Early Dynastic Egypt

by Toby A H Wilkinson

  However, a re-examination of the complex stratigraphy in the Abydos temple area has shown that chamber M64 probably dates to the early New Kingdom, while chamber M69 could have been dug at any time from the Old Kingdom to the Eighteenth Dynasty (Kemp 1968:153). However, while not all the objects are necessarily Early Dynastic, some of the votive material discarded in these pits is clearly early in style, such as the ivory lion ‘gaming pieces’.

  Similar votive material was found scattered within the temple area itself (Petrie 1903:28). Particularly important is the group of human heads, modelled in clay. One of the pottery heads looks distinctly Asiatic (Petrie 1903: pl. XI.257), whilst the appearance of another (Petrie 1903: pl. XI.260) has attracted comment from several scholars (for example, Rice 1990). It is very un-Egyptian in style, and the head-dress, in the form of a turban, is reminiscent of depictions of Sumerian deities. The figure has been identified as a Mesopotamian, but whether human or divine is not known. The presence of such an object in the early temple at Abydos raises fundamental questions about Egypt’s early relations with its eastern neighbours, and the extent to which early religious iconography was influenced from abroad.

  Badari

  There is some evidence for the existence of an Early Dynastic shrine at Badari, on a finger of low desert called Spur 3. Underneath mudbrick walls of the Old or Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom, identified as successive phases of a small local temple, there was a stratum of Early Dynastic debris which itself overlay some unidentified late Predynastic or Early Dynastic mudbrick structures (Brunton 1927:18–19). Four objects found in situ provide the best indications that an Early Dynastic shrine did exist on the site of the later temple. A finely finished cup of deep blue glazed composition, very similar in form to a copper example found in the tomb of Khasekhemwy at Abydos, may

  have been donated as a votive object at an Early Dynastic shrine (Brunton 1927: pl. XX.61). The temple area also yielded the upper part of a pottery figurine, depicting a bearded man with a broad face and a curious, shoulder-length wig (Brunton 1927: pl. XXI.3). In general style, the figurine is reminiscent of similar objects found in the Early Dynastic temple at Hierakonpolis. A siltstone falcon of archaic appearance (Brunton 1927: pl. XX.63) quite possibly represents an Early Dynastic cult object (cf. Brunton 1927:17). Anti, the local god of the Badari region—who is attested from at least the Second Dynasty—was worshipped in the form of a falcon, and it is possible that the siltstone statue was an image of the god. Finally, a bird’s head, in pink pottery with ‘little lumps of pottery added to represent the eyes’ (Brunton 1927:17), was also found in the temple area (Brunton 1927: pl. XX.62). Although difficult to date, it may be Early Dynastic and can also be interpreted as a votive offering to the local falcon god.

  Heliopolis

  Fragments of limestone relief from a small shrine were found within the ancient enclosure at Heliopolis (Weill 1911–12:9); they are now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin (W.S.Smith 1949:133–7, figs 48–53). The building from which the reliefs came was badly destroyed but it was probably a small shrine. The decoration appears to be connected with the celebration of a Sed-festival and may also have shown the Heliopolitan ennead, the group of nine gods involved in the Heliopolitan creation myth. Two fragments bear the name of the king, Netjerikhet. Another fragment shows the king seated with the ladies of his family gathered around his feet (W.S.Smith 1949:133, fig. 48). The women are shown as tiny figures, two (the king’s daughter and the queen) in front of the king’s legs, and a third (whose name is illegible) behind with her arm around his leg. An unpublished fragment from the Heliopolis shrine shows

  the seated king with clenched hands held to his breast, one of them grasping two staves and the other perhaps the flail. A small attendant places his hand on the king’s elbow. This would appear to be the scene where the king is seated on the Heb-Sed throne while one of the officiants arranges his dress.

  (W.S.Smith 1949:136)

  A fragment of fine limestone relief in the Cairo Museum may also have come from the same shrine at Heliopolis (W.S.Smith 1949:136). On one side the king wears the tight- fitting garment associated with the Sed-festival, on the other side he wears the red crown. The beginning of royal patronage in the temple area at Heliopolis suggests official support for the local solar cult, which subsequently became the major state cult in the Fourth Dynasty.

