From Biblical Archaeologist 1995 Volume 58, Number 1
New Light on King Narmer and the Protodynastic Egyptian Presence
in Canaan.
By
Thomas E. Levy, Edwin C.M. van den Brink, Yuval Goren and David
Alon
Recent excavations in Israelís northern Negev desert,
carried out under the auspices of the new Nahal Tillah Regional
Archaeology Project, are beginning to shed new light on the character
of late Protodynastic/Early Dynastic Egyptian/Canaanite interaction,
ca. 3300 - 3000 BC. Of key importance are new data concerning
the role of one of the earliest historically known Egyptian kings
- Narmer, in expansion of the Nile Valley civilization. One of
the central research problems which the Nahal Tillah project focuses
on is the nature of core - periphery relations and the impact
of core civilizations on their less socially complex neighbors.
Specifically, how do newly emergent ìpristineî civilizations
impact and influence culture change in their less socially developed
peripheries? These kinds of questions are linked to broader issues
of culture evolution, especially the rise of secondary states
in the ancient Near East.
In July of 1994, a wealth of new data was recovered in excavations
in the Nahal Tillah area near Kibbutz Lahav which have bearing
on this problem. In soundings on the Halif Terrace at the Silo
site (Figure 1), large numbers of imported Protodynastic/Early
Dynastic Egyptian pottery vessels, architecture, a clay seal impression,
and a new incised sherd bearing the serekh symbol of King
Narmer were found. Narmer, known to archaeologists from the exquisite
large stone palette which contains his name symbolized as a catfish,
was once thought to have been responsible for the first unification
of upper and lower Egypt sometime between 3050 - 3000 BCE. This
article outlines the archaeological and historical context of
the new Narmer serekh and examines the importance of this early
epigraphic artifact for southeastern Mediterranean archaeology.
The Nahal Tillah Study Area
The Nahal (Hebrew; Arabic = wadi) Tillah is a small secondary
seasonal drainage which debauches into the larger Nahal Gerar
and is located near the interface between the Irano-Turanian semi-arid
and Mediterranean environmental zones of Israelís northern
Negev and southern Shephelah (Fig. 1). The area is characterized
by Eocene chalk hills, dissected by small secondary drainages,
with many small valleys in-filled with loessial sediments. Rainfall
averages ca. 400 mm on an annual basis. Approximately 1 kilometer
to the northeast of Nahal Tillah, the Halif Terrace rise to ca.
490 meters above sea level and marks the water-shed between the
Nahal Gerar in the west and the secondary drainages which flow
into the Biqaíat Yaval (Yaval valley) in the east. The
areas dominates an important ancient transportation/trade route
east-west from the Mediterranean coast, and north-south through
the southern Shephelah, and northward through the Judean mountain
system. The location of the Nahal Tillah region facilitated
trade between the northern Negev and the more humid Mediterranean
areas to the north.
Previous Excavations in the Nahal Tillah Region
The Nahal Tillah regional projects grows out of earlier pioneering
research in this environmental contact zone carried out under
the direction of J.D. Seger of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology
at Mississippi State University and D. Alon of the Israel Antiquities
Authority on the Halif Terrace. The Halif Terrace, extending
over an area of some ca. 13 hectares, is located on the eastern
side of Tel Halif (Arabic = Tell Khuweilifeh) on the grounds of
Kibbutz Lahav (Alon 1974, 1977a-b; Seger 1990-91; Seger et
al 1990). Segerís (Seger et al 1990) precise
work provides an essential stratigraphic cornerstone which demonstrates
the rich evidence for the elusive Chalcolithic through Early Bronze
I sequence in southern Israel. In the late 1980s, J.P. Dessel
(1991) made the first systematic attempt to understand the changing
nature of Egyptian - south Levantine interaction based on an in-depth
ceramic analysis of material from Segerís excavations on
the Halif Terrace (Sites 101 and 301). Recently, Alon and Yekutieli
(in press) made a similar, but less quantitative study, using
data from Alonís eight probes on the Halif Terrace carried
out in the early 1970s. As a total of ten probes have been made
on the Halif Terrace, researchers have given separate names such
as ìSite 101,î ìSite 301,î (Seger et
al 1990), the ìVilla Siteî (Alon and Yekutieli
ibid.), etc. to the different excavation operation as the
site. Together, these early excavations cover an area of ca.
