Naqada III

{{short description|Last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory}}

{{Infobox archaeological culture

|name = Semainian culture / Naqada III

|map = {{Location map+|Egypt#Nile|relief=yes|float=center|width=300

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{{Location map~|Egypt#Nile|lat=25.9|long=32.716667|position=left |label_size=75 |label=Naqada}}

}}

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|region = Egypt

|period = Early Bronze I

|dates = {{circa|3,300 BC – 2,900 BC}}{{cite journal |last1=Hendrickx |first1=Stan |title=The relative chronology of the Naqada culture: Problems and possibilities|editor-last=Spencer|editor-first=A.J.| journal=Aspects of Early Egypt|location=London |publisher=British Museum Press|year=1996|page=64 |url=https://www.academia.edu/526195 |language=en}}

|typesite =

|majorsites = Naqada, Tarkhan, Nekhen

|extra =

|precededby = Naqada II, Maadi culture

|followedby = First Dynasty of Egypt

}}

File:Narmer Palette serpopard side.jpg, thought to mark the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt; note the images of the goddess Bat at the top, as well as the serpopards that form the central intertwined image.]]

Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating from approximately 3200 to 3000 BC.{{Sfn | Shaw|2000|p=479}} It is the period during which the process of state formation, which began in Naqada II, became highly visible, with named kings heading powerful polities. Naqada III is often referred to as Dynasty 0 or the Protodynastic Period{{Sfn | Shaw | 2000 | p = 479}} to reflect the presence of kings at the head of influential states, although, in fact, the kings involved would not have been a part of a dynasty. In this period, those kings' names were inscribed in the form of serekhs on a variety of surfaces including pottery and tombs.

History

The Protodynastic Period in ancient Egypt was characterised by an ongoing process of political unification, culminating in the formation of a single state to begin the Early Dynastic Period. Furthermore, it is during this time that the Egyptian language was first recorded in hieroglyphs. There is also strong archaeological evidence of Egyptian settlements in southern Canaan during the Protodynastic Period, which are regarded as colonies or trading entrepôts.

Archaeologists Pierre de Miroschedji and Moain Sadeq hypothesise that the Egyptian activity in the Levant of this period can be classified in three parts: an area of permanent settlement including Tell es-Sakan (which may have been the administrative centre) and En Besor; an area extending north along the coast of seasonal habitation, and beyond this to the east and further north was an area of interaction between the Egyptians and the Canaanites.{{citation |last1=de Miroschedji |first1=Pierre |last2=Sadeq |first2=Moain |chapter=The frontier of Egypt in the Early Bronze Age: preliminary soundings at Tell es-Sakan (Gaza Strip) |title=Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean |year=2005 |editor-first=Joanne |editor-last=Clarke |publisher=Council for British Research in the Levant |pages=155-169 |jstor=j.ctv310vqks.24 |jstor-access=free |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv310vqks.24}}

State formation began during this era and perhaps even earlier. Various small city-states arose along the Nile. Centuries of conquest then reduced Upper Egypt to three major states: Thinis, Naqada, and Nekhen. Sandwiched between Thinis and Nekhen, Naqada was the first to fall. Thinis then conquered Lower Egypt. Nekhen's relationship with Thinis is uncertain, but these two states may have merged peacefully, with the Thinite royal family ruling all of Egypt. The Thinite kings were buried at Abydos in the Umm el-Qa'ab cemetery.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

Early Egyptologists such as Flinders Petrie were proponents of the Dynastic race theory which hypothesised that the first Egyptian chieftains and rulers were themselves of Mesopotamian origin,{{cite journal |last=Derry |first=D.E. |title=The Dynastic Race in Egypt |journal=Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=42 |date=1956|pages=80–85 |doi=10.1177/030751335604200111 |s2cid=194596267}} but this view has been abandoned among modern scholars.{{cite book |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Toby |title=Early dynastic Egypt |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0415186331 |pages=15}}{{cite book |last1=Yurco, Frank (1996). "An Egyptological Review". |title=Black Athena revisited |date=1996 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=0807845558 |pages=62–100}}{{cite book|author-last=Zakrzewski|author-first=Sonia R.|title=Population continuity or population change: Formation of the ancient Egyptian state|date=2007|publisher=Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton|location=Highfield, Southampton}}*Pg33-"Early Nile Valley populations were primarily coextensive with indigenous African populations. Linguistic and archaeological data provide key supporting evidence for a primarily African origin".{{cite book |last1=Shomarka Keita and A.J. Boyce "The Geographic and Origins and Population Relationships of Early Ancient Egyptians". Celenko Theodore (ed). |title=Egypt in Africa |date=1996 |publisher=Indianapolis Museum of Art |location=Indianapolis, Ind. |isbn=0936260645 |pages=20–33}}*Pg84-85 "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 the Levant. They reveal instead a population with cranial and dental features with closest parallels to those of other longtime populations of the surrounding areas of northeastern Africa, such as Nubia and the northern Horn of Africa".{{cite book |last1=Ehret |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE |date=20 June 2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-24409-9 |pages=83-86, 167-169|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5KjEAAAQBAJ&q=ancient+africa:+a+global+history,+to+300+ce+christopher+ehret |language=en}}

