Dotawo/content/article/HafsaasWar.md

---
title: "The Role of Warfare and Headhunting in Forming Ethnic Identity: Violent Clashes between A-Group and Naqada Peoples in Lower Nubia
(mid-4th millennium BCE)"
authors: ["henriettehafsaas.md"]
abstract: This article reassesses the earliest cemeteries dating to the 4th millennium BCE in northern Lower Nubia. Remains from two cultural groups have been found in the region -- native predecessors of the A-Group people and Naqada people arriving from Upper Egypt. The evidence presented suggests that Naqada people from the chiefdom at Hierakonpolis conducted a violent expansion into Lower Nubia in the mid-4th millennium BCE. The following violent encounters with the natives are testified through injuries and deaths from interpersonal violence in five cemeteries of the predecessors of the A-Group people, young males buried with weapons in a Naqada cemetery in A-Group territory, and a settlement pattern shifting southwards with the Naqada people expanding and the A-Group predecessors retreating. The author argues that the violence led to an ethnogenesis among the native population of northern Lower Nubia, and the ethnic boundary between the two groups became even more defined through headhunting provoking a schismogenesis. This case study provides new insights into warfare in ancient Nubia and an opportunity to discuss ethnic identity, ethnogenesis, and schismogenesis in the Nile Valley at the beginning of the Bronze Age.
keywords: ["Warfare", "ethnicity", "headhunting", "schismogenesis", "Early
Bronze Age", "Nubia", "Egypt"]
---


# Introduction

Lower Nubia in today's southern Egypt has been studied by archaeologists
since the beginning of the 20th century. Yet, the collective
self-awareness and group identity of the people inhabiting the
northernmost part of Lower Nubia in the 4th millennium BCE is still
elusive. In this article, I will argue that the region from the First
Cataract to Bab el-Kalabsha was the setting of violent encounters
between peoples who increasingly came to view each other as culturally
different during the mid-4th millennium BCE. I will demonstrate that
the predecessors of the A-Group people were attacked by a band of Naqada
warriors from Hierakonpolis in several deadly clashes that ultimately
drove the A-Group predecessors south of Bab el-Kalabsha while Naqada
peoples settled in the area between Bab el-Kalabsha and the First
Cataract (Map 1). 

![Northern Lower Nubia with sites dating to the mid-4th millenium BCE. Graphic: Henriette Hafsaas](../static/images/hafsaas/Map1.jpg "Northern Lower Nubia with sites dating to the mid-4th millenium BCE. Graphic: Henriette Hafsaas")

**~~Map 1. Northern Lower Nubia with sites dating to the mid-4th millenium BCE. Graphic: Henriette Hafsaas.~~**


The evidence for the violent expansion is
interpersonal violence leading to deaths and injuries among the A-Group
predecessors, young males belonging to the Naqada people buried with
weapons in a cemetery of the A-Group predecessors, and a shifting
settlement pattern with the A-Group predecessors retreating southwards
as the Naqada people expanded into their territory. I will argue that
the formation of the ethnic identity of the A-Group people was an
ethnogenesis,[^1] as the distinctive material culture of the A-Group
people became archaeologically visible around the middle of the 4th
millennium BCE (Table 1).[^2] 

![Chronology for the A-Group people including cross-dating with Egypt.](../static/images/hafsaas/Table1.jpg "Chronology for the A-Group people including cross-dating with Egypt.")

**~~Table 1. Chronology for the A-Group people including cross-dating with Egypt.~~**

After the first violent clashes near
the First Cataract, headhunting appears to become part of the warfare
practices as the Naqada people continued their expansion southwards.
Headhunting probably affected the consolidation of ethnic identities
among the A-Group and Naqada peoples, and the practice contributed to
defining an ethnic boundary between the two ethnic groups in a process
of schismogenesis. 

The topic of this article is ethnogenesis, and especially how conflicts
and competition affected the formation of ethnic identity. Ethnogenesis
is a dynamic process where continuity and change are encompassed in
forging a new ethnic identity.[^3] The ethnogenesis among the A-Group
predecessors was enhanced in a process of schismogenesis, which made the
A-group and Naqada peoples diverge further from each other.
Schismogenesis is a process of differentiation first described by
Gregory Bateson[^4] and recently expanded upon by David Wengrow and
David Graeber.[^5] Ethnogenesis and schismogenesis are related concepts
of identity formation through intercultural contact, but schismogenesis
more specifically refers to the process where two groups of people who
already are different diverge further due to interaction with each
other.

The geographical focus in this article is limited to the region between
the First Cataract and Bab el-Kalabsha, which I will refer to as
northern Lower Nubia. *Bab el-Kalabsha* means 'Gate of Kalabsha' in
Arabic. The toponym is descriptive as granite cliffs constricted the
river to a width of only 220 metres, making this one of the narrowest
passages of the Nile (Figure 1), while rocks and shoals broke the
flow of the water.[^6] The rising cliffs of Bab el-Kalabsha were thus a
distinctive geographical marker, and a position for exercising
territorial control.

![The landscape at Bab el-Kalabsha. Painting by Edward Lear (1871). Public domain, downloaded from Artvee.com](../static/images/hafsaas/Fig1.jpg "The landscape at Bab el-Kalabsha. Painting by Edward Lear (1871). Public domain, downloaded from Artvee.com")

**~~Figure 1. The landscape at Bab el-Kalabsha. Painting by Edward Lear (1871). Public domain, downloaded from Artvee.com.~~**

For more than a century, scholars have overlooked the instances of
violent injuries and lethal weapons in the cemeteries in northern Lower
Nubia dating to the mid-4th millennium BCE.[^7] The omission of this
evidence has limited our understanding of the role of warfare in the
formation of an ethnic boundary through processes of ethnogenesis and
schismogenesis. Furthermore, a warfare perspective will provide new
knowledge on violent practices in the Nile Valley at the beginning of
the Bronze Age and the emergence of the A-Group people as an ethnic
group in the mid-4th millennium BCE.

# Background 

The core area of ancient Egypt was the lower reaches of the Nile, where
the river flows like an elongated oasis through the Sahara. Travelling
from the north, the islands and rapids of the First Cataract formed the
first serious obstacle to riverine navigation. To the south of the First
Cataract, the landscape is different. This is Nubia. The floodplain is
narrower resulting in less fertile land. Six cataracts with granite
boulders and treacherous rapids make travelling more difficult on water
and over land along the Nubian stretch of the Nile. Furthermore, the
cataracts divide Nubia into several smaller regions where the northern
part of Lower Nubia is the closest southern neighbour of ancient Egypt.

Around 4000 BCE, people in Upper Egypt adopted agriculture as the main
form of food production.[^8] New forms of a shared material culture
emerged from around 3750 BCE, although regionality was still
present.[^9] The transition to food production was followed by the
gradual emergence of centralized forms of political organization, and
three chiefdoms appeared around 3650 BCE.[^10] The political
centralization culminated with the formation of the territorial state of
dynastic Egypt around 3085 BCE.[^11] The time span from ca. 3750 to 3085
BCE is termed the Naqada period in Upper Egypt (see Table 1).[^12] I
will call the population in Upper Egypt during this epoch for *the
Naqada people* to signal their cultural unity and increasing communal
self-awareness.[^13]

In the latter half of the 4th millennium BCE, Lower Nubia was
inhabited by the so-called A-Group people.[^14] Before the inhabitants
of Lower Nubia came into more frequent contact with the Naqada people
during the Early A-Group phase,[^15] the predecessors of the A-Group
people in northern Lower Nubia appear less conscious about displaying a
collective identity through material culture. Nevertheless, the A-Group
predecessors had a distinctive tradition of pottery making, and they
appear to have shared beliefs about death and practiced similar burial
rituals. In contrast to the agricultural Naqada people, these A-Group
predecessors probably maintained a pastoral way of life in continuation
of the traditions encompassing the Nile Valley in the 5th millennium
BCE.[^16] Although both groups inhabited quite similar ecological
environments along the Nile, the differences in modes of food production
suggest that the daily tasks of the people living in northern Lower
Nubia was different from that of the Naqada people in Upper Egypt.

Archaeologists have diverging interpretations of the collective identity
of the people living on the banks of the 130 kilometers long stretch of
the Nile from Bab el-Kalabsha in Lower Nubia to Gebel es-Silsila in
Upper Egypt during the 4th millennium BCE. Some scholars suggest an
expansion of Naqada settlements or colonies into northern Lower
Nubia.[^17] Others consider all sites in Lower Nubia and north to
Kubbaniya[^18] or Gebel es-Silsila in Upper Egypt to belong to the
A-Group people.[^19] Maria Gatto has fronted a third explanation and
suggests a hybrid identity or entanglement of Naqada and A-Group
identities in the region north of the First Cataract.[^20] In an
elaboration of these positions, I argue that an ethnic boundary was
established between the two groups in northern Lower Nubia. This
boundary was a social construction, and the distribution of sites
changed over time as the Naqada people expanded and the A-Group people
retreated southwards. Both peoples inhabited northern Lower Nubia, but
their sites were not contemporary.[^21] This blend of sites has given
rise to the opposing conclusions based on the difficulty in drawing a
border. Inconsistencies also exist in how collective
identities are perceived among archaeologists working in the Nile
Valley, so I will explain how ethnic identity will be understood in this
study.

