle. A very distinct “Helwan” industry in the Western Faiyum area
needs to be analysed in more depth before conclusions can be made about its relationship with
other industries, either local or remote.
2.5
The Transition to the Faiyum Neolithic/Faiyumian (formerly Faiyum A)
2.5.1
Introduction
The earliest evidence of agriculture appears in Egypt in the Faiyum and in the southwest Western
Desert: “Given the data currently available, it can be proposed that the complex of southwestern
Asian domesticates was introduced into Egypt between 6000BC and 5000BC or possibly earlier
but probably not before 7000BC . . . The process by which domesticates were transferred and
adopted is far more difficult to explain and cannot be resolved with our present knowledge”
(Wetterstrom 1993, 1995, p.201). In spite of this warning, the subject of how and in what form
agriculture (plant cultivation and pastoralism) entered Egypt is one that has produced a lot of
speculative literature.
2.5.2
Settlement Hiatus
The period between the Epipalaeolithic and the Neolithic in the Faiyum is separated by around a
1000 years, judging from radiocarbon dates obtained from sites, as follows:
Final Epipalaeolithic Dates
744060BP (Bln 2336) QS II/79
7500125BP (I-4130) E29G3 (A)
Earliest Neolithic Dates
6480170BP (Gd-2021) QS XI/81
Page 29
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
As Wenke et al point out “even if this figure represents considerable sampling error, it is certainly
consistent with the idea that the Oasis was abandoned for at least several centuries after the
Qarunian” (1989, p.38). They do not consider it likely that any undiscovered sites which might
represent this interim period could have been missed by the numerous surveys of the area.”
There are various explanations as to why this hiatus exists. A number of people suggest that it is
as a result of low lake levels and greater aridification (e.g. Cagle 1994). Wendorf and Schild
(1976, p.225) and Hassan (1986) have found evidence that Lake Qarun actually came close to
drying up between around 7000 and 6000 BP. However, “In any case, even if the lake remained
a stable resource, declining precipitation rates may have made the adjacent deserts as scarce in
animal resources as they are today. Alternatively, one or a few major flood could have entirely
inundated and perhaps killed the forests and swamps and the animals that lived in them, leaving
Qarunian peoples to subsist on the sterile desert edge of the Fayyum lake – which may have
been difficult” (Wenke et al 1988, p.38). The dry phase was then followed with a wet phase
(Kozlowski and Ginter 1989).
This gap fogs questions regarding the origins of agriculture. Whether the Neolithic phase was, or
was not, related directly to the Epipalaeolithic phase is debateable: “Central to the analysis of the
supposed origins of agriculture in the Fayyum is the question of whether the first agriculturalists
there were people who had descended from the Qarunian hunter-foragers and who had been
“converted” to agriculture, or whether the first agriculturalists moved into the Oasis already in
possession of domesticates and agricultural technologies – and, if so, from where?” (Wenke et al
1988, p.38).
2.5.3
A non-Qarunian Origin for the Neolithic
There are two main questions concerning the origins of the Neolithic: where the people came
from and where the domesticates were acquired from.
Arguments against a Qarunian origin for the Neolithic Population
Some writers believe that the Qarunian and Faiyum Neolithic are not related. The drying up of
the lake and increasing aridification of the area would be consistent with that theory suggesting
that populations were driven out of the Faiyum over this period. Wendorf and Schild (1976,
p.225) speculate that the lake may have dried up completely. Even if the depression did not dry
up completely, the surrounding environment may have become difficult to exploit: “even if the
lake remained a stable resource, declining precipitation rates may have made the adjacent
deserts as scarce in animal resources as they are today” (Wenke et al 1989, p.38).
There are big differences between the Qarunian and the Faiyum Neolithic – as well as differences
in the lithic assemblages (for example a high percentage at Qarunian sites of backed bladelets),
there are no ground stone artefacts or pottery in the Qarunian.
There is also the matter of the time gap between the two industries: There is a big gap in
radiocarbon dates between the Qarunian and Faiyum Neolithic (8220/7140BP – 6350BP: Hassan
1988) which is consistent with a view that the Faiyum was abandoned for several centuries.
While it is worth bearing in mind that some sites within this time range have simply not yet come
to light, there are observable and conspicuous differences between the lithic toolkits which
suggest a lack of continuity between the two: “A gap of 1200 years separates the latest dated
Page 30
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Terminal Palaeolithic site from the earliest Neolithic Community, but this seems to be for too little
time for this basic transformation of lithic industries to occur. The appearance of a new
population seems to be the best explanation. If so, the new population and not its Palaeolithic
predecessors was responsible for the development of Egyptian civilization” (Wendorf and Schild
1976, p. 319).
The Western Desert and the Sahara
Some writers see a Western Desert origin for the Faiyum Neolithic: “Technological and
typological differences between the Qarunian and the Faiyum Neolithic are so significant that
there can be no question of the Faiyum Neolithic having developed out of the Qarunian. The
Faiyum Neolithic lithic technology is clearly related to that of the late Neolithic in the Western
Desert” (Hendrickx and Vermeersch 2000, p.37). Hoffman also points to a possible Western
Desert origin for the Faiyum Neolithic: “there are hints of other contacts between the Fayumis
and contemporary desert peoples at this time.
Since at least one theory of agricultural/pastoral origins in Egypt sees these economic innovations
as introductions from the Sahara, the possibility that the Fayum, itself a kind of oasis, received
early stimulation from this quarter cannot be ignored” (Hoffman 1979, p.185). Forde-Johnson
sees very strong links between Saharan African lithic industries (particularly the Aterian) and
those of the Faiyum and western Delta, saying that there is “a very distinct possibility of an
Aterian origin for the Nile valley bifacial technique” (Forde-Johnon 1959, p.77). Butzer (1976)
considered the Faiyum Neolithic to be intrusive from North Africa, Northern Libyan Desert Oases,
Western Sahara or Mediterranean littoral, contrasting the macrolithic tool types and technology
with the Nile microlithic traditions.
Bir Kiseiba and Nabta
There is evidence from Bir Kiseiba and Nabta in south east Egypt that societies adopted
domesticated animals (particularly cattle) at a very early stage, using pottery and other elements
that are often associated with the adoption of a fully agricultural lifestyle. The Faiyum was
certainly occupied during similar time periods to these, but in spite of similarities in the lithic
assemblage, the Faiyum Neolithic groups had no pottery, cultivated plants, and the society does
not appear to have favoured cattle over any other breed. In addition, in the Faiyum extensive
use was made of natural resources, and the animal domesticates appear to have had a different
origin. This may be accounted for by substantially different environmental conditions, but may
also have other explanations. Dating is consistent with a possible southeast origin for the Faiyum
groups and suggest that “the Fayyum sites and those at Bir Kiseiba and Nabta were occupied in
some of the same period, but the earlier dates from the Bir-Kiseiba-Nabta region raise the
possibility that the earliest occupants of the Fayyum came from the same cultural traditions”
(Wenke et al 1989, p.37).
Without further data from both southeast Egyptian and NE African areas and the areas between
(both the Nile Valley and the Oases), it is difficult to be clear about whether either the people
originated in the southeast of Egypt;
however it seems increasingly unlikely that the
domesticates come from the southeast.
Page 31
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
A Near Eastern Origin for Faiyum Neolithic Agriculture
Midant-Reynes sees a Near Eastern origin for the Faiyum Neolithic industry, citing a number of
aspects as evidence: polished stone techniques are the same as used in the Natufian, and the
custom of polishing cutting edges of chipped stone axes is the same as in Palestine’s Yamukian
(Midant Reynes 1992/2000, p.101). Other indications are domesticated sheep and goat and
bifacial flint knapping on the basis of the lithics Caneva says that: “Both the Merimda and the
Fayumian Neolithic cultures are thought to have derived from a Near Eastern common tradition,
and more specifically the Jordan Valley” (Caneva 1992, p.224). The main focus for this thinking
is the lithic component: the presence of core and biface technology is not present in Africa
before this time, whereas it is in the Near East in the pre-Neolithic. “the simultaneous
development of the agricultural communities in the Faiyum and the southern Delta shows that a
strong influence from the Levant at this time interested the northeastern part of the valley,
replacing the previous Epipalaeolithic cultures (Caneva 1992, p.223).
However, there are dislocations of the evidence suggesting that even if there was a Near Eastern
origin for the Neolithic it took on a very localised form: “The most obvious contrast between SW
Asian agriculturalists and those of the Fayyum Neolithic is in architecture: if one were to judge
from the distribution of artefacts and floral and faunal remains, one could easily conclude that
the supposed agriculturalists of the Fayyum Neolithic were mobile groups that maintained
considerable dependence on seasonally-available fish, fowl and perhaps the resources of the
deserts surrounding the Fayyum” (Wenke et al 1988, p.45). Dates for an origin in the Levant are
entirely compatible: “Given the data currently available it can be proposed that the complex of
southwest Asian domesticates was introduced into Egypt between 6000BC and 5000BC or
possibly earlier but probably not before 7000BC . . . The process by which domesticates were
transferred and adopted is far more difficult to explain and cannot be resolved without present
knowledge” (Wetterson 1993/1995 p.201).
Bard points to the gap between the beginning of food production in the Levant and that in Egypt
as something of a mystery (Bard 1994) because in spite of the proximity of Egypt to the Levant,
full-scale agricultural activities arrived late: “The Neolithic phenomenon, in which gathering and,
later, hunting were gradually replaced by the cultivation of domesticated plants and animal
husbandry, began in the Near East perhaps as early as 10,000 years ago. The most recent
hypothesis of Neolithic origins is that agriculture was first practiced in the southern Levant at late
Natufian sites and is only found late in other regions of the Near East . . . . What is unusual
about this . . . is the still later development of the Neolithic in Egypt, where the transition to an
agrarian way of life occurred only after ca.5500BC” (Bard 1994, p.1). It made its appearance for
the first time (as far as we know) in the Faiyum.
2.5.4
A Qarunian Origin for the Neolithic
Some writers point to the similarities between the Qarunian and the Neolithic - like the very
distinctive concave-based stone arrowheads (Hoffman 1979 p.185) and the importance of Clarias
in the diet (Cagle 1994), ceramics, domesticated cattle and blade technology. “The Nabta
Neolithic sites . . . show the presence of several concave-based arrowheads similar to those
found in the Fayoum A Neolithic” (Wendorf and Hassan 1980). Hayes (1964, 1965) saw a
distinctly new occupation in the Neolithic.
Casini sees a slow cultural adaptation to farming, and believes that this is partly brought on by
environmental conditions. “The studies on the archaeological assemblages found in the course of
Page 32
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
the Italian survey indicate the presence of a substrate of hunters-fishers-gatherers which
preceded the groups of farmers in the Fayum. This, and the changing environmental conditions,
which certainly affected the development of the Fayum human groups, lead to the following
conclusion: the Fayum A culture can no longer be considered the result of the immigration of
alien peoples, but as a process of local evolution and gradual cultural specialisation in the course
of which the indigenous food-gathering social groups were adapting to the new environmental
conditions” (Casini 1984, p.202).
Wilkinson (2003) sees a slightly more complex model of adaptation from his studies of the
Badarian and the Eastern Desert: The climatic deterioration theory suggest that at around
c.4000BC cattle herders merged with Nile social, bringing a social organisation. “Attractive as
this may seem, there are difficulties with this theory. For a start the Badarian . . . arouse within
the Nile valley many centuries before the final desiccation of the neighbouring savannahs”
(p.178). Wilkinson believes that the ‘Badarians’ were influenced before immigration and evolved
their own cultural response to it; by the time this still supposed immigration took place, Egyptians
of Nile Valley were already culturally established.
2.5.4
A Mixed Origin
Anne Stemler sees a possible combination of Asian and African origins for the Egyptian pattern of
agricultural activity: “It is generally accepted that the plant and animal remains were introduced
from Asia, not only because they appear in the archaeological record in southwestern Asia at
least two millennia earlier, but also because extensive wild populations of emmer, wheat, barley,
and sheep probably were not present in Africa at this time (Zohary 1969,:54; Clark 1971). It is
still not clear whether cattle could have been domesticated in Africa where two kinds of wild
cattle occur (Clark 1971). The mixture of African and Asian elements in early agricultural
settlements in Egypt strongly suggests that people who grew the crops were not all migrants
from Asia” (Stemler 1980, p.505).
Hassan sees an origin of farming knowledge from the south west of Egypt. Evidence from the
southwest Western Desert (Bir Kiseiba-Nabta), Siwa and Bahariya provides evidence of a phase
of moister conditions from around 9,500 to around 6,700BP (Wendorf and Hassan 1980). This
period was associated with human occupation in most of the Egyptian oases by Epipalaeolithic
hunters and gatherers. In the South herders of cattle and sheep/goats were early cultivators of
plants, taking advantage of savannah-like conditions. “The moist phase was followed by a period
of severe aridity which has most likely led to the gradual depopulation of the desert and an
infiltration of the Nile Valley by individuals and families . . . . Similar aridification seems to have
affected the Sinai and the Negev, and a similar movement of population towards the Nile is
plausible. This is no mass invasion but a gradual infiltration by drifters and refuges over a span
of about 500 years or more” (Hassan 1984, p.222). Hassan sees these drifters mixing with the
indigenous hunter-gatherer groups in the Nile valley, bringing agricultural practises, which
supplemented the existing food-acquiring traditions: “The change in subsistence was almost
imperceptible, peaceful and gradual” (1984, p.222). He summarises: “the emergence of
agriculture in Predynastic Egypt was a result of demographic fusion between the inhabitants of
the Nile Valley and refugees from the desert regions adjacent to the Nile Valley from ca.70006000BP and the subsequent diffusion of agricultural practises along the Nile” (Hassan 1984,
p.224).
It is quite clear that insufficient information exists for all writers to agree an origin for agriculture
in the Faiyum, or the relationship between the Qarunian and the Faiyum Neolithic. It is worth
bearing in mind a warning from Wenke based on his survey and his belief that much information
Page 33
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
still lies beneath lacustrine silts or current farming settlements: “It is still possible that we shall
find that the ‘mysterious gap’ of 1500 years between the Fayum B and Fayum A cultures involved
considerable indigenous domestication and development of agricultural strategies” (Wenke 1984,
p.196). It is equally possible that other sites will be found that offer alternative suggestions.
2.6
The Faiyum Neolithic/Faiyumian (formerly Faiyum A)
2.6.1
Introduction
The Faiyum Neolithic, c.5000BC, is important precisely because it represents the earliest known
fully agricultural economy in Egypt, a fact captured in Caton-Thompson’s 1927 remark: “In the
Fayum we were on the threshold of obtaining extensive vistas of fresh archaeological material,
affecting wide areas” (Caton-Thompson 1927 p.336). As Trigger warns, the sites are not
necessarily Egypt’s oldest farming sites: “the lack of geological deposits in the Nile Valley north
of Aswan which can be dated to between 8000 and 5000BC hinders an understanding of the
beginnings of a food-producing economy in this area . . . It has been pointed out, quite correctly,
that there is no reason to believe that the Fayum A and Badarian cultures are necessarily the
oldest food-producing cultures in this part of the Nile Valley” (Trigger 1983, p.15). However, in
the absence of other data, in both the Faiyum and southwestern Western Desert sites are
amongst the most important early agricultural sites for a number of reasons:



2.6.2
First, they offer the potential to discuss the origins of agriculture in Egypt: “The Fayum A
unit is what remains of the socio-economic activities of the first groups of farmers who
exploited the natural environments of the Oasis which lies in Northern Egypt, to the west
of the Nile” (Krzyzaniak 1977, p.57).
Second they may cast important light on the origins of agriculture in North East Africa:
“the NE African archaeological record – including that of the Fayyum – may have been
underrated as a resource for the general analysis of agricultural origins” (Wenke 1988 et
al, p.29).
Third, they may contribute to discussions around and attempts to create models of the
nature adoption and spread of agriculture in general: “The Egyptian record offers
important examples of independent evolution of domesticates and agricultural
technologies that have much to offer for current models of agricultural origins (e.g.
Henry 1989, McCorriston and Hole 1991) and for the determinants of spread (e.g.
Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman 1981) of agricultural economies.” (Wenke 1991, p.291).
Survey and Excavation Work
The first Neolithic sites in the Faiyum were found by Caton-Thompson and Gardner to the north
of Lake Qarun, and form the main body of information about the Faiyum Neolithic, supplemented
by more recent and very valuable work by Wendorf and Schild in the 1970s (1976), Wenke and
Hassan in the 1980s, and Ginter and Kozlowski also in the 1980s (1986). As Caton-Thompson
pointed out, before her 1924 and 1925 seasons so little was known about the lithic industries of
the northern Faiyum that “the only certain and agreed fact about the implements is their
dissimilarity to the flint tools and weapons of the Predynastic civilizations of the Nile Valley”
(Caton-Thompson 1927, p.326).
Ginter and Kozlowski (1986) identified sites IX/81, X/81 and XI/81, which are the oldest Neolithic
sites in the Faiyum (judging by radiocarbon dates) and VIIA/80, which is the most recent in the
Faiyum (5990+/-95BP or around 5230+/-50 BC calibrated). Sites included hearths, lithics, pottery
Page 34
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
sherds and some grinding stones. They were probably as seasonal camps, judging from the
faunal remains. At IX/81 sheep and goat were the most well represented faunal component,
followed by cattle. Turtle, crocodile, dorcas gazelle, Clarias and water-fowl are also represented.
At XI/81 there is evidence that the marsh vegetation had been burned, (Kozlowski and Ginter
1989, p.177) perhaps deliberately for consumption.
The main Faiyum Neolithic is represented by Caton-Thompson and Gardener’s discovery of a
number of sites to the north of Lake Qarun. The three main sites discovered are Koms W, K and
M, of which W and K are the most important. Koms K and W, containing settlement remains,
were separated by two areas of storage silos. The settlement koms W and K were both dated to
a Neolithic phase by artefacts which included flint tools (both bifacials and flakes), hammers,
bone fragments, pottery sherds and shells. Caton-Thompson described Kom W as the site that
defined the Faiyum Neolithic: “This mound, some 600x400 feet in diameter, though by no means
as prolific in proportion to its size, furnished enough material to place the enigmatical ‘Fayum
industry’ at last in its true context; for, contained in its 5 feet or so deposit were found whole
pots of the same rough-faced hand-made pottery whose sherds we had noted on surface sites”
Caton-Thompson 1927, p.331). The settlements themselves consisted of depressions, in some
cases containing charcoal and/or jars. 248 depressions were found in Kom W and 60 in Kom K.
Kom W is the larger of the two sites, around 600m long. The less frequently mentioned Kom M
contained around 90 hearths in two concentrations, in which there were wide-mouthed vessels
and nearby grinding stones. One hearth was full of burnt fish bones (Krzyzaniak 1977, p.68).
The work by Wendorf and Schild (1976) helped to open up the geology of the Faiyum, clarifying
the relationship between the former lake levels and the settlement sites.
The University of Rome 1966-1968 survey of the Faiyum identified a number of sites are
gathered along the northern edge of the Fayum depression and on the northeastern side of the
shores of the present-day lake, named K-I, EK-I, IIK-I, SES-4.
Wenke, in the 1980s extended the picture of the Neolithic in the Faiyum to the south west of the
area with the discovery and excavation of site FS1. His team spent eight months conducting
surveys in the Faiyum “with the objectives of trying to understand the origins of the first
occupants of the Fayyum as well as to determine when domesticated animals and plants were
first used in the Oasis, where they had come from, in what kind of subsistence and settlement
systems they functioned, and, generally why “agriculture” appeared in the Fayumian, when,
where and in the forms that it did” (Wenke et al 1989, p.30).
2.6.3
Dating
As with the Qarunian it is important to get a clear picture of what is being suggested:
Phase
Moerian
E29G4
Faiyum A
Sites
QSVII/80, QSVI/80,
QSXII/80, QSVID/80,
FS3?
E29G4
Kom W, Kom K
(E29H2), Kom M, FS1,
QSXI/81, QSIX/81,
QSV/79, QSI/79,
QSVIE/81, QSIX/79,
QSXI/79
Page 35
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Faiyum A therefore has a range of around 900 years, the Moerian a shorter occupation.
The Early Neolithic is represented in the middle and upper levels of the Grey Hard Silt (GHS) and
the lowest part of the overlying white sand silts complex (CWSS). There is a temporal hiatus
between the GHS occupation and the CWSS, however Kozlowski and Ginter (1989) believe that
this can be explained by “heavy erosion of the top of the GHS formation which may have caused
the destruction of sites originating from this temporal interval, and moreover may have created
limited conditions for settlement in the northern part of the Faiyum depression” (Kozlowski and
Ginter 1989, p.162).
2.6.4
The Northern Sites
Kom K and Kom W
Koms W and K (Wendorf’s E29H2) is now located 3m above the
surrounding area and is located between two basins which were
filled with water on a seasonal basis. It was occupied during a
period of slowly rising lake levels (Wendorf and Schild 1976,
p.212). Most of the conclusions about lithics, ceramics and the
economy come from Kom W and Kom K (Kom K was a smaller
version of Kom W). Kom W was not a natural high point. It has
occurred recently due to deflation of surrounding sands and a
protective covering of cultural artifacts.
Both of the sites were all well positioned to take advantage of
the lakeside environment: “For their settlements the Fayum-A
people selected sites in the lee of the low sandrock ‘buttes’
which ring the north shore of the lake, usually near an inlet or
other indentation in the shoreline, where the fishing would
Faiyum A Lithics
have been good, and never very far from the level stretches of
old lake bed upon which they grew their modest crops” (Hayes, 1964, 65, p.93).
Although the lithic industry is subject to some controversy and needs further analysis (discussed
in a moment) it represents a clear departure from the industries that preceded it. A mixture of
tool forms are represented, all of them distinctive and showing a growing skill in the manufacture
of stone tools. There was “virtually infinite variety of concave-base arrowheads” (Holmes 1989,
p.416) and many of the stone items were polished, or had polished edges. Caton-Thompson
suggested that the industry was largely bifacial but this has been disputed by recent studies of
the material: “the picture of a bifacial lithic tradition that emerges from the studies undertaken by
Caton-Thompson is muddied by the fact that she selected particular tools from an assemblage
that is now known to be larger and more diverse” (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.101) Survey
work by the University of Cracow (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989) is beginning to clarify the picture
and indicates that rather than being a bifacial industry the Faiyum Neolithic is a flake-based
industry which includes notches, denticulates, side scrapers, and retouched flakes, with bifacials
playing a relatively minor role. Anthony Cagle also points out that Caton-Thompson failed to
collect debitage, which means that an entire part of the lithic record from Kom W has simply
been ignored.
Page 36
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Techniques included:
 Chipping
 Pressure flaking
 Grinding
 Polishing
Raw materials included:
 Limestone
 Chert
 Dolerite
 Volcanic ash
Implements included:
 Stone axes made from a variety of stones (over 40% of the industry)
 Sickle blades for insertion into wooden hafts (next in frequency – there were 31 from
Kom W)
 Concave based arrowheads
 Adzes
 Bifacial arrowheads (17 concave-based and 6 angular from Kom W)
 Leaf-shaped points
 Blade tools
 Microlithic component (mainly bladelets)
Neolithic cores (left) and implements (right) from Kom W (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989)
Page 37
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Lithics at the Petrie Museum from Kom W (www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk)
Pottery at both of the settlement sites is represented by five groups of coarsely made vessels all
made of silt with a temper of chopped straw. It was undecorated, red (occasionally black) and
treated in any one of four different ways (red or black polished, unpolished with burnished slip,
or rough faced). The five groupings are made on typological grounds, describing the vessels in
terms of shape:
 Small bowls and cups
 Cooking bowls and pots
 Pedestalled cups
 Cups with knobbed feet
 Rectangular dishes with distinctive rims
These ceramics are all of a coarse low quality type. No good quality ceramics were found. This
perhaps reflects a disposable character in the tool kit, which would be in keeping with a semipermanent lifestyle.
Faiyum Neolithic Ceramics from Kom W (Petrie Museum website 2003)
Page 38
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Kom W Faiyum A pottery in situ
(Caton Gardner 1927)
Other artefacts from the settlement koms include
pestles and mortars made of sandstone, palettes of
diorite and limestone, polished bone objects,
seashells, ostrich eggshells, pierced stone disks and
amazonite beads.
Agricultural and craft
components are represented by a number of
artefacts: “Most of the groundstone implements
found in Fayum A sites reflect the agricultural and
craft components of the society and include milling
stones for grinding grain, mortars, hammerstones, burnishers for polishing pottery and discshaped spindle whorls for weaving flax that was already grown in the area. Ornamentation,
although sparse by Upper Egyptian standards, is reflected by small pigment palettes and stone
beads while a few fragmented stone bowls suggest the beginning of this craft in northern Egypt.”
(Hoffman 1979, p.186). In Upper Egypt, the practise of formalised burial was usually associated
with grave goods, and personal possessions, including adornments, are often represented. In
the Faiyum Neolithic, there were no burials and therefore no gravegoods, and the known
personal items are restricted to amazonite beads, sharks tooth pendants, amazonite beads, and
beads made of ostrich eggshell and sea shells (all highly portable).
The granaries are represented by two zones that lie between the settlement koms, an upper and
a lower site, each with silos and depressions for sunken pottery vessels. In total there are 168
silos and 18 depressions. They are of immense importance because they represent the first
traces of cultivated plants in Egypt. The upper site has 67 depressions, 57 of which are covered
with mats and straw. They vary in size, the smallest being around 30cm in diameter to 30cm
deep, the biggest being around 150cm diameter to 90cm deep. Caton-Thompson describes the
silos of the granaries: “It seems that these were prepared by first digging a circular hole of the
desired size in the shelly gravel which capped the ridge: a coating of wet mud was next applied
to floor sides, serving not only to bind the loosely-consolidated deposits from crumbling in, but
also as a retaining plaster for the straw lining; this was evidently coiled up ‘in situ,’ floor and
walls being made in one piece, fitting snugly into the circumference of the hole” (CatonThompson 1927, p.335).
The silos sometimes contain mud-covered baskets, flint artefacts, sherds and/or shells and have
produced a number of types of grain: wheat (sometimes carbonized), barley (six-row, four-row
and two-row) and traces of flax. Other finds from the Upper granaries include one boat-shaped
basket filled with shells, three straw trays, a barrel-shaped basket, two sickles made of tamarisk
containing three bifacial flints set into a central groove (“a wooden sickle 51.5cm in length with
three saw-edged flints in position. The flints are still firmly held in the groove cut to receive them
. . . by a dark glutinous substance” Caton-Thompson 1927, p.335), and pottery of the sort found
in the koms. The Lower granaries are 9m below the Upper granaries and contain 109 silos and 9
vessel depressions.
Page 39
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Kom W silo, Sickle Kom W Silo, and Basket from Granary, Kom W (Caton-Thompson 19770
Plant remains include:
 Wheat (some carbonized)
 Barley (six-row, four-row and two-row)
 Emmer-wheat
 Flax (traces)
Animal remains include:
 Domestic
o Cattle
o Sheep
o Goats
o pigs
o dogs
 Wild
o elephant,
o hippopotamus (possibly the most important of the hunted fauna),
o crocodile,
o turtle,
o waterfowl,
o snail (Helix desertorum),
o fish (Nile perch and catfish)
o freshwater mussels
o Waterfowl
o Lizard
o Snake
http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/search/index.html
Sites E29G3, E29H1, and E29G1
Both E29H1 and E29G3 are stratified and “provide an indication of developmental changes
through time within this industrial tradition” (Said et al 1970). They share a number of features
in their lithic industry:
Page 40
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)




Andie Byrnes 2003
High frequency of:
o Backed blades
o Bladelets
o Microblades
Lower frequency of:
o Retouched blades
o Flakes
o Notches
o Denticulates
Fragments of grinders and grinding stones
Lack of endscrapers and burins
E29H2 is a site name referring to two small trenches dug into Caton-Thompson and Gardner’s
Kom W. The trenches were designed to clarify the stratigraphy of the site and produced several
occupation layers (upper layers missing, probably due to erosion). All layers contained
handmade pottery with a fibre temper, simple rims, and both squared and rounded bases.
Lithics included examples of stone chipping as well as:
 Thick flakes (notched and denticulated)
 Bifacial tools on thin chert slabs
 Bifacially flaked, stemmed and concave based arrowheads
Trench 1 consisted of at lest three cultural levels, the lowest of which gave a radiocarbon date of
3860BC+/-115 (I-4127). Each occupation level was separated by “salt crusts, salt cementation
and stratified lacustrine sands” (Wendorf and Schild 1976, p.212). Trench 2 showed several
cultural horizons. Wendorf and Schild have suggested that the Trench 2 stratigraphy may cast
light on the relationships between the lake levels and settlement sites: “These trenches show
convincingly that Kom W was occupied during a period of rising sea levels. It is possible that the
locality might have been seasonally inundated and repeatedly reoccupied during low-water
phases. On the other hand, the site may have been flooded only during years of exceptionally
high water, which might explain the occupants’ tenacity in staying at this particular place” (1976,
p.212).
E29H1 is a large surface scatter of Neolithic artifacts surrounding an earlier Epipalaeolithic
concentration “grinding stones and a very few potsherds, all heavily wind polished” (Wendorf and
Schild 1976 p.182).
E29G3, dating to the recession of the Premoeris lake, features an extensive and dense
concentration of lithics including bones and pottery set around 17 hearths in two to three
clusters, located next to a seasonal pond. It was the site of an earlier Epipalaeolithic occupation.
The ceramics were similar, but not identical, to those at Kom W and Kom K. Lithics include large
bifacials, and numerous concave based arrowheads. Bone tools include cylindrical double-pointed
bone shafts. Pottery included vessels that were generally smaller than at Koms W and K,
sometimes tempered with fibre, sometimes with sand. The single occupation floor was found in
swamp sediment between two diatomites and suffered partial destruction and erosion by a fossil
wadi. Area B of the site (Caton Thompson and Gardner’s Site R) consists of two levels of
occupation separated by lacustrine sands. Wendorf and Schild believe that Faiyum Neolithic
people were “no doubt attracted by the same feature of seasonal ponding that brought the
earlier Terminal Palaeolithic group” (Wendorf and Schild 1976, p.211).
E29G1 has at least three and possibly four occupations and is similar to E29H1 but has a
number of significant differences:
 High frequency of:
o Retouched blades
Page 41
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
o Notched blades
Lower frequency of:
o Backed blades
 Presence of:
o Simple bone points
o Harpoons of fish bone
Dates for E29G1 date the lowest level to 5150BC+/-130 (I-4128) and the highest level to
5190BC+/-120BC (I-4129).

“All of these settlements were accompanied by large quantities of fish bones and a few large
mammal remains, indicating that these communities were mainly dependent on fishing” (Said et
al 1970).
Qasr el-Sagha Sites
The Qasr el-Sagha sites surveyed by Kozlowski and Ginter (1989) have provided information
about both the economy and the industry of the Faiyumian Neolithic and have contributed to
building a much better picture of spatial organisation of the Faiyum Neolithic sites as a whole.
The main site is the rich QS IX/81, but all of the QS sites confirm to a basic homogenous
pattern of artefact and subsistence remains.
The lithics were made mainly from flint pebbles that occur naturally on the surface between Qasr
el-Sagha and Gebel Qatrani. Tools were prepared on small cores – most are single platform
(used for producing flakes and blades) with only very few double platform cores represented.
Debitage consists of flakes. Tools include:
 Blades (3% of the industry)
 Flakes with distinctive and differing methods of manufacture visible in the flakes’ scars of
four main types:
o Notched tools
o Denticulated tools
o Side scrapers
o Retouched flakes
 Retouched blades only in the uppermost level at QS I/79
 The occasional bifacial tool (it is entirely likely that bifacial tools have been systematically
looted)
Page 42
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Qasr el-Sagha cores (left) and implements (right) from IX/81 (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989)
Ceramics were mainly represented by sherds which could not be reconstructed to form vessels,
so there is little information about the variety of forms and styles that were made. Those which
could be identified include:
 Bowls of various depths
 Pots with hemispherical or spherical bellies, distinct necks and everted rims
 Flat plates
There were clearly difference in the manufacture of pottery, and these variables include:
 Mineral composition
 Methods of manufacture
 Firing temperature
 Temper
o Organic
o Sand
o Crushed rock
o Shell fragments
Site IX/81 contained grinding stones, as did some of the other QS sites, indicating plant
exploitation in the vicinity. At site XI/81 there appears to have been a slaughter zone where
hippopotamus was quartered.
All of the QS sites appear to have been periodically flooded and were abandoned at the end of
the dry season, indicating a seasonal occupation based on exploitation of wild fauna and flora.
Near Qasr el-Sagha several Neolithic sites are located 60m above seal level near the Neolithic
shoreline of the Lake: “these sites seem to be the remains of villages whose economy must have
depended heavily on water abundancy, necessary for agriculture” . . . . The mixed plant
cultivation-pastoralism and the hunting-fishing-collecting economy is well reflected in the stone
tool kit of the Fayum A sites: this and other traits show the characteristics of a typical Neolithic
society” (Casini 1984, p.203)
Page 43
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.6.5
Andie Byrnes 2003
The South-western Sites
Wenke et al consciously aimed to open up the picture of the Faiyum Neolithic by searching for
sites away from the previously studied northern Faiyum shore, by including the SW shore of the
lake (Wenke et al 1988). The survey found a number of sites which provided useful data about
vegetation. No sites earlier than the Ptolemaic were found in the area along the Pleistocene
surfaces and early Holocene shore lines in the southern Depression: “Concerning the presence of
Neolithic and Predynastic settlements, we walked long segments of the three ancient shore lines
and found many isolated stone tools and occasional sherds that are probably of these early
periods, but in our opinion, many of the Predynastic and Neolithic occupations here are buried
under sediments of the great floods of the Old Kingdom. . . or under the several large Ptolemaic
settlements and cemeteries in this area” (Wenke
1984,p.195).
Wenke’s expedition, however, did locate FS1, a large
and previously unreported Neolithic site located on the
south-western side of the main gravel banks of the
shore line, not far from Caton-Thompson and Gardner’s
Site J. FS1 covers at least 2 square miles and contains
lithics, sherds, faunal remains and other debris in
differing concentration and variability. “Deflation in one
area has disclosed what appear to about 30 ‘hut floors’
1.5x1.5m ovoid-shaped concentrations of pebbles
surrounded by dense concentrations of lithics, sherds,
bones and other cultural debris, including grinding
stones. The pottery closely resembles that plain red
wares of the Fayum A complex” (Wenke 1984, p.195).
No grain was found at the site, but sheep/goat and
cattle were present as well as wild species including hippopotamus, fish, gazelle and hare. By
comparing the surface finds with records made by Caton–Thompson and Gardner, they believe
that both the Qarunian and Faiyum Neolithic are represented and have been able to isolate the
one from the other.
There is a great similarity between all the Neolithic sites although they span a thousand years.
2.6.6
The Industry
Kozlowski and Ginter have overturned some of the long-held beliefs about the lithic industry of
the Faiyum since carrying out extensive survey work near Qasr el-Sagha (Kozlowski and Ginter
1989). One of their important conclusions was that Caton-Thompson’s characterisation of the
industry as largely bifacial (1934) was incorrect, and was based on preferential selection – she
appears to have collected bifacial tools and cores and neglected flake tools and debitage. In
their reconsideration of the Faiyum Neolithic Kozlowski and Ginter re-assessed material acquired
from a number of sites including Caton-Thompson’s Kom W. Their conclusions are that although
there certainly was a bifacial component, the industry was dominated by flake tools.
New
collections by them of flake implements from both Kom W and QS I/79 have been compared
directly and show remarkable similarities in most areas:
Page 44
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Comparison of Flake Typology from sites Kom W and QS I/79
90
80
70
Number
60
50
Kom W
QS I/79
40
30
20
10
of
wi
co
th
rte
<5
x
0%
wi
of
th
c
F
or
la
Fl
co
te
ke
ak
nc
x
s
es
en
wi
wi
tri
th
th
c
pe
sc
op
rp
ar
po
en
s
Fl
si
d
ak
te
ic
u
es
sc
la
rs
ar
wi
s
th
ca
do
th
rs
ub
e
sa
le
-p
m
l
e
at
di
fo
re
rm
ct
io
n
of
Fl
ak
sc
es
ar
s
fro
m
sp
l in
te
Tr
rs
im
m
in
g
fl a
ke
Ps
s
eu
do
C
-b
hi
la
ps
de
an
s
d
fra
gm
en
ts
Fl
ak
es
%
ith
>5
0
Fl
ak
es
w
Fl
ak
i's
W
ho
ll y
co
rti
ca
l
fl a
ke
s
0
Flake Typology
(Graph based on table in Kozlowski and Ginter 1989).
Their analysis of Faiyum Neolithic lithics and ceramics suggest that there was very little difference
in lithics from different times over the 900 year span of the period: “The Faiyumian can be
perceived – at least on the evidence of material obtained so far – as a homogenous unit,
typologically little differentiated” (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989, p.166).
These conclusions are given additional weight by similar findings by Wendorf and Schild (1976)
from E29G3 and E29G2.
2.6.7
The Economy
Animal remains are poorly preserved as a whole in the Faiyum due to “weathering and diagenesis
under desert conditions following fragmentation during butchery” (Gautier 1976, p.370). Kom W,
the main Neolithic site, provided cereal remains but few animal
remains due to collection methods, but E29G3 provided a good
sample of bone remains so there is a mixture of surviving remains
providing evidence for subsistence activities. The mixture of sites
provide a view of a mixed type of existence during the Faiyum
Neolithic.
Based on all the sites found so far, it is clear that the Faiyum
Neolithic/Faiyum A economy was agricultural: “The economic basis
for these Lower Egyptian settlements was the cultivation of barley,
emmer-wheat and flax. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were kept, as
were dogs.
Hunting and fishing continued to be practiced”
(Phillipson 1993, p.136). Stemler suggests that cultivation of grain was practiced “presumably by
sowing seed along the receding margins of the lake at Fayum as the dry season progressed”
(Stemler 1987, p505), while Krzyzaniak suggests that “they probably sowed the grain on narrow
strips of land which were inundated by the annual fluctuations in the level of the waters of Lake
Page 45
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Moeris . . . . Wheat and barley were cultivated and these grains were probably sown on monocultural plots, separately reaped and threshed and stored in separate containers” (Krzyzaniak
1977, p.58). Wetterstrom (1993, 1995) makes the point that the plant component of the diet as
represented in the archaeological record is probably skewed by variable survival of plant remains,
because deliberately preserved and more durable species will have survived where more fragile
species would not.
The sites were clearly only semi-permanent. Hassan (1980) believes that ecological
circumstances and human responses to them as an essential factor in the process of change
towards food production, which, however, did not immediately lead to a permanently sedentary
existence: “A seasonal congregation of populations during the fall-winter season was probably
followed by breaking camp and dispersion of population in the form of small groups along the
river. With utilization of grain, a more stable source of food seems to have been secured,
allowing for denser population in one area. The collecting of grain would have coincided with the
fall-winter season where food from other resources was also abundant. Thus . . . camps
continued to be broken up seasonally” (p.438). He suggests that this seasonal movement is the
reason that larger social units did not develop at this time. If this is so, there should be an
indication in the archaeological record that sites of increasing size and complexity accompany an
increasingly sedentary lifestyle.
Kozlowski (1983) describes the Faiyum Neolithic as a mixed economy, an “agricultural-breeding
economy, revealed only in large base camps such as Kom W, while the sites discovered in the
Qasr el-Sagha region represent rather seasonal (dry season) specialisation based mainly on
fishing” (Kozlowski 1983, p.70).
The botanist who contributed to Caton-Thompson and Gardener’s studies was of the opinion that
around 400g of grain could be stored in each medium-sized granary, and on the basis of this
Krzyzaniak calculates that the average granary “must have contained crops collected from plots
of 0.5-0.6ha” (1977, p.58). According to Hassan (1984, p.223) barley was the most dominant
cereal under cultivation, at least 50% more important than wheat. At Naqada barley represented
70.7% of the cultivated grain, and at Faiyum it represents 72.3%. In Kom K silos “the
proportions of wheat and barley vary widely, with Silo 14, for example, being almost entirely
barley, and Silo 34 containing 38% wheat” (Wenke et al 1988, p.39).
The agricultural economy was supplemented by hunted animals: “Younger sites are dominated
by domestic animals, but game was still on the menu” (Gautier 1976, 378) including elephant,
hippopotamus (possibly the most important of the hunted fauna), crocodile, turtle, waterfowl,
snail (Helix desertorum), fish (Nile perch and catfish) and freshwater mussels and it is clear that
hunting played a considerable role: “While Fayum A people were clearly agriculturalists and may
have kept domesticated animals, they appear to have remained dependent on hunting and
fishing to a considerable degree (Trigger 1983, p.22). The fauna has yet to be examined in depth
by modern analysis. Brass believes that the combination of elements at Koms W and K suggest
that “the inhabitants possessed a mixed pattern of subsistence and residential mobility, a
combination of fully agricultural sedentary communities, nomadic herders and hunter-gatherers”
(Brass 2003, p.2). Economically speaking, “there is little to differentiate animal exploitation
patterns in Qarunian and Neolithic times except for the addition of some sheep/goat and small
quantities of cattle” (Wetterstrom 1993, 1995 p.208). Sheep/goat is the most important of the
domesticated animals. No pig was identified.
Brewer’s analysis (1989) of four Faiyum Neolithic sites to the north of Lake Qarun show a
predominance of domesticated flora and fauna supplemented partially by wild game and to a
considerable degree by fish. Only a very small number of wild water birds are represented at the
four sites, but all of these were shallow water varieties, none of them open water species. As
Page 46
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
with the Qarunian both shallow water and deep water strategies were exploited. Of the shallow
water varieties Clarias was by far the most favoured fish. There are rather more deep water
varieties represented in the Faiyum Neolithic rather than in the Qarunian sites analysed by
Brewer (Lates and Synodontis).
Shallow Water Selections
Deep Water Selections
Clarias
Synodontis
Tilapia
Lates
(Graphs compiled from data in Brewer’s 1989 lists for all four Faiyum Neolithic sites in his
analysis)
As with the Qarunian, the skeletal growth rings on Clarias suggests that they were collected at
two periods of the year – late spring/summer and summer/autumn, taking advantage of the
spawning season and then the concentration of fish in shallow pools during low lake levels.
Hoffman suggests, on the basis of the type of game that has been found that “at least a light
forest cover of tamarisk trees and lesser undergrowth continued to thrive around the lake’s
perimeter, providing the Fayum A peoples with a source of firewood to warm them in winter,
cook their food, and bake their pottery” (Hoffman 1979, p.186).
Wenke’s results at FS-1 have suggested some patterns of agricultural processing activities:
“Although our excavations at FS-1 did not produce any remains of domestic cereals, the
distribution of stone tools that might have been used to process these grains is interesting . . .
grinding slabs and sickle blades occur most frequently within a relatively narrow range of
elevation and seem to be distributed mainly in areas with relatively low frequencies of other
artifacts and animal bones. It is quite possible that the distribution of these artefacts marks the
areas where cereals were exploited . . . . Some of the grinding stones may mark areas of grain
processing, and the sickle blades may reflect some episodes of blade manufacture and resharpening. Since this area, which is at the far end of the lake, would receive very little
waterborne silt from the Nile, it is possible that cereal cultivation was restricted to a fairly narrow
topographic region, where the water table was sufficiently high that no artificial irrigation would
have been necessary and where retreating lake waters uncovered land fertile enough and
sufficiently moist to make cereal cultivation worth the effort” (Wenke et al 1988, p.39).
Gautier’s analysis of the Wendorf and Schild sites (1979) was based mainly on the E29 series of
sites because very few remains were derived from the Caton-Thompson excavations due to
collection methods.
Krzyzaniak speculates on the usage of tools found at Kom W and other Faiyum Neolithic sites, as
follows (1977):
 Hafted sickle blades
o Reaping
 Curved wooden ticks of tamarisk up to 0.95m long
o Threshing
Page 47
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)





