Showing posts with label Naqada III. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Naqada III. Show all posts

Naqada III

Bird-shaped vase, late predynastic period (Naqada III)
Bird-shaped vase, late predynastic period (Naqada III)
Naqada III culture (c.3200-3050 BCE) was characterized by the abandonment or reduction in significance of certain population centers in Egypt's South (e.g., Matmar, Mahasna), the maintenance or even growth in  significance  of  others  (e.g.,  Hierakonpolis,  Abydos),  and  the  foundation  of  yet  others  (e.g.,  Elkab,  Tarkhan,  Tura).  Social  changes  were  of  increasing  importance,  yet  despite  a  certain  variance in material culture, this period was a direct continuation of  the  Gerzean.  A  major  settlement  move  from  the  desert  to  the  vicinity of the Nile was necessary in Naqada III. Ecological changes  that  began  in Naqada II were  intensified,  bringing  with  them  a  relative cessation in herding in favor of agriculture. Changes in the  material culture indicate an accompanying alteration in the spiritual  realm.  Some  objects  were  modified  in  shape,  while  their  basic  function  was  preserved;  others,  while  their  shape  was  preserved,  had  their  functions  changed—from utility to ritual-cult-symbolic (e.g., palettes). Pottery included decorated wares, cylindrical jars, cups, and large transport-storage jars, often with  engraved  and  painted serekhs, indicating that the contents were intended for the royal court. The production  of flint artifacts relatively decreased—due mainly to the expanded  use of metal tools. The use of jewelry also increased, as did the role  of sculpture and relief. In Coptos, no later than Narmer's time, three  colossal statues of Min (4 meters/I 3 feet high) and three statues of  lions  (1.5  meters/4  feet  long)  were  erected.  Many  items  have  elaborate  scenes:  palettes,  ceremonial  mace  heads,  and  knife  handles.  In  temple  deposits  at  Hierakonpolis,  Abydos,  and  Elephantine,  a  number  of  figurines—prisoners,  children,  women,  scorpions, baboons—were made of various materials, some votive  but  some  fragments  of  larger  objects  and  furniture.  They  indicate  development of the ritual-symbolic sphere—that associated with the centralization of authority.
Handle of a decorated knife. Naqada III. Louvre Museum
Handle of a decorated knife. Naqada III. Louvre Museum

Glyptics and writing became increasingly important, clearly developed under the influence of impulses from the Near East, passing through a brief phase  of  imitation,  then  ultimately  containing  typically Egyptian  motifs  and  inscriptions.  The  role of  long-distance  trade,  conducted  in  all  the  traditional  directions,  increased  considerably.  Contacts  with  Palestine  and  the  Sinai  intensified,  showing  the  importance  of  this  nearby  northeastern  region  and  its  goods  (wine,  oil,  resin,  timber,  copper).  The  Protodynastic colonization of northern Sinai and southern Canaan  lasted until the mid-first dynasty. The kings known from this period  ruled  over  all  of  Egypt—"Uj,"  Iry-Hor(?),  Ka,  "Scorpion,"  and  Narmer—have been dated to Naqada IIIB-IIICl. (c.3150-3050 BCE).  Toward the end of the Protodynastic Dynasty "O," probably in the  reign  of  Narmer,  the  kingdom  of  the  pharaohs  was  established,  more or less in the form known from the Early Dynastic (Archaic)  period. The gradual (not by conquest) formation of an Egyptian state was therefore the last stage, not the first, from which the civilization of the Nile Valley grew.

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