Egypt - El Adaïma

Excavations have been taking place at Adaïma in Upper Egypt since 1989, revealing an extensive settlement and two associated cemeteries dating to the periods just prior to the emergence of Pharaonic civilization.

The western necropolis where the burials were made in sand is dated from the end of Nagada I to Nagada III. 241 tombs have been excavated, but 20 out of them are intact. The most ancient tomb (S55) comprises a multiple burial in which five infants and a adult were buried together in the remains of a hearth situated at the summit of a promontory dominating the valley. Thereafter the cemetery developped to the nord-west and principally to the south-east.

In the Eastern Necropolis all the tombs are intact and young age groups, from the foetus onward were found here. Very few grave offerings are present, but the cutting up of the body, the human sacrifice seem to have played an important role.

The ancient settlement area appears as a vast expanse of dispersed artefacts : potsherds, flint flakes, fragments of grinding-stones and bone debris scattered over the surface. Excavation was undertaken in three sectors of the site. A first group of structures was recorded on a terrace of pebbles underlying the silts. It comprised the remains of three quadrangular constructions, probably substructures made of light, perishable material such as wood and straw. The excavation of the second group of structures which is concentrated in the sandy sector revealed structural assemblages organised in a vertical chronology. The last group is being excavating. It shows a serie of pits and the rest of clay constructions such as silos.