# Ethnic Identities, Groups, and Boundaries

Ethnic identities seem to become more pronounced from the beginning of
the Bronze Age. This development has been linked to the formation of
more complex societies.[^22] The political communities engaged in wars
against each other during the Bronze Age were often ethnic groups, so
warfare studies focusing on this period need to consider ethnicity. In
historically particular circumstances, war could be crucial for
constructing and modifying ethnic identities, and warfare could also be
responsible for the disappearance of ethnic groups.[^23]

Siân Jones has formulated a renowned definition of ethnic groups by
combining subjectivist and objectivist perspectives on ethnicity.
Accordingly, ethnic groups are based on mutual perceptions of cultural
differences between groups that are interacting or co-existing.[^24] The
subjectivist approach to ethnicity is attributed to Fredrik Barth. He
criticized the understanding of ethnic groups as comparable to the
outdated equation between race, culture, and language. Barth emphasized
self-ascription as fundamental for the forging of ethnic identity.[^25]
However, ethnic identification is also dependent on ascription by others
since ethnicity will only make an organizational difference if the
ethnic identity is recognized by others and they act on this
difference.[^26] Furthermore, Barth argued for shifting the focus of
research away from differences between cultures and their historical
boundaries. Instead, scholars should address the processes involved in
forming and maintaining ethnic identities and upholding ethnic
boundaries despite interaction.[^27] This perspective can also be seen
as a critique against culture-historical approaches in archaeology.[^28]

Since Barth's seminal article, ethnicity is generally understood as an
aspect of social relationships between people who perceive themselves as
culturally different from each other in contact situations,[^29] such as
exchange relationships and inter-group competition. The cultural
characteristics that symbolize the ethnic identity remain unexplained in
subjective perspectives, where ethnic identities are seen as fluid and
situational.[^30] The subjective approach can thus be complemented by an
objective perspective incorporating the cultural contexts and social
structures in which ethnic groups interact. G. Carter Bentley applied
Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus for explaining ethnicity.[^31]
Habitus is a "*system of durable, transposable dispositions*" that
characterize life in a particular environment.[^32] In this way, habitus
can provide an objective grounding for the subjective construction of
ethnic identity.[^33] The structural dispositions of habitus permeate
the cultural practices and social relations typical for a distinct
lifestyle,[^34] and habitus is thus a factor in forging ethnic
identities.[^35] A relevant example of habitus for archaeologists is
"*ethnically specific suites of motor habits*" that develop with
intentional and intensive training, such as pottery making.[^36]

Ethnic identities of past peoples can leave traces in the archaeological
record through obvious signs used intentionally to exhibit ethnic
identity through material culture.[^37] More subtle remains can
materialize through habitus as culturally structured practices.[^38] Ian
Hodder has demonstrated through ethnoarchaeological fieldwork in Baringo
(Kenya) that people actively maintain certain forms of material culture
as expressions of ethnic identity, while other forms of material culture
cross-cut ethnic boundaries.[^39] Objects that cross ethnic boundaries
can be explained as foreign goods imported into the assemblage of an
ethnic group from another group through trade, intermarriage, or
raiding. The archaeological identification of an ethnic group becomes
more convincing if the association between material culture and ethnic
identity is based on a careful contextual analysis of a combination of
objects and practices in multiple categories,[^40] although the remains
of a site are rarely monocultural due to intercultural interaction.
Contact with "others" is after all a prerogative for ethnicity.[^41]

# Ethnic Identity in Lower Nubia

I have previously examined the ethnic identity of the people inhabiting
Lower Nubia in the 4th millennium BCE through a contextual approach.
When the material culture and cultural practices were corresponding
across several categories and at several sites, then the similar sites
were most probably made by a group of people with a collective identity.
For Lower Nubia in the latter part of the 4th millennium BCE, I
propose that this group identity was ethnicity.[^42] The ethnonym that
this group used for themselves is unknown to us, but their land was
called "Ta-Sety" -- *Land of the Bow* -- according to inscriptions from
the beginning of the First Dynasty.[^43] The geographical distribution
of pottery vessels, cosmetic palettes, and burial positions in Lower
Nubia in the latter half of the 4th millennium BCE shows that Naqada
traditions were prevalent north of Bab el-Kalabsha, while A-Group
traditions dominated south of Bab el-Kalabsha. These results combined
with less widespread grave goods give us a probable distribution of the
two ethnic groups in Lower Nubia.[^44] I thus try to overcome the
reduction of ethnic identity to techniques for manufacturing and
decorating pottery.[^45] The aim is to bring the actors behind the
material culture to the foreground. The interpretation of cultural
differences as manifesting ethnic identity for the A-Group and Naqada
peoples is strengthened by later expressions of ethnic differences
between peoples in Nubia and Egypt in written sources.[^46] I thus
propose an ethnic boundary between the A-Group people and the Naqada
people in the latter half of the 4th millennium BCE.[^47] This
boundary was social, and people and objects could cross the border.
Still, the ethnic boundary probably also reflected ideas of
territoriality, and Bab el-Kalabsha seems to be the location of the
border. The situation was different earlier in the 4th millennium BCE,
as we will see in the next section.

# The A-Group Predecessors in Northern Lower Nubia 

According to David Wengrow, funerary rites were remarkably similar in
the Nile Valley from the confluence of the Blue and White Niles to
Middle Egypt during the 5th millennium BCE. Deceased individuals were
placed in contracted positions on their sides, and often accompanied by
portable objects related to the decoration and ornamentation of the body
-- especially the skin and hair. This uniformity suggests a widespread
and consistent set of beliefs and practices connected with a pastoral
way of life, which fostered a mobile, body-centred habitus. Among the
body-related objects were combs for the hair and cosmetic palettes used
for grinding pigments for painting the skin.[^48] A coherent cultural
group in Lower Nubia is difficult to distinguish at the beginning of the
4th millennium BCE.[^49] The area was thinly populated and other
collective identities than ethnicity probably prevailed, such as
corporate lineage groups.

Harry S. Smith realized that the sites in northern Lower Nubia initially
termed 'B-Group'[^50] actually constituted the earliest A-Group
phase.[^51] He later dated these graves more accurately as contemporary
with Naqada I in Upper Egypt.[^52] After reassessing the excavation
reports from these B-Group sites, I agree with the dating presented by
Smith, in accordance with other scholars.[^53] The material culture and
cultural practices at these sites resemble the A-Group people more than
the Naqada people, and these peoples were likely the direct forebearers
of the A-Group people. I have therefore termed this earliest phase for
*the proto-phase of the A-Group* (see Table 1).[^54]

The earliest cemetery dating to the 4th millennium BCE in northern
Lower Nubia has been identified as the graves on the south-eastern
knolls of Cemetery 7 at Shellal -- the widest plain and thus most
attractive habitat in the First Cataract region.[^55] Between Shellal
and Bab el-Kalabsha, four other sites originally attributed to the
B-Group by Reisner belong to the proto-phase of the A-Group people.[^56]
I will briefly describe these proto-phase sites.

## Cemetery 7 at Shellal

The earliest graves in Cemetery 7, which spanned several periods,
consisted of 50 human and nine animal burials. These earliest graves at
Shellal were placed higher in the terrain than the later cemeteries of
the plain. The deceased were buried in a contracted position. Out of 29
individuals with recorded burial position, 62 per cent were placed on
the left side. The orientation of the head appears random. The
individuals in the graves were often covered by goat skins or mats.[^57]

Small spiral shells were used as personal decoration -- often as
necklaces -- in 17 graves. [^58] Most of the pots found at the site were
similar in shape to the A-Group pottery tradition, but no types were
distinctive of its later phases, such as rippled or eggshell wares.[^59]
A fragment of a white cross-lined pot of the Naqada people was found in
the debris and indicates a Naqada IA date.[^60] Seven out of twelve
palettes were made of various unidentified hard stones in the cultural
traditions of the Neolithic in Upper Nubia and Central Sudan,[^61] as
well as in the later A-Group phases. The other five palettes were made
of grey-green siltstone. The only known quarry for siltstone used for
palettes is Wadi Hammamat, midway between the Nile Valley and the Red
Sea in Upper Egypt.[^62] The palette shapes were described as rough,
irregular, oval, oblong, and ovoid,[^63] which fit a Naqada I date.

![a) The mace-heads and axe-heads uncovered in Cemetery 7. From the left: grave 229, grave 230, grave 230, and grave 234. Photo from Reisner, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, plate 63/d. b) The disc-shaped mace-head from grave 229 at Cemetery 7. Photo by Alexandros Tsakos. Courtesy of Nubia Museum, Aswan. c) The disc-shaped mace-head from grave 230. Photo by Alexandros Tsakos. Courtesy of Nubia Museum, Aswan.](../static/images/hafsaas/Fig2.jpg "a) The mace-heads and axe-heads uncovered in Cemetery 7. From the left: grave 229, grave 230, grave 230, and grave 234. Photo from Reisner, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, plate 63/d. b) The disc-shaped mace-head from grave 229 at Cemetery 7. Photo by Alexandros Tsakos. Courtesy of Nubia Museum, Aswan. c) The disc-shaped mace-head from grave 230. Photo by Alexandros Tsakos. Courtesy of Nubia Museum, Aswan.")

**~~Figure 2: a) The mace-heads and axe-heads uncovered in Cemetery 7. From the left: grave 229, grave 230, grave 230, and grave 234. Photo from Reisner, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, plate 63/d. b) The disc-shaped mace-head from grave 229 at Cemetery 7. Photo by Alexandros Tsakos. Courtesy of Nubia Museum, Aswan. c) The disc-shaped mace-head from grave 230. Photo by Alexandros Tsakos. Courtesy of Nubia Museum, Aswan.~~**

In Cemetery 7, four weapons or tool-weapons were found in three graves
-- two maces and two ground stone axes (Figure 2). The mace-heads
were of the disc-shaped type and made of black and white/pink speckled
stone. The shape is similar to the disc-shaped maces of Neolithic
Sudan.[^64] Maces were specialized striking weapons, while ground stone
axes could have been used as both weapons and tools. However, the size
of these stone axes, with lengths of ca. 8 and 10 centimetres
respectively, suggests that they could have been effective as weapons.

The few Naqada objects found at the site suggest that the cemetery was
used contemporary with Naqada I.

## Cemetery 14 at Khor Ambukol

Cemetery 14 with 23 human burials was located on the east bank at Khor
Ambukol -- ca. 9 kilometers upstream from Cemetery 7 at Shellal. The
burial position was preserved for seventeen bodies, with 47 per cent
placed contracted on the left side and the remaining on the right side.
The orientation of the head appears random. The deceased were usually
placed on matting and almost always accompanied by sewed leather.[^65] I
have previously noticed a segregation between females and males in this
cemetery. The females were buried in the north-eastern part of the
cemetery and the males in the southwestern part.[^66] The identification
of the biological sex was based on the examination of the human
remains.[^67] However, gender differentiations in the grave goods have
not been identified so far,[^68] but the separation of the sexes in
death may suggest a gendered division of labour.[^69]

Only six pots were uncovered in four graves at Cemetery 14.[^70] Three
black-mouthed pots and two black pots with a pointed base fit the
A-Group pottery repertoire.[^71] No pots were diagnostic for the pottery
produced by the Naqada people. Furthermore, four graves contained small
spiral shells. Two rectangular palettes of indeterminable stone show
affiliation with the traditions of Neolithic Nubia and Central
Sudan.[^72] Two rhomboidal siltstone palettes originated from Upper
Egypt, and this shape was used for some of the earliest palettes.[^73]
Two ivory combs with carved animals, probably gazelles,[^74] belong to
the shared features of the Neolithic in the Nile Valley.[^75] The finds
from the cemetery are in accordance with the A-Group of the proto-phase,
while two palettes from Upper Egypt suggest a date contemporary with
Naqada I.

## Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan

Khor Bahan is a large khor coming down from the high desert on the east
bank ca. 10 kilometers south of Shellal. The alluvial fan below the khor
offered considerable fertile land, [^76] and Cemetery 17 was located
here (Figure 3). 

![Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan on the higher terrace of the khor, to the right of the white tents. The alluvial plain was already flooded behind the Aswan Dam as the palm trees would have lined the riverbank. Photo from Reisner (1910: plate 23/b). Colorized by cutout.pro.](../static/images/hafsaas/Fig3.jpg "Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan on the higher terrace of the khor, to the right of the white tents. The alluvial plain was already flooded behind the Aswan Dam as the palm trees would have lined the riverbank. Photo from Reisner (1910: plate 23/b). Colorized by cutout.pro.")

**~~Figure 3: Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan on the higher terrace of the khor, to the right of the white tents. The alluvial plain was already flooded behind the Aswan Dam as the palm trees would have lined the riverbank. Photo from Reisner (1910: plate 23/b). Colorized by cutout.pro.~~**

I have previously argued that predecessors of the
A-Group people used the highest terrace at Khor Bahan as a burial ground
during the proto-phase, while the Naqada people reused the
cemetery.[^77] Of the ca. 100 graves on the highest terrace, 24 human
burials can be attributed to the proto-phase of the A-Group. I have
presented several lines of evidence for this identification in addition
to pottery and palettes: goat skin wrappings, small spiral shells,
tortoise-shell bracelets, and the burial of males and females in
different parts of the cemetery, like at nearby Cemetery 14.[^78] These
graves also had a general lack of material culture from the Naqada
people.[^79]

The bodies were placed on the left side in eight graves and on the right
side in five graves, which means that 63 per cent of the deceased with
preserved burial position were placed on the left side.[^80] No complete
pots were found in these graves, but potsherds with a red exterior and
black interior were recorded in four graves.[^81] The description of
these pots could fit the traditions of pottery making of both the
A-Group predecessors and the Naqada people. Eight cosmetic palettes were
uncovered.[^82] Five palettes were made of white stone, black and white
speckled stone, or other hard stones in continuation of earlier
practices and in accordance with later A-Group traditions. Three
palettes were made of siltstone from Upper Egypt and of shapes dating to
Naqada I. Weapons were absent as grave goods in these graves.

## Cemetery 41/200 on the Meris Plain

Cemetery 41/200 was located on the central knoll of the Meris
plain.[^83] A total of 37 human graves and three animal graves were
excavated. The bodies with recorded burial positions were placed on the
left side in 13 graves and the right side in 12 graves, which means that
52 per cent were placed on the left side. The grave goods consisted of
items for personal decoration: small spiral shells, tortoise-shell
bracelets, and cosmetic palettes.[^84] Only two complete pots were
uncovered. Unfortunately, these pots were undiagnostic and coming from
unsecure contexts. Potsherds with red exteriors and black interiors as
well as black polished wares were found in several graves.[^85]
Red-polished wares with black interiors were used by both Naqada and
A-Group peoples, but the black polished wares are closer to the A-Group
pottery tradition.[^86] Three of the palettes were made of siltstone and
two of other stones. The Naqada objects in this cemetery consisted of
three siltstone palettes with elongated rhomboidal shape and two copper
needles.[^87] The copper needles are probably the earliest copper
objects uncovered south of the First Cataract.[^88]

No specialized weapons were uncovered in these graves. However, six
graves contained flint blades.[^89] For the bodies where the sex could
be established, flint blades were found with males in four of five
cases, and the flint blades were deposited singly in five of the six
instances. One of these blades was also described as "broad". These
flint implements were probably used both as tools and weapons --
so-called tool-weapons. I suggest that these blades were linked to
masculine practices and identity,[^90] since they mainly occurred with
males. A comparative case comes from the contemporary Copper Age
cemetery Tiszapolgár-Basatanya on the Hungarian Plain. Flint blade
knives longer than seven centimeters were restricted to males in this
cemetery, and archaeologists have interpreted the longest blades at
Tiszapolgár-Basatanya as knives used as weapons.[^91]

The few datable objects suggest that the site was used in the latter
part of the proto-phase, contemporary with Naqada IC-IIA.

## Cemetery 45 on the Dehmit Plain

Cemetery 45/200 at Shem Nishai on the plain of Dehmit was located ca.
32 kilometers south of Shellal. A total of 33 human burials were
published.[^92] Of the bodies with preserved burial position, 17 bodies
were placed on the left side and 12 bodies on the right side, so 59 per
cent of the burials were placed on the left side. Several orientations
of the head were practiced.[^93] Goat skins covered the bodies.

Small white shells were uncovered in two graves, and two quartzite
palettes were found. The excavation report describes 16 pots, so pottery
vessels were more common in this cemetery than at the other A-Group
sites of the proto-phase. Fourteen pots were made following A-Group
traditions. A red-polished black-topped vase (Petrie's B19a) and a
coarse red bowl (Petrie's R23a) were the only Naqada style pots.[^94]
Both date within Naqada IC-IIA. The identity of the people buried in
this cemetery is comparable to the other A-Group sites of the
proto-phase.

## Summary

Burial positions and orientations are unreliable for determining ethnic
identity during the first half of the 4th millennium BCE. The
standardized burial position among the Naqada people, contracted on the
left side with the head to the south, was only applied from Naqada II
onwards.[^95] The A-Group predecessors placed the deceased contracted on
either sides, like the later A-Group people, but without the head
oriented to the south or southwest like the standard for the A-Group
people from the early phase.[^96] The positioning of the dead in the
grave for both the A-Group predecessors and the Naqada people probably
derived from shared features in the burial traditions along the Nile
during the Neolithic.[^97] Most of the pots and palettes found in the
cemeteries examined here were made in accordance with the later A-Group
traditions, but with a few Naqada imports. The use of animal skins and
small spiral shells in these burials seems typical for the A-Group
people of the proto-phase.

The imported Naqada finds suggest that the sites of the A-Group
proto-phase had a chronological progression where the cemeteries were
established further south with time. The A-Group predecessors apparently
retreated southwards. I relate this migration to a violent expansion of
Naqada people into Lower Nubia. A contemporary Naqada site in northern
Lower Nubia is examined in the next section.

# The Earliest Naqada Cemetery in Lower Nubia

Nine cemeteries in northern Lower Nubia were used by the Naqada people
during the 4^th^ millennium BCE. The dating of these sites suggests a
gradual expansion southward.[^98] In this article, I will only discuss
the site contemporary with the proto-phase of the A-Group people. The
other Naqada sites were established after the A-Group predecessors had
retreated from northern Lower Nubia.[^99]

## Reuse of Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan

I have previously argued that Naqada people reused the A-Group cemetery
of the proto-phase at Khor Bahan. Cemetery 17 is the earliest known
Naqada site south of the First Cataract, and the site is significant in
terms of warfare.[^100]

The 29 graves belonging to the Naqada people and dating to Naqada IC
were placed between the two clusters of A-Group graves of the
proto-phase.[^101] Of the seventeen skeletons completely or partially
preserved, sixteen were males in the age range from youth to adult. Only
one individual was female, and she was middle-aged. Human remains were
absent in twelve graves (**Appendix 1**). Notably, each of the graves
without human remains had an empty area intended for a body. I have
proposed that these empty graves were cenotaphs for warriors whose
bodies were lost on the battlefield and the burial rituals thus
performed in absentia.[^102]

This Naqada cemetery is extraordinary regarding war since several graves
contained numerous weapons. Sixteen mace-heads were uncovered in twelve
graves, and other weapons were found in four graves (see **Appendix 1**
and **Figure 4**). Weapons were thus found in 55 per cent of the graves.
Other weapons uncovered were flint daggers, flint knives, flint and
chalcedony blades, and various types of arrowheads. Except for the
lunates, these weapons were characteristic of the Naqada people. Some of
the arrowheads had their closest parallels at Hierakonpolis in southern
Upper Egypt, which suggests that this was the homeland of the
individuals buried in Cemetery 17 (**Figure 5**). In the cemetery, five
males were interred with a single mace, while seven graves without human
remains contained eleven maces (see **Appendix 1**). The latter graves
may have been the cenotaphs for eleven warriors whose remains were not
retrieved after the battle. Weapons are rare in Naqada graves.[^103]
Being killed in action and buried in foreign territory was probably a
context that made it necessary to provide these Naqada warriors with
their weapons in the afterlife.

