Merimde culture

Dynasties of Ancient Egypt Early Dynastic • 1st Dynasty (c. 3050 – 2890 BC) • 2nd Dynasty (2890 – 2686 BC) Old Kingdom • 3rd Dynasty (2686 – 2613 BC) • 4th Dynasty (2613 – 2498 BC) • 5th Dynasty (2498 – 2345 BC) • 6th Dynasty (2345 – 2181 BC) First Intermediate • 7th Dynasty (2181 – 2160 BC) • 8th Dynasty (2181 – 2160 BC) • 9th Dynasty (2160 – 2130 BC) • 10th Dynasty (2130 – 2040 BC) • 11th Dynasty (Thebes only) (2134 – 1991 BC) Middle Kingdom • 11th Dynasty (All Egypt) (2134 – 1991 BC) • 12th Dynasty (1991 – 1803 BC) • 13th Dynasty (1803 – 1649 BC) • 14th Dynasty (1705 – 1690 BC) Second Intermediate • 15th Dynasty (1674 – 1535 BC) • 16th Dynasty (1660 – 1600 BC) • 17th Dynasty (1650 – 1549 BC) New Kingdom • 18th (1549 – 1292 BC) • 19th (1292 – 1186 BC) • 20th (1186 – 1069 BC) Third Intermediate • 21st (1069 – 945 BC) • 22nd (945 – 720 BC) • 23rd (837 – 728 BC) • 24th (732 – 720 BC) • 25th (732 – 653 BC) Late Period • 26th (672 – 525 BC) • 27th (First Achaemenid Period) (525 – 404 BC) • 28th (404 – 398 BC) • 29th (398 – 380 BC) • 30th (380 – 343 BC) • 31st (Second Achaemenid Period) (343 – 332 BC)

v · d · e

The Merimde culture (also Merimde Beni-Salame)(Arabic:مرمدة بني سلامة) was a Neolithic culture which corresponds in its later phase to the Faiyum A and the Badari cultures in Predynastic Egypt. It is estimated that the culture evolved between 4800 and 4300 BC.^[1] Merimde also refers to the archaeological site of the same name.

Archaeological work

The culture was concentrated around the main settlement site of 25 hectares in the West delta of the Nile in Lower Egypt 45 km northwest of Cairo. The site was discovered by a former German priest named Hermann Junker —who excavated 6,400 m² of the site— during his West Delta expedition in 1928. The expedition was financed by Albert Rothbart from New York for the account of the Vienna Academy.^[2]

Later excavations in the 1970s —performed by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and the German Institute of Archaeology— led to the establishment of the stratigraphic sequence.^[3]

Characteristics

Merimde shows a sequence of occupations which lasted almost a millennium according to some estimates. While Junker identified three sequences, others such as Joseph Eiwanger established in 1977 that there are five with significantly different levels of development. Artifacts such as ceramics were quite primitive during phase I —a phase characterized by a light occupation. Eiwanger documented that storage areas appeared during phase II when the intensity of the occupation increased.^[4]

Economy

Archaeological evidence suggests that the Merimde economy was dominated by agriculture although some fishing and hunting were practiced to a lesser degree. The settlement consisted of small huts made of wattle and reed with a round or elliptical ground plan. Merimde pottery lacked rippled marks.^[5]

Burials

Burials had very unique characteristics, different from those of practiced in Upper Egyptian Predynastic Egypt and later Dynastic Egypt. There were no separate areas for cemeteries and the dead were buried within the settlement in a contracted position in oval pits without grave goods and offerings.^[6]

In the time of the Maadi culture, the place was used as a cemetery.

See also

• Population history of Egypt

External links

• University College London

References and notes

1. ^ Bogucki, Peter I. (1999). The origins of human society. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 355. ISBN 1-5771-8112-3. 
2. ^ Hoffman, Michael A. (1980). Egypt before the pharaohs. Taylor & Francis. pp. 168. ISBN 0-7100-0495-8. 
3. ^ Bard, Kathryn; Steven Blake Shubert (1999). Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. Routledge. pp. 501. ISBN 0-4151-8589-0. 
4. ^ Shaw, Thurstan (1995). The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns. Routledge. pp. 212. ISBN 0-4151-1585-X. 
5. ^ Brewer, Douglas J.; Emily Teeter (2007). Egypt and the Egyptians. Cambridge University Press. pp. 35. ISBN 0-5218-5150-5. 
6. ^ Hoffman - pp. 174.