User:CoolQuokka/Naqada culture

Range of Naqada Culture(Shown in Red)

The Naqada Culture was a Predynastic Egyptian Culture of the Chalcolithic era named after the City Naqada in Egypt. The range that the Culture encompasses is around 4,000-3,000 B.C.E. The last period of Naqada Culture has mostly been associated with the Predynastic period from a 2013 Oxford Study that suggests that the Predynastic Period corresponds with the late Naqada III culture.

Chronology

The Naqada Culture is divided up among 3 separate periods. The periods of culture are Naqada I, II, and III. The Naqada I culture site is linked with the Amratian culture of Upper Egypt and existed between . The Naqada II Period is linked with the Gerzeh culture in upper Egypt. The Naqada III culture corresponds with the Semianan culture in Upper Egypt. The Last Naqada Phase of Culture, Naqada III, has been linked with the predynastic period as the Predynastic period appears around the time that Naqada III Culture existed.

Models and Excavations

There is presence of material culture that been dated to when the Naqada Culture existed. The excavation of pottery at most Naqada sites with each distinct periods of culture having their own defining pottery. The types of pottery that were found at Naqada sites arranged from bowls, small jars, bottles, Medium-sized neck jars to Wine Jars and Wavy-handled jars. Most of the pottery excavated from Naqada sites have probably been used for cultural reasons with the decorations on them and for storage of food as well as placing food on it for consumption(the food). The various designs that are included in pottery are designs with waves on them and are sometimes accompanied with floral designs or designs of people on them suggesting that art was heavily expressed during the Naqada Cultures.The various designs might have also had early Mesopotamian influence as some animals that are depicted on pottery during the Naqada II period show animals like Griffins and serpent-headed panthers which are linked to early Uruk period pottery.

Vase from the Naqada I period

Jar, Late Naqada II,3500-3330 BCE Egypt Metropolitan Museum

Naqada D-Ware Jar

The presence of copper metallurgy has been found at various Naqada III sites such as Tel El-Farkha and Tel El-Murra has evidence that copper harpoons had been manufactured in these sites. The use of Copper Harpoons in Naqada society were primarily used for hunting as it was used to hunt Nile Fauna such as the Hippopotamus. The importance of hunting the Hippopotamus is noted to be important among Naqada high class as it was regarded as high social status although the access of copper was more open to the elites rather then the common folk. Harpoons themselves were likely used for protection of trade as evident from an Ancient Egyptian port that signaled that it was used by people of trade caravans as protection. Another use of the Harpoon was in Art as the symbolism of the Harpoon was probably used in religious purposes as possibly referencing a magic-like hunt using these weapons.

The small figurines that are found at Naqada type sites are usually made out of materials such as stones and Ivory. The figurines that re found Naqada sites may have been made for everyday use such as children toys. It more theorized that the figurines were used for ritualistic purpose such as for medicine and magic. The figurines may have also played more into religion as speculated that some figurines were made to be worshiped as Fertile idols and helping with the production of farming and crop use. The small figurines may have also been used in mortuary and burial rituals as excavated figurines at Naqada sites have been found close to bodies, suggesting that figurines may have been used in these rituals.

Naqada bone figure of woman. British Museum

Figurines of bone and ivory. Predynastic, Naqada I. 4000-3600 BC

Tusk Figurine of a Man Late Naqada I. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Knife and knife handles were common during Naqada Culture. There seem to be a distinct tradition of Knife that being the Twisted knife tradition which started in Northern/Lower Egypt and made it's way into upper Egypt combining a tradition of Northern and Southern Tradition in Knifes. The Knife's that were found during this period appeared to be made out of Flint. Knife handles that are dated back to the Naqada II period show intricate work on knife handles as designs of humans worshiping and scenes from the Nature of Egypt are shown on these knife handles. The Knifes that were used in Naqada society were used for everyday use such as for cutting food and for hunting and ritualistic purposes. Due to the artwork on some of the Knife handles it can be inferred that Knifes with designed handles on them were reserved for the upper elites of Society.

The Gebel el-Arak Knife. The reverse of the handle shows a Master of Animals motif: two confronted lions, flanking a central figure

Fishtail Knife dated to Naqada II period. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Early forms of Egyptian writing appear in the Naqada culture. Writing itself appears around the Naqada II period and the forms that it took were in the forms of pictograms. There are several artifacts that depict writing on them. Mostly these are found on vessels and the writing usually depicts animals and people and was used to document trade and administrative transactions.With writing being central around the Elites, early writing was used more for documentation of royalty more then everyday life in Naqada Culture as seen in Early Dynastic and Predynastic Egypt.

Multiple buildings were present at Naqada sites. The site at Tel-El Farkha, located 14km east from El-Simbillawein in Egypt, shows evidence of breweries is found dating back from the Naqada II site. The Breweries themselves were surrounded by wooden fences that would've separated ordinary houses from. The wooden fences themselves overtime were replaced by mud brick walls as evident the excavation at Tel-El Farkha. The Brewery located at Tel-EL Farkha has 13 consecutive vats in the building which was probably used for the production of beer.The Beer was usually made in two ways of making part of the grain malted and the other part into Porridge. Then it would be mixed and the liquid would be removed from the mixture via sieving the liquid. This resulted in Beer. Also at the Tel-El Farkha sites is evidence of buildings one of the biggest in the site was built on top of a mound and is surrounded by thick mud brick walls and inside the building is small poorly preserved rooms that were surrounded by 30-40 cm walls. The walls that are made around the structure were probably made for defensive reasons. There have also been jars found in this specific building suggesting that the building was also used as a warehouse.

Trade between the early bronze age world is reported in the excavated sites. Trade was most likely conducted by the elites of society. People of the Naqada culture traded with cultures in Lower Nubia most likely the A-culture group. Material evidence that's found of the trade between the Naqada cultures and Nubians is found in the artifacts that are at these sites. Items that are often traded between the two include pottery, clothing, palettes, and stone vessels were most likely exchanged between Nubians and Egyptians. The pottery that was found in Nubia was mostly found in grave sites usually around bodies.Pottery itself was also traded from the Levant as one piece of pottery from the Tel-El Farkha site was found to have been made out of clay that isn't present in the region suggesting that it was made and traded from the Levant.

Palette in the Shape of a Boat 3700-3600 BCE Naqada I Brooklyn Museum.

Double Bird-Head Palette & Fish Palette, Naqada II

Biological Anthropological Studies

Some craniometric analysis of predynastic Naqada human remains found that they were closely related to other Afroasiatic-speaking populations inhabiting the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb, as well as to Bronze Age and medieval period Nubians and to specimens from ancient Jericho. The Naqada skeletons were also morphologically proximate to modern osteological series from Europe and the Indian subcontinent. However, the Naqada skeletons and these ancient and recent skeletons were phenotypically distinct from skeletons belonging to modern Niger-Congo-speaking populations inhabiting Tropical Africa, as well as from Mesolithic skeletons excavated at Wadi Halfa in the Nile Valley.