Andie Byrnes 2003
Hammer stones
o Removal of hard husks
o Pounding dried meat
Querns
o Grinding of grain
Bone harpoons
o Fishing and hunting
Denticulated shells of Spatha calliaudli
o Scaling fish?
Axes, bows, spears and maces
o Tools
o Weapons
No settlement structures were found at the biggest sites, Koms W and K, which is one of a
number of factors that suggest that the sites were not occupied on a permanent basis. All seems
to point to short-term occupation. “We did an extensive statistical analyses of the spatial
distributions of pottery, animal bones and other debris, but there is little in their distribution to
suggest anything other than temporary encampments of people who relied heavily on fish and
hunted animals in addition to (presumably) domesticated sheep and goats” (Wenke et al 1988,
p.46).
It has therefore been speculated that these sites were probably seasonal ones (Trigger 1983,
p.22), and it is one of the interesting features of the Faiyum Neolithic that early adopters of
agriculture failed to live sedentary lifestyles. The Faiyum “appears to follow quite a different
pattern of evolution from other areas. While forager-camps in the Nile Valley seem to have been
transformed rather quickly into full-fledged farming communities, the Faiyum Neolithic people
apparently remained mobile hunter-gatherers” (Wetterstrom 1993, 1995 p.203). This may be
partly because of the importance of hunting, and fluctuation in the productivity of agriculture:
“The tentative steps towards the beginning of agricultural life at Kom W, and indeed the Fayum
as a whole, could well have been hindered by the pitfalls of pursuing agriculture along the Fayum
lake shores. Coupled with this was the high productivity and stability of the marsh fauna and
flora that would have attracted the inhabitants towards fishing, hunting and gathering” (Brass
2003). This may well account for the fact that Faiyum Neolithic sites did not achieve the same
sort of cultural sophistication visible in the southwest Western Desert or Badarian: “There is no
evidence in that area of villages that became increasingly complex, as in Upper Egypt, however it
is possible that aquatic resources were sufficiently concentrated in the Fayoum that agricultural
intensification was not required” (Bard 1994).
Other writers agree - for example, Hassan 1986 suggests that fluctuations in the rich lake
environment may have encouraged a “para-agricultural economy” (p.483). Wenke et al suggest
that the need to make use of deposited silts which will have had different in terms of thickness
and quality annually may have influenced the choice of site to cultivate on an annual basis:
“Given substantial variation in annual lake levels and the relatively shallow gradient of the
Fayyum area, the location of agricultural areas may have varied enough each year to make
permanent villages inappropriate . . . . It may be significant in this context that apparently there
were no large permanent settlements in the Fayyum until the Middle Kingdom” (Wenke et al
1988, p.46-7).
Kozlowski and Ginter (1989) have identified three main types of settlement type which fit in with
all the available data and represent different aspects of the Neolithic subsistence strategy:
 Large settlements of a semi-permanent character (e.g. Koms W and K)
 Base seasonal settlements (e.g. QS XI/81)
 Hearths representing fishing trips (e.g. QS X/81)
Page 48
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.6.8
Andie Byrnes 2003
Social Organization
Although when considered as a whole, the economic basis of the Faiyum may not represent a
radical change from the Qarunian, there are some indications of change in social behaviour and
organisation. The first indications of social organization lie in the management of the granaries
at Koms W and K. Hendrickx and Vermeersch (2000, p.37) suggest that “because the storage pits
are in groups, it is supposed that agriculture was practiced on a community basis.” Social
organization is also implied by the management and co-operation needed to plant, gather,
process, store and distribute a communal resource. However, in spite of these indications and
the fact that some very few ornamental personal items have been found, there is no sign of
religious or hierarchical elements, both of which were highly prominent in Upper Egyptian at this
time.
It is worth noting that visibility of hierarchy in the archaeological record is not a definitive sign
that it did not exist. Gamble has pointed out that even in hunter-gatherer societies they may well
have existed. At the very least, increased economic complexity implies increased social
organisation and structure.
That Caton-Thompson expected to find burials accompanying the settlement is made clear by her
comment about establishing a relative chronology for her Fayum sites: “This, I think, will
probably be achieved only by the discovery of the graves” (Caton-Thompson 1927, p.336).
However, no burials were found in association with the Faiyum Neolithic: “The absence of any
burial grounds prevents a reconstruction of the social structure and religious beliefs of the Fayum
groups of people. It can only be presumed that the large complex of grain containers could have
been owned by a single human group, and this, in turn, might point to the fact that a collective
form of cultivation and property had existed” (Krzyzaniak 1977, p.68). Similarly, apart from some
very rare items of personal adornment, none of which are in any way aesthetically special, there
is very little in the way of artistic endeavour visible in the Faiyum Neolithic: “Whatever artistic
tendencies the Neolithic Fayumis may have possessed seem to have been confined to their
superbly fashioned and often beautiful stone tools and weapons. Decoration of any sort is
exceedingly rare on any of the other classes of objects found” (Hayes 1964, 65 p.96).
Hassan examined evidence for population sizes. He sees significance in the fact that Koms K, W
and M were located quite closely to each other with the granaries between them “strongly
suggesting that they belonged to a single community. If we assume one granary per family and
that grain was stored for a year, the settlement would have held about 280 persons. This should
be regarded as an upper limit” (Hassan 1988, p.149).
2.6.9
Contact Outside the Faiyum
Africa, Sinai and the Red Sea
Links with areas at some considerable distance from the Faiyum are suggested by seashells
(made into beads) from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, turquoise (probably from Sinai),
amazonite (from either Tibesti in the Sahara or the Red Sea hills) and a shark tooth (that may
have come from the Red Sea).
The mechanism by which they arrived in the Faiyum is unknown but has been the subject of
speculation and could have been acquired by trade, exchange or other processes. Hoffman
Page 49
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
believes that decorative items like the perforated shells could indicate the existence of exchange
mechanisms and points out the importance of acquiring a much better understanding of what
these items represent: “If the contact among the three Predynastic traditions of Egypt (Upper
Egypt, the Delta and the Western Desert) was an important force in the emergence of a national
Egyptian culture with the first dynasties, then it is absolutely essential that we understand the
social and economic context of goods like beads - goods that point toward social exchange sand
the whole body of ideas, relationships, and even myths that often accompany exchange”
(Hoffman 1979, p.189). This is obviously an area that requires more detailed interpretation of
existing data and, almost certainly, the discovery of new and more informative data.
What these foreign items imply is that the occupants of the Faiyum Neolithic did have a value for
exotic goods, and were possibly limited to what they could or was practical to acquire and keep
based on a semi-nomadic existence. Functional items of considerable beauty were possessed
(like arrowheads and polished axes).
South Cairo and the Western Delta
Most writers agree that a number of important south Cairo area and Western Delta sites are
related to those of the Faiyum: “Faiyum, el-Omari, Merimda and Maadi are all sites or regions
which are distinguished from the Upper Palaeolithic cultures both by the nature of the excavated
material and by the fact that they incorporated settlements” (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000, p.4).
However, realistically the Faiyum Neolithic sites are probably only contemporary with Merimde,
although the Faiyum legacy probably defined the evolution of sites like el-Omari and Maadi.
Alternatively, all three could have a common origin: “The many analogies already noted between
the Merimdan and the Faiyum A cultures leave little room for doubt that they are closely related
one to another and are without much question descended from a common ancestor or
combination of ancestors” (Hayes 1964, 1965, p.116). Hoffman (1979, 185) agrees: “Faiyum A
has often been compared to Merimda and presents a striking contrast to the rich Predynastic
sites of Upper Egypt”.
Kozlowski and Ginter (1989) in an analysis of the Faiyum Neolithic sites that they discovered in
the Qasr el-Sagha area and those discovered by Caton-Thompson and Gardner (1934) have
suggested that the lithic toolkit as represented by Koms W and K have a closer affinity to
Merimde than that found at the other Qasr el-Sagha sites, particularly in respect of the bifacial
component and elongated sickle blades.
Merimda, el Omari, and Maadi are discussed in detail in the Western Delta section, although
Hoffman warns that the question of how the development in the Faiyum relates to that at
Merimda is “still an answerable question” (1979, p188). Chronologically, the Faiyumian sites
appear to have been the earliest, in spite of Eiwanger’s theory that the earliest level at El Omari
predated the Faiyum Neolithic sites.
2.6.10 Physical Anthropology
In so far as the physical anthropology of the Ancient Egyptians is concerned, there is no data
from which to speculate. Some studies in the past have attempted to make generalisations
based on the few remains discovered in other areas, but as Wenke (1991, p.293) puts it, “Too
few Egyptians of the Neolithic period have been found . . . to determine their similarity to other
groups.”
Page 50
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.7
The Moerian
2.7.1
Introduction
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Moerian was identified by Kozlowski and Ginter on the basis of their excavations in the Qasr
el-Sagha area. They have suggested that there were two distinct types of sites – those that
represent the Faiyum Neolithic and those which represent a later phase which they at first
referred to as Unit II, but later named the Moerian. As Kozlowski said in his book on Qasr elSagha: “the differences are marked to such a degree that it may be said that the later part of the
Neolithic sequence represents a distinct culture, most probably of a different origin” (Kozlowski
1983 p.38). This is a very important point because the idea that there are dual origins for
Neolithic occupation in the Faiyum suggests that there are different dynamics at work in Egypt
during the fourth millennium and that the development of Egypt during the predynastic was likely
to be the product of different influences from different areas.
There were a number of bases for the distinction between the two phases, and the differences
are summarised as follows (Kozlowski 1983):
 Lithics
o Different production method of blank flakes
o Morphologies of retouched tools
 Ceramics
o Different raw materials
o Different ceramic styles
 Habitation Structures
o More complex camps in the Moerian, with several hearths and light shelters
 Exploitation
o Functional differentiation of camps in the younger phase
2.7.2
Origins, Dates and Geology
The available dates for the Neolithic appear to identify a discontinuity of occupation in the
Neolithic, which Kozlowski and Ginter (1989) convincingly suggest represents a gap between two
different Neolithic occupations and that there are two clearly identifiable Neolithic traditions in the
Qasr al-Sagha region of the Faiyum, the earlier of which is the Faiyum Neolithic (Faiyum A) and
the later of which has been termed the Moerian. These indicate that there may be 100 years
between the Moerian and the previous Faiyum Neolithic, which Kozlowski and Ginter consider to
be consistent with the typological profile of the lithic artefacts. The hiatus is also represented by
the stratigraphy of site QS X/81.
Kozlowski and Ginter 1989 suggest that while the Faiyum may have had its origins in the Near
East, the Moerian may have originated in the Eastern Sahara. Caneva explains (Caneva 1992,
p.221): “The late Neolithic Moerian of the second half of the 4th Millennium BC is thought to be
ascribed to the displacement of people from the Western Desert”. In other words it is possible
that as increasing aridity in the desert regions forced people to seek favourable circumstances
elsewhere, a new influx of people were responsible for a new industry (the Moerian). “The
chronological sequence of the cultures in the Fayum shows that the influences from the two
regions reached the Fayum in separate times, first from the Levant and later from the Western
Desert” (Caneva 1992, p.223). The Moerian is not, however, in any way analogous to Merimde.
As usual, more data would be helpful. Kozlowski (1983 p.70-71) suggests that on the basis of
Page 51
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
shared components in the Faiyum Neolithic and the Moerian (e.g. discoidal blade cores, tool
morphologies and pottery) that contacts between the two was possible.
The Later Neolithic sites were contained within a formation which corresponds to a dry recession
phase: “as a result abundant traces of settlement are found in the eastern part of the
investigated area” (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989, p.159).
The earliest Moerian date from the Qasr el-Sagha sites is 5410+/-110BP and the most recent is
4820+/-100BP indicating a 600 year time span for the Moerian.
2.7.3
Excavation and Survey
The Moerian is represented by a number of sites in the north east of the Faiyum, the most
important of which are VIIA/80 and VII/80, categorized by the similarities between the artefacts
(lithics and pottery) found. They feature hearths and some faunal remains, as well as lithics.
They were identified by a mission of the Polish university from Cracow, and reported in 1983
(Kozlowski 1983) and 1989 (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989).
2.7.4
Sites
The main Moeriean site is QS VIIA/80, which was particularly rich. Others include QS VII/80, VS
VI/80, QS XII/80, QS VID/80. All are located in the Qasr el-Sagha region to the north of Lake
Qarun. It is possible that FS3, to the southwest of Lake Qarun, was Moerian although it may be
predynastic (see Naqada II section).
QS VIIA/80 is located in a small butte at the edge of a cliff formed by erosion of the Neolithic
lake shore at the mouth of a small wadi at around 17.2m above sea level at its highest point.
The site consists of two main occupation phases, a lower and an upper level, both of which
represent the later Neolithic: “in both main culture layers and in all stratigraphic units there
occurred a culturally and technologically fairly homogenous material (stone artefacts, pottery)
representing the late phase” (Kozlowski 1983, p.40). The lower level consists of hearths, and a
set of preserved postholes in the centre of the site which the excavators interpreted as huts
which probably served as sleeping areas: “It may be assumed that the area next to the sheltered
sleeping places differed in function form the area of domestic activities directly by the hearths
(Kozlowski 1983, p.40). Ceramic fragments were found in the centre of the site, debitage at the
edges and ceramics and retouched tools in the hearth area. The upper level consists of sunken
hearths and a concentration of artefacts. The site provided a date of 5070+/-110BP (Gd-895).
QS VID/80 was preserved in a cliff formed of slits and sands
of the Neolithic lake. It is located c.300m west of VIIA/80
and at its highest level was 17.5m above sea level. It was
older than VIIA/80 by about 300 years, with a carbon 14 date
of 5410+/-110BP. It consists of a hearth surrounded by
ceramics and lithics (mostly debitage) covered in a topping of
different types of stone:
sandstone, mudstone and
organogenic limestone (Kozlowski 1983).
QS VID/80 Hearth No.1
Page 52
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.7.5
Andie Byrnes 2003
Industry
Lithics are made on small flint pebbles and cherts sourced locally and some larger concretions
that are not available locally. Tools are made on single and double platforms. Debitage has a
higher frequency of flakes over blades. Tools include:
 Flakes (25-30% of all tools) and retouched flakes
 Blade tools (the highest percentage)
o Backed blades
o Micro-retouched blades and bladelets
o Retouched blades
o Perforators
 A few side scrapers
 Notched tools
 Denticulated tools
 Rare bifacially touched tools (although the presence of bifacial retouch in the debitage
does suggest that bifacial tools may have been lost to looters)
Qasr el-Sagha implements from QS VIIA/80 (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989)
Pottery was made from local tertiary clays and is
represented by a number of forms including:
 Hemispherical bowls with rounded walls
 Vessels with hemispherical/spherical
bellies and everted rims
 S-profile vessels
 Pots with cylindrical necks and everted
or thickened rims
 Deep vessels with rounded bottoms
 Vessels with conical bottoms
The pottery from QS VIIA/80 in the later part of
the sequence consists of 463 sherds. Kozlowski (1983) divides them into four groups based on a
number of criteria:
Page 53
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)




Group
o
o
o
o
o
Group
o
o
o
o
o
Group
o
o
o
o
Group
o
o
o
o
o
Andie Byrnes 2003
I
The biggest group, consisting of 435 sherds (94% of the total)
The fabric is slightly porous
The outer surface is usually smoothed
There is a plant temper
Colouring is reddish brown or black
II
The next biggest group but represented by only 13 sherds
Surfaces can be uneven or smooth
Less plant temper than Group I vessels
Brick red, brown or black colouring
Mineralogically and petrographically similar to Group I
III
Represented by only five sherds
Fine sand temper
Brick-red and black-brown
Possibly made from lacustrine sediments
IV
Represented by ten potsherds
Coarse sand temper
Brownish-red
Weak and friable
Mineralogically different to the other groups
Both the ceramics and the lithics indicate differences from the Neolithic: “Both in respect of lithic
inventories as well as ceramic types the sites of the Moerian differ form those of the Faiyumian in
an essential way” (Kozlowski and Ginter 1989, p.169).
2.7.6
Economy
The faunal assemblages, mainly from VII/80, indicate a heavy reliance on fish (tilapia, clarias,
Nile Perch and Synodontis). Only a few sheep/goat are present, together with infrequent
remains of gazelle and waterfowl. Clearly, from this sample, there are fewer traces of
domesticated species than in the earlier Faiyum Neolithic.
In contrast with the Faiyum Neolithic Kozlowski suggests that the Moerian is “more evidently
connected with the blade tradition of Epipalaeolithic industries from the Sahara . . . . The origin
of our Unit II should be ascribed to precisely this cultural zone” (Kozlowski 1983, p.70).
2.8
Neolithic Summary
Wendorf, Schild and Close (1984) suggest that Bir Kiseiba and Nabta in southeast Egypt provide
evidence of domesticated animals, pottery and other cultural elements which are usually
associated with early developments of agriculture. They believe on this basis that Bir Kiseiba and
Nabta may provide evidence of an independently developed pastoralist economy in the southwest
of Egypt. The Faiyum was occupied at a similar time and shows cultural similarities, but seems
to have evolved in a different way, incorporating southwestern Asian elements.
Page 54
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
It is possible that the agrarian components of the Faiyum Neolithic came to the Faiyum from the
Levant, introducing an agrarian and pastoral economy based on imported domesticated wheat
and sheep/goat accompanied by undecorated pottery and by an industry with a strong flake
component and bifacial tools. Similarities with the Faiyum Neolithic and the Cairo area sites
support an eastern origin for the Faiyum sites.
A later economy and industry may be accounted for by the arrival of people from the Western
Desert. However, these hypotheses are so far untested by any interim findings in the northern
oases or on traditional routes to the Levant.
The Neolithic in the Faiyum area was as a semi-permanent food producing and pastoralist
economy supplemented by hunting and fishing. Storage of food would have allowed longer
periods of sedentary living, but occupation appears to have been semi-permanent and seasonal.
It is likely that the richness and variety of wild local resources combined with the vagaries of
successful crop cultivation were the main reasons why local groups had no motivation to settle on
a permanent basis.
The material remains show considerable richness in lithic craftsmanship and aesthetic
appreciation, but pottery is strictly functional and personal ornamentation, though exotic in terms
of its origins, is simple and portable. These elements are all entirely consistent with a way of life
that included the need to abandon settlements on a seasonal basis. Items would have had to
have been portable or disposable.
Social organization is implied in the apparently shared nature of the granaries, and the
management needed to plant, gather, process, store and distribute a communal resource. In
addition, although it is an isolated item, there is also a macehead from Kom W (UC2528, at the
Petrie Museum), an artefact usually associated with status.
It appears that there may have been at least two phases of the Neolithic in the Faiyum – the
Faiyum Neolithic and the Moerian.
2.9
Palaeolithic and Neolithic Faiyum: Conclusions
The earliest prehistoric periods in the Faiyum are represented by the Palaeolithic and the far
more important and numerous Epipalaeolithic sites. The Epipalaeolithic sites are separated from
Faiyum Neolithic both by a period of time and by industrial and economic differences. Both
Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic are unique to the Faiyum and when considered together with
environmental information, present a picture of a close relationship between early groups and the
changing ecological conditions of the area.
Although most of our knowledge is based on the northern Faiyum sites of Kom W, it is
supplemented by very valuable data from the survey projects of the University of Rome in the
1960s, Wendorf and Schild (1976) Wenke (1983) and, Ginter and Kozlowski (1989). From these
projects it is clear that numerous sites existed both here and elsewhere in the vicinity of Lake
Qarun, and that there was variability in these sites both temporally and functionally.
The Epipalaeolithic groups were hunter-gatherers but mostly fishers, exploiting lake and wetland
environments with great effectiveness. Their origins are unknown, but their industry indicated
that they were a successfully evolved final Palaeolithic culture that was well adapted to the
Faiyum, taking advantage of natural food resources and raw materials, shifting on a seasonal
basis.
Page 55
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
A hiatus in the occupation sites in the Faiyum suggest that a) interim sites are still awaiting
discovery or that b) the Faiyum was abandoned at this time due to drying up of wetlands and
substantial decrease in (if not total drying up of) Lake Qarun.
The Egyptian Neolithic, represented in its earliest forms at Bir Kiseiba/Nabta and the Faiyum,
develops all over Egypt in response to both cultural and ecological factors and, again, is poorly
understood in the context of other sites, areas and countries. The Faiyum Neolithic occupants
arrived on the scene with a fully evolved albeit simple cultural and economic identity and their
origins are also a matter of speculation. Like their Qarunian predecessors they were well adapted
to the local ecology. They took taking advantage of fertile land to cultivate, process and store
grain and other plants, and kept domesticated animals. At the same time they used the natural
environment to supplement their diet with fish (some of which they may have dried and stored)
and with hunted wildlife. Material equipment, settlement remains and faunal remains are
consistent with a semi-permanent lifestyle, which would have been easy to maintain in such a
rich environment.
Differences between the Epipalaeolithic and the Neolithic appear in a number of obvious and
more subtle ways. There are no domesticates in the Qarunian (of either floral or faunal variety).
There are differences in the time of year that fish were collected – in the Faiyum Neolithic fish
collecting took place later in the summer than in the Qarunian and Nile Perch, while still
secondary to Clarias, represented a much higher percentage of the diet. There are also
conspicuous differences in the faunal species exploited, visible in faunal assemblages:
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Neolithic
s
Bo
s
pr
id
O
vi
ca
ph
u
s
la
la
s
lis
el
Al
ce
G
az
Fe
e
lp
e
da
an
i
Vu
s
pu
C
Le
n
rtl
e
Tu
do
pi
a
Ti
la
tra
o
Te
is
te
s
La
nt
no
do
Sy
ht
hy
s
gr
u
C
hr
y
sic
Ba
rb
u
Ba
s
Qarunian
s
Number
Qarunian vs. Neolithic Assemblages
Specie
The Qarunian was an economy based on exploitation of the environment, a cyclical existence
which moved as required, and which had a material culture based on a frequently moving
lifestyle. The Neolithic, on the other hand, was based not on exploitation f existing resources but
on the production and management of specific plant and animal foods, developing a particular
subsistence strategy and an evolving social organisation.
The organisation and skillsmanagement required suggest the development of a leadership aspect of society, the existence
of skilled workers and an affiliation to a single given area that implies social adjustments on an
important scale. Permanence, with all (or most) of society’s participants located in one place for
succeeding generations leads to patterns of a human interactive nature rather than an
environment-based transitory state. In other words, differentiation appears and social systems
begin to develop beyond what was previously possible.
Page 56
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
There are also similarities between the two periods. Both showed a preference for shallow water
fishing, and in shallow condition both preferred Clarias over other species (notably tilapia): “Both
Faiyum A and B groups appear to have exploited the same species, and with the exception of
Faiyum A demonstrate, in similar relative abundances, using similar strategies and during the
same time of year” (Brewer 1989, p.136).
As far as the industry goes, the only material available for direct comparison is stone, because
pottery did not exist in the Qarunian and there is a poor survival rate for bone and wood items.
In an analysis of the lithic assemblages at FS2 (Qarunian) and FS1 (Neolithic) Cagle observes
that the reduction process of lithic tool manufacture at FS1 “was more complete and complex
than at FS2” (1994, p.6) and that continuity is only visible in the debitage. He also points to
differences in the raw materials: “From an initial analysis of the debitage, it appears that the
Epipalaeolithic assemblages contain a much more eclectic blend of raw materials than the
Neolithic” (Cagle 1994, p.6). Both assemblages contain a wide variety of cherts. There also
appear to have been differences in the way in which raw materials were used for tool production.
The Epipalaeolithic tool makers appear to have ah a much more random approach to using
specific material for tools, whereas the Neolithic tool makers appear to have had a much clearer
strategy for using certain raw materials for the manufacture of certain tools. One raw material “a
chalky-white cortex” was used extensively in the Epipalaeolithic but was not used at all in the
Neolithic (Cagle 1994).
Gamble (1986) points out that a given environment can support a number of different economies
and societies – that the environment is a “determinant in that it set s out what is available for
exploitation” but that social organisation specifies how that environment is going to be exploited
(for either hunting and gathering or agricultural activities): “The environment does not, in most
cases, determine which. It is the social system” (p.30).
Only rare traces of predynastic occupation are found following the Moerian – a few individual
finds as well as E29G4 to the north of the Lake Qarun and FS3 to the south west. These are
discussed in the next section (3.0). In general the focus shifts away from the Faiyum towards
the Western Delta, until later Predynastic times. It is unclear why the Faiyum was abandoned at
this time.
The reasons for the abandonment of the Faiyum Depression in favour of Nile and Delta locations
are, Wenke and Brewer suggest (1992 p.175) easy to understand:
o The Faiyum is probably less productive for agricultural exploitation than the Nile
o It appears that the climate changed c.4000BC to hyper-arid conditions which would have
meant that exploitable flora and fauna would no longer have existed around the Faiyum
edges
o The Faiyum was subject to more unpredictable floods and lower silt levels than the Nile
o The Faiyum was far from the main communication artery of Egypt
Page 57
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.0
Neolithic and Chalcolithic: Faiyum Area and South Cairo
3.1
Relationship Between the Faiyum and South Cairo Areas
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites to the south of Cairo complete the Faiyum picture. Because
they are so closely related to contemporary Neolithic and earlier Faiyum sites it is unrealistic to
separate them out. The sites described here, therefore, will be discussed in the context of the
Faiyum Neolithic and later sites and conclusions will be based on what these sites reveal as a
group. There are only two possible post-Moerian later Neolithic or Chalcolithic sites currently
known from the Faiyum Depression itself.
The following very simplified table is a quick recap on the chronological order of the Faiyum and
Western Delta sites to show chronological correspondence between sites.
Faiyum/Faiyum area
Qarunian sites
Faiyum Neolithic sites
E29-G4?, FS3?
Naqada II and III
Western Delta
Merimde Beni-Salame
El Omari
Maadian Sites (inc. Buto)
Tura, Tarkhan, Buto and
Minshat Abu Omar
As the table shows, although the
Faiyum was occupied after the Faiyum
Neolithic, a degree of continuity was
lost in the Faiyum immediately after
the Neolithic occupation – a continuity
which can be picked up at Merimde
where connections with the Faiyumian
Neolithic sites are obvious.
The apparent sparsity of sites in the
Western Delta is more likely to be due
to a poor survival than the true
distribution of settlement in the Faiyum
and Western Delta at this time. Early
levels a both Buto in the western Delta
and Minshat Abu Omar in the eastern
Delta were excavated from beneath
the water table while exploratory
excavations at prehistoric Sais had to
stop when the water table was
reached, and this may be a typical
situation, preventing identification of
other sites. Butzer (1978, p.16) points
out that “the low settlement density in
the areas between Memphis and the
Upper Egyptian sites may have resulted
Page 58
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
from the great size of the natural flood basins in Middle Egypt . . . Also, the intensity of modern
settlement in Middle Egypt is such that early remains are likely obscured.
The sites discussed in this section existed during a period when settlement density rose sharply in
Upper Egypt and important cultural changes occurred.
3.2
Background to Occupation in the Western Delta
3.2.1
Epipalaeolithic
The Qarunian has many elements in common with other Epipalaeolithic industries elsewhere in
Egypt and Nubia (Hoffman 1979). The closest, geographically speaking, is El-Omari, where
cultural remains of former Epipalaeolithic fishers and hunters have been found.
Other sites in the area are (after Hayes 1964, 65):
 Abu Suwair (Wadi Tumilat)
o Over 4000 artefacts
o Cores with microlithic features
o Axe and chopper tools
o Few flakes
o Microlithic tendencies
 Shibeem al Qanatir (nr the modern Ismailia canal)
 Heliopolis and Abassiya
o Cores and core tools less predominant
o Fewer microlithic tendencies
o Bifacial axes
o Re-edging flakes
Hayes describes shared features falling into two separate types:
 Diminutive Levalloisian flake tradition characterized by small broad flakes
 Bifacial core-tool tradition featuring axes and other pre-Neolithic elements
However, please note that in spite of these references from Hayes, I have been unable to find
any references to these sites elsewhere.
3.2.2
Epipalaeolithic to Neolithic Transition
Speculation about the origins of the Neolithic, as represented by sites like Merimda Beni-Salama
and el-Omari, is complicated by the lack of data about previous traditions in the same area.
Apart from the enigmatic Epipalaeolithic industry at Helwan, and the above references to
otherwise possible Epipalaeolithic traditions in the Delta, knowledge about any immediately
preceding industries is sparse in Lower Egypt. It is impossible to demonstrate full continuity, or
for that matter discontinuity, between Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic elements, or to find an
uncontroversial point of origin for the full gamut of Neolithic components, although the Faiyum
Neolithic does seem responsible for the earliest forms of the Neolithic in the south Cairo area.
The reconstruction of connections between different areas, is one of the most difficult problems
in Egyptian prehistory as a whole, and nowhere is this clearer than during this period in this area.
Common features that identify links between the sites include circular/oval houses, some partly
subterranean, storage areas with granaries sometimes lined with basketry, and sparse
gravegoods found with the deceased, where burials are found.
Page 59
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.3
Merimda Beni-Salama
3.3.1
Introduction
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Early Neolithic site of Merimda Beni-Salama, (30°19' N 30°51'E) whose name means “Place
of the Ashes” was “far more impressive than most Neolithic sites in Egypt. The site rises like a
tell above the surrounding flood plain on a spur of terrace that juts out from the low desert”
(Wetterstrom 1993, 1995). It was founded on Low-Desert and consists of up to 2m cultural
debris, representing a lifetime of some 600 years, and with a considerable population. It is
particularly useful for its well stratified sequence of occupations which reflect important changes.
It is the earliest known completely sedentary community in Egypt, the Faiyum Neolithic having
been agricultural but not entirely sedentary.
Merimde lithics, ceramics and Stone axes (Hoffman 1979)
Questions about its origins are closely related to those of the Faiyum Neolithic.
3.3.2
Excavation and Survey
The original work at Merimda Beni Salama was carried out by Hermann Junker between 1929 to
1939 but full reports were never published due to the loss of most of the information during the
Second World War and the subsequent spread of the material across several countries.
However, more recent work, mainly by Eiwanger, has helped to answer some questions including
that of the complex stratigraphical composition. He added two more levels of occupation to
Junker’s original three.
3.3.3
Dates
Radiocarbon dates provide a span for El Omari from 4795+/-105BC to 4465+/-190BC: “In terms
of absolute chronology this means that El Omari is contemporary with Merimde periods IV and V
and the latest Neolithic settlements in Faiyum. In terms of relative chronology, however, El
Page 60
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Omari is contemporary with Mom K and Kom W in the Faiyum and Merimde period II”
(Mortensen 1992, p. 173).
3.3.4
The Site
When it was established, Merimde was “ideally situated to take advantage of both the bounty of
the semiarid pasture lands outside the Delta and the promise of the rich Nile alluvium” (Hoffman
1979 p.170). When it was excavated, it was found to consist of around 2m of debris and several
phases of settlement. Although the stratigraphy is complex it has been possible to identify five
stratigraphic phases. The nomenclature for different levels at Merimde comes from Josef
Eiwanger’s “Merimda Benisalame” (1984-92, volumes I-III).
Layer I
The earliest level, Eiwanger’s Urschicht (First Layer) was a relatively small and light occupation
with postholes indicating oval houses and some storage components which took the form of large
pits in front of the huts.
Artefacts are as follows:
 Pottery, which is significantly different from earlier types, comprises both new forms and
fabrics, with none of the fine polished black ware of later layers. It is mostly simple
thick-walled pottery, tempered and untempered with infrequent herringbone decoration,
limited to cups, basins and bowls, many with a chopped straw temper. Types include:
o polished red ware with a rim and a mat band decorated with herringbone
pattern,
o footed vases,
o carinated vases,
o pottery ring-stands and ladles.
o Grey-yellow bowls
 Lithics included bifacial retouched stone tools stone axes, flint knives
 Settlement evidence takes the form of hearths (which may have been associated with
dwellings) and postholes marking out oval structures
 There is no trace of grain storage, although a hearth yielded emmer wheat grains.
 Bone items include awls and harpoons.
No settlement structures were found but postholes and remains of wooden posts suggest that
dwellings included huts and/or wigwam-type structures (Hassan 1988, p.151). Burials were found
within the settlement (usually woman or child).
Butzer (1966) describes a “thin but fairly continuous gravel horizon above the lowest settlement
stratum. The pebbles suggest a period of sheet flooding after appreciable rainfall.” (212-213). It
is possible that the settlement was abandoned briefly at this time. Mortensen believes that this
may correspond to a similar level at El Omari that existed between Levels I and II (a thick salt
level): “At El Omari this climatic episode did not cause any apparent change but at Merimde
post-flood settlers differed both in terms of material culture and customs from these of Period I”
(Mortensen 1992, p.173).
Page 61
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Layer II
The Middle Merimda Culture (Mittel Merimdekultur) c.5500-4500 BC is a much denser settlement
of oval huts of wood-frame and wickerwork and horse-shoe shaped shelters “with the open end
normally toward the southeast, away from the strong westerly winds which prevail in this region”
(Hayes 1964/65p.104). Prominent hearths are a major feature, with different forms, including
simple round or oval, smeared with mud, grooved hearth with hollow middles, with fire trays of
Nile mud and fire dogs. Small depressions contained pottery in some dwellings. Dwellings also
featured mortars, and baskets of rush or wheat. The upper layers of this level contained large
baskets coated with clay which were sunk into pits to form silos similar to those in the Faiyum,
but, unlike the Faiyum they were not concentrated in specialist areas external to the settlement
but scattered throughout the village. However, areas of specialisation may be featured in this
layer: “larger but shallower circular cavities up to 13 feet in diameter, their sides revetted with
spiral matting, may have been threshing floors, especially since grain was found in them and in
receptacles near by” (Hayes 1964, 1965, p. 105). Burials were scattered throughout the
settlement, deposited in contracted positions, without gravegoods.
Hayes (1964, 1965) describes this phase of Merimda as “an open settlement of sparsely scattered
dwelling-groups or little ‘farmsteads’, not yet sufficiently closely grouped to prevent the
infiltration into every substratum of the settlement area of massive quantities of wind-blown
sand”.
The red decorated pottery characteristic of Level 1 almost vanished and was replaced by polished
black pottery and coarse wares with knobs and bosses. High-footed vases and chalice-shaped
vessels also featured. These are a coarser type of pottery than that of Level I, and was strawtempered. It was similar to that found in the Faiyum and at El-Omari.
Layers III – V
The Classic or Jungeren Merimdekultur (Later Mermida Culture) c.4600-4100BC consisted of a
very dense layer of settlement debris “a large closed village of mud buildings, huts and work
places, which, though not apparently surrounded by a wall or embankment was, like the Egyptian
village of today, protected against the intrusion of wind-blown sand by the number and close
juxtaposition of its houses” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.105). Mud houses were oval-shaped,
approximately five to ten and a half feet across, built a foot and a half into the ground, with three
foot high walls of Nile mud or bound straw, possibly with upper walls made of organic and lost
material. They appear to have been organized along roughly laid-out streets. Access to the
house was gained by a step either made of wood or the leg bone of a hippo. “Though primitive
in many respects, these houses are solidly and painstakingly built and
were evidently designed to last a long time, suggesting in their
construction and arrangement an urban community of a permanent
nature rather than a desert-fringe encampment of semi-nomadic
tribesmen.” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.106). Oval huts and horse-shoe
shaped shelters continued to be used, and fenced enclosures were also
present.
As well as sunken basket granaries there were some
hemispherical mud-lined pits like huge bowls, and flat-bottomed pottery
jars over three feet high. Other pottery includes black polished ware with
decoration of simple lines, and rows of small hollows. In many ways it
was similar to Faiyum A pottery but it was more evolved. The famous
sculpted head in the Cairo museum, for which there are no parallels in
the rest of Egypt, was also found in the most recent level at Merimde.
Page 62
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The most common lithic is the bifacial handaxe, similar to Faiyum Neolithic types. It was usually
made in flint but it was also manufactured in a number of other materials. Those in flint show
particular attention shown to the cutting edge. Other lithics include:
 elongated cylindrical axes
 smaller more trapezoidal axes with a head with wider edge in proportion to its length
(latter usually show-pieces).
 Similar sickle flints to those from Faiyum were found - usually glossy from cutting grain
stalks.
 Unifacial saws and arrowheads also had a significant presence.
 Arrowheads often differ from Faiyum A examples (and Badarian examples) in having
straight sides with rounded or bevelled rather than pointed wing tips.
 Tanged arrowheads were very sparse and triangular forms were uncommon, as in the
Faiyum.
 A variety of knife blade forms, small awls and scrapers, and stone-headed maces, which
were pear-shaped and occasionally spheroid.
No backed blades were reported from Merimda.
www.digitalpetrie.com
Ceramics were similar to, but more evolved than, those of the Faiyum Neolithic: “This is shown
in the secondary treatment, where a simple punched decoration sometimes outlines the rim.
Small close-set studs and a larger isolated bosses were comparatively freely used at Merimda,
whereas in the Faiyum only one of each was found” (Forde-Johnson 1959, p.18).
http://condor.depaul.edu/~sbucking/extra/merpot2.jpg
www.digitalpetrie.com
Other artefacts include hand-mills, grinding stones, and palettes of calcite, granite and dark
basaltic stone. A few very small stone vases of basalt and diorite were found in the uppermost
level.
Page 63
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
There were several hundred implements of bone, ivory and horn, most of which were functional
tools. There were also small egg-shaped limestone objects interpreted as weights. Other items
included a spindle whorl and some rare items of jewellery.
There were numerous bones and horns of domesticated animals found in hearths, pot-holes,
storage areas and rubbish areas showing that “stock farming played a far more important role in
the life and economy of the Merimdians than it did with the lakeside population of the Fayum”
(Hayes 1964, 1965 p.112). Pig bones are particularly well represented but remains of
domesticated sheep and long-horned cattle have also been retrieved. Wild animals of importance
include hippopotamus (the main form of game) as well as crocodile, antelope, turtles, polecat,
shellfish and bivalve mussels.
As well as being the most important meat in the diet and an architectural component, in phases
III-V, hippopotamus bones were apparently used in a ritual capacity: “The long bones and spinal
vertebrae of this massive beast and also the articulated vertebrae of a smaller animal, perhaps a
aster, are found sometimes bound with sinew and cloth and stuck upright in the ground like
columns, evidently as offerings to some divinity or guiding spirit” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.112).
3.3.5
Origins
There is a close similarity between the Faiyum Neolithic and the Merimden lithics, particularly
with respect to the bifacial component. Some authors have argued that this suggests a Faiyum
origin for Merimde but it is also possible that they both derive from a different common ancestor
“with the cradle land in the Near East, and more specifically in the Jordan Valley” (Kozlowski and
Ginter 1989, p.176). There are no North East African cultures with a bifacial component, but
there are a number in the Near East. Hoffman points out that “Merimde is not significantly
different from contemporary villages in Palestine, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia and shows none of
the distinctively Egyptian characteristics of Badarian peoples” (Hoffman 1979, p.176).
3.3.6
External Contact
Between Merimda Beni-Salama and other areas there are a number of elements suggesting that
contact was made over a period of time. Ties between Merimda and south-western Asia include:
 Burial of dead among the houses of the living
 Mud-plastered pits for granaries
 Breeding and eating of pigs
 Large numbers of flaked axes and adzes
 Pierced animal teeth
 Pottery vessel decoration
 Footed vases
 Long-handled clay ladles
 Figurines of clay
Cultural ties with Sahara-Libyan Desert include:
 Concave and tang based arrowheads
 Cylindrical axes
 Similarities to occupations at Hoggar, Air and Tibesti (the Faiyum may also have these
connections)
 Burial of the dead within the settlement (similar to the Caspian Rammadyat)
Page 64
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.3.7
Andie Byrnes 2003
Economy
The clear stratigraphic sequence of the site and its interpretation by both Junker and Eiwanger
suggest that Merimde was a growing Neolithic settlement site with an evolving economy. The
earliest phase was small, basic and probably seasonal, based on a mixture of fishing, hunting and
cultivation, while the later phases show increasing permanence with substantial and
differentiated structures and a shift to settled farming with storage becoming increasingly
important in each phase. Merimda was the earliest sedentary farming community in Egypt,
growing plant foods, herding domesticated breeds, and supplementing the diet with hunted
animals.
Floral remains include:
 Emmer wheat
 Fodder vetch
Faunal