1,703 m2. To distinguish our new work on the Halif Terrace from
the previous excavations, we use the term ìSilo Siteî
which reflects the nearby ìcorn mulchì silos established
by the local kibbutz on the terrace.
The New Nahal Tillah Excavations: Silo Site, Halif Terrace
Building on the work of these earlier researchers, in the summer
(July-August) of 1994, the University of California, San Diego
and the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology (NGSBA) of
the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR)
initiated a pilot excavation and survey in the Nahal Tillah region.
This included a large horizontal sounding (ca. 800 m2) on the
Halif Terrace which was labeled the ìSilo Siteî (Fig.
2). Survey and excavations in 1994 confirmed a full stratified
sequence of Chalcolithic, Early Bronze IA and Early Bronze IB
on the Halif Terrace (see Table 1 for comparative stratigraphic
table of the Silo Site and other southern Palestinian sites).
. Using geophysical survey techniques, A. Witten from the University
of Oklahoma located a significant number of potential Early Bronze
burial caves in the research area. Most important is the widespread
evidence for a substantial late Protodynastic/Early Dynastic Egyptian
presence in the Nahal Tillah region, with evidence of possible
administrative functions on the Halif Terrace which rival or compliment
Tel Erani (e.g.. Brandl 1992) as the generally accepted center
of early Egyptian activity in southern Canaan.
The 1994 excavations have reveled large quantities of Egyptian
prestige good including Egyptian Late Ware ceramic vessels (Fig.
3; cf. Petrie 1901: Fig. 8), a small faience jar (Fig.
4), Egyptian storage jars, and administrative artifacts
such as a clay bullae, or stamp impression, depicting a series
of flags (Fig. 5) . The flag hieroglyph (NTR) represents
the general conception of god in ancient Egyptian. It is made
of a very fine clay which, although has not been tested petrographically,
seems certainly to be of Nile valley origin. Clay bullae from
this period are exceedingly rare in the archaeological record
of Palestine. The discovery of the clay bullae marks the second
local outside of En Besor in Palestine (cf. Gophna 1992, 1995;
Schulman 1976). The analysis of ca. 990 kilograms of pottery
recovered during the 1994 Silo Site excavations indicate a sharp
increase in Egyptian pottery in the late EB I (Stratum IIB) ca.
3200 - 3000 BCE. Additional excavation work on the terrace will
hopefully provide a comprehensive archaeological data which will
help clarify the tempo and character of the Egyptian presence
in southern Palestine(Levy et al in press). The remainder
of this paper focuses on the context and significance of the newly
discovered serekh.
The Serekh in Archaeological Context: Nahal Tillah
Over the years, our excavations in the northern Negev have been
aimed at investigating the social dynamics which are represented
in the late 5th - 3rd millennium BCE archaeological record of
this region (Levy 1995). Consequently, excavation strategies
have focused on obtaining extensive exposures which provide archaeologists
with a broad view of the layout of these formative settlements.
The recent work at Nahal Tillah and the Halif Terrace was similarly
organized to maximize the amount of site expose in the relatively
short five week digging season. Three main excavation areas were
established ( A, B, and C) with Area A situated on the most southern
aspect of the site. Four distinct archaeological strata were
defined: I, IIa, IIb, III, and IV (Table 1). A total of nine
5 x 5 meter squares were opened in Area A where some of the best
preserved late Early Bronze I architecture came to light. Of
interest here are the archaeological remains form Stratum IIb
which corresponds to the late EB I (EB IB) horizon dating to approximately
3300 - 3000 BC.
For the most part, the Stratum IIb architecture in Area A is
non-domestic in character. It can all be stratigraphically connected
across the excavation area because of the presence of a hard-packed
floor (Locus 30) made of mud plaster. An exceptionally well
preserved room (Room One) was found In the center of this surface,
The room measures four meters in length from east to west, and
3 meters wide from north to south (exterior measurements; Fig.
2). No evidence of domestic activities were found in this
relatively small room which has rounded corners . Instead,
the following objects were found: four Late Ware Egyptian ceramic
vessels (Fig. 3), a faience vessel (Fig. 4), two
unfinished limestone mace heads, and other finds.
Some four meters to the east of Room I a beautifully preserved
circular stone structure (Fig. 2, Locus 22) was found.
The diameter of this structure is 3.4 meters and forms a nearly
perfect circle. It consists of an enclosing wall which is made
of large (30-40 cm x 15-22 cm) stones that define the perimeter.
