The part of the reading that I found to be most interesting this week was the State Formation and Unification section in the second reading. This section of the reading discusses the unification of Egypt, from the Delta to the First Cataract. Although, archaeologists are not 100% sure how this unification occurred, it is estimated that it was completed by the late Naqada II or late Naqada III times. However, it has been determined by evidence found in burial sites that were excavated that Naqada culture expansion northward did take place during the Naqada II times.
Two aspects of the unification of Egypt that I would like to discuss in this blog post are socio-political processes and warfare. The socio-political process behind the Naqada culture expansion is one aspect of the unification process that can not be explained by the evidence found at burial sites. It is clear that the “highly differentiated Naqada II graves at cemeteries in Upper Egypt, and not in Lower Egypt, are probably symbolic of an increasingly hierarchical society” (105). This means that the differentiated Naqada II graves found in cemeteries such as, Cemetery T at Naqada, may be an example of competition between members of this society as a result of the emergence of socio-political processes.
Warfare is thought to have played a significant role in the final stages of Egypt’s unification process. Carved artifacts that have been dated back to the late Predynastic era present scenes of warfare and/or its aftermath. The most famous of these artifacts is the Narmer Palette, which illustrates a “victorious king, dead enemies, and vanquished peoples or towns” (106). It is alliance building associated with warfare is what is thought to have assisted in the unification process. Evidence of alliance building can be seen by the lack of high status burials at Naqada in Naqada III times which suggests that Naqada’s power “waned” which formed some kind of alliance. In conclusion, archaeological evidence suggests that both socio-political process and warfare played a part in the unification of Egypt.
I thought you did a really good job of connecting these two aspects of unification into one coherent theory. Both social stratification and warfare are two huge transitions at the time of Egyptian unification, and its evidence can be found in the materials left behind.
I thought I’d just elaborate from your point by detailing another important aspect to unification, which was the spread of material culture from Upper Egypt to Lower Egypt. Many archaeological sites show the material transitions of this time period, however the best evidence showing the spread of Upper Egyptian culture to Lower Egypt was found at Buto. Buto also gives us a quick summary of the spread of culture and unification within the layers of the site. There, different layers show different time periods, which can be concluded from the differing forms of ceramics. The earliest layers (bottom layers) contain Lower Egyptian Pre-Dynastic pottery designs, while middle layers show a transitional period where Lower Egyptian potters made ceramics in an Upper Egyptian style. The layers that come later in time than the previous two show the massive shift in both craftsmanship, assemblage and trading. It was found that the majority of the pottery from this time was from Upper Egypt, suggesting the spread of culture had become widespread and elaborate trade systems had been formed.
I agree that finding evidence for the socio-political processes that took place during Egypt’s unification would be difficult or impossible to find outside of the already excavated burials. This is probably why warfare seems like the most favorable theory for the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, based on the evidence of the Narmer Palette and the other craved artifacts that were found, but this also does not show an over abundance of evidence for warfare in this unification process. In my opinion, I think for warfare to be the main process of unification there should be more evidence of warfare found on structures like charring or deliberate destruction, and an over representation of weapons buried with people or found alone. There should also be evidence of tool/weapon marks and skeletal trauma found on the biological remains that have been or will be excavated. Historically, “unification” of societies/countries have been in the form of war, then later cultural assimilation and socio-political changes or take overs occurred. So both theories most likely happened (from what we know from history) and had important roles in the unification of Egypt and hopefully further research and excavation will find more evidence for these processes. Good job on your post!