  Tell Ibrahim Awad

  The site of Tell Ibrahim Awad in the north-eastern Delta has been the focus of excavations since the late 1980s (van den Brink 1992b). In the last few seasons, a number of deposits of pottery and votive objects have been found beneath the foundations of the

  Middle Kingdom temple (van Haarlem 1995, 1996). The deposits of offering-pottery probably date to the late Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period, but the non- ceramic material is likely to be rather earlier. Some of the small votive objects of glazed composition, ivory and stone have close parallels from the Satet temple at Elephantine, suggesting that the Tell Ibrahim Awad objects are also Early Dynastic in date (van Haarlem 1995:46). The largest deposit of votive material, discovered in 1996, comprised some 212 items. Unique objects included an oryx of glazed composition, a diorite palette and the figure of a dwarf made from cornelian. In total, the number of early votive objects recovered so far from Tell Ibrahim Awad equals the collection from Elephantine. Moreover, Tell Ibrahim Awad is the only documented site north of Abydos where such material has been found to date. Excavations in 1996 reached the deepest temple strata, just above the water-table. They have been dated preliminarily to the end of the Early Dynastic period or early Old Kingdom, and must represent the building where the votive objects were originally dedicated (van Haarlem 1996:32). Tell Ibrahim Awad is the only example of an Early Dynastic provincial shrine yet excavated in the Delta.

  Buto

  Excavations in the late 1980s at the site of Tell el-Fara‘in/Buto in the north-western Delta have revealed mudbrick buildings of the Early Dynastic period which may have served a cultic purpose (von der Way 1993:288–9). The complex which dominates the Early Dynastic level excavated so far consists of a labyrinth of corridors and interconnecting rooms (von der Way 1996). At the heart of the building lie two rooms; in one of these a limestone platform stood against one wall. Its original function remains a mystery, although the excavator suggested that it may have supported a throne or statue (von der Way 1992:7). The peculiar layout of the building as a whole would seem to indicate that it served a special purpose, perhaps as a royal residence or a building associated with the royal cult. An adjacent building, dated to the reign of Narmer, may also have served a sacred purpose. In front of a simple, rectangular building, a large pottery vessel had been sunk into the ground. On the inside of the vessel two stylised bull figures had been marked in the wet clay (von der Way 1989:295, fig. 12.1–2), giving rise to the suggestion that the vessel was perhaps a feeding trough for a divine bull worshipped at Buto (see Figure 8.9). A wooden label of Aha from Abydos offers possible confirmation for this theory. The label apparently records the king’s visit to important Delta shrines (Petrie 1901: pl. IIIA.5; Emery 1961: fig. 12). The second register depicts a round-topped sanctuary surmounted by a bird, almost certainly the shrine at Buto known as b wt (see below, and Figure 8.10). In front of this shrine is a bull inside an enclosure. If the same location applies to both shrine and bull, it suggests the worship of a sacred bull at Buto in the early First Dynasty.

  The motif of a shrine with a rounded or pitched roof surmounted by a bird, depicted on the Aha label, is first attested on the Narmer macehead from Hierakonpolis (Quibell 1900: pl. XXVIB). Here, the shrine is shown behind the enthroned king. The fact that Narmer is shown wearing the red crown may be significant, perhaps indicating that the event depicted took place in Lower Egypt (Millet 1990:54, 56). A bone label

  Figure 8.9 Early cult at Buto, 1: the sacred bull.

  Indications of a bull cult practised at Buto in the Early Dynastic period: (1) a rectangular mudbrick building,
excavated by the German Archaeological Institute expedition to Tell el-Fara‘in/ Buto in 1988; in front of the building, which dates to the very beginning of the First Dynasty, a large pottery basin had been sunk into the floor (after von der Way 1989:284, fig. 7.b); (2) the pottery basin was incised on the interior with two schematic bulls, giving rise to speculation that it may have

  served as the feeding trough of a sacred bull kept at Buto (after von der Way 1989:295, fig. 12.1–2); (3) wooden label of Aha from Abydos recording a royal visit to the north-western Delta; the enclosure with a bull may refer to a sacred precinct at Buto, if the heron-topped building next to it represents the Djebaut shrine (after Emery 1961:52, fig. 12). Not to same scale.

  from the late Predynastic tomb U-j at Abydos shows a similar motif, consisting of a rectangular, panelled building with a flat roof, surmounted by a long-beaked bird, possibly a heron (Dreyer 1993a: pl. 7.j). An identical label was excavated in the tomb of Aha (Petrie 1901: pl. III.12). In an entry on the Palermo Stone for the reign of Userkaf, a hieroglyph showing a heron on a perch is used as the determinative for the place-name b wt (Schäfer 1902:34). This locality is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, and has been securely identified as a sacred area in the vicinity of Buto (Gauthier 1929:127; Erman and Grapow 1931:567; Faulkner 1969:327). It is perhaps noteworthy that the same heron-on- a-perch hieroglyph (Gardiner 1957: sign-list G32) is also used as an ideogram or determinative in the verb b hỉ, ‘to be inundated’. This may have an ancient connection with the marshy, inundated nature of the land around Buto. The significance of the bird shown atop the shrine is not clear, but possibly the sanctuary at b wt was dedicated to

  the worship of a heron deity.

  A second feature of the sacred landscape at b wt/Buto recorded on early inscriptions was a complex comprising buildings and palm trees either side of a wavy canal (Bietak 1994, plus references). Two identical labels of Djer, one from Abydos (Amélineau 1904: pl. XV.19; Legge 1907: no. 4 [Berlin 18.026]) and one from Saqqara (Quibell 1923:6, pl. XI.2–3; cf. Weill 1961:351), record the visit of the king to this place. The same locality is shown on relief fragments from a number of Old Kingdom royal monuments, in conjunction with the heron standard of b wt, whilst a virtually identical scene from the Palace of Apries at Memphis (Petrie 1909:8–11, pl. VI; Mogensen 1930: pl. CII; cf. Weill 1961:351) clearly identifies the locality as b wt. Judging from similar scenes in Old Kingdom private tombs and the New Kingdom Theban tomb of Rekhmira, it is possible that a palm tree was originally planted in front of each shrine, and that the apparent alternation of shrines and palm trees on the Djer labels simply reflects the conventions of Egyptian artistic representation (Bietak 1994:3). Several different interpretations have been offered for the buildings and palm trees at Buto: chapels, house-burials or temporary buildings erected for a specific royal occasion (Wallert 1962:114–28; H.Altenmüller 1975; Bietak 1994:5).

  Figure 8.10 Early cult at Buto, 2: the Djebaut shrine.

  Depictions of the distinctive shrine surmounted by the figure of a heron: (1) bone label from tomb U-j at Abydos, dating to the late Predynastic period (after Dreyer 1993: pl. 14.j); (2) similar label from the tomb of Aha at Abydos (after Petrie 1901: pl. III.12); (3) the shrine as shown on the ceremonial macehead of Narmer from Hierakonpolis (after Quibell 1900: pl. XXVIB); (4) detail from a label of Aha recording a royal visit to the north- western Delta (after Petrie 1901: pl. X.2);

  (5) the name of the Djebaut shrine as recorded on the Palermo Stone, in an entry for the reign of Userkaf (after Schäfer 1902:34). Not to same scale.

  The discovery of tree pits in front of an Early Dynastic mastaba at North Saqqara (Emery 1949:73) and the excavation of similar pits in front of late Middle Kingdom tombs at Tell

  ed-Daba tend to favour the interpretation of the Buto complex as a sacred cemetery, perhaps the burial place of the Predynastic rulers of Buto (Bietak 1994).

  Excavations at Buto have proved the site’s importance from early Predynastic times. The attention paid by Early Dynastic kings, especially those of the early First Dynasty, to the various sacred precincts at Buto suggests that the site may have played a key role in the process of state formation, and that due reverence for its temples was an important part of the programme designed to cement and strengthen the unity of Egypt.

  Saïs

  A label of Aha apparently records a visit by the king to the shrine of Neith (Petrie 1901: pl. IIIA.5; Emery 1961: fig. 12). Since the other motifs on the label suggest a Delta location, it is likely that the cult centre of Neith was already located at Saïs in the north- western Delta. This was the site of a major temple to Neith in later periods of Egyptian history (cf. Lichtheim 1980:36–41), although no evidence for an Early Dynastic building has yet come to light from Saïs itself. (Presumably, the Early Dynastic levels now lie beneath the water-table, as they do at nearby Buto.)

