Wadi el-Sheikh: A new archaeological investigation of ancient Egyptian chert mines

Köhler, E. Christiana; Hart, Elizabeth; Klaunzer, Michael

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170840

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Recent finds at a particular locality in Wadi el-Sheikh (L20) where trapezoidal blades and cores have been found date the site to the Early Dynastic through Old Kingdom periods (Köhler et al 2017), and similar material has been found in a nearby Early Dynastic-Old Kingdom settlement site (Pawlik 2006). During the Naqada II period more regular blades become common throughout the Nile Valley and delta (Ginter et al 1996;Hikade 2010:8;Holmes 1989:392).…”

Section: Prismatic Bladesmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Only a few specific chert quarries have been identified in Egypt (Briois 2002;Briois and Midant-Reynes 2015;Friedman and Youngblood 1999;Ginter et al 1996;Harrell 2012). Large-scale chert quarrying occurred by the Early Dynastic period (Köhler et al 2017). However smaller-scale quarrying could have taken place anywhere in the high desert limestone formations north of Esna, and collection of surface materials probably took place throughout the Nile Valley.…”

Section: Chert Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kindermann 2008). By the early Dynastic period prismatic blades were produced in large quantities at workshops adjacent to desert quarry sites (Köhler et al 2017). …”

Section: Prismatic Bladesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However by the Early Dynastic period, production of sickle blade segments was highly specialized as is evidenced by the large-scale production of sickle blades at quarry sites like Wadi el-Sheikh (Köhler et al 2017;Briois andMidant-Reynes 2014, 2015), and the attributes and dimensions of the blades themselves were different than the earlier blades, and more standardized (Kindermann 2008;Kobusiewicz 2015:16-17, Fig.1-2). …”

Section: Bifacial Sicklesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prismatic blades: Prismatic blades with ridges and margins that are very straight and parallel to the flaking axis were made during the Pharaonic period, at least as early as the Early Dynastic period (Köhler et al 2017). Prismatic blades from Wadi el-sheikh had lengths that ranged from 8-12cm (Barket and Yohe 2011:32), and were very narrow with widths that ranged from .6-2.4cm and averaged 1.2cm (Hart et al in prep).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond Prestige: A Ritual Production Model for Stone Tool Specialization in Naqada Period Egypt

Skarzynski¹

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This dissertation looks at the organization and development of specialized production in 4th millennium BCE Egypt. At the outset of this period northeastern Africa was occupied by small-scale groups of pastoralists and early agriculturalists. By the close of the 4th millennium BC, the Nile Valley was one of the earliest instances of a society with centralized political organization, extensive labor division, and institutionalized inequalities.This research brings data on stone tools and settlement sites to bear on competing models of specialization. Many models of specialized production have focused either on the production of symbolically meaningful goods for the elite, or the production of utilitarian goods for the masses; they have not considered the production of symbolically meaningful goods for commoners. In Egypt the prevailing theory for the development of specialized production is a prestige-goods model, where elites sponsored the production of items used to display status and which were not available to all. However, this model does not account for all specialized production. A review of the evidence for specialization in Egypt shows that some items made by specialists were quite widely used (e.g., lithic blades, black-topped red ware ceramics), and so do not fit a prestige-goods model. To explore how the production of various stone tools was organized and developed, a model of ritual production outlined by Spielmann (2002) was considered. This model recognizes that people have often increased their economic production in order to make items needed for ritual activities, such as life cycle events (e.g., birth, marriage, death) and community-encompassing rituals. These ritual activities involved many members of society, not a restricted subset. Expectations were developed for archaeological patterns of raw material choice, production locations, and find contexts that should be observed if the ritual production model can account for the development of some aspects of specialized production in -ivEgypt. These expectations were evaluated based on examination of lithic artifact collections from the settlement sites of el-Mahâsna, Abydos, and Nag el-Qarmila, and comparison to published data from other sites and online museum databases. This research showed that there were many different ways that stone tool production was organized at the intra-site and regional levels. Some of stone tools-early fishtail knives, axes, large-blade knives, and microendscrapers-fit the ritual production model for the development of specialized production quite well. Preferences for certain raw materials were evident, and these preferences could not be accounted for by functional considerations or access to local resources. Instead, the raw material choices probably related to the symbolic significance of their colors, which can be traced from the Pharaonic back to the Predynastic periods. These tools were produced in conjunction with ritual activity areas, and the tools themselves were found in ritually significant cont...

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Section: Prismatic Bladesmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Chert Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kindermann 2008). By the early Dynastic period prismatic blades were produced in large quantities at workshops adjacent to desert quarry sites (Köhler et al 2017). …”

Section: Prismatic Bladesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bifacial Sicklesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond Prestige: A Ritual Production Model for Stone Tool Specialization in Naqada Period Egypt

Skarzynski¹

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Palaeoenvironments and landscape diversity in Egypt during the Last Interglacial and its implications on the dispersal of Homo sapiens

et al. 2022

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Two Fragments of Early Dynastic Flint Bangles from Tell El-Murra in the Context of Finds from Ancient Egypt

Lajs

2021

saac

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The aim of this study is to present two fragments of flint bangles discovered in the remains of the settlement excavated at the site of Tell el-Murra (north-eastern Nile Delta). This group of artefacts, related to the Proto- and Early Dynastic periods, is known from several sites of Ancient Egypt, but their total number is still modest. The items from Tell el-Murra may contribute to the discussion on the method of production and distribution of this type of items.

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Wadi el-Sheikh: A new archaeological investigation of ancient Egyptian chert mines

Cited by 8 publications

References 13 publications

Beyond Prestige: A Ritual Production Model for Stone Tool Specialization in Naqada Period Egypt

Beyond Prestige: A Ritual Production Model for Stone Tool Specialization in Naqada Period Egypt

Palaeoenvironments and landscape diversity in Egypt during the Last Interglacial and its implications on the dispersal of Homo sapiens

Two Fragments of Early Dynastic Flint Bangles from Tell El-Murra in the Context of Finds from Ancient Egypt

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