Prehistoric Settlement in the Western Delta: A Regional and Local view from SAIS (SA EL-HAGAR)

Abstract

This paper publishes Prehistoric archaeological material from the EES work at Sais. Excavation 3 was carried out in 2001 in the ‘Great Pit’ and produced pottery, lithics, and faunal and floral material from three main phases: the Early Neolithic (c. 4,500–4,200 BC), Middle to Late Neolithic (c. 4,000–3,800 BC) and the Buto-Maadi Period (c. 3,500 BC). The pottery and object catalogue discusses the typology and wares of the pottery from each phase as well as individual objects, diagnostic lithics and bones, and compares them with datasets from other Lower Egyptian sites including Merimde and Buto. Sais is put into its wider regional context by combining geomorphological data from the drill core programme of the EES Survey and Vertical Electrical Sounding data from the University of Mansoura work in order to reconstruct the ancient environment at Sais. The palaeoenvironmental work shows that Sais was situated upon a river levee on the inside of a significant river channel, with marshes and other sand hills further west. The site seems to have been a fishing camp in the Early Neolithic which was settled in the Middle to Later Neolithic Period for the cultivation of the floodplain. There is a gap in the settlement record of at least 300 years in the early fourth millennium until the Buto-Maadi culture settlement was established at Sais around 3,500 BC. The possible reasons for and implications of the hiatus in continuous settlement at Sais are explored in the context of the development of Lower Egyptian centres of power.