from the southern part of the country, Upper Egypt. These contexts attest to increasing
inequalities in society as the millennium progressed and the establishment of regional
elites at the Upper Egyptian centres of Naqada, Hierakonpolis and Abydos (Kemp
2006 : fig. 22 ). More recent work has redressed the bias towards examination of simply
the funerary arena. Ongoing excavations at sites such as Hierakonpolis have disclosed
a wider picture of social complexity based upon settlement, cemetery, ceremonial and
industrial spaces of activity (e.g. Friedman 2004 : 2 ). Publications over the last thirty
years have also extended the scope of analysis to include more data from the northern
Delta region. This includes the identification of communities living in Lower Egypt
around Maadi and Buto in the early–mid Predynastic that were distinct from their
Upper Egyptian neighbours in both social practices and material culture (Rizkana and
Seeher 1987 , 1989 ). By the end of the fourth millennium BC, Egypt was seemingly
unified politically, with those individuals interred in the main burial chambers in the
Umm el-Qa’ab at Abydos being recognised as the embodiment of divine kingship,
whose role in maintaining order over chaos was paramount.
EXPANDING HORIZONS
Although some form of political unity is understood to have been in place in Egypt
by the first dynasty, the process of social and cultural integration had been underway
for centuries and the Naqada IIC period in particular was pivotal. In this phase, social
practices and material culture associated with Upper Egypt – the so-called ‘Naqadan
culture’ – began to appear in Lower Egypt as economic and social centralisation
gathered pace. Not only do Upper Egyptian burial traditions become rooted in the
Fayum region at this same time, but also an increasing presence of Egyptian goods is
noted along the southern coastal plain of the Levant as the introduction of the donkey
as pack-horse transformed overland exchange (Wengrow 2006 : 39 ). The spread of
material out of Upper Egypt from Naqada IIC is also apparent to the south in Lower
Nubia amongst the burials of the ‘A-group’ communities. These groups had been
interring their dead in this area since at least Naqada IC, but in Naqada IIC the
presence of Upper Egyptian material becomes marked.
The material associated with this Naqada IIC expansion is distinctive and as such
it forms a clear relative dating horizon. For instance, a new type of harder pottery
fabric, marl clay, was introduced in Naqada IIC. Within this medium forms inspired
by foreign material culture appear, such as wavy handles (Petrie’s W-ware) borrowed
from Levantine imports. Such objects thus materialised the expanding interaction
–– Alice Stevenson ––Table32.1 Absolute and relative dates compared (adapted from Hendrickx 2006 : tab. II. 1. 7 ; but
cf. Joffe 2000 : fig. 1 )Hendrickx period Description cal. BCNaqada IIIC 1 –IIID First–Second Dynasty/Early Dynastic Period c. 3150 / 3100 – 2686
Naqada IIIA 1 –IIIB Late Predynastic c. 3350 – 3150
Naqada IIC–IID 2 Middle Predynastic (Gerzean) c. 3600 – 3350
Naqada IA–IIB Early Predynastic (Amratian) c. 4000 / 3900 – 3600