Most Egyptologists consider Narmer to be both the last king of this period and the first king of the First Dynasty. He was possibly preceded over some parts of Upper Egypt by Crocodile, Iry-Hor, Ka, and perhaps by the king Scorpion II, whose name may refer to, or be derived from, the goddess Serket, a special early protector of other deities and the rulers.{{Sfn | Shaw | 2000 | p = 71}}

Naqada III extended all over Egypt and was characterized by some notable firsts:

The first hieroglyphs
The first graphical narratives on palettes
The first regular use of serekhs
Possibly the first example of irrigation

And at best, a notable second:

The invention of sail navigationMeza, A.I. (2007) “Neolithic Boats: Ancient Egypt and the Maltese Islands. A Minoan Connection” J-C. Goyon,C. Cardin (Eds.) Actes Du Neuvième Congrès International Des Égyptologues, p. 1287. (derived from its prior invention in the Persian Gulf 2,000 years earlier){{cite journal |last=Robinson |first=D. |year=2012 |title=Review of: Anderson, A., et al. (2010), The Global Origins and Development of Seafaring |journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=206–208 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-9270.2011.00333_2.x |s2cid=162515460 }}

According to the Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities, in February, 2020, Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered 83 tombs dating back to 3,000 B.C, known as the Naqada III period. Various small ceramic pots in different shapes and some sea shells, makeup tools, eyeliner pots, and jewels were also revealed in the burial.{{Cite web|last=Geggel|first=Laura|title=Dozens of ancient Egyptian graves found with rare clay coffins|url=https://www.livescience.com/ancient-egypt-clay-graves.html|access-date=2020-06-28|website=livescience.com|date=21 February 2020 |language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2020-02-12|title=الكشف عن 83 مقبرة أثرية بمنطقة آثار كوم الخلجان بمحافظة الدقهلية|url=https://www.youm7.com/story/2020/2/12/الكشف-عن-83-مقبرة-أثرية-بمنطقة-آثار-كوم-الخلجان-بمحافظة/4628503|access-date=2020-06-28|website=اليوم السابع}}

=Decorative cosmetic palettes=

Many notable decorative palettes are dated to Naqada III, such as the Hunters Palette.

File:HuntersPalette-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg|Hunters Palette, circa 3100 BC

File:Palette with quadrupedes-E 11052-IMG 9460-9470-gradient.jpg|"Four Dogs Palette" (3300–3100 BC)

File:Fragment of a ceremonial palette illustrating a man and a type of staff,ca. 3200–3100 BC.jpg|Fragment of a ceremonial palette illustrating a man and a type of staff, ca. 3200–3100 BC

File:Duck-shaped palette-90000838-IMG 9538-white.jpg|Duck-shaped palette

File:Palette with Bull-E 11255-IMG 9459-9466-gradient.jpg|Bull Palette, 3100 BC

File:The Battlefield Palette 3100 BC - Joy of Museums.jpg|The Battlefield Palette, possibly showing the subjection of the people of the Buto-Maadi culture, by the Egyptian rulers of Naqada III, circa 3100 BC.{{cite journal|last1=Brovarski|first1=Edward|title=REFLECTIONS ON THE BATTLEFIELD AND LIBYAN BOOTY PALETTES|page=89|url=https://www.academia.edu/28433861|language=en}}

File:Fragment of a palette 3200-2800 BCE.jpg|Fragment of a palette, 3200–2800 BC.

Other artifacts

BaboonDivityBearingNameOfPharaohNarmerOnBase.png|Baboon Divinity bearing name of Pharaoh Narmer on base

Kingscorpion.jpg|The Scorpion Macehead, Ashmolean Museum.

File:Dynastie 0 Stabaufsatz.jpg|Protodynastic sceptre fragment with royal couple. Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst, Munich

File:Hair Comb Decorated with Rows of Wild Animals 3200-3100 BCE Naqada III.jpg|Hair Comb Decorated with Rows of Wild Animals 3200–3100 BCE, Naqada III

File:Vase mit Vogelfries.jpg|Naqada III vessel

File:Cylindrical Jar MET LC-12 187 5 EGDP026693.jpg|Typical Naqada III cylindrical jar

References

External links

[http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/hdyn00.htm Naqada III: Dynasty 0]
{{Citation | url = https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt//naqadan/inegypt.html | title = Naqadan in Egypt | contribution = Unification Theories | publisher = UCL | place = UK}}.

Category:4th millennium BC in Egypt

Category:Predynastic Egypt

Category:Archaeological cultures in Egypt

Category:4th-millennium BC establishments

Category:4th-millennium BC disestablishments