Naqada (Egyptian Arabic: نقادة Naqāda; Coptic language: ⲛⲉⲕⲁⲧⲏⲣⲓⲟⲛ Nekatērion;1 Ancient Greek: Παμπανις Pampanis,2 Ancient Egyptian: Nbyt "City of Gold")3 is a town on the west bank of the Nile in Qena Governorate, Egypt, situated ca. 20 km north of Luxor. It includes the villages of Tukh, Khatara, Danfiq, and Zawayda. According to the 1960 census, it is one of the most sparsely populated areas and had only 3,000 inhabitants, mostly of the Christian faith4 who preserved elements of the Coptic language up until the 1930s.5
The ancient town contained a cemetery that held approximately 2,000 graves.6 The first person to excavate the site was archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1894. Petrie was working for the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society) when he excavated the site. Some of the findings during the excavation included artifacts from the Amratian (Naqada I) and the Gerzeh (Naqada II).7
Archaeology
"Naqada" (Nubt) literally means "City of Gold", reflecting the exceptional wealth of the eastern desert region in gold, and the strategic position of Naqada and its facing town of Koptos for the commerce of that gold.89 The exploitation of precious metals from the Eastern Desert, and the development of floodplain agriculture generating surpluses which could generate demand for a variety of crafts, made the region especially advanced in terms of economic specialization and diversification, much more so than the regions of contemporary Lower Egypt.10
Naqada stands near the site of a prehistoric Egyptian necropolis: The town, called Ombos, was the centre of the cult of Set and large tombs were built there c. 3500 BCE.11
The large quantity of remains from Naqada has enabled the dating of the entire archeological period throughout Egypt and its environs, hence the town name Naqada is used for the pre-dynastic Naqada culture c. 4400–3000 BCE. Other Naqada culture archeological sites include el Badari, the Gerzeh culture, and Nekhen.
Excavations
Petrie's initial findings during his excavations led him to incorrectly believe he had found a new race of people who had invaded Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. This would later be disproven by the work of Jacques de Morgan who had conducted his own digs in the Naqada Region. Morgan's findings showed that the artifacts came from an earlier era and this led Petrie to revise his own findings.1213
The graves that were uncovered contained bodies that were less intact and were placed by streams and in covered pits compared to the Egyptian practice of usually placing the graves on a cliff face or rising ground and having the bodies lie in a hollow or a cave and they lacked the embalming typical of Egyptian burials.14
Research into the predynastic sites of the dead in the Naqada region came to show that they had transitioned into a state style of civilization and away from a chiefdom. Many of these graves had contained many items ranging from amulets to hairpins to knives made of flint. Few of these graves had items of value or were of special use which tells us that they had a developing class of people who resided within the upper class including an established group of middle class individuals. This level of monetary stability is thought to have come from the region having an established gold trade as revealed by seals found in cemeteries.15
A survey of the area in the years between 1978 and 1981, led by Fekri Hassan, working with the Washington State University in a project titled Predynastic of Naqada was done in an attempt to find more cemetery sites. This project did lead to the discovery of more cemeteries. This survey also led to the rediscovery of the Royal Tomb that was found by de Morgan which was then later re-evaluated. Through the survey the area of Nubt, in the south town, was found to have been looted and used by the farmers in the area as a form of fertilizer called Sebakh. The objects that were left behind had been moved from their original location or were sold on the black market.16
Proposed future surveys
In August 2018 the Egypt Exploration Society had conducted tests in the area of Nubt to test for its ability to be used for further research. The purpose of this survey is to bring more attention to the usefulness of the site and for protecting it. Later seasons will take looks into how to best preserve the sites. Further work will begin on the surrounding area.12
In popular culture
In the Stargate franchise, alien civilizations make extensive use of a mineral, naquada, named after the archaeological site.
References
25°54′N 32°43′E / 25.900°N 32.717°E / 25.900; 32.717
Notes