The Geography of Excavated Predynastic Sites and the Rise of Complex Society

Complex society evolved in Egypt in the fourth millennium B.C. as farming villages along the Nile became increasingly stratified. While sites of the culture known as the Predynastic are found throughout the Egyptian Nile valley, the greatest number of known Predynastic sites exist in Upper Egypt in three major areas (all on the west bank): those of Hierakonpolis, Nagada and Ballas, and Abydos (fig. 1). In Middle Egypt, Predynastic sites are located on the east bank around Badari, and in Lower Egypt sites exist in the Fayum region and south of Cairo. The only large Predynastic site in the Delta is on the western fringe at Merimda. With the deposition of 10 m of alluvium in the Delta during the past 6000 years,1 other major Predyastic sites there are unknown. In Nubia above Aswan numerous