The Naqada Publication Project aims to produce a comprehensive publication of the results of archaeological investigations conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission of the ‘Istituto Universitario Orientale’, Naples, at the site of Naqada, Egypt, under the direction of C. Barocas, deceased in 1989, with co-principal investigators R. Fattovich and M. Tosi. Naqada, or ancient Nubt, is best known for its extensive cemeteries dated to the Predynastic period (c. IV millennium BC). In 1977–1986, archaeological investigations of the Italian expedition focused on the corresponding settlement remains, centered mainly on a gravel terrace (named Zawaydah) at the edge of the low desert, and surrounding areas. Evidence from the settlement at Zawaydah offers a unique glimpse into lifestyle and craft activities, administrative practices and symbolic behaviour, subsistence strategies and the network of connections of its living community in the crucial period of state formation in Egypt.
The director of the project is Dr. Grazia A. Di Pietro.