There is only one course of stones preserved. The center of
the structure is paved with smaller stones. Similar circular
structures have been found at contemporary Late EB I sites in
southern Israel such as Palmachim (R. Gophna and E. Braun, pers.
comm.) and Tel Malhata (small; Amiran et al 1983). The
general consensus is that these represent the stone foundations
of circular grain storage silos. Several important artifacts
were found in association with this structure. An Egyptian ìbag-shapeî
vessel was found directly on the surface of the circular installation,
as was another unfinished periform limestone mace head (B. 271),
and other objects. Most significant was the discovery of a ceramic
sherd inscribed with the Serekh of Narmer (B. 259; Fig. 6),
found in an EB IB fill directly above the surface of the circular
structure. Compared with the corpus of Serekhs from southern
Palestine, this newly discovered sample comes from perhaps the
most secure archaeological context of the published assemblage.
The close association of the large circular ìsiloî
and the building with Egyptian prestige goods indicates the presence
of a possible public storage area in this part of the Halif Terrace.
The discovery of a Narmer serekh and the clay bullae in this
area highlights the potential of Area A for revealing important
new dimensions of royal Egyptian trade with southern Canaan.
Southeastern Mediterranean Regional Context
Recent excavations in the Nile Delta of Egypt at a number of
mostly settlement sites dating to the late Predynastic to the
Protodynastic/Early Dynastic periods (ca. 3500 - 2800 BC), provide
us with a much better understanding of the final stages of the
Lower Egyptian Chalcolithic Maadi culture (cf. Kaiser 1957, 1990).
These new excavations in the Delta are crucial for understanding
the processes which led to the rise of early Egyptian civilization
(Wenke 1991). They provide the missing link concerning the processes
which brought about the transition from a late Chalcolithic, fairly
homogenous Lower Egyptian culture called the ìMaadi-Buto
cultureî (von der Way 1992:1) to the following, Protodynastic
period, characterized by a material culture with traits shared
by the people of both the Delta (Upper Egypt) and lower Egypt.
This ìnewî material culture reflects the so-called
ìUnification of the Two Landsî of Upper and Lower
Egypt. From an archaeological perspective, this is attested by
a single, very homogeneous, Early Dynastic material culture which
appears rather suddenly throughout Egypt.
Until recently, it was not possible to clarify the temporal processes
which characterized the earliest interrelations between Egypt
and its eastern neighbors. This ca. 500 year time span was lumped
together into ëlate Predynastic/Early Dynasticí for
Egypt and Early Bronze I for ancient Canaan or Palestine. Since
the early 1990s with the increase in science-based source area
characterization analyses and traditional comparative studies,
it is now possible to distinguish between the various stages of
interaction between the contemporary cultures of Egypt and Canaan.
These include: the late Chalcolithic of Lower Egypt, late Naqada
IIc-d Upper Egypt and Early Bronze IA Palestine; and Proto and
Early Dynastic Upper and Lower Egypt and Early Bronze IB Palestine.
In the future, even finer temporal divisions may be possible.
However, at least four distinct stages in the earliest contacts
between Lower and/or Upper Egypt and Early Bronze I a-b Canaan
can now be distinguished (Table 1; cf. Gophna 1992; Tutzundic
1993; Hartung 1994). It is in this more refined temporal sequence
that the significance of the new serekh must be evaluated.
The New Narmer Serekh for the Halif Terrace
From the Chalcolithic through the beginning of the Early Bronze
Age, in southern Canaan there is evidence for a slow but steady
increase in trade and exchange with Egypt (e.g., Joffee 1993;
Stager 1992). This process crystallizes in the late EB I with
evidence of royal trade and exchange based mostly on the presence
of Egyptian style clay cylinder seal impressions (bullae) and
incised serekh signs. To date there are ca. 18 incised serekh-signs
which have been found in Israel, only three of which could be
positively identified with Narmer (cf. Amiran 1974; Brandl 1992:447;
van den Brink, in press, in prep). In fact, two of the ìnamelessî
or anonymous serekhs come from the Halif Terrace (cf. Gophna
1972; Seger et al 1990:5, fig. 4; van den Brink, in prep; ).
