Watercraft: The Earliest Temples in Egypt

Summary

Shared iconography and similar functionality associated with dated depictions of Predynastic watercraft and terrestrial shrines identify watercraft as the earliest manifestation of manufactured sacred space in Egypt. The resulting Mobile Sacred Space Paradigm describes watercraft as ritual objects (liminal negotiators) empowered to move through and, thereby, connect three ecologically distinctive landscapes as early as the Naqada IIB Period (and possibly Naqada IC). Results indicate that specific watercraft and their associated paraphernalia represent the earliest temple as the mound of creation, 3250 BCE, a window into the politico-religious foundations of the Egyptian State. The environmental flexibility as well as diachronic endurance of core religious values associated with watercraft suggest strong ideological continuity from the Predynastic through Dynastic Periods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22511