ENIGMATIC BUILDING FROM TELL ELFARKHA PRELIMINARY STUDY
ENIGMATIC BUILDING FROM TELL ELFARKHA PRELIMINARY STUDY

Summary/Abstract: Tell el-Farkha is one of the most important Pre- and Early Dynastic sites excavated presently in the Nile Delta. A monumental building dated to Naqada IIIA/B was discovered on the Eastern Kom. The inclination of the outer walls, the niches in the facades (at least in the eastern one), a regular and very concentrated plan without any passages between rooms, compact fill inside the chambers and, last but not least, the dimensions (at least 300 m2) give rise to the assumption that it is the oldest Egyptian mastaba. In the Naqada IIIB period a settlement was erected on top of the mastaba and even later, on the same spot, Early Dynastic graves appeared. Another settlement and burials were located in the same place at the end of Early Dynastic Period. This complex archaeological situation reflects the extended, multi-phase character of the processes by which Naqada culture colonized the Delta.

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