ABSTRACT

Research within the last two decades has shown that, from prehistoric times,Egypt was not an isolated oasis of the river Nile but had close connections with the Near East. Not only have Natufian arrow tips been found near Helwan in Lower Egypt, but at Merimda, in the western delta, the entire lithic production and population type of the earliest stratum show strong Natufian connections (Eiwanger 1984: 59-63). Moreover, the ceramic material is strongly influenced by the Palestinian Pottery Neolithic tradition. All the evidence suggests that there was a strong influx during this period, reaching the south-western delta. Immigration from Canaan can be deduced for the Chalcolithic Buto-Maadi culture from ceramic imports, local imitations and semi-subterranean dwelling types borrowed from the contemporary Chalcolithic culture of Palestine (Faltings 1998, 2002; Hartung 2001: 322-7). Trade with the Levant was the main reason for this immigration, but the relatively lush living conditions of Egypt must surely have invited immigration by the inhabitants of neighbouring arid zones. Egypt needed raw materials such as coniferous timber from the Lebanon and commodities such as olive oil and wine which turn up from the Naqada IIc period onwards as far south as Abydos (Hartung 2001, 2002).