Gerzeh culture

Sources differ on dating, some saying use of the culture distinguishes itself from the Amratian and begins circa 3500 BC lasting through circa 3200 BC.{{cite book |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=Ian |title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-815034-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhisto00shaw/page/479 479] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhisto00shaw/page/479 }} Accordingly, some authorities place the onset of the Gerzeh coincident with the Amratian or Badari cultures, i.e. c.3800 BC to 3650 BC, even though some Badarian artifacts, in fact, may date earlier. Nevertheless, because the Naqada sites were first divided by the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in 1894, into Amratian (after the cemetery near el-Amrah) and "Gerzean" (after the cemetery near Gerzeh) sub-periods, the original convention is used in this text.

The Gerzeh culture lasted through a period of time when the desertification of the Sahara had nearly reached its state seen during the late twentieth century.

The primary distinguishing feature between the earlier Amratian and the Gerzeh is the extra decorative effort exhibited in the pottery of the period. Artwork on Gerzeh ceramics features stylised animals and environment to a greater degree than the earlier Amratian artwork. Further, images of ostriches on the pottery artwork possibly indicate an inclination these early peoples may have felt to explore the Sahara desert.

File:Comb with Human Image Early Naqada II 3500-3400 BCE.jpg|Comb with human image, Early Naqada II, 3500-3400 BC, Brooklyn Museum.

File:WLA brooklynmuseum Terracotta female figure.jpg|Figurine thought to be a deity, Gerzeh culture, Brooklyn Museum

File:Ivory objects from the Naqada Culture.jpg|Ivory objects from the Naqada Culture.

File:Ägyptisches Museum Berlin 057.jpg|Paintings with symbols on Naqada II pottery. 3500-3200 BC.

File:Bm-ginger.jpg|Gebelein predynastic mummy, with Naqada II decorated jars to his side, circa 3400 BC

File:Female figurine, baked clay - Museo Egizio Turin S 1146 p03.jpg|Clay figurine c. 3700-3300 BC

File:Ägyptisches Museum Kairo 2019-11-09 Kuhpalette 01.jpg|The famous "Cow Palette" from Tomb 59 of Gerzeh, JE43103

Pictures of ceremonial reed boats appear on some Naqada II jars, showing two male and two female figures standing aboard, the boat being equipped with oars and two cabins.{{cite web |title= Metmuseum|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545755 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}

File:Decorated Ware Jar Depicting Ungulates and Boats with Human Figures MET DP248750.jpg|Jar, Late Naqada II, 3500-3300 BC, Egypt

File:Jar, Late Naqada II, 3500-3300 BCE, Egypt.jpg|Jar, Late Naqada II, 3500-3300 BC, Egypt

File:Decorated Ware Jar Depicting Ungulates and Boats with Human Figures MET DP248751.jpg|Jar, Late Naqada II, 3500-3300 BC, Egypt

{{main|Egypt-Mesopotamia relations}}

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| caption1 = {{center|1=Naqada II period Gebel el-Arak Knife, in the Departement of Pre-Dynastic Egyptian antiquities, Louvre Museum.{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=668 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}}}

| image2 = Gebel el-Arak Knife ivory handle (front top part detail).jpg

| caption2 = {{center|1=Mesopotamian king as Master of Animals on the Gebel el-Arak Knife at the top of the handle, dated circa 3300–3200 BC, Abydos, Egypt. This work of art both shows the influence of Mesopotamia on Egypt at an early date, in an example of ancient Egypt-Mesopotamia relations, and the state of Mesopotamian royal iconography during the Uruk period.{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=668 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Jerrol S. |pages=10–14|title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference |date=1996 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=9780931464966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC&pg=PA10 |language=en}}}}

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Distinctly foreign objects and art forms entered Egypt during this period, indicating contacts with several parts of Asia. Scientific analysis of ancient wine jars in Abydos has shown that there was some high-volume wine trade with the Levant during this period. Objects such as the Gebel el-Arak knife handle, which has patently Mesopotamian relief carvings on it, have been found in Egypt,Shaw, Ian. & Nicholson, Paul, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, (London: British Museum Press, 1995), p. 109. and the silver which appears in this period can only have been obtained from Asia Minor.Redford, Donald B. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. (Princeton: University Press, 1992), p. 16.