Thus, the serekh present here is not a surprise per se
. However, a combination of factors make the Silo Site serekh
of special interest. Firstly, most of the known serekhs
from Israel are either in too fragmentary a state of preservation
or contain anonymous signs. The Silo Site example can be unambiguously
attributed to a known king - Horus Narmer. Secondly, unlike most
of the other serekh-signs, the sample presented here comes
from a stratigraphically controlled context.
The serekh reported here relates to the later part of
the early Egyptian-south Levantine relations, i.e., at the end
of the Dynasty 0 in Egypt, contemporary with the very late portion
of the EB IB (Stratum IIb, Silo Site; Table 1 ). Petrographic
examination of the single pottery sherd with the serekh (Reg.
no. IAA 64994, Locus 14, Basket 259) has been shown conclusively
to be of Nile silt and Egyptian origin (see below). The incised
serekh represents Narmer, the last king of Dynasty 0. The pottery
sherd measures ca. 10.5 x 10.5 cm, has a thickness of 10 mm, and
comes from the shoulder area of an Egyptian storage vessel. The
vessel appears to have been wheel-made, the exterior surface carefully
scraped, smoothed over, and finally burnished. No slip was applied.
The break in the sherd shows that it was completely oxidized
with a red core. The interior surface of the fragment is gray,
the exterior surface a gray-pink.
The serekh was incised into the clay before the vessel was fired
and with the exception of a small part of its upper left corner,
is completely preserved (Fig. 6). The serekh itself measures
ca. 6 x 4 cm. Itís frame, generally believed to represent
the outline of a royal palace (Wilkinson 1985: 99ff) consists
of two incised, vertical straight lines, topped and cut by a single,
horizontal curvilinear line. Itës base consists of two horizontal
lines, a longer one cutting the right outer vertical line. There
is an additional shorter incised stroke which effectively closes
off the base of the serekh. There is a single horizontal line
at approximately a third of the serekhsí height which subdivides
it into an upper and lower register.
Three vertical short strokes, all cutting the serekhsí
base line, fill the lower register. On most serekhs, it is generally
accepted that this schematically represents the recessed paneling
of a mudbrick palace facade (Wilkinson ibid.). A more
elaborate example of such a serekh representation, executed in
stone was found on a stele of King Djer of Dynasty 1 (ibid.).
The upper, or so-called, name compartment contains a rather schematic
representation of the Nír - hieroglyph (representing
a catfish). It consists of two lines, the upper one horizontal,
the lower one slightly oblique/diagonal, and both slightly cutting
the serekhís right vertical frame line (thus effectively
forming the fishís rear) converge towards the left part
of the compartment and sketchily outline the catfishís
body; two smaller additional strokes on its left side indicate
the fishís ìwhiskers.î
Although this sign is but an abbreviated form (Nír)
of the kingís full name Nër-mr (cf. Kaiser
and Dreyer 1982, note 194c), the similarity to other Nír(mr)
signs (incised both within straight as well as curvilinear
topped serekhs) on pottery and stone vessels (cf. Godron
1949, pl. 1) found both in and outside of Egypt, makes a positive
identification of this particular serekh with the last king of
Dynasty 0, i.e. Horus Narmer possible. As for the general style
of the new Halif Terrace serekh, with it curvilinear top,
the absence of a falcon surmounting the serekh, the very schematic
catfish representation and the absence of the second name component
(íml), the closest parallels are found in the Nile
Delta sample found at Tell Ibrahim Awad (Fig. 7; Phase
6 - van den Brink 1992: Pl. 2, Fig. 8, no. 3) and another from
Tomb B1/2 (ascribed to Iry-Hor), found in the vicinity of Narmerís
own tomb (B17/18) in the royal cemetery at Abydos from Dynasty
0 (- 1) (Fig. 8; cf. Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:230 [aus B2]
fig. 14, no. 40). The Abydos example is preserved on two conjoinable
fragments, the right one found during excavations by Sir Flinders
Petrie (1901: pl. XLIV, 1 [B1]), and the left one found during
re-excavation work by Dreyer (See Fig. 8).
Petrographic Examination
Visual examination of the ceramic sherd with the incised serekh
suggested that it was non-local and came from the Nile valley.
However, to be certain of its origin, a petrographic examination
of the sherd was carried out by Y. Goren shortly after its discovery
in the laboratories of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem.
The results of the petrographic study were compared with results
obtained from similar material at other Early Bronze and Egyptian
Protodynastic sites.
