Variability in the Neolithic Settlement Patterns of the Egyptian Nile Valley

Kom W and X Basin: Erosion, Deposition, and the Potential for Village Occupation

“…Wengrow (2006, p. 83) describes the Neolithic and early Predynastic occupation in Egypt as an example of "complexity without villages." In contrast to the development of Near Eastern or southwest Asian tells, with their extensive vertical stratigraphic depth that resulted from the prolonged occupation of a single location, Wengrow suggests that the Predynastic and earlier occupations in the Egyptian Nile Valley "were for the most part light and ephemeral … human activity … defined by the lateral spreading of cultural material along a horizontal axis...." In other words, a form of horizontal rather than vertical tell (Phillipps et al 2016a). Based on the results of the study presented here, at the scale represented by X basin, the Kom W and surrounding deposits seem to be closer to Wengrow's description than to the original designation of a village comparable to the others Braidwood (1960) identified in southwest Asia.…”

“…Their interpretation of the site as a village settlement is therefore not surprising, particularly given knowledge of the Neolithic in the mid-twentieth century. However, recent reassessment of archaeological remains in Egypt, particularly those found in other parts of the Fayum north shore, suggests that previous interpretations need careful assessment in light of a contemporary knowledge of post-depositional formation processes in the region (Emmitt 2019;Holdaway et al 2016;Phillipps and Holdaway 2016;Phillipps et al 2016a). Here, we further consider the archaeological record at Kom W with the study of the geomorphic processes that affected the deposits before and after Caton-Thompson and Gardner excavated the site in the 1920s, and have continued to impact the site into the twenty-first century.…”

The Desert Fayumin the twenty-first century

“…At Kom W, the chronology, the formation history, the range and number of pottery forms, and the frequency of stone artefact discard indicates how difficult it is to maintain an argument for continuous and intensive occupation, irrespective of how many people were involved (Wendrich et al . 2010; Emmitt 2011; Phillipps 2012; Emmitt et al . 2017).…”

“…As Caton-Thompson and Gardner were unaware of the depositional history of Kom W, their collections were largely restricted to those from stratified deposits. Our extensive survey of the artefactual remains on the surface of Kom W (including artefacts derived from the backfill from Caton-Thompson's excavations that were not collected) allows us to estimate that there are approximately six million uncollected flakes, cores and ‘informal’ tools (Phillipps 2012). This quantity places any ‘disregard’ of ‘formal’ tools, which number only 163 (approximately 0.000003 per cent) from Caton-Thompson and Gardner's collections, into context (Shirai 2016b: tab.…”

Reimag(in)ing the Past

“…A digital surface model (DSM) derived from World-View 2 satellite imagery (captured May 2012) was used to attribute an elevation to the Kom W base polygon. This DSM is accurate to 1 m, and while the topography of the site today has almost certainly been influenced by the backfill of the original excavation and subsequent modern disturbance, the ground level derived from the World-View 2 DSM incorporates data from a much larger area (Phillipps et al 2016a). Therefore, the DSM with its 1-m vertical accuracy provides an adequate measure for this purpose.…”