remains include:
Pigs
Shell fish
Fish
Sheep
Possible goats
Long-horned cattle
Turtle
Hippopotamus
Some crocodile
Hoffman suggests that this high incidence of women and child burials could be directly connected
to the adoption of agriculture: “Children can perform the simple, almost mindless tasks of
farming and herding at a younger age and with less training than they could effectively hunt or
operate complex mechanical equipment. The demands for increased childbearing created by
farming also raised adult female mortality and, in all probability, it was these factors that
accounted for the peculiar composition of Merimde’s population” (1979, p.173). However, it is
equally possible that men were usually deposited elsewhere at a site that has not yet been
discovered.
3.3.8
Social Organization
As Kemp says (1989, p.43) “both graves and huts were small and poor, displaying little if any
sign of social ranking.” Merimda was a sedentary Neolithic settlement which, being an organised
society that worked as a unit to produce a food supply for the community as a whole. It may
have been a somewhat introverted food-sharing society, with all members working together to
ensure the survival of the community as a whole. There are some signs of international
connections which would not normally be strictly necessary to a simple self-reliant community.
These did not necessarily take the form of full-blown trade relations, but certainly appear to have
involved some form of mechanism for acquiring goods. However it is worth pointing out that
Merimda was not necessarily acquiring goods by being in direct contact with the suppliers – other
Egyptian sites may have acted as trading posts for such goods.
The only signs of religious concern lie with the burials, but these are evidently important. Hayes
sees a close connection between the living and the dead in the practise of burial within the
settlement: “The close and continuing contacts maintained at Mermida between the living and
the dead shows . . . that even at this early period piety and devotion, rather than fear,
Page 65
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
characterised the former’s attitude to the latter and governed the funerary service as a whole”
(Hayes 1965, 1965, p.113).
The oldest formal burials known in Lower Egypt are from later levels at Merimda, where 100s of
burials were found. The burials were mainly of women and children. Single burials were placed
in shallow graves and occasionally lined with matting. Individuals were laid on one side,
contracted, with the head usually to south and facing north-east or north or east. They were
sometimes buried with a few grains of cereal or a single bead or pendant.
There were no animal burials at El Omari.
The settlement itself evolved from a fairly random layout to one that seems to have been
organised along a winding lane (Hoffman 1979, p.175), implying increased social organisation.
Therefore, although Merimda was apparently not particularly sophisticated, it appears to be more
advanced than the Faiyum Neolithic from which it possibly originated, possibly had direct or
indirect connections with Near Eastern communities and showed, for the first time in Lower
Egypt, a concern with burials and by inference a belief in some form of spiritual life or afterlife.
According to Mortensen (1990) Merimde also shows increasing sophistication over time,
developing quickly compared to Maadi and El Omari, with Level V reflecting a complexity not
visible in the other two sites
3.3.9
Anthropological Data
Only a very small number of the excavated skeletons have been studied so no anthropological
analysis can be attempted. However, Hoffman summarises the findings as follows: “what little
work was done portrays Merimdens as a slightly built, round-headed folk whose men averaged 5
feet 6 inches in height and women 5 feet 2 inches. Abscesses were a common malady . . . a
situation that probably reflects a combination of the new agricultural diet, genetic predisposition
and local water chemistry” (Hoffman 1979, p.174).
3.4
El-Omari
3.4.1
Introduction
El Omari is located 3km north of Helwan. It is situated on a gravel terrace at the end of the Wadi
Hof which was an active drainage system. The site was heavily plundered by both looters and
sebakh diggers but demonstrates a changing community that began with an economy based on
fishing and hunting, and evolved into one based on agriculture and animal husbandry in the most
recent layers.
3.4.2
Excavation and Survey
El Omari was excavated by Debono and Mortensen over three seasons: 1943/44, 1948 and
1951. A publication of the excavations by Debono and Mortensen (1990) has helped to clarify
site, but their description and analysis came over forty years after their original excavation.
Page 66
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The el-Omari site consists of a village made up of two areas (or two villages) where the dead
were buried within abandoned areas of the settlement and a second area which has a separate
cemetery associated with it. Debono divided the main site into different areas, of which he
excavated only two, ‘A’ and ‘B’. Areas D, E, F, G and H were all subjected to surface analysis.
Gebel Hof is located some kilometres away from the main site and 5km to the north of Helwan is
considered by Debono and Mortensen to be closely associated with the main Omarian site.
As Debono and Mortensen point out, unfortunately the main site at El Omari can no longer be
subjected to further excavation to clarify this site further: “Some thirty five years later it is not
longer possible to resume the excavations as a new highway from Heliopolis to Helwan is built
almost on top of the site” (Debono and Mortensen 1990, p.7). The only part of the site
remaining is Gebel Hof, and this is unfortunately located in a military zone - or at least was in
1990 when Debono and Mortensen were writing.
3.4.3
Chronology and Dating
The stratigraphic make-up of the site has made it difficult to define the relative dating sequences:
“There exists no vertical settlement stratigraphy. The area comprises pits sunk in to the wadi
deposits . . . and between the pits there are no layers or cultural debris” (Debono et al 1990
p.15). However, the site clearly changes character and these changes may well be temporal:
“The stratigraphic situation at El Omari can be explained if the area actually occupied at any one
time shifted from one place to another, and when an area was left it was used as a dump, or
perhaps an area for activities such as flint knapping” (Debono et al 1990, p.16).
Radiocarbon dates of c.4600-4400BC suggest that el-Omari was occupied for two hundred years
and that it was contemporary with the most recent levels at Merimda. It is probably also
contemporary with Naqada I to the beginning of Naqada II.
Chronologically Debono and Mortensen (1990) suggest that there were nine occupation phases
during which the site would have evolved over four main observable evolutionary periods:
 Area BIII: small storage pits, with no baskets
 Area BIII: small and large depressions sometimes lined with basketry
 Areas A1 and B1: many pits with baskets. The largest pits at the site date to this period.
They were still probably storage pits as the floors were too uneven for habitation
 Whole site (both A and B) used as a settlement with fireplaces and small clay features.
Perhaps a tent-like structure was erected over settlement structures
They define the nine phases as follows:
Area A
Occupation
Dump
Occupation
Dump and Burials
Rain Salt
Occupation
Dump
Occupation
?
Area B
Occupation
Dump
Occupation
Page 67
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Hayes (1964) believed that Omari B was later, with its separation of graves from settlements. He
suggests that Omari B represents new settlers. The subsistence pattern between both areas is to
all intents and purposes the same, but the separate cemetery perhaps suggests an evolved social
organisation. However, Debono and Mortensen can find no evidence to support this and do not
support the use of the terms A and B to describe a chronological relationship as they feel they
are not justifiable. (1990, p.13).
3.4.4
Origins
Midant Reynes (1992/2000 p.124) suggests that “the existence of an unsuspected microlithicstyle industry at el-Omari still makes it possible that these Neolithic people were the direct
descendents of the Epipalaeolithic hunters of Helwan.” Debono and Mortensen (1990) describe
an Epipalaeolithic background in the area, and say that Late and Terminal Palaeolithic tools occur
amongst Neolithic ones in pits, probably having fallen in from the surface or having been reworked for use by the Neolithic occupants.
Although some phases were contemporary with Merimda, a number of differences suggest that it
is not derivative of Merimdan culture including the skeleton of a man buried with a wooden staff,
an increased number of pendants and necklaces of Red Sea shells, increased use of bone, and
the presence of mother of pearl and hard stones.
Similarities between Merimda and the El Omari can be found in some of the lithic elements:
“Childe finds that the El Omari equipment agrees very closely with the Meridian. The proportion
of blade tools is higher, however, and, in addition some of the blades are backed, a practise
noticed already for the Fayum” (Forde-Johnson 1959, p.18).
However, there are notable differences, including the lack of polished black pottery, the lack of
architecture, an absence of artistic activity, the possession of personal adornments and the sheer
variety and differing composition of the ceramic component. Midant-Reynes (1992/2000, p.121)
sees greater similarities between the Omarian ceramics with those of Palestine’s Neolithic A and
B. Hayes also points to Palestine as a possible source of inspiration for el-Omari: “Though, with
Kaiser and others, we may recognize the cultures of El Omari, together with those of Merimda
and the Fayum, as basically ‘African’ in origin and character, the position of the site on the edge
of the Eastern Desert not two hundred miles from the Palestinian border is a factor not entirely to
be overlooked” (Hayes 1964, 1965, p.122). Debono and Mortensen suggest that “Perhaps one
can argue that the Faiyum, Merimde and El Omari traditions had the same origin, but that they
remained isolated to a certain extent, developing their own ceramic traditions (1990, p.40). they
believe that the cultural remains suggest a Near Eastern origin for the economy (Debono and
Mortensen 1990, p.82).
3.4.5
Omari A and B – Settlements and Integral Burials
Settlements - Overview
The settlement area included
over 100 circular and oval
pits, comprising pit structures
sunk into wadi deposits 50250cm in diameter and 50-
Page 68
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
110cm in depth. Larger structures are lined with mats and clay on walls and floor: “The pits are
cut into the deposit of gravel and sand, but the ‘raw’ walls are rather stable. They are not always
even and when cut into the rock, parts of the rock protrude. In several pits the walls were found
to be lined withclay or a lime/clay plaster” (Debono et al 1999, p.18).
The interpretation of the pits has not been straight forward: “Nothing in the pits allows one to to
interpret their use as f.ex. the content of the “cellars” at Maadi. They contained mostly broken
objects mixed with all kinds of kitchen refuse” (Debono et al 1990, p.16). The smaller pits, which
may have been storage rooms, were lined with either clay or basketry – often the clay surface
still had impressions of matting. Some of the pits clearly once housed baskets which survive only
in the form of spiral patterns impressed into the pit floors. Some of the baskets were lidded.
Some pits have post-holes. Some have semi-circular depressions next to the pit-structure which
was perhaps used as a step. The remains of posts were still in place, sometimes held in position
by stones. Some postholes were bigger than others suggesting larger and more durable
superstructures. Some pits had postholes outside them.
In some parts of the site shallow and narrow ditches may indicate that fences connected
dwellings, perhaps serving the role of animal enclosures. Only a few hearths were found and,
unusually, they were generally located outside pit-dwellings – and Debono et al believe that they
are restricted to the most recent pits (1999 p.19)..
Each large depression tends to be surrounded by smaller ones (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000).
Burials - Overview
In Areas A and B2, forty three burials were found in shallow oval pits, mixed with settlement type
debris.
 Twenty eight adults
 Twelve children
 One adolescent
 Two uncategorized
The dead were placed individually in pits around 90-120cm long
and 70-110cm wide. No linings were observed although postholes suggest that in rare examples they were occasionally fenced.
Bodies were contracted, laid on their left sides, heads to the south,
facing west, with hands usually placed in front of their faces, or
their chests. There were a number of deviations from this rule.
Groundsheets and coverings made of matting or animal skin were
occasionally found. The mats were made of thin reeds tied
together. In one grave, wooden sticks formed a rectangle around
the body, and the excavators suggest that this may have formed a
bed.
Grave goods are uncommon, but 18 graves contained pieces of
limestone behind the spine and in 32 burials simple pottery vessels
(two types) were found, placed in front of the face, arms or legs.
Other items include:
Burial from pit A35, head to
south, Facing west, lying on left
side (Debono and Mortensen)
Page 69
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003



three wooden items,
one burial of a child with ibex horn
others with stone beads, perforated Red Sea shells and two pendants made from pierced
pebbles
 one case of a burial with flowers
 One man buried with an unidentified object which has been interpreted by some as a
symbol of power equating to a sceptre - or by others as a phallic symbol.
The only pattern visible in the gravegoods is that the finer of the two types of vessel seem to be
associated with larger graves, and there were no pottery with children in four of the graves. The
excavators say that the vessels were filled with sand, not food (Debono and Mortensen 1990).
Some of the dead were buried under heaps of stones. At least some of the burials appear to
have been made in parts of the settlement which were abandoned at the time when the dead
were deposited, although early interpretations suggested that the burials were made while those
parts of the settlement were still in use.
The burials in the abandoned parts of the settlement may have been differentiated according to
area, with men, women and children appearing in different zones. No burials of babies or
foetuses were found.
Omari A
Omari A is located “on a gravel terrace along a major
drainage system (the Wadi Hof) at the southwest
(upriver) corner of the wadi’s mouth near a rocky spur”
(Hoffman 1979, p.194). Over the area of Omari B,
Debono found settlement remains: “over a ‘very large’
area are scattered the sunken bottoms of more than a
hundred circular huts as well as the remains of
numerous oval dwellings constructed of posts and
wickerwork on the surface of the ground” (Hayes 1964,
1865, p.117). Some of them were lined and floored
with clay-covered matting, although as Hoffman points
out, it is possible that the superstructure simply
disintegrated making it appear that the floor was lined
(Hoffman 1979, p.195). The presence in some of the
settlement pits of post holes may indicate the presence
Partial plan of excavated pits, Area A
of centrally supported roofing. Hearths were rare but
appeared either in the centre of the structure, or just outside it. There were also granaries,
larger fenced areas which were presumably enclosures (perhaps for domesticated animals) and
the remains of dried-earth walls, usually containing or surrounded by pottery, stone tools, mills
and grinders, animal bones, egg and mollusc shells. The dwellings are filled with debris from
elsewhere on the site.
Lithics are mainly manufactured from flint, and many are bifacial types similar to examples found
at Merimda and in the Faiyum (flaked axe, sickle blades, concave and triangular arrows, a few
tanged). However, there is a far more extensive blade and flake tool industry including:
 knives of a new form with a curved back
 tangs
 saws
 unifacial sickle blades
Page 70
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
 piercers
 scrapers
 retouched blades of various types similar to Maadi
Some tools were obviously made within settlement but there seems to have been a specialised
manufacturing area outside the settlement as well.
Other artefacts include mills of quartzite and grinders of petrified wood, bone piercers, punches,
awls, and blades and fish-hooks of bone and horn. In contrast to the artefacts at Merimda and
the Faiyum, items of simple jewellery were found, including sea shells, animal bone, fish spines,
ostrich shell, mother of pearl and hard ornamental stones.
Spinning and weaving are attested to by the presence of both spindle whorls and actual pieces of
linen, both coarse and fine.
There is a substantial amount of pottery. The main types were good quality red (which was the
favoured type), brown or black vessels. Both fine and coarse pottery are represented. Debono
noted 17 types, some of which resemble Merimda, others Maadi, but none showed any
connection with Upper Egyptian forms. None were decorated. As well as pottery containers,
ostrich shells were also used.
Plant remains include:
 wheat
 barley
 figs
 dates
 flax
 wild sugar cane
 tamarisk
Additionally, Hayes mentions “a cake made of crushed wheat grains and bits of what and barley
bread” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.119).
Faunal










remains include:
pig,
hippopotamus,
crocodile,
ostrich,
antelope,
goat,
Bovide
dog,
Clarias
Syndontis
Omari B
Referred to as Omari B, or Helwan B, this is a small village with one or more cemeteries related
to it, but separate from it, unlike Omari A where graves were located within the settlement. It
may be later than Omari A, although there is no consensus on this view, and was located in a
branch of the estuary of the Wadi el-Hof. It is poorly preserved but contains traces of huts and
cavities (perhaps storage pits). Stone tools are exclusively blade tools, but the pottery is clearly
similar to the other El Omari artefacts.
Page 71
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The cemeteries have graves topped with tumuli of stones with the dead buried in shallow pits
beneath, contracted, hands before face, without any visible standard orientation. Adults and
children were usually wrapped in cloth or straw mats. They were sometimes single, sometimes
multiple burials, and sometimes accompanied by pottery or shells, flint blades or beads,.
Omari F and Fa
Debono and Mortensen suggest that Areas F and Fa may belong to different settlers (1990,
p.78).
Gebel Hof
The Omarian site called Gebel Hof by its excavators is located on a terrace to the southwest of
Gebel Hof itself. It is unusual in being located at 90m above the floor of Wadi Hof. The
archaeological remains, particularly the pottery, are very similar to those at the main Omari site
suggesting that they are related or at least contemporary. The site has mostly vanished but an
excavation in 1954 revealed a reed enclosure, within which was a large jar, and an oval pit which
contained carbonized cereals.
3.4.6
el-Omari Summary
Like Merimda, even though the quality of the information is not as good, it is possible to see an
evolutionary trend at the Omarian sites. As a whole Omari, as it is understood from areas A and
B, seems to have started out as a storage area, only later becoming a settlement, with bits of
disused settlement being used for burials. From the earliest site, when hunting was a very minor
element of the Omarian diet, it seems as though this was a permanent farming settlement: “By
this point Lower Egypt’s first forager-farmers had given way to more specialised farmers”
(Wetterstrom 1993, 1995, p.214).
Industry
Most of the pottery comes from Area A. All of it was fairly fragmentary
and was not manufactured in a standardized way, although all of it was
hand made with no signs of it having been turned. Pottery was made of
two types of local marl clay acquired from the nearby wadi. Vessels might
be made of either one of the two marls or a mixture of both. It is rare that
pottery was made from Nile clays. Clays were tempered with plant
remains and minerals. Most vessels are burnished or polished, and some
are covered with an ochre slip. There are few similarities between these
types and those in the Faiyum or at Merimda. When fired the fabric is
hard and touch and non-porous. Vessels heated to more than 800˚C are
brown, those at less than 800C red, and those where the temperature was poorly managed are
mottled (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000). Forms of vessel include:
 Simple forms
 Half open types
 Vessels with flat or concave bases
 Oval plates
 Bowls
Page 72
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
 Goblets
 Hemispherical jars
In all, Debono and Mortensen identified ten types, although there were eight main types. The
pottery is unlike either Faiyum or Merimden types: “This pottery is an original group that cannot
easily be compared with the ceramics from Merimda and the Faiyum. There are similarities with
the Neolithic A and B pottery of Palestine” (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.121).
The full lithic toolkit, as represented by A and B, was extensive, largely bifacial and flake-tool,
and includes:
 Raw Materials
o Local gravel flint pebbles
o More distant and larger nodules of flint that was mined (source unknown)
o Imported grey flint. No debitage is known so tools made of this may have been
imported already made
 Debitage
o Retouched
o Unretouched
 Cores
o Small cores
o Mostly discoidal
o Few single platform cores
o No blade cores
 Tools
o Bifacials
 Small chipped stone axes with polished cutting edges
 Polished stone axes
 Hollow-based arrowheads
 Thick triangles
 Sickle blades
 Points
o Unifacial sickles
o Flake tools
 Sidescrapers
 Composite tools made from short flakes
 Perforators
 Endscrapers
 Burins
 Denticulates
o Drill bits
o Backed blades
o Composite tools (burins, denticulates, endscrapers)
o Microliths (appearing only in a late phase)
o Long Pedunculate blades (usually retouched)
o Picks made from silicified limestone, sandstone and flint
o Handled knives
o Scrapers
o Tanged points
o Notched points
o Saws
Polished bone items include
 Pins
 Eyed needles
Page 73
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)


Andie Byrnes 2003
Borers
A single fish-hook
Stone Items
 Vases
o Calcite
o Basalt
 Palettes
 Mortars
 Whetstones
 Gouges
 Pierced discs (limestone)
 Pestles (petrified wood, sandstone, limestone, quartz, flint)
Additional artefacts include a prepared wooden stick, ornaments (perforated shells and beads of
ostrich shell and bone), palettes, grinding stones, net sinks, hammerstones and cordage made of
two strands twisted together often with knots perhaps to hold reed together in mats. One
complete net was found. Gypsum, galena and ochre were also found.
Economy
Economically, el-Omari was based on agriculture (cereals and domesticated animals) and fishing.
Midant-Reynes (1992/2000, p.123) suggests that the occupants of el-Omari hunted crocodile and
hippopotamus as “an important source of protein”, but “showed little interest in the pursuit of
desert animals and marsh fowl, preferring to exploit an ecological niche between the wadi and
the alluvial plain.”
Domesticated animals included pig (the most important of the domesticated animals), goat,
sheep and cattle. From both the animal remains and the settlement structures, Hoffman
suggests that “both a barnyard and pastoral pattern of animal domestication was being followed.
In fact, judging from the abundant garbage, the pigs must have fared rather well in the yards of
ancient Omari. By contrast, grazing animals like cattle and goats would probably have been
taken out daily to areas where pastorage was available, at least after the winter rains when the
desert margins bloomed” “Hoffman 1979, p.196).
Throughout the el-Omari complex there was a massively mixed combination of botanical remains
including:
 Wheat
o Triticum dicoccum
o Triticum monococcum
o Triticum compactum (disputed)
 Barley (Hordeum vulgare)
 Rye (Lolium temulentum)
 Legumes (peas, broad beans etc)
 Herbs
 Vetch (Vicia sativa)
 Sycamore figs
 Dates (Phoenix dactylifera)
 Wild sugar (Saccharum spontaneum)
Domesticated animals, cereals and other plants were supplemented by hunting wild animals
including crocodile, hippopotamus but most importantly fish, of which deep-water varieties were
Page 74
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
apparently preferred (Nile Perch and Synodontis). Fish was a particularly important element in
the diet. These water-based supplements to the diet are interesting given the distance of elOmari from the Nile and other sources of water.
Desert species and marsh birds were a very minor element in the diet.
Trade or exchange links have been suggested by some writers. This is difficult to assess, but any
contact with distant areas might have been facilitated by the domestication of the donkey. The
earliest known domesticated donkey remains have been found at el-Omari.
Society
The excavated pits are small and separated from each other, and fenced yards appear to have
been attached to premises. On this basis Hoffman suggests that the settlement was egalitarian
and organised in family units (Hoffman 1979, p.195). However, Hassan (1992) suggests that the
wooden item held in the hand of a buried man at El-Omari was a sceptre. It is c.35cm long,
pointed at one end and squared at the other.
The Omarian burials are among the earliest known in the Cairo and Western Delta area. Grajetzki
(2003) believes that the people at El Omari “did not devote much effort to burying their dead”
(p.2). However, the very act of deposition of the dead in a specified area with accompanying
gravegoods indicates the existence of ideas concerning the dead and either their future or their
relationship with the living. Hassan says that the size of graves and the variety and type of the
gravegoods “suggests that women occupied a domain different from that of men, but their status
was practically equal to that of men” (1992, p.316).
There were no animal burials at El Omari, which suggests that the later sites of the Maadi-Buto
complex had developed a cultic or ritual element not present in the Omarian phase.
Although there are similarities between El Omari and other sites both earlier and later, El Omari is
not directly similar to any other site in either the Cairo area, the Delta or the Faiyum: “The
settlement at El Omari does not seem to be structured quite as any of the other settlements in
the North, and it does not have the complexity of either Merimde in its latest phase or Maadi. It
seems to be more like settlement in the Faiyum and the Badarian area. It may perhaps be
concluded that it is a type of settlement more related to the economy of the society than to time”
(Debono et al 1990 p.23).
Midant-Reynes suggests that the culture is less sophisticated than that of Mermida on the basis
that there is no sign of black-polished pottery, artwork or architecture (1992/2000, p.123).
The chronological relationship of areas A and B is uncertain, but the presence of a separate
cemetery in Area B perhaps suggests an evolved social organisation.
Overseas Links
Links with Sinai and the Read Sea are suggested by the presence at el-Omari of seashells, galena
and possibly fine grey flint.
Page 75
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.5
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Maadian (or Maadi-Buto)
The term Maadi-Buto or Maadian describes around twelve sites, named after the type site of
Maadi in the western Delta. The sites include: Maadi, Wadi Digla (one of Maadi’s cemeteries),
Heliopolis, Buto, Tura Station (Junker 1912), Giza, Merimda Beni Salama, es-Saff, Sedment
(Williams 1982), Ezbet el-Qerdahi and Harageh (Engleback 1923). Both cemetery and settlement
sites have been identified.
A useful chronological framework has been formed for Maadi, Wadi Digla and Heliopolis. The
earliest phase includes the last two sub-phases of Naqada I and is represented by Maadi and the
earliest phase at Wadi Digla. The intermediate phase corresponds to Naqada IIab-IIcd is
represented by Heliopolis, the later Wadi Digla phase and the earliest phase at Buto. The final
phase is represented by Buto alone. Studies at Sais may add to this picture (Wilson and Gilbert
2002).
On the basis of the existence of a copper industry, Midant-Reynes (1992/2000, p.214) suggests
that there must have been a “Pre-Maadian” phase prior to the Maadian sites. Seeher also points
to a hiatus between the occupations at El-Omari and Maadi: “We still have no indications of
human activities in Northern Egypt during several centuries after the assumed end of El-Omari at
about 4400BC . . . . Only by the beginning of the 4th Millennium BC does fresh evidence come
with the various sites of the Maadi culture” (Seeher 1992, p.226).
Based on similarities between the main Maadian sites “There seems to be little reason to doubt
that the cemeteries of Wadi Digla and Heliopolis were contemporaneous with one another and, in
part at least, with the settlement at Maadi . . . . Together the five sites – the settlement and four
cemeteries – seem to represent the known remains of a north eastern Egyptian sub-culture of
late Prehistoric and early historic times, for which for want of a better name, we may tentatively
apply the designation ‘Maadian’” (Hayes 1964, 1965,p.134).
The Maadian was renamed the “Maadi-Buto” complex by von der Way (1992) on the basis of
pottery that appears in the Maadian assemblages in Buto, but which does not appear in Maadi.
3.6.1
Maadi
Introduction
Maadi is the type-site of a number of sites which are
designated as “Maadian” by association.
It is
located on a narrow rocky ridge on the outskirts of
Cairo in the mouth of the Wadi al-Tih, its remains
spread over an area approximately 1300m long by
130m wide.
Maadi consists of a main settlement site (Maadi) and
a cemetery with 76 graves, together with a
secondary settlement, and a second cemetery site
containing over 450 human graves and 14 animal
burials (Wadi Digla, also known as Maadi South).
Modern Location of Maadi and Wadi Digla
Page 76
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Excavation and Survey
The site of Maadi was first excavated in 1918 but it was more extensively excavated between the
1930s and 1950s by Menghin and Amer, but these excavations were quite poorly published and a
full excavation report was never released: “Our knowledge of the ancient town at Maadi suffers
from erratic and inadequate publication of the work conducted there, including a lack of even
preliminary reports on the last six seasons of excavation” (Hayes 1964, 1965 P.129). Excavations
in the 1950s helped to fill in some of the gaps left by earlier excavations and publications
(Rizkaner and Seeher 1952). In the 1980s the University of Rome carried out a research
programme at Maadi focusing on improving an understanding of the local economy (Caneva et al
1987). The site is currently under excavation by the German Institute of Archaeology in Cairo.
Maadi has been important since its discovery, “not only because it is one of the few known
settlements in Lower Egypt, but also because of its possible importance in the process of
Egyptian unification and in the foundation of the Pharaonic state” (Perez-Lagarcha 1995b, p.41).
Because of its decline at the time when Naqadan elements started to be widespread in Egypt its
role has been a matter of considerable discussion.
Dating
The presence of Upper Egyptian Naqada I and II forms of pottery suggests that Maadi was
contemporary with the Naqadan period. Rizkaner and Seeher (1987: 78) propose an end to
occupation at Maadi by late Naqada II times. Seeher (1992, p.226) has created a relative
chronology for this period in the Western Delta, based on all of the gravegood types found in
burials, (as opposed to Petrie’s approach for Upper Egypt which used exclusively pottery).
Originally based on the Wadi Digla cemetery it has been successfully tested and confirmed by
comparison with material at Maadi and Heliopolis. He identifies two phases – Digla I,
represented by Heliopolis and Digla II (the more recent phase) represented by Maadi.
On the basis of differences in the assemblages at different parts of the site, Caneva et al (1987)
have identified that the earliest occupation was based in the eastern part of the site and that late
occupation moved to the west. This is based on the rarity of imported raw materials, Palestinian
pottery and Cananean blades in the Eastern part of the site and the high number of foreign
products and indications of cultural complexity in the form of specialised areas and underground
buildings in the Western part of the site.
Four dates derived from the 1980s excavations by the Italian Mission (Caneva et al 1984) were
calibrated to c.3650BC.
Settlement
The settlement of Maadi consists of refuse dumps in two
mounds over abandoned settlement layers “presumably
at the outskirts of the areas successfully inhabited”
(Caneva et al 1987, p.106). The site was carefully
located. It borders the floodplain and so was located
near fertile Nile alluvium, but was situated away from
any danger of flooding. It was also near to two wadis
which stretch east into the desert nearly as far as the
Red Sea.
Page 77
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The settlement site covers a forty five acre area and is
located approximately four miles north west of El-Omari
and consists of “The remains of a sprawling town of oval
huts, rectangular houses and subterranean shelters and
magazines”. (Hayes 1964, 1965, p.122).
The main settlement does not appear to have been built
to an organised plan but there is a recognizable pattern
in its development, as outlined by Hayes: “The houses
and shelters of Maadi are concentrated chiefly in the central section of the 45-acre site, with the
silos, provision cellars, and huge, buried stone-jars distributed for the most part around its
periphery, the arrangement calling to mind the segregated granary areas associated with the
Fayum A group settlements” (Hayes 1965, 1965 p.123). There are four types of settlement
structure: oval huts, horseshoe shaped windbreak-type structures, subterranean houses and light
rectangular structures which were probably animal pens. A hearth is usually central or just inside
the doorway and is surrounded by stones and sometimes clay-lined. They also contained, often,
big storage jars buried to the neck, and clay-lined holes. Remains of two rectangular buildings
were found, one made of reeds and straw supported on a framework of wooden posts, the other
apparently made of logs. The most remarkable features of the site are the subterranean
dwellings which contained hearths, jars buried to their necks, and domestic items.
Settlement structures (Hoffman 1979)
Badawi’s subterranean structure (Hartung 2003)
Industry
There are huge quantities of pottery sherds from all over Maadi, which has been very
informative. Some of it is local and some of it is derived from outside Egypt, although. Bard
observes that “over 80% of the pottery excavated at Maadi is of a local ware not found in Upper
Egypt” (Bard 1994). Local pottery is of a number of types most of which are usually tempered
with sand and other mineral content, as well as organic temper and included the following types:
 Black ware, often polished, usually small globular jars and usually found in situ on the
floors of huts in the settlement
 Reddish-brown, burnished, usually ovoid with a base ring and most often found in the
dumped layers
 Black-topped red ware (imitating Upper Egyptian types)
 Red-burnished ware (with minimal organic temper)
 Yellow burnished ware with no organic temper
Page 78
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Local pottery was hand made “but seems to have been refined with the help of a rotating device”
(Caneva et al 1987, p.107). Caneva et al (1987) suggest the red jars were probably made on an
assembly-line basis, with different pots made separately and joined later. They also suggest that
“the examples show such a uniformity of shape, size, colour, that they seem to document the
first standardized, non-domestic production probably intended for a specific product and related
to an internal exchange” (1987, p.107).
Middle – Red Ware (with pedestals)
Lower – Black Ware
(Hoffman 1979)
Top – Black Ware
Bottom – Red Ware
(Caneva et al 1987)
Some of the pottery was decorated with a variety of incised ornamentation, and painted
decoration appears on some which appear to be mostly geometric designs. There are also some
unusual vessels which appear to be anthropomorphic in form: “Crude sculpture in pottery is
represented by the heads of animas in red-on-white painted war, perhaps broken away from
vases and variously identified as camels, donkeys, and birds, and by rough T-shaped figures of
burnt clay . . . Also found were a fragment of a boat model in red pottery and the head of a
human statuette of the same material” (Hayes 1964, 1965, p.125).
Huge pottery storage jars were another type of vessel found at Maadi. They were usually made
of red, brown, grey or black fabric, and are usually burnished or covered with wash of red or
white. Contents include grain, animal and fish bones, shells, cooked mutton, flint tools, small
vessels, spindle whorls and jar-stoppers.
Imports (or vessels made under the influence of foreign contacts) include types known from
Palestine and Syria including “wavy-handled” types, lug-handled jars, cups and flat-bottomed
vessels which were decorated around the neck. Rare vessels on cylindrical feet, spouted vases
and bowls, tiny vases, vases in the form of birds and carinated cosmetic pots containing ochre
are also known. Sherds of black-topped red and brown fabric suggest contacts with Upper
Egypt.
Lithics are represented by 1000s of tools – the Maadi flint toolkit was mainly a flake and blade
industry with few bifacially worked implements (some containing the peculiarity of having the
bulb of percussion located at the thin narrow end of the tool) including:


Scrapers
Knives with retouched edges
Page 79
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)













Awls
Punches
Unifacial sickle flints
Burins and microburins
Wedges
Choppers
Borers
Few cores
Only one stone axehead (replaced by copper)
Two maceheads
Fishtail lancehead
Twisted blades
Tanged arrowheads
Andie Byrnes 2003
(Caneva et al 1987)
Raw materials:
 Nile-gravel flint pebbles and slabs of mined tabular flint
 Quartzite
 Rock crystal
One of the most important aspects of Maadi is the presence of copper which was clearly
imported, and was then worked locally: “The site has yielded copious evidence that copper ore
was imported and worked in some bulk and that locally a knowledge of smelting, casting and
other metallurgical processes had advanced sufficiently for the production of a variety of metal
implements” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.128). However, this may be an inflated view of the situation
given the rather minimal examples of copper working that were excavated from the site.
Artefacts in copper replace many formerly made in stone: “The stone versions of such artefacts
had characterized the Faiyum and Merimda cultures, but now they were being recreated in
metal” (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.214). They include:
 Axeheads with fine cutting edges (rectangular or trapezoidal)
 Chisels with rectangular cross-sections
 Copper punches
 Awls
 A fish-hook
 Needles and pins
 Copper wire
These items appear to have been manufactured at Maadi itself: “A copper axehead spoiled in
casting and a number of copper ingots and masses of copper ore found on the site indicate that
the metal was processed and the tools manufactured in Maadi itself” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.129).
Sinai, exploited for copper in Dynastic times, was a probable location for the copper ores and the
Eastern Desert was another possible source. Kemp (1989, p.44) describes the copper ore as of
“poor quality.”
Implements made of bone, horn and wood are less common at Maadi than elsewhere, but
include awls, punches and those modified to make beads (bone), throwing stick, a jar cover,
handles and a beaded staff (wood), an ox-horn comb, and river shells.
Other items include stone palettes (a Naqadan import) and maceheads which are disc shaped
(characteristic of Naqada I and earliest Naqada II, but not of later Naqada II when maceheads
were pear-shaped).
Flora and Fauna
Page 80
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Over 15,00000 bones were found as well as horn, skin and hair, all from animals. They indicate
a high proportion of domestic species supplemented to a small degree by fishing and low levels
of hunting (see Appendix J for a full listing of the animal bones). The faunal remains represent
the following species:
 Domestic
o Pigs (the highest quantity of faunal remains)
o Cattle
o Sheep
o Goats
o Donkey
o Dog
 Wild
o Hippo
o Ibex
o Beaver
o Turtles
o Fish
o Shellfish
Domesticated plant remains include:
 Wheat
o Triticum monococcum
o Triticum dicoccum
o Triticum aestivum
o Triticum spelta
 Barley (Hordeum vulgare)
 Lentils
 Peas
Pits and jars were used to store grain, and pestles,
mortars, grinding stones and polished axes were an
integral part of the grain processing toolkit.
Child burials were found deposited in storage vessels
within the settlement. No other types of burial were
found in the settlement – all other depositions were
confined to the cemeteries themselves.
Cemeteries
There were three main cemetery sites.
The first is at Wadi el-Tih, two miles to the northeast of the settlement, near the foot of Gebel
Moqattam. The graves are shallow, oval pits with skeletons in contracted position. Grave goods
confined to burial with a single pottery jar, if anything. Many are surmounted by limestone
structures. Larger examples are rectangular and usually face east-west. More modest tombs
were marked with flat lines of stones.
Page 81
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Maadi Settlement Cemetery
A second cemetery was found to the southwest of the town.
A third cemetery, Wadi Digla, is half a mile southeast of the settlement in the estuary of Wadi
Digla and covers more than an acre. Excavated 1952 and 1953 by Amer and Rizkana it
contained 471 human burials, 13 goats (previously identified as gazelles) and a dog.
Part of the site was destroyed by a road which runs through the middle of it, dividing the
cemetery into an east and west part. Circular or oval hollow graves contained dead humans,
wrapped in a papyrus mat or animal skin. Burials were contracted, head usually to the south,
face to the east. Some of the richer graves were rimmed with limestone blocks, and burnt
hearth-stones were placed under the heads of the deceased. There are much richer grave goods
at Wadi Digla than at the other cemeteries including numerous pottery vessels (of the same
Page 82
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
types found in the settlement), an alabaster vase, stone palettes, combs, shell bracelets and
necklaces, beads, pigments and flint items which are the same as those found in the settlement.
Three of the graves contained animal remains which appear to represent food. Men, women and
children were buried in the
cemetery. There is some
sign that there was either
social
or
temporal
differentiation
at
the
cemetery: “In the western
sector of the Wadi Digla
cemetery lie the more
poorly equipped of the
human burials and the
fourteen animal burials”
(Hayes 1964, 1965 p.133).
Animals were provided
with pottery jars. Seeher
describes two phases at the Wadi Digla cemetery: “during the older phase there was only a
slight preponderance of burials lying on the right side with the head pointing south, facing east . .
. . During the Digla II phase, however, it became quite a strict rule to bury the deceased lying on
the right side with the head pointing south” (Seeher 1992, p.228). This is echoed at Maadi and
Heliopolis. At these sites the child burials are differentiated: at Maadi they were often buried
within the settlement in vessels, at Heliopolis, Maadi cemetery and Wadi Digla, they were usually
restricted to a single part of the cemetery. Limestone blocks mark the eastern edge of the
cemetery.
Although there is not much information available from the burials at Maadi there are some
generalisations that can be made about them. The main feature is the introduction of burials
external to the main settlement: “the introduction of extramural cemeteries forms the main
innovation of the Maadi cultural complex in Lower Egypt, although it is by no means clear that
intramural burials were the rule at all Neolithic sites” (Seeher 1992, p.231). There are other
general features:
 Simple pit graves with no constructions
 Contracted burials with scarce grave goods
 A tendency for younger graves to be better equipped than older
There was also apparently some degree of social differentiation: “In the variability of their
contents, Maadi’s hundreds of graves indicate at least some social ranking, but it is the functional
changes in the community that are the most important. Many hundreds of Syro-Palestinian pots
have been found at Maadi, reflecting strong connections to Syro-Palestine and, probably to the
evolving Uruk-Jemdet Nasr states of Greater Mesopotamia. Caneva and her co-workers report
that Maadi’s lithics also tie it ‘in a wide network of communication, including the Levant and
reaching northern Syria’ (1989, p.291)” (Wenke 1991, p.300). There were no burial structures
visible: “As far as can be ascertained, a proper grave architecture was still unknown during the
time of the Maadi Culture. The deceased were put singly into simple oval pits” (Seeher 1992,
p.228). However, Midant-Reynes highlights a number of inconsistencies: “There is a clear
separation between Maadian settlements and cemeteries, but the presence of human bones in
the disturbed remains of the Maadi settlement as well as the discovery of an unburnt human skull
in a hearth suggests that there may have been certain aspects of their funerary practices that we
do not yet fully understand (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.215).
Of the goods going into graves, pottery was the most common although it is not a special type of
pottery, but exactly the same type that is found in the settlement. There were never large
Page 83
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
numbers of vessels – one vessel is common, more are exceptional and the richest of the graves
had only eight vessels. It is rare to find other objects, which however include bracelets of
seashells, a palette, an ivory comb, a calcite jar, and occasionally flint tools. The site represents
a change from previous sites: “The main difference between the burials of the Maadi culture and
those unearthed in the Neolithic sites at Merimda Beni-Salame and El Omari is the shifting from
intramural to extramural interment” (Seeher 1992, p.227). Maadi burials were situated in welldefined cemeteries at a distance from the settlement site, whereas the only known Merimden and
El Omarian burials were located within the settlement itself (even if, as at el-Omari, there were
sections of the settlement no longer in use).
Animal Graves
Animals appear in all two of the cemeteries:
 Maadi
o 1 Dog (to around 77 human burials) at the western end of the main part of the
cemetery, to the north of a group of human graves.
 Wadi Digla
o 14 animals including 1 dog and 7 goat, formerly identified as gazelle (to around
471 human burials).
The practise of animal burial appears to have been associated with a late stage of the Maadi-Buto
occupation: “The custom of burying animals in the cemeteries is indicative of the later stage of
the Maadi culture” (Seeher 1992, p.230). All of the animals at Wadi Digla have been assigned to
the cemetery’s second phase on the basis to similarities to those at Heliopolis (Flores 2003, p.34).
The distribution of goat burials at Wadi Digla seems to indicate an association with clusters of
human graves: “they appear not to have been the result of a single funerary event, a specific
human burial, but more generally associated with the burials that surrounded them and thus
apparently an aspect of locally observed funerary customs” (Flores 2003, p.37). Flores also
suggests that they may represent a post-interment sacrifice for the provision of the dead (p.64).
Not all of the goat burials were accompanied by grave goods, but where grave goods were
included they were all ceramics except for one example where the dead goat was accompanied
by a carnelian bead and possibly a copper object.
The animals at the Maadi cemeteries were deliberately slaughtered before burial, a fact which is
visible in marks on bones: “the motivation for the burials was most likely species-specific, and at
least in the case of the dogs, possibly a reflection on the role this species played in the economic
life of the community” (Flores 2003, p.64).
Economics
The location of Maadi on the edge of the floodplain allowed inhabitants to “exploit a range of
different biotopes, consistent with their wide range of subsistence activities” (Caneva et al 1987
p.106) including agriculture (cultivation and herding), fishing, fowling and hunting. On the basis
of artefacts and faunal finds (and the absence of arrowheads, fish-hooks and other fishing
tackle), the economy was sedentary: “The economy at Maadi was based on farming (emmer
wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs) with considerably less evidence for
hunting and fishing. . . . the presence of many large grinding stones, some weighing more than
50kg, and hundreds of storage pits and storage jars strongly suggests a permanent settlement
subsisting mainly by farming” (Bard 1994).
Page 84
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Analysis of the faunal remains from Maadi indicates that domesticated animals account for
around 86% of the fauna. Wild species, excluding birds and fish account for only 3%. Hunting
was evidently a very marginal activity. Flores (2003) suggests that dogs may have been used in
relation to animal husbandry because their remains were found, a number were buried in graves,
and there is no sign that they were eaten (p.25-26).
Fish bones account for only 10% of the faunal remains, which is in direct contrast to earlier sites
at Faiyum and Merimda. Caneva et al believe that cattle and goats were kept for milk production
“the by-products utilization fits in well in the new multi-functional type of animal exploitation
which spread in the Near East during the second half of the first millennium” (1987, p.107).
The techniques of cultivation were clearly accomplished: “crop purity was indicated by the
presence of clay-lined pits containing highly homogenous grains” (Caneva et al p.106).
There are some signs of specialisation with areas devoted to storage and metallurgy, lithics
(particularly tabular flint tools), pottery manufacture and stone vase production. Linen fragments
and spindle whorls found in the settlement debris attest to knowledge of spinning and weaving.
Maadi’s location at the western end of two wadis would have been ideal for communication and
economic relationships with the Red Sea coast and beyond. Maadi provides the first “unequivocal
evidence of trade as distinct from informal, occasional individual transactions of goods or gifts”
(Hassan 1980, p.160) and was clearly involved in trade both on its own account (for copper) and
perhaps as a staging post for Upper Egypt, with many Levantine artefacts: “On the basis of this
evidence, Maadi is regarded as something of a commercial centre” (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000
p.214). Some of these products found their way probably by a similar mechanism into Upper
Egypt, where, in the case of the ceramics, they were copied. The presence of the domesticated
donkey, amongst the earliest found in Egypt “goes a long way to explaining how these containers
might have been brought to Egypt from southern Palestine” (Hoffman 1979, p.205). It is likely
that the donkey, found at this and earlier sites was used for transportation: “A donkey covers a
distance of about 15-20km/day, so it would not take long for even bulky items to be transported
over very long distances through successive exchanges between communities (a donkey carries
an average of 200-300kg). He estimates that a donkey journey from Maadi to Naqada, for
example, could be covered in two months (Hassan 1988, p.158).
Contacts with other areas are implied by a number of artefact materials
and types which must have been imported:
 Upper Egypt
o Combs in bone and ivory
o Stone palettes
o Maceheads
o Fine black-topped vessels
o Basalt vessels
o Ivory
o Specific stones
 Levant
o Copper-working skills, ores and artefacts
Lug-handled jar from Palestine
o Edged, ribbed blades known as “Canaanite” blades
o Distinctive footed, ledge-handled, V-shaped bowls and other ceramics
o Large circular endscrapers
o Basalt vessels
o Copper
o Flint nodules and blades
o Resins
Page 85
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
o Oils
o Cedar wood
o Subterranean structures similar to those at the chalcolithic site Beersheba
o Asphalt
The large Palestinian vessels were probably used as containers for oils and resins “rather than for
any intrinsic value, as there was no attempt by the Maadians to copy them” (Marks 1997, p.17).
The source of copper was possibly Timna, according to findings at En Besor (Perez-Lagarcha
1995b).
Maadian exports back to Palestine include Lower Egyptian products (Marks 1997, p.17):
 Black ware
 Flints
 Pectoral fin spikes from Nile Catfish
 Shells (Aspatharia)
Other artefacts clearly moved from Lower Egypt into the south, including copper, certain types of
ceramic and basalt vessels. The Upper Egyptian goods present at Maadi may be connected to a
Maadian trade network supplying Upper Egypt with Levantine goods: Perez-Lagarcha (1995a)
believes that “The most logical explanation for these goods is that they constitute payment for
Palestinian goods” (p.45) . He suggests that the lack of the ubiquitous Upper Egyptian decorated
pottery was due to its role in funerary contexts (which were not applicable in Lower Egypt), and
points out that the Palestinian pottery form at Maadi were storage types indicated that the value
lay not in the vessel but in the contents. He believes that the four subterranean houses are
probably associated with “Palestinian traders living in Maadi” (Perez-Lagarcha 1995, p.46).
Origins
Watson and Blin (2003) believe that they have identified an evolutionary trend in the architecture
at Maadi which corresponds to examples in Palestine. Simple semi-subterranean structures were
found at Maadi and may have been the prototype of another more advanced type of structure at
Maadi found by Menghin and Amer, which was smaller, ovoid and accessible by steps, and these
may in turn have lead to a very distinctive type of subterranean building found first found by
Badawi in 1997. Badawi’s structure took the form of a rectangular structure with rounded edges
and an entrance corridor with postholes in the middle and depressions around the outside. It
actually looks a bit like a prehistoric French “souterrain”. Witran and Blin point out similarities
between this and Palestinian sites like Meser, Yitah’el II and Afridar in North Palestine and the
typologically similar Sidon-Dakeman in South Lebanon: “By all evidence it is possible to link the
Badawi structure to the Palestinian structures that we have presented as belonging to the
tradition of Meser II, Sidon-Dakeman and more precisely the one of Afrider” (561). Watrin and
Blin object to the popular theory that the semi-subterranean structures of Maadi were related to
Safadi and Beersheeba sites as follows:
 Architecture
o Safadi structures are wholly subterranean
o Building method is different
 Chronologically
o There is a gap of 500 years between the two suggested both by ceramics and,
more importantly, radiocarbon dates
o Maadi is probably more comparable with EBA Ia1.
 Correspondence of artefacts
o There are no ceramics from Chalcolithic Palestine, specifically Beersheba, from
Maadi.
Page 86
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Watrin and Blin see an evolutionary path in Palestinian architecture of the Bronze Age: “an
evolution from a rectangular surface shape of buildings (succeeding the subterranean dwellings)
to an ovoid sub-surface structure . . . . Around the same period, the site of Maadi appears to
present an evolution from semi-underground storage spaces of elliptical shape dug into the
ground to semi-underground constructions of roughly sub-rectangular shape with walls built of
rubble and mud bricks, and finally to subterranean architecture of oval shape in stone. They
conclude from the architectural evidence that “Maadian architecture underwent both
direct/indirect internal evolutions and internal/external evolution, and that the Maadian structures
evolved into a hybrid architecture featuring elements of both Egyptian and Palestinian ancestry”
(Olin and Blin 2003, p.564).
Culture and Social Organization
The site represents a number of advances over Merimda, but still appears relatively culturally
simple when compared with Upper Egypt: “It was an extensive settlement with a history that
spans at least part of the period equivalent to the Naqada I and II cultures of Upper Egypt. It
contained houses built more substantially than those at Merimda. Yet even so, neither by
structures nor by artefacts can we detect any significant accumulation of wealth or prestige”
(Kemp 1989, p.44). However, as Flores points out (Flores 2003) “there is no reason to assume
offhand a lower level of prosperity than that enjoyed by the population of Upper Egypt. The only
legitimate point seems to be the possibility of differences int eh level of social complexity” (Flores
2003, p.2).
It is clear from Naqada I and II pottery found at the site that, it was contemporary with Naqada I
and II, but that it was very different from the cultures of Upper Egypt, even without burial
evidence. “Although archaeological evidence at Maadi and Maadi-related sites is mainly from
settlements, unlike most of the surviving evidence for the Nagada culture in Upper Egypt, what is
known about Maadi suggests a material culture very different from that in the south” (Bard
1994).
Although the Maadian stratigraphy is confused, there is some indication from one layer that
Lower Egypt may not have been universally peaceful at this time: “The remains of stout post
fences, or palisades, and of long narrow ditches may have formed part of the town’s primitive
defences against enemy attack – defences which apparently proved futile, for layers of ashes,
scattered human bones, and the scarcity on the site of copper tools and weapons and other
articles of value suggest that the town was sacked and burned at least once in the course of its
history” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.123).
A significant change in organization and perception may be implied by the separation of burials
from the settlement site, and the increasingly formalised process of deposition attested to in the
later phase at Wadi Digla. As Hoffman says “It is possible that the shift in burial customs
represents a major social change.” However, the lifestyle was still essentially Neolithic,
advancing much more slowly than in the south of Egypt, featuring (Seeher 1992, p.231):
 Simple communities
 No visible social stratification
 No craft specialisation
 Farming and animal tending
 Possible overseas trade or exchange contacts
The rising importance of animals in the Maadi cemeteries is also a change from previous sites in
the area. There was very little animal imagery in Lower Egypt at this time, unlike Upper Egypt,
but what exists comes from Maadi cemetery contexts: fragments of bird-shaped vessels and
Page 87
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
possible quadrupedal figurines. Unlike Upper Egyptian sites, no animals were found in human
burials, except in the form of food.
The occupation at Maadi died out altogether following the emergence of new cultural traditions of
the type known in Upper Egypt.
3.6.2
Heliopolis
Introduction
Heliopolis is a cemetery site near the mouth of the
Faiyum. No associated settlement has ever been found,
possibly due to the modern urban development in the
area. It is situated in a desertic plain 20km east of the
present Nile, at around 30m above sea level (11m
above the level of the Nile), a height shared with other
Lower Egyptian sites which may have something to do
with the annual inundation. Roots inside pots and
vessel fillings indicate that the area was once vegetated.
Estimates that the cemetery housed a maximum of 200
burials would suggest that “it was the cemetery of a
relatively small settlement and that it had been in use
for a comparatively short span of time, perhaps 30-50
years for the excavated area (Mortensen 1988, p.40).
Excavation and Survey
Heliopolis was partially excavated by Debono between
March and September of 1950 (Debono and Mortensen
1988) and later by Amer, Rizkana and Mitwalwy (1952).
The cemetery was similar in all ways to the Wadi Digla
cemetery, the excavation revealing sixty three graves
(which represent only a small proportion of the entire
cemetery). However, there were new types of pottery
some of which were found in seven caches of pottery.
There was a big gap between Mortensen’s excavation in
the 1950s and the publication of the full report in 1988.
In order to complete the report Mortensen visited the
Desert Institute where the finds were stored but found
that they were largely broken or lost.
Page 88
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Dating and Chronology
Heliopolis cemetery was originally dated on the basis of similarities with Tura ceramics to a date
later than the Maadian. Mortensen (1988) suggests on the basis of similarities with Maadi and
Wadi Digla pottery and the few parallels with Upper Egyptian pottery that a relative date for
Heliopolis should be assigned to the beginning of the Gerzean, or Naqada IIa/b (p.34). The
Palestinian pots that were found also point to an early date because they are of
Ghassulian/Beersheeba types and Early Bronze Age 1A and B. This again corresponds to Naqada
I or II (Mortensen 1988 p.49).
Information that Mortensen provides about the orientation of the graves also suggests that a
date that is equivalent to Maadi: “It can be demonstrated that the general pattern in prehistoric
times in the north was that the dead lie on their right side with the head to the south, facing
east. This pattern changes through the Naqada II and III period and in the beginning of the
dynastic period, the dead lie on their left side with their head to the south and face to the west.
Not until the third Dynasty does this pattern change to reclining on the left side with the head to
the north, facing east” (Mortensen 1988, p.46).
Seeher’s chronological division of the Delta (on typological grounds) links Heliopolis with his Digla
II phase which he identified as the second (later) phase at the Wadi Digla cemetery near Maadi.
Rizkana (1952) has suggested that Heliopolis belonged to “an independent cultural stage, and
perhaps in a later period” (p.7) later than Maadi, (on the basis of differences between the two)
but he agrees with Seeher that it was probably contemporary with Wadi Digla.
The Site
Because this is a cemetery site the industrial components are limited to ceramics, stone vases
and two flint tools, and cannot be considered to reflect the industry of the as yet unlocated
settlement site. There were 63 excavated graves, although it has been estimated that there may
be up to 200 burials in total (Mortensen 1988). The burials are mainly human but there are also
animal burials:
 45 human
o 36 adults
o 2 adolescents
o 7 children
 11 animals
o 6 goat
o 5 dog
 7 pottery groups with no traces of burials
Human Graves
The human graves are all simple, usually round or oval and with different sizes and depths (both
of which increase with the amount of pottery in the grave). In a few cases they were lined with
matting or wood. Wood was additionally found covering bodies in four graves, which may
indicate a collapsed roof or other structure. The graves contained contracted burials (some fully
some half contracted) which were usually orientated with heads to the south, face to the easy,
lying on their right hand sides with their hands in front of their faces – only six of the graves
deviated from this formula. Mortensen (1988, p.38) groups them into four types:
Page 89
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)




