Royal Connections between the AGroup and Predynastic Egypt

Royal Connections between the A-Group and Predynastic Egypt? Kathryn Howley 2. 13. 2012

Williams vs. Adams “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”

Siali seal Gebel Sheikh Suleiman monument

Sayala- Cemetery 137

Egyptian Elements in A-Group Culture • Dakka-Sayala plain: 50% Upper Egyptian material • Cemetery 17, Khor Bahan: 14 mace heads, 23 Egyptian palettes, 8 Nubian palettes • Afyah: habitation site in Korosko bend

A-Group Elements in Egyptian Culture • Early A-Group pottery at Naqada, el-Adaima, el-Mamariya, Hierakonpolis, Elkab, Minshat Abu Omar • First cataract sites

A-Group Links Further South (and North) • Rippled ware • Wooden burial beds • Animal burials • Levantine objects at Qustul

Questions and Conclusions • Structure of political organization? • Dating • Egyptian kingship iconography does not equal Egyptian kingship. – Trade links? – Emulation?

Bibliography (in addition to syllabus) Gatto, Maria Carmela. 2000. “The most ancient evidence of the “A-Groups” culture in Lower Nubia”, Studies in African Archaeology 7, Poznan Archaeological Museum: 105 -117 Gatto, Maria Carmela. 2002. “Ceramic Traditions and Cultural Territories: the “Nubian Group” in Prehistory”, Sudan and Nubia 6: 8 -19 Gatto, Maria Carmela. 2006. “The Nubian A-Group: A Reassessment”, Archeo-Nil 16: 61 -76 Gatto, Maria Carmela. 2006. “The Early A-Group in Upper Lower Nubia, Upper Egypt and the Surrounding Deserts”, Studies in African Archaeology 9, Poznan Archaeological Museum: 223 -234 Gatto, Maria Carmela. 2009. “ Egypt and Nubia in the 5 th– 4 th millennia BCE: A view from the First Cataract and its surroundings”, BMSAES 13: 125 -45 Gatto, Maria Carmela. 2011. “The Nubian Pastoral Culture as link between Egypt and Africa: a view from the archaeological record” in Egypt in its African Context, ed. Exell Wengrow, David. 2006. “The Evolution of Simplicity: Naqada III”, ch. 8 in The Archaeology of Early Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wilkinson, Toby. 1999. Early Dynastic Egypt. New York: Routledge Willliams, Bruce. 1980. “The Lost Pharaohs of Nubia”, Archaeology Magazine, vol. 33 no. 5 Williams, Bruce. 1986. The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul: Cemetery L, Chicago: Oriental Institute Williams, Bruce. 1987. “The Metropolitan Museum Knife Handle and Aspects of Pharaonic Imagery before Narmer”, JNES 46: 245 -285