The predominance of male burials in this cemetery is exceptional. I
suggest that the reason is that they derive from a warrior band.
Warriors dispatched to fight far from the homestead would usually be
males.[^104] The anatomists recorded no pathologies or trauma in this
osteological material, since they, unfortunately, concentrated their
attention on racial characteristics rather than pathology and
trauma.[^105]

Based on the contextual data, I have argued that Cemetery 17 was a
burial ground for Naqada warriors who had made a violent expansion into
the A-Group predecessors' territory.[^106] Despite the lack of evidence
for violent trauma, so many dead males is suspicious. Violence, also in
war, is often the commonest cause of death for young adult males. The
A-Group predecessors probably attacked the Naqada warriors with bows and
arrows that would only leave microscopic traces on the bones, like the
victims at Jebel Sahaba in southern Lower Nubia during the Upper
Palaeolithic.[^107] Graves of fallen warriors are usually placed close
to the battlefield,[^108] so the fighting probably happened near Khor
Bahan.

In Cemetery 17, archaeologists also found 21 dogs in twelve graves.
Several dogs had remains of collars and leashes.[^109] Gnawed bone
fragments were found under the ribs of these dogs, suggesting that they
were sacrificed on full stomachs when their owners were buried.[^110] A
parallel has come to light at the elite Cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis.
Around the large and richly equipped tomb 16, dating to Naqada IC-IIA,
was a complex of associated graves belonging to humans and animals.
Among the sacrificed animals were 27 dogs, often buried together with
young males.[^111] The plundered graves of these young males still
contained some tanged arrowheads characteristic for Hierakonpolis.[^112]
Similar tanged arrowheads were also found in Cemetery 17 (see **Figure
5b**). These individuals in Cemetery HK6 have thus been interpreted as
hunters.[^113] I find it probable that some, perhaps all, of these young
males also were warriors. The difference between hunters and warriors
was probably minor during the Naqada period. Both warriors and hunters
were skilled in weaponry and cooperation. The chieftains in Upper Egypt
probably raised, equipped, and led hunting expeditions and war parties
to achieve their political ends.[^114] Indeed, the nineteen men depicted
on the unprovenanced Hunters' Palette carry the same types of weapons as
found in Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan and HK6 at Hierakonpolis: maces,
spears, bows and arrows, and throw sticks. Furthermore, three hunting
dogs were partaking in the lion hunt together with the men (**Figure
6**). Since dog burials are associated with graves of males with weapons
at Khor Bahan and Hierakonpolis, I will suggest that Naqada people
trained dogs to assist with hunting and warfare. Dog burials are also
attested at Neolithic cemeteries in Sudan[^115] and at Cemetery 7 of the
proto-phase of the A-Group,[^116] so dog burials are not exclusively a
Naqada practice.

# Evidence for Violence in the Earliest A-Group Cemeteries

The violent injuries recorded in the cemeteries of the A-Group
predecessors have been categorized according to whether the bodily harm
was caused by blunt force, i.e., striking, or sharp force, i.e.,
stabbing/slashing/piercing.[^117] Not all injuries obtained in warfare
would be deadly, although the aim of war is usually to defeat the
enemies by killing or expelling them.[^118] Comparative research has
demonstrated that the head is the preferred body part to attack in most
societies.[^119] Preferences may vary for attacking the vault of the
skull or the face.[^120] Fractures to the skull are thus a well-known
indication of violence.[^121] Moreover, blunt force trauma to the skull
is more easily attested archaeologically than injuries from arrows,
spears, and daggers, which often affect soft tissues.[^122] In northern
Lower Nubia, several violent deaths caused by fractures to the skull
inflicted by a blunt instrument -- probably a mace -- are attested
during the mid-4^th^ millennium BCE.[^123] The practice of attacking the
head also led to distinctive defensive injuries.[^124] Fractures of the
distal ulna in the lower arm can derive from fending a blow to the head.
This characteristic injury is often referred to as a parry fracture --
especially if the radius is unaffected and the fracture line is
transverse.[^125] Fractures of the middle of the clavicle can also be
defensive injuries caused by avoiding blunt force violence to the
head.[^126]

The violent injuries testified on the bones could be lethal or
nonlethal. Antemortem injuries have had time to heal. Perimortem
injuries have had no time to heal and occurred around the time of death
and may also have been the direct cause of death.[^127] Blood-stained
bones sometimes testify to the perimortem infliction of the
injuries.[^128] Postmortem damages to the bones occur after the
individual is dead.[^129]

Nubiologists have overlooked the data on violent injuries in norther
Lower Nubia during the mid-4^th^ millennium BCE for more than a century,
although some attention has been given to the scientific value of the
anatomical examinations by Sir Grafton Elliot Smith and Frederic Wood
Jones in the last decades.[^130] The report on the human remains from
northern Lower Nubia shows ample evidence of violence in the proto-phase
graves of the A-Group people.[^131] The evidence is overwhelming when
considering that only a limited range of violent injuries cause changes
on the skeleton.[^132] The study of the human remains by Elliot Smith
and Wood Jones has probably been disregarded for so long because
archaeologists wish to distance themselves from the racist paradigm
these anatomists worked in.[^133] Without the evidence dealing with
violence, however, archaeologists have had the impression that the
contact zone between peoples in Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia during the
mid-4^th^ millennium BCE was more peaceful than the violent cases I will
present suggest. In this analysis of the human remains, osteological
case descriptions are only provided for individuals with evidence of
healed or unhealed trauma related to interpersonal violence. Most of
these injuries are unambiguous traces of violence, but I cannot rule out
that some resulted from accidents.

The human remains in Cemetery 7 included two violent cases (**Appendix
2**). The male in grave 257 died from multiple blows to the head that
fractured several bones in his face. Besides the blunt violence, a piece
on the back of his skull had been cut away by a sharp weapon -- probably
a copper-alloy implement.[^134] The female in grave 263 had a healed
parry fracture of her right ulna. This fracture is a typical defensive
injury.[^135] The graves of both victims were on the fringe of the
cemetery, and the male in grave 257 was probably the last individual to
be buried in the cemetery before abandonment.[^136] The male in grave
267 had a healed fracture probably not related to interpersonal
violence.

Injuries relating to violence were also recorded at Cemetery 14
(**Appendix 3**). The male in grave 10 died from excessive blunt force
violence to the skull, eight fractured ribs on his right side, and a
fracture on the right side of the pubis. The violence had caused much
bloodstaining of the bones.[^137] The female in grave 13 had a
perimortem fracture of a rib on the left side that had caused blood
stains on the bones.[^138] The injury happened at the time of her death.
The female in grave 19 had a healed fracture of the left ulna just above
the mid-point, which is most probably a parry fracture.[^139] The male
in grave 23 had a healed fracture of his right cheekbone,[^140] which is
an injury seen in assaults with blunt force violence.[^141]

In the A-Group graves of the proto-phase in Cemetery 17, two individuals
had antemortem fractures related to violence (**Appendix 4)**. The male
in grave 29 had fractured the distal portion of the right ulna,[^142]
which suggests a parry fracture caused when fending a blow to the
head.[^143] Additionally, the mid-point of the left clavicle had a
healed fracture (**Figure 7a**).[^144] A direct frontal blow with a
heavy device,[^145] like a mace, could inflict this injury. Both
injuries seem related to interpersonal violence and may have occurred
during a single attack. The male in grave 24 also had a healed fracture
of the middle of the right clavicle (**Figure 7b**).[^146]

The archaeologists recorded no injuries related to interpersonal
violence at Cemetery 41/200, but the skeletal remains were fragmentary
and not prioritized for detailed anatomical study (**Appendix
5**).[^147]

Abundant skeletal evidence for interpersonal violence was recorded at
Cemetery 45 (**Appendix 6**). The elderly male in grave 211 appears to
have been executed by having the back of his neck cut with a sharp
instrument. This individual received seven incisions across the
posterior surface of three of the cervical vertebrae (**Figure
8**).[^148] This practice of execution has in recent years been revealed
on a large scale at Hierakonpolis.[^149] The anatomists suggested that a
copper-alloy weapon had been used.[^150] The lowest cut probably caused
death as it "*passed into the spinal canal by cutting off the tip of the
spine*".[^151] Furthermore, the male in grave 202 had perimortem
injuries on the right side of his chest. Five ribs were fractured and
had caused much blood-staining -- especially around the nares suggesting
bleeding from the nose.[^152] The female in grave 201 had a healed
fracture through the left cheekbone,[^153] which is a common injury in
an assault with blunt force violence.[^154] Individuals in grave 204 and
235 had healed fractures most likely unrelated to interpersonal
violence.