Andie Byrnes 2003
children without mat or skin
adults without matting or skin and with few or no grave goods
adults with matting, skins and wood and a few grave goods
adults with matting and/or skins and a large number of grave goods
Grave goods other than pottery were rare. Vessels were found in most graves, although children
either had none or just one. There seems to have been a system of pottery types with some
being normal and others only rarely represented. In graves with more than one vessel there is
always at least one red pot of a different type which is placed close to the head. There are an
unusual number of sherds in the site, perhaps dug in from the surface when the graves were
dug, because they are generally very weathered.
Few other artefact types are represented. Basic cosmetic palettes were found at the site, mainly
rhomboid and made of flint (not slate), some stained with ochre or malachite, and Ancillaria
shells from the Red Sea were used to make jewellery. Only two flint blades were found. The
flint blades were made of a transparent flint but are not described in the excavation report. In
one grave there were copper fragments. There were two types of stone vases: basalt and
limestone, and only one example of each exists. Although similar examples exist in Lower Egypt,
there are no identical forms. The limestone vessel is similar to later Upper Egyptian types.
Three graves contained the remains of animals, probably representing food.
Animal Graves
The goat burials are all very small and are orientated in the same way as the human burials.
One had certainly been wrapped in matting and all had many pottery vessels – generally placed
in front of the animal, although the type and number vary. As with the human burials, there was
sometimes a red pot in front of the head. One was buried with plant remains in front of its
mouth. The goats were originally identified as gazelle but have since been re-designated as
goats.
Page 90
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The dog burials were very small and shallow, were not orientated in any particular way and were
not buried with any gravegoods. They are all located on the north edge of the eastern end of
the cemetery, and at least one of the dogs was probably killed deliberately. There were two
types of dog – four were of a long skulled type and one had a shorter rounded skull.
Animal burials are also found in other area of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, including several at
Wadi Digla and one at Maadi Cemetery.
Pottery
The ceramics are not represented in their entirety due to poor care of the artefacts following
excavation. Originally there were 81 complete pots, 27 broken ones and an unknown number of
sherds. A proper analysis could not be attempted, but some conclusions could be drawn from
the surviving pottery, photographs of excavated items, and 23 drawings. Pottery in the
excavation report (Mortensen 1988) was described according to types allocated by the excavators
for these vessels.
All the pottery is handmade although “some of the pots show marks
indicating that they have been turned” (Mortnesen 1990, p.23). The
pots appear to have been built up in a number of pieces, perhaps in
coils. “It is possible that, in some cases, the upper and lower parts
were made separately and joined together. The finger impressions can
be seen on some pots were the two halves were pressed together”
(Mortensen 1990, p.23). A few of the vessels had lids. In three cases
a bowl had been used as a lid. Some of these lids appear to have been
sealed, and the contents of one sealed jar appears to have been plant.
Clay was tempered with straw, and coarser straw temper appears to
have been associated with the bowls, finer temper with other types of
pottery. They were generally also tempered with differing amounts of
sand, and some were tempered with calcite (CaCO3). The pottery was generally fired at
comparatively low temperatures (600-650) and most are black to brown, some varying in colour.
Most have a grey-black core. Surfaces were soothed with a wet hand to create an even surface
(called self-slip) but no real slip was found on any of the vessels.
There are three jars which may be Palestinian in origin or may be copies of Palestinian forms.
Mortensen (1988) makes frequent comparisons with other western Delta sites, particularly Maadi
and Wadi Digla, but also Merimde.
 Merimde Levels IV-V
o Straw temper
o Wet-smoothing
o Colours (and probably firing temperatures)
o Polishing technique
 Maadi
o Three types of vessel
 Straw-tempered
 Sand-tempered
 Palestinian types
As Mortensen says “The pottery tradition at Heliopolis is clearly related to the earlier tradition in
the north, found at Merimde, Fayum and El Omari but also shows traits from the Palestinian
Page 91
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
tradition: temper with crushed limestone, use of a lime wash” (1988, p.33). It would be
distinctly useful to attempt some sort of clarification of the relationship between these three sites.
Seven of the vessels had pot-marks taking the form of vertical lines or simple plant motifs,
incised into the surface of the vessels before they were fired, in some cases into inside of the the
rim of the vessel. They do not appear to have been confined to any particular type of vessel.
Potmarks are not known from Merimda or El Omari but they do occur at Maadi, where the types
of vessel with potmarks are similar, and rims also occur on the inside of rims.
Origins or Affinities
Looking at the cemetery as a whole, Mortensen (1988) considered the site to be most similar to
Wadi Digla, although he highlights differences which indicate that Heliopolis was by no means the
same as Wadi Digla:
Similarities to Wadi Digla
Differences from Wadi Digla









Clustering of animal burials
and graves without offerings
Pottery types and fabrics
Concept of lining graves
Simple oval grave forms
Contracted position of body
Animal burials
Pottery gravegoods
Body wrappings



Limestone lining of some
graves at Wadi Digla
Double wrapping of body in
mat and skin at Heliopolis
Goat burials much richer at
Heliopolis than at Wadi Digla
More varied grave goods at
Wadi Digla including slate
palettes and combs.
However it is clear that they both belong to the same tradition, even with differences – which
could be accounted for by local preferences or by a slight difference in date.
Orientation of bodies in graves also suggests a northern tradition: “It can be demonstrated that
the general pattern in prehistoric times in the north was that the dead lie on their right side with
the head to the south, facing east. This pattern changes through the Naqada II and III period
and in the beginning of the dynastic period, the dead lie on their left side with their head to the
south and face to the west.”
Page 92
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Economy
The settlement site for the cemetery has never been found, so economic information about the
economy of those represented in the graveyard is very sparse. No anthropological work has
been carried out on the remains of the skeletons found, so no subsistence information has been
gleaned from this source either.
Apart from the presence of domesticated animals in graves, and the present of imports (Ancillaria
shells, basalt, copper and malachite) there is no indication of what sort of economy existed at
Heliopolis. The imports could have been obtained relatively locally – from Maadi, for example,
and are not necessarily indicators of long-distance trade.
Social Organization and Change
Mortensen estimates that the settlement appears to have been organized according to age and
sex rather than social differentiation, although as no anthropological examinations have been
made this is not certain. No newborns or foetuses were found which may mean that they were
buried within the settlement as at Merimda, but this may indicate that status was not acquired at
birth, and children are not buried with a protective wrapping but appear to have been segregated
in the south-east corner of the cemetery without gravegoods. “This evidence could point to a
society with a simple social structure” (Mortensen 1988, p.51).
The cemetery of Heliopolis was abandoned possibly at around the same time as Wadi Digla.
Reasons for abandonment could have been environmental or social – increased wadi deposition is
indicated although it is unknown when these deposits were laid down.
However, the
abandonment of the cemetery also coincides with notable changes visible in the northern
material record, and the beginning of new cemeteries at el Gerzeh, Tura and Abusir el Meleq. “If
the cemetery at Heliopolis can be dated as late as Naqada IIb it is possible that the shift of its
cemetery area was related to a change in society” (Mortensen 1988 p.51).
3.6.3
Tell Fara’in (Buto)
Introduction
Tell Fara’in is the Predynastic site
beneath the town of Buto, which
became so important in later times:
“According to the written tradition of
ancient Egypt, Buto, located in the
northern Delta, appears to have been
the Lower Egyptian counterpart of
Hierakonpolis, that capital of Upper
Egypt. Thus, the settlement tradition
of these two cities should go back to
the fourth millennium at least” (Von
der Way 1992, p.217). It is clear that
Tell el Fara’in will become very important in studies of early Egypt.
Page 93
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Excavation and Survey
Work on the predynastic levels was initiated by the German Institute of Archaeology in 1983 with
the objective of acquiring material to compare Upper Egypt with Lower Egypt during the period of
change at the end of the Maadi-Buto period. Von der Way excavated the predynastic levels with
considerable difficulty, because they were beneath the water table (Von der Way 1987, 1988).
The Site
There were seven layers at Buto which contained a clear stratigraphic record of the history of the
site from the predynastic to the Protodynastic, offering the opportunity to analyse how the site
changed during the northern advance of the Naqada II culture.
The earliest two layers contain the remains of a settlement site, of which there are almost no
structural remains surviving: “Structures we explain as postholes and remains of mats give the
impression that the settlers of Buto used stems of papyrus or reed to build up their dwellings”
(Von der Way 1992, p.220). Both layers produced Lower Egyptian pottery types that show a
clear relationship with the Maadian: “Most of the wares at Tell el Fara’in were also found at
Maadi, and the same type of black basalt jars were found at both sites” (Bard 1994). It is “rich in
ceramic and lithic material comparable with that of Maadi, Wadi Digla and Heliopolis” (MidantReynes 1992/2000 p.218). As well as local pottery forms, examples from Buto also imitate
Naqadan wavy-handled forms, Gerzean and other Upper Egyptian types. However “No examples
of black-topped vessels have yet been excavated, suggesting that the earliest phase at Buto
corresponds to the Naqada II phase, and, more precisely, to phases IIc-d in Kaiser’s chronology,
with the later stratigraphy stretching on, without a break, through the Late Predynastic and Early
Dynastic to the Old Kingdom (Midant-Reynes 1992-2000 p.218).
Nearby sites appear to date to the same period as well, and may have been related to Tell elFara’in: “At two sites about 3km south west of Tell el-Fara’in, Ezbet el-Qerdahi East and West,
more ceramics of the same wares as found at Maadi and Tell el-Fara’in have also been
excavated” (Bard 1994). Sais is also geographically close to Buto and, has recently been shown
to have contemporary and probably related archaeological levels (Wilson and Gilbert 2002).
Above the layers at Tell el-Fara’in containing the Lower Egyptian pottery forms, there was a
‘transition layer’ which contained fewer Lower Egyptian types of pottery and included Upper
Egyptian pottery dating to Naqada IId (Bard 1994), marking a time when “pottery manufactured
in the indigenous, Lower Egyptian tradition was superseded by pottery made accruing to the
more advanced ceramic technology of Upper Egypt” (Wilkinson 1999, 2001). Unlike the
occupation at Maadi, there is a continuity of occupation from Maadian through to Dynastic times.
This so-called transition layer has been interpreted in different ways by different archaeologists.
While some see the change in pottery types a simple matter of replacement of one culture by
another, there is also a more subtle explanation put forward by Kohler (1995). Kohler suggests
that two ceramic traditions actually existed in Egypt simultaneously – one for use in settlements
(a coarser ware) and one for use in graves (a finer ware with symbolic value). She suggests that
while the domestic tradition could be common to both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, the grave
ceramic tradition was exclusive to Upper Egypt and that this would have lead to the development
of specialised grave ceramic production. She suggests that as new markets for specialised
funerary vessels were identified Upper Egyptian fine ware came to Lower Egypt, together with
stone vessels. Instead of a migration, invasion or cultural diffusion, the ceramic record could
therefore simply indicate new economic demands which were best fulfilled by Lower Egyptian
sites. Wilkinson says that “there is little doubt that the new pottery was made locally, albeit
Page 94
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
increasingly by specialist potters. In short, the cultural phenomenon attested at Buto may better
be described as the expansion of Upper Egyptian ceramic technology rather than the expansion
of the Naqada Culture (Kohler 1993: 254)” (Wilkinson 1996, p.7).
Kohler’s idea is given some support by Holmes’s examination of ceramics from Badari which
identified that some forms of pottery correspond to Lower Egyptian types. Not many settlements
have been excavated or identified in Upper Egypt, which may have led to a failure to identify
Lower Egyptian types in Upper Egypt. Until further excavations of both types of site are
excavated, it will be difficult to clarify this issue.
Outside contacts
Artefacts from Tell Fara’in include clay cones and pottery and other items which show contact
with Southwest Asia “specifically the Amuq F period settlements in northern Syria, and probably
by way of trade connections through that area to settlements in the Tigris, Balikh, Khabur and
Upper Euphrates region” (Wenke 1991, p.304). “How the site of Tell el-Fara’in /Buto relates to
the Uruk culture of SW Asia, however, has yet to be demonstrated by data from the on-going
investigations” (Bard 1994). Pottery from Upper Egypt is also present, and Buto IA was the only
site that showed a clear connection with Palestine.
Buto shows clear signs of contact, either direct or indirect, with
Upper Egypt (pottery), northern Syria (spiral reserved slipware)
Palestine (large tabular flint scrapers) and possibly Mesopotamia
(fired clay cones of a sort that in Mesopotamia were inserted into
plaster-covered walls to form mosaics) and may have had a similar
role to that of Maadi: “Von der Way concludes that Maadi, which
contained many Southwest Asian pottery vessels of this same
approximate time period [as the earliest levels at Buto] was only a
way station on overland routes to the east, but that Buto was a port
– perhaps the most important Delta port – for ships carrying
commodities to and from Palestine and the Uruk state (1987, p.257)”
(Wenke 1991, p.304). Watrin and Blin suggest that of Merimda,
Maadi and Buto, “only the most recent of these three cultures, that
of Buto IA showed a clear connection with the Palestinian cultures of
the Late Chalcolithic. Notably the artefacts point to at least a temporary presence of culturally
Palestinian groups (2003 p.560).
3.6.4
Sais (Sa el-Hagar)
Sais, like Buto, is more famous for its Dynastic role, but excavations have revealed levels which
belong to this period of Egypt. The predynastic levels of Buto and Sais are considered to be
important for understanding the later history of these sites, and the origins of religion in this
area: “Considerations on the history of religion carried out by Kurt Sethe already at the
beginning of our century succeeded to disclose that the great religious centres of the Delta in
historical times, Buto and Sais, should have gained their overregional significance already in the
prehistoric period” (Wildung 1984, p. 265). Research into this and later dynastic and early
dynastic times needs to be pursued to clarify the situation. It is possible that early layers will be
found under other Dynastic sites in the area, if accessible in spite of the water table.
Page 95
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The sample derived from preliminary work was small, however there was enough to conclude
that most of the pottery found was locally made and that no foreign imports appeared among the
5000 pottery sherds recovered.
The lithic industry included blade tools in small numbers.
The excavators say that “there seem to have been two distinct occupations of this area, with a
complicated ‘transition layer’ between them” (Wilson and Gilbert, 2002 p.12) and suggest that
the upper layer of the site “probably dates to the Buto-Maadi culture and later Merimda phase,
around 3500BC”. The lower level contained ceramics which suggested a date corresponding to
Neolithic levels at Merimda dating to around 4800BC, and analysis of the bones and organic
components of the layer suggest extensive burning which could have had a number of causes but
might indicate the presence of cooking hearths. Wilson and Gilbert (2002) interpret the two main
layers as probable settlement deposits.
The settlement from c.4800BC onwards was based on a sandy island.
Faunal remains were mainly pig (Sus scrofa) with ages represented from under a year old to 4-5
years old, suggesting an stock for consumption and a breeding stock. Cattle were the second
most substantial bone presence, with age variations between animals under 2.5 years and others
over five years, which suggests a similar strategy to animal management as the pigs (Wilson and
Gilbert p.13). Very few sheep or goat were found. A few fish bones (catfish and Synodontis),
and donkey remains were found.
The dietary profile assembled from the remains at the site equates to others from the same
broad time period: “A sample of the environmental material from lower layer contained
examples of almost all the cereals one might expect to find here, including a good proportion of
emmer-wheat, barley, grasses, weed seeds and also tamarisk wood fragments, which were
almost certainly used for charcoal. Another sample from the upper layer contained a flax seed to
complete the Delta plant repertoire” (Wilson and Gilbert 2002, p.13).
The presence of catfish and Synodontis suggests an environment that supported slow moving
water in shallow channels or marshes.
3.6.5
Sedment and Harageh
Sedment and Harageh, in the Western Faiyum area, add to the picture of pre-Naqada III
influence in Upper Egypt: “A few of the cemetery sites in the northern part of the Middle East of
the Fayum basin, such as Harageh and Sedment produced limited quantities of pottery which is
now known to be part of a Lower Egyptian traction which predates the spread of Upper Egyptian
culture into the north from Naqada IIC” (Adams and Cialowicz 1997, p.19).
Harageh is southeast of Lahun and was excavated in 1913-14 (published 1923) by Regnald
Engelback. There were two Predynastic cemeteries, G and H. Most of the tombs were robbed
but the remaining grave goods still provide some information. Pottery falls into SD50-60 in
Petrie’s typological sequence. There were no late palettes, and few beads. Wavy handled
pottery only appears in Cemetery H.
In Sedment cemetery J and near cemetery K, southwest of Harageh, pottery but no burials were
found in circular pits (Petrie and Brunton 1924, p.9). Most of the pottery is typical of Lower
Page 96
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Egyptian Predynastic sites like El Omari and Maadi (Williams 1982). They were perhaps storage
caches (Flores 2003)..
3.6.6
es-Saff
es-Saff is located 40km south of Cairo. Burials were made with pottery of Maadi-Buto type,
although they are generally believed to have been a later type than those at either Maadi or Wadi
Digla. The es-Saff site stopped being used at exactly the time that el-Gerzeh, 15km away from
es-Saff, started to be used as a cemetery.
3.6.7
Giza
Although only fragmentary remains have been found, it is thought that there was a cemetery
dating to the Maadi-Buto phase which has since been largely destroyed by Old Kingdom activity.
Ceramic vessel forms are certainly very similar (el-Sanussi and Jones 1997).
3.6.8
Maadi-Buto Summary
The Maadian represents a more organized and developed society than that represented by either
El Omari or Merimde. The size of the sites involved implies a stability not previously visible in the
archaeological record (El Omari, for example, may represent two different settlements, the first
broken up by heavy rain and floods). A sedentary agricultural economy, based on animal herding
and cultivation of cereals and pulses, was supported by hunting and fishing. Pottery manufacture
is distinctive but not in any way special – vessels conform to a number of types, but are very
basic and often coarse, undecorated and simple in both form and concept. Lithics are
unremarkable and reflect a lifestyle based on processing plant and animal foods.
The Maadian graves provide some top-level information about the ritual behaviour of the
inhabitants of the Maadian settlements, and give a small hint at some of the beliefs that these
rituals indicate. To begin with, there is no variation in the overall type of cemetery – the
cemeteries contained individual depositions of flexed human bodies and a small number of
animals - with or without artefacts. There are no collective burials. This implies that the
emphasis is on the individual rather than on the family, but, given that cemeteries were
centralised deposits of the dead, that they are individual representatives of the larger community.
The implication at the most basic level is that society was concerned with the individual as a
member (or as a gap in) the living community.
Any organization of the cemeteries is loose, and although some excavators have observed that
some groupings occur in specific areas of the cemetery, these are hardly reflections of a
structured approach – there is no definitive evidence, for example of linear arrangements or
discrete groupings. It should be noted, however, that Flores (2003) believes that there may be
family groupings in Lower Egyptian sites, observable by the relationship between grave groupings
and goat burials. The fairly informal patterning of the graves suggests that although burials were
important to the community, the arrangement of the dead post-death as an expression of their
relationship to other individuals, alive or dead, is less important than the act of deposition itself.
This lack of systematic approach to deposition of the dead means that it is impossible to suggest
a chronological development for these phases of the cemeteries.
Artefacts in the Maadi-Buto graves are not manufactured specially for deposition with the dead,
which is quite different from the situation in Upper Egypt where high quality specialised items
Page 97
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
were deposited in graves. The pottery in Maadi-Buto graves was of the same type used in the
settlements. There are few other types of artefact deposited with the dead, and there is certainly
no sign of the prestige items that were deposited in Upper Egyptian graves.
There is no evidence of symbolic representation, and the only evidence of symbolic behaviour,
represented at Heliopolis, is ambiguous – where more than one pottery vessel was interred with
the dead, a red vessel was always placed by the head of the deceased (in both human and goat
burials). Apart from this there is no real variability or expressive behaviour implied by the
gravegoods. Gravegoods consist mostly of pottery, and rarely anything else. Even where other
items are present there is nothing else to indicate that there is anything to distinguish the dead
from any other member of society. The presence of vessels, which are sometimes sealed with
lids or bowls, certainly suggest some sort of provision for the dead, which implies a belief in an
afterlife, but beyond that it is impossible to draw conclusions. Differences in grave goods may
have been due to any number of reasons – importance of the individual may have been one
reason, but equally the variability could have reflected chronological differences rather than social
differences.
Orientation of the dead is never 100% consistent (for example, at Heliopolis 15% of the graves
excavated were orientated in a different way from the standard arrangement) but the general
consistency of orientation and arrangement of the dead does suggest that the way in which the
dead were deposited was important and was tied in with an unknown consideration. Cemeteries
all over Egypt vary in terms of how the dead were orientated (see Appendix K) but it is clear that
once a system was fixed on it was usually adhered to. Mortensen (1988) suggests that this could
have been anything from the orientation of the Nile, or the setting of the sun to a particular
aspect of the village – in other words, it is not known why in certain cemeteries graves were
orientated in a particular way.
There is insufficient anthropological evidence to build up a picture of age, gender, health and
other information regarding the individuals buried. However, on the basis of the distribution of
sub-adult burials Flores suggests that grave clusters may have been family burial plots and that
“the provisioning of these burials suggests that children were not differentiated from the adult
population in terms of burial goods” (2003, p.33). She also points out that the lack of evidence
for a hierarchical structure is not proof that no hierarchical structure existed, and in fact it seems
quite unlikely that this sort of society would have evolved without a leadership structure.
Animal burials featured at Maadi, Wadi Digla and Heliopolis cemeteries as follows:
Maadi
Wadi Digla
Heliopolis
Dog
1
1
5
Goat
0
13
6
Human
77
471
48
It is notable that there are no cattle burials (there are 2 known Badarian cattle burials and 7
known Nubian A-Group cattle burials).
Flores has analysed the animal graves (2003) and concludes that the different approach to grave
goods between the goats at Wadi Digla and Heliopolis suggest that the animals had a different
status at each location. At Wadi Digla seven of the thirteen goat burials were unaccompanied by
grave goods, but at Heliopolis all of the goats were accompanied by pottery.
A number of writers (e.g. Hornung 1971) have suggested that the animal burials may indicate an
early reverence for animals as divine entities. However, there is no evidence to support this
view. Neither domesticated dogs or goats are not represented in any early dynastic religious
Page 98
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
imagery; the gods Khentimentou and Anubis were wild jackals, not domesticated dogs: “There
appears to be no unequivocal evidence in support of an interpretation of the independent animal
burials as concrete manifestations of a contemporary attitude of reverence for the animals that
occur either individually, or as representatives of their species” (Flores 2003, p.64). Debono and
Mortensen (1990, p.47) suggest that dogs were buried as guardians of the cemeteries. Their
role in cemeteries was evidently different to that of goats, because they were buried without
particular orientation and without gravegoods. Flores suggests that the role of guardian of the
cemetery could have been an extension of their role in rounding up and protecting domesticated
herds “thus, although the burials may be considered, in a sense, a funerary sacrifice, they appear
to have been a magical or symbolic means of meeting a specific need of this life, not the
pressured needs of the afterlife” (Flores 2003, p. 64).
Pottery caches without burials appear at Maadi, Wadi Digla and Heliopolis cemeteries. Flores
suggests that these may have been “post-interment offerings” (Flores 2003, p.64). Some
anthropomorphic pottery from Maadi shows more of an interest in animal forms and selfexpression than anywhere else in Lower Egypt at that time.
Other sites which may have phases that may belong to the Maadi-Buto complex from elsewhere
in the Delta are: Ezbet el-Qerdahi, il-Khuga’an, Kom el-Kanater, Konayiset es-Saradusi, Mendes,
Telll Fara’on, Tell el-Farkha, Tell Ibrahim Awad, Tell el-Masha’la and Tell el-Niweiri.
3.7
Minshat Abu Omar
The Eastern Delta site Minshat Abu Omar is, strictly speaking, outside the scope of this paper.
However, it is mentioned briefly because it is broadly contemporary with Maadi and Naqada II
and III, and shares with Maadi what is apparently a trading connection with the Levant and
Upper Egypt. Importantly, it also has an unbroken stratification spanning the Predynastic to the
Early Dynastic – the only one to be excavated and published so far. Minshat is not the only
Eastern Delta site of this period – there are other Eastern Delta sites beginning to fill out an
important picture of late Predynastic occupation of the Delta.
The site is located at around 30km northeast of modern Faqus in the eastern Delta and consists
of both settlement and cemetery over two tells, A and B, dating to predynastic, Protodynastic and
early Dynastic periods, as well as Saite-Roman (Van Wettering and Tassie 2003).
The cemetery site began with simple shallow pit graves with very few grave goods, in the south
of the cemetery corresponding in time to Naqada II. The middle levels contain Naqada III
pottery with copper items and an increasing number of grave goods. The latest level was in the
northern, damaged part, of the site and contained Protodynastic graves with fine stone vessels
and pottery types.
The cemetery was comparatively wealthy, and the site probably gained its wealth operating as a
trading settlement, lying near the edge of the Delta, near Sinai and routes leading into Palestine.
Up until publication in 1984, 205 burials were found from different levels. They tend to be
contracted skeletons, heads facing to the north or north east, mainly on their right sides, faces to
the west. Grave goods consisted of pottery and stone vessels and some models (including one of
a papyrus boat made of calcite in grave 322).
Over two thousand pottery vessels were found at Minshat, 20 of which are certainly Palestinian
imports, and a proportion of which date to Naqada IIa to Naqada III and the First Dynasty.
Page 99
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
These included Petrie’s R-Ware, P-Ware, D-Ware and W-Ware. Stone vessels include a number
of different forms in hard-stone and calcite. (Wildung 1984).
Early levels at the site have Maadi type assemblages but were replaced by Upper Egyptian
pottery types: “The earliest have been dated to Stufe IIc or IId1 (e.g. early-middle Naqada II)
making Minshat the earliest site of the Naqada Culture yet discovered in the Delta” (Wilkinson
1996, p.5).
The site is consistent with the evolving Neolithic farming and trading culture that was developing
in Lower Egypt. Wilkinson believes that its location on the ancient Pelusiac branch of the Nile,
close to the Mediterranean and on a later principal trade route to southern Palestine indicates
that it was probably strategically located to exploit natural trade routes. Wildung sees the sites as
“a reloading port between Egypt and Palestine” (1984, p.269).
3.8
Later Neolithic and Chalcolithic: Conclusions
Merimda, el-Omari and the Maadian sites were all sedentary agricultural sites, based on the
production of cereal and pulses, and the use of domesticated animals. All supplemented their
diet by hunting and fishing to some extent, although there is much less sign of hunting at elOmari and fishing at Maadi than at other sites. Burial of the dead took place at all sites, but at
Merimda and el-Omari it took place within the settlement with very few grave goods (either
during use or when sections of the settlement had been abandoned) and at Maadi a separate
burial area was designated, perhaps as a result of influence from Upper Egypt, and increasing
numbers of grave goods were included. Animal burials (particularly dog, sheep/goat) also
became a feature of Lower Egyptian cemeteries. In the entire of Lower Egypt “a total of 600
Maadian tombs has been recovered as opposed to more than 15,000 Predynastic graves in the
south” (Midant Reynes 2000, p.53).
The sites all show similarities but all are also clearly different from each other: “Despite the facts
that they almost certainly overlapped each other in time, were not widely separated
geographically, and belonged to a recognizably ‘northern Egyptian’ culture circle, the settlements
of the Fayum, Merimda, El Omari and Maadi display in every case pronounced individual
characteristics which distinguish them shortly from one another and lead inevitably to the
conclusion that each was politically, economically and to a great extent culturally and religiously
independent of its neighbours” (Hayes 1964, 1965 p.137). Hayes sees them as townships, each
with its own areas under pasture or pastoral use with its own internal management systems.
Hoffman (1979, p.170) makes the point that Egyptian towns and villages were not bound by
geographical pressures that might have imposed a certain form on settlement distribution and
character in the Cairo and Delta areas: “Unlike their Upper Egyptian neighbours whose towns,
villages and hamlets were strung out like evenly spaced beads on a necklace, parallel to the Nile
or along the main desert water courses, the people of Lower Egypt grew up in a world where
boundaries were, of necessity, drawn more by social and political convention than by nature”.
All the settlements were located on land that was suitable for construction with wooden posts
and reeds: “With the exception of the somewhat stony surface at Badari, each Predynastic
settlement was located on soft or fine-textured semi- or non-consolidated deposits: Merimda,
Hierakonpolis, Armant and Maadi on silts . . . . Nowhere was coarse gravel or bedrock used. The
reason for this apparently deliberate choice was the type of house construction” (Butzer 1966,
p.215).
Throughout the Post-Faiyum Neolithic phase, all the sites are marked by increasing complexity,
larger and more organized storage facilities, a growing reliance on cultivated plants and
Page 100
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
domesticated animals, the building of larger settlements which became permanent and
ecologically well adapted, the first burials and the first cemeteries, and contact with a wide
variety of other sites and areas: “the mode of interactions among the peoples of the Nile Valley
was intensified. There is a strong suggestion from Maadi, in the form of unusually high purity of
the grain stored, that the efficiency of agricultural activities improved (Hassan 1988). There is
also “good evidence from several sites for a change from what might have been an inter-village
barter system to a more formalised trade. This change was linked to socio-political developments
and was associated with the emergence of craft specialisation” (Hassan 1988, p.159).
Settlement data in Lower Egypt enables a degree of economic reconstruction not possible in
Upper Egypt where the greatest percentage of evidence comes from cemeteries. A stable
economic lifestyle combining agricultural activities with trade or exchange are implied by the
organisation of the settlement itself and by the artefactual evidence of increasing links with
foreign communities.
It is not known what sort of political organisation existed. There may well have been elites in
existence at sites like Sais and Buto, given their importance in late Predynastic times, but there is
little evidence to provide any details.
In Lower Egypt, data at present does not suggest any great social complexity, unlike Upper
Egyptian data which suggests “status display and rivalry” (Bard 1994) together with political
activity and trade/exchange mechanisms particularly for prestige goods. The Lower Egyptian
large sites exploited the Delta ecology very effectively, and were vastly different from the more
urban and culturally expressive sites of Naqada I and early Naqada II, perhaps as a result of
ecological factors and a lack of competition for land. Hoffman describes these differences in
socio-economic terms: “From a materialistic point of view, the closest contrast between Upper
and Lower Egypt at this time lay between a growing mercantilism in the north and a
conspicuously consuming, politically orientated society to the south. In Lower Egypt, trade and
metallurgy set the tone at strategically located sites like Maadi, while in Upper Egypt social
status, burial, public ritual, and display dominated the Naqadan world view” (Hoffman 1979,
p.212). Luxury goods, grave good and decoration were almost completely absent in Lower Egypt
until Maadi, where they were still very pale by comparison with material produced by Upper
Egypt.
Perez-Lagarcha (1995a, 1995b) suggests that Maadi operated as a trading post, filtering goods
from Palestine and the Levant to Upper Egypt, where a demand for prestige goods existed
amongst an elite who required the items to reinforce status and position. In other words, he
believes that the wealth of Maadi was based on the wealth and growing elitism of Upper Egypt.
The spread of the Maadian material culture across the Delta suggests a greater uniformity of
connections and co-operation across the Delta.
Increasing interest in religious or spiritual matters is indicated by a growing sophistication in
burial practise. Although by no means as vividly expressed as in the south, burial did slowly
assume increasing importance in the north, moving out of the settlement into dedicated areas
and shifting from graves with no or minimal gravegoods, to graves with increasing quantities and
variability of items deposited. Except in rare cases, the grave goods were no different to
artefacts found in the settlement – no special items were manufactured for use as gravegoods.
Some of the ceramics had apparently been used previously and may indicate that the contents of
the vessels rather than the vessels themselves were important.
In a consideration of early religion Hornung (1971) suggests that although lack of any depictions
of symbolism indicating belief in divine power cannot be used to indicate a lack of belief in divine
Page 101
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
power, the lack of animal burials in the Faiyum Neolithic sites, El Omari and Merimde Beni
Salama are significant. Hornung suggests that animal worship became important in later times
and its beginnings are visible for the first time in the North in Maadian sites (for example at
Maadi and Heliopolis): “the care with which these animals were buried and provided with
gravegoods is evidence for a cult of sacred animals or of divine powers in animal form” (Hornung
1971, p.100). This happened at a time when palettes assumed animal shapes in Upper Egypt
and animal burials were also taking place at Badari and Naqada, and a number of writers have
suggested that the animal burials and symbolic representations evolved directly into the early
Dynastic religions which had a conspicuous animal component. However, in a recent study of
animal burials in predynastic contexts, Flores has challenged this view: “In the absence of any
evidence for predynastic cemeteries dedicated exclusively to the burial of sacred animals, the
assumption of reverence for some scholars is based simply on the occurrence of the burials
within the confines of human cemeteries and for others on the fact that the animal burials appear
to resemble the human burials among which they lay” (Flores 2003, p.2).
Overall, there are some difficulties with an analysis of the Maadi-Buto animal remains because a)
the sites are all only partially excavated, b) small samples are involved at each site and c) some
of the sites have disturbed stratigraphy, particularly at Heliopolis. Only Wadi Digla has been
excavated to an extent that has provided a representative sample.
Lower Egypt was evolving, albeit slowly, in social terms and possibly, given the rising trade
evident with south west Asian countries, in economic terms as well. However, compared to
Upper Egypt it was still very culturally plain. It did not survive the spread of Naqada II into the
north. The Maadian was the last of the Lower Egyptian Neolithic cultures: “the northward
expansion brought the people of the Naqada culture into contact with the Maadian agriculturalists
in the north, who formed a buffer zone between Egypt and the Oriental trade networks.”
(Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.237). It died out, to be replaced by material culture appearing
elsewhere in Egypt: “At the turning point of Naqada IIc/d, the material appeared at el-Gerza,
Haraga, Abusir el-Melek and Minshat Abu Omar, all totally devoid of Maadian elements” (MidantReynes 1992/2000 p.220). “Buto, Maadi and other early Egyptian sites may indicate the first
stages of changes in which Lower and upper Egyptian communities began to participate in the
same ideological systems, and this process seems to have occurred in the context of increasing
functional differentiation, even if the level of this differentiation, and the growing functional
interdependence of which it is a part, remains at a comparatively low level” (Wenke 1991,
p.304).
Based on evidence at Maadi, it was once generally assumed that occupation at Lower Maadian
sites had died out. Maadian sites appeared to die out, and new sites were established all over
Lower Egypt. However, more recent evidence has modified that view: “at the exceptional site of
Buto, there are seven successive archaeological strata in which the transition between the
Maadian phases and the overlapping Protodynastic can be observed. During this transition, there
is a perceptible increase in Naqada pottery styles, while the Maadian pottery progressively
disappears. Thus the end of the Maadian culture was not an abrupt phenomenon, as the site of
Maadi would suggest, but was instead a process of cultural assimilation” (Midant Reynes 2000,
p.60).
It is also possible that there had already been a greater amount of contact between Upper and
Lower Egypt than previously thought. Diane Holmes’s study of Egyptian ceramics from Badari
identified Lower Egyptian types, and it may be that a similar domestic ceramic tradition was
shared by both Upper and Lower Egypt. It is certainly the case that Upper Egyptian vessels do
occur at Maadi and other Maadian sites from an early stage. The picture of Egypt as a culturally
bipartite country may not be as clear as it has seemed: “Thus a picture seems to be emerging in
Page 102
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
which there was a greater degree of contact then previously supposed between the regions of
Egypt, even during Naqada I” (Wilkinson 1996, p.6).
Perez Lagarcha (1995a, 1995b) argues that the appearance of Naqadan elements at the same
time as Maadi’s decline was as a direct result of an increased demand for Levantine products – to
the extent that Upper Egyptian trading posts were set up in the Eastern Delta, for example at
Minshat Abu Omar, to build direct trade relationships with the Levant rather than relying on
Maadi and Buto to supply the items. He suggests that Buto could have survived because of its
location near to the coast (in Predynastic times), but that Maadi would not have survived because
it was not located in a sufficiently strategic position.
The process of replacement of Maadian by Naqadan traits will be discussed in the next section,
but as will be shown, it remains unclear whether the replacement of Maadian cultural elements
by Naqadan ones was the result of peaceful transfer or hostile takeover.
Page 103
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
4.0
Middle and Late Predynastic: Faiyum, Faiyum Area and Western Delta
4.1
Upper Egypt before Naqada II
By around 4000BC settled agriculture had become the way of
life for Egypt as a whole, exploiting rich but geographically
restricted natural resources probably due to changing
economic conditions, competition and social impetus:
“Agriculture has such great inertia because once people begin
making and using large grinding stones, big grain storage
silos, sickles and all the rest of the primitive farmer’s took kit,
there is a strong incentive not to move” (Wenke 1999, p.445).
By 3000BC all habitable areas of Egypt were occupied (The
Nile Delta, the Faiyum, the Western Desert Oases and the Nile
Valley).
In Lower Egypt subsistence activities in the Predynastic period
represent a largely unchanging extension of the Prehistoric,
with agricultural activities becoming the main, if not sole, form
of subsistence and settlements becoming sedentary.
Settlements grew much larger and more sophisticated, with
closer and probably more structured links to other
communities in both neighbouring and more distant areas.
The dead became increasingly important and there were signs
of overseas links.
In Upper Egypt, for reasons that have been a matter of
extensive
speculation,
agricultural
development
was
accompanied by, or was the spur, for increasing and very
beautifully expressed cultural and social complexity. Hassan
sees the adoption of agriculture as one of the factors involved
in the evident increase in social differentiation in Egypt: “Once
agriculture became the dominant mode of subsistence with an attendant reduction of spatial
mobility, and enlargement of group size, and a simplification of the ecological network by
focusing on a few resources the economic system became vulnerable to periodic fluctuations in
agricultural yield. Given the unpredictability of Nile floods and the fact that about one of ever
five floods is a ‘bad flood’, emergence of intraregional and interregional networks of food
exchange fostered the emergence of a managerial elite, formal social organization, and military
force” (Hassan 1984, p.223).
Because of the differences between Upper and Lower Egypt, both in terms of cultural expression
and survival, it is very difficult to compare them directly. Poor survival, which has already been
discussed, becomes a particular problem when trying to gauge the impacts of Upper Egypt upon
Lower Egypt and when trying to compare the two cultures directly: “once we reach the delta,
our chances of finding sites with which to make a fair comparison with the south becomes very
slim indeed” (Kemp 1989, p.43).
However, it is clear that during Naqada II, the cultural profile of Lower Egypt began to change
and it is against this backdrop that we begin to see increasing homogeneity throughout Egypt.
Page 104
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
4.2
Naqada II
4.2.1
Overview
Andie Byrnes 2003
The north and south developed independently, with the south, Upper Egypt, displaying very
distinctive cultural elements like artistic activities, highly specialised craftsmanship and religious
belief and practise. The earliest of these distinctive phases is the Badarian, succeeded by
Naqada I. Both of these were exclusive to Upper Egypt and are contemporary with the Faiyum
Neolithic, and Western Delta Neolithic. Only a few artefacts appearing in Upper Egypt and fewer
in Lower Egypt indicate any contact between the two areas.
However, after Naqada I, Upper Egyptian features began to appear in Lower Egypt and
eventually, completely replaced Lower Egyptian elements. The most important of these sites in
Upper Egypt were Naqada, Hierakonpolis and Abydos. Naqada had been at the height of its
success, judging by graves and gravegoods in Naqada I, and was overtaken by Hierakonpolis,
which was probably the dominant of the three proto-cities in Naqada II. Wilkinson (1999)
describes them as “the centres of powerful territories, each ruled by a hereditary elite exercising
authority on a regional basis.” The heads of these states are generally accepted as early kings,
and some writers have gone as far as referring to Naqada II as Dynasty 00 to reflect this
(Naqada III is often referred to as Dynasty 0). These were apparently contemporary with Maadi
in the Western Delta and Minshat Abu Omar in the Eastern Delta, where there are regionally
characteristic features but there are no signs of an evolving elitist state-based organization.
Naqada II characteristics include a range of features which are related to Naqada I but represent
a change of direction, including:
 Fewer burials
 Increasing number of much richer graves
 Simple pit graves, but in a variety of shapes
 Rarely more than one person in each grave
 Child burials in pottery vessels
 Emergence of the coffin
 Increasingly compartments provided for burial goods
 Increasingly formal pattern of deposition for grave goods
 New types of pottery, with new decorative styles
 Development of stone-working skills (including large bifacial flakes)
 Replacement of disk shaped mace by pear-shaped form
 Beginning of the copper industry
 Replacement of Lower Egyptian Maadian traits with Upper Egyptian ones (From final
phase, Naqada IIc)
These features show an increasing interest in the arrangement of only a few select individuals, a
growing focus on symbolic forms of expression, and increasing social stratification: “The wide
range of types of funerary arrangement in Gerzean cemeteries . . . all reflect the growing
complexity of the social structure, which has becoming both more diversified and more
hierarchical” (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.188). This was a time of massive growth in terms of
social activity, early urban development, cultural output, and territorial expansion, when the
beginning of the city states are clearly visible and the process of unification is in its incipient
stages.
Page 105
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
In spite of increasing evidence for more regular contacts between the two areas than previously
believed (e.g. Holmes 1989, Wilkinson 1996) the differences between Upper and Lower Egypt are
remarkable. There is no question that burial customs, in spite of some superficial similarities,
were different in the north and south, with both orientation and gravegoods as key
differentiators, although as Kohler puts it (1995, p.85): “The question is only whether this can
justify the definition of a separate cultural unit or whether it mirrors simply differing religious
conceptions or economic backgrounds in terms of prosperity or the level of social complexity,
which can differ within cultural units”.
In some ways it seems surprising that the more sophisticated of the two areas grew up in an
area where land was increasingly at a premium as opposed to in the Delta, where fertile land was
extensive: “It might seem somewhat paradoxical on ecological grounds that Lower Egypt and the
Delta were not the initial heartland of cultural complexity in Egypt, since they have wide areas of
fertile land, more resource diversity than the south because of its Mediterranean littoral, and the
stimulating effects of contacts with Southwest Asia. But . . . the initial cultural primacy of Upper
Egypt may be linked to the fact that the levees of Upper Egypt were probably easier for primitive
agriculturalists to farm because the smaller size of the Upper Egyptian natural flood basins made
them easier to control” (Wenke 1991, p.301). Wenke also believes that the very restriction
created by the Nile valley could have promoted more social awareness and self expression:
“When we compare Upper and Lower Egypt it is evident that Upper Egypt is much more sharply
circumscribed by natural barriers to agricultural extension, and this could have generated at least
a more intense form of cultural interaction and even competition in Upper Egypt” (Wenke 1991,
p.301).
4.2.2
Naqada II in Lower Egypt
Upper Egypt, with its big towns, large cemeteries and thousands of graves, with a wide variety of
high quality decorated pottery, fine flint items, and status items, was defining itself as early as
the Badarian. The Delta had an entirely different profile, but the size of the settlements, the
dependence on farming largely un-supplemented by hunting or fishing - and the organization this
implies - and the slow development of formalised burial patterns are indications that the Western
Delta, culminating in the Maadian at a number of sites, had a regional identity of its own: “It is
naïve to equate material culture and its ‘level’ with social and political complexity. We must
accept that some degree of political and social centrality had developed in the Delta by late
Predynastic times, and that the people of the north, like people everywhere irrespective of their
lifestyle in material terms, had a well-developed body of myth and social tradition bound up with
territorial claims (Kemp 1989, p.44). However, Lower Egypt did not survive the expansion of the
Naqada II phase as it “extended from its source at Naqada towards the Delta (Minshat Abu
Omar) and southwards as far as Nubia” (Midant-Reynes 2000, p.53).
The fact that Maadian cultural elements were replaced by Naqadan cultural and political
components is very clear in the archaeological record, and is undisputed. However, the process
by which native Maadian cultural elements are replaced by Naqada II is not at all clear although
it is clear that the effect was all-encompassing, and is generally agreed to be the first of the steps
that led to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt: “Based on an analysis of archaeological
evidence the earliest writings in Egypt and later king lists, Kaiser (1964, p.118 p.105-114)
proposes that the Nagada culture expanded north in Nagada IIc-d times to sites in the Fayum
region (such as the cemetery at el-Gerzeh) and then later to the Cairo area and the Delta. The
unification, therefore, was much earlier than the period immediately preceding the First Dynasty”
(Bard 1994).
Page 106
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
4.2.3
Andie Byrnes 2003
State Formation
The process of state formation is the sequence of social, economic, political and religious
processes that eventually led to the invention of writing, the unification of regional states and of
Lower and Upper Egypt in one nation headed by a divinely appointed king, and the formalisation
of Egypt’s complex religion with the king as its earthly representative. The process of state
formation began as far back as Naqada I in Upper Egypt, consolidated considerably during
Naqada II and became a defining characteristic of Naqada III. State formation is a complex
process defined by Wilkinson (1996) as “the process by which Egypt emerged as a political and
cultural entity during the last quarter of the fourth millennium BC. The political aspect of this
process, which is now thought to be at the end of the dynamic of state formation, is often
termed by Egyptologists “the Unification” (1996, p.5) and will be discussed in section 4.4.
However, unification can realistically only have taken place after considerable social and political
evolution at local and then regional levels, seeing the growth of elites in the south, increasing
complexity in the north, and the development of trade or exchange links outside Egypt.
The process of state formation started as far back as Naqada I, when the town of Naqada itself
rose to a position of prominence and individual towns began to evolve towards local polities, but
is usually seen as the period leading up to unification, although its exact duration is unknown:
“The duration of the period immediately preceding the beginning of the First Dynasty – the
period of state formation – cannot be assessed with any degree of accuracy. However, it seems
unlikely that it lasted more than five or six generations, including two or three generations of
kings comprising ‘Dynasty’ ” (Wilkinson 1996, p.15).
Leaving aside the processes of state formation in the south, which was of course fundamental to
the subsequent changes to Lower Egypt, it is likely that lower Egypt also had regional centres
which, if not actual states, were probably loose confederacies based at places like Buto, Sais and
Helwan. That the growth of town states like Abydos and Hierakonpolis saw the replacement of
Lower Egyptian styles by Upper Egyptian ones is undisputed, but how this took place, and what
in fact took place, are matters of some discussion: “For a Prehistorian, an interpretation of styles
points to trade relations, while the eclipsing of one style by another points to conquest. From
this perspective, the expansion of the Naqada culture can be read as a gradual conquest and
subjection of more and more extensive areas of the Nile valley until the whole of Upper Egypt
was under Naqadan control by 3900BCE” (Assman p.31).
At this time the Cairo area continued to be occupied, as did the Western and Eastern Deltas, but
the Faiyum Depression itself was not re-occupied: “With regard to the cultural relationships
between Upper and Lower Egypt at the earliest stages of social, economic and political
complexity in Egypt, it is evident that the Faiyum had little importance” (Wenke and Brewer
1992, p.182).
Possible causes of the Upper Egyptian advance into Lower Egypt could range from military
expansion due to competition for resources, to slow diffusion of individuals and families into
Lower Egypt to take advantage of the fertile land. Trigger describes the process as a slow
northward emigration of traders taking place over both Naqada II to III periods, due to the
desire of the southern Naqadan states to establish direct trade relations with South West Asia
(1993). Unfortunately there is very little archaeological evidence for any of these ideas, and
other evidence (for example, the decorated stone palettes) is often controversial. Kaiser believes
that there was a physical expansion of the southern states into the north, which took the form of
a process of assimilation and replacement, certainly involving political domination perhaps
supported by military action to lead towards unification – the formation of one country with a
capital city at Memphis.
Page 107
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Others have since described more complex processes involving economic and other relationships
between the north and south, leading to eventual mingling of the two areas.
Although it is possible that warfare formed part of the consolidation of states in the south and
that there was some military aspect in the replacement of the northern assemblages by southern
ones, but there are other explanations.
Hassan believes that villages and large settlements may have worked together on an interregional basis to share crops when conditions required it, and these loose confederations slowly
evolved into regional states (1992). Hassan looks at ecological factors when he suggests that the
need to pool resources in response to Nile fluctuations and the consequential impacts on the
economy would have led to the establishment of chiefs which in turn led to the need to reinforce
political position in a number of both active and symbolic ways. Perhaps this would account for
some of the signs of increased ritual activity in the Maadi-Buto complex in terms of separate
cemeteries with marked concern for the orientation of the dead and the presence of gravegoods
in burials.
It is worth bearing in mind that a number of authors, including Diane Holmes (1989), have
suggested that the north and south were not as isolated from each other as formerly believed,
and that regional variations in both Lower and Upper Egyptian assemblages show more regional
variation than the former evidence for homogeneity had formerly suggested, indicating that the
process of state formation leading to unification was by no means a simple set of dynamics,
because Upper Egypt was apparently not as unified in its own right as previously believed.
Holmes’s work also suggests that the region of Middle Egypt had a more distinctive lithic
assemblage than previously recognised and this might indicate a further complexity in the
movement of Naqadan traits to the north.
Kohler studied local domestic ceramics from Buto and on the basis of her studies of both Buto
and other sites both contemporary and predating the Maadi-Buto complex suggests that there is
no dramatic cultural change visible in the ceramic record: “If the material culture of domestic
contexts –which probably mirrors best a cultural, social or even ethnic identity – shows identical
traits, then the notion of Southern material replacing that of the North is unfounded” (Kohler
1995, p.84). She suggests that a population shift was visible in the abandonment of low desert
settlements and cemeteries and the corresponding occupation of “possible commercial centres”
which were nearer to the Nile (Kohler 1995, p.86) and that this, rather than hostile action, could
explain the abandonment of sites like Maadi.
Jan Assman (1996) suggests that increased specialisation in the production of ceramics in Upper
Egypt may have lead the Naqadan states to search for new customers for their wares – and that
with Lower Egypt’s links to the Levant and beyond, the Lower Egyptian settlements would have
provided perfect trading centres: “The archaeological evidence might indicate not so much an
ongoing process of migration and conquest as a constantly growing sales market for pottery and
other cultural commodities for the Naqada region – that is, a Naqada economic network and
eventual monopoly” (p.31). This agrees with Perez-Lagarcha’s view (1995a, 1995b) that Maadi
was a trading centre, thriving on Upper Egypt’s need for prestige goods. However, he sees an
expansion of Upper Egyptian traders into Lower Egypt with the establishment of trading posts
further east in the Delta – the creation of which would have undermined the value and the
former advantage that Maadi had. He points to evidence of intensified contacts with Palestine
during Naqada III including
 Establishment of Eastern Delta sites
 Changes in clay composition in Palestinian pots in Egypt which would have handled acidic
contents like oil and wine
Page 108
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)





Andie Byrnes 2003
A marked increase of Palestinian products in Upper Egypt
W-Ware appearing across most of Egypt
Increase in settlements on the highlands of Canaan during EB1
Establishment of an Egyptian residence at En Bensor
Appearance of Palestinian seals in Egypt
Perez-Lagarcha believes that it was intensified trading requirements that forced a change in
Lower Egypt: “It was possible to replace Maadi with other settlements that were closer to
Palestine” at the same time he explains the survival of Buto in terms of its strategic value: “Buto,
for example, situated on the coast, could not be replaced” (1995b, p.49).
The entire subject of state formation is still very much up in the air and requires considerably
more work, certainly involving additional sites in the Delta. As Kohler says (1995, p.89) “There is
serious demand for new concepts and approaches to illuminate the complex interactions of social
groups and polities of Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egyptian culture including the
economic and ecological bases.”
4.2.4
Sites
In the Faiyum itself there are at least two sites which are known as “Predynastic”: FS3 and
E29G4. In the Cairo area the main sites dating to this period in Lower Egypt are el-Gerzeh, Tell
el-Fara’in, and Abusir el-Maleq. At the same time a number of sites, including Maadi, cease to be
occupied, and their material culture is lost from view.
E29G4 and FS3
Site E29G4 is a dense concentration of stone artefacts and ceramic sherds 700m west of E29G3
to the north of Lake Qarun in the Faiyum basin. A trench was excavated and surface collections
were made to determine the site’s date. The ceramics are of better quality than those at Kom W,
were sand-tempered rather than fibre-tempered and are thought by Wendorf and Schild (1976
p.213) to be possibly later than those of the Faiyum A represented at Kom W and K. Wendorf
and Schild (1976, p.215) suggest that the site may be “Predynastic” in date.
FS3 is located to the southwest of Lake Qarun in the Faiyum
depression. It was examined first by Caton-Thompson who
found artefacts which she said resembled Predynastic artefacts
from Hememieh. It was named FS3 (Faiyum Survey 3) by
Wenke et al (1988, 1989). It was excavated by both CatonThompson (see photograph, right, from Caton-Thompson 1934)
and later by Wenke, both of whom found artefacts but no
structures or indications of structures (e.g. postholes). Two
dates were obtained, which give an average of 5133+/-130BP.
Wenke agrees with Caton-Thompson that lithics correspond to
predynastic assemblage elsewhere, including fish-tails, twisted
blades and oval scrapers. They are very distinct from Faiyum
Neolithic lithic tools. Pottery corresponds to predynastic types in
Petrie’s pottery Seriation, where it can be categorised (much of
it was too badly eroded to be of use in determining which other
types they resemble). There were insufficient plant remains to
Page 109
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
determine plant usage, but faunal remains indicate exploitation of wild game including gazelle or
goad, hartebeest and lake-fish (mostly Clarias, suggesting a late spring/early summer and
summer/fall occupation), and the difference between FS3 and Neolithic and Qarunian faunal
assemblages is notably different, as the following graph shows:
FS3 vs Other Faiyum ian Faunal Rem ains
400
350
300
Species
250
FS3
200
Neolithic
Qarunian
150
100
50
Ba
rb
u
C Ba s
hr g
ys ru
ic s
Sy hth
no ys
do
nt
is
La
te
s
Ti
Te l ap
tra ia
od
on
Tu
rtl
Le e
p
C us
an
id
a
Vu e
lp
es
Fe
G li s
a
Al z
ce el l
la a
O phu
vi
ca s
pr
id
s
Bo
s
0
Num ber
From data shown in Wenke and Brewer 1992
El-Gerzeh
El-Gerzeh is probably the best-known site in the Eastern Faiyum
region, located 5km to the north of the Meidum pyramid. A
cemetery site, el-Gerzeh dates to the second half of the Naqada
II period, the first phase when Upper Egyptian cultural elements
began to make a significant appearance in Upper Egypt. As
Midant-Reynes says, the site “immediately signals the fact that
this second phase of the Naqada culture was essentially a phase
of geographical expansion (Midant-Reynes 1992/2000 p.187).
Petrie’s name for Naqada II was the
Gerzean, a term which is still very
commonly in use, and is applicable to a great many Upper Egyptian sites.
El-Gerzeh was a small cemetery in Predynastic terms, with 288 burials of
which 198 were adults and 51 were children or very young infants. 249 of
the graves were in tact. It was characterized by Naqada II artefacts
including pottery (wavy handled and decorated), beads, stone vessels,
zoomorphic slate palettes and flint knives (Bard 1987). Eight of the graves
contained animal remains. Only a few of the sites were plundered, which means that a very
good record of complete graves exists.
Page 110
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Abusir el-Maleq
Abusir el-Maleq is located outside the mouth to the Faiyum, 10km west of the Nile. It was
excavated in 1902-6 by Georg Moller and was published by Alexander Schraff. The excavation
publication lacked a site map and there as no attempt to categorise the pottery in terms of
Petrie’s Sequence Dates.
The site has produced several Predynastic burials dating from Naqada II (IIcd) to IIIb, and early
First Dynasty (Scharff 1926). The cemetery was quite large, consisting of over 900 graves,
around 815 of which were predynastic. The simplest of the graves were oval pits, most of which
appear to be moderately affluent. There were a few rich rectangular graves as well, lined with
mudbrick, which contracted bodies lying in coffins of pottery or wood, some of which were
divided into chambers containing gravegoods and animal bones. Animal bones include ribs,
skulls, leg bones, and pelvic bones, nearly all of cows, appear in 53 graves and were probably
deposited in the form of food for the dead. In one grave, 1078, the skull of a goat and several
ceramic vessels accompanied the burial.
Pottery from the site was of an Upper Egyptian variety but lacked the black-topped red vessels
and had an unusually high percentage of black-polished ware more typical of Lower Egypt. Other
vessels were made of stone, bone, ivory and some of the earliest copper known. Other artefacts
include flint tools, pear-shaped mace heads, cosmetic palettes, bone pins, figurines (both
zoomorphic and anthropomorphic) and combs.
Tell el-Fara’in (Buto)
Tell el-Fara’in (Buto) still retains its identity in Naqada II (but eventually loses it in Naqada III
when its Maadian components are replaced). There is no evidence from the site that this process
was one of military confrontation – the seven layers from predynastic to early dynastic times
seem to show a fairly smooth transition from one form of material culture to another
These sites and others confirm the replacement of the Maadian by Naqadan culture, industry and
economy, prior to the processes that formed Egypt into a single state: “It is a known fact that
the rise of the Predynastic Naqada Culture in Upper Egypt and its northward expansion eventually
led to the ousting of the Lower Egyptian Maadi culture. Cemeteries like Abusir el-Meleq and
Minshat Abu Omar show how ‘pure’ and unaffected by local traditions this culture remained on its
march towards the Delta . . . This does not necessarily mean that the very conception of life after
death had changed, but it rather reflects a more detailed social stratification of the society – the
conditio sine qua non for the development of the Pharaonic kingdom in Egypt” (Seeher 1992,
p.231-2).
Harageh
Two small predynastic cemeteries were found at Harageh, cemeteries G and H, dating to Naqada
IIc-d1. Engelbach described 30 graves in cemetery G, one of which possibly had a dog buried
with it.
Page 111
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
4.2.5
Andie Byrnes 2003
Overseas Contacts
Increasingly complex trade relations date to this time: “We know that the Naqada IIc period
coincides with the disappearance of the Maadi culture in most of Lower Egypt, the establishment
of Naqada II sites in the eastern Delta, an increase in Upper Egyptian influence in the northern
Sinai, and a corresponding increase of influence at Ain Besor, Tel Erani, and Azor in Palestine.
This Upper Egyptian expansion into Palestine is believed to have been the result of increasing
trade between Lower Egypt and Palestine and possibly a need for copper in Egypt” (Mark 1997,
p.126).
Wenke sees the role of Lower Egypt as one of the factors influencing change throughout Egypt:
“One must consider the possibility that by about 3000BC the importance of Egypt’s contacts with
Southwest Asia was a major factor in reshaping the demographic pattern of Egypt and its socioeconomic fabric. Syro-Palestinian artefacts are in evidence at most Early Dynastic Delta sites,
and it is interesting in this context that both Hierakonpolis and Nagada shrank in size in this
period – although Kemp suggest that this “marks a fundamental change in the nature of
settlement, bound up with the appearance of true urbanisms in Egypt: the shift from low density
settlements to walled brick-built towns of far higher population density’ (1989, pp.38-39)”
(Wenke 1991, p.306).
Further study of the Upper Egyptian sites to this time should provide greater insight into the
process by which Upper and Lower Egypt began to display the same cultural traits, and by which
the state of Egypt evolved and formed. It is important not only to an understanding of how
Egypt itself developed as a Pharaonic nation, but as an insight into the process of state formation
globally.
4.3
Naqada III: State Formation, Dynasty 0 and Unification
4.3.1
Overview
Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqadan period, formerly called the Semainean, and viewed
by earlier writers (including Petrie, Derry and more recently by David Rohl) as the result of
invasion from the east. However, it is now usually considered to be an indigenous evolution from
earlier periods, the result of social and possibly economic changes and innovation: “The last
phase of the Naqada period was characterized by deep-seated social changes. Although
ecological modifications were probably not the causes of these changes, they may well have been
associated with the first emergence of social change”. It is the period that comes into all
discussions regarding state formation.
Naqada III is the period during which the process of state formation, which had begun to take
place in Naqada II, became highly visible, with named kings heading powerful polities. Naqada
III is often referred to as ‘Dynasty 0’ to reflect the presence of kings at the head of influential
states, although in fact the kings involved would not have been a part of a dynasty – they would
more probably have been completely unrelated and very possibly in competition with each other.
Kings names are inscribed in the form of serekhs on a variety of surfaces including pottery and
tombs. Wilkinson (1999) lists these early Kings as the un-named owner of Abydos tomb B1/2
(who some interpret as Iry-Hor) King A, King B, Scorpion and/or Crocodile, and Ka. Others favour
a slightly different listing.
Key characteristics of Naqada III include:
Page 112
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)















Andie Byrnes 2003
Changes in the toolkit
Appearance of rich tombs
Increasing size of a small number of important tombs
Increasing social differentiation visible in cemeteries
Use of Serekhs to identify kings
Establishment of a royal cemetery at Abydos
Extension of power base further into Nubia
Increasing craft specialisation
Decrease in production of decorated pottery
Increased use of copper
Beginning of seal-making
Appearance of palace-façade architecture associated with large mastaba tombs
Increase in use of faience
Increase in trade relations
Use of exotic goods from overseas
o Carved ivory knife handles
o Mesopotamian motifs on palettes
o Palestinian pottery
In Upper Egypt the main sites for this period are Hierakonpolis, Elkab and Abydos (Thinis).
Naqada was probably still an important town at this time, but it was no longer as important as
the above sites, although it may well have been in competition with them for resources.
Although the Upper Egyptian sites of Hierakonpolis, Elkab, Abydos and Naqada are the most
obvious candidates for the status of polity at this time, they were almost certainly not the only
ones: “we can suspect that there were others either already in existence (e.g. one based at
Thinis) or still at an even earlier stage of formation (perhaps at Maadi and Buto in the Delta,
Abadiya in Upper Egypt and Qustul in Lower Nubia). The internal warfare pursued most
vigorously from the south terminated this polycentral period of political growth” (Kemp 1989,
p.52). Hassan (1992) suggests that the provincial states could have corresponded “to the
territorial extent of the historic nomes during the terminal Predynastic (so-called Dynasty 0 or
Naqada III)” (p.310).
4.3.2
Sites
In Lower Egypt the Naqada III phase is represented by a number of sites. The last Maadi-Buto
phase at Tell Fara’in (Buto) mixes with Naqada IId and Naqada III elements. Midant-Reynes
describes it as “an extremely important time of transition, eventually merging with the
homogenized culture of the Protodynastic period” (1992/2000 p.220). This site was the only one
in the Western Delta known to have maintained its own personality on meeting the Naqadan
culture. All other sites in the Delta ceased to display the components typical of Maadian material
culture. The most important Lower Egyptian sites are Tarkhan, Tell el-Fara’in, Helwan, Abu
Rawash, Tura, Memphis and Saqqara.
Abusir el-Maleq’s Naqada III phase evolved from the previous Naqada II already mentioned
above.
Tura was almost certainly a small settlement, which is now represented only by the Tura
cemetery. Tura is located on the east bank of the Nile, 9km south of Cairo, 2km from the
predynastic settlement and cemetery of Maadi and 1km from Wadi Digla. The Nile is 500m away
but this may have changed. In the more recent past it was bisected by a canal. It was
excavated by Junker (1909-10 season) and Petrie (1912). No Naqada II pottery was found at
Tura.
Page 113
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Tarkhan, on the west bank of the Nile (2km away), 60km south of Cairo and north of Abusir elMaleq and el-Gerzeh (south of Helwan), dates to Naqada III and consists
of large cemetery sites in two main areas – the hill sites and the valley
sites. Petrie excavated at Tarkhan between 1911 and 1923. The site
appears to have been established for the first time shortly before the First
Dynasty, and the settlement remains are consistent with that date,
together with large mastaba tombs, one with a palace façade, in which
inscriptions of the first First Dynasty king Narmer were found. There was
probably an important settlement located nearby, although this has not
been located. Ellis (1992, quoted in Hassan 1992) used statistical methods
to determine social differences between men, women and children.
Energy expended used burials as a value of social importance
and the results suggested that female graves were the richest
in terms of gravegoods deposited and that male graves were
largest in size and that the size differentiation between male
graves was significant. His studies also suggested the presence
of a specific section of society at the west end of the valley
cemetery, characterised by specific identifiably different
assemblages which included stone vessels, ivory
pins,
rectangular slate palettes and beads.
Wilkinson (1996)
suggests that the construction of three large mastabas in a new
location to the south of the main elite cemeteries “seem to mark the imposition of national
authority, replacing the lower power structure, early in the First Dynasty” (1986, p.89). No
Naqada II pottery was found at Tarkhan.
Helwan is the biggest Early Dynastic cemetery and the site consists of several thousand graves
20km south of Cairo, near to the mouth of the Faiyum (29°51' N 31°22' E). The cemetery was
started in the Late Predynastic and was used into the early Old Kingdom Periods. Most of these
graves date to the Early Dynastic Period (around 3000 BC). A total of 10258 tombs were
excavated. The site was excavated by Zaki Youssef Saad over ten seasons from 1942 to 1954,
and was initially sponsored by King Faruk. Dr Christiana Köhler (The Australian Centre for
Egyptology) has been excavating at Helwan in recent years. Most of the graves had been
plundered, so the burials were far from intact, but in most graves were the dead were usually
placed in a contracted position, the orientation generally North-South.
Memphis was founded as the Egyptian administrative centre, and “represents the culmination of
the unification process” (Wilkinson 1999, 2001 p.58). North Saqqara was its principal cemetery,
where high officials were buried, and Helwan may have acted as a secondary burial site for
Memphis.
In Qasr el-Sagha the sites VIIG/80 and VIIIG/80, described briefly by Kozlowski (1983) may
date to this period or to the Protodynastic period.
4.4
Unification
The end of Naqada III is supposed to mark the unification of Egypt – a time when Upper and
Lower Egypt became one unified country, at around 3100-2800BC (Hassan 1992), or “at some
point between the lifeline of the owner of Tomb U-j at Abydos and the beginning of the reign of
Narmer” (Wilkinson 1996, p.13). However, it is by no means clear that there was a single
unifying event, as implied by some writers, and it is possible that there was instead a process of
Page 114
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
change, beginning much earlier than the so-called unification. Academics disagree about this
process of unification, as to whether it was sudden or slow, violent or peaceful or a mixture of
both violent and peaceful elements. The military argument based partly on information implied
in the Palette of Narmer and the Libyan Palette and articulated in much later texts.
Others
believe that these are merely symbolic interpretations developed for political purposes by kings
who ruled long after the unification which could have occurred a considerable period of time
before the palettes were inscribed. Archaeological evidence suggests that contact between
Upper and Lower Egypt had proceeded long before actual unification, in a process of state
formation described earlier.
Kohler (1995) suggests that one of the principal problems in all discussions regarding state
formation is one of terminology and the use of certain phrases: “we use words like ‘king’,
‘territorial kingship’, ‘conquest’, and ‘war’ without being conscious and aware of their implicit
socio-political and demographic meanings (1995, p.86).
Kohler (1995) questions why, if the unification was achieved by military action, militarism and
weaponry did not form part of the contemporary symbolic representation and grave goods.
Similarly, so far there has been no sign of military activity in the archaeological record.
In a discussion about the development of Serekhs and the relevance of this to the subject of
state formation, Jimenez-Serrano (2003) has determined that serekhs from Naqada III appear in
Upper Egypt, Nubia and Lower Egypt but that there is considerable regional differentiation
between them suggesting that these can be interpreted as “diverse political entities” (p.243).
On the basis of archaeological evidence Wildung (1984) describes a continuity of occupation and
culture at Minshat Abu Omar as evidence that no military conflict took place, although this view is
not undisputed. Wildung believes, on the basis of work carried out at Minshat Abu Omar and Tell
es-Sabaa Banat, that there was “never a real ‘unification’ in the sense of the final subjugation for
the Delta and its neighbouring areas under the dominance of the king of Upper Egypt – as it is
represented, for example, on the Narmer Palette. We should be much more prepared to accept
the idea of a continuous cultural evolution of Egypt, which included the Delta as early as 3300BC.
The rise of the Egyptian state occurred at least from Naqada III as a broad-range evolution in the
whole area of the later Kingdom and it seems to have been carried out harmoniously, without
any major conflicts” (Wildung 1984, p.269). Pottery spans a large period of time from Naqada II,
through Naqada III, Dynasty 0 and First Dynasty “which proves the continuous use of the
cemetery – and uninterrupted occupation of the settlement belonging to it.” (Wildung 1984,
p.267). “The representations of the ‘victory’ of the Upper Egyptian king over his ‘enemies’, for
example on the Narmer Palette, are the heraldic fixation of the situation reached in ca. 3200BC,
not a historical report of an authentic conquest of foreign “enemies” or internal “rebels” (Wildung
1984,p.269). Similarly, Van den Brink (1989) points to a lack of destruction layers in Delta sites
like Tell Fara’in and others. “Possibly there was a more or less peaceful movement or
migration(s) of Nagada culture peoples from south to north that may have been formalised by a
later, or concurrent, military presence” (Bard 1994).
Seeher, in a consideration of the nature of complex socio-economic systems comments that
“Archaeological evidence suggests a system much too complex for the southern expansion to be
explained by military conquest alone, and the northern culture may have made important
contributions to the unified polity which emerged” (Seeher 1991, p.318). Hassan suggests that
unification was actually “the culmination of the process of interregional integration through
alliances and warfare that must have proceeded intermittently for at least 250 years or 10-12
generations” (Hassan 1988, p.175).
Page 115
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Memphis acquired particular importance during this period. Hassan believes that at around
3300BC environmental conditions would have contributed to this: “A dramatic reduction in Nile
flood discharge served as a catalyst promoting the fusions of two major political units in Upper
Egypt, Hierakonpolis and Nagada. Further expansion northward to control the rich granaries of
Lower Egypt and the trade routes to the Near East lead to the graduation of power from south to
north via Abydos to Memphis.” (Hassan 1988, p.165-166).
Royal affiliations were visible in both the north and south. While Memphis became the centre of
government, royal burials still took place in the south at Abydos: “Emery’s (1961) excavations of
Early Dynastic tombs at North Saqqara, for example, revealed the lavish wealth of some
segments of Lower Egyptian society, but the actual tombs of the First Dynasty rulers and of some
of their successors appear to be at Abydos, in the area known as Umm el-Qa’ab” (Wenke 1991,
p.303). The rise of Memphis is significant: “The Memphite area seems to have played a
particularly important part in the process of state formation in Egypt. To judge from excavated
sites, the area was a heartland of the Lower Egyptian or Maadi ceramic tradition . . . . The
greater Memphite area must have seen the first changes to this indigenous tradition caused by
the northward expansion of the more advanced technologies from Upper Egypt” (Wilkinson 1996,
p.31). Memphis was strategically located in an ideal place to impose administrative control over
the united country: “With political and economic power, both regional and national, now
concentrated in a single centre, the foundation and growth of Memphis must have had a
considerable effect upon the demography of the surrounding area, as well as the socio-economic
and political conditions in nearby communities” (Wilkinson 1996, p.31).
The location of Memphis not far from Wadi Digla may also have been strategic: “Wadi Digla may
have served as a trade route between the Memphite region and the Near East, to judge from the
unusual concentration of artefacts found” (Wilkinson 1996, p.89), perhaps building upon the
existing relationships established by Maadi.
Hassan (1992) believes that prehistoric rituals and belief had been focused on a goddess cult
throughout Egypt, associated with vegetation, birth, death, and resurrection, and that the effect
of rising elites and unification was to change the religion until a concept of divine kingship and
the associated pantheon of gods emerged. Hassan suggests that the king provided a focus for
anxieties as a stable channel through which the Gods could communicate and with whom a
dialogue could be established. He was the apex between people and gods and the symbol for an
eternal order.
There is no ancient Egyptian myth of the origin of a unified state which is purely political or
historical. The only myths associated with the development of state are religious ones, the main
one being the story of Horus and Seth and their territorial dispute, resolved by Geb. This tells of
a legal dispute which results in the reorganization of the Egyptian state which is at first allocated
in two parts to each of them and is then allocated as a single territory under Horus (Assman
1996, p.39).
There is considerable scope, particularly as additional information comes to light, for further
discussions on the subject of state formation and unification with a view to developing models an
concepts, and which explain how different factors work together to create change. As Hassan
(1988) states, unequivocally, “Models of the political evolution of Predynastic Egypt and state
formation are still largely exploratory” (p.164). It is also an opportunity for clarifying some of the
issues that lie between pure archaeology and traditional Egyptology in terms of refining
methodologies and practises when looking at periods that over lap between pre-historical, protohistorical and fully historical periods.
Page 116
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
It is quite likely that the process will never be perfectly understood: “The actual process by
which the Thinite rulers ultimately gained control over the whole country is unknown and is likely
to remains so. The possibility of military action should not be ruled out” (Wilkinson 1996, p.8).
The First Dynasty was presided over by one king, whose territory included Lower and Upper
Egypt, and “the foundation of Memphis as the national administrative centre really represents the
culmination of the unification process” (Wilkinson 1999, p.58). There were eight First Dynasty
kings, (partly identified from a cache of stone vessels inscribed with serekhs) the first of whom it
is now generally agreed, was Narmer, in spite of the fact that both the Abydos king list and
Manetho list the first king as Menes. Prior to Narmer “it is likely that many of Nermer’s
predecessors were no more than regional ruler” (Wilkinson 1996, p.11). He was followed by HorAha, Djer, Djet, Queen Merneith, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet (not a certain identification) and Qaa.
“With the First Dynasty the focus of development shifted from south to north, and the early
Egyptian state was a centrally controlled polity ruled by a (god-) king from the Memphis regions
(Bard 2000, p.62). No settlement site has yet been found at Memphis, but cemetery sites are
very much in evidence. Abydos was the most important town in the south, and the First Dynasty
kings were buried here while high status officials were buried at Memphis, north Saqqara and
Helwan.
4.5
Middle and Late Predynastic and Protodynastic: Conclusions
The Maadian sites of Upper Egypt began to become invisible in the archaeological record as the
Upper Egyptian material culture began to replace it, with the establishment of sites like el Gerzeh
in the western Faiyum in the Naqada II period. In Tell el Fara’in this is seen as a continuous, not
an interrupted process.
The reason for this expansion north is poorly understood, but could have been for any number of
reasons and is probably a combination of several, including both ecological and political
pressures.
The expansion coincided with the visible emergence of individually powerful individuals
associated with early “states” in Naqada III, and culminated with the disappearance of all
Maadian traits and a process of homogenization (a process still poorly understood).
Eventually this small-state country, which was considerably more defined and advanced in Upper
Egypt, appears to have been consolidated into three main areas: Nubia, Upper Egypt and Lower
Egypt, each with its own internal divisions (Jimenez-Serrano 2003). This process of state
development and advance upon or cultural diffusion from Upper Egypt to Lower Egypt was
followed at some point by an actual unification event, or a unification process, after which a
clearly defined ‘royalty’ is identified in Memphis, Saqqara and Abydos.
However it happened, the development of states, their absorption of Lower Egypt and the
unification of Egypt were likely to be caused over a long period of time: “The unification was not
a single event; rather, it should be understood as a long process of integration which had
conflicts and numerous centrifugal movements, whose cases would have diverse origins: pest
infections, invasions, debility of the central government and so on” (Jimenez-Serrano 2003,
p.245). I will leave the last word on the subject with Christiana Kohler who says that the
transition between Predynastic and Dynastic “has been the subject of at least 20 theories and
even more archaeological, art historical and culture historical studies and we still don’t have a
clue!” (Kohler 1995, p.79).
Page 117
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
There are aspects of Predynastic Egypt which have not yet emerged in the archaeological record.
For example, Jimenez-Serrano (2002) suggests that festivals, in particular the sed festival, has its
origins in the predynastic period although the first depictions date to the First Dynasty. He
believes that the festival had an ultimately African origin “because many similar ceremonies were,
and are, performed in African societies” (2003, p.77). It was first attested at the time of Narmer
and is then attested in nearly every First Dynasty reign, and was celebrated in Late Predynastic
and Early Dynastic periods at Hierakonpolis, Abydos and Saqqara. The absence of evidence of
this and other festivals is no indication that they were not carried out – and, in fact, it is unlikely
that they would have sprung up, fully evolved, in the First Dynasty. It is worth remembering that
a lot of information about social activities and behaviour are either lost or yet to be discovered.
The First Dynasty marks this time when the Nile valley and Delta were under the control of a
single leadership, headed by a king. The royal presence was divided between north and south
with Memphis becoming the nation’s administrative centre, with its neighbouring cemeteries at
Helwan and Saqqara being used for burial by senior officials, and Abydos being used as the royal
burial ground.
By the Old Kingdom, there were around a million people living in Egypt (Grajetski 2003, p.viii),
and the developing character of Ancient Egypt was firmly established.
Although this is a lightning summary of the situation (because it is out of the scope of this
paper), this period of replacement of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt, state formation, and
unification, the processes that underlie them, and the role played by Nubia, the Western Desert,
the Eastern Delta and the Near East are truly fascinating and require considerably more interdisciplinary research and evaluation in the light of new and hopefully upcoming discoveries in the
Eastern Delta, Western Desert projects and new Faiyum archaeological surveys.
Page 118
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
PART 3:
Geology and Geomorphology
Page 119
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
1.0
Andie Byrnes 2003
Approach and Objectives
This part of the paper offers an account of the geology and geomorphology of the Faiyum, in the
context of Egypt west of the Nile. It is intended to provide an easily accessible background to
the prehistory of the Faiyum. It does not attempt to meet the standards of precision required by
the professional geologist.
In the Faiyum, the relationship between archaeology and geology has been so close that it is
barely possible to understand the one without the other. This part of the paper, therefore, sets
out the geological contexts common to the sites and excavation reports discussed in Part II. It
reflects the view that it is only possible to understand the geology of the Faiyum in the context of
the geology of Egypt as a whole.
At the cost of some repetition, individual sections have been made relatively self-contained. It is
possible to pass over Egypt and go straight to the Faiyum, but this is not the best route to take.
The account is heavily dependent on the work of Said, Hassan and Issawi. The most
comprehensive text, Said 1990, is not easy, though much of the material is excellently simplified
and beautifully illustrated in Sampsell 2002. Hassan 1986, Said 1993, and Issawi et al 2001 are
all accessible and rewarding.
2.0
The Making of Egypt
It is not obvious that there should be any such thing as a “Geology of Egypt.” Egypt is a state, a
social construct. Political boundaries can be drawn anywhere. What they enclose may bear little
relation to physical realities.
In fact, Egypt not only has a coherent geology, but one which is coherently related to human
occupation. First, throughout the historic period, the Nile, the desert and the Red Sea mountains
have defined a territory, and constrained human activities. Second, a small set of physical
parameters have worked together to produce the landscapes of Egypt, now and over geological
time. The detail is incredibly complex, but the outline is surprisingly clear.
We approach the geology and geomorphology of the Faiyum by sketching out the processes
which have shaped Egypt as a whole.
2.1
Tectonics, Transgressions and Deflation
The geological history of Egypt is a drama played out by a few geological agents, on a moving
platform. The platform is the African Tectonic Plate. The main actors are:


A series of marine transgressions and recessions, as the sea flowed in and out, leaving
sediments to a great depth
The active edges of the plate, throwing up the Red Sea Mountains in the east, and tilting
the Plate from the Gilf Kebir plateau in the south.
Page 120
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)


Andie Byrnes 2003
The river systems, eroding the sediments laid down in the marine transgressions, and
transmitting the effects of the movements of the plate across the whole land.
The Nile and its precursors are part of the river systems, but play a unique
geomorphological role critical in human occupation. They transmit the tectonics of
Ethiopia and the Equatorial Highlands into Egypt.
The remainder of this Section introduces the key components one by one. It then sketches out
the plot.
2.2
The African Tectonic Plate
The Plate is the stage on which the geological history of Egypt and the Faiyum has been played
out. Under the Faiyum and Western Desert it is immensely stable, but it has active edges in the
east, along the Red Sea, and in the South at Gebel Uwaynat and Gilf Kebir. The active margins
of the plate have been the engines driving the geomorphology of Egypt.
Egypt is situated on the north east portion of the African Plate. In Egypt the “basement level” of
the Plate, below which no sediments occur, is buried deeply below marine sediments, the results
of successive transgressions, at paces 9km deep (Hantar 1990). In the north of the Western
Desert these deep sediments are covered by a thin layer of marine, fluvio marine, or aeolian
deposits. They give little indication of the plateau’s long, complex geological history, but have
been central to the formation of the Faiyum, and its history of human occupations. To the north
of the Plate is a continental shelf 15 to 50 km wide, bounded by a tectonically active fault line.
Under the Western Desert, the Plate has not been subject to the rigorous mountain building and
folding found to the north in Europe. It has not experienced the tectonic upheavals which have
produced the Great Rift Valley and the Equatorial Lakes. The movement at the margins has
produced many smaller faults, mainly in a band running westwards between the coast and Beni
Suef (Hantar 1990). They result in minor seismic activity, like the earthquake which severely
damaged the pyramids of Abusir, in 1914. They are the origin of the sill which caps Gebel
Qatrani in the Faiyum. But “there are few lines of major faults and the few folds noted are minor
rolls with gentle dips and large amplitude” (Hantar 1990).
The African Plate as a whole is shaped into a number of basins with rims or rolls at their edges.
North of the equator, they include Chad and the Sudan and, to the south, the Congo. Each
forms a major drainage system (Said 1993) with its own river systems.
Map 3, below, illustrates schematically the tectonics of Egypt, the Plate, the active edges and the
basin rims.
Page 121
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Map 3:
Sketch Map of Egyptian Tectonics
Stable Northern Desert Plate
Active Plate Margins and Rifts
Basin Boundaries (after Said 1992)
Uplifted Highlands
Shorelines and Streams
Egyptian Border
The Nile appears as an obvious anomaly, draining the Sudan basin, the Ethiopian Highlands and
the Equatorial Lakes, across the basin rim. The human occupation of Egypt is the gift of a
geological anomaly.
See map 3 above, and map 5 later in the text
2.3
The Marine Transgressions
The sea has flowed across the Plate from the beginning of the Palaeozoic, leaving sediments
kilometres deep. It has then receded and erosion has set in. The sea then returns. Each
transgression, and the erosions which followed, are described in the section on the Western
Desert. Here it is necessary only to observe the sea advancing and retreating, building up the
geological map of Egypt.
There were three transgressions, one minor one, and one local advance.



The Palaeozoic (590 mya to 248 mya)
A planetary event, in which the sea advanced and retreated many times. It is now
buried under later sediments, except in Gilf Kebir
The Cretaceous (144 mya to 65 mya)
Another world event, with many advances and retreats. Its sediments are exposed on
40% of Egypt’s surface
The Eocene (55 mya to 38 mya)
A minor event on a world scale, but reaching to Aswan in Egypt, and forming the bedrock
of the Faiyum
Page 122
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)


Andie Byrnes 2003
The Miocene (24.6 mya to 5.1 mya)
An even more minor event, but its sediments form the present surface of the Western
Desert, north of the Faiyum
The Pliocene (5.1 mya to 2 mya)
A very local affair, occurring when the Mediterranean’s lost connection with the Atlantic
was restored. The sediments have been almost entirely eroded from the Faiyum but
cover the eastern flanks of the ridge dividing the Faiyum from the Nile Valley.
In addition to this sequence of marine sediment, much of northern Egypt is covered with
Oligocene fluvial deposits left by rivers draining the newly rising Red Sea Mountains.
See Map 4, below:
Map 4:
Western Desert. Schematic Geology
and Geomorphology
Depression Escarpments
Dotted lines mark the boundaries of
Said’s Geomporhpoligical zones:
Z1 – Northern
Z2 – Middle
Z3 – Southern
Sampsell’s Simplified Groupings of
Sediments (2003)
Pliocene to Holocene
Miocene Limestone
Oligocene Conglomerate
Eocene Limestone and Shales
Palaeocene shale over Cretaceous
Chalk
Cretaceous (Nubian) Sandstone
Carboniferous Basement
Shores and Streams
Page 123
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.4
Andie Byrnes 2003
Deflation, Deposition and Landforms
When the sea withdraws, wind and water begin to remove the sediments, returning them to the
sea, or redistributing them across the land. In the process, they create the landforms and the
topography which we find in place today. The period of erosion which most concerns the Faiyum
and the topography of modern Egypt is the stripping of the limestone of the Eocene
transgression and the erosion of the Red Sea Mountains. Both processes took place from the end
of the Eocene, throughout the Oligocene, and into the Pliocene. It is described in some detail
below, in the history of the Western Desert, the Nile and the Faiyum. In outline, it is simple:





The African Plate tilts northwards from the region of Gebel Kebir, at the end of te
Eocene. Rivers start to flow northwards
The Plate tips westwards in the early Oligocene, as the Red Sea Mountains rise. River
systems entrench themselves, cutting valleys with high escarpments
Rivers draining and eroding the Red Sea Mountains deposit sand and gravel, in their
deltas in northern Egypt in huge quantities
The Mediterranean loses its Atlantic connection due to the northern movement of the
African Plate, and empties. Rivers cut deep canyons down towards its base. The Nile
precursor called the “Eonile” captures the headwaters of the south flowing “Quena”.
The sea returns in the minor Pliocene transgression. The canyons fill with sediment.
At this point in geological time, the rivers have stripped the Eocene limestone off much of south
and central Egypt, expulsing older sediments, in bands which run roughly east to west, with the
oldest exposed sediments in the south. Large areas of the north are covered with river gravels
transported from the Red Sea Mountains. The geological and topographical maps of Egypt are
almost in place.
See map 6, below:
Page 124
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.5
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Many Early Niles
The Nile, in its present form, does not come on stage until the Holocene, about 10,000 years
ago, but it has had many precursors. They are described in the section on “The Making of the
Nile.”
The history of the making of the Nile at first follows the growth and evolution of the river systems
which we have just described, the Eonile carving a deep canyon when the Mediterranean dries up
and capturing the headwaters of the south-flowing Quena. With the Atlantic connection
established, the canyon fills with sediment. The succeeding “Palaeonile” dries up, in desert
conditions.
The second part of the story beings during the Pleistocene, when the “Prenile” and “Neonile”
make African connections. The modern Nile is established when the connection becomes
permanent, in a period of high rainfall, towards the end of the Pleistocene. Then, the Nile has to
cut through the Nubian Massif and established a permanent route across the Sudan. The
Equatorial lakes cut channels to each other. A perennial river, fed all year from the Equatorial
lakes, and in summer from the Ethiopian monsoon, begins to flow.
This outline geological history of Egypt is filled out in the following sections. The marine
transgressions, the tilting plate, the river systems and the Nile appear at every stage. They come
together in the making of the Faiyum.
See Map 5, below:
Page 125
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.0
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Making of the Western Desert
The Faiyum is a part pf the Western Desert, but a very distinctive part. It has been shaped by
the processes which shaped the Desert and the other great depressions. However, from its
inception it has been influenced from the north and east – from the north by the Mediterranean,
from the east by the Red Sea Mountains, and by the precursors to the Nile.
3.1
Laying the Foundations
The deep sediments which overlaid the Basement Complex were laid down in four marine
transgressions, flowing from north to south.
The Palaeozoic Transgression laid down sediment kilometres deep. The sea flowed in and
out many times, each advance marking on of the major Periods of the Palaeozoic Era. The only
period visible today is the Carboniferous, exposed by the erosion of the Gilf Kebir Plateau in the
far south west of the country.
The Cretaceous Transgression overlaid the Palaeozoic Transgression, it was a planetary
event. The Tethys Sea covered Egypt, depositing muds and sands on its advance, laying down
deep layers of limestone once the land was covered. About 40% of the present land surface of
Egypt is covered by exposed Cretaceous sediment. To the north of Esna it is mainly limestone
and, to the south, mainly sandstone.
The Eocene Transgression was not a major event on a world scale, but, in Egypt, it reached
to Aswan. Once again, the sea advanced and retreated many times, covering the Cretaceous
with shales and limestones. Eocene limestone is the bedrock out of which the Faiyum and the
other desert depressions is carved. The Oligocene, which followed, did not see a marine
transgression, but rivers draining the north of the Red Sea Mountains left huge swathes of sand,
conglomerate and pebbles in the latitude of the Faiyum.
The Miocene Transgression was a minor affair on a word scale, but it reached to about 60km
south of Cairo, and its sediments make up the surface of the desert to the north of the Faiyum.
3.2
Stripping the Foundations
The fact that the Cretaceous sediments are exposed across 40% of Egypt’s surface means that
strata laid down in the Eocene have been stripped off to expose them. If the stripping had been
uniform, by a set of rivers flowing northwards towards the Mediterranean, Map 4 would be a set
of somewhat wavy bands going from east to west, with the oldest sediments exposed in the
south. To the east of Farafra, the strata more or less follow the script. But Map 4 shows the
Cretaceous band narrowing to a point at Kharga and, to the west of Kharga, both the Eocene and
Cretaceous throw great lobes southwards.
Map 4 also shows that all the depressions are located at the boundaries of the Cretaceous and
Palaeocene, or the Eocene and the Miocene. And, to the northwest of the Faiyum, there is an
extensive area of Oligocene sediments which have no place in the history of marine
transgressions.
To explain why these things should be, we need to follow the erosion of the plateau surface, step
by step, from the end of the Eocene.
Page 126
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
3.3
Andie Byrnes 2003
New Knowledge, Radar Rivers and an Empty Sea
A widely accepted account of the erosion of the Western Desert, the Oligocene sediments, and
the formation of the depressions, was proposed by Issawi and McCauley in 1992. Issawi, Osman
and Meibed extend that account to provide a step by step narrative of the formation of the
Faiyum (Issawi et al 2001).
Barring a few questions on the Faiyum, we follow Issawi and McCauley. Even to the layman
theirs is a brilliant and comprehensive account.
Two recent discoveries are central to the theory:


The Radar rivers
Satellite photographs have revealed a set of rivers, now filled with debris, and invisible
on the ground, which flowed across the desert to the west and northwest.
The Desiccation of the Mediterranean
Drillings made by the International Deep Sea Drilling Project in 1972, in the bed of the
Mediterranean, show that it lost its connection with the Atlantic in the late Miocene and
dried up almost entirely.
Issawi and McCauley’s account begins towards the end of the Eocene. It then moves forward in
stages.
Geological Action
Description
Consequences
The African Plate
begins to rise
The Plate begins to rise in the
region of Uwaynat towards the end
of the Eocene, tipping the land
northwards. The sea retreats and
rivers begin to drain the plateau
towards the north.
This is the
beginning of Issawi and McCauley’s
“Gilf River” System.
Consequences: The first fluvial
deposits in the north of the
plateau
The Red Sea
Mountains begin to
rise
The Red Sea Mountains begins to
rise in the early Oligocene, tipping
the Plate from the east. The Gilf
river now acquires west flowing
tributaries, draining the plateau in
the west, and the rising Red Sea
Mountains in the southeast.
Consequences: The Gilf begins
stripping the Eocene limestone,
cutting a deep channel with a
high escarpment. In the South ,
the rivers cut below the Eocene
into the Paleocene. Its tributaries
start excavating Baharia and the
depressions the south
The Eocene
Limestone is
attacked by
carbonic acid during
heavy rainfall
The effect of the Carbonic acid
makes
the
limestone
more
susceptible to erosion by the rivers
Consequences: The
escarpments of the depressions
are similar to those of temperate
karst limestone regions,
reflecting collapse of rock walls
Page 127
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Rivers flowing to
the north and west
drain the north of
the Red Sea
Mountains
Issawi’s “Quena
River” rises
Rivers flowing to the northwest
drain the north of the Red Sea
Mountains. They include Issawi’s
Bown Kiaus River, which deposits a
delta across the Faiyum
The Quena River rises in the early
Miocene, draining the rapidly rising
south of the Red Sea Mountains in
a southward direction, stripping the
Eocene limestone in the southern
part of the Plateau.
The Mediterranean
empties
The Gilf river system, in the west,
has worn down its bed, widened its
basin, and become blocked. But
the streams flowing north from the
Red Sea Mountains, cut deep
canyons, which become wide gulfs,
many kilometers wide. Cutting
vigorously backwards from the
north, the Nile precursor called the
“Eonile” captures the headwaters of
the Quena river. The streams
draining the Faiyum cut down
through the Oligocene river
sediments into the Eocene
limestone bedrock
Andie Byrnes 2003
and solution caverns.
Consequences: The deposit of
deep fossiliferous Oligocene
sands and gravels which covered
the Faiyum and still cover the
plateau to its north and west
Consequences: It is now clear
why the bands on Map 4 do not
run in neat lines, east to west.
The narrowing of the Cretaceous
band south of Farafra marks the
course of the Gilf. The lobes of
Eocene and Cretaceous south of
Kharga and Qena mark the
courses of the Qena river and its
western tributary. This stage is
illustrated in Map 6 – based on
Issawi.
Consequences: The stripping
of the Eocene limestone is now
largely complete. The geological
map of modern Egypt is more or
less in place, though the
geological map of the Faiyum
has a long way to go. A Nile
precursor runs throughout Egypt,
south to north, though the Nile
has a career ahead of it more
complex than Faiyum itself
Issawi and McCauley illustrate this process with a set of excellent block diagrams. Their account
is accessible to the lay reader, but it is very clearly summarized in Sampsell, who reproduces the
block diagrams. Vivian provides a Western Desert cornucopia and indispensable when visiting
the Faiyum.
3.4
The Present Geomorphology of the Western Desert
The outcome of the marine transgressions and the Issawi and McCauley river systems, is the
modern Western Desert. Only 3% of the area of Egypt is agricultural land. There are small
mountainous areas in the south west and along the Eastern border but most of Egypt is desert
with the Western Desert occupying about two thirds of its surface area. The average rainfall for
Egypt as a whole is about 1cm per year. Even on the Mediterranean littoral it is less than 20cm.
There have been wet periods when active wadis and carbonic acid solution of the sediments have
played a major role, but the current geomorphology of the Western Desert is dominated by the
effects of wind and sun. Said (1990) divides the Western Desert into the three geomorphological
zones, indicated in map 4.
Page 128
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003

The Northern Zone
Roughly north of the latitude 28˚ and including the Qattara Depression and the Faiyum. The
Northern Zone is composed mainly of the Qattara Depression, covering an area of about
19,500km2, whose lowest point is 134m below sea level and bounded on the north by a
steep limestone escarpment. To the north of the Qattara Depression the plateau slopes
gently to the Mediterranean, a “table land covered with gravel and indented by shallow
basins of sand” (Hantar 1990). The Faiyum is located on the south east corner of this zone.

A Middle Limestone Plateau Zone
With a southern boundary running southwest from south of latitude 28˚ across the north of
the Dakhla and Kharga oases, to about latitude 24˚. The Middle Zone is a limestone rock
desert or “hamada”. A rock pavement, formed by erosion of the underlying limestone, with a
thin cover of sand and gravel. The Dakhla and Kharga oases lie to the south and Bahariya
and Farafra to the north. Their huge escarpments and low floors make dramatic breaks in
the plateau landscape.

The Southern Araba’in Desert
Running from the middle zone southern boundary of the border zone into northern Sudan.
The southern zone is covered almost entirely with so-called “Nubian sandstone” formations,
though interrupted by several basement outcrops. Despite the sediments’ different ages and
compositions, Said considers the zone as a “consistent geomorphological unit”. Within it, the
12,000km2 Gilf Kebir plateau is what remains from a long period of erosion, initially by water
and then by wind. Water erosion by active wadis, followed by wind erosion, has led to a
striking landscape of rock columns rising abruptly from the plain. Large stretches of the
desert surface are covered by sand, with evenly spaced pebbles sitting on the surface. In
the centre is an area of sand sheets stretching about 400km from north to south.
3.5
Basal level
metres asl
Scarp
Orientation
Sedimentary
Interface
Water
Sources
Northern
Wadi Natrun
+23
NW-SE
Miocene/Eocene
Qattara
-133
NE-SW
Miocene/Eocene
Faiyum
-53
NE-SW
Miocene/Eocene
Siwa
-17
E-W
Miocene/Eocene
Aquifer-fed Salt
Lake
Aquifer-fed Salt
Lake
Nile-fed
Brackish Lake
Spring-fed
Brackish Lake
Southern
Bahariya
Farafra
Dakhleh
Kharga
+13
+100
+100
-18
NE-SW
NE-SW
NW-SE
N-S
Palaeocene/Cretaceous
Palaeocene/Cretaceous
Palaeocene/Cretaceous
Palaeocene/Cretaceous
Springs
Wells
Wells
Wells
The Western Desert Aquifer
Although the Faiyum is not a spring-fed oasis, all accounts of the Western Desert speculate upon
the aquifer, which provided the water essential to human habitation in the other great
depressions.
Page 129
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The aquifer is held in the Nubian and other Cretaceous sandstones, which are exposed in the
south, but lie between the Palaeozoic and Eocene under the desert to the north. The amount of
water is incredible. Sampsell expresses it as the equivalent of 600 years of Nile discharge. The
water originates in the wet areas to the south of Egypt, and migrates northwards through the
permeable strata.
Popular accounts talk about the aquifer as if it were a single underground river, looping its way
around the oases, on its way to the sea. There is no rationale for this pleasant conceit. Said
proposes that the water, while widely spread, is held in the series of high rimmed basins revealed
by oil exploration. Unfortunately, tests show the water to be of ancient origin, and susceptible to
depletion.
4.0
The Making of the Nile
The Faiyum is the offspring of the Western Desert and the Nile. Being at the north of the
plateau, it has been subject to influences which have not affected Bahariya and the depressions
to the south:





The sea has flowed over the Faiyum more often and in later periods.
Rivers flowing north west from the Red Sea Mountains have deposited large amounts of
fluvial sediment upon it
The desiccation of the Mediterranean affected it directly, leading to the removal of Oligocene
river sediments, and the carving out of the Eocene limestone bedrock.
After the excavation, its proximity to the sea led to its being filled again. The removal of the
filling is a second phase in its history, not experienced in the other great depressions
Finally, the unique Nile connection is made, Holocene sediments are laid and the Faiyum as
we know it comes into being
4.1
The Modern Nile
The modern Nile travels, all year, through the 2700 kilometers between Atbara and the sea,
without receiving water from tributaries. It floods every August. Said describes it as “a
geological freak” and “the most reliable river in the world” (Said 1993).
It is easy enough to explain why the Nile is perennial, floods on time, and needs no new water
on its journey through Egypt. The Nile receives its waters from two sources:


The African Equatorial Lake Region, which receives 5 metres of rainfall, spread evenly
throughout the year. This is the source of the Nile’s perennial flow.
The Western Ethiopian Highlands, which receive rains only in the summer monsoon.
Added to the perennial supply, this is the source of the August floods and the historic
flooding of the Faiyum.
Explaining how this happy state has come to pass is far from simple. The following account
follows Said 1992. It follows Issawi and McCauley’s account of the capture of the Quena river’s
Page 130
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
headwaters by Said’s Eonile. Said and Issawi trace the making of the Nile through a number of
precursor rivers:

The Bown Kiaus River flows strongly, in the Oligocene, from the north of the Red Sea
Mountains, depositing fossiliferous sediment across the Faiyum.

Said’s Eonile starts as a weak successor to Bown Kiaus after it has lowered its
headwater region.

Issawi’s Quena River is established in the early Miocene, running southwards in the
place which is now the Nile valley, draining the south of the still rising Red Sea
Mountains.

The Eonile becomes a canyon as the Mediterranean dries in the Messinian, the last
Period in the Miocene. At this time, Issawi et al envisage the carving out of the Faiyum
from the Eocene bedrock, by the same process. The Eonile captures the waters of the
now weakening Quena.

The Palaeonile is never more than a weak stream which eventually dries up in the early
Pleistocene. The Atlantic connection is re-established in the Pliocene. The canyons fill.
By the late Pliocene they are full of sediment – part of the “old river bed beneath the
Nile” found by early excavators. In the early Pleistocene, Egypt becomes a desert.

Said’s Prenile and Neonile both establish African connections during the Pleistocene,
and are the immediate precursors of the modern Nile. Tectonic activity reactivated the
African Rift Valley, tilted the basement and directed African waters to the north, away
from the Congo basin.

The Neonile never established a permanent link to African waters. To create a
perennial river three obstacles had to be overcome
o The Nubian Massif had to be cut through
o The African Equatorial lakes had to establish permanent connections
o A permanent route through the Sudd and Sudan Basins had to be established

The Modern Nile is established when these obstacles are overcome, in a period of
heavy rainfall, about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene.
At the beginning of the Holocene, the Nile becomes a perennial river and a connection is cut to
the Faiyum. At this point the geological histories of the Nile and the Western Desert converge. A
modern Faiyum takes shape.
4.2
Tectonic and Climatic Origins
The barrier to a permanent African connection were overcome by three coupled sets of events

The reactivation of the African Rift Valley at the end of the Miocene tilted the
inclination of both the Equatorial and Ethiopian Highlands away from the Congo Basin
and towards the present Nile Valley. Said’s Eonile is established.
o Coupled with this, the desiccation of the Mediterranean lead the Eonile to cut a
deep gorge and capture the headwaters of Issawi’s south flowing Qena.
Page 131
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
o
Andie Byrnes 2003
The consequence was the marking out of the Egyptian section of the Nile
Channel

A set of major earth movements in the middle of the Pleistocene, put the relief of
Ethiopia and the Equatorial Highlands into something close to their present form,
including the formation of Lake Victoria
o Coupled with this, these regions started to receive greatly increased rainfall,
while the Sudd basin became dry. Said’s Prenile, which succeeded the Eonile,
gathered enormous quantities of water from both sets of highlands, and was
able to flow, unimpaired, across the now dry Sudd.
o The consequence is the marking out of the southern section of the channel fo
the Nile, but not yet a permanent African connection

In the “Naptian” wet phase, at the end of the Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago,
after a period of climatic fluctuations in which the succeeding Neonile lost its African
connection many times, the Neonile finally established a permanent African connection.
The sea level was low, due to the amount of water held in the ice caps. The Neonile, in
response, cut a deeper channel.
o Coupled with this, the high Equatorial rainfall led the lakes to overflow and cut a
set of permanent links, while the Ethiopian highlands moved into the summer
monsoon climatic zone.
o The consequence was a Nile with a permanent African connection, perennial
waters from the Equator and summer floods from Ethiopia
About 6,500 years ago, the sea level rose as the ice melted. The river ceased to incise its bed.
The historic Nile regime was in place. With some repetition this complicated genealogy can be
summarised in terms of Said’s Nile precursors.
4.3
The Sediments of the Nile Valley
A complex geomorphological history has left a complex river bed, valley and flood plain. An
adequate account is beyond our present scope. Below the bed of the modern river are sediments
laid down by each of the Nile precursors, from the Pliocene transgression to the historical Nile
silts. Their composition reflects the origins of the waters feeding the river in each of its different
stages.
Many years of excavation, in the river bed and valley, have revealed river bottom and flood plain
sediments, deep river channels, natural levees, alluvial fans, and runs of river terraces. The most
influential periods have been:


The filling of the Miocene canyon , in the Pliocene, leaving marine sediments, later
covered by fluvial deposits derived from the eastern and western deserts
The Pleistocene Prenile, a vigorous river, braided, fed from Ethiopia, often shifting its
bed, flooding much more extensively than the modern Nile, leaving extensive deposits of
sand and gravel, including the Pleistocene gravels on the eastern flanks of the ridge
dividing the Faiyum from the Nile Valley. The sediments contrast sharply with the firm
volcanic silts of the historic Nile
For those with a more specific interest in the valley there are, in addition to Said, the classical
studies of Butzer (Butzer 1976) and Wendorf and Schild (Wendorf and Schild 1976), and the
work of Adamson et al 1980. Butzer 1966 is a superb short introduction both to the Nile Valley
and alluvial archaeology.
Page 132
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
5.0
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Making of the Faiyum
We have tried to place the Faiyum in the geological history of Egypt as a whole, the
geomorphology of the Western Desert and the evolution of the modern Nile. This section deals
with the Faiyum itself in more detail. There are four main topics:
5.1

The topography of the modern Faiyum, in effect the situation which needs to be
explained

The main geological formations currently encountered in the Faiyum

The history of deflation starting from the Oligocene, which took the depression from
350m above sea level to the present -45m.

The history of changing Moeris lake levels in the Holocene
A very short synopsis
Issawi et al start in the Oligocene. The tilting of the African Plate sets rivers flowing westward
and northwards. They and their tributaries cut valleys with steep, high, escarpments into the
Eocene limestone plateau of what is now the Western Desert, eventually excavating Bahariya and
the depressions to the south of it. The process is illustrated in Map 6.
In contrast, the rivers draining the newly rising Red Sea Mountains spread thick layers of
fossiliferous sand and gravel over the region which is now the Faiyum. These Oligocene fluvial
sediments are stripped off in succeeding periods, especially the late Miocene, when the
Mediterranean dries up and north flowing rivers cut deep canyons down towards the sea bed.
The cutting continues until the Faiyum is carved out of the Eocene limestone bedrock.
When the sea returned, the Faiyum gradually filled with sediment. A second phase of excavation
then begins. The sediment is removed in the successive layers described below. At the end of
the Pleistocene, the Holocene lake is formed and a Nile connection cut. The history of the
Faiyum is then the history of the Nile floods.
5.2
The Geography of the Faiyum
Map 1, below, shows the Faiyum to be a rounded triangular depression. Depending on what
boundary you choose, it covers about 1700km 2. The brackish Lake Qarun is located to the north
of the depression. It is about 200km2 in extent. Its surface is currently about 45m below sea
level and it is about 8m deep. It contains the small island of Geziret el Qarun. Approximately 8m
of lake bottom sediment overlies the Eocene bedrock. “The maximum extent of the mid
Holocene lake approximates the lake area bounded by the 20m contour” (Hassan 1986). This
approximates the area covered by Nile silts on Map 2, below, now under cultivation.
Page 133
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
A Schematic Topography
of the Faiyum
0m asl
20m asl
escarpments
Nile and Bahr Yusef /
Shores of artificial lakes
The steep northern escarpment of the Oligocene Gebel Qatrani formation rises to 350m and is
capped by an Oligocene basaltic sill. It overlies the Eocene Qasr el Sagha formation. Both are
clearly visible on the geological map. Beyond the scarp to the north is the Miocene Northern
Desert. Along the northern lake shore is a narrow band of dunes. To the south, the Faiyum is
separated from the smaller Wadi Rayyan depression by a ridge running roughly along the 40m
contour.
Schematic Geology of the Faiyum
The Faiyum is separated from the Nile Valley by a ridge running south from the Giza plateau.
The ridge is approximately 10km wide at its northern boundary, but narrows to 2.5km in the
south. It is outlined approximately on Map 2, above, by the 40m contour It is broken by the Nile
Page 134
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
connection at the Hawara canal. Both ridges, Qasr el Sagha, and the depression floor, have been
carved out of the Eocene bedrock of the plateau.
Today, the lake is fed by the drainage of irrigation waters from Lake Nasser. Its area is
controlled by pipes which drain excess water into Wadi Rayyan. This has meant a cessation of
silt deposition and increasing soil salinity.
5.3
Three Phases of Deposition and Degradation
We suggested that, if the Western Desert had been stripped uniformly from the high ground in
the south to the sea in the north Map 5 would show a set of more or less horizontal bands, with
the oldest sediments exposed in the south. Asking why this is not, in fact, the case gives some
insight into the history of the desert.
Something similar is true of the Faiyum. If the Faiyum had been cut down and gouged out like
an open cast mine, always moving from top to bottom, you would expect to find the strata laid
out in a set of closed concentric rings around the lake, with the oldest sediments at the bottom.
At first sight the map shows something like this. But, at second sight, it is obvious that




The formations are broken, not closed. They are more like lobes than hoops
They are compressed to the north, in and around the escarpment
The sequence of sediments, moving out from the lake, is not in chronological order
The sequence, as altitude increases, is not in chronological order
Asking why this is so gives some insight into the geological history of the depression. We
approach it at two levels.
The complex sequence of degradation and aggregation since the Oligocene are described below.
But complex sequences have left a complex geological map. It helps in understanding the jigsaw
shown on Map 2 to divide the sedimentation into three periods, each starting after a period of
excavation. The earlier sediments exposed in each excavation appear on Map 2 in more or less
concentric broken circles , surrounding the lake
The First Phase of Degradation was the removal of the Oligocene sands and
conglomerates of the Gebel Qatrani formation, the Eocene Qasr el-Sagha, and the
Eocene bedrock of the depression bottom. It was accomplished when the Mediterranean
was desiccated in the late Miocene and streams cut deep canyons towards the sea bed.
On Map 2 it can be seen in the Oligocene band across the north and the encircling
Eocene hills and valley bottom.
The Second Phase of Degradation followed the refilling of the Faiyum in the Pliocene.
This phase re-exposed the sediments exposed in the first phase, after the sea had
returned and the canyons had become full of sediment. This phase leaves Pliocene
sediments on the hills encircling the Faiyum, which the rivers conducting the excavation
deposited in their valleys. At first sight it is surprising to find these sediments at lower
altitudes than the much earlier Gebel Qatrani, and at higher altitudes than the much later
Quarternary deposits of the valley floor.
The Third and Final Phase takes place in the Quarternary. The sediments which we
now encounter were laid on the depression floor, when much of it was occupied by a
Pleistocene lake. They can be seen on Map 2 surrounding the area of Nile silt which
marks the boundaries of the Holocene lake.
Page 135
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
5.4
Andie Byrnes 2003
Excavating the Depression
Issawi, Ossman and Meibed begin the story at 350m above sea level on Gebel Qatrani, in the
Oligocene. It is a combination of previous workers’ results, their own extensive field work and
Issawi and McCauley’s Gilf River theory.

Up to 350m
The tilting of the basement level, first north and then west, initiates the Gilf River system
and the Bown Kiaus river. Whereas the Gilf cuts into the plateau in an arc, shown on
Map 6, to the south of Siwa, the Bown Kiaus river deposits deep strata of materials
removed from the Red Sea Mountains and dropped in a delta at Faiyum, now visible as
the Gebel Qatrani Formation

Down from 350m to 180m
From the Oligocene to the Lower Miocene, rivers start to degrade the deposits left by the
Bown Kiaus river, as the Red Sea Mountains continue to rise.

Down from 180m to 50m
In the Middle Eocene there was a minor marine transgression, whose sediments now
cover the Desert plateau to the north of Gebel Qatrani. In the Faiyum it was quickly
degradated. Issawi et al use some remaining sediments, to the east of the depression,
at Gebel El Na’aloun, to measure the reduction in height during this phase.

Down from 50m to 0.0m
The desiccation of the Mediterranean in the Late Miocene led to the cutting of deep
canyons by north flowing rivers. This is a crucial stage in the formation of the
depression. In it, the limestone bedrock of the depression is carved out to 0.0m.

Up from 50m to 110m
In the early Pliocene, the Mediterranean’s Atlantic connection is re-established. The
canyons are flooded, and are eventually filled with sediment. In Issawi’s words, “The
early Pliocene closed its time with the Faiyum depression full of water and sediments up
to ca. 100m asl altitude” (Issawi et al 2001).

Down from 110m to 40m
In the late Pliocene, the sea gradually retreats and another period of degradation sets in.
At 40m asl, the depression can maintain a link with the Nile Valley. The Faiyum enters
the Quarternary as a closed basin with a stagnant lake at a level of about 40m asl.

Down from 40m to -45m
The final phase, in which the Faiyum is reduced to its modern level, takes place in the
Quarternary. The process is far from clear in Issawi et al, or anywhere else for that
matter. It seems to be assumed that, since the underlying bedrock was excavated in the
Late Miocene, the essential work had been done.
Page 136
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
5.5
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Geological Formations of the Faiyum
Inside the Depression
Different texts distinguish the different formations in slightly differing ways. The following
tabulations tries to document any formation which the archaeologist is likely to encounter in the
literature. It follows Sandford and Arkell in distinguishing four Eocene formations. From the
Oligocene to the Holocene it follows Issawi. The sample of Holocene lake shore deposits is taken
from Hassan 1986. Sandford and Arkell illustrate the essential structure with a cross sectional
diagram:
(From Arkell and Sandford, p.5)
The main formations are:
Formation
Geological Period
Height asl
Ravine Beds
Middle Eocene
Bedrock
Location: Eastern rim and floor of the depression
Composition: Limestone, clays, with gypsum bands
Origin: The Eocene Transgression
Birket Qarun Formation
Upper Eocene
20m
Location: Base of the northern scarp
Composition: Current bedded shales interrupted by limestone bands
Origin: Eocene transgression
Wadi Rayyan Formation
Middle Eocene
Bedrock to 40m
Location: Area forming the boundary between Faiyum and Wadi Rayyan
Composition: Limestone shales
Origin: Eocene Transgression
Qasr el-Sagha Formation
Upper Eocene to Oligocene
40m
Page 137
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Location: Above Birket Qarun Formation in northern escarpment
Composition: As Birket Qarun but more firmly bedded
Origin: Sea margin river deposition
Gebel Qatrani Formation
Early Oligocene
340m
Location: A the top of the northern escarpment
Composition: Variegated sandstones, gravels and shales. Huge quantities of fossilized materials,
land animals, crocodiles, turtles and silicified trees
Origin: Bown Kiaus river transporting from red Sea Mountains
Gebel Qatrani Intrusion
Middle Oligocene
350m
Location: Caps the escarpment
Composition: About 25m of basalt
Origin: Intruded into Gebel Qatrani formation
El Na’aloun Formation
Early Miocene
180m
Location: South of Faiyum
Composition: Conglomerate, chert, siliceous limestone igneous pebbles
Origin: Rivers flowing from the Red Sea egnious region
No recognized Designation
Middle Miocene
50m
Location: East of Gebel El Na’atoun
Composition: Hard limestone and sandstone
Origin: The Middle Miocene transgression
Kom El Sheluk Formation
Lowe Pliocene
110m
Location: North East of Quta, abutting Birket Qarun Formation
Composition: Hard sandstone and sandy clay
Origin: The Pliocene refilling of the canyons
Gypsum Lenses
Upper Pliocene
90m to 15m
Location: Inside circumference of depression on old lake margins
Composition: Gypsum
Origin: Stages in the desiccation of the depression following the Pliocene regression. Not
Page 138
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
properly called a ‘formation’
Pre-Holocene Quaternary
Sediments
Pleistocene
40m to 20m
Location: Mostly west of Quta and Qasr el Basel
Composition: Sands, gravels, limestone pebbles, silt, clay
Origin: Record of alternative sedimentation and erosion during Pleistocene, continuing into
Holocene
Sample Lakeshore
Sediments
Pleistocene to Holocene
11m to 12m
Location: Western lake margins
Composition: See Hassan’s diagram below
Origin: Lake shore deposition and desiccation. Lake floor deposits are about 8m deep.
Composite Stratigraphic section of a lake shore site investigated by Hassan (Hassan 1986):
Key:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Late Pleistocene Silts
Upper shoreface sand and limestone clasts
Bach sand with limestone shingle
Beach shingle with Qarunian artefacts
Greyish-brown Nile Silt
Multi-layered sequence of diatomites and diatomaceous silt
Massive brown silt with shell debris
Reddish-yellow gypsiferous palaeosol
Outside the Depression
The formations which run broadly north to south, along the eastern flank of the ridge separation
the Faiyum from the Nile Valley, are outside the depression itself, but are intimately related to
the geological history of the Faiyum.
Page 139
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The material consists of sands, gravels, and other typical floodplain and river bottom sediments.
They are coarse, with large pebbles, indicating fast flowing waters. Map 2 classifies them simply
as “Pliocene and Pleistocene.” They derive, in the main, from two sources:


The floodplain deposits of the fast flowing, widely flooding Pleistocene Prenile, the first
Nile precursor with an African connection. This source accounts for the greater part of
the eastern beds
The deposits of small Pliocene rivers, flowing eastwards into the Nile Valley, stripping the
Oligocene sediments of the Gebel Qatrani formation, and distributing them along their
river valleys.
Sandford and Arkell’s beautiful map identifies a series of small Pliocene deposits, running east to
west, which are probably overlaid by the floodplain sediments of the Prenile in the east.
5.6
The Hydrology of the Faiyum
Until modern times the Faiyum was a stage in an energy cycle, which transported water from the
ocean, to the Equatorial Lakes, and the Ethiopian Highlands then, via the Nile and Bahr Yusef, to
the Faiyum - and returned it by evaporation from the surface of Lake Qarun. It was the
variations in the summer monsoon which were responsible for variations in the Holocene lake
levels.
The sources of energy driving the cycle were solar radiation and gravity. Around the lake itself,
wind played a large part in the creation of beaches and the desiccation of exposed shorelines.
But, overwhelmingly, the medium by which energy was transmitted from one stage of the cycle
to another was water. The flows and their long-term variations are shown schematically in the
diagram below:
The quantity of water carried through the cycle varied seasonally with the Nile floods, and over
longer periods of time, giving several hundred-year long variations in average flood levels.
Page 140
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Variations in the Area of the Lake
The effect of both variations on Lake Qarun was amplified by the Bar Yusef sill.
The extent of the lake surface in different periods is obviously important for the archaeology of
the Faiyum. The extent and depth of Lake Qarun was a function of


Entry along Bahr Yusef (less some backflow)
Exit by evaporation (plus a small amount of seepage)
Since the climate of the Faiyum varied little, “Exit” can be taken as constant for any given lake
surface area.
For any given inflow, the surface area is determined by the level of the lake at the beginning of
the inflow and the contours of the lake margins. On lakes with gently sloping beaches, small
variations in the volume of water produce large variations in the area of land submerged. Even
the relatively steep cultivable margins of Lake Qarun would have amplified variations in Nile flood
levels, in terms of variations in the available land. For similar reasons, increases and decreases in
the extent of the lake may have been sudden.
Ball (1939) and Hassan (1981) have made calculations of evaporation rates, variations in surface
area and variations in depth, for seasonal and long period variations in water entry, taking
account of the Bahr Yusef sill. The calculations confirm that the pattern of fluctuations shown in
Hassan’s field work are broadly consistent with historical records.
Ball estimates an addition to surface areas, from an average Nile flood, of 5.2km2, and a loss of
3.78km2 from evaporation. Assuming no backflow, this means that Lake Qarun could fill to cover
2000km2, a size consistent with Herodotus, in 35 years. Hassan also shows that there are good
correlations between his estimates of lake levels and Butzer’s estimates on the levels of Lake
Rudolph in Ethiopia.
The Nile Connection
The Connection with the Nile is via the Bahr Yusef, an old braid of the Nile which enters the
Faiyum through the Hawara channel at Lahun. The link with the Nile was made at the end of the
Pleistocene. Said suggests that a stream draining the eastern rim of the depression cut
backwards, in the location of a previous Pleistocene channel, as shown in the diagram below:
The process has left a sill at about 28m above the lowest point of the depression. It has played a
key part in the entry and exit of flood waters. When the flood waters were higher than the sill,
Page 141
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
the river discharged into the lake. When the lake surface was higher than 17m below sea level,
and when the Nile was receding, the lake discharged back into the lake.
5.7
The Holocene Lake
Lake Qarun, at the north and lowest part of the Faiyum depression, has had a long legacy of
change throughout archaeological time, and has both increased and decreased at different
stages, which has caused some confusion to early archaeologists who assumed that the lake had
simply decreased over time, and did not envisage fluctuations. Today it covers 214sq km,
stretching for 40km from east to west, and has one sandy island called Geziret el-Qarun.
Understanding Lake Qarun’s status at different times is of fundamental importance to
archaeologists: “the Holocene history of the lake is characterized by a number of fluctuations
which are of the utmost importance for the understanding of the history of occupation around
the lake” (Hendrickx and Vermeersch 2000 p.36). Wendorf and Schild (1976) have suggested a
sequence for the lake as follows:
Period
Lake
Approximate
Dates BC
Pleistocene
PalaeoMoeris
Pre-Moeris
(A new lake
following the
collapse
of
the previous
one)
Proto-Moeris
(Follows
a
short period
of shrinkage)
Final
(Enormous
reduction)
c.7000
Average Level
metres above seal
level
16
c. 6000
15-17
c. 5000
24
c. 4000-3500
12
c. 2200
23
Early
Holocene
Late
Holocene
Society
Earliest
Deposits
A more recent proposal by Fekri Hassan (1986 p.492), based on his work in the Western Faiyum
and the Biyahmu area, proposes the following sequence:
Period
Lake
Approximate
Dates BP
Average Level
metres above
Society
Page 142
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Pleistocene
Early Holocene
Late Holocene
Palaeo-moeris
Interval
Pre-moeris
Proto-moeris
Interval
Neolithic
Interval
<9000-8500
c.200 years
8300-7500
4500-7000
c.200 years
6800-4900
c.900 years
sea level
>10
<-10
15
20
<-10
20
-20
Old Kingdom
Interval
Middle Kingdom
&
First
Intermediate
Interval
New Kingdom to
Ptolemaic
4000-3700
c.200 years
3500-3100
>20
-15
>20
c. 200 years
2900-2200
<-10
20
Andie Byrnes 2003
Terminal Palaeolithic
(Epipalaeolithic/
Qarunian)
Neolithic
Preand
ProtoDynastic
Dynastic Egypt
The lake was at its maximum in August and at its minimum in March. Hassan concludes “The
lake and its vegetated shores must have thus stood in marked contrast to its desert setting. Fed
by the Nile from distant sources, the lake was an allogernic geomorphic feature. With an outlet
and subject to intense evaporation under arid climate its survival was dependent on the annual
replenishment by the Nile waters” (Hassan 1986, p.493). Just as the Nile Valley inhabitants were
dependent on the Nile, so were Faiyum inhabitants dependent on the river for replenishing the
lake. A detailed analysis of the lake is out of the scope of this project but is covered in depth in
Hassan’s 1986 paper.
5.8
Unresolved Issues
If we accept Issawi and McCauley’s version of the evolution of the Egyptian landforms, and
Issawi et al’s account of the stages of degradation of the depression, we are very close to
understanding the origin of the Faiyum and its present day geology. However, there are some
unresolved issues.
There seems to be little problem with the origin of Bahariya and the depressions to the south.
They have been carved from Eocene limestone, through a one-way process of degradation.
Solution of the limestone by carbonic acid, the creation of solution cavities, collapse of roves and
rock faces, as suggested by Said, seem eminently plausible and supportive of Issawi’s account.
Reduction of the floor levels below the rim levels by wind erosion also seems plausible.
With the Faiyum, things are not so simple. Being near the sea margin it has been subject to
several periods of aggradation and degradation. Only in the late Miocene was it primarily
limestone which was degradated. After that the special factors at work in the southern
depressions no longer apply in the same way.
It is not clear in Issawi et al how the re-excavation of the Faiyum was accomplished, following
the Pliocene transgression and silting up. Perhaps the reduction from 110m above sea level to
40m above sea level itself requires no special explanation.
Page 143
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Issawi et al assert that, below 40m above sea level, no connection could be made with the Nile
Valley, presumably because of the height of the eastward ridges. But it is not obvious why the
process of deflation could not have cut a deep channel into the ridge, as Said’s Prenile did in the
Pleistocene, below the Hawara channel.
The next problem is why, at 40m above sea level, there was a lake and not a valley. Any fluvial
process would have difficulty producing a hollow surrounded by a rim. Perhaps rivers degrading
the Faiyum to this level became blocked, leaving a type of moraine.
The fall from 40m above sea level to -45 is equally puzzling. In Issawi et al’s account, the
Faiyum enters the Quarternary as a stagnant lake at 40m above sea level. To get to -45 m
above sea level, there either has to have been an agent which could remove sediment over a
rim, or one which excavated conventionally and became blocked at its point of exit.
Said’s “turbulent Prenile” cuts a channel at Hawara to -17m above sea level. This could be an
exit route for material, down to that level. But the channel was subsequently blocked with
sediment, as was, presumably, the depression behind it. And, at -17m asl, we still have 28m to
go.
None of this detracts from the information that has been acquired. Our understanding of the
topography of Egypt , the evolution of the Western Desert, and the origin of the Faiyum has been
radically transformed by the discoveries of modern technology and the work of Said, Issawi and
their colleagues. But the Faiyum has not yet given up all of its secrets.
5.9
Physical Environment and Human Occupation
The Epipalaeolithic or Terminal Palaeolithic occupation studied by Hassan was situated on high
ground adjacent to a bedrock basin, and existed during a period when “the lake level was
fluctuating widely.” The environmental basis of their economy was almost certainly silts
deposited by annual flooding and shallow fish-filled basins.
For much of the Neolithic a key feature of the environment seems to have been marsh areas, fed
by the lake, whose extent and position varied considerably. Settlements were almost certainly
seasonal, moving with the movement of the marshes. Fishing was again a major source of food,
along with farming (arable and some pastoral) and hunting.
Settlement patterns also correlate with the recently established series of climatic shifts.
Following the period of moister weather which accompanied the Terminal Palaeolithic, a drier
period began in the early Neolithic in the 6th Millennium b.p. This probably initiated the
movement of desert peoples into the Fayum as proposed by Butzer and others.
Studies at the Qarunian site FS2 indicate that the lake was subject to fluctuations and that
seasonally-filled basins appeared and eventually evaporated, which would have been fished when
present but point to a seasonal occupation because this source would no longer have been
available when evaporated. Studies at the Neolithic site FS2 again indicate lake fluctuations, and
again point to a seasonal way of life
5.10
Technical Implications for the Archaeologist
Page 144
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The environmental history of the Faiyum, as presently understood, has a number of technical
implications:

As our information improves, the scope for comparing the Faiyum with contemporary
prehistoric desert, oasis and flood-plain environments in Egypt, and tracing the
relationships between them, greatly increases

Increasing knowledge of the Faiyum offers increasing scope to explore mutual
relationships between geological, palaeo-environmental and archaeological evidence in
the reconstruction of palaeo-environments (see G.Rapp and C.L.Hill 1998).

Comparative study of the problems of the interpretation of material remains subject to
movement, burying and erosion on lakeside beaches, and interpreting similar materials
subject to the characteristic processes of the flood-plain could cast considerable light on
both (see G.Rapp and C.L.Hill 1998).
Such comparisons are outside the scope of this paper. However, first impressions are that
differences between the Faiyum sites and floodplain sites are much less than might at first
appear. And levels of contact in the prehistoric period were much greater than might have been
expected given the harsh desert surrounding of the Faiyum.
6.0
Note on Sources
The notes on Geology and Geomorphology have been compiled from materials collected for a
proposed Internet site dealing with the prehistory of Egypt at the undergraduate level. See Part
4 for details of this project.
The sources are all listed in the Bibliography, but for convenience are classified below:
Textbooks and Introductory Texts
Brown A.G. 1997
Alluvial Archaeology
Cambridge
Pincauze, D.F. 2000
Environmental Archaeology
Cambridge
Rapp, G. and Hill C.L. 1998
Geoarchaeology
Yale
Sampsell, B.M 2003
A Travellers Guide to the Geology of Egypt
American University in Cairo
Van Andel T.H. 1994
New Views on an Old Planet
Cambridge
Vivian, C. 2000
Page 145
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Western Deserts of Egypt
The American University in Cairo Press
Dictionaries
Kearey, P. 2001
The New Penguin Dictionary of Geology
Penguin Books
Whittow J. 2000
The Penguin Dictionary of Physical Geography
Penguin Books
Technical
Hantar, G.
North Western Desert (in R. Said 1990)
Hassan, F.A. 1986
Holocene Lakes and Prehistoric Settlements of the Western Faiyum, Egypt.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 13, 483-501
Issawi, B. and McCauley, J. 1993
The Cenozoic Landscape of Egypt and its River System
Annals Geol. Survey Egypt v.19, 357-384
In Issawi, B., Osman, R.A.K and Meibed, A.Z.
Said, R. (ed.) 1990
The Geology of Egypt
Balkema
Said, R. 1993
The River Nile
Pergamon
Said, R. 1990
Geomorphology
In Said (ed.) 1990
Sandford K.S. and Arkell W.J. 1929
Palaeolithic Man and the Nile-Faiyum Divide
Chicago University Press
Page 146
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
PART 4:
Summary, Conclusions and Research
Page 147
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
1.0
Andie Byrnes 2003
Summary: Prehistoric and Predynastic Faiyum, South Cairo and Western Delta
The Faiyum on its own presents an impression of staggered occupation from Palaeolithic to early
Neolithic times. There was an apparent occupation hiatus following the Qarunian and another
following the end of the Neolithic in the Faiyum.
Both the Epipalaeolithic and the succeeding Faiyum Neolithic are contemporary with other
industries, all showing radically different economic and social affinities and pointing to an early
divergence of cultural development in Upper and Lower Egypt, with Lower Egypt lacking the
cultural complexity visible in its southern contemporaries. It has been demonstrated that the
Faiyum can be considered in many ways rather different from anywhere else. Culturally, it sees
the development of the Qarunian and the Faiyum A, both of which share features with other sites
and were influenced by other areas, but are not duplicated anywhere. The cultural identity of
the Faiyum vanishes in the Predynastic period when a much greater homogeneity appears in
Lower Egypt as Upper Egyptian features begin to appear and then dominate.

Socially, the Faiyum displayed neither the religious nor the advanced organizational skills
suggested by the Badarian of Upper Egypt and the Bir Kiseiba-Nabta society of the
southwest Western Desert. A degree of social organisation is implied in the southern
Cairo area and Western Delta settlements and late cemeteries that evolved out of the
Faiyum Neolithic. Religious belief is visible in preparation of the dead, but it was by no
means as important a component as in Upper Egypt and arrives much later on the scene.

Economically, it persisted in a semi-nomadic hunting, gathering and fishing lifestyle
before the early Neolithic inaugurated a lifestyle which supplemented a semi-permanent
lifestyle with hunting and fishing - a way of life that persisted for a surprisingly long time,
and for a much longer duration than anywhere else in Egypt.

The geology and geomorphology of the Faiyum render it unique. Although it combined
many elements visible in the oases and is to all intents and purposes a desert depression,
both the presence of a giant lake and its connection to the Nile gave it a unique status in
the Pleistocene and Holocene periods.

Environmentally and ecologically, the Faiyum is distinct from other areas of Egypt, in
spite of similarities between them. It shares with the Western Desert sites that it is a
depression, and with the Nile floodplain that it was naturally flooded on an annual basis,
but its geomorphology and geology are different in many ways, and its environmental
conditions are particularly distinctive. Faiyum life was dependent upon the Nile for its
survival from the earliest times - Lake Qarun was always dependent upon the Nile
inundation, and provided the fish that were the mainstay of the Qarunian, and the
deposited silts that were essential for the earliest farming of the Faiyum A. It differs
from Merimda and other Upper Egyptian sites in retaining a preference for supplementing
the diet with fishing - possibly the ease of capture versus the difficulty of immigration.
The connection between the Faiyum Neolithic sites with early sites in the south Cairo area show
an evolutionary trend from the Faiyum to Lower Egypt towards a sedentary lifestyle where the
dead were factored in, but were not a principal component of social expression. The relationship
between the Faiyum and the Western Delta was lost in the later Neolithic.
Page 148
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Moving into later Neolithic, Predynastic and Protodynastic times, the Faiyum Depression was
apparently abandoned, but at the same time southern Cairo sites with Faiyumian features appear
and provide a picture of an area of Egypt that had been very different from that of Upper Egypt,
with a different economy and cultural portfolio. At the time of the Maadi-Buto sites they
eventually became subsumed by Upper Egyptian culture in a process that saw the establishment
of homogeneity throughout Egypt. This process of change at the end of the Chalcolithic in Lower
Egypt is often glossed over in texts, in favour of descriptions, theories or models of state
formation which usually refer to Upper Egyptian sites like Abydos for detailed information. Lower
Egypt’s role in the process of state formation again needs to be better understood. The
replacement of Lower Egypt’s own culture by Upper Egyptian cultural traits is not necessarily the
result of a one-way process. It is quite likely that Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt had contact if
only because of Upper Egypt’s strategic importance as a route through to the Levant, and that
Lower Egypt may have played a significant role as a state in its own right prior to and after
unification.
Contacts throughout the Faiyum’s and Lower Egypt’s, evolution point both East and West,
particularly in Prehistoric and Early Predynastic stages, suggesting active influence from both
Western Desert and Sahara regions on the one hand, and the Levant and southwest Asia on the
other.
The Faiyum continued to be occupied throughout the Dynastic period, peaking in the Twelfth
Dynasty, Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The southern Cairo and Western Delta areas were of
fundamental importance during the Dynastic period.
2.0
Conclusions, Research and Projects
2.1
Conclusions
What conclusions can be made from this study? My hope when starting out was that some form
of continuity or identifiable process could be observed – not for mere convenience but with a
view to constructing models of Egyptian socio-economic development and relationships.
This has not happened. What I actually found was that the area displays conspicuous
fragmentation in terms of settlement patterns and subsistence strategies, with discontinuities and
abandonment featuring regularly. There are a number of possible reasons for this, veering from
the climatic at one stage to the economic at another, but the picture we are left with is one of
three main zones (Faiyum, southern Cairo and Western Delta) with shifting occupation patterns.
The main conclusions that I have made on the basis of my research are as follows. They are
presented in chronological order and, like the material they deal with, they are somewhat
fragmentary as a result.
1)
Palaeolithic
The Palaeolithic of the Faiyum and elsewhere in northern Egypt appear to have been
described in passing in a number of works, but I have found nothing that brings this
information together, and the descriptive information itself appears to be of very variable
quality. I have certainly been unable to form any intelligent conclusions about the
Palaeolithic of Lower Egypt so far, which is frustrating because artefacts have certainly
been found.
Page 149
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
2)
The Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic
In the Faiyum, both the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic are each of considerable interest.
However, they are divided from each other by 1000 years. The Faiyum Neolithic and
later Neolithic Moerian are also divided by a significant time gap. In all cases I have
become convinced that there is no clearly observable local succession taking place, and
do not, for example, see the Faiyum Neolithic evolving from the Qarunian. I do believe
that shared cultural features from Egypt, Africa and the Levant find their ways into the
different industries and economies. It becomes important, therefore, to consider the
Faiyum not in isolation as a regional identity, but to compare and contrast it with other
Egyptian regions and nearby African and Levantine cultures with a view to developing a
much better understanding – not just of one area but of the dynamics governing social
and economic activities within Egypt.
3)
Merimda Beni Salama and El Omari
These two important sites in the southern Cairo area are both isolated and unique. They
are isolated in the sense that neither site has any directly comparable and contemporary
parallels in the area, although they both have layers that may correspond to each other
and to Maadi, and they are both unique in that nothing quite like either of them has ever
been found. Their almost unique position means that it is irresponsible to draw sweeping
conclusions on the basis of information found at the sites because it is impossible to
know whether or not they are typical of their era. Their temporal context is therefore at
best very poorly understood.
4)
Maadi-Buto
The Maadi-Buto sites include both settlement and cemetery sites, which is immensely
useful, potentially, for developing a coherent picture of both secular and non secular
elements of the Maadi-Buto way of life. However, it seems to me that many rather
overwrought conclusions have been drawn on the basis of these sites. For example,
although it is possible that the donkey could have enabled direct trade with the Levant, it
is more likely that foreign items filtered through via local trade mechanisms with the
Eastern Delta. Similarly, although some writers put a lot of credence on the view that
there may have been palace-façade architecture at Buto, even though sign of it exists, it
seems far more likely that there are other explanations for the tiny number of so-called
mosaic nails found. Finally, the Maadi-Buto sites are still only small in number – and are
therefore not particularly supercharged for drawing statistically valid conclusions about
their nature, or their involvement in the impact of state formation on Lower Egypt
5)
State Formation and Unification
The impacts of state formation and unification are archaeologically interpreted from
Maadi-Buto sites and the Naqadan features at the sites which replaced them. Sites like
Buto, Minshat Abu Omar, Gerzeh and Memphis make up the bulk of these conversations.
However, other information is brought to bear on the conversation from outside direct
archaeological contexts and I am by no means confident of their value or the reliability of
their interpretation – the unprovenanced palettes for example are a controversial
contribution, as are the dynastic historical accounts. I also believe that the processes of
unification have often been over-simplified by some writers and that the dynamics of
state formation in the south and its impact on the north are very poorly understood even
prior to the appearance of Naqadan elements in Lower Egyptian.
6)
Top Level Methodology
The three areas discussed (Faiyum, southern Cairo and Western Delta) demonstrate the
value of regional studies which reveal precise local conditions and human adaptation to
them. I believe that by comparing detailed regional studies across Egypt we can begin to
Page 150
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
develop a significant understanding of prehistoric Egypt.
number of activities to be carried out:






Andie Byrnes 2003
Regional studies require a
Synthesis of exiting information on a regional baiss
Development of localised typologies for direct comparison and contrast
Comparison and contrast of regions
Distribution/spatial analysis studies
Inclusion of specialist information
o Lithics
o Pottery
o Flora
o Fauna
o Environment and Climate
o Geology and Geoarchaeology
Re-excavation where deemed necessary to clarify issues
The Faiyum, southern Cairo and the Western Delta share a long past, which is visible in the
archaeological record. Overall it is perfectly obvious from these remains that the area a)
represents a discontinuous and rather fragmented material record marked by temporal gaps and
changes in assemblages b) does not lend itself to simple interpretation or the establishment of
simple models. Depending on your viewpoint this is either good or bad:


Bad: It is not possible to create a narrative account of the area’s occupation, which
leaves appearing very fragmented
Good: It suggests numerous areas of research to answer questions not just about this
region but about all the regions of Egypt with a view to understand their relationships,
and consequently of how Egypt developed culturally and economically at different periods
of time
Clarification of the Faiyumian, southern Cairo and Western Delta data would help to build a
picture of how Egyptian societies responded at different periods, what sort of relationships
existed between different areas and countries, and how the Egyptian state was formed.
Being a Prehistorian, key interests to me made obvious by this paper are:
1. To study Epipalaeolithic economies and societies in Egypt and to compare them on a
regional basis
2. To see how the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic relate to each other (temporally, spatially,
cognitively and socio-economically)
3. To compare and contrast earliest Neolithic communities in Egypt
4. To discuss all Egyptian Neolithic communities in terms of Africa and the Levant
5. To take advantage of settlement and cemetery data in the Maadi-Buto and attempt a
holistic overview of the data as an explanation of society and economy
6. To compare Mermida and El Omari with Eastern Delta sites as they are excavated and
published with a view to learning what sort of relationships these sites had a) with each
other and B) with the Levant
I have tried to bring together information from many of the important texts that have been
published on these subjects, but the real task for archaeologists operating in Egypt will be to
identify key areas required for further investigation that will help to cast light on these themes, to
ensure that research takes place, and to constantly review and revise existing proposals in the
light of new information.
Page 151
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
2.2
Andie Byrnes 2003
Research
The research section is divided into two parts
 first, a listing of actual potential research and survey projects listed in chronological order
 second, a short list of projects and potential projects which are concerned with the at
presentation and communication of research findings
2.2.1
Research Projects
Due to modern reassessment of older work and to discoveries elsewhere, some interesting
questions have arisen regarding the Faiyum, and these need more detailed research and analysis
to enable clarification. I have removed former suggestions as I have become aware of existing
research projects which are tackling areas which I listed in Version 1. I have also attempted a
degree of prioritisation. Some of those areas of suggested research are listed as follows:
Top Priority
Review of Epipalaeolithic Assemblages in Faiyum
A complete synthesis and review of all the known Epipalaeolithic assemblages from the Faiyum
would help to clarify the Faiyum and supply information for comparison with other Epipalaeolithic
industries. In an ideal world this would require synthesis of all published data including the
lithics, fauna and flora, with particular reference to settlement functionality and economic
indicators. As part of the project, a spatial analysis of settlements would be useful, together with
a synthesis of Epipalaeolithic lithic technology with a view to establishing a new Epipalaeolithic
series of typologies based on Egyptian material, using Forde-Johnson 1959, Tixier 1963 and
Holmes 1969 as baselines, with a view to understanding the Epipalaeolithic of Egypt, both in
terms of its similarities and differences (functionally, typologically, geologically and
geographically). Additionally it would be useful to provide a tie-in to the Kharga and Dakhleh
Oasis (and Farafra) projects with a view to clarifying Epipalaeolithic industries of the Western
Desert in an oasis environment.
Comparison of Epipalaeolithic Faiyum (Qarunian) with other Egyptian and North
African Late and Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic
The late stages of the Palaeolithic in Egypt appear to share features, but the relationships
between them are poorly understood. The existence of a number of different late Palaeolithic
sites with different cultural titles (Late Palaeolithic, Final Palaeolithic, Upper Palaeolithic, Terminal
Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic) further add to a degree of confusion as there seems to be little
attempt to define what these terms, derived from European prehistory, mean in the context of
Egyptian assemblages. A complete review of all later Palaeolithic assemblages with a view to
clarifying assemblage characters and the relationships between them would be considerably
useful as a way of learning more about Egypt at this period.
Consideration of Faiyum against Western Desert Oases
A number of very exciting projects in the Western Desert are producing some very useful
information about prehistoric and early Predynastic Egypt. Tying in Faiyum studies to the
Western Desert Oases projects would help to elucidate both the profile of Egypt at this time and
the relationships between these areas.
Page 152
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Additional Excavation of Existing Sites
It would be useful to re-excavate any partially excavated sites with a view to obtaining data
which may not have been searched for in early excavations (like macroscopic floral information).
A comparative study of Bir Kiseiba/Nabta with Fayyum Neolithic
Wendorf, Schild and Close (1984) suggest that evidence from Bir Kiseiba and Nabta in SE Egypt,
as indicates that (possibly) domesticated animals, pottery and other cultural elements usually
associated with early agriculture developed independently in NE Africa approximately as early as
they did in SW Asia. They also argue for at least a partially sedentary existence in this early
Neolithic phase (c.8200-7900BP). If this is true, then the Bir Kiseiba and Nabta areas are
potentially interesting for research into early agricultural adopters who were not sedentary. The
Faiyum was occupied at around the same times at Bir Kiseiba and Nabta. Together with
evidence from Nubia they may provide evidence for determining how and why the initial and
indigenous development of agriculture in Egypt occurred, and what relationship they had to N.E.
African and Near Eastern industries.
Re-evaluation of all Faiyum Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic Data in NE Africa
A number of writers have pointed to the need for a complete evaluation of the significance of the
Faiyum data for understanding the origins of NE African agriculture. Depending upon the
ultimate origins of these cultures, the Egyptian material may be early or late in an African
sequence, or have occurred independently of it.
The Cairo Museum – Faiyum Lithics and Merimden Artefacts
I was quite horrified at the way in which the Faiyum Neolithic and Merimden artifacts are
displayed in the Cairo Museum, and it begs the question of whether they have received any
formal treatment at all. It is clear that if they have not yet been catalogued, photographed and
drawn, this should be done.
Predynastic Heliopolis, Maadi, Merimde, Buto, Sais
A revised study of this group (both settlement and cemetery sites) to determine similarities and
differences as follows:
 Industry
 Economy
 Gravegood combinations
 Eltism
 Social organization
As Mortensen says “The pottery tradition at Heliopolis is clearly related to the earlier tradition in
the north, found at Merimde, Fayum and El Omari but also shows traits from the Palestinian
tradition: temper with crushed limestone, use of a lime wash” (1988, p.33). It would be
distinctly useful to attempt some sort of clarification of the relationship between these three sites.
Naqada II, el-Gerzeh, Abusir el-Maleq etc
A focus on Naqada II encroachment on Lower Egypt with a view to understanding the process of
change at this time throughout Egypt by comparing Maadian sites with levels dating to this time,
with Naqada II sites that appear in Lower Egypt.
Prehistoric and Predynastic Religion and Symbolism
It is becoming clearer what some of the socio-political changes were and what sort of role the
economy had in this. Religious changes have not been studied in depth, in spite of the fact that
cemeteries were the main form of information in Upper Egypt – particularly in Lower Egypt. I
believe that there is much more work that can be carried out about ritual and symbolic behaviour
in early Egyptian contexts.
Page 153
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Maadi-Buto
The Maadi-Buto sites include both settlement and cemetery sites, which is immensely useful,
potentially, for developing a coherent picture of both secular and non secular elements of the
Maadi-Buto way of life.
Second Priority
Revision of Lower, Middle and Late Palaeolithic Industries in and around the Faiyum
The Palaeolithic in the Faiyum and elsewhere in northern Egypt has been very poorly described
and synthesised. I am not sure what needs to go into achieving this, but it needs to be done
before an understanding of the pre-Epipalaeolithic circumstances governing the development of
the area can be achieved. Sandford and Arkell found numerous artefacts in and around the
Faiyum in their 1929 survey (Sandford and Arkell 1929, p34) but were hampered by antiquated
understanding of different artefact types and assemblages and used old interpretations (for
example in the Late Palaeolithic Vignard’s version of the Sebilian and early interpretations of the
Tardenoisian) to describe and compare the Palaeolithic artefacts that they found. Because the
Survey placed artefacts in a geological context their interpretation becomes even more valuable
to gain an understanding of this pre-Epipalaeolithic phase and its successors. Caton-Thompson
also found pre-Epipalaeolithic artefacts which she interpreted as a late interpretation of the
Levalloisian, but her sample was too small to be statistically valid and therefore no longer
appears in descriptions of the Faiyum. Reconsideration of the existing artefacts and work to
locate more would be immensely valuable for evaluating the extent and form of the Palaeolithic
occupation of the Faiyum.
Clarification of the Helwan Epipalaeolithic
Debono’s 1948 excavation of Helwan has not yet been published in full, but it would be useful to
study the material in order to clarify its relationship with other Epipalaeolithic industries within
Egypt, and with Near Eastern and other industries.
Faunal assemblages of Faiyum Neolithic as represented at Koms K and W
No formal study of the faunal remains from the sites has been carried out, although top level
identifications have been made, and analysis of the lacustrine component of the diet has been
made (Brewer 1989). Research in this area could provide information about the origins of
domesticated species and the evolution of agriculture as a whole. This would probably require
additional excavation at Kom W (Kom K is no longer available having been lost to agricultural
activity).
Additional Field Survey of Faiyum with a view to clarifying the Epipalaeolithic and
Neolithic phases and perhaps discovering later sites
Although as part of a number of projects during the last few decades have identified new areas
of occupation during both Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic in both known and new areas of the
Faiyum, additional surveys of the Faiyum with the objective of obtaining more sites would help to
clarify earlier Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic, Neolithic phases, and the relationship between the
Qarunian and the Faiyum Neolithic (if any) and the Faiyum Neolithic and the Moerian. It might
also help to clarify links with different sites outside the Faiyum, particularly in the Western Desert
and western Delta areas. Areas around fossil beaches and the channel of Bar Yussef in prehistoric
times would provide obvious places to search. Additionally, it might help to identify any signs of
sites following the Moerian in the Faiyum. This would enable a much more reliable review of the
Faiyum data: “An analytical study of all the materials coming from the Fayum area will certainly
suggest a complete reconstruction of the agricultural societies of the Fayum depression from
Epipalaeolithic to Early Dynastic times and its evolution” (Casini p.203).
Page 154
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
NB – in view of the number of surveys already carried out it is difficult to assess what sort of
results might remain. This could either be a very useful exercise or a complete waste of
resources.
Contact Mechanisms between the Faiyum and sites in the southern Cairo area and the
Delta
There are clear links between Faiyum A sites and Western Delta sites like Merimda and El Omari.
Research into the connections between them may begin to explain the development of Lower
Egypt’s agricultural economy and its possibly early role in the eventual development of
Predynastic Egypt following the spread of Naqada II material culture.
Contact Mechanisms between the Faiyum, southern Cairo and Western Delta with
sites much further afield (e.g. Mediterranean, Red Sea, Sinai, Levant, and Africa) in
the Neolithic period
Research into the sources of these materials and the mechanisms that account for their presence
in the Faiyum, southern Cairo area and Western Delta may help to explain the development of
Lower Egyptian economics and its role in the eventual spread of Naqada II material culture. This
would need to be done in conjunction with a consideration of the roles played Eastern Delta,
Western Desert and possible Eastern Desert sites.
Third Priority
Hollow-Based Arrowheads
Arrowheads, particularly of the hollow-based form, are found all over Egypt and Africa, as well as
in the Near East. A study focusing on these arrowheads, together with the assemblages in which
they were found, might clarify the relationships between different industries and cultures in which
they appear.
El-Omari
Clearly, it would be of considerable value to excavate and publish the remaining areas of ElOmari that have not yet been touched in order to clarify the nature and chronology of the site
itself, and in order to establish its possible relationships with the Helwan Epipalaeolithic, Merimde
and Maadi. However, all that remains of El Omari is Gebel Hof, and this is under military control,
so unavailable for analysis. It is because the site is inaccessible that this has been relegated to
the bottom of the pile in so far as prioritisation of work is concerned.
Analysis of Skeletal Remains, Lower Egypt
Burials containing preserved bodies have been found in a number of Lower Egyptian sites, but
these have not been analysed. Analysis of the human remains would give vital information about
the physical characteristics of Neolithic Egyptians of Lower Egypt, together with details about
health, medical details, and lifestyle. It is possible that analysis could also result in information
about the genetic relationship of Lower Egyptian communities with Near Eastern, Upper Egyptian
and other populations. Again, this has been relegated to a low priority position due to the
fragmentary nature of the remains surviving in museums, and the fact that provenances have
often been poorly recorded or have become jumbled in storage.
State Formation: Naqada III Western Faiyum, Western Delta, Eastern Delta
A focus on Naqada III Egypt bringing together all relevant data with a view to building a much
better understanding of the archaeological evidence that underlies the process of sate formation
and the role of outlying areas in this process.
Page 155
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Dendro-dating Project
“Dendrochronology has some possibilities in Egypt, because wood preserves so well there, but
the many logs and artefacts made of Levantine conifers have never been systematically
analysed” (Wenke 1991, p.289)
2.2.2
Other Projects
Potential Projects
Online Database of Radiocarbon Dates
An online database of uncalibrated radiocarbon dates for Egypt (and North East Africa, if
appropriate)
Online Gallery of Egyptian Prehistoric and Early Predynastic Images
There are far too images published for direct comparison, presumably because of the high costs
of publication. Most students are working without directly comparable images of artefacts,
excavation plans and maps. This means that learning about sites, industries, cultures and
economies is based upon museum collections world wide and published information of variable
quality and availability. The Petrie Museum has made a start in this direction, but relies on its
own collections which do not represent all Egyptian sites and industries. This would be a massive
project, but worth the effort.
Online Repository of Unpublished Works
Creation of a University-based and student-sponsored online “paper-lab” of good unpublished
articles on particular subjects within the University’s areas of specialisation, divided by
geographical area (e.g. Faiyum) by industry (e.g. comparative studies in N.E.Africa) and by
subject matter (e.g. State Formation).
Could include unpublished excavation results, authorised personal communications, high quality
student submissions (papers, dissertations), and unsolicited submissions etc (e.g. Cagle 1994).
Projects already Underway
Prehistoric and Predynastic Egypt, Archaeology and Geology
This project is already underway in very early stages (early postings at www.predynastic.com).
It is proposed to publish in four parts:
 Part 1: Archaeology and Chronology
 Part 2: Approaches to Material Remains
 Part 3: a) Geology and Geomorphology and b) Palaeo-environments
Summarise current “best estimates” of Egyptian climates and ecology during the
Egyptian Palaeolithic and Neolithic.
Status: No significant work yet undertaken. Publication 2004
 Part 4: Gazetteer of Sites and Dates (Database)
Economic Geology of Egypt
Research underway
Egypt Prehistoric and Predynastic Archaeology Portal
Hosted at http://www.dino.cd2.com/html/egypt_portal.html.
Faiyum and Western Desert V 2.0W, Online
Work in Progress
Page 156
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendices and Bibliography
Page 157
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix A – Previous Excavation and Survey Projects
Archaeological Work in the Faiyum
The Faiyum area has been visited since the early 1800s (and even before) by travellers including
French herbalist Paul Lucas (1714), Richard Pococke (1743), Dr P.D. Martin (1801) Linant de
Bellefonds (1818-1828), and Paul Lenoir (1872). It has been inspected by both archaeologists
and geologists and continues to receive attention from both. Related areas (E.G. Merimda, elOmari, Maadi) were also the subject of early studies and are shown in the Bibliography. See the
Bibliography for full details, but the main investigations of the Faiyum include:
Dates
Project
Excavators
Discoveries
Comment
1934
(Surveys
1924,’25
’26,’27,
‘28)
Combined British
School of
Archaeology in
Egypt and the
Royal
Anthropological
Institute Survey
Caton
Thompson
and Gardner
(and
Huyazzin)
The Epipalaeolithic was
wrongly interpreted as a
late Neolithic industry.
19661968
Institute of
Palethnology
(University of
Rome) Survey
Puglisi et al
Numerous
Neolithic and
Epipalaeolithic
sites, northern
Faiyum. Small
samples of an
industry with late
Levalloisian traits
Ten surface
concentrations
dating to
Epipalaeolithic
and Neolithic
19681969
Combined
Prehistoric
Expedition
Wendorf,
Schild, Said
et al
1980s
Faiyum Survey
Project
Wenke et al
1986
Polish Mission
Ginter and
Kozlowski
A number of
Epipalaeolithic,
Neolithic and
Early Dynastic
concentrations in
the northern
Faiyum
Epipalaeolithic
and Neolithic
Epipalaeolithc
and Neolithic
Focused on the northeast of modern Birket
Qarun. Found an
Epipalaeolithic industry
which is not 100%
consistent with the
Qarunian
Discovered and identified
changes in the lake and
tied this into settlement
activities, obtaining C14
dates.
Two sites (FS2 and FS1)
in particular are of value
and importance
Classification of some of
their Epipalaeolithic finds
as Moerian
Page 158
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Geological Work in the Faiyum
Investigations of the Faiyum, and fluctuations of Lake Qarun (after Hassan 1980)
Classical Period
Period
Date of
Publication
450 BC
Investigator
Geomorphology
Archaeology
Herodotus
Reported a 13,000 km sq
lake, 13 times the present
size
?
Strabo,
Diadorus,
Pliny
Confirmed the existence of
the lake
Believed at the time to
have been excavated by
King Moeris as a reservoir
backfilling into the Nile
Under the Ptolemies, the
level of the lake dropped
due to land reclamation
projects
1886
Shewinfirth
1892
British Imperial Period
1905
1918
–
1934
(Surveys
1924,’25
’26,’27, ‘28)
1929
Classical Consensus
Recognised several ancient
shorelines
Brown
Postulated a lake at 19-25m
asl from earliest times
through the dynastic period
Beadnell,
All confirmed Brown’s views.
Petrie,
Beadnell (1905) identified
Wilcocks
deposits
from
the
Pleistocene lake at 22m
First Modern Consensus
Caton
Postulated:
Thompson
 A Pleistocene lake 40m
and Gardner
asl in the Middle
Palaeolithic
 Subsequent level falls
and severs the Nile
connection
 Nile re-enters at the
beginning of the
Neolithic resettlement
 Continued shrinkage
which produced low
levels in the Dynastic
Sandford and Agreed with Caton
Arkell
Thompson and Gardner on
many points and postulated
that
 Postulated a late
Palaeolithic level of 34m
asl
 Identified beaches
falling from Mousterian,
consistent with falling
lake
 Lake drains into Nile
Identified Neolithic
settlement (“Faiyum A”)
The Qarunian “Faiyum B”
was identified as a post
Faiyum A Neolithic
Settlement
Identified a number of
Lower and Middle
Palaeolithic industries
Page 159
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
1939
1940
1972-1976
1986
Andie Byrnes 2003
then rises to 18m asl in
the Neolithic
Ball
Evaluated existing evidence
and produced a synthesis of
the known information
CatonReaffirmed Caton-Thompson Reaffirmed Neolithic.
Thompson
and Gardner’s 1934 results.
and Huzayyin Postulated that Lake Qarun
was a fresh water lake on
the basis of mollusc species
Pre World War II Consensus
Wendorf,
Postulated:
Concluded:
Schild and
 A Pleistocene lake
 Neolithic occupation
Said
 A
subsequent
lake
took place during
Combined
rising lake levels
predating the Neolithic
Prehistoric
 Several distinct lake  Caton-Thompson and
Expedition
stages of pre-Neolithic
Gardeners falling lake
lake
hypothesis based on
false assumptions and
o Palaeo-Moeris
o Premoeris
resulted in incorrect
conclusions about the
o Protomoeris
 Lake levels rose in the
Qarunian
Neolithic
 Qarunian was an
 Lake level 23m asl in Old
Epipalaeolithic
industry
Kingdom
Hassan
Confirms Wendorf and Schild  Proposed chronology
and:
for Epipalaeolithic,
 Identifies two Holocene
Neolithic and
lakes, Palaeo, Pre and
Predynastic correlated
Protomoeris
with lake levels
 Palaeo, Pre falls to
 Confirms high lake
below 12m asl, then
levels in the Old
rises to 19-24m asl
Kingdom
marking the beginning
of the Protomoeris
Hassan’s 1986 Chronology Establishes Current Status
Information about Dynastic lake levels in the Faiyum was postulated by Shafei (1940, 1960) and
Butzer (1976).
Page 160
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix B – Raw Materials Sources used in Faiyum Tool Manufacture
Studies of the geology of the Faiyum have provided an insight into where raw materials for tool
manufacture could be sourced. In his study of variations in Qarunian and Faiyum Neolithic
debitage from sites FS1 and FS2, Anthony Cagle has looked at different types of manufacturing
technique and different types of raw material. He identified possible locations for these materials
from published papers, and conducted a short visual survey on the materials available from those
sites. The locations he identified are as follows (Cagle 1994):
Period
Location
Form
Material
Comment
References
UpperEocene /
Lower
Oligocene
Directly above Qasr el
Sagha, near top of
scarp
FluvioMarine series
(Gebel
Qatrani beds)
Hard cherty
limestone
with beds of
tabular chert
and flint
Many authors
mention its use in
the manufacture
of stone tools
Thought to be
the only area in
the Faiyum
where chert
occurs in primary
geological
position.
Very top of the
northern scarp above
Qasr el Sagha above
Gebel Qatrani beds
Variegated
sediments
continuing
the above
series
Same beds
as above
Small chert
and flint
nodules
Beadnell
1905
CatonThompson
1926
CatonThompson &
Gardner 1934
Wendorf &
Schild 1976
MidantReynes
1992/2000
Mentioned by
several
authors as
source
materials
No known
references
Gravels
Some contain
flint and
chert
adequate for
tool
production
Local Stone
PlioPleistocene
Pleistocene
Above the same scarp
near Qasr Qarun (a few
Kms from FS1 & FS2 nr
Qasr Qarun, nw corner
Lake Qarun)
Wide areas of Fayum,
several on the FaiyumCairo road c.20km
north of Karanis
Throughout the Fayum
and in the area of FS1
and FS2
Gravels
(heterogeneous deposits)
Chert and
flint nodules
Not all contain
suitable chert or
flint
Some suitable for
tool manufacture,
and there is some
indication that
local stones were
used
Images of many of the geological features discussed above are shown at the AAPG website at
http://www.aapg.org/international/africa/ne_africa_egypt/local_activity/whale_valley/whale_valle
y_fayoum.htm
Page 161
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix C - Maps
The following maps have all been copied from websites or scanned from published texts and are
strictly the copyright of the owners, shown for each map reproduced here. NB all maps are much
clearer when printed off than when shown on-screen.
(Manley 1996)
(Vivian 1990)
Page 162
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Faiyum Oasis (Caton Gardner 1927)
Northern Faiyum (Mussi et al 1984)
Page 163
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix D – Satellite Images of the Faiyum and Western Delta
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/iams/images/pao/ASTP/10076554.jpg
Page 164
Appendix E: Radiocarbon Dates for Faiyum and Western Delta
All of this information is derived mainly from Hassan 1985, with additional and more up to date information from Hassan 1986 and 1988, and from
Wetterstrom 1993, 1995.
Please note that the “References” column referrers to the source from which I have derived the dates, and not the original source for the date.
Those who want to pursue these matters further should refer to the Lab Reference or should use the References to find the original source.
Key:
QES
?
Rej
Qasr el-Sagha
Unknown context
Rejected Date
Area
Period
Site
Site
Provenance
Radiocarbon
Date,
uncalibrated
Faiyum
Epipalaeolithic
QS I/79
1.70m asl.
Ancient deltaic
deposits of Lake
Qarun, layer of
crossbedded
sand.
TS-8, level 2
Trench 1.
14-15 asl.
Premoeris
Sediments.
Area A, trench 1,
layer 2
?
TS-12, level 4
?
8835890bp
Trench 5, Area A.
12.2m asl
FS-2
E29GI(A)
E29H1
QS II/79
FS-2
FS-2
E29G3(A)
Calibration if
available (and
calibration source if
known)
N/a
Lab reference
Material
Reference
Gd-709
?
Hassan 1988
and
www.carbon14.
pl
8220105bp
8100130bp
7100BC
7100BC
6150130BC
Beta-4871
I-4128
?
Charcoal
Charcoal
Hassan 1986
Hassan 1988
Said et al 1970
8070115BP
6120BC115
I-4126
774060bp
772070bp
760070bp
6370BC
6500BC
6450BC
Bln-2336
Beta-4872
Beta-4180
Powdered
charcoal
?
?
?
Wendorf and
Schild 1976
Hassan 1988
Hassan 1986
Hassan 1988
7500125bp
6400BC
I-4130
?
Hassan 1986
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
5550BC125
North
Faiyum
Neolithic
Wendorf and
Schild 1976
Hassan 1988
Wendorf and
Schild 1976
E29GI
Occupation
horizon c.19m asl
Protomoeris
sediments
7140120bp
6030BC
5190120BC
I-4129
Burnt
Shells
Kom K (upper)
Upper K Pit 13
6095250bp
C-457
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Kom K (upper)
Upper K Pit 59 &
unnumbered pit
Basal level
c.16.5m asl
6391180bp
C-550 and C551
I-4127
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
?
538845bp
BM-530
Wood
Said et al 1970
Hassan 1985
From depth
c.10cm. Ancient
deltaic deposits
of Lake Qarun,
layer of crossbedded sand
?
599060bp
4970250 BC
(Damon et al)
5260200 BC
(Damon et al)
4690145 BC
(Damon et al)
3860115BC
4255135 BC
(Damon et al)
487085 BC
(Damon et al)
GD-693
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
and
www.carbon14.
pl
Bln-2335
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
From depth
c.40cm. Ancient
deltaic deposits
of Lake Qarun,
layer of crossbedded sand
1.45m
6040650bp
(Rej)
495580 BC
(Damon et al)
N/a
Gd-708
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
and
www.carbon14.
pl
Bln-2333
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
1.70-1.75m
(ancient deltaic
deposits of Lake
Qarun, layer of
cross-bedded
sand with Faiyum
A remains)
554070bp
4430190 BC
(Damon et al)
4410190 BC
(Damon et al)
Gd-1140
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
and
www.carbon14.
pl
Kom W
(E29H2)
29d30’N/30d30’
E
Qasr el Sagha
(QES)V/79
(I/AB/47)
QES V/79
(AB/47)
QES I/79
QES I/79
QES I/79
5810115bp
607550bp
555560bp
Page 166
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
QES I/79
Andie Byrnes 2003
564555bp
4520190 BC
(Damon et al)
Bln-2334
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
648070bp
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Gd-1499
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
QES QS X/81-1
Hearth 1
632060bp
Gd-1497
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
QES QS X/81-2
Hearth 2
6290100bp
Gd-979
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
QES QS X/81-5
Hearth 5
6290110bp
Gd-980
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
QES VIE/81
From a hearth in
wadi silt near site
QS VIE/81
Fayum A cultural
layer 13-16m asl
565070bp
5350115 BC
(Damon et al)
5350105 BC
(Damon et al)
5915105 BC
(Damon et al)
5164135 BC
(Damon et al)
5164140 BC
(Damon et al)
4525190 BC
(Damon et al)
Gd-2021
QES QS IX/81
1.75m.
Associated with
CWSS Unit
Associated with
GHS Formation
?
Gd-1495
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
4740145BC
(Damon et al)
3910115 BC
I-4131
Charcoal
Hassan 1986
3210BC110
I-3469
Redeposited
charcoal
Said et al 1970
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
QES QS XI/81
E29G3(B) =
CatonThompson 1934
Site R
638060bp
5860115bp
Unidentified
occupation c.1417m asl
Said et al 1970
QES QS XI/81
From hearth 2
6480170BP
?
Gd-2021
Charcoal
QES QS IX/81
From hearth 1
638060BP
?
Gd-1499
Charcoal
QES QS X/81
From hearth 1
632060BP
?
Gd-1497
Charcoal
QES QS X/81
From hearth 5
638080
?
Gd-980
Charcoal
QES QS X/81
From hearth 2
6290100
?
Gd-979
Charcoal
QES QS VIIA/80
Locus 6
5160110
?
Gd-917
Charcoal
QES QS X/81
From hearth 3
4740100
?
Gd-978
Charcoal
Page 167
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
QES QS VIIA/80
Locus 6
5080110
?
Gd-918
Charcoal
QES QS VIIA/80
From locus 2
5960400
?
Gd-919
Charcoal
QES QS VIIA/80
From a layer of
white sand below
soil level, section
8
From hearth 2
5450100
?
Gd-977
Charcoal
5120110
?
Gd-874
Charcoal
From a layer of
yellow sand
above soil level,
section 8
From a layer of
white sand,
Trench 1, depth
250-255cm
From a sandy
layer with
washed hearth,
depth 25-30,
section 8
From Feature
2/81
From Feature
1/81
16m asl.
From hearth#1
in white silt
layer.Ancient
deltaic deposits
of Lake Qarun,
layer of crossbedded sand.
500060
?
Gd-1496
Charcoal
5010120
?
Gd-904
Charcoal
www.carbon14.
pl
4580180
?
Gd-973
Charcoal
www.carbon14.
pl
358060
?
Gd-970
Charcoal
346050
?
Gd-1486
Charcoal
5410110bp
3860BC115
5275170 BC
(Damon et al)
I-4127
Gd-903
?
Charcoal
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
Said 1970
Hassan 1985
and
www.carbon14.
pl
QES QS VIIG/80
QES QS VIIA/81
QES QS VIII/80
QES QS VIIA/81
QES QS VIA/81
QES QS IA/81
Late Neolithic
Andie Byrnes 2003
E29H2
QES VID/80
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
Page 168
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
QES VIIA/80
From a sandy
layer below fossil
soil, section 7.
Ancient deltaic
deposits of Lake
Qarun, layer of
cross-bedded
sand.
?
5070110bp
3900150 BC
(Damon et al)
Gd-895
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
and
www.carbon14.
pl
5480100bp
Gd-977
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
5160120bp
Gd-915
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
And
www.carbon14.
pl
QES QS-X/81
From a sandy
layer below fossil
soil, section 6.
Ancient deltaic
deposits of Lake
Qarun, layer of
cross-bedded
sand
Hearth 6
4350205 BC
(Damon et al)
4005160 BC
(Damon et al)
Gd-978
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
QES QS V/79
?
607550BP
4189160 BC
(Damon et al)
?
Gd-695
?
Kozlowski and
Ginter 1989
QES QS VII/80
?
4820110bp
c.3600BC
?
?
QES QS VIIA/80
?
599095bp
?
?
?
QES QS VIIA/80
From a sandy
layer above fossil
soil, section 6
From a hearth
5080110BP
?
Gd-916
Charcoal
Wetterstrom
1993, 1995
Wetterstrom
1993, 1995
www.carbon14.
pl
3190130BP
?
Gd-971
Charcoal
389045BP
?
Gd-1372
Charcoal
QES QS VIII/80
From a furnace
pit
?
5012120bp
?
Gd-904
?
QES QS VII/80
?
5129110bp
?
Gd-874
?
QES VIIA/80
QES VIIA/80
QES QS VIIG/81
?
Andie Byrnes 2003
QES QS VIIC/80
5330100bp
www.carbon14.
pl
www.carbon14.
pl
Kozlowski and
Ginter 1989
Kozlowski and
Ginter 1989
Page 169
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
West
Faiyum
Western
Delta
Predynastic
FS-1
516070bp
FS-2
496016bp
FS-3
547570bp
Merimda Beni
Salama
Andie Byrnes 2003
T4, 60cm below
surface
T4, 60cm below
surface
T4, 60cm below
surface
TT2: -75cm
below surface
? – 180cm below
surface
R1- 180cm below
surface
T4- 180cm below
surface
T4- 180cm below
surface
TT2 –102cm
below surface
A18
5430120bp
?
5970120bp
?
5940100bp
Merimda I.1
583060bp
Merimda I.2
579060bp
Merimda I.3
589060bp
5550100bp
5640100bp
526090bp
6130110bp
5710bp
(Rej)
3630100bp
(Rej)
4560140bp
(Rej)
5750100bp
5580230bp
516070 BC
(Damon et al)
4960160 BC
(Damon et al)
547570BC
(Damon et al)
Beta-4181
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Beta-4182
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Beta-4874
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
4295175BC (Damon et
al)
4425205BC
(Damon et al)
4515205BC (Damon et
al)
4115155BC
(Damon et al)
5005125BC
(Damon et al)
N/a
U-10A
Grain
Hassan 1985
U-10B
Grain
Hassan 1985
U-73
Grain
Hassan 1985
WSU-1846
Grain
Hassan 1985
U-6
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
U-7
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
N/a
U-31
Hassan 1985
N/a
U-32
4560140 BC
(Damon et al)
4455290 BC
(Damon et al)
4850135 BC
(Damon et al)
4820115 BC
(Damon et al)
4710105 BC
(Damon et al)
4670105 BC
(Damon et al)
4750105 BC
(Damon et al)
W-4355
Bone
apatite
Bone
collagen
Charcoal
U-8
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
U-9A
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
U-9B
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
KN-3275
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
KN-3276
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
KN-3277
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Hassan 1985
Hassan 1985
Page 170
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Eastern
Delta
Late
Predynastic/
Early Dynastic
Andie Byrnes 2003
Merimda V.1
559060bp
Merimda V.2
576060bp
El-Omari
A15
5255230bp
Maadi
CLXVA
473060bp
CXXXA
501050bp
30 55 00N
32 02 00E
Square 13/21-20,
pure sandy layer
1-2m
30 55 00N
32 02 00E
From depth 2.5m
below the
surface of sandy
hill (gezira) near
grave 1930 from
pure sand
30 55 00N
32 02 00E
From wooden
construction of
the chamber of
grave 1590
30 55 00N
32 02 00E
From the
contents of
funerary ceramic
vessels 7-9 found
in grave 1930
Minshat Abu
Omar
Minshat Abu
Omar
Minshat Abu
Omar
Minshat Abu
Omar
4465105 BC
(Damon et al)
4640105 BC
(Damon et al)
4110260 BC
(Damon et al)
3505110 BC
(Damon et al)
3835120 BC
(Damon et al)
KN-3278
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
KN-3279
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
C-463
Charcoal
Hassan 1985
Beta-2804
Wood
Hassan 1985
Beta-2805
Grain
Hassan 1985
9000110BP
Gd-6232
Terrestrial
shell
www.carbon14.
pl
524060BP
Gd-5713
Fresh
water
shell
www.carbon14.
pl
393970BP
Gd-6233
Charcoal
www.carbon14.
pl
4120100BP
Gd-4566
Charcoal
www.carbon14.
pl
Page 171
Appendix F: The Faiyum – A Brief History of Dynastic Faiyum
This history of the Faiyum is very brief and does not attempt to be in any way comprehensive.
While a few sites are mentioned in passing, a great many more are not. It is included to provide
a snapshot of the Faiyum at different periods.
In an undefined period referred to by a number of authors (Said et al 1970, Wendorf and Schild
1976, Wenke 1989) as Predynastic, a number of sites feature including FS3 and E29G4.
The capital of the Faiyum from the Old Kingdom until the Roman era was Kiman Faris (now in
ruins). An Old Kingdom presence is represented by, amongst other things, the Widan al-Faras
quarry where the workmen mined basalt used to make stone vessels and statues, and by a small
step pyramid at Seila. The pyramid remains are now 7m high and only the lower levels are
visible. In the 1980s the pyramid was investigated and it was it possible to identify the pyramid’s
owner as Snefru of the Fourth Dynasty. No internal chambers have been found. There are six
other pyramids in the locality, all equally small. In the area where Wendorf and Schild (1976)
expanded our knowledge of the Faiyum Qarunian and Neolithic, Site E29G5 is another scattered
concentration but is a bit of an anomaly, due to the presence of a bronze harpoon, and probably
belongs to the Old Kingdom, as does E29G6 at Qasr el-Sagha.
The Faiyum reached a peak of importance to Egypt in the Middle Kingdom, when the royal seat
was moved to the north at el-Lisht. The area became the focal point of activity of Twelfth
Dynasty pharaohs in particular but activities took place throughout the Dynastic period:
Amenemhat I, the founder of the Twelfth Dynasty. He transferred the royal seat from
Thebes, the base of the former kings, to a new site in the north, in the area of modern
Lisht, on the Nile between the Faiyum and Cairo, opposite Helwan, where it stayed for
400 years. Senwosret I succeeded him on his assassination (and raised the Obelisk in
Medinet Faiyum) but it was not until he was himself succeeded by Senwosret II, who was
almost certainly responsible for the first stages of the development of the Faiyum, which
is where he built his pyramid (made of mud-brick rather than stone).
His grandson Amenemhat III had a long reign and during the course of it developed the
Faiyum, building upon the work of Senwosret II to construct a barrage regulating the
flow of water into the area (and possibly into the lake) in order to reclaim fertile land. To
commemorate his works he built the Colossi of Biyahmu which were set up to overlook
the lake. He added to a number of monuments and built the temple of Medinet Maadi,
most importantly completing the mud-brick pyramid, overlooking his barrage, and the
famous Labyrinth at Hawara.
The Qasr el-Sagha is a Middle Kingdom building made of limestone slabs that was never
completed.
New Kingdom interest in the area was infinitely less than in the Middle Kingdom, but the Medinet
Maadi site was restored in the Nineteenth Dynasty.
The Ptolemies were the first since the Middle Kingdom to see and exploit the potential of the
Faiyum, and several towns were created including Karanis (near Kom Ushim), Bacchias (Kom el
Atl), Dionysuas (Qasr Qarun), Tebtunis and Philadelphia (Darb Gerze).
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Ptolemy I was the first to set about restoring the Faiyum and reclaimed around 1200km
sq of land by draining off some of Lake Qarun. Ptolemy II Philadelphus continued this
and allocated areas of land to Greek and Macedonian settlers. Settlers also included
Jews, Persians, Arabs, Syrians, Thracians and Samaritans. Intermarriage between local
Egyptians and foreign settlers became commonplace. The Faiyum became very rich at
this time. Ptolemy II married Arsinoe II, his sister, and named the town of Philadelphia
in the Faiyum for her (brotherly love) and the province of Faiyum after her (Arsinoite
replacing the former name of Crocodopolis). Arsinoe was deified after her death and an
annual festival in her honour was held in the Faiyum.
A remarkable find of 166 Greco-Roman portraits were found in a Ptolemaic cemetery in a
cemetery at Hawara.
The Faiyum fell into a state of decay in late Greek and early Roman times, with several
settlements being abandoned, and key waterways silting up. However, in 395BC the Roman
Empire was partitioned and Egypt became subject to the eastern Empire. The Faiyum was
restored in order for it to produce grain for the Roman Empire. When restored to its former
state, the Faiyum produced 10% of Egypt’s grain contribution to the Empire.
Qasr Qarun, near the village of Qarun on the western edge of the Faiyum depression was
known as Dionysias and was at the start of the caravan route to Bahriya. Dionysias was
founded in the 3rd century BC. The town site is ruined, and little remains to be seen
although the last remains of the Roman municipal baths can still be seen and the remains
of two temples still remain. The Emperor Diocletian constructed a mudbrick fortress lies
to the west of the temple to protect the town against Bedouin tribes invading from the
west – again mostly ruined. Square towers at each corner would have provided lookout
posts for the guards of the garrison. Remains of a Christian basilica can be seen inside
the fortress
At Seila, not far from the Old Kingdom pyramid there are some un-inscribed rock-cut
tombs in which thousands of papyri have been found. The tombs date from the Roman
and Coptic Periods
Throughout its history, the Faiyum was the centre for the worship of Sobek, the crocodile god,
and related crocodile gods from the Old Kingdom onwards. It became something of a tourist
attraction when visitors came to feed the crocodiles kept at temples with cakes and other food
which they purchased from the priests who looked after them.
The Faiyum has also had a fascinating and eventful history in post Dynastic times up until the
present day.
Page 173
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix G: The Faiyum Today
Today the Faiyum is a prosperous province which is growing in importance and prosperity. It is
under the jurisdiction of the Faiyum Governorate which governs a 4,578 sq km area. There are
five main centres, which are the centre of five administrative areas called markaz (Sunnuris,
Ibshaway, Tamiya, Itsa and Faiyum, with the main town, Medinet Faiyum occupying the area of
Roman Crocodpolis, under 200 villages (qarya), and over 1500 hamlets (‘izba).
Agriculture is the main industry (most of the land in the Faiyum being cultivated), followed by
cotton production and tourism (there are now several hotels in the Faiyum). Hewison (2001, p.9)
cites the 1878 Baedeker as calling the Faiyum “the land of roses” in recognition of the old rose
growing practices, which rather sadly no longer exist. Other crops are now grown instead,
including onion, wheat, beans, maize, melons, rice, eggplants, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes,
palms, tomatoes, fruit and herbs. Domestic animals include donkeys, cattle, sheep, some goat,
chicken (often said to be the best in Egypt), ducks, geese and pigeons. The lake, now brackish
due to being fed by drainage and irrigation waters, is fished for fish, shrimps. The local craft
industry specializes in basketry (sabat). Coptic monasteries, which had fallen out of use, have
been restored and reoccupied.
Tourism offers both opportunities and risks to the Faiyum - while it will bring tourist money into
the area, it also brings in new threats to sites (both geological and archaeological): “The
increased number of tourists arriving by four wheel drives has . . . led to a severe loss of the
fossils by visitors” (AAPG 2002, p2).
There are around two million people in the Faiyum, of whom over half are men, and two ethnic
groups - Egyptians in the central area and Bedouin on the outskirts. Nile waters are delivered to
the Faiyum my canal from the Bar Yussef and this is controlled at el Lahun by a series of sluices.
(Hewison 2001 and Vivian 2000).
“When taken as a whole the the Fayoum area deserves a much broader protection and planned
interpretation” (AAPG 2000, p10).
Page 174
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix H: The Faiyum and Western Delta – Site Listing with Date Ranges
NB: Some sites appear in different periods/phases because they have been occupied more than
once, at different times.
Period
Phase
Site Name
Date Range
Palaeolithic
Lower
Palaeolithic
Middle
Palaeolithic
Upper
Palaeolithic
Kom Tima,
?
Kom Tima, Gebel er-Rus, Qasr
Basil
Ezbet George, Dimshkin
?
Early/Alternative
Epipalaeolithic
Qarunian
S4, MOE2, MOE2b
MOE2c,
FS2, E29H1, E29G1, E29G2,
QSI/79, QSII/79, E29H2,
E29G3(A),
Bahr el Malek 4
Helwan
No dates available
Kom W, Kom K (E29H2), Kom
M, FS1, QSXI/81, QSIX/81,
QSV/79, QSI/79, QSVIE/81,
QSIX/79, QSXI/79, E29H1(A, B
and C), E29G3(B), E29G1
QSVII/80, QSVI/80, QSXII/80,
QSVID/80
FS3?
6480+/1170BP (Gd2021) 599060BP
(Gd-695)
Merimden
Merimde Beni-Salame
Omarian
El-Omari
6130+/-100bp (U-6)
-4560+/-140bp (U-32)
5255+/-230bp(C-463)
Upper Egypt
Chalcolithic
Maadian
Maadi, Buto (Tell el-Fara’in),
Sais, Sedment, Harageh,
Heliopolis, es-Saff
Naqada II,
Western Delta and
Eastern Faiyum
Naqadan
Buto, Abusir el-Maleq,
El-Gerzeh, Tura,
Tell el-Fara’in (Buto)
Naqada III,
Western Delta and
Eastern Faiyum
Naqadan
Buto, Abusir el-Maleq, Tarkhan,
Memphis
`Epipalaeolithic
Helwan
Neolithic (Faiyum)
Moerian
Neolithic (W.
Delta)
Predynastic
FS3?, E29G4
Protodynastic
QSVIII/80, QSVII/80
?
8835+/1890BP (Gd709) – 7500+/1125BP
(I-4130)
No dates available
5480+/1100BP (Gd977) –5070+/-120BP
(Gd-915)
c.3650BC
Page 175
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix I: Site Decoder
Different projects use different naming conventions, and for their own purposes sometimes
rename existing sites using the new naming conventions. This table lists sites which are known
by other, sometimes multiple, names.
Caton Thompson and Gardner
C-T and G Site Name
Kom W
Site Z1
?Unnamed Faiyum B site at
the north edge of “X-Basin”
Site R
Wendorf and Schild
Site Name (1976)
E29H2
E29G1
E29H1
E29G3(b)
Brewer (1989)
In his article, Brewer mentions five different sites from which he derived samples but does not
say which of the excavated sites they refer to. These are best-guesses based on the map
included in his article.
Brewer Site
Name
Site
Site
Site
Site
Site
1
2
3
4
5
Wenke Site
Name
CatonThompson
and Gardner
Kom W?
FS1
Page 176
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix J: Complete List of Flora and Fauna from Maadi



