- El Kab
-
Coordinates: 25°7′8″N 32°47′52″E / 25.11889°N 32.79778°E
Eileithuia / el-Kab
El Kab is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of Wadi Hillal, about 80 km south of Luxor, consisting of prehistoric and Pharaonic settlements, rock-cut tombs of the early 18th Dynasty (1550-1295 BC), remains of temples dating from the Early Dynastic period (3100-2686 BC) to the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC), as well as part of the walls of a Coptic monastery. First scientifically excavated by James Quibell at the end of the nineteenth century, the site has been investigated primarily by Belgian archaeologists since 1937.Contents
Ancient Nekheb
The walled Pharaonic settlement of Nekheb was one of the first urban centres of the Early Dynastic period, and for a short time in the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC) it eclipsed in the city of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) on the opposite bank, becoming the capital of the third nome of Upper Egypt. Its massive mud-brick walls, dating to the Late Period (747-332 BC) and still largely preserved, enclosed an area of about 25,000 sq. m. Near the centre of the town are the remains of sand-stone temples dedicated to the deities Nekhbet and Thoth, which date primarily to the 18th to 30th Dynasties (1550-343 BC), but the original foundation of the temple of Nekhbet almost certainly dates back to the late fourth millennium BC.
It is the site of the ancient city Nekheb, the companion city to Nekhen. The city is surrounded by a massive mud-brick wall, thought to have been built by Nectanebo II as a defensive measure.
Necropolis
The necropolis has some important tombs, showing the early history of the 18th Dynasty and the reunification of Egypt. The rock-tombs of the provincial governors of El-Kab in the New Kingdom include those of Sobeknakht II an important official whose saved the Theban 16th or 17th dynasty from near destruction by invading forces from Kush, Ahmose, son of Ebana, an admiral in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos rulers (c.1550 BC), and Setau, a priest during the reign of Ramesses II (1184-1153 BC). The style of the early 18th Dynasty wall-paintings anticipates that of the first New Kingdom nobles' tombs at Thebes.
Ptolemaic and Roman eras
During the Greco-Roman period, the town flourished and became known as Eileithyiaspolis (Latin: Lucinae Civitas).
Ancient campsites
In 1967 Pierre Vermeersch discovered a series of well-stratified epipalaeolithic campsites. Radiocarbon-dated to c.6400-5980 BC, these are the type-sites of the Elkabian microlithic industry, filling a gap in the prehistoric cultural sequence of Egypt, between the Upper Palaeolithic period (c.10,000 BC) and the earliest Neolithic phase (c.5500 BC)
References
- J.E Quibell, El-Kab (London, 1898).-, 'L'Elkabien. Une nouvelle industrie epipaleolithique a Elkab en Haute Egypte, sa stratigraphic, sa typologie'. CdE 45 (1970), 45-68.
- P.Derchain and P.Vermeersch, Elkab, 2 vols (Brussels and Louvain, 1971-8).
Bibliography
- Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, 92-3.
External links
- El Kab at Project Gutenberg by James E. Quibell (1898 account of archeological expedition)
Categories:- Ancient Greek sites in Egypt
- Archaeological sites in Egypt
- Roman sites in Egypt
- Former populated places in Egypt
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
