Tasