Maadi-Buto culture
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The Maadi-Buto culture, also Maadian culture or Lower Egyptian culture,[2] was a culture of Prehistoric Egypt. It consists in about a dozen sites, including the excavated cemetery and settlement complex Maadi near modern Cairo. The Maadian culture is first identified during the second part of Naqada I and continued until Naqada IIc/d, when it was replaced by the Naqada II culture. Major sites include el-Gerza, Haraga, Abusir el-Melek, and Minshat Abu Omar.[3]
History
The Maadian culture emerged from the earliest Neolithic sites of the Nile Valley, in the Faiyum region and at Merimda Beni Salama and el-Omari. It was much less developed than the contemporary cultures of Naqada I and Naqada II.[3]
Settlements had walls made from plant material, formed from wooden posts and wattle-and-daub screens.[2] Cemeteries had few burial goods.[2] Pottery was globular with a broad, flat base, a rather narrow neck, and flared rims.[3] Pottery and flintwork have strong similarities with the contemporary Chalcolithic culture of Palestine.[2]
Downfall
The people of Naqada II and Naqada III seem to have expanded northward into Lower Egypt, replacing the Maadian culture.[4] Maadi was first conquered during Naqada II c-d.[4] The cultures of Lower Egypt were replaced by Upper Egypt and Naqada culture by the end of Naqada II circa 3200 BCE.[4][2] The Maadian culture of Buto, Tell Ibrahim Awad, Tell el-Rub'a, and Tell el-Farkha were vacated, giving way to the Naqada III culture.[4]