Lapis lazuli trade, in the form of beads, from its only known prehistoric source – Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan – also reached ancient Gerzeh.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/tombs.html|title=Gerzeh, tomb 80|access-date=2008-03-22|work=Digital Egypt for Universities|author=University College London}} Other discovered grave goods are on display here.

It is generally thought that cylinder seals were introduced from Mesopotamia to Egypt during the Naqada II period.{{cite journal |last1=Kantor |first1=Helene J. |title=Further Evidence for Early Mesopotamian Relations with Egypt |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |date=1952 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=239–250 |doi=10.1086/371099 |jstor=542687 |s2cid=161166931 |issn=0022-2968}} Cylinder seals, some coming from Mesopotamia and Elam, and some made locally in Egypt following Mesopotamian designs in a stylized manner, have been discovered in the tombs of Upper Egypt dating to Naqada II and III, particularly in Hierakonpolis.{{cite book |last1=Hartwig |first1=Melinda K. |title=A Companion to Ancient Egyptian Art |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-3350-3 |pages=424–425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0NwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA424 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Conference |first1=William Foxwell Albright Centennial |title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference |date=1996 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0-931464-96-6 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC&pg=PA15 |language=en}} Mesopotamia cylinder seals have been found in the Gerzean context of Naqada II, in Naqada and Hiw, attesting to the expansion of the Jemdet Nasr culture as far as Egypt at the end of the 4th millennium BC.{{cite book |last1=Isler |first1=Martin |title=Sticks, Stones, and Shadows: Building the Egyptian Pyramids |date=2001 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3342-3 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip-tqz1xGkoC&pg=PA33 |language=en}}

File:Jemdet Nasr style Mesopotamian cylinder seal from Grave 7304 Cemetery 7000 at Naqada.jpg-style Mesopotamian cylinder seal, from Grave 7304 Cemetery 7000 at Naqada, Naqada II period.]]

In Egypt, cylinder seals suddenly appear without local antecedents from around Naqada II c-d (3500–3300 BC). The designs are similar to those of Mesopotamia, where they were invented during the early 4th millennium BC, during the Uruk period, as an evolutionary step from various accounting systems and seals going back as early as the 7th millennium BC.{{cite journal |last1=Honoré |first1=Emmanuelle |title=Earliest Cylinder-Seal Glyptic in Egypt: From Greater Mesopotamia to Naqada |journal=H. Hanna Ed., Preprints of the International Conference on Heritage of Naqada and Qus Region, Volume I |date=January 2007 |url=https://www.academia.edu/41692593 |language=en}} The earliest Egyptian cylinder seals are clearly similar to contemporary Uruk seals down to Naqada II-d (circa 3300 BC), and may even have been manufactured by Mesopotamian craftsman, but they start to diverge from circa 3300 BC to become more Egyptian in character. Cylinder seals were made in Egypt as late as the Second Intermediate Period, but they were essentially replaced by scarabs from the time of the Middle Kingdom.

Burial sites in Gerzeh have uncovered artifacts, such as cosmetic palettes, a bone harpoon, an ivory pot, stone vessels, and several meteoritic iron beads,{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/tomb67/finds.html|title=Finds in Gerzeh tomb 67|access-date=2008-03-22|work=Digital Egypt for Universities|author=University College London}} Technologies at Gerzeh also include fine ripple-flaked knives of exceptional workmanship. The meteoritic iron beads, discovered in two Gerzean graves by Egyptologist Wainwright in 1911,{{cite web|url=http://www.gizapyramid.com/meteorite.htm|title=The use of meteorites by the Ancient Egyptians|access-date=2008-03-22|author=Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association}} are the earliest artifacts of iron known,{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-74026/metalwork|title=metalwork: Early history.|access-date=2008-03-22|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online}} dating to around 3200 BC{{cite journal | last=Jambon | first=Albert | title=Bronze Age iron: Meteoritic or not? A chemical strategy. | journal=Journal of Archaeological Science | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=88 | year=2017 | issn=0305-4403 | doi=10.1016/j.jas.2017.09.008 | pages=47–53| bibcode=2017JArSc..88...47J | s2cid=55644155 | url=https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01614724/file/Jambon_Bronze_Age_iron.pdf }} (see also Iron Age).

