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52-653: Badari culture is so named because of its discovery at El-Badari ( Arabic : البداري ), an area in the Asyut Governorate in Upper Egypt . It is located between Matmar and Qau, approximately 200 km (120 mi) northwest of present-day Luxor (ancient Thebes ). El-Badari includes numerous Predynastic cemeteries (notably Mostagedda , Deir Tasa and the cemetery of el-Badari itself), as well as at least one early Predynastic settlement at Hammamia . The area stretches for 30 km (19 mi) along

104-537: A Mesopotamian scene described as the Master of animals , showing a presumed figure between two lions, presumed fighting scenes, or the boats. The oldest known zoological collection was revealed during excavations at Nekhen in 2009 of a menagerie that dates to c. 3500 BC. The animals, numbering in totality fourteen during May 2015, include a leopard, two crocodiles, hippopotami , hartebeest , two elephants , baboons , and African wildcats . Animals discovered at

156-523: A common adaptation to similar environments. Godde further specified that the Badarians, Naqadans and Kerma Nubian samples clustered closely in spite of the timescale differences. She also cited previous anthropological studies and archaeological evidence which indicated close affinities between the Badarians and other southernly, African populations. In 2020, Godde analysed a series of crania which included two Egyptian (predynastic Badarian and Naqada series),

208-549: A reference to Horus ; Egyptian Arabic : الكوم الأحمر , romanized:  el-Kōm el-Aḥmar , lit.   'the Red Mound'; ) was the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of prehistoric Egypt ( c. 3200–3100 BC) and probably also during the Early Dynastic Period ( c. 3100–2686 BC). The oldest known tomb with painted decoration, a mural on its plaster walls,

260-707: A series of A-Group Nubians, and a Bronze Age series from Lachish , Palestine. The two pre-dynastic series had strongest affinities, followed by closeness between the Naqada and the Nubian series. Further, the Nubian A-Group plotted nearer to the Egyptians and the Lachish sample placed more closely to Naqada than Badari. According to Godde the spatial-temporal model applied to the pattern of biological distances explains

312-455: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Hierakonpolis 25°5′50″N 32°46′46″E  /  25.09722°N 32.77944°E  / 25.09722; 32.77944 Nekhen ( / ˈ n ɛ k ə n / , Ancient Egyptian : nḫn ), also known as Hierakon polis ( / ˌ h aɪər ə ˈ k ɒ n p ə l ɪ s / ; Greek : Ἱεράκων πόλις , romanized :  Hierákōn pólis , meaning City of Hawks or City of Falcons ,

364-559: Is located in Nekhen and is thought to date to c. 3500–3200 BC. It shares distinctive imagery with artifacts from the Gerzeh culture . Nekhen was the center of the cult of a falcon deity, Horus of Nekhen , which raised one of the most ancient Egyptian temples in this city. It retained its importance as the center for this divine patron of the kings long after the site had otherwise declined. The first settlement at Nekhen dates from either

416-457: Is thought to date to the Gerzeh culture (c. 3500–3200 BC). It is presumed that the mural shows religious scenes and images. It includes figures featured in Egyptian culture for three thousand years—a funerary procession of barques , presumably a goddess standing between two upright lionesses , a wheel of various horned quadrupeds, several examples of a staff that became associated with

468-907: The Kellis population in the Dakhla Oasis . Among the recent groups, the Badari markers were morphologically closest to the Shawia and Kabyle Berber populations of Algeria as well as Bedouin groups in Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, followed by other Afroasiatic-speaking populations in the Horn of Africa . The Late Roman era Badarian skeletons from Kellis were also phenotypically distinct from those belonging to other populations in Sub-Saharan Africa . Sonia Zakrzewski (2003), found that samples from

520-590: The Levant ". Ehret specified that these studies revealed cranial and dental affinities with "closest parallels" to other longtime populations in the surrounding areas of Northeastern Africa "such as Nubia and the northern Horn of Africa". He further commented that "members of this population did not come from somewhere else but were descendants of the long-term inhabitants of these portions of Africa going back many millennia”. Ehret also cited existing, archaeological , linguistic and genetic data which he argued supported

