Helwan V

This is the fifth volume in the comprehensive publication series of research results from the archaeological excavations in the ancient Egyptian necropolis at Helwan. With over 10,000 graves, this cemetery is the largest of its time; it can be associated with Egypt's first capital, the city of Memphis and its direct environment. The main occupation period is during the Early Dynastic Period [Dynasties 1 and 2, ca. 3000-2700 B.C.E.], which is a time when the ancient Egyptian territorial state had just emerged. Helwan primarily served the city's general urban population which can be related to the lower and middle classes of society. The first excavations at Helwan took place during the early 20th century and after a long interruption, archaeological work was continued initially by a project of Macquarie University in Sydney starting in 1997. From 2010 until 2017, the work at the site was then conducted in cooperation with the University of Vienna. This volume continues the presentation of primary archaeological data from tombs in an area designated Operation 4, which were excavated between 1998 and 2011 under the direction of the main author. The volume follows the nomenclature of graves as established in vols. III and IV of the series and introduces tombs 4/101 to 4/150, which date to the Early Dynastic and early Old Kingdom periods. There are brief chapters by different authors on the main categories of finds, that is the tomb structures, human remains, pottery, non-ceramic artefacts as well as archaeo-zoological and botanical materials. The main part of this publication is taken up by the catalogue of tombs where the archaeological context of the individual graves and burials together with their artefacts are briefly described and documented in the form of line drawings and photographs. The authors of vols. III to VI have deliberately avoided to engage in further analysis and interpretation so as to allow sufficient space for the primary archaeological data. They will be comprehensively analyzed and interpreted starting with volume VII of the series.