Maadi is the name of the Egyptian predynastic culture (and the type site) of Lower Egypt, the northern region (i.e., the lower Nile river delta), from about 3900-3500 BC. The Maadi lived in small agricultural villages, with some copper imports, probably from the region of the Negev. Burials were small with unremarkable grave goods. Houses consisted of rectangular structures of wattle and matting.
Maadi evolved into complex farming communities from the existing indigenous Neolithic culture with the influx of people from southwest Asia. Cattle pastoralists had been forced into the Nile by increasingly arid conditions about 6000-5000 BC. Comparatively little is known about the Maadi, perhaps because the sites are deeply buried until alluvial deposits of the lower Nile.
Maadi Timeline
- Early Fayum (Neolithic) 5200 BC
- Merinda Late Fayum ca 4900 BC
- El Omari Phase ca 4300 BC
- Maadi Phase ca. 3800 BC
- Buto Phase ca. 3400 BC
- Dynasty 0 3100 BC
Important Maadi sites include El Omari, Sedment, Tarkhan, Abusir, and Buto, Merimda, Maadi
Sources
Read the glossary entry for the Maadi archaeological site for more information.
Bard, Kathryn A. 1994 The Egyptian Predynastic: A Review of the Evidence. Journal of Field Archaeology 21(3):265-288.
Caneva, Isabella, Marcella Frangipane, and Alba Palmieri 1987 Predynastic Egypt: new data from Maadi. African Archaeological Review 5(1):105-114.
Hassan, Fekri 1987 The Predynastic of Egypt. Journal of World Prehistory 2(2):135-185.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