572-846: The Maghreb . Among the ancient populations, the Badarians were nearest to other ancient Egyptians ( Naqada , Hierakonpolis, Abydos and Kharga in Upper Egypt ; Hawara in Lower Egypt ), and C-Group and Pharaonic era skeletons excavated in Lower Nubia, followed by the A-Group culture bearers of Lower Nubia, the Kerma and Kush populations in Upper Nubia, the Meroitic , X-Group and Christian period inhabitants of Lower Nubia, and

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624-646: The Pacific Islands show the Badarian series to be most similar to a series from the northeast quadrant of Africa and then to other Africans". Moreover, Keita criticised the methodology of the 1993 Brace study for excluding "the Maghreb, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa" from the designated Sub-Saharan group samples which he argued was nearly categorised and "(incorrectly)" as monolithic". Keita further commented on

676-699: The Red Sea . Turquoise possibly came from Sinai . A Syrian connection is suggested for a four-handled pot of hard pink ware. The black pottery, with white incised designs, may have come directly from the West, or from the South. The porphyry slabs are like the later ones in Nubia, but the material could have come from the Red Sea Mountains . The glazed steatite beads were not made locally. These all suggest that

728-464: The misnomer "fort" is a massive mud-brick enclosure built by King Khasekhemwy of the Second Dynasty . It appears to be similar in structure and ritual purpose as the similarly misidentified 'forts' constructed at Abydos , all without apparent military function. The true function of these structures is unknown, but they seem to be related to the rituals of kingship and the culture. Religion

780-478: The " Europoid " to " Negroid " range. Of the total 117 skulls, the majority of 94 skulls showed mixed Europoid-Negroid features. The share of both components was nearly the same, with some overweight to the Europoid side. Even though the share of 'pure' Negroes is small (6-8%), being half that of the Europoid forms (12.9%), the high majority of mixed forms (80.3%) suggests a long-lasting dispersion of African genes in

832-556: The Badarian to the Middle Kingdom in Upper Egypt had "tropical body plans", but that their proportions were actually "super-negroid" (i.e. the limb indices are relatively longer than in many "African" populations). She proposed that the apparent development of an increasingly African body plan over time may also be due to Nubian mercenaries being included in the Middle Kingdom sample. Although, she noted that in spite of

884-525: The Badarians and other Northeast African populations. S.O.Y. Keita, a biological anthropologist, in 1990 conducted a craniometric analysis, which included early pre-dynastic Badarian and Naqada I skulls. Both series were found to "cluster with tropical Africans", and with the latter overlapping with Kerma . In 2005, S.O.Y. Keita examined Badarian crania from predynastic upper Egypt in comparison to European (Norway and Hungary) and various tropical African crania (Southern Africa, Mali and Kenya). He found that

936-524: The Badarians were not an isolated tribe, but were in contact with the cultures on all sides of them. Nor were they nomadic, having pots of such size and fragility that would have been unsuitable for use by wanderers. The Badarian culture seems to have had multiple sources, of which the Western Desert was probably the most influential. The Badari culture was likely not solely restricted to the Badari region, since related finds have been made farther to

988-615: The Horn of Africa to be descended from a mix of West Eurasian and African populations. 27°00′N 31°25′E  /  27.000°N 31.417°E  / 27.000; 31.417 El-Badari El Badari ( Arabic : البداري ) is a town in the Asyut Governorate , Upper Egypt , located between Matmar and Qaw El Kebir . The older name of the town is Berdanis ( Arabic : بردنيس ) or Badarnos ( Arabic : بادارنوس ), which Timm derives from Anba Darius . El Badari contains an archaeological site with numerous Predynastic cemeteries (notably Mostagedda , Deir Tasa and

1040-596: The Late Dynastic of Lower Egypt are more closely related to each other than to any other population. As a whole, they show ties with the European Neolithic, North Africa, modern Europe, and, more remotely, India, but not at all with sub-Saharan Africa, eastern Asia, Oceania, or the New World." However, various biological anthropological studies have demonstrated strong biological affinities between