## Missing Skulls in the A-Group Cemeteries of the Proto-Phase

In addition to the violent deaths just described, the skull was missing
from several graves in the cemeteries of the A-Group predecessors. In
Cemetery 7, all skulls were present, but the skull of an adult male in
grave 226 was distorted and broken. In Cemetery 14, the skull was absent
from the male individuals in graves 8 and 12.[^155] In Cemetery 17, the
unsexed individual in grave 19 was missing the skull.[^156]

Cemetery 41/200 appears to have been vandalized in ancient times. The
bodies were all greatly disturbed, and skulls and other body parts were
missing. The male individuals in graves 227 and 238 lacked their
skull.[^157] Broken or smashed skulls were recorded in graves 205, 206,
216, 218, 219, 224, 235, and 236.[^158] These damages to the bones
occurred postmortem -- possibly in acts of desecrating the corpse.
Moreover, the pots seem to have been broken intentionally in this
cemetery since only two were found complete. The later Naqada
inhabitants of the plain possibly vandalized the cemetery of the A-Group
predecessors.[^159]

In Cemetery 45/200, the skull was missing from the bodies of females in
graves 204, 223, 232, and 241, and of the male in grave 228.[^160]
Furthermore, the individuals buried in graves 203, 205, 212, 217, 218,
and 232 had their skulls broken postmortem.[^161] We saw above that the
male in grave 211 had been stabbed in the back of his neck seven times
with a sharp implement. The assault weapon was almost certainly a
copper-alloy dagger or spear. The attacker probably came from Upper
Egypt, since no large copper implements are known from the proto-phase
of the A-Group people. Copper-alloy daggers and spears have been found
in Upper Egypt in contexts dating to slightly later in the Naqada
period.[^162]

In the human skeleton, the joint between the skull and the atlas
vertebra is among the first fixtures to fall apart. Decomposition was
perhaps the means through which the skulls were separated from the
bodies.[^163] A pattern of vandalizing the bodies through removing or
crushing the head is appearing in the proto-phase cemeteries of the
A-Group people in northern Lower Nubia.

## Capital Punishment at Hierakonpolis

Examinations of skeletal remains at Hierakonpolis show that stabbing in
the throat or full decapitations were relatively common in Cemetery HK
43 during Naqada IIA-C.[^164] In the excavated parts of the vast
cemetery, 21 individuals out of 453 had lacerated vertebrae, i.e. 4,6
per cent.[^165] The cut marks were observed on males in 52 per cent of
the cases, while 10 per cent were females. The remaining 38 per cent had
unidentified sex. Most of the people killed in this way were young
adults. The cut marks were found on several vertebrae, usually the
second and the third. The numerous lacerations suggest "*repeated blows
with a lighter blade*".[^166] Based on the available weapon technology
during Naqada II, I suggest that the implements used were sharp pointed
weapons like daggers or spears of copper-alloy or flint.[^167] At
Hierakonpolis, the purpose of the stabbing was to sever the neck,
although complete decapitation also occurred.[^168]

The practices of decapitation and/or dismemberment in Upper Egypt are
often interpreted as rites of human sacrifice, like retainer sacrifices
in connection with the First Dynasty royal burials.[^169] David Wengrow
has suggested that dismembered bodies had received an alternative
treatment in death when the individual had established a greater social
network in life than the complete body could satisfy during the funerary
rituals. Different parts of the body could then be buried in different
locations and thus provide funerary ceremonies for more people.[^170]
The bodies with lacerated vertebrae in Cemetery HK43 seem incompatible
with these interpretations. The individuals at Hierakonpolis were not
sacrificed retainers, since elite graves were absent.[^171] Furthermore,
the graves of people with lacerated vertebrae in Cemetery HK43 had
hardly any grave goods, so they were not themselves belonging to an
elite with a large network. The violence performed on these poor people
at Hierakonpolis thus seems related to ceremonial executions of
criminals, which are later attested in Egypt.[^172] Sean P. Dougherty
and Renée Friedman indeed suggest that the people with severed necks in
Cemetery HK43 had received capital punishment.[^173]

I propose that we should consider the possibility that the bodies
without heads dating to the proto-phase in northern Lower Nubia belonged
to A-Group predecessors killed in action and decapitated on the
battlefield.[^174] Decapitation of prisoners of war certainly was a
later practice in Egypt, as attested in iconography such as the Narmer
palette from the very beginning of the First Dynasty (**Figure 9**). The
head could also have been removed after some time of exposure on the
battlefield. The Naqada people may have collected the skulls of fallen
victims of violence before their kinsmen could return to bury their
remains. Neither capital punishment nor dismembered and divided bodies
seem likely explanations for the missing skulls in the small-scale and
decentralized society of the A-Group predecessors.

## Summary

The reassessment of the anatomical examination of the human remains from
the five A-Group cemeteries of the proto-phase demonstrates that of the
sample of preserved and examined bodies, five individuals had died of
violence and another six individuals had survived a violent attack
(Table 2). The sample consisted of 167 burials, and 7 per cent of
the population was affected by violence attested in the osteological
material. Most of the injuries seem to have been caused by blunt force
violence -- most probably stone maces. However, two individuals died in
attacks where sharp force violence also was used -- most likely
copper-alloy weapons. Both males and females were injured and killed in
these cemeteries (see **Appendices 1-6**).

![Burials and Violence](../static/images/hafsaas/Table2.jpg "Burials and Violence")

**~~Table 2. Burials and Vioelnce.~~**

Furthermore, ten individuals appear to have been buried without their
skull, and seventeen individuals were uncovered with their skull broken
(see Table 2). In the sample of 167 burials, the skull was missing
in 6 per cent of the graves. Additionally, 10 per cent of the burials
were found with the head broken. Relevant comparative evidence from the
Bronze Age is hard to find. Most cemeteries in Lower Nubia have been
plundered in ancient and modern times. Furthermore, the human remains in
Lower Nubia received less scientific attention after the first
investigation by Elliot Smith and Wood Jones and before the UNESCO
salvage campaign in the 1960s.[^175]

However, the data on violent deaths and injuries in these five
cemeteries shows that a high per centage of the population was affected
by violence, which is compatible with a context of inter-group violent
conflict. The frequency of interpersonal violence and missing skulls in
cemeteries in Lower Nubia is difficult to assess due to both the
widespread disturbances of the cemeteries and the inadequate attention
given to the human remains in many cemeteries further south.

# Discussion of the Violent Clashes between A-Group Predecessors and Naqada People

The previous sections have emphasized three main sources of evidence for
war between Naqada intruders and native A-Group predecessors in the
region between the First Cataract and Bab el-Kalabsha in the mid-4^th^
millennium BCE. The most obvious evidence is the individuals killed or
injured by violence in the A-Group cemeteries of the proto-phase (see
**Table 2**). The second line of evidence is the Naqada cemetery
consisting of young males with weapons at Khor Bahan. The third source
of evidence is contextual with the shift in the settlement pattern as
the Naqada people expanded into northern Lower Nubia and the A-Group
predecessors retreated. I will now discuss how these findings can be
interpreted as a historical sequence with several episodes of violence
in a war between the Naqada people and the A-Group predecessors.

The Naqada people in Hierakonpolis and the A-Group people were aware of
each other even before they came into closer contact in northern Lower
Nubia in the mid-4^th^ millennium BCE, since both groups sporadically
used the area between the First Cataract and Gebel es-Silsila in Upper
Egypt before the mid-4^th^ millennium BCE.[^176] Imports in the graves
also demonstrate interaction. The region north of the First Cataract
thus appears as the first contact zone between the two
populations.[^177] Ongoing archaeological investigations north of the
First Cataract may provide further evidence for interaction between the
A-Group and the Naqada peoples throughout the 4^th^ millennium
BCE.[^178]

The peoples from the nearest Naqada center at Hierakonpolis was probably
responsible for the violent Naqada expansion into Lower Nubia.
Hierakonpolis was the southernmost of the Predynastic centers in Upper
Egypt, and the site is situated around 130 kilometers downstream from
the First Cataract. During Naqada IC, Hierakonpolis had grown to a large
urban settlement, and the first elite cemetery including a tomb worthy
of a chieftain was established. The developments at Hierakonpolis caused
a rapid increase in the population,[^179] as confirmed by a
palaeodemographic examination of Cemetery HK43.[^180] Archaeobotanical
analyses demonstrate that the inhabitants subsisted on cereals,
especially emmer wheat, supplemented with herding livestock and
collecting wild plants.[^181] The flood plain was probably reaching the
carrying capacity needed to sustain the growing population with the
agricultural technology used at the time. Hierakonpolis needed more
land, but possibilities for expansion were limited in all directions.
Deserts encroached from the east and west, and the Nile Valley to the
north and south was already inhabited. To the north, the Naqada people
living in the Qena Bend were forming a chiefdom under the big man at
Naqada. Since the A-Group predecessors lived dispersed with a
decentralized organization, the chieftain of Hierakonpolis must have
calculated that it was possible to conquer northern Lower Nubia by
killing or displacing the inhabitants.[^182] Slightly before the
expansion into northern Lower Nubia considered in this article, Naqada
people had settled and established a cemetery at Kubbaniya between Gebel
el-Silsila and the First Cataract.[^183] Nubiologists often interpret
the Naqada cemetery at Kubbaniya in southern Upper Egypt as an A-Group
site,[^184] but the material culture is overwhelmingly Naqadian. For
instance, 31 palettes were made of siltstone, seven of other materials,
and only four of quartzite.[^185] Siltstone was the preferred material
for the Naqada people, while the A-Group people used other stones --
mainly white quartzite.[^186] The fertile plain at the mouth of Wadi
Kubbaniya was probably settled by Naqada people expanding
southwards.[^187] Another Naqada cemetery and settlement with potsherds
dating to Naqada IC was recently discovered at Nag el-Qarmila just to
the north of Wadi Kubbaniya.[^188] We do not know if the Naqada people
had to expel -- violently or not -- a native population before they
settled in this area.[^189]

I propose that the chieftains of Hierakonpolis dispatched several
warrior bands to fight the communities between the First Cataract and
Bab el-Kalabsha with the purpose to incorporate this territory into the
chiefdom of Hierakonpolis. The A-Group predecessors at Shellal probably
faced a violent attack by the Naqada people at the beginning of Naqada
IC. Two individuals in Cemetery 7 carried traces of violence on their
bones (see **Appendix 2**). The earliest A-Group occupation in this area
appears to have ended with the burial of a male killed by excessive
violence. His head was hit repeatedly with weapons causing both blunt
and sharp force injuries. According to both pictorial and archaeological
sources, the mace was the favoured weapon in hand-to-hand fighting in
the Nile Valley during the 4^th^ millennium BCE.[^190] The final blow at
the back of his head was delivered with a copper-alloy axe or adze. This
weapon of prestigious metal signals high social status, so it was
probably the leader of the warrior band who gave him the final blow.
This sharp force injury is furthermore one of the earliest attested uses
of copper-alloy weapons in the Nile Valley. The A-Group predecessors
appear to have retreated southwards after this violent clash -- probably
to the vicinity of Khor Ambukol and Khor Bahan where two contemporary
cemeteries are placed in proximity. These cemeteries were soon
afterwards abandoned due to new violent attacks.

