A reconsideration of predynastic chronology : the contribution of Adaïma

International audienceThe necropoleis of Adaïma (Upper Egypt), excavated between 1989 and 2005, were in use from the end of Naqada I into Dynasty 3. The technique used to establish the chronological sequence of these cemeteries was based on the seriation process. This analysis was undertaken with a view towards providing new insights into current relative chronologies, which are based upon spatial distribution, as well as a new outlook on Predynastic necropoleis and their development. Seriation has previously been applied to Predynastic cemeteries, but earlier studies encountered major methodological problems arising from the validity of the typologies they employed. These studies, using old data and with no possibility of recourse to the original material, had to rely on typologies that were distorted by the heterogeneity of and lack of rigour in the first classification established by W.M.F. Petrie. The approach undertaken at Adaïma was built upon a completely new corpus based on first-hand examination of the material. As a result, the new data from Adaïma are somewhat discordant with the existing chronology established by W. Kaiser’s important work and refined by S. Hendrickx. For example, at the transition from the Naqada IIC to the Naqada IID period, no consistent group of tombs can be found to justify the existence of the sub-phase Naqada IID1 that appears in the traditional chronology. A critical survey of other cemeteries indicates that the existence of sub-phase IID1 cannot be supported and that it is a construct resulting from a methodological fla