1092-575: The Narmer Palette is more famous because it shows the first king to wear both the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Scorpion Macehead indicates some early military hostility with the north by showing dead lapwings , the symbol of Lower Egypt, hung from standards. John Garstang excavated at Nekhen in 1905–06. He initially hoped to excavate the town site, but encountered difficulties working there, and soon turned his attention to

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1144-461: The Nile and hunted gazelle . Little is known of their buildings, although remains of wooden stumps have been found at one site and may have been associated with a hut or shelter of unknown construction. The deceased were wrapped in reed matting or animal skins and buried in pits with their heads usually laid to the south, looking west. This seems contiguous with the later dynastic traditions regarding

1196-403: The area he misidentified as a 'fort' instead. That site dates to the second dynasty King Khasekhemwy . Beneath that area, Garstang excavated a Predynastic cemetery consisting of 188 graves, which served the bulk of the city population during the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods, revealing the burial practices of the non-elite Egyptians living at Nekhen. More recently, the concession

1248-480: The artistic style of the objects in the deposit indicate that they were from Naqada III and were moved into the deposit at a later date. The other important item in the deposit clearly dates to the late prehistoric. This object, the Scorpion Macehead , depicts a king known only by the ideogram for scorpion, now called Scorpion II , participating in what seems to be a ritual irrigation ceremony. Although

1300-481: The burying of more prosperous members of the community in a different part of the cemetery. Black-topped pottery has been discovered in these cemeteries. These works with their distinctive rippled pattern are considered the most characteristic element of the Badarian culture. Basalt vases found at Badari sites were most likely traded up the river from the Delta region or from the northwest. Shells came in quantities from

1352-742: The cemetery of El Badari itself), as well as at least one early Predynastic settlement at Hammamia . The area stretches for 30 km (19 mi) along the east bank of the Nile, and was first excavated by Guy Brunton and Gertrude Caton-Thompson between 1922 and 1931. The finds from El Badari form the original basis for the Badarian culture (c. 5500-4000 BC), the earliest phase of the Upper Egyptian Predynastic period. 26°59′33″N 31°24′56″E  /  26.9925°N 31.4156°E  / 26.9925; 31.4156 This article about subjects relating to Ancient Egypt

1404-499: The cemetery site were found to have had broken bones. There are later tombs at Nekhen, dating to the Middle Kingdom , Second Intermediate Period , and New Kingdom . In the painted tomb of Horemkhauef a biographical inscription reporting a journey to the capital by him was found. He lived during the Second Intermediate Period. Because it had a strong association with Egyptian religious ideas about kingship,

1456-608: The changes in limb proportions and body sizes in ancient Egyptians in a worldwide and regional comparative thesis study. The study featured 92 males and 528 female samples which included skeletal remains from the Badarian period. The Egyptian body sizes were compared with Nubian samples, as well as to modern Egyptian samples and other higher and lower latitude populations. Overall, the study found that "Ancient Egyptians have more tropically adapted limbs in comparison to body breadths, which tend to be intermediate when plotted against higher and lower latitude populations. These results may reflect

1508-549: The contemporary Predynastic Upper Egyptians of the Badarian and Naqadian cultures", based in reference to previous anthropological studies from 1975 and 1985. According to Strouhal, the Predynastic Egyptians seemed to be similar to the Capsian culture of North Africa and to Berbers. A 1993 craniofacial study performed by the anthropologist C. Loring Brace reached the view that: "The Predynastic of Upper Egypt and

1560-517: The deity of the earliest cattle culture and one being held up by a heavy-breasted goddess. Animals depicted include onagers or zebras , ibexes , ostriches , lionesses, impalas , gazelles , and cattle. Several interpretations of the themes and designs visible in the Nekhen fresco have been associated with a distinctly foreign artifact found in Egypt, the Gebel el-Arak Knife (c. 3500–3200 BCE), with

1612-497: The demographic history. Joel D. Irish and Lyle Konigsberg (2007) re-examined the findings of a 1955 study in light of recent archaeological and dental morphological data. They stated that re-inspection of the craniometric samples "indicate a Badarian affiliation to North Africans, not sub-Saharan samples". Dental trait analysis of Badarian fossils conducted in a thesis study found that they were closely related to other Afroasiatic -speaking populations inhabiting Northeast Africa and

