Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

TELL EL-LARKHA

EGYPT

It is commonly assumed that Naqada
culture expanded to the north, pushing out,
at least in the Eastern Delta, the auto-
chthonous Lower Egyptian culture. But
before this happened, the two cultures must
have had some relations and at Tell el-
Farkha Naqadian sherds have been found in
evidently Lower Egyptian installations.
Nonetheless, these contacts must have been
relatively limited. Again general opinion
has it that the situation changed, rather
suddenly and in a single shot, in the period
between Naqada IID and IIIA when almost
all of the Delta was occupied by the
Naqadians. The most probable reason for
Naqadian expansion, although most likely
not the only one, was control of trade routes.
Following recent finds at Tell el-
Farkha, this relation between Upper and
Lower Egypt in Predynastic times should
be seen as much more complicated. The
first to occupy the site were people of
Lower Egyptian Culture, as evidenced by
characteristic potsherds in one of the fully
excavated test pits, and the characteristic
Lower Egyptian structures discovered in
2004 in the northern part of the Eastern
Kom. The first N'qada occupation came
probably in the late Gerzean period. The
monumental building should be assigned to
the third phase. Then, the Eastern Kom
seems to have lost its importance for a short
time and a poor settlement appeared on top
of the ruins of the mysterious building. This

was followed by an Early Dynastic cemetery,
and the last occupation was a settlement
dated to late Early Dynastic and the
beginnings of the Old Kingdom.
The relation between the monumental
building and later settlement is of particular
interest. It could be proof of a total
exchange of the population in Tell el-
Farkha, possibly following some natural or
political calamity. These newcomers had no
idea of previous site history and occupation
and obviously had no one to tell them. The
same break in continuity of site tradition
could have occurred between the Early
Dynastic cemetery and the early Old
Kingdom settlement.
The functional changes noted on the
Eastern Kom in Tell el-Farkha could be
considered as proof that Naqada occupation
of the Delta was a process more complicated
than previously supposed. There could have
been successive waves of migrations
originating from different political centers
in Upper Egypt, which could have been
political rivals in the process of occupying
the Delta in Proto-Dynastic times. The later
information about the conquest of Lower
Egypt by Upper Egyptian kings may be
more than just legend, but whatever
rivalries took place, as when one ruler
from the South (Abydos, for example)
wanted to dominate another one (say, from
Hierakonpolis), it all occurred within
Naqada culture as we know it.

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