The petrographic fabric of the sherd in question corresponds
with the typical characteristics of what has been termed as ìNile
siltî (Bourriau 1981:14). This term refers to pottery manufactured
in Egypt from local Nile sediment. The main features of Nile
silt, when examined under polarized light in the petrographic
microscope, are as follows:
ï a) the contents of poorly sorted sand to silt quartz in
varying quantities and size ranges.
ï b) the high proportion of accessory and heavy minerals
including mainly minerals of the mica and feldspar groups.
ï c) straw and other vegetal matter (phytoliths) are commonly
apparent in the clay body.
ï d) the matrix is non-calcareous with abundant mica minerals.
All these characteristics were observed in the examined sherd
and are totally foreign to the known petrographic corpus of Canaanite
wares (Goren 1992; Porat 1989). Thus, the sherd and the vessel
bearing the serekh is of certain Egyptian origin.
Conclusions: Implications of the new Serekh
In exploring the nature of the expansionary dynamics of early
pristine states such as Egypt (cf. Algaze 1993), epigraphic data
like the clay bullae and the newly discovered serekh from
the Silo Site (Halif Terrace) provide scholars with an unusually
fine-grain tool for monitoring social interaction. Although our
sample is extremely small (n = 1!), a typological study of serekh-
bearing Egyptian storage vessels by van den Brink (in press) has
shown that it is possible to isolate earlier (i.e., Type III)
storage jars from later ones (i.e., Type IV) which bear the
serekh of King Narmer. On the basis of a single serekh
- bearing sherd, it is impossible to definitively attribute the
fragment to one of these jar types. However, circumstantial considerations
point to a later date in the lengthy reign of King Narmer, which
stretched for a period spanning between 30 to 60 years (Emery
1961). These considerations include the following:
ï 1) Of the two closest parallels to our serekh -
sign, one comes from Tomb B2, Umm el-Qaab, Abydos, Egypt. This
sample comes from the immediate vicinity of Narmerís own
tomb at Abydos. Assuming that the Tomb B2 serekh sample
was incised on the ceramic vessel while funerary arrangements
for Narmerís burial were being prepared around the time
of his death, its stylistic similarity with the Silo Site sample
indicates that it was produced at the same time and perhaps from
the same workshop. This points to a late date for the Silo Site
serekh, near the end of Narmerís reign.
ï 2) Paleographic considerations also point to a late date
in Narmerís reign for the Silo Site serekh. Assuming that
the earliest examples of Narmerís name are the fullest
and most explicitly written (i.e., with both signs Nír
and mr) and that only later it was felt sufficient to refer
to Narmer only with the first part of his name (i.e., Nír),
we conclude that our sample reflects the end of Narmerís
reign.
ï 3) Based on the ceremonial Narmer Palette discovered almost
100 years ago (e.g., Fairservis 1991), it seems that King Narmer
had to first establish a strong foothold in the Nile delta, before
intensive contacts could be established with more eastern regions
such as EB IB Canaan. Thus, only after a period of conquest and
consolidation of the Nile Delta was Narmer able to turn his royal
administrative machinery toward new foreign horizons, such as
the Negev.
The Nahal Tillah project, although only in its infancy, has already
added significant data to the debate concerning the nature of
the late Protodynastic/Early Dynastic Egyptian presence in Canaan.
The discovery of an unambiguous incised serekh-sign with
the name of Narmer, most likely dating from the end of his reign,
adds texture to models concerning the process of early Egyptian
expansion into southern Canaan. While it has generally been assumed
that the center of Egyptian activity in Canaan focused on the
site of Tel Erani, the administrative artifacts, the imported
prestige items, and the discovery of monumental Egyptian Dynasty
1-style architecture at the Halif Terrace (cf. Levy et al in prep),
highlights the possibility that the Egyptian trading and administration
network in southern Canaan was much more complex than previously
thought. While the small site of ëEn Besor has produced
over 90 clay seal impressions related to EB IB administrative
activities on the coastal plain, the Halif Terrace can now be
linked to a similar system of exchange. Petrographic analysis
of the sample published here (Fig.5) is needed, as are
additional samples before the character of that trade can be defined.
However, the discovery of the Narmer serekh from the Halif
Terrace illustrates conclusive evidence of royal Egyptian interest
and relations with this strategic location in southern Canaan.
The full impact of those relations can only be understood through
further excavation.
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