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1

The necropolis at Tell el-Farkha reconsidered

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Dębowska-Ludwin J.

Recherches Archéologiques Nouvelle Serie

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2010

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vol. 2

5-20

EN

Works on the necropolis at Tell el-Farkha have reached the 9th season and resulted in locating over 100 burials. In this situation, almost every succeeding campaign was bringing such a number of new data that preliminary statements were continuously being changed almost year by year. Numerous analyses of pottery, stone vessels, architectural details and stratigraphy, finally, seem to lead to some more profound conclusions. According to them, all graves at Tell el-Farkha have been divided into 3 main chronological groups. Group 1 is the oldest one. It is dated back from Naqada IIIB phase to the middle of Dynasty 1. People buried in the graves of this group represented wealthy society, and they also experimented, trying to reach a perfect grave form. The process is the best explanation of the presence of so many “strange” structures and differences in position of the deceased, but on the other hand, also numerous elements of typically early dynastic burial custom (e.g. niche façades or subsidiary burials) seem to emerge in that time. Tombs belonging to the group 2 come from the middle of Dynasty 1 to late Dynasty 1 or even to early Dynasty 2. Main social features they express are stressing of wealth inequality and presence of clearly definite and quite strictly obeyed rules of burial ritual. However the graves of the younger group are clearly a continuation of the older custom and so the origin of both societies must have been similar, the changes in orientation of tombs as well as examples of younger burials cutting into older ones suggest that both groups were divided by short break in occupation of cemetery. The final phase (group 3) of the cemetery at Tell el-Farkha was surely separated from the previous ones by a much longer period of time. The tombs representing phase in question are distributed only in the highest part of the tell, and may be dated on the basis of stratigraphic observations to the beginning of the Old Kingdom. They characterise of very simple burial custom (all the bodies were found resting in simple pits) and are hardly equipped with any objects.

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Excavations at the Western Kom at Tell el-Farkha 2007–2008

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Ciałowicz K. M.

Recherches Archéologiques Nouvelle Serie

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2010

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vol. 2

203-228

EN

During the field campaigns at the Western Kom in Tell el-Farkha carried in 2007-2008, studies on remains of the admninistrative-cultic centre, discovered in 2001 and 2006 were continued. Some new rooms northward and southward to the shrine were uncovered. The first ones seem to be erected in a hurry and for temporary use. Excavations within the shrine provided the most important results. New votive objects were discovered, scattered within the whole area of shrine as well as intentionally hidden beneath their floor and walls. Especially worth mentioning are well preserved specimen of so called hes-jar, fragment of pottery figurine (sitting boy?), collection of ivory figurines and finally geywacke spoon with a crocodile-shaped handle. Another findings (seal decorated with representations of gazelle and falcon-Horus, ostrich egg, gazelle horn), as well as comparison of them with similar artifacts discovered in other parts of the tell, allow us to hypothesize that this animals might symbolize the name of cult centre and the whole town at Tell el-Farkha or be linked to the divine forces worshiped in both discovered shrines.

3

Excavations at the Western Kom at Tell el-Farkha 2009–2010

100%

Ciałowicz K.

Recherches Archéologiques Nouvelle Serie

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2011

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vol. 3

157-178

EN

Fieldworks at the Western Kom were carried out within the older trench that had been opened in 2006–2007 and further excavated in 2008. The important excavation results are related to architectural remains. Beneath the chapel with votive deposits next structures with storage vessels inside were discovered. Absence of architectural remains in the south-eastern part of the tell proved that in the Naqada III A-B the Western Kom was inhabited in a much smaller area that it was later. The upper layers excavated during these campaigns are connected to phase 4 at Tell el-Farkha (i.e. Naqada IIIA) and the lower layers to phase 3 (Naqada IID2/IIIA). Discovered stone and flint tools points than the stone vessels workshop was strictly connected to the cultic shrine. Analysis of animal remains and pottery confirm the exceptional role of these area in the Proto- and beginning of the Early Dynastic periods and we have gained a very strong evidence, that the Western Kom was the most significant area of the site in Tell el-Farkha and was related to the local elite. The imitations of Palestinian vessels and numerous pottery fragments of Near Eastern origin point to well developed trade with the Near East. Another proof for such activities are small objects of various shapes, which were probably used as tokens. They were discovered at all three tells in Tell el-Farkha.

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3 Recherches Archéologiques Nouvelle Serie

1 Ciałowicz K.

1 Ciałowicz K. M.

1 Dębowska-Ludwin J.

1 2011

2 2010

The necropolis at Tell el-Farkha reconsidered

Excavations at the Western Kom at Tell el-Farkha 2007–2008

Excavations at the Western Kom at Tell el-Farkha 2009–2010