El-Kab

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During the New Kingdom, El-Kab or El Kab was one of the most important city in ancient Egypt, and when El-Kab became important early in ancient Egyptian history, the vulture soon became a heraldic creature for all of Upper Egypt. That mean the vulture was typically associated with the goddess Nekhebet who was the patroness of the city of El-Kab in Upper Egypt.

Location of EL-Kab

In general, this area is called El Kab but it is really the two ancient cities of Nekheb El Kab on the east bank of the Nile River and the older Nekhen, now known as Kom el Ahmar (the Red Mound) on the opposite bank. Before the discoveries at El Kab, it was thought that Paleolithic artifacts, even those dating to the Epipaleolithic, would not be found on the floodplain of the Nile, simply because of the action of the inundation.

The necropolis of El Kab provides the first information of importance about the beginnings of the 18th Dynasty. El Kab is indeed the symbolic city of royalty of the South, its tutelary goddess Nekhbet being the counterpart of the goddess Uadjit, representing the North. At the time when Egypt was not yet unified, the ritual of crowning of the king of the South was certainly done in the original temple of El Kab. The goddess of El Kab often carries the title of "lady of the valley" or of "the double valley".

The rocky hills in the north area are divided in the middle of the El Kab district, and you can meet successively two massifs having resisted all the forces of erosion. Most of the information from this era comes from the site of El Kab, nestled between the eastern bank of the Nile and the Red Sea Hills.

The temple is the most distant monument from the main surrounding wall of El Kab, since it is at a distance of about 3. The tomb belonged to Sobeknakht, a Governor of El Kab, an important provincial capital during the latter part of the 17th Dynasty, about 1575-1550BC.

El Kab was the birthplace of the nobles of the Middle Empire who retook Egypt from the Hyksos invasion. (2507' N 3248'E) Important settlement and cemetery site in Upper Egypt with remains of all periods.

Journey to El Kab:

The camps at El Kab were most likely occupied only during spring and summer. El Kab, whose necropolis houses some important rock-tombs of the provincial governors of El-Kab in the New Kingdom, and shows the early history of the 18th Dynasty and the reunification of Egypt. This complex is home to the tombs of Ahmose, son of Ibana, an admiral in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos, and Sobeknakht II, who saved the Theban 16th or 17th Dynasty from destruction by Kushite forces.

Hierakonpolis

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Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt, ancient Nekhen and city of the Hawk--is a vast archaeological site, first established during the Old Kingdom, but most prominent during the Middle Kingdom. It is one of the most important archaeological sites for understanding the foundations of ancient Egyptian society. Approximately 3,500 years ago, the Egyptian city of Hierakonpolis flourished between the present cities of Cairo and Aswan. Hierakonpolis is an archaeological discovery covering over 144 square miles of rich archaeological sites making it a very valuable find.

Hierakonpolis

Hierakonpolis soon became a large and important administrative and economic center. It is home to the god Horus. The city is adjacent to the village of Kom el Ahmar (Red Mound, after a great mound of debris more than 5,000 years old), about midway between Aswan and Luxor in Upper Egypt.

Well before the construction of the pyramids, Hierakonpolis was one of the largest urban centers along the Nile -- a vibrant, bustling city containing many of the features that would later come to typify Dynastic Egyptian civilization. After Green left Hierakonpolis, few people bothered with excavating the site which remained intact and untouched under a fog of disregard until 1967. Another major discovery at Hierakonpolis was the predynastic burial sites.

The archaeologists hoped that the ruins could yield clues to how states form, since Hierakonpolis was the original capital of one of the earliest large civilizations. In addition to its role in state formation, Hierakonpolis is important in that it raises intriguing questions about trade links and contacts with Nubia in the south, the Red Sea Coast area in the east, and societies in the Near East. By year 4000 BC there were settlements in Upper Egypt, at locations such as Hierakonpolis, Naqada, and Abydos. Many elements of the culture at Hierakonpolis, including the division into social classes, were typical of other settlements along the Nile. An image of Narmer appears on his Palette, a large ceremonial slate slab that dates to around 3100 BC and was found at Hierakonpolis.

The Fort of King Khasekhemui at Hierakonpolis (The Second Dynasty) The settlement remains of the 4th and early 3rd millennia that are located west of the ancient town of Nekhen itself, are of particular interest for this research project. The well-preserved settlements at Hierakonpolis are remarkable for Upper Egypt. Nine more cemetery areas, dating from Naqada I through Naqada II, have also been located elsewhere in the Hierakonpolis region, and Adams and Hoffman (1987: 196, 198) estimate there were several thousand Predynastic graves in the region. Hoffman (1983: 49) states that the Locality 6 tombs belonged to the Protodynastic rulers of Hierakonpolis, and speculates that the largest tomb there was that of King Scorpion.

Downriver from El Kab and Hierakonpolis, on the west bank 9km SW of Luxor, is the Predynastic site of Armant.