Southernmost Upper Egypt was always a border zone, separating the Egyptian and Nubian spheres of political and cultural influence. In the late Predynastic period, settlements of the Nubian A-Group are attested as far north as Kubania, some 18 kilometres north of Aswan. Moreover, pottery of Nubian origin, or made by potters working in the Nubian tradition, seems to have been relatively common in late
Predynastic Egyptian contexts in southernmost Upper Egypt, suggesting close cultural links between the First Cataract region and Nubia (Needier 1984:224). The earliest pottery assemblage from the settlement on Elephantine is predominantly Egyptian, but does include some A-Group Nubian material (Seidlmayer 1996b: 111). Trade between Egypt and Nubia is well attested in the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods (Takamiya 1994), and there is also evidence—in the cattle burials at Hierakonpolis (Hoffman 1982; B. Adams 1996) and Qustul, and the shared iconography of early kingship at both sites (Williams 1986, 1987)—for deeper cultural exchange between the late Predynastic polities of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia.
Regional settlement and the resource base
Although occupying an important strategic position at Egypt’s southern boundary, and able to control the lucrative trade with Nubia and sub-Saharan Africa, the First Cataract region lacked the agricultural base associated with other important Upper Egyptian centres. The strip of cultivable land is extremely narrow in this part of the Nile valley, and early settlers took advantage of slight broadenings of the valley in desert embayments and wadi mouths. The distribution of late Predynastic cemeteries indicates that the region was characterised by a series of small villages, strung out along the river’s edge at intervals of about 6 kilometres (Seidlmayer 1996b: 113, plus references, 114, fig. 2). This pattern of settlement seems to have been seriously disrupted by the activities of the state on Elephantine at the very beginning of the Early Dynastic period, especially the construction of a fortress to guard Egypt’s southern frontier (Seidlmayer 1996b: 113). Hence, it was Elephantine that dominated the region both economically and politically from the early First Dynasty. It is probably no coincidence that Elephantine lies close to the largest area of cultivable land in the region. This lay on the east bank, in the area now occupied by the modern city of Aswan. The islands of the First Cataract could have supported limited cultivation, but other sources of food seem to have been more important in the local subsistence economy. Hunting in the adjacent desert areas would have provided game, whilst animal bones from the settlement on Elephantine indicate that fish formed a significant element in the local diet (von den Driesch 1986; Katzmann 1990).
The riches of the First Cataract region ‘did not lie in bread but in stone’ (Seidlmayer 1996b: 111). The granite outcrops which form such a prominent feature of the local topography were exploited in early times; the earliest monumental use of pink granite is the lining of Den’s burial chamber at Abydos. Various other crystalline rocks are available in the vicinity, and these were valued for stone vessel manufacture, an important craft activity in late Predynastic times. Stone vessels played a key part in the conspicuous consumption favoured by growing elites, and as the source of the necessary raw materials the First Cataract region must have been important. The combination of this factor and Elephantine’s strategic location for trade and defence guaranteed central interest—and interference—in the region from the very beginning of the Egyptian state.
Elephantine and the early state
An easily defended location, together with the factors outlined above, made Elephantine a natural focus for early settlement. Probably from Predynastic times, the island served as an entrepot for prestige goods coming from sub-Saharan Africa via Nubia (Seidlmayer 1996b: 111). Because Egyptian access to these trade routes was reinforced by sporadic punitive campaigns against indigenous groups (Needier 1967; Murnane 1987), Elephantine acquired a strategic importance as well (Seidlmayer 1996b: 111). The site ‘gained its character as a town through the functions it took over on the national level’ (Seidlmayer 1996b:127). The construction of a fortress on the island at the beginning of the First Dynasty must have had a profound effect on the local community. The foundation, in the Third Dynasty, of an administrative complex tied to the royal estate probably had a significant impact on the local economy. However, despite heavy-handed state interference, ‘the local community retained the informal layout of the village and remained devoted to its temple as its ideological and organisational nucleus’ (Seidlmayer 1996b:127).
World History
