In this thesis I examine evidence for change in social and political organisation at four cemetery sites within the northeast Delta of Egypt. The time period with which I am concerned, the Terminal Predynastic to Early Dynastic, coincides with the final stages of a process of cultural and political development and integration from the early fourth to the early third millennium BC. The Delta has remained, until recent years, poorly researched, in comparison to the Nile Valley. This thesis makes an important contribution towards understanding the prehistory of this region through a comparative study of the mortuary evidence from the sites of Kafr Hassan Dawood, Kufur Nigm, Minshat Abu Omar and Tell Ibrahim Awad. This thesis research has two over-arching aims: 1) to elucidate change in social and political organisation as reflected through the mortuary evidence at the key sites in the northeast Delta, and how this relates to the funerary record throughout Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt; and 2) to assess how the evidence from the northeast Delta sites affects our consideration of previous hypotheses regarding the development of social complexity in early Egypt. In order to achieve this, the thesis gradually narrows its focus onto the Delta, following a discussion of previous hypotheses on the origins of state society in Egypt, and a review of temporal and geographic diversity in Predynastic and Early Dynastic burial trends. I have critically incorporated elements of socio-evolutionary theory within my theoretical approach, and evaluated aspects of previous research into mortuary contexts worldwide, to assess which elements I consider appropriate to include within my methodology. My methodology presents a new four-stage sequence of statistical analysis that seeks to maximise the analytical potential of mortuary data through investigation of a wide range of variables relating to the wealth and effort expended on the grave, and the changing relationship between these elements and the age and sex of the deceased. Geographical Information Systems technology is used for spatial analysis at the site of Kafr Hassan Dawood, to explore the data from a visual perspective. The results prove both revealing and are, in some instances, quite unexpected. The analysis of the key sites reveals societies expressing organisational characteristics ranging from ranked to stratified, and striking differences in terms of internal site development. The widest temporal scopes for development are observed at Kafr Hassan Dawood and Minshat Abu Omar, where we witness the change from the early importance of kin groups with clear variability within ideology, to increasing cohesion in the latter stages of the sites' histories, with the declining importance of kin groups seemingly in tandem with heightening external contact. The height of prosperity visible in the latter history of the sites, however, is short-lived, with three of the four cemeteries falling into disuse. This decline would appear due to the economic repercussions of the rise of the centralised state on their livelihood.

This study aims to determine whether current and past research on the Badarian culture of early Egypt accurately reflects the evidence uncovered in the past and the evaluation of the excavation reports by the early excavators. An archaeological re-evaluation of the Badarian culture and relevant sites is presented in the introduction. Inter-regional development of the Badarian is crucial to placing the Badarian in the temporal ladder of the predynastic cultures, leading up the formation of the dynastic era of Ancient Egypt. The following thesis is not meant to be a definitive answer on the origins and placement of the Badarian people in the Predynastic hierarchy of ancient Egypt, but one of its aims is to stimulate discussion and offer alternatives to the narrative of the Badarian culture. A set of outcomes is presented to test all hypotheses. Research questions are discussed to determine whether the Badarian culture is a regional phenomenon restricted to a small area around the Badari-Mostagedda-Matmar region, or as a wider inter-regional variable carrying on into the later Nagada cultures. To reach a hypothesis, the chronology of the Badarian is analysed, in-depth study of the original excavation reports and later research on the Badarian question. An important facet of this study is a literature review of the Badarian culture, past and present. The Badarian culture had always been a subject of speculation, especially in terms of its chronology and regional development. There is no consensus on the chronology of dispersion out of the desert to the Nile Valley, as well as areas north and south of the Nile Valley. It is important to establish the concept of an agronomic sedentary lifestyle by the Badarian, and to re-evaluate the evidence for the long-standing idea that the Badarian was in fact the first farmers of the Nile Valley, also in terms of their perceived exchange and trade networks. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)