Recent survey and excavation have revealed that the Delta was a flourishing area in Predynastic and Early Dynastic times (van den Brink 1992c; Wilkinson 1996b:91-6). Wherever intensive surveys have been conducted, numerous early sites have been discovered, often in quite dense concentrations (Wenke and Brewer 1996:271). In terms of landscape, resources and factors affecting early settlement, the Delta presents a very different picture from the Nile valley south of Memphis (Wenke and Brewer 1996:271).
Geography and trade seem to have been particularly influential in the development of the Delta. Sites raised above the low-lying floodplain were favoured for early settlement; in practice this meant the levees of Nile branches and geziras. The latter seem to be concentrated in the eastern Delta, giving this region an advantage. The most striking feature of the Delta, apart from the flatness of the terrain, is the network of branching waterways which divides the land into natural pockets. This would have acted as something of a barrier to east-west communication, although settlements located on the main Nile branches would have enjoyed easy access both to the Nile valley upstream and to the Mediterranean Sea. The proximity of the Delta to Egypt’s Near Eastern neighbours—especially Syria-Palestine—gave the region a leading role in foreign trade.
As trade in prestige commodities intensified during the period of state formation, sites in the Delta which controlled or channelled such trade were able to reap the benefits. The very existence of some communities, such as Minshat Abu Omar in the north-eastern Delta, seems to have been based on trade with Palestine (Kroeper and Wildung 1985:978). As a result of geographical and economic factors, then, the most important early settlements in the Delta seem to have grown up on major Nile branches, often close to the Mediterranean coast, or at focal points on Near Eastern trade routes. This helps to explain the prominence of sites like Buto, Sais and Mendes, as well as Minshat Abu Omar. In general, early sites are concentrated in the north-eastern Delta and along the western Nile branches. By contrast, the central Delta seems to have been rather sparsely populated in the Early Dynastic period (Wenke and Brewer 1996:272).
After the unification of Egypt, the policies of the state towards Lower Egypt became primary determinants of regional development. Large areas of fertile and productive agricultural land made the Delta an attractive location for the foundation of royal domains and estates, which the Early Dynastic kings established to provide for their mortuary cults and to support the royal household (Wilkinson 1996b:96). The efficient exploitation of the Delta’s natural resources also required a network of strategically located collection points, where agricultural produce could be gathered for distribution to the central treasury. This factor probably had a significant impact on the settlement pattern of the Delta in the Old Kingdom. The policies of the central government affected Delta communities in other ways as well. From the beginning of the First Dynasty, foreign trade may have become a royal monopoly. For a site like Minshat Abu Omar, the ‘nationalisation’ of trade would have removed its key advantage and the basis for its prosperity. On another level, the court was keen to promote and defend the territorial integrity of the state, partly through the explicit demarcation of national frontiers. It seems likely that certain Delta sites were chosen to act as strategic border posts by the Early Dynastic government, perhaps giving some settlements a new raison d’etre. Buto and Kom el-Hisn may have performed such a role with respect to the western Delta, guarding the Egyptian state against infiltration by Libyan peoples (Wenke and Brewer 1996). As part of the intensive program of royal propaganda launched by Egypt’s early kings, important Delta sites were visited by the king. He may have had residences at the more important locations, and there are inscriptions which suggest a royal palace at Buto in the Early Dynastic period (hwt p-Hr-msn, attested on seal-impressions and inscribed stone vessels). The presence of a royal residence would naturally have boosted the importance of a local community, and this is another way in which the state may have influenced the development of Delta sites. Hence, the history of the Delta during the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods reflects the interplay of a combination of factors, geographical, economic and political. These can be seen at work more closely in the most intensively studied region of the Delta.
The north-eastern Delta
The north-eastern Delta has emerged as an area of substantial early activity (Kroeper 1989), as attested by the concentration of elite objects found at sites in the region (Cledat 1914; Leclant 1952:244; Fischer 1958, 1963) and confirmed by the excavation of numerous settlement and cemetery sites.
In the western Delta, before the end of the fifth millennium, the landscape seems to have been free from the effects of the inundation, making it more attractive for Neolithic settlement. However, from at least the beginning of the fourth millennium, climatic and geological conditions in the western Delta changed significantly, necessitating the removal of settlements to higher ground. This seems to have tilted the balance in favour of the eastern Delta as the more favourable area for settlement (Andres and Wunderlich 1992:164). The widespread presence of ‘turtle-backs’ or geziras in the eastern Delta offered attractive locations for villages and their accompanying cemeteries. It is noteworthy that all of the eastern Delta archaeological sites investigated in recent years are located on geziras, including Tell Ibrahim Awad (van den Brink 1992b), Tell el-Farkha (Chlodnicki et al. 1992) and Minshat Abu Omar (Krzyzaniak 1992). At a time when contacts between Egypt and the Near East were intensifying, the added attraction of access to trade routes helps to explain the concentration of late Predynastic and Early Dynastic sites in the eastern Delta revealed by recent excavations (Bard 1987; but note the comments of Chlodnicki et al 1992:183).
Following the unification of Egypt, some communities in the eastern Delta continued to flourish for as long as the court maintained intensive contacts with southern Palestine. However, by the beginning of the Second Dynasty, a realignment of trading relations, combined with a possible change in the course of the main eastern Nile branch, removed the strategic advantages of these communities. A rise in sea level may also have contributed, making the low-lying areas uninhabitable (Kroeper and Wildung 1985:98). The abandonment of the cemetery at Minshat Abu Omar by the end of the Second Dynasty at the latest mirrors the decline of the region as a whole. The administrative structure imposed by the First Dynasty kings on the Delta seems to have treated it as ‘unclaimed land’, ripe for appropriation by the court for the foundation of royal estates (Wilkinson 1996b:96). In contrast with sites in the central and western Delta which retained their importance throughout the Early Dynastic period and beyond, the erstwhile important Predynastic centres of the eastern Delta were either abandoned entirely or declined to become distant provincial backwaters. Not until the late Middle Kingdom was the eastern Delta once again to occupy a central position in Egyptian political and economic life.
World History
