Naqada

For other uses, see Naqada (disambiguation).

Naqada
Naqada Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 25°54′N 32°43′E / 25.9°N 32.717°E / 25.9; 32.717
Country	Egypt
Governorate	Qena Governorate
Time zone	EST (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)

Naqada is a town on the west bank of the Nile in the Egyptian governorate of Qena. It was known in Ancient Egypt as Nubt and in classical antiquity as Ombos. Its name derives from ancient Egyptian nub, meaning gold, on account of the proximity of gold mines in the Eastern Desert.

Naqada comprises some villages such as Tukh, Khatara, Danfiq and Zawayda. It stands near the site of a necropolis from the prehistoric, pre-dynastic period around 4400-3000 BC. Naqada has given its name to the widespread Naqada culture that existed at the time, here, and at other sites including el Badari, Gerzeh and Nekhen (Hierakonopolis). The large quantity of remains from Naqada have enabled the dating of the entire culture, throughout Egypt and environs.

Monuments

Sickle made of flint, Egypt, Naqada period, end of the fourth millennium BC, Dagon Museum, Haifa

About three kilometers northwest of Naqada, on the edge of the Western Desert is an early dynastic tomb found in 1897. It contained ivory tablets, vase fragments and clay sealings bearing the name of Pharaoh Hor-Aha and his possible wife or mother, Neithhotep. The tomb probably belonged to a local administrator of the First dynasty. Nearby cemeteries also produced a number of stelae of the end of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period. The necropolis belonged to the town of Qus, on the east bank of the Nile.

The size of the cemeteries and settlements found in the area shows that Naqada, along with modern Tukh, must have been a very important town in the later Predynastic Period. The town's rise to prominence could have been caused by its proximity to the gold mines in the Eastern Desert.

The local god of Naqada was Seth. A New Kingdom temple dedicated to him was located, to which various kings of the 18th Dynasty (Thutmose I, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II), as well as several Ramessids contributed.

A small pyramid, known as the step pyramid of Ombos, is built of undressed stone, and dates to the end of the Third dynasty.

See also

• Predynastic Egypt

References

Coordinates: 25°54′N 32°43′E / 25.9°N 32.717°E / 25.9; 32.717