Minshat Abu Omar II: Ein vor- und fruhgeschichtlicher Friedhof im Nildelta: Graber 11-204.

• Author: Friedman, Renee
• Position: Reviews of Books

Minshat Abu Omar II: Ein vor- und fruhgeschichtlicher Friedhof im Nildelta: Graber 11-204. By KARLA KROEPER and DIETRICH WILDUNG. Mainz: PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2000. Pp. xviii + 177, illus. DM 140.

In the early 1980s, when discoveries made within the Pre-dynastic cemetery at Minshat Abu Omar in the northeastern Delta of Egypt were first reported, they caused a sensation. Not only did they reveal the unexpected potential of the Delta to inform us about this early period, but they also provided well-dated evidence for interaction with Bronze Age Canaan and the first archaeological evidence for what might be termed the "unification" of Upper and Lower Egypt. Excavations at Minshat Abu Omar began in 1978 and continued through 1990, during which time 3,050 graves were excavated, of which 420 dated from the late Predynastic to Early Dynastic periods (Naqada IIc-Dynasty 1, ca. 3300-2850 B.C.). Over the years, the scholarly community has been kept informed of progress in a number of articles focusing on particular aspects, as well as an overview of work up to 1984 published in 1985. (1) As a result, the finds from Minshat Abu Omar are well integrated into our conception of the periods in question and have had a n impact on discussions of chronological synchronism, particularly in relation to the Early Bronze Age in Canaan. (2)

The volume under review is the second of five projected volumes that will contain a catalogue of the 420 late Predynastic to Early Dynastic graves. A sixth volume dedicated to analysis and discussion is also planned ("MAO-Auswertung und Resultat"). Volume I appeared in 1994 and contained graves from the southern end of the cemetery renumbered for publication as 1-114. This second volume continues with graves given publication numbers 115-204. The graves have been renumbered consecutively according to their geographical location within the site grid, beginning from the south and east and moving north and west. As the cemetery displays a certain amount of horizontal stratigraphy, this new numbering system does present the graves roughly clustered by chronological phase; however several Early Dynastic graves are intermixed with graves of earlier periods. These new numbers are in essence only "entry numbers" that refer to presentation order and have no further relevance or cross-references within the text. The or iginal field numbers are retained for artifact identification, maps, and all text discussion. Thus the numbering...