The Naqada peoples buried in Cemetery 17 at Khor Bahan appear so
uniformly equipped with mace-heads and other weapons that they probably
formed a band of warriors under central command acting on the orders of
the chieftain of Hierakonpolis. Males constituted a majority of 94 per
cent of the burials in this cemetery (see **Appendix 1**). In addition,
seven graves with weapons but no body have been interpreted as cenotaphs
for killed warriors.[^191] The Naqada warriors buried at Khor Bahan
appear to have died young, which strongly suggests that the A-Group
predecessors fiercely fought back the intruders. Outnumbered by the
Naqada warriors, the A-Group predecessors probably attacked in ambushes.
The preferred weapons of ambushes during the Bronze Age were bows and
arrows.[^192] Warrior bands dispatched to foreign territory
traditionally consist of men,[^193] like the Naqada warriors in this
study. In defensive warfare in the vicinity of habitation sites, women
can participate in the fighting and thus be wounded or killed.[^194]
Females were among the killed and wounded in the cemeteries of the
A-Group predecessors in this study (see **Appendices 2 to 6**).

Violence can contribute to formalizing group identities.[^195] The
forging of new collective identities can take the form of ethnogenesis.
The A-Group predecessors needed to distinguish between friends and
enemies after the Naqada people attacked them. Moreover, it became
crucial to belong to a community larger than corporate lineage groups to
be protected, and thus essential to be recognized visually as different
from the enemy, whom the A-Group people appear to have attacked in
ambushes. The ethnic identity of the A-Group people was probably
established as they perceived themselves as culturally different from
the Naqada people and perhaps the A-Group predecessors saw themselves as
having common descent in accordance with a former lineage organization
of the society.[^196] The A-Group predecessors thus appear to have
conceived themselves as a distinctive cultural group in accordance with
the definition of ethnic groups presented initially. I thus see the
ethnogenesis of the A-Group predecessors from an emic perspective
placing the A-Group predecessors as actors forging their own ethnic
identity.[^197] The Naqada people also treated the A-Group predecessors
as culturally different, so the ethnic identity made an impact on their
relationship.

Interpreted together, the evidence presented strongly suggests that the
communities of native A-Group predecessors at Shellal, Khor Ambukol, and
Khor Bahan at first attempted to defend their territory when the Naqada
people entered the region during Naqada IC. The Naqada warriors buried
in Cemetery 17 indicate that the A-Group predecessors resisted the
expansion at a high cost of lives for the intruders. Despite opposition,
the warriors from Hierakonpolis achieved their mission -- likely because
they were better organized by being trained for combat and better
equipped with specialized weapons of war, and they probably outnumbered
the A-Group predecessors. The first clashes ended when the native people
retreated, first from Shellal and then from Khor Ambukol and Khor Bahan.
The decisive battle probably took place near Khor Bahan where the Naqada
warriors were buried in the cemetery recently abandoned by the A-Group
predecessors. The graves of fallen warriors are usually located close to
the battlefield,[^198] and the graves without bodies suggest that not
all fallen warriors were brought back to the site for burial. After the
battle near Khor Bahan, the A-Group predecessors appear to have
resettled on the plains of Meris and Dehmit further south.

The next clashes took place soon afterwards at Meris and Dehmit. Beside
the violent deaths and injuries, I have identified a pattern where up to
12 per cent of the individuals in the cemeteries of the A-Group
predecessors in northern Lower Nubia were recorded with their skull
missing (see **Table 2**). Furthermore, up to 22 per cent of the
individuals had their skull broken post-mortem. Especially cemeteries 41
and 45 have high numbers of missing and broken skulls. Archaeologists
usually explain the absence of the skull in Nubia as an effect of grave
plundering, and this explanation may in many instances be valid.
However, the systematic pattern seen in the five cemeteries investigated
here may require a different explanation for why the skull was absent or
broken in so high numbers on a frontier with violent conflict.

As we saw in the examination of violence in the earliest A-Group
cemeteries, a male in grave 211 in Cemetery 45/200 had been stabbed in
the back of his neck seven times with a sharp implement -- possibly a
copper-alloy dagger or spear (see **Appendix 6**). A reconstruction of
the violence placed the man prostrate with his face down in front of his
assailant who struck him seven times. If the weapon indeed was a
copper-alloy dagger or spear, as suggested from the cut marks and
comparable decapitations at Hierakonpolis,[^199] then his attacker was
probably coming from Upper Egypt. Only the Naqada people had access to
copper-alloy weapons at this time. By considering the context of war
between the Naqada people and A-Group predecessors, the male had
probably been wounded by an arrowshot or taken captive, and then
finished off by the stabbing in the neck. The missing skulls in other
A-Group cemeteries of the proto-phase could have been executions of
wounded warriors in skirmishes with Naqada people. More in line with the
evidence, the head was possibly removed postmortem after some time of
decomposition on the battlefield before the body was buried by the next
of kin. The removals of the heads were probably undertaken in acts of
ritual violence. Postmortem violence and humiliation of the enemy is
also attested in Syria in the mid-4^th^ millennium BCE.[^200]

The seizure, modification, and display of human body parts as trophies
have been practiced worldwide since prehistoric times.[^201]
Decapitation was also practiced in Upper Egypt -- even at the
contemporary and neighbouring center of Hierakonpolis.[^202] The head is
considered the most prestigious trophy since the head is believed to
contain the individual's spirit.[^203] Simon Harrison has argued that
headhunting is a device to mask or deny the humanness of a chosen
category of people in societies where male identity is related to
hunting animals.[^204] Moreover, Harrison suggests that actors created
and negotiated group boundaries and thus the groups themselves through
such practices:

> *"\[H\]eads were taken not because the victims were distant strangers,
> but to make them distant, to generate estrangement, and 'produce' a
> category of people as enemies with whom to fight."*[^205]

This quote seems analogous to the war between the Naqada people and the
A-Group predecessors in northern Lower Nubia after the first clashes.
Masculine identity at Hierakonpolis appears associated with hunting and
warfare during Naqada IC-IIA, and I suggest that headhunting in northern
Lower Nubia was related to creating and negotiating a boundary between
the A-Group predecessors and the Naqada peoples. The Naqada people
needed to make the A-Group predecessors more distant to justify
expelling them from their land.

The presence of competition and conflict can intensify ethnic
polarization.[^206] The Naqada people and the A-Group predecessors
shared cultural similarities from a Neolithic body-centred habitus, like
contracted burials on the side and cosmetic palettes.[^207] Although the
first violent confrontation provoked an ethnogenesis among the A-Group
predecessors, the Naqada people proceeded to make them more different
after the first clashes. The next process of differentiation between the
A-Group and the Naqada peoples is comparable to a schismogenesis,
whereby cultural groups define themselves against each other.

# Concluding Remarks on Ethnogenesis and Schismogenesis in Lower Nubia 

In this article, I have argued that two culturally related, but
distinctive populations -- the Naqada people and the A-Group
predecessors -- clashed in deadly battles in northern Lower Nubia in the
mid-4^th^ millennium BCE. Since the first violent clashes of the two
groups, the people north and south of the First Cataract region came to
perceive themselves as culturally different. The violent conflict arose
from increased contact and intensive competition for territory and
resources. This context furthermore created the social environment where
the forging of an ethnic identity became necessary for the A-Group
predecessors. The Naqada people also recognized the A-Group predecessors
as different from themselves, and ethnicity became an organizational
factor in the relationship between the two groups.

The war was instigated by a violent expansion of the Naqada people from
Hierakonpolis. Several episodes of violence can be detected with
probable battles at Shellal, Khor Bahan, and Dehmit. The first violent
clashes at Shellal and Khor Bahan instigated the confrontational
ethnogenesis of the A-Group predecessors. The conflict escalated with
new violent clashes near Meris and Dehmit. Headhunting appears to have
contributed to a schismogenesis by dehumanizing the other. The A-Group
predecessors and the Naqada people increasingly came to define
themselves in opposition to each other, and their cultural and social
differences continued to widen with time. For the latter half of the
4^th^ millennium BCE, the A-Group people left a distinctive
archaeological heritage in the region between Bab el-Kalabsha and Batn
el-Hajar (see **Map 1**).

When the ethnic boundary was in place, the Naqada people established at
least eight sites in northern Lower Nubia.[^208] The narrow passage with
towering cliffs at Bab el-Kalabsha was a natural position for exercising
territorial control, and the distribution of sites suggests that this
was the border between A-Group and Naqada territory. During Early
A-Group phase/Naqada II, the A-Group people and the Naqada people
started interacting in peaceful ways across the ethnic boundary.[^209]
Exchange between the Naqada people and the A-Group people made it
profitable to belong to the A-Group people as the whole community
prospered from the activity.[^210] The Naqada people retreated from
northern Lower Nubia with the establishment of the southern border of
the dynastic and territorial state of Egypt at the First Cataract at the
shift between Naqada IIIB and IIIC around 3085 BCE.[^211] The A-Group
people became eradicated as an ethnic group when the newly founded state
of ancient Egypt undertook a violent expansion into Lower Nubia after
ca. 3085 BCE.[^212]

# Acknowledgements

This article is an expansion of ideas first presented in my ph.d.-thesis
*War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging State of Ancient Egypt*
(2015). I would like to express my gratitude to Stuart Tyson Smith and
Rennan Lemos for conducting an open peer-review of this article. They
provided thoughtful suggestions, and their constructive comments helped
to improve the quality and clarity of the argument. I also wish to thank
Alexandros Tsakos for handling the peer-review process of this article
and reading the final draft. His attention to detail has improved the
final product. Any remaining errors are my own.