Domesticated animals and the number of the bones found
o cattle (3573)
o sheep (840)
o goat (38)
o pig (6568)
Wild animals and number of the bones found
o wild aurochs/bos primigenius (13)
o bubal hartebeest/alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus (became extinct) (125)
o dorcas gazelle/gazella dorcas (and gazell leptoceros?) (131)
o hippo/hippopotamus amphibius (235)
o ?wild hog/sus scrofa (1)
o ?jackal/canis aureus (1)
o fox/vulpes vulpes and ruppells fox/vulpes rueppelli (26)
o fennec fox/fennecus zerda (2)
o lion/panthera leo (2)
o African wild cat/felis silvestris libyca and sand cat/felis margarita margarita (6)
o striped hyaena/hyaena hyaena (1)
o striped weasel/poecilictis libyca (86)
o cape or brown hare/lepus capensis (1)
o hedgehoge/paraechinus deserti (3)
o shrew/crocidura flavescens deltae (33)
o field rat/arvicanthus niloticus (1244)
o (field rat or sundevall's jird) (413)
o sundevall's jird/meriones crassus perpallidu (and Libyan jirds/meriones libycus
libycus?) (1053)
o greater Egyptian gerbil/gerbillus pyramidum pyramidum (90)
o house mouse/mus musculus (135)
o short-tailed bandicoot Rat /nesokia indica (12)
o lesser Jerboa/jaculus jaculus (45)
Birds and number of the bones found
o ostrich/struthio camelus (7)
o white pelican/pelecanus onocrotalus (1)
o cormorant/phalacrocorax carbo (3)
o african darter/anhinga rufa (2)
o grey heron/ardea cinerea (8)
o purple heron/ardea purpurea (5)
o little egret/egretta garzetta (4)
o black-crowned night-heron/nycticorax nycticorax (4)
o little bittern/ixobrychus minutus (1)
o anser albifrons (37)
o mallard/anas platyrhynchos and pintail/anas acuta (66)
o gadwall/anas strepera and wigeon/anas penelope (3)
o northern shoveler/anas clypeata (5)
o gargany/anas querquedula and teal/anas crecca (57)
o pochard/aythya ferina and tufted duck/aythya fuligula (7)
o ferruginous duck/aythya nyroca (1)
o differents ducks (11)
o falco spec. (2)
o coturnix coturnix (14)
o crane/grus grus (4)
Page 177
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)


Andie Byrnes 2003
o (grosse Trappe)
o crex crex (31)
o (wachtelkoenig or wasserralle)
o water rail/rallus aquaticus (1)
o spotted crake/porzana porzana (1)
o common moorhen/gallinula chloropus (2)
o coot/fulica atra (1)
o ?sandpiper/tringa glareola (1)
o woodcock/scolopax rusticola (1)
o stone curlew/burhinus oedicnemus (3)
o sandwich tern/sterna sandvicensis (1)
o black-bellied sandgrouse/pterocles senegallus (5)
o short-eared owl/asio flammeus (1)
o skylark/alauda arvensis or crested lark/galerida cristata (2)
o wheatear/oenanthe spec. (2)
o blackbird/turdus merula (1)
o common raven/corvus corax (1)
o hooded crow/corvus corone sardonius (1)
o bones of birds unknown animal (76)
Fish and number of bones found
o polypterus bichir (667)
o mormyrus spec. (50)
o gnathonemus cyprinoides (3)
o hyperopsius bebe (34)
o (unknown mormyrids) (143)
o hydrocyon (forskalii) (7)
o alestes spec. (22)
o citharinus/distichodus (2)
o barbus bynni (18)
o barbus spec. (?bynni) (40)
o labeo spec. (43)
o (unknown cyprinids) (161)
o bagrus docmac and bagrus bayad (356)
o auchenoglanis occidentalis (12)
o chrysichthys spec. (2)
o eutropius niloticus (1)
o schilbe mystus (5)
o clarias/heterobranchus (4167)
o malapterurus electricus (7)
o synodontis (1805)
o catfish/siluriformes (2191)
o mugil spec. (166)
o nile perch/lates niloticus (666)
o tilapia nilotica (1153)
o tetrodon fahaka (104)
Plants
o wheat (triticum dicoccum)
o sorghum
o barley
o vetch (vicia sativa augustifolia) for fodder (?)
(Sources: Krzyzaniak 1977: Boessneck 1988, copied from www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk).
Page 178
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix J: A Comparison of body orientation in Cairo Area Predynastic Cemeteries
After Mortensen 1988:
Site
Minshat Abu Omar
Date
Naqada II-III
Merimde (phase 1)
Head
N
Face
W
Side
R
SE
NE
R
Omari Settlement
El Harageh
Naqada I
Naqada II
S
S
W
W
L
L
Heliopolis
Maadi North
Wadi Digla
Naqada I-II a/b
Naqada II?
Naqada I-II a/b
S
S
S
E
E
E
R
R
R
Maadi North
Wadi Digla
Tura
Naqada II?
Naqada I-IIa/b
Naqada II-III
N
N
N
E/W
E/W
E/W
L/R
L/R
L/R
Tura
Naqada II-III
S
E/W
L/R
Helwan
Naqada III – 2nd D
N/S
E/W
L
Saqqara
El Harageh
1st Dynasty
Naqada II
N
N
E
E
L
L
Abusir el Maleq
Naqada II-III
NE
E
L
El Gerzeh
Naqada IIc-d
N
E
L/R
El Gerzeh
S
E
L/R
Tarkhan
Naqada IIc-d
Naqada III –
beginning 2nd D
S
E
L/R
Tarkhan
Naqada III –
beginning 2nd D
N
W
L/R
Page 179
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Bibliography
(References used inversion 2.0 and not used in version 1.0 shown in italics)
AAPG (website only) 2000
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
http://www.aapg.org/international/africa/ne_africa_egypt
Adams, Barbara 1988
Predynastic Egypt
Shire Publications
Adams, Barbara and Krzystztof M. Cialowicz 1997
Protodynastic Egypt
Shire Publications
Adamson,D.A., Gasse,F., Street F.A. and Williams, M.A. 1980
Quarternary History of the Nile
Nature 287, 50-55
Assman, Jan
The Mind of Egypt
Bard, Kathryn A. 1987
The geography of excavated Predynastic sites and the rise of complex society,
Journal of American Research Center in Egypt, New York 24: 81-93.
Bard, K. 1992
Origins of Egyptian Writing
In Friedman, R. and Adams, B.
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
Bard, Kathryn A. 1994
From Farmers to Pharaohs. Mortuary evidence for the rise of complex society in Egypt.
Sheffield
Egyptology Quartos E7 BAR
Bard, Kathryn A. in Shaw, Ian (ed.) 2000
The Emergence of the Egyptian State in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Oxford University Press
Barich, Barbara 1984
The Epipalaeolithic-Ceramic groups of Libyan Sahara: notes for an economic model for the
cultural development in the west-central Sahara
In Krzyzaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. 1984
Brass 2003a (website only)
The Ecological Context of Ancient Egyptian Predynastic settlements
http://www.antiquityofman.com/Ecological_context.html
Page 180
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Brass, M. 2003b
Tracing the Origins fo the Ancient Egyptian Cattle Cult
In ed. Eyma, A.K. and Bennett, C.J.
A Delta Man in Yebu
Brewer, Douglas 1989
A model for Resource exploitation in the prehistoric Faiyum
In Kryzyaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. (eds.)
In Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara
Brown, A.G. 1997
Alluvial Geoarchaeology: Floodplain archaeology and environmental change
Cambridge University Press
Brown, R.H. 1892
The Fayum and Lake Moeris
Edward Stanford, London
Butzer, K.W 1966
Archaeology and Geology in Ancient Egypt
In Caldwell, J.R
New Roads to Yesterday
Thames and Hudson
Butzer, K.W. 1976
Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt: A study in Cultural Ecology
University of Chicago Press
Cagle, Anthony 1994 (website only)
1994 Fayum Project (NARCE Report)
www.drizzle.com/~cagle/fayum94/narce.html
Caneva, I., Frangipane, M., and Palmieri, A. 1987
Predynastic Egypt: New Data from Maadi
African Archaeologica Review 5: 105: 114
Caneva, I. 1992
Predynastic Cultures of Lower Egypt: The Desert and the Nile
In Van den Brink (ed), The Nile Delta In Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC 217-224
Casini, Maria 1984
Neolithic and Predynastic in the Fayum
Krzyzaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. 1984
Caton-Thompson, Gertrude 1927
Explorations in the northern Fayum, Antiquity 1: 326-340.
Caton-Thompson & Gardner, E.O. 1934
The Desert Fayum.
Page 181
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
London.
Clark 1971
Re-examination of the Evidence of Agricultural Origins
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 37
Clark 1980
In De Hughe and Williams
Cohen, Mark 1975
Archaeological Evidence for Population Pressure in Pre-Agricultural Societies
American Antiquity Vol. 4, No. 40, 471-475
De Wit, Huib E., and Pawlikowski, Maciej 1992
Comparison of Palaeoenvironmental data from Neolithic-Early Dynastic sites of Upper Egypt, the
Fayum and the Nile Delta
In Van den Brink (ed), The Nile Delta In Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC, 289-291
Debono, F. and Mortensen, B. 1988
Predynastic Heliopolis
Mainz
Debono, F. and Mortensen, B. 1990
El Omari
Mainz
El-Sanussi and Jones 1997
A Site of the Maadi Culture Near the Giza Pyramids
MDAIK
Epstein, H. 1971
The Origin of the Domestic Animals of Africa
Africana Publishing Corporation, volumes I and II
Forde-Johnson,J.L. 1959
Neolithic Cultures of North Africa
Liverpool University Press
Flores, D.V. 2003
Funerary Sacrifice of Animals in the Egyptian Predynastic Period
BAR 1153
Friedman, R. and Adams, B. 1992
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
Gamble, C. 1986
Palaeolithic Settlement of Europe
Cambridge University Press
Page 182
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Gautier, A. 1976
Animal remains from archaeological sites of Terminal Palaeolithic to Old Kingdom Age in the
Faiyum
In Wendorf and Schild 1976
INSTITUTE DCA 100 WEN
Gopher, A. (1989).
Diffusion Process in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Levant: The Case of the Helwan Point.
In People and Culture in Change, edited by I. Hershkovitz, pp. 91-106.
British Archaeological Reports 508. Oxford.
Grajetzki, Wolfram 2003
Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt: Life in Death for Rich and Poor
Duckworth
Groves, V.
Maps in Vivian, Cassandra 1990
A Guide to the Oases and Western Desert of Egypt
Trade Routes Enterprises International Publications Ltd
Hantar, G. 1990
North Western Desert
(in R. Said 1990)
Hartung, U. 2003
Predynastic Subterranean Dwellers in Maadi, Cario
Egyptian Archaeology No.22, Spring 2003
Hassan, F. 1984
Toward a model of agricultural developments in Predynastic Egypt
In Krzyzaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. 1984
Hassan, F. 1985
Radiocarbon Chronology of Neolithic and Predynastic Sites in Upper Egypt and the Delta
The African Archaeological Review 3, 95-116
Hassan, F. 1986
Holocene Lakes and Prehistoric Settlements of the Western Faiyum, Egypt,
Journal of Archaeological Science 13: 483-501.
Hassan F. 1988
The Predynastic of Egypt
Journal of World Prehistory vol 2, no.2 pp. 135-178
Hassan, F. 1992
Primeval Goddess to Divine King
In Friedman, R. and Adams, B.
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
Hawass, Z. (ed)
Page 183
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century
The American University in Cairo Press
Hayes, W.C. 1964, 1965
Most Ancient Egypt
University of Chicago Press
Hendrickx, Stan and Vermeersch, Pierre in Shaw, Ian (ed.) 2000
Prehistory: From the Palaeolithic to the Badarian Culture in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Oxford University Press
Henneberg, M, Kobusiewicz, M., Schild,R. and Wendorf, F. 1989
The Early Neolithic, Qarunian burial from the Northern Fayum Desert
In Kryzyaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. (eds.)
In Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara
Hoffman, Michael 1979
Egypt Before the Pharaohs
Ark
Holmes, Dianne 1989
The Predynastic Lithic Industries of Upper Egypt: A Comparative Study of the Lithic Traditions of
Badari, Nagada and Hierakonpolis
BAR (15) 469, Volumes I and II.
Issawi, B. and McCauley, J. 1993
The Cenozoic Landscape of Egypt and its River System
Annals Geol. Survey Egypt v.19, 357-384
In Issawi, B., Osman, R.A.K and Meibed, A.Z.
Jimenenz-Serrano, A.
The First Serekhs: Political Changes and Regional Contentions p.242, 2003
In Hawass, Z (ed) 2003
Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty–first Century
The American University in Cairo Press
Kearey, P. 2001
The New Penguin Dictionary of Geology
Penguin Books
Kemp,B.J. 1989
Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization
Routledge
Kholer, C. 1995
The State of Research on Later Predynastic Egypt: New Evidence for the Development of the
Pharaonic State?
Gottlinger Miszellen 147 (79-92)
Kozlowski 1983
Qasr el-Sagha
EGYPTOLOGY E100 QAS
Page 184
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Kozlowski and Ginter 1989
The Faiyum Neolithic in the light of new discoveries
In Kryzyaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. (eds.)
In Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara
Krzyzaniak L. 1977
Early Farming Cultures on the Lower Nile
Editions Scientifiques de Pologne, Warszawa
Krzyzaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. 1984
Origins and Early Development of Food-Producing cultures in NE Africa
Poznan
INST ARCH DC 100 KRZ
Krzyzaniak, L. and Kobusiewicz, M. 1989
Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara
Poznan 287-94
Inst Arch DC 100 POZ
Manley, Bill 1996
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Egypt
Penguin Books
Mark, Samuel 1997
From Egypt to Mesopotamia
Chatham Publishing
Midant-Reynes, Beatrix 1992 (English translation Ian Shaw 2000)
The Prehistory of Egypt
Blackwell Publishers
Midant-Reynes, Beatrix in Shaw, Ian (ed.) 2000
The Naqada Period in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Oxford University Press
Mortensen and Debono 1988
Predynastic Heliopolis
Egyptol Quartos I 60(63)
Mortensen, B. 1992
Carbon-14 dates from El-Omari
In Friedman, R. and Adams, B.
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
EGYPTOLOGY QUARTOS A6 FRI
Issue Desk 10A FRI 4
Mussi, Caneva and Zorattini 1984
More on the Terminal Palaeolithic in the Faiyum Depression
(in Kryzaniak and Kobusiewicz eds)
Page 185
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
O’Connor, D. 1972
The Geography of Settlement in Egypt.
In Ucko, P.J. et al (eds) Man Settlement and Urbanism
Perez-Lagarcha 1995a
Some Reflections on Trade Relations Between Egypt and Palestine (IV-III Millennia)
Gottlinger Miszellen (Volume 145, p83-94)
Perez-Lagarcha 1995b
Some Suggestions and Hypotheses Concerning the Maadi Culture and the Expansion of Upper
Egypt
Gottlinger Miszellen (41-52)
Petrie, W.M.F. 1909
The Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt
Tiger Books International
Petrie, W.M. Flinders 1910
Prehistoric Egypt Illustrated by over 1000 objects in University College, London
London Office of School of Archaeology University College, Gower Street, London
W.C. and Bernard Quaritch, 11 Grafton Street, New Bond St.
Phillipson, David W. 1985, 1993
African Archaeology
Cambridge University Press
Pincauze, D.F. 2000
Environmental Archaeology
Cambridge
Rapp Jr., George and Hill, Christopher L. 1998
Geoarchaeology: The Earth-Science Approach to Archaeological Interpretation
Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Said, R., Albritton, C., Wendorf,F., Schild, R., and Kobusiewicz,M. 1970
A Preliminary Report On the Holocene Geology And Archaeology of the Northern Fayum Desert
In C.C.Reeves Jr. (ed) Playa Lake Symposium 41-46
ICASALS Publication, no.4, Lubbock Texas 1972
Said, R. 1990
Geomorphology
in Said (ed) 1990
Said, R. (ed) 1990
The Geology of Egypt
Balkema
Said, R. 1993
The River Nile
Pergamon
Page 186
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Sampsell, B.M 2003
A Travellers Guide to the Geology of Egypt
American University in Cairo
Sandford, Kenneth Stuart and Arkell, W.J. 1929
Paleolithic man and the Nile-Faiyum divide: a study of the region during Pliocene and Pleistocene
times.
Seeher, Jurgen 1992
Burial Customs in Prdynastic Egypt: A View from the Delta
In Van den Brink (ed), The Nile Delta In Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC
Shaw,T., Sinclair, P., Andah. B., Okpoko, A. 1993, 1995
The Archaeology of Africa. Food, metals and towns
London
Smith, H.S. 1992
The Making of Egypt
In Friedman, R. and Adams, B.
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
Spencer, Jeffery
Aspects of Early Egypt. Edited by Jeffrey Spencer, London, British Museum Press, 1996.
Stemler, A. 1980
Origins of plant domestication in the Sahara and Nile Valley
in Williams, M.A.J. and Faure, H. 1980
The Sahara and The Nile
Balkema
Tixier 1963
Typologie d l’Epipalaeolithique du Maghreb
Trigger, B.G.1983
The Rise of Egyptian Civilization
Trigger, B., Kemp, D., O’Connor and Lloyd, A.B. 1983
In Ancient Egypt: A Social History
Cambridge University Press
Trigger, B., Kemp, D., O’Connor and Lloyd, A.B. 1983
In Ancient Egypt: A Social History
Cambridge University Press
Van Andel T.H. 1994
New Views on an Old Planet
Cambridge
Van den Brink (ed) 1992
The Nile Delta In Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC
Page 187
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Vivian, Cassandra 2000
The Western Desert of Egypt
The American University in Cairo Press
Watrin, L. and Blin ,O.
The Nile’s Early Stone Architecture: New Data from Maadi West
In Hawass, Z (ed) 2003
Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty–first Century
The American University in Cairo Press
Way, T. von der 1992
Indications of Architecture with Niches at Buto
In Friedman, R. and Adams, B.
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
Wendorf and Schild 1976
Prehistory of the Nile Valley
Academic Press
Wenke, Robert J. 1984
Early Agriculture in the Southern Fayum Depression: some test survey results and research
implications
In Krzyzaniak and Kobusiewicz eds
Wenke, Robert J., Long, J.E., and Buck, P.E. 1988
Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic Subsistence and settlement in the Fayum Oasis of Egypt
Journal of Field Archaeology 15, 29-51
Wenke, Robert J. 1991
The evolution of Early Egyptian Civilization: Issues and Evidence
Journal of World Prehistory, Volume 5, No.3
Wenke, Robert J. 1999
Patterns in Prehistory
Oxford University Press
Wenke and Brewer 1992
The Neolithic-Predynastic Transition in the Faiyum Depression
In Friedman, R. and Adams, B.
Followers of Horus
Oxbow Monograph 20
Wettering, von J. and Tassie, G. 2003
A Delta Man in Yebu
EEF
Wetterstrom, W. 1993, 1995
In Shaw,T., Sinclair, P., Andah. B., Okpoko, A. 1993, 1995
The Archaeology of Africa. Food, metals and towns
London
Page 188
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Wheatley, David and Gillings, Mark 2002
Spatial Technology and Archaeology: The Archaeological Applications of GIS
Taylor and Francis, London, UK
Whittow, J. 2000
The Penguin Dictionary of Physical Geography
Penguin Books
Wildung, D. 1984
Terminal Prehistory of the Nile Delta: theses
In Kryzaniak and Kobusiewicz eds
Williams, M.A.J. and Faure, H. 1980
The Sahara and The Nile
Balkema
Wilkinson, Toby A.H. 1999, 2001
Early Dynastic Egypt
Routledge
Wilkinson, T. 1996
State Formation in Egypt
BAR 651
Wilkinson, T. 2003
Genesis of the Pharaohs
Thames and Hudson
Wilson, Penny and Gilbert, Gregory 2002
Pigs, Pots and Postholds: prehistoric Sais
In Egyptian Archaeology No.21 pp12-13, Egyptian Exploration Society
Page 189
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Ägypten und Levante:
AJA:
ASAE:
Archéo-Nil:
Ägypten und Levante. Internationale Zeitschrift für ägyptische Archäologie und
deren Nachbargebiete, Wien.
American Journal of Archaeology, New York.
Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte, Le Caire.
Archéo-Nil. Bulletin de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la
vallée du Nil, Paris.
Beiträge zur Sudanforschung:
Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, Wien-Mödling.
BACE:
The Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology, North Ryde, N.S.W.
BIFAO:
Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Le Caire.
BiOr:
Bibliotheca Orientalis, Leiden.
BSEG:
Bulletin. Société d'Égyptologie Genève, Genève.
BSFE:
Bulletin de la Société Française d'Égyptologie. Réunions trimestrielles.
Communications archéologiques, Paris.
BSSFT:
Bulletin de la Société Française des Fouilles de Tanis, Paris.
CdE:
Chronique d'Égypte. Bulletin périodique de la Fondation Égyptologique Reine
Élisabeth, Bruxelles.
CMC:
Cahiers du Musée Champollion, Figéac.
CRIPEL:
Cahier de Recherches de l'Institut de Papyrologie et d'Égyptologie de Lille, Paris.
DE:
Discussions in Egyptology, Oxford.
Enchoria:
Enchoria. Zeitschrift für Demotistik und Koptologie, Wiesbaden.
EVO:
Egitto e Vicino Oriente. Rivista della sezione orientalistica dell'Istituto di Storia
Antica. Università degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa.
GM:
Göttinger Miszellen, Göttingen.
JAOS:
Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven, Conn.
JARCE:
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, New York.
JEA:
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, London.
JEOL:
Jaarbericht Ex Oriente Lux, Leiden.
JNES:
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Chicago.
JSSEA:
Page 190
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
LingAeg:
Memnonia:
MDAIK:
Andie Byrnes 2003
The Journal of the Society of the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, Toronto.
Lingua Aegyptia. Journal of Egyptian Language Studies, Göttingen.
Memnonia. Bulletin édité par l'Association pour la Sauvegarde du Ramesseum,
Paris.
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo, Mainz.
Newsletter ARCE:
OLZ:
OMRO:
Orientalia:
RdE:
REE:
SAK:
SEAP:
VA:
VDI:
WZKM:
ZÄS:
Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt, New York.
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, Berlin.
Oudheidkundige Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden te Leiden,
Leiden.
Orientalia. Commentarii trimestres a facultate studiorum orientis antiqui pontificii
instituti biblici in lucem edidit in urbe, Roma.
Revue d'Égyptologie, Paris.
Revista de Estudios de Egiptologia, Buenos Aires.
Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur, Hamburg.
Studi di Egittologia e di Antichità Puniche, Pisa.
Varia Aegyptiaca, San Antonio.
Vestnik Drevnij Istorii, Moscow.
Wiener Zeitschrift fur die kunde des Morgenlandes, Wien.
Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, Berlin.
Page 191
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
DETAILED CONTENTS
Contents .............................................................................................................................2
PART 1: ..................................................................................................................................3
Document Details and Introduction ..........................................................................................3
1.0
Introduction............................................................................................................4
2.0
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................4
3.0
Definitions, Scope, Structure and Naming .................................................................5
3.1 Definitions ..............................................................................................................5
3.2 Scope .....................................................................................................................5
3.3 Structure ................................................................................................................5
3.4 Naming ..................................................................................................................6
3.5 Terminology ...........................................................................................................6
PART 2: ..................................................................................................................................7
The Archaeology of the Faiyum and Western Delta ...................................................................7
1.0
The Faiyum in Context ............................................................................................8
1.1
Geographical Information ....................................................................................8
1.2
Chronologies and Dating .....................................................................................9
1.3 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 10
1.3.1
Differential Survival ....................................................................................... 10
1.3.2
Nature of site Types ...................................................................................... 11
1.3.3
Differential quality of excavation and publication ............................................. 11
1.3.4
Lack of data.................................................................................................. 11
1.3.5
Lack of chronometric dates ............................................................................ 11
1.3.6
Lack of interest ............................................................................................. 12
2.0
Prehistoric and Early Predynastic Faiyum ................................................................ 13
2.1 An Introduction to Prehistoric and Early Predynastic Egypt and Faiyum .................... 13
2.2 The Palaeolithic .................................................................................................... 13
2.2.1
Lower Palaeolithic ......................................................................................... 13
2.2.2
Middle Palaeolithic......................................................................................... 14
2.2.3
Late Palaeolithic ............................................................................................ 15
Late Palaeolithic ............................................................................................................. 16
2.3 Origins of the Epipalaeolithic Qarunian ................................................................... 16
2.4 Epipalaeolithic ....................................................................................................... 18
2.4.2
The Qarunian (formerly Faiyum B) ................................................................. 18
2.4.3
Another Epipalaeolithic Faiyum Industry ......................................................... 27
2.4.4
Helwan Industry ........................................................................................... 28
2.5 The Transition to the Faiyum Neolithic/Faiyumian (formerly Faiyum A) ..................... 29
2.5.1
Introduction.................................................................................................. 29
2.5.2
Settlement Hiatus ......................................................................................... 29
2.5.3
A non-Qarunian Origin for the Neolithic .......................................................... 30
2.5.4
A Qarunian Origin for the Neolithic ................................................................. 32
2.5.4
A Mixed Origin .............................................................................................. 33
2.6 The Faiyum Neolithic/Faiyumian (formerly Faiyum A) .............................................. 34
2.6.1
Introduction.................................................................................................. 34
2.6.2
Survey and Excavation Work.......................................................................... 34
2.6.3
Dating .......................................................................................................... 35
2.6.4
The Northern Sites ........................................................................................ 36
2.6.5
The South-western Sites................................................................................ 44
2.6.6
The Industry ................................................................................................. 44
2.6.7
The Economy ................................................................................................ 45
2.6.8
Social Organization ....................................................................................... 49
Page 192
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
2.6.9
Contact Outside the Faiyum ........................................................................... 49
2.6.10 Physical Anthropology ................................................................................... 50
2.7 The Moerian ......................................................................................................... 51
2.7.1
Introduction.................................................................................................. 51
2.7.2
Origins, Dates and Geology ........................................................................... 51
2.7.3
Excavation and Survey .................................................................................. 52
2.7.4
Sites............................................................................................................. 52
2.7.5
Industry ....................................................................................................... 53
2.7.6
Economy ...................................................................................................... 54
2.8 Neolithic Summary ................................................................................................ 54
2.9 Palaeolithic and Neolithic Faiyum: Conclusions ........................................................ 55
3.0
Neolithic and Chalcolithic: Faiyum Area and South Cairo .......................................... 58
3.1 Relationship Between the Faiyum and South Cairo Areas ......................................... 58
3.2 Background to Occupation in the Western Delta ..................................................... 59
3.2.1
Epipalaeolithic ............................................................................................... 59
3.2.2
Epipalaeolithic to Neolithic Transition ............................................................. 59
3.3 Merimda Beni-Salama ............................................................................................ 60
3.3.1
Introduction.................................................................................................. 60
3.3.2
Excavation and Survey .................................................................................. 60
3.3.3
Dates ........................................................................................................... 60
3.3.4
The Site ....................................................................................................... 61
3.3.5
Origins ......................................................................................................... 64
3.3.6
External Contact ........................................................................................... 64
3.3.7
Economy ...................................................................................................... 65
3.3.8
Social Organization ....................................................................................... 65
3.3.9
Anthropological Data ..................................................................................... 66
3.4 El-Omari ............................................................................................................... 66
3.4.1
Introduction.................................................................................................. 66
3.4.2
Excavation and Survey .................................................................................. 66
3.4.3
Chronology and Dating .................................................................................. 67
3.4.4
Origins ......................................................................................................... 68
3.4.5
Omari A and B – Settlements and Integral Burials ........................................... 68
3.4.6
el-Omari Summary ........................................................................................ 72
3.5 The Maadian (or Maadi-Buto) ................................................................................ 76
3.6.1
Maadi ........................................................................................................... 76
3.6.2
Heliopolis...................................................................................................... 88
3.6.3
Tell Fara’in (Buto) ......................................................................................... 93
3.6.4
Sais (Sa el-Hagar) ......................................................................................... 95
3.6.5
Sedment and Harageh ................................................................................... 96
3.6.6
es-Saff ......................................................................................................... 97
3.6.7
Giza ............................................................................................................. 97
3.6.8
Maadi-Buto Summary .................................................................................... 97
3.7 Minshat Abu Omar ................................................................................................ 99
3.8 Later Neolithic and Chalcolithic: Conclusions ......................................................... 100
4.0
Middle and Late Predynastic: Faiyum, Faiyum Area and Western Delta ................... 104
4.1 Upper Egypt before Naqada II ............................................................................. 104
4.2 Naqada II ........................................................................................................... 105
4.2.1
Overview .................................................................................................... 105
4.2.2
Naqada II in Lower Egypt ............................................................................ 106
4.2.3
State Formation .......................................................................................... 107
4.2.4
Sites........................................................................................................... 109
4.2.5
Overseas Contacts ...................................................................................... 112
4.3 Naqada III: State Formation, Dynasty 0 and Unification ........................................ 112
Page 193
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
4.3.1
Overview .................................................................................................... 112
4.3.2
Sites........................................................................................................... 113
4.4 Unification .......................................................................................................... 114
4.5 Middle and Late Predynastic and Protodynastic: Conclusions ................................. 117
PART 3: .............................................................................................................................. 119
Geology and Geomorphology ............................................................................................... 119
1.0
Approach and Objectives ..................................................................................... 120
2.0
The Making of Egypt ........................................................................................... 120
2.1 Tectonics, Transgressions and Deflation ............................................................... 120
2.2 The African Tectonic Plate ................................................................................... 121
2.3 The Marine Transgressions .................................................................................. 122
2.4 Deflation, Deposition and Landforms .................................................................... 124
2.5 The Many Early Niles ........................................................................................... 125
3.0
The Making of the Western Desert ....................................................................... 126
3.1 Laying the Foundations ....................................................................................... 126
3.2 Stripping the Foundations .................................................................................... 126
3.3 New Knowledge, Radar Rivers and an Empty Sea ................................................. 127
3.4 The Present Geomorphology of the Western Desert .............................................. 128
3.5 The Western Desert Aquifer ................................................................................. 129
4.0
The Making of the Nile ........................................................................................ 130
4.1 The Modern Nile ................................................................................................. 130
4.2 Tectonic and Climatic Origins ............................................................................... 131
4.3 The Sediments of the Nile Valley .......................................................................... 132
5.0
The Making of the Faiyum ................................................................................... 133
5.1 A very short synopsis .......................................................................................... 133
5.2 The Geography of the Faiyum .............................................................................. 133
5.3 Three Phases of Deposition and Degradation ........................................................ 135
5.4 Excavating the Depression ................................................................................... 136
5.5 The Geological Formations of the Faiyum ............................................................. 137
Inside the Depression................................................................................................ 137
Outside the Depression ............................................................................................. 139
5.6 The Hydrology of the Faiyum ............................................................................... 140
Variations in the Area of the Lake .............................................................................. 141
The Nile Connection .................................................................................................. 141
5.7 The Holocene Lake .............................................................................................. 142
5.8 Unresolved Issues ............................................................................................... 143
5.9 Physical Environment and Human Occupation ....................................................... 144
5.10
Technical Implications for the Archaeologist ..................................................... 144
6.0
Note on Sources ................................................................................................. 145
PART 4: .............................................................................................................................. 147
Summary, Conclusions and Research ................................................................................... 147
1.0
Summary: Prehistoric and Predynastic Faiyum, South Cairo and Western Delta ....... 148
2.0
Conclusions, Research and Projects ...................................................................... 149
2.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 149
2.2 Research ............................................................................................................ 152
2.2.1
Research Projects ....................................................................................... 152
2.2.2
Other Projects ............................................................................................. 156
Appendices and Bibliography ............................................................................................... 157
Appendix A – Previous Excavation and Survey Projects ...................................................... 158
Archaeological Work in the Faiyum ................................................................................ 158
Geological Work in the Faiyum ...................................................................................... 159
Appendix B – Raw Materials Sources used in Faiyum Tool Manufacture ............................... 161
Appendix C - Maps ........................................................................................................... 162
Page 194
The Faiyum Depression: Prehistoric and Predynastic Periods (v.2)
Andie Byrnes 2003
Appendix D – Satellite Images of the Faiyum and Western Delta ........................................ 164
Appendix E: Radiocarbon Dates for Faiyum and Western Delta .......................................... 165
Appendix F: The Faiyum – A Brief History of Dynastic Faiyum ............................................ 172
Appendix G: The Faiyum Today ....................................................................................... 174
Appendix H: The Faiyum and Western Delta – Site Listing with Date Ranges ....................... 175
Appendix I: Site Decoder ................................................................................................. 176
Appendix J: Complete List of Flora and Fauna from Maadi .................................................. 177
Appendix J: A Comparison of body orientation in Cairo Area Predynastic Cemeteries ........... 179
Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 180
DETAILED CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... 192
Page 195