According to the Sumerian king list, dDumu-zi šu-peš
šu = "hand" in Sumerian; "a stone" in Akkadian
peš = "three"
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| Flint bladelets from the northeast corner of Tomb 72 in the elite cemetery (HK6) at Hierakonpolis |
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| Cylinder seal, Khafajeh, 3350-2900 BC |
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| Cylinder seal impression with goat, sheep and temple, Khafajeh |
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| 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.
HK6 (the elite cemetery) Tomb 78 at Hierakonpolis yielded the remains of two sub-adult tomb owners, aged 8 and 11–14 years respectively, whose bones were scattered throughout the fill. Fragments of an ivory bangle bracelet were found in the surface levels of the tomb, and the bangle was eventually reconstructed almost completely. Three layers of matting lined the floor, below which were sticks and larger pieces of wood up to 4cm square, possibly making up some kind of a bed.
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| Fragments of an ivory bangle bracelet from HK6 Tomb 78 |
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| Cylinder seal with "ring-post," Nuzi (?), ca. 3300-2900 BC |
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| Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein, ca. 3600 BC |
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| 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.
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| Skull of a bovine, Gebelein, 3900-3300 BC |
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| Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein |
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| Petroglyph of a boat and a bull at HK61A in Hierakonpolis |
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| Cylinder seal impression with a boat and a bull, Uruk, ca. 3300-2900 BC |
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| Gebel el-Arak Knife (front), Gebel el-Arak (?), ca. 3600-3300 BC |
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.
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| Woven leather and tassel from HK6 Tomb 58 |
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| Cylinder seal impression, Uruk, End of the 4th millennium BC |
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| Petroglyph of donkeys at "Donkey Hill" in Hierakonpolis |
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| Tablet (P325349), Uruk III period (ca. 3200-3000 BC) |
The wooden bed was found outside HK6 (the elite cemetery) Tomb 11 at Hierakonpolis in a fragmentary condition, with two surviving curved legs in the shape of bull's legs.
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| The reconstructed wooden bed from HK6 Tomb 11, Naqada IIIA2 period |
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| Table from the Royal Cemetery at Ur |
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.
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Statue from Sin temple, Khafajeh, 2600-2450 BC
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| Statue from Ishtar temple, Mari, 2500-2340 BC |
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 (?)
Hippopotamus = hippos (horse) + potamos (river)
It is worth noting that the hippopotamus was native to the Nile.
The phrase "δῶρον τοῦ ποταμοῦ" (dōron tou potamou) literally means "the gift of the river," but it is commonly rendered as "the gift of the Nile."
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| 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.
References:
https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/as11.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/38601584/Friedman_R_F_Van_Neer_W_De_Cupere_B_and_Droux_X_2017_The_elite_predynastic_cemetery_at_Hierakonpolis_HK6_2011_2015_Progress_report_with_Appendix_on_Demographic_Survey_by_Pieri_A_Dougherty_S_and_Antoine_D
https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/id/ae755e34-1204-42d7-8123-bf994bff89bb
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA35552
http://www.hierakonpolis-online.org/index.php/nekhen-news
https://www.themorgan.org/blog/she-who-wrote-enheduanna-and-women-mesopotamia
https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/S_17138
https://cdli.earth/artifacts/2208
https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/S_17508
https://id.smb.museum/object/1744438
https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010007467
https://id.smb.museum/object/1744439
https://cdli.earth/artifacts/325349
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1010-400
https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/id/03303eaa-76bd-4082-99d4-71ea716845a3
https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010120053
April 29, 2024 Takahiko Nakagawa