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[^1]: For general discussions of the concept ethnogenesis, see ROOSENS,
    *Creating Ethnicity,* and WEIK "The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis."

[^2]: Nordström divided the A-Group into three stages, Early,
    Classic/Middle, and Terminal, in his seminal work *Neolithic and
    A-Group Sites*, p. 18.

[^3]: VOSS, "What's new?" p. 656.

[^4]: BATESON, *Naven*.

[^5]: WENGROW and GRAEBER, "Many Seasons Ago," p. 238. See also GRAEBER
    and WENGROW, *The Dawn of Everything*, especially Chapter 5.

[^6]: TRIGGER, *History and Settlement in Lower Nubia*, p. 14.

[^7]: See NORDSTRÖM, *Neolithic and A-Group Sites*, p. 19 for a brief
    reference to the violent cases noted by Elliot Smith and Wood Jones
    (see below).

[^8]: WENGROW et al., "Cultural Convergence in the Neolithic of the Nile
    Valley," pp. 102-103.

[^9]: STEVENSON, "The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation," p. 431.

[^10]: BARD, "Political Economies of Predynastic Egypt and the Formation
    of the Early State," p. 6 and p. 12.

[^11]: BARD, "Political Economies of Predynastic Egypt and the Formation
    of the Early State," p. 1; "KÖHLER, "Prehistoric Egypt," p. 144;
    STEVENSON, "The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation," p. 451.

[^12]: See DEE et al., "An Absolute Chronology for Early Egypt," for
    absolute dates.

[^13]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 123.

[^14]:
    ###  NORDSTRÖM, *Neolithic and A-Group sites*; HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, "Hierarchy and Heterarchy"; ROY, *The Politics of Trade*; GLÜCK, "The Heritage of the A-Group"; GATTO, "The A-Group and 4^th^ Millennium BCE Nubia."

[^15]: See for instance TAKAMIYA, "Egyptian Pottery Distribution in
    A-Group Cemeteries," p. 56 for the establishment of the contact, and
    HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging State
    of Ancient Egypt*, p. 337.

[^16]: WENGROW et al., "Cultural Convergence in the Neolithic of the
    Nile Valley," p. 98; GATTO, "The A-Group and 4^th^ Millennium BCE
    Nubia," p. 129.

[^17]: Some examples from the last 20 years: HENDRICKX,
    "Predynastic---Early Dynastic Chronology," p. 71 and p. 76; WENGROW,
    *The Archaeology of Early Egypt*, p. 75; BARD, "Political Economies
    of Predynastic Egypt and the Formation of the Early State"; GATTO,
    "The A-Group and 4^th^ Millennium BCE Nubia," p. 127 and p. 129.

[^18]: Also spelled Kubaniya and Kubaniyeh.

[^19]: Some examples from the last 20 years: EDWARDS, *The Nubian past,*
    pp. 68-69; NORDSTRÖM, "The Nubian A-Group," p. 134; TAKAMIYA,
    "Egyptian Pottery Distribution in A-Group Cemeteries," p. 41;
    FRIEDMAN, "The Nubian Cemetery at Hierakonpolis," p. 62; TÖRÖK,
    *Between Two Worlds*, p. 35; ROY, *The Politics of Trade*, p. 49;
    GLÜCK, "The Heritage of the A-Group," p. 199; MEURER, "Nubians in
    Egypt from the Early Dynastic Period to the New Kingdom," p. 290).

[^20]: GATTO, "Cultural Entanglement at the Dawn of the Egyptian
    History," p. 117; GATTO, "The A-Group and 4^th^ Millennium BCE
    Nubia," p. 130.

[^21]: See also [HAFSAAS-TSAKOS,]{.smallcaps} *War on the Southern
    Frontier of the Emerging State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 336.

[^22]: Earle and Kristiansen, \"Organizing Bronze Age Societies,\" p.
    243.

[^23]: Otto, Thrane, and Vandkilde, \"Warfare and Society, \" pp. 16-17.

[^24]: JONES, *The Archaeology of Ethnicity*, p. xiii.

[^25]: BARTH, "Introduction," pp. 10-11.

[^26]: BARTH, "Enduring and Emerging Issues in the Analysis of
    Ethnicity," p. 12; SMITH, "Ethnicity," p. 1.

[^27]: BARTH, "Introduction," pp. 10-11.

[^28]: E.g., SMITH, *Wretched Kush*, p. 14.

[^29]: ERIKSEN, *Ethnicity and Nationalism*, p. 12.

[^30]: JONES, *The Archaeology of Ethnicity*, p. 75 and p. 78.

[^31]: BENTLEY, "Ethnicity and Practice."

[^32]: BOURDIEU, *Outline of a Theory of Practice*, p. 72.

[^33]: BENTLEY, "Ethnicity and Practice", p. 27.

[^34]: JONES, *The Archaeology of Ethnicity*, p. 120.

[^35]: SMITH, *Wretched Kush*, pp. 18-19.

[^36]: MACEACHERN, "Scale, Style, and Cultural Variation," p. 123.

[^37]: See BARTH, "Introduction," p. 14.

[^38]: GOSSELAIN, "Materializing Identities."

[^39]: HODDER, *Symbols in Action*, p. 22 and p. 58.

[^40]: EMBERLING, "Ethnicity in Complex Societies," p. 318; MANZO,
    "Clash of Civilization on the First Cataract?" p. 103; SMITH,
    *Wretched Kush*, p. 31; STEVENSON, *The Predynastic Egyptian
    Cemetery of el-Gerzeh*, p. 77.

[^41]: SMITH, *Wretched Kush*, p. 19.

[^42]: See HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, Chapters 8-10.

[^43]: NORDSTRÖM, *Neolithic and A-Group Sites*, p. 17.

[^44]: For a more detailed analysis, see Chapter 8 in HAFSAAS-TSAKOS,
    *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging State of Ancient
    Egypt*. See also GATTO, "Egypt and Nubia in the 5^th^-4^th^
    Millennium BCE," p. 132.

[^45]: See MATIĆ, *Ethnic Identities in the Land of the Pharaohs*, p.
    28.

[^46]: SMITH, "Ethnicity".

[^47]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 253.

[^48]: WENGROW, "Rethinking 'Cattle Cults' in Early Egypt," p. 96;
    WENGROW et al. "Cultural Convergence in the Neolithic of the Nile
    Valley," p. 105; HAALAND and HAALAND, "Early Farming Societies along
    the Nile*,"* p. 548.

[^49]: STEVENSON, "The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation," p.
    432.

[^50]: In the first systematic excavations in northern Lower Nubia,
    George Reisner gave the different material assemblages the letters
    A, B, C, D and E to indicate their relative chronological sequence.
    The so-called A-Group and C-Group have since been used as the terms
    for the indigenous populations inhabiting Lower Nubia during the
    Bronze Age. Junker was the first archaeologist dating the B-Group
    graves earlier than the A-Group in *Bericht über die Grabungen der
    Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien auf den Friedhöfen von
    El-Kubanieh-Syd*, p. 26.

[^51]: SMITH, "The Nubian B-Group."

[^52]: SMITH, "The Development of the A-Group Culture in Northern Lower
    Nubia."

[^53]: E.g., GATTO, "Cultural Entanglement at the Dawn of the Egyptian
    History," p. 110; RAUE, "Cultural Diversity of Nubia in the Later
    3rd--mid 2nd Millennium BC," p. 294.

[^54]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 73.

[^55]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 278.

[^56]: SMITH, "The Development of the A-Group Culture in Northern Lower
    Nubia," p. 98 and p. 101; HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern
    Frontier of the Emerging State of Ancient Egypt*, table 1.

[^57]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 33-42.

[^58]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 33-45.

[^59]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 257-259. See also SMITH, "The
    Development of the A-Group Culture in Northern Lower Nubia," p. 98;
    ROY, *The Politics of Trade*, pp. 68-69.

[^60]: See HENDRICKX, "Predynastic-Early Dynastic Chronology," table
    II/1.4b.

[^61]: USAI, "Other Stone Tools," pp. 56-57.

[^62]: ASTON, HARRELL, and SHAW, "Stone," p. 57.

[^63]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 33-38.

[^64]: USAI, "Other Stone Tools," pp. 55-56

[^65]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 141-144.

[^66]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, fig. 77.

[^67]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains*, pp.
    257-262.

[^68]: See NORDSTRÖM, "Gender and Social Structure in the Nubian
    A-Group" for later gender differences among the A-Group people.

[^69]: See HODGSON, "Gender, Culture, and the Myth of the Patriarchal
    Pastoralist," p. 10 for pastoral labor structured by gender (and
    age).

[^70]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 142-144.

[^71]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, fig. 92/1-2.

[^72]: USAI, "Other Stone Tools," pp. 56-57.

[^73]: STEVENSON, "Social Relationships in Predynastic Burials," p. 191.

[^74]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, p. 142, p. 144,
    and plate 66/b/31 and 33.

[^75]: WENGROW et al. "Cultural Convergence in the Neolithic of the Nile
    Valley," p. 103.

[^76]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 113-114.