One burial uncovered evidence of decapitation.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/tomb67/body.html|title=Gerzeh, tomb 67|access-date=2008-03-22|work=Digital Egypt for Universities|author=University College London}}

File:Túmulo 100.JPG

Discoveries at Nekhen include Tomb 100, the oldest known tomb with a mural painted on its plaster walls. The sepulchre 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 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 of the images in the mural resemble images seen in the Gebel el-Arak Knife: a figure between two lions, warriors, or boats,{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Ian|author-link=Ian Shaw (Egyptologist) |title=Ancient Egyptian Warfare: Tactics, Weaponry and Ideology of the Pharaohs |date=2019 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-1-5040-6059-2 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0q_CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT22 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Kemp |first1=Barry J. |title=Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-56389-0 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpqBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Bestock |first1=Laurel |title=Violence and Power in Ancient Egypt: Image and Ideology before the New Kingdom |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-85626-8 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFQ7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT94 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Hartwig |first1=Melinda K. |title=A Companion to Ancient Egyptian Art |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-32509-4 |page=424 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gF24BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA424 |language=en}} but are not stylistically similar.

File:Hierakonpolis Tomb 100 Master of animals.jpg|{{center|Figure with rampant lions}}

File:Hierakonpolis Tomb 100 Individual fighting scene.jpg|{{center|Presumed warriors}}

File:Hierakonpolis Tomb 100 Hunting dog on a leash.jpg|{{center|Figure with fauna}}

File:Design of the Abydos token glyphs dated to 3400-3200 BCE.jpg, carbon-dated to circa 3400–3200 BC.{{cite book |last1=Scarre |first1=Chris |last2=Fagan |first2=Brian M. |title=Ancient Civilizations |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317296089 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xAy4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |language=en}}"The seal impressions, from various tombs, date even further back, to 3400 B.C. These dates challenge the commonly held belief that early logographs, pictographic symbols representing a specific place, object, or quantity, first evolved into more complex phonetic symbols in Mesopotamia." {{cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Larkin|title=Earliest Egyptian Glyphs|url=https://archive.archaeology.org/9903/newsbriefs/egypt.html|work=Archaeology|publisher=Archaeological Institute of America|access-date=29 February 2012}}]]

Some symbols on Gerzeh pottery resemble traditional Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were contemporaneous with the proto-cuneiform script of Sumer. The figurine of a woman is a distinctive design considered characteristic of the culture.

The end of the Gerzeh culture is generally regarded as coinciding with the unification of Egypt, the Naqada III period.

File:Egg-Shaped Mace Head 3500-3300 BCE Naqada II.jpg|Egg-Shaped Mace Head 3500–3300 BC Naqada II

File:Torino Museo Egizio 21072015 10 Linen.jpg|Painted linen (detail) from a grave in Gebelein, Naqada IIa-b (circa 3600 BC). Museo Egizio, Turin.

File:Pre-Dynastic model house, El-Amra, Naqada IIC until 3200 BCE, British Museum EA35505.jpg|Pre-Dynastic model house, El-Amra, Naqada IIC until 3200 BC, British Museum EA35505

{{commons category|Naqada II}}

• Riqqeh

{{reflist}}

• Petrie/Wainwright/Mackay: The Labyrinth, Gerzeh and Mazghuneh, British School of Archaeology in Egypt XXI. London 1912
• Alice Stevenson: Gerzeh, a cemetery shortly before History (Egyptian sites series),London 2006, {{ISBN|0-9550256-5-6}}

• [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/index.html Gerzeh (Girza)]. University College London, 2000
• [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=22289 Egypt, ancient. Encyclopædia Britannica], 2005
• [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/tomb20/index.html Gerzeh Tomb 20]
• [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/tomb105/index.html Gerzeh Tomb 105]
• [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gerzeh/tomb205/finds.html Gerzeh Tomb 205]

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{{Ancient Egypt topics}}

{{Rulers of the Ancient Near East}}

Category:4th-millennium BC establishments

Category:4th-millennium BC disestablishments

Category:4th millennium BC in Egypt

Category:Archaeological cultures in Egypt

Category:Predynastic Egypt

Category:Jemdet Nasr period