Merimde culture

Merimde culture
Geographical range	Egypt
Period	Neolithic
Dates	circa 4,800 B.C.E. — circa 4,300 B.C.E.
Preceded by	Faiyum A culture
Followed by	Amratian culture

Dynasties of Ancient Egypt

All years are BC

Early

First Dynasty	I	c. 3150–2890
Second Dynasty	II	2890–2686

Old Kingdom

Third Dynasty	III	2686–2613
Fourth Dynasty	IV	2613–2498
Fifth Dynasty	V	2498–2345
Sixth Dynasty	VI	2345–2181

First Intermediate

Seventh Dynasty	VII	spurious
Eighth Dynasty	VIII	2181–2160
Ninth Dynasty	IX	2160–2130
Tenth Dynasty	X	2130–2040
Early Eleventh Dynasty	XI	2134–2061

Middle Kingdom

Late Eleventh Dynasty	XI	2061–1991
Twelfth Dynasty	XII	1991–1803
Thirteenth Dynasty	XIII	1803–1649
Fourteenth Dynasty	XIV	1705–1690

Second Intermediate

Fifteenth Dynasty	XV	1674–1535
Sixteenth Dynasty	XVI	1660–1600
Abydos Dynasty		1650–1600
Seventeenth Dynasty	XVII	1580–1549

New Kingdom

Eighteenth Dynasty	XVIII	1549–1292
Nineteenth Dynasty	XIX	1292–1189
Twentieth Dynasty	XX	1189–1077

Third Intermediate

Twenty-first Dynasty	XXI	1069–945
Twenty-second Dynasty	XXII	945–720
Twenty-third Dynasty	XXIII	837–728
Twenty-fourth Dynasty	XXIV	732–720
Twenty-fifth Dynasty	XXV	732–653

Late Period

Twenty-sixth Dynasty	XXVI	672–525
Twenty-seventh Dynasty (1st Persian Period)	XXVII	525–404
Twenty-eighth Dynasty	XXVIII	404–398
Twenty-ninth Dynasty	XXIX	398–380
Thirtieth Dynasty	XXX	380–343
Thirty-first Dynasty (2nd Persian Period)	XXXI	343–332

Ptolemaic (Hellenistic)

Argead Dynasty	332–305
Ptolemaic Kingdom	305–30

The Merimde culture (also Merimde Beni-Salame or Benisalam) (Arabic: مرمدة بني سلامة‎‎) was a Neolithic culture in the West Nile Delta in Lower Egypt, which corresponds in its later phase to the Faiyum A culture and the Badari culture 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 German archaeologist and former Roman Catholic priest Hermann Junker, who excavated 6,400 m² of the site during his West Nile Delta expedition in 1928. The expedition was financed by Albert Rothbart from New York City 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 stratigraphical 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 unique characteristics, different from those 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.

Excavations of Merimde burials have yielded a number of skeletons, chiefly those of females. The fossils are generally taller and more robust than later predynastic Egyptian specimens. In this regard, the Merimde skeletons are most similar to those associated with the Tasian culture. Furthermore, although the Merimde crania are dolichocephalic (long-headed) like many of the other predynastic skulls, they have a large and wide vault like the Tasian crania. Skulls excavated from Badarian, Amratian and Natufian sites tend instead to be smaller and narrow.^[7]^[8]

External links

University College London

References and notes

↑ Bogucki, Peter I. (1999). The origins of human society. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 355. ISBN 1-57718-112-3.
↑ Hoffman, Michael A. (1980). Egypt before the pharaohs. Taylor & Francis. p. 168. ISBN 0-7100-0495-8.
↑ Bard, Kathryn; Steven Blake Shubert (1999). Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. Routledge. p. 501. ISBN 0-415-18589-0.
↑ Shaw, Thurstan (1995). The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns. Routledge. p. 212. ISBN 0-415-11585-X.
↑ Brewer, Douglas J.; Emily Teeter (2007). Egypt and the Egyptians. Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-521-85150-5.
↑ Hoffman - pp. 174.
↑ Forde-Johnston, James L. (1959). Neolithic cultures of North Africa: aspects of one phase in the development of the African stone age cultures. University of California. p. 58. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
↑ Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 65. Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 1935. p. 27. Retrieved 17 June 2016.

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