According to the Sumerian king list, dDumu-zi šu-peš
šu = "hand" in Sumerian; "a stone" in Akkadian peš = "three"
šu-peš is generally assumed to be identified with šu-ku6 "fisherman."
Flint bladelets from the northeast corner of Tomb 72 in the elite cemetery (HK6) at Hierakonpolis
Cylinder seal, Khafajeh, 3350-2900 BC
Cylinder seal impression with goat, sheep and temple, Khafajeh
Fragment of ivory from Tomb of Den, Umm el-Qaab (Abydos), 1st Dynasty period
Note the hand, zigzag line, and temple façade compared with the cylinder seal above.
Two mountains
Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein, ca. 3600 BC
AN |SZU2.EN~a| (cover.lord) DARA4~a1 (red) KU6~a (fish)
Tag (P002208), Uruk, ca. 3350-3200 BC
According to the Sumerian king list, Etana, "a shepherd, who went up (or down) to An (𒀭) and made Kur Kur (𒆳𒆳) firm," became king.
Sumerian: kur (𒆳) = mountain
The name Gebelein means "two mountains" in Arabic.
Ring
Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein
Cylinder seal with "ring-post," Nuzi (?), ca. 3300-2900 BC
Boat and bull
Skull of a bovine, Gebelein, 3900-3300 BC
Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein
Petroglyph of a boat and a bull at HK61A in Hierakonpolis
Cylinder seal impression with a boat and a bull, Uruk, ca. 3300-2900 BC
Gebel el-Arak Knife (front), Gebel el-Arak (?), ca. 3600-3300 BC
Hippo and Crocodile
Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein
Proto-cuneiform SZAH2~b
White cross-lined ware bowl, Naqada IA-IIB period
Proto-cuneiform KUSZU2~c
Sheep
HK6 (the elite cemetery) Tomb 54 at Hierakonpolis contained at least 6 large, castrated male sheep. One individual was polled, while four others were of the corkscrew-horn type, but their horns were not oriented in the natural, lateral direction. Instead, the horns had been intentionally manipulated to grow upwards and in three cases this resulted in upright, parallel horns.
HK6 Tomb 58 contained a sheep buried with the tasseled textiles and fragments of delicately woven leather.
Woven leather and tassel from Tomb 58
Cylinder seal impression, Uruk, End of the 4th millennium BC
Donkey
Petroglyph of donkeys at "Donkey Hill" in Hierakonpolis
Tablet (P325349), Uruk III period (ca. 3200-3000 BC)
Bull's legs
Bed from Tomb 11 in the elite cemetery (HK6) at Hierakonpolis, Naqada IIIA2 period
Table from the Royal Cemetery at Ur
HK43 Burial 16
The cemetery called HK43 at Hierakonpolis belongs to the non-elite (or workers) segment of the predynastic population. Burial 16, although heavily plundered, belongs to an older woman (c. 30+ years), whose long hair is extremely well preserved beneath the linen pads. Unlike the other burials, it seems as if the entire head was padded given the large clumps of padding adhering to her hair. When this padding was removed, there was more artificial going on than just wrapping. Her graying locks had been dyed, as analysis has shown, with henna (Lawsonia inermis). Carefully knotted in to help fill out those graying and thinning locks were hair extensions, locks of her own hair, arranged to form what must have been a quite elaborate hair style, with a lot of lift in the center. It is unknown whether this was done in life or was a post mortem treatment.
Statue from Sin temple, Khafajeh, 2600-2450 BC
Statue from Ishtar temple, Mari, 2500-2340 BC
Etymology
Mesopotamia = the land (suffix: -ia) in the middle (the ancient Greek: mesos) of the river (potamos; singular, not plural)
The river (potamos) = the Nile River (?)
When reading Herodotus' Histories in the original Greek, while he uses the proper noun "Neilos" (Νεῖλος), he frequently refers to it simply as "ho potamos" (ὁ ποταμός) within the context. Here, "ho" corresponds to the English definite article "the," and "potamos" means "river."
Hippopotamus = hippos (horse) + potamos (river)
It is worth noting that the hippopotamus was native to the Nile.
Map of Hierakonpolis
Today Hierakonpolis appears as two separate archaeological zones. One is the low grass covered mound located in the midst of the cultivation. This is the remains of the town and temple mound of the Dynastic site of ‘Nekhen’. The other zone is the collection of inter-related localities stretching across the low desert representing the multi-component Predynastic occupation of Hierakonpolis.
Channel deposits found at the base of the nearly 9m deep borehole confirm the presence of a waterway in Predynastic times that made early ‘Nekhen’ an island; but by the Early Dynastic this channel had almost entirely filled in.
