The Badarian, a Neolithic archaeological culture located in Upper Egypt and dating from c. 4400 to 3300 BCE, was first described in 1928 by archaeologists Guy Brunton and Gertrude Caton-Thompson, who excavated in the Badari district near Assyut.
[1]
Its relationship to an earlier culture, called the Tasian, is unclear,
[2]
but there is some evidence to link it to the later Naqada I period in Upper Egypt.
[2]
Little is known of the everyday lives of the people who occupied the Badarian sites: our information comes mainly from the numerous grave sites in the region around Assyut.
Population and political organization
Research on Badarian sites has yielded a total of about 600 graves and 40 poorly documented settlements.
[2]
The culture was first identified in the el-Badari region, near the modern city of Sohag, but several small sites near the villages of Qau el-Kebir, Hammamiya, Mostagedda, and Matmar are also categorized as Badarian.
[2]
Characteristic Badarian material culture has also been discovered much further south at Mahgar Dendera, Armant, Elkab, and Hierakonpolis, as well as to the east of the Nile in the Wadi Hammamat.
[2]
The archaeology of the period has inevitably been affected by the flooding of the Nile over the millennia: any larger, more permanent settlements were likely situated close to the great river and subsequently washed away or covered with alluvium.
[2]
Surviving remains come from raised desert spurs and include ’huts and windbreaks associated with hearths and large, well-shaped granary pits or silos’.
[3]
A Badarian settlement at Deir Tasa covered an area of about 5000 square metres.
[3]
At the Seshat standard of 50-200 inhabitants per hectare, this gives us an estimated population between the range of 25 and 100 inhabitants.
Evidence from Badarian settlements shows that the people who occupied these sites were primarily engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry,
[2]
but we know trade also occurred. Badarians imported raw materials like wood, turquoise, shells and ivory and exchanged goods with groups from as far away as Palestine, the Red Sea and Syria.
[4]
Model boats found at the site of Merimda to the north ’suggest that boats and canoes were already in use [in Egypt] before 4500 B.C.’
[5]
Very little can be concluded about Badarian political and social structure, but analysis of grave goods shows that there was an unequal distribution of wealth, and that the wealthier graves tended to be kept separate within the cemeteries.
[2]
However, no monumental remains have been found so it is likely that higher-status members of society did not command a significant labour force.
[1]: (Hassan 1988, 138) F. A. Hassan. 1988. ’The Predynastic of Egypt’. Journal of World Prehistory 2 (2): 135-85.
[2]: (Hendrickx and Vermeersch 2000, 36-40) Stan Hendrickx and Pierre Vermeersch. 2000. ’Prehistory: From the Palaeolithic to the Badarian Culture’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 16-40. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[3]: (Hassan 1988, 153) F. A. Hassan. 1988. ’The Predynastic of Egypt’. Journal of World Prehistory 2 (2): 135-85.
[4]: (Trigger 1983, 29) Bruce G. Trigger. 1983. ’The Rise of Egyptian Civilization’, in Ancient Egypt: A Social History edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O’Connor and Alan B Lloyd, 1-70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Hassan 1988, 157) F. A. Hassan. 1988. ’The Predynastic of Egypt’. Journal of World Prehistory 2 (2): 135-85.
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| Year Range | Badarian (eg_badarian) was in: |
|---|---|
| (4400 BCE 3801 BCE) | Upper Egypt |
There are no capital in Neolitchic, semi-nomadic cultures like Badari.
Badari-Kultur (German), Badari culture (French)
Badari-Kultur (German), Badari culture (French)
There is no evidence for supra-polity relations in the Badari culture.
The relation with earlier culture, called the Tasian, is unclear [1] . However, there is some evidence the Naqada I period seems to be represented in the Badari region [2] . Also some artifacts have been found that are proof of trade exchange with e.g. Palestine, Red Sea, Syria [3]
[1]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg.37.
[2]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg.38.
[3]: Trigger, B. G. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg. 29.
There is no evidence for centralization, political authority or government.
There is no data about language used by Badarian culture, especially because a writing system was yet to be invented.
Research on Badarian sites yielded a total of about 600 graves and forty poorly documented settlements
[1]
Were these settlements all one polity? Possibly. Analysis of Badarian grave goods demonstrates an unequal distribution of wealth and the wealthier graves tend to be separated in one part of the cemetery. This clearly indicates social stratification.
[2]
Evidence from Badarian settlements shows that the economy of the culture was primarily based on agriculture and husbandry.
[3]
Extensive agriculture present.
[1]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg. 36.
