Popielska-Grzybowska, Joanna [Hrsg.]; Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists <2, 2001, Warszawa> [Hrsg.]: Proceedings of the Second Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists: Egypt 2001: perspectives of research, Warsaw 5 - 7 March 2001 (Warsaw, 2003)

Agnieszka Mqczynska
Poznan

Lower Egyptian Culture at Central Tell in Tell el-Farkha.
Preliminary Report
(Plates 21-23)

1. Introduction
The site of Tell el-Farkha is situated in the eastern
Nile Delta in the northern part of Ghazala village
(Markaz el-Simbillawein). It consists of three tells
(western, central and eastern) covering a total area of
approximately 400 x 110 meters and rising 4.5 meters
above the surrounding fields. The site was located in
1987 by the Italian Archaeological Mission of the
“Centro Studi e Ricerche Ligabue” in Venice, which
subsequently carried out excavations at the site be-
tween 1988-1990. The excavations supported the
division into Predynastic, Protodynastic and early Old
Kingdom occupational phases.1
In 1998 works at Tell el-Farkha were renewed
by a Polish archaeological expedition headed by
M. CHLODN1CKI from the Poznan Prehistoric So-
ciety and by K.M. CIALOWICZ from the
Jagiellonian University in Cracow. During the three
seasons of extensive fieldworks (1998-2001) a large
assemblage, including pottery, flints, stones and bones,
was found. In addition, geological core sample drill-
ing together with a geophysical survey were applied
at the site.2 The results of the excavations carried out
between 1998-2001, confirmed the occupation phase
thesis proposed by the Italian mission. Thanks to the
analysis of pottery we can distinguish seven occupa-
tional phases. The oldest can be associated with the
culture of Lower Egypt dated back to Nllc-IIdl.
The second phase containing materials characteristic

1M. CHLODNICKI, R. FATTOVICH, S. SALVATOR1, Ital-
ian Excavation in the Nile Delta: Fresh Data and New Hy-
potheses on the 411' Millennium Cultural Development of
Egyptian Prehistory, Rivista di Archeologia 15 (1991),
pp. 5-33; IIDEM, The Nile Delta in Transition: A View from
Tell el-Farkha, in: E.M.C. van den BRINK (ed.), The Nile
Delta in Transition: 4"'-3'd Millennium B.C., Tel Aviv 1992
(hereinafter referred to as: Nile Delta), pp. 171 -190; IIDEM,
The Italian Archaeological Mission of the C.S.R.L.-
Venice to the Eastern Delta: A preliminary report of the
1987-1988 field season, CRIPEL14 (1992), pp. 45-62.

of the Lower and Upper Egyptian traditions can be
dated back to Nlldl. The third phase dated back to
NIId2/NIIIal is entirely Naqadan in character.
Phases 4 and 5 are connected with the period of the
formation of the state in Egypt and the beginning of
the 1st dynasty Nina2-NIIIcl (the end of NIIIB to
NniCl). Only at Central Tell were the 6th and 7th
phases distinguished. They date back to the Early
Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom period up to the
IVth dynasty.
In this paper I would like to concentrate on the old-
estphase in Tell el-Farkha, associated with Lower Egyp-
tian Culture. Tell el-Farkha is one of the few Predynastic
sites in the Nile Delta. Thanks to a lower level of under-
ground water it was possible to reach the layers of Lower
Egyptian culture without major problems. The first to
reach the Lower Egyptian layers in Tell el-Farkha were
members of the Italian mission to the Nile Delta that
took place in the late eighties. They marked these layers
as la and lb, dating them back to Nllb and Nile. They
noted that these layers ‘ ‘shared strong direct links with
the late Predynastic phase atButo”.3 Now, we are sure
that these layers belong to the oldest occupation phase
at this site, which can be dated back to the Nile period,
or perhaps slightly earlier. This estimation is based on
analogous Lower Egyptian ceramic assemblages from
Buto (layerII),4 Tell Ibrahim Iswid (phase A)5 and Tell
Ibrahim Awad (phase 7 ).6 Nowadays, we know of only
four typical of Lower Egyptian Culture settlements,
2 CHLODNICKI. K.M. CIALOWICZ, Tell el-Farkha. Explo-
rations 1998, PAM X (1999), pp. 63-70; IIDEM, Tell
el-Farkha. Exploration 1999, PAM XI (2000), pp. 59-76.
3 CHLODNICKI, FATTOVICH, SALVATORI. Nile Delta,
p. 183.
4 T. von der WAY, Tell el-Fara'in. Buto I, Mainz 1997 (here-
inafter referred to as: Buto I).
5 van den BRINK, A Transitional Late Predynastic-Early
Dynastic Settlement Site in the Northeastern Nile Delta,
Egypt, MDA1K 45 (1989), pp. 55-108.
6 van den BRINK, Preliminary Report on the Excavations at

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