Naqada or Naquada is a village on the west bank of the Nile in southern Egypt. It stands near the site of a necropolis from the prehistoric, pre-dynastic period around 3800-3100 BCE. Naqada has given its name to the widespread Naqada culture that existed at the time, here and at other sites including Badari , Gerzeh , Hierakonopolis and Qau . The large quantity of remains from Naqada have enabled the dating of the entire culture.
The Naqada period was first divided by the British Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie, who explored the site in 1894, into three sub-periods:
- Amratian (after the cemetery near El-Amrah )
- Gerzean (after the cemetery near Gerzeh)
- Semainian (after the cemetery near Es-Semaina )
Petrie's chronology was superseded by that of Werner Kaiser in 1957, as follows:
- Naqada I a-b-c (about 4000–3500 BCE)
- black-topped and painted pottery
- Naqada II a-b-c (about 3500–3200 BCE)
- this culture represented throughout Egypt
- first marl pottery, and metalworking
- Naqada III a-b-c (about 3200–3000 BCE)
- more elaborate grave goods
- cylindrical jars
- writing
