Gerzeh culture

Gerzeh (also Girza or Jirzah) was a predynastic Egyptian cemetery located along the west bank of the Nile and today named after al-Girza, the nearby present day town in Egypt. Gerzeh is situated only several miles due east of the lake of the Al Fayyum.

The Gerzean culture is a material culture identified by archaeologists. It is the second of three phases of the predynastic Naqada Culture, and so is called Naqada II. It is preceded by the Amratian culture (Naqada I) and followed by the Protodynastic or Semainian culture (Naqada III).

Historical context

Though varying dates have historically been assigned by sundry authorities, Gerzean culture as used as follows distinguishes itself from the Amratian culture and begins circa 3500 BC lasting through circa 3200 BC or the end of the Naqada II period. Accordingly, some authorities place the onset of the Naqada I period coincident with the Amratian or Badarian cultures, i.e. c.3800 BC to 3650 BC even though some Badarian artifacts may in fact date earlier (for example, see Badarian). Nevertheless, because the Naqada sites were first divided by the British Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie, in 1894, into these Amratian (after the cemetery near El-Amrah) and Gerzean (after the cemetery near Gerzeh) sub-periods, the original convention is used in this text. This era lasts through a period of time when the desertification of the Sahara had nearly reached its present state.

Naqada

Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nbwt and in classical antiquity as Ombos /ˈɒmˌbɒs/. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nbw, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.

Naqada comprises some villages such as Tukh, Khatara, Danfiq and Zawayda. It stands near the site of a necropolis from the prehistoric, pre-dynastic period around 4400–3000 BC. Naqada has given its name to the widespread Naqada culture that existed at the time, here, and at other sites including el Badari, Gerzeh and Nekhen (Hierakonopolis). The large quantity of remains from Naqada have enabled the dating of the entire culture, throughout Egypt and environs.

The town was the centre of the cult of Set, and large tombs were built there around c. 3500 BC.

See also

References

Sickle made of flint, Egypt, Naqada period, end of the fourth millennium BC, Dagon Museum, Haifa

Technology in Stargate

In the fictional universe of Stargate, a number of technologically advanced races and societies have produced a variety of highly advanced weapons, tools, and spacecraft. By liaising with these races and learning from them, Earth too has begun to create its own futuristic technology. All such technology is SCI-classified top secret, and is used solely by the SGC and its SG teams, or in Atlantis.

Fictional materials and elements

Naqada (disambiguation)

Naqada may refer to:

See also