[2]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg.37.
[3]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg.39.
The larger and more permanent settlements were probably close to the floodplain (Mahgar Dendera), but the possible remains of those would have been washed away by the Nile a long time ago already.
[1]
[1]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg. 40.
Analysis of Badarian grave goods demonstrates an unequal distribution of wealth and the wealthier graves tend to be separated in one part of the cemetery. This clearly indicates social stratification.
[1]
[1]: Shaw, I. 2003. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg.37.
Transportation by boats was very important in the Badarian culture, and there is also evidence for trade exchange
[1]
Therefore, ports and canals cannot be completely excluded. Information from the Badarian remains shows that they imported raw materials like wood, turquoise, shells and ivory. Additionally, some artifacts have been found that are proof of trade exchange with e.g. Palestine, Red Sea, Syria.
[1]: Trigger, B. G. 1983. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg. 29.
The earliest art productions are rock-drawings executed on the cliffs bordering the Nile in Upper Egypt. The oldest consist principally of geometric designs such as concentric circles, half-circles, and net-patterns, or abstract figures [1] .
[1]: Stevenson Smith, W. 1981. The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt. New Haeven and London: Yale University Press. Pg. 25-26.
Completely no data about any fortifications.
Not mentioned for this period in Shaw’s (1991, 15-24) discussion of Egyptian fortifications. [1]
[1]: (Shaw 1991: 15-24) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF.
Copper metallurgy from 2500 BCE. [1]
[1]: (Adam 1981, 235) Adam, S. 1981. “The Importance of Nubia: A Link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean.” In General History of Africa II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa, edited by G. Mokhtar, II:226-44. General History of Africa. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8APQDQV3.
bronze includes copper- copper metallurgy from 2500 BCE. [1]
[1]: (Adam 1981, 235) Adam, S. 1981. “The Importance of Nubia: A Link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean.” In General History of Africa II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa, edited by G. Mokhtar, II:226-44. General History of Africa. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8APQDQV3.
[1] Probably present - arrowheads finds [2] . Arrowheads represent weapon finds as often as spearheads [2] . "The bow was probably between 6,000 and 10,000 years old by the dawn of the Bronze Age". [3]
[1]: (http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/badari/tools.html)
[2]: Brezillon, M. 1981. Encyklopedia klutur pradziejowych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Artystycze i Filmowe. Pg. 25.
[3]: (Gabriel 2002, 27-28) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
Inferred from absence of javelins in subsequent polities in Upper Egypt
"Composite bows are known from both Mesopotamia and the Great Steppe from the III millennium BCE." [1] "The composite bows spread into Palestine around 1800 BCE and were introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos in 1700 BCE." [2]
[1]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
[2]: (Roy 2015, 20) Kaushik Roy. 2015. Warfare in Pre-British India - 1500 BCE to 1740 CE. Routledge. London.
"All armies after the seventeenth century B.C.E. carried the sword, but in none was it a major weapon of close combat; rather, it was used when the soldier’s primary weapons, the spear and axe, were lost or broken." [1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 26-27) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
There is some information about flint knives, but at the same time it is not included in weapons group. [1] . However, it seems to be hasty, to completely exclude the knives/daggers as a weapon.
[1]: Brezillon, M. 1981. Encyklopedia klutur pradziejowych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Artystycze i Filmowe. Pg. 25.
Axe head found. [1]
elephants not used until Kushite military [1]
camels not considered native to Egypt, likely introduced by Persians in 525 BCE
No finds interpreted as armor or protection in fight.
No finds interpreted as armor or protection in fight.
Technology not yet available. "By 2100 BCE the victory stele of Naram Sin appears to show plate armor, and it is likely that plate armor had been in wide use for a few hundred years. Plate armor was constructed of thin bronze plates sewn to a leather shirt or jerkin." [1] Coding this as scale armor.
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
Technology not yet available. "By 2100 BCE the victory stele of Naram Sin appears to show plate armor, and it is likely that plate armor had been in wide use for a few hundred years. Plate armor was constructed of thin bronze plates sewn to a leather shirt or jerkin." [1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
No finds interpreted as armor or protection in fight.
Technology not yet available. Lamellar armour introduced by the Assyrians (9th century BCE?): "a shirt constructed of laminated layers of leather sewn or glued together. To the outer surface of this coat were attached fitted iron plates, each plate joined to the next at the edge with no overlap and held in place by stitching or gluing." [1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
In Egyptian warfare 3000-1700 BCE the "only personal protection was the shield". [1] Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE. [2] Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread. [3]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 27) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.