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Change and continuity in the pottery of early Egypt: a stratified ceramic sequence from Nekhen, Hierakonpolis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2019

Grazia A. Di Pietro
Grazia A. Di Pietro*
Affiliation:
Oriental Museum ‘Umberto Scerrato’, University of Naples ‘L'Orientale’, Via Chiatamone 57/61, Naples80121, Italy (Email: graziadipietro@yahoo.it)
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Abstract

While the technological, morphological and stylistic features of Egyptian predynastic ceramic material culture have been studied extensively, the driving forces behind change and continuity in this material record have received little direct attention. This article presents a reanalysis of a ceramic assemblage from stratified contexts at Nekhen, Hierakonpolis, in Upper Egypt, focusing on factors that may explain the variation and homogeneity observed. The study aims to enhance our understanding of the processes that generated change in the material culture of early Egypt and to provide a further test case with which to address analogous debates within studies of other early societies.

Keywords

EgyptHierakonpolisPredynasticmaterial culturepottery
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 372 , December 2019 , pp. 1479 - 1494
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019

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