Adaima, A Predynastic site in Upper Egypt
Adaima is located on the west bank of the Nile River, 8 km south of the modern city of Esna in Upper-Egypt. The site was inhabited from the Early Predynastic to the 3rd Dynasty, i.e., 3800 to 2700 BCE. It covers 12 ha on the edge of the flood plain and extends into the desert (fig.1). It includes a very large settlement area and two cemeteries (known as the Western and the Eastern cemeteries) separated from each other by a small dry wadi. First explored in 1908 by Henri de Morgan, and surveyed in 1973 by Fernand Debono, new excavations with methods of prehistoric archaeology and field anthropology were carried out from 1989 to 2005 under the direction of B. Midant-Reynes, within the framework of the IFAO. Settlement and cemeteries were excavated concomitantly by an interdisciplinary team to build a link between the world of the dead and that of the living.
The Western Cemetery developed on the top of a small hill, c. 200 m west of the Predynastic settlement to the bank of a small wadi still active at the end of the Predynastic. The 350 excavated graves mainly consist of simple pits dug into the sand for adult bodies and were intensively robbed during the Predynastic and possibly later periods.
The Eastern Cemetery develops south/north on the east bank of the wadi, perpendicular to a terrace, which constitutes the main area of the Predynastic settlement 50 m to the north. This cemetery is exceptional in that it contains 504 intact graves, the majority of those in the southern section being pot-burials with children’s bodies (fig.2).
The settlement is a large area of scattered material (pottery sherds, flint and stone tools, bone implements, faunal remains, etc.). Structural remains consisted of wattle-and-daub constructions and of silo areas dug into a silt terrace close to the Nile River (fig.3).
The site has already been the subject of numerous articles, monographs, and PhD theses. However, a large amount of important material remains to be studied. This grant will enable these studies to be carried out, archived, and published as the fifth issue of the Adaima’s monographs devoted to the Adaima excavations.
The project focuses on 3 main areas, each of them corresponding to 3 different types of artefacts from the cemetery and/or settlement at Adaima. These include pottery vessels (fig.4), seal impressions (fig.5) and clay, bone, and ivory figurines (fig.6). Each of these object categories must be approached by specialists following dedicated methodologies, and together they cover the full spectrum of economic, social, and ideological fields.
The publication of Adaima is of outstanding interest for the scientific community. Adaima is unique. It is one of the few Predynastic sites where a settlement and the associated contemporary cemeteries have been excavated extensively according to modern archaeological standards, thus allowing to place objects in their archaeological context. The fifth monograph concerning the site will ensure that Adaima is the most extensively published Predynastic site and will be a key reference for future studies. In addition, the archiving included in the project will ensure the safeguard of data in the future.
As Emeritus Senior Researcher from CNRS, Dr. Béatrix Midant-Reynes is the director of the publication project.
Please click on the images below for larger and expandable views
