This seems to point to a highly
evolved funerary system - the dead were buried with their finest possessions,
personal possessions and clothing for use in the next world.
THE AMRATIANS (NAQADA I)
Succeeding the Badari, the Amratian people took over. They were one
of the most important prehistoric cultures in Upper Egypt and their
development can be linked to the founding of the Egyptian state.
The Amratian (Naqada I) culture started as a parallel culture to the
Badarian, but eventually superimposed itself on the other, and finally
replaced it. The Amratians are now thought of as the first "true"
Egyptians and dominated between 4500 to 3100 BC.
Like the Badari, they lived in villages, but began the first permanent
efforts to cultivate the fertile Nile valley (and only supplemented
their diet with hunting and gathering). Each village had its own animal
deity which was identified with a clan ensign. From this came the different
Egyptian nomes - each with their own local totems - eventually
the gods of the Egyptian pantheon.
Amratian agricultural success allowed artistic skills to flourish.
Pottery decorated with animals, with human figures hunting or worshipping,
or with papyrus boats appeared. So, too, did the female idol figures
continue to grow - they appeared in greater numbers and in a wider variety,
and bearded male figures started to appear on pendants and ivory sticks
("magic wands"). These last sets of human figures seems to
have been of a magical or spiritual nature.
In the Amratian graves, the deceased were buried with statuettes to
keep him or her company in the afterlife. These were the forerunners
of ushabti figures found in Egyptian tombs. Along with these figured,
the dead person was buried with food, weapons, amulets, ornaments and
decorated vases and palettes.
THE GERZEANS (NAQADA II)
In the middle of the fourth millennium BC, the Gerzean - Naqada II
period superceded the Naqada I. They had mastered the art of agriculture
and the use of artificial irrigation, and no longer needed to hunt for
their food. The people started live in towns, not just villages, creating
areas of higher population density than ever before.
The Gerzean people continued to expand in the artistic area, creating
new styles of pottery and more elegant artwork. They started to create
a wide variety of animal-shaped palettes for mixing cosmetics, as well
as a shield-shaped cosmetic pallet, the ancestor of the ceremonial palettes
in early Dynastic Egypt. Metalworking increased - the Gerzean people
made great use of copper knives. They also created their own cast-metal
implements and weapons.
They traded with far distant peoples for copper and other goods (they
traded much further than the previous two cultures) - silver, lapis
lazuli, lead, cylinder seals were some goods traded for from Asia and
Mesopotamia. Foreign influences through their trading began to show
in their style of dress, ornaments and various implements. Radical changes
in the design of knives, daggers and pottery were made by the Gerzeans.
They also introduced the images and totems of the falcon, symbol of
the sun god Ra, and the cow, symbol of the love goddess Hathor.
There were also significant changes in the matter of burials. Whereas
cemeteries that dated from an earlier period showed that the corpse
was generally wrapped in some sort of covering and buried in a contracted
position facing the west, those which were located in Gerzean deposits
indicated a lack of regular orientation, a more elaborate form of grave,
and evidences of ritual procedure at the time of burial in the form
of deliberately shattered pottery.
There is evidence of an elite social class from the graves and grave
goods found. The more elaborate funerary cult created larger, rectangular
graves with walls lined with either masonry or wooden blanks, which
could also hold grave goods. The differences in the lavish (or not)
graves, with many or lesser goods, pointed to the distinction in classes
in the Gerzean people.
In Nekhem (Hierakonpolis), the cult centre of Horus of Nekhem, there
is a Naqada II palace and ritual precinct. This area was made of timber
and matting, and can only be theoretically reconstructed from the positions
of the postholes - some of which were big enough for entire tree trunks!
The features of the complex were compared with the buildings of Djoser's
pyramid complex, where such buildings were made in stone. It has a large
oval courtyard, surrounded by various buildings, and is clearly the
forerunner to the royal ritual precincts of Naqada III and the Early
Dynastic Period.
This, then, was the root of the Egyptian kingship system and the beginning
of the unified state. |