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1664-419: The differences in tibae lengths among the Badarian and Early Dynastic samples, that "all samples lie relatively clustered together as compared to the other populations." Zakrzewski concluded that the "results must remain provisional due to the relatively small sample sizes and the lack of skeletal material that cross-cuts all social and economic groups within each time period". In 2011, Michelle Raxter examined

1716-665: The east bank of the Nile . Some Badarian sites also show evidence of later predynastic use. It was first excavated by Guy Brunton and Gertrude Caton-Thompson between 1922 and 1931. About forty settlements and six hundred graves have been located. The Badarian economy was based mostly on agriculture , fishing and animal husbandry . Populations in the Badari culture planted wheat, barley, lentils and tubers. Pits that have been found may have served as granaries. They kept cattle, sheep, and goats; their livestock, as well as dogs, were given ceremonial burial. They used boomerangs , fished from

1768-550: The findings of Boyce that whilst the "post-Badarian southern predynastic and a late dynastic northern series (called "E" or Gizeh) cluster together, and secondarily with Europeans", in the primary cluster with Egyptian groups there were also remains representing populations from ancient Sudan and recent Somalia . In 2008, Keita found that the early predynastic groups in Southern Egypt which included Badarian skeletal samples, were similar to Nile-Valley material from areas to

1820-504: The greater plasticity of limb lengths compared to body breadth. The results might also suggest early Mediterranean and/or Near Eastern influence in Northeast Africa". Raxter also acknowledged that a larger sample collection from the early and late predynastic groups would have enabled "closer examination of biological changes in the transition to agriculture". Keita and Boyce (1996) noted that DNA studies had not been conducted on

1872-476: The main deposit, the Narmer Palette , now is thought probably not to have been in the main deposit at all. Quibell's report made in 1900 put the palette in the deposit, but Green's report in 1902 put it about one to two yards away. Green's version is substantiated by earlier field notes (Quibell kept none), so it is now the accepted record of events. The main deposit dates to the early Old Kingdom , but

1924-498: The more distant relationship of Badari to Lachish than Naqada to Lachish as gene flow will cause populations to become more similar over time. Overall, both Egyptian samples were more similar to the Nubian series than to the Lachish series. In 2023, Christopher Ehret wrote that the physical anthropological findings from the "major burial sites of those founding locales of ancient Egypt in the fourth millennium BCE, notably El-Badari as well as Naqada , show no demographic indebtedness to

1976-452: The population of the earliest Badarian culture". Recent archaeological evidence has suggested that the Tasian and Badarian Nile Valley sites were a peripheral network of earlier Northeast African cultures that featured the movement of Badarian, Saharan, Nubian and Nilotic populations. In 1971, Eugene Strouhal came to the conclusion that the distribution of the Badarian skulls extends from

2028-421: The population. Additionally, in some of the Badarian crania hair was preserved, in the first series they were curly in 6 cases, wavy in 33 cases and straight in 10 cases. They were black in 16 samples, dark brown in 11, brown in 12, light brown in 1, and grey in 11 cases. In 2007, Strouhal would characterize the physical features of ancient A-Group Nubians as being " Caucasoid " which were "not distinguishable from

2080-476: The predynastic Amratian culture (c. 4400 BC) or, perhaps, during the late Badari culture (c. 5000 BC). At its height, from c. 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5,000 and possibly, as many as 10,000 inhabitants. Most of Upper Egypt then became unified under rulers from Abydos during the Naqada III period (3200–3000 BCE), at the expense of rival cities, especially Nekhen (Hierakonpolis). The conflicts leading to

2132-461: The predynastic Badarian series clustered much closer with the tropical African series. Although, no West Asian or other North African samples were included in the original study as the comparative series were selected based on "Brace et al.'s (1993) comments on the affinities of an upper Egyptian/Nubian epipalaeolithic series". Keita further noted that "additional analysis using material from Sudan, late dynastic northern Egypt (Gizeh), Somalia, Asia and

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2184-422: The south and north of Upper Egypt. Overall, based on the 9 variables, the dynastic Egyptians (includes both Upper and Lower Egyptians) showed much closer affinities with the included Northeast African populations than Europeans, who were more similar to the set of Late Dynastic Egyptians. In his comparison to the various Egyptian series, Greeks, Somali/Horn, and Italians were used. He also concluded that more material