  PART III

  THE DIVERSITY OF LOCAL EXPERIENCE

  CHAPTER NINE THE RISE OF URBANISM‌

  Egypt during the first three dynasties was not the monolithic state the royal court may have wished it to be: there was significant local and regional variation. The pace and character of urbanism is one of the areas in which this variation is most discernible.

  An urban centre may be defined as ‘a geographical and cultural central place exercising regional political control, with a relatively large and dense population, a complex division of labour, and internal social stratification’ (Hoffman et al. 1986:175). The migration of people from small, scattered villages to larger, more densely populated settlements marks a fundamental change in the nature of society (Kemp 1995:687). Urbanism—the concentration of population in such settlements—is an important stage in the structural evolution of a state (cf. Hoffman 1980:310), reflecting the ‘interaction between central organisation and local communities’ (Seidlmayer 1996b: 127). Consequently, urbanism is one of the defining characteristics of complex societies, and of early states in particular. The process of state formation in Egypt seems to have been accompanied by the nucleation of settlements in several areas of Upper Egypt (Kemp 1977; F.A.Hassan 1988:161). The process is directly attested by the rapid expansion of certain settlements, and is also reflected in the mortuary record by the simultaneous abandonment of several small cemeteries in a single region. The best evidence for these phenomena comes from the Abydos region, Naqada and Hierakonpolis.

  When calculating changes in the size of ancient populations it is important to consider settlement density as well as settlement area. For example, at Hierakonpolis tightly packed houses excavated within the walled town enclosure suggest a high density of settlement during the Early Dynastic period; this is likely to have offset any reduction in settlement area during the period of state formation (contra Trigger 1985:348). The evidence from all areas of Egypt points towards a process of permanent, if gradual, urbanisation (contra Janssen 1978:216). It is likely that the majority of the population— who were farmers, then as now—‘remained dispersed in hamlets and small villages’ (Trigger 1985:348); but, in the light of significant recent excavations, Egypt, even early Egypt, can no longer be considered ‘a civilisation without cities’ (Wilson 1960).

  FACTORS INFLUENCING URBANISM

  The factors affecting the beginning of urbanism are likely to have been several, and to have varied according to local conditions (Trigger 1972, 1985), especially the ‘political, cultural and regional setting’ (Seidlmayer 1996b: 126). The growth of large towns in Upper Egypt at the end of the Predynastic period may have been partly for defensive reasons (Trigger 1984:103), although it doubtless facilitated central control of the population by state authorities (Seidlmayer 1996b: 113). The nucleation of settlement at

  Hierakonpolis may have been the result of climatic and/or ecological factors (Hoffman 1976:41). What is clear is that urbanism both reflected, and was made possible by, the large-scale changes which took place within Egyptian society during the Predynastic period. Increasing social stratification, the product
ion of agricultural surpluses and the redistribution of these resources by the local élite enabled a section of the population to become engaged in full-time non-agricultural activity. The trend of craft specialisation was undoubtedly fostered by the demands of the élite and ultimately encompassed the development of writing and the growth of a literate scribal class engaged in administration. No longer tied to the land, a significant section of society could now benefit from living and working in a more compact form of settlement. Such a move would have been particularly advantageous to a nascent administration, allowing for more effective central storage of agricultural produce. Even after the unification of Egypt, local aristocracies—such as are attested, perhaps, by the élite First Dynasty mastabas at Tarkhan and the Third Dynasty mastabas at Beit Khallaf—may have continued to exert significant influence over their communities, and this factor should also be borne in mind when considering early urbanisation (Kemp, personal communication). Furthermore, the role of cult centres in the beginnings of urbanism should not be overlooked (Trigger 1972:590–1; Hoffman 1980:307–8). The site of a local shrine would have provided a natural focus for activity, particularly if the local élite depended upon intimate association with the supernatural to maintain its authority. The archaeological evidence at Hierakonpolis suggests that the location of an important shrine was one of the factors responsible for the growth of the early town (Hoffman 1980:307).