Hierakonpolis (Greek), Egyptian Nekhen, modern Kawm Al-Aḥmar (الكوم الأحمر), was the prehistoric royal residence of the kings of Upper Egypt and the most influential site at the beginning of Egypt’s historical period. Evidence indicates a regal presence at Hierakonpolis, then called Nekhen, which enjoyed its period of most significant importance from about 3400 BCE to the beginning of the Old Kingdom (about 2575).
The oldest known tomb with painted decoration, a mural on its plaster walls, is located in Nekhen and is thought to date to c. 3500–3200 BC. It shares distinctive imagery with artefacts from the Gerzeh culture.
Location of Hierakonpolis
Nekhen (Ancient Egyptian: nḫn, /ˈnɛkən/); in Ancient Greek: Ἱεράκων πόλις Hierakonpolis (/ˌhaɪərəˈkɒnpəlɪs/ either: the City of the Hawk, or the City of the Falcon, a reference to Horus or Hierakōn polis “Hawk City”) was the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of prehistoric Egypt (c. 3200–3100 BC) and probably also during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC). Hierakonpolis is located in Edfu, Aswan governorate, and is called Kom El Ahmar.
Horus cult centre
Nekhen was the centre of the cult of a hawk deity, Horus of Nekhen, which raised one of this city’s most ancient Egyptian temples. It retained its importance as the cultic centre for this divine patron of the kings long after the site had otherwise declined.
The first settlement at Nekhen dates from predynastic Amratian culture (c. 4400 BC) or, perhaps, during the late Badari culture (c. 5000 BC). At its height, from c. 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 inhabitants. Most of Upper Egypt then became unified under rulers from Abydos during the Naqada III period (3200–3000 BCE) at the expense of rival cities, especially Hierakonpolis. The conflicts leading to the supremacy of Abydos may appear on numerous reliefs of the Naqada II period, such as the Gebel el-Arak Knife or the frieze of Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis.
The English archaeologists James Quibell and Frederick W. Green initially excavated the city’s ruins toward the end of the nineteenth century.
Hierakonpolis ivory objects
Quibell and Green discovered the “Main Deposit”, a foundation deposit beneath the temple, in 1894. Quibell was initially trained under Flinders Petrie, the father of modern Egyptology; however, he failed to follow Petrie’s methods. The temple was challenging, so his excavation was poorly conducted and documented. Specifically, the situational context of the items therein is poorly recorded, and the reports of Quibell and Green are often contradictory.
The most famous artefact commonly associated with the main deposit, the Narmer Palette, is probably not in the main deposit. Quibell’s report in 1900 put the palette in the deposit, but Green’s report in 1902 put it about one to two yards away. Green’s version is substantiated by earlier field notes (Quibell kept none), which is now the accepted record of events.
The main deposit dates to the early Old Kingdom, but the artistic style of the objects in the deposit indicates that they were from Naqada III and moved into the last deposit. The other essential item in the deposit dates to late prehistoric. This object, the Scorpion Macehead, depicts a king known only by the ideogram for scorpion, now called Scorpion II, participating in what seems to be a ritual irrigation ceremony. Although the Narmer Palette is more famous because it shows the first king to wear both the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Scorpion Macehead reveals some early military hostility with the north by showing dead lapwings, the symbol of Lower Egypt, hung from standards.
John Garstang excavated at Nekhen in 1905–06. He initially hoped to unearth the town site but encountered difficulties working there and soon turned his attention to the area he misidentified as a ‘fort’ instead. That site dates to the second dynasty of King Khasekhemwy. Beneath that area, Garstang excavated a Predynastic cemetery consisting of 188 graves, which served the bulk of the city population during the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods. Thus, he revealed the non-elite Egyptians’ burial practices at Nekhen.
More recently, the concession was excavated further by a multinational team of archaeologists, Egyptologists, geologists, and members of other sciences, which Michael Hoffman coordinated until he died in 1990 by Barbara Adams of University College London and Dr Renee Friedman representing the University of California, Berkeley and the British Museum until Barbara Adams died in 2001, and by Renée Friedman after that.
Possible ritual structures
The structure at Nekhen, known by the misnomer “fort”, is a massive mudbrick enclosure built by King Khasekhemwy of the Second Dynasty. It appears similar in structure and ritual purpose to the similarly misidentified ‘forts’ constructed at Abydos, without apparent military function. The proper function of these structures is unknown, but they seem to relate to the kingship rituals and culture. Religion was interwoven inexorably with kingship in Ancient Egypt.
The ritual structure at Nekhen was built in a prehistoric cemetery. The excavations there and later brick robbers’ work have seriously undermined the walls and led to the near collapse of the structure. For two years, between 2005 and 2006, the team led by Friedman attempted to stabilize the existing form and support the endangered areas of the network with new mudbricks.
Excavations at Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt) in 1998 found archaeological evidence of ritual masks similar to those used in locations further south of Egypt and significant amounts of obsidian linked to Ethiopian quarry sites.
The oldest known Egyptian-painted tomb
Other discoveries at Nekhen include Tomb 100, the oldest known tomb with a mural painted on its plaster walls. The tomb is thought to date to the Gerzeh culture (c. 3500–3200 BC).
It is presumed that the mural shows religious scenes and images. It includes figures featured in Egyptian culture for three thousand years—a funerary procession of barques, presumably a goddess standing between two upright lionesses, a wheel of various horned quadrupeds, several examples of a staff that became associated with the deity of the earliest cattle culture and one being held up by a heavy-breasted goddess. Animals depicted include onagers or zebras, ibexes, ostriches, lionesses, impalas, gazelles, and cattle.
Several interpretations of the themes and designs visible in the Nekhen fresco have been associated with a distinctly alien artefact found in Egypt, the Gebel el-Arak Knife (c. 3500–3200 BCE), with a Mesopotamian scene described as the Master of animals, showing a presumed figure between two lions, presumed fighting scenes, or the boats.
Oldest known zoo
The oldest known zoological collection was revealed during excavations at Nekhen in 2009, which consisted of a menagerie that dates to c. 3500 BC. Animals discovered at the cemetery site were found to have broken bones. The numbering in totality fourteen during May 2015 includes a leopard, two crocodiles, hippopotami, a hartebeest, two elephants, baboons, and African wildcats.
Continuous activity at Hierakonpolis
Later tombs at Nekhen date to the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, and the New Kingdom. In the painted tomb of Horemkhauef, a biographical inscription reporting his journey to the capital was found. He lived during the Second Intermediate Period. Because it is strongly associated with Egyptian religious ideas about kingship, the temple of Horus at Nekhen was used as late as the Ptolemaic Kingdom, persisting as a religious centre throughout the thousands of years of Ancient Egyptian culture.
Cylinder seals
Cylinder seals at Hierakonpolis include some of the first known scenes of an ancient Egyptian king smiting captive enemies with a mace. The Cylinder seals are generally thought to have been derived from Mesopotamian examples, in an instance of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations.
Cosmetic palettes
Several of the most delicate predynastic decorated palettes were discovered in Hierakonpolis. They display Mesopotamia-inspired animals, such as the serpopards and incorporate some of the first hieroglyphs.