[^77]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 269 and p. 285.

[^78]: See above.

[^79]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 266-270.

[^80]: HAFSAAS-TASKOS*, War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, table 18.

[^81]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 134-135.

[^82]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 133-137.

[^83]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 271-273.

[^84]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, p. 211.

[^85]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 211-214 and
    fig. 145.

[^86]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 272.

[^87]: See REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 212-213.

[^88]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 272.

[^89]: Reisner described these flint implements as flakes. The published
    photos of other flint flakes identified by Reisner are in fact
    blades, see REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia,* plate
    62/b/1 depicting blades called flakes in the description.

[^90]: See HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, "Edges of Bronze and Expressions of
    Masculinity," for a later example of expressions masculine in Nubia.

[^91]: VANDKILDLE, "Warriors and Warrior Institutions in Copper Age
    Europe," p. 405.

[^92]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* pp.
    169-173.

[^93]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, p. 258 and pp.
    262-265.

[^94]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, fig. 212/2-5, 12.

[^95]: STEVENSON, *The Predynastic Egyptian Cemetery of el-Gerzeh*, p.
    145.

[^96]: NORDSTRÖM, *Neolithic and A-Group Sites*, p. 130.

[^97]: WENGROW et al., "Cultural convergence in the Neolithic of the
    Nile Valley," p. 105.

[^98]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 316-317.

[^99]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, Chapter 9.

[^100]: See HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the
    Emerging State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 285-294 for more details.

[^101]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 285.

[^102]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 291. See also HÅRDE, "Funerary Rituals
    and Warfare in the Early Bronze Age Nitra Culture of Slovakia and
    Moravia," p. 358, for a similar interpretation.

[^103]: GILBERT, *Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in Early Egypt*, p. 83.

[^104]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 181

[^105]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    116.

[^106]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 327-328.

[^107]: Crevecoeur et al., "New Insights on Interpersonal Violence in
    the Late Pleistocene Based on the Nile Valley Cemetery of Jebel
    Sahaba."

[^108]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 181.

[^109]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 137-139.

[^110]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* pp.
    116-117.

[^111]: FRIEDMAN, "Hierakonpolis," pp. 38-39.

[^112]: Droux and Pieri, "Further Adventures at HK6: The 2010 Season,"
    p. 4.

[^113]: FRIEDMAN, "Hierakonpolis," p. 39.

[^114]: GILBERT, *Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in Early Egypt*, p. 84.

[^115]: Chaix and Reinold, \"Animals in Neolithic Graves."

[^116]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 37-42.

[^117]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains*.

[^118]: HELBLING, "War and Peace in Societies without Central Power", p.
    115.

[^119]: JUDD, "Continuity of Interpersonal Violence between Nubian
    Communities," p. 324 with references.

[^120]: JUDD, "Trauma in the City of Kerma," pp. 46-48.

[^121]: MARTIN and HARROD, "Bioarchaeological Contributions to the Study
    of Violence," p. 121.

[^122]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 182.

[^123]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* pp.
    330-332.

[^124]: FILER, "Ancient Egypt and Nubia as a Source of Information for
    Cranial Injuries," p. 70.

[^125]: JUDD, "Trauma in the City of Kerma," p. 46; JUDD, "The Parry
    Problem," p. 1661; MARTIN and HARROD, "Bioarchaeological
    Contributions to the Study of Violence," p. 121.

[^126]: ROBINSON, "Fractures of the Clavicle in the Adult," table 3.

[^127]: MARTIN and HARROD, "Bioarchaeological Contributions to the Study
    of Violence," p. 124.

[^128]: Blood-stained bones were observed in some well-preserved human
    remains, see ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human
    Remains,* pp. 329-330. However, stains from decomposed blood are
    usually absent in violent deaths uncovered from archaeological
    contexts, see WALKER, \"A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the
    History of Violence,\" p. 578.

[^129]: MARTIN and HARROD, "Bioarchaeological Contributions to the Study
    of Violence," p. 124.

[^130]: E.g., MOLLESON, "The Nubian Pathological Collection"; FILER,
    "Ancient Egypt and Nubia as a Source of Information for Cranial
    Injuries"; JUDD and REDFERN, "Trauma," p. 362; COCKITT, et al.
    "Capturing a Century of Study."

[^131]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOS JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* pp.
    331-332.

[^132]: See MARTIN and HARROD, "Bioarchaeological Contributions to the
    Study of Violence," p. 118.

[^133]: Marshall and Buzon, "Bioarchaeology in the Nile Valley."

[^134]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* pp.
    331-332.

[^135]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    313.

[^136]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 259.

[^137]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    331.

[^138]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    108.

[^139]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    312.

[^140]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    299.

[^141]: PUNJABI et al., "Causes and Management of Zygomatic Bone
    Fractures," p. 36.

[^142]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    313 and fig. 87.

[^143]: JUDD, "The Parry Problem," p. 1661.

[^144]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    305 and fig. 74.

[^145]: ROBINSON, "Fractures of the Clavicle in the Adult," p. 476 and
    table 3.

[^146]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    306 and fig. 75.

[^147]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,*
    p.152.

[^148]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    301.

[^149]: See below.

[^150]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    334.

[^151]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    301.

[^152]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    334.

[^153]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* p.
    299.

[^154]: PUNJABI et al., "Causes and Management of Zygomatic Bone
    Fractures," p. 36.

[^155]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,*
    p.108.

[^156]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, p. 134.

[^157]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, pp. 212-214.

[^158]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,* pp.
    155-156; REISNER, 1910: 213.

[^159]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 274.

[^160]: REISNER, *The Archaeological Survey of Nubia*, p. 262 and pp.
    264-265

[^161]: ELLIOT SMITH and WOOD JONES, *Report on the Human Remains,*
    pp.170-173.

[^162]: GILBERT, *Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in Early Egypt*, pp.
    42-43.

[^163]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 182.

[^164]: DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane."

[^165]: DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane," p. 310 and p. 313.

[^166]: DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane," p. 316.

[^167]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, pp. 279-280.

[^168]: DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane," p. 313.

[^169]: WILKINSON, *Early Dynastic Egypt*, p. 266.

[^170]: WENGROW, *The Archaeology of Early Egypt*, pp. 116-123.

[^171]: DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane," p. 327.

[^172]: WILKINSON, *Early Dynastic Egypt*, p. 266.

[^173]: DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane," p. 330.

[^174]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 281.

[^175]: BUZON, "Bioarchaeology of Nubia," pp. 1052-1053.

[^176]: GATTO, "Egypt and Nubia in the 5^th^-4^th^ Millennia BCE".

[^177]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 332.

[^178]: See GATTO, "Cultural Entanglement at the Dawn of the Egyptian
    History".

[^179]: HOFFMAN, HAMROUCH, and ALLEN, "A Model of Urban Development for
    the Hierakonpolis Region," p. 181; HAALAND and HAALAND, "Early
    Farming Societies along the Nile*,*" p. 546.

[^180]: BATEY, *Population Dynamics in Predynastic Upper Egypt*, p. 31.

[^181]: FAHMY, "Missing Plant Macro Remains as Indicators of Plant
    Exploitation in Predynastic Egypt".

[^182]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 324.

[^183]: JUNKER, Bericht über die Grabungen der Akademie der
    Wissenschaften in Wien auf den Friedhöfen von El-Kubanieh-Syd Winter
    1910-1911.

[^184]: E.g., Nordström, *Neolithic and A-Group Sites*, p. 28; Edwards,
    *The Nubian Past*, p. 70; GLÜCK, "The Heritage of the A-Group," p.
    209.

[^185]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 126 and n. 10.

[^186]: See above.

[^187]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 123.

[^188]: GATTO, "Egypt and Nubia in the 5th-4th millennia BCE," pp.
    129-130.

[^189]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 324.

[^190]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 325.

[^191]: See above.

[^192]: HÅRDE, "Funerary Rituals and Warfare in the Early Bronze Age
    Nitra Culture of Slovakia and Moravia," p. 372. See also HONEGGER,
    "The Archers of Kerma," in this volume.

[^193]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 181.

[^194]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 181.

[^195]: MARTIN and HARROD, "Bioarchaeology and Violence," p. 134.

[^196]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt*, p. 334.

[^197]: See also SMITH, *Wretched Kush*, p. 16, for a general
    observation.

[^198]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 181.

[^199]: See DOUGHERTY and FRIEDMAN, "Sacred or Mundane," p. 316.

[^200]: MCMAHON, "State Warfare and Pre-state Violent Conflict," p. 180.

[^201]: POMMERENING and HENDRICKX, "Kopf und Schädel im Alten Ägypten."

[^202]: See above.

[^203]: OKUMURA and SIEW, "An Osteological Study of Trophy Heads," p,
    685.

[^204]: HARRISON, \"Skull Trophies of the Pacific War.\"

[^205]: HARRISON, \"Skull Trophies of the Pacific War,\" p. 831.

[^206]: SMITH, "Ethnicity: Constructions of Self and Other in Ancient
    Egypt," p. 117.

[^207]: WENGROW et al., "Cultural Convergence in the Neolithic of the
    Nile Valley," p. 105.

[^208]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt, chapter 10.

[^209]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, War on the Southern Frontier of the Emerging
    State of Ancient Egypt, pp. 336-337.

[^210]: HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, "Hierarchy and Heterarchy".

[^211]: SEIDLMAYER, "Town and State in the Early Old Kingdom, pp.
    112-113.

[^212]: SMITH, "Nubia and Egypt," p. 259; EDWARDS, *The Nubian Past*, p.
    73; Török, *Between Two Worlds*, pp. 50-51; HAFSAAS-TSAKOS, *War on
    the Southern Frontier of the Emerging State of Ancient Egypt*, pp.
    376-381.