The Predynastic period in Egypt: from Badari to Naqada III

The frame

On the Met's timeline the Predynastic Period is dated about 4500-3100 BCE, and its key events divide it into four phases: the Badarian Period (about 4500-3800 BCE), Naqada I (about 3800-3650), Naqada II (about 3650-3300) and Naqada III (about 3300-3100). The names come from sites: the Badarian from sites in Middle Egypt in the vicinity of the modern town of Badari, Naqada from the cemeteries near the town of Naqada in Upper Egypt. According to the source, settlement size and distribution are primarily understood from the cemeteries. The site follows the same timeline here, as for all of Egypt's periods up to the Middle Kingdom. Source 1.

Boundaries and overlaps

The lower boundary, 4500 BCE, is the end of the Neolithic cultures in the same source, but UCL dates the Fayum Neolithic to about 5200-4000 BCE, so the first five centuries of the period overlap it. Merimde Beni Salama in the Delta, which the Met mentions in its Neolithic entry, also appears in its Badarian Period entry, as the largest known site in Egypt at that time. The upper boundary, 3100 BCE, is the start of the Early Dynastic Period; according to the source, already in Naqada III ceremonial slate palettes show one individual holding significant power, ivory labels display the first stages of hieroglyphic writing, and Abydos was the burial ground of late Predynastic leaders. Sources 1, 2.

On this site

Three articles are placed in this period. "The Badarian cemeteries: burial before the dynasties" reads the "formal burial program" the source describes and asks what it can tell about society. "Hierakonpolis: a Predynastic centre in the south" deals with the largest population center known in Naqada I and the source's two wordings on political control. "Merimde Beni Salama: a human face from the Delta" is placed here as well, because the source names Merimde as the largest known site of the Badarian Period. The site has no dated museum objects from this period yet. Source 1.