2236-640: The south at Mahgar Dendera , Armant , Elkab and Nekhen (named Hierakonpolis by the Greeks), as well as to the east in the Wadi Hammamat . Older and modern scholarship have characterised the Badarians as an indigenous, Northeast African population that was rooted in a localised, context. Egyptologist Frank Yurco considered the Badarians as exhibiting a "mix of North African and Sub-Saharan physical traits", and referenced older analysis of skeletal remains which "showed tropical African elements in

2288-601: The southern predynastic Egyptian skeletons. Several scholars have highlighted a number of methodological limitations with the application of DNA studies to Egyptian mummified remains. According to historian William Stiebling and archaeologist Susan N. Helft, conflicting DNA analysis on Egyptian mummies has led to a lack of consensus on the genetic makeup of the ancient Egyptians and their geographic origins. Although no remains of pre-dynastic material has been sequenced, various DNA studies have found Christian-era and modern Nubians, along with modern Afro-Asiatic speaking populations in

2340-406: The structure with new mudbricks . Excavations at Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt) in 1998 found archaeological evidence of ritual masks similar to those used in locations further south of Egypt and significant amounts of obsidian which were linked to Ethiopian quarry sites. Other discoveries at Nekhen include Tomb 100, the oldest known tomb with a mural painted on its plaster walls. The sepulchre

2392-584: The supremacy of Abydos may appear on numerous reliefs of the Naqada II period, such as the Gebel el-Arak Knife , or the frieze of Tomb 100 at Nekhen (Hierakonpolis). The ruins of the city originally were excavated toward the end of the nineteenth century by the English archaeologists James Quibell and Frederick W. Green . Quibell and Green discovered the "Main Deposit", a foundation deposit beneath

2444-520: The temple of Horus at Nekhen was used as late as the Ptolemaic Kingdom , persisting as a religious center throughout the thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian culture. Cylinders seals at Nekhen include some of the first known scenes of an ancient Egyptian king smiting captive enemies with a mace. Cylinder seals are generally thought to have been derived from Mesopotamian examples, in an instance of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations . Several of

2496-483: The temple, in 1894. Quibell originally was trained under Flinders Petrie , the father of modern Egyptology , however, he failed to follow Petrie's methods. The temple was a difficult site to excavate to begin with, so his excavation was poorly conducted and then, poorly documented. Specifically, the situational context of the items therein is poorly recorded and often, the reports of Quibell and Green are in contradiction. The most famous artifact commonly associated with

2548-523: The west as the land of the dead. They were sometimes accompanied by female mortuary figures carved from ivory , or with personal items such as shells, flint tools, amulets in the shape of animals like the antelope and hippopotamus , and jewelry made of ivory , quartz or copper . Green malachite ore has also been detected on stone palettes, perhaps for personal decoration. Tools included end-scrapers , axes , bifacial sickles and concave-base arrowheads . Social stratification has been inferred from

2600-578: Was excavated further by a multinational team of archaeologists, Egyptologists, geologists, and members of other sciences, which was coordinated by Michael Hoffman until his death in 1990, then by Barbara Adams of University College London and Dr. Renee Friedman representing the University of California, Berkeley and the British Museum , until Barbara Adams's death in 2001, and by Renée Friedman thereafter. The structure at Nekhen known by

2652-484: Was interwoven inexorably with kingship in Ancient Egypt. The ritual structure at Nekhen was built on a prehistoric cemetery. The excavations there, as well as the work of later brick robbers, have seriously undermined the walls and led to the near collapse of the structure. For two years, during 2005 and 2006, the team led by Friedman attempted to stabilize the existing structure and support the endangered areas of

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2704-501: Was needed to make a firm conclusion about the relationship between the early Holocene Nile valley populations and later ancient Egyptians. Kanya Godde in a 2009 study evaluated population relationships by comparing cranial traits in twelve Nubian and Egyptian groups which included skeletal remains from the Badarian period. The results showed small biological distance between the groups, which indicate there may have been some sort of gene flow between these groups of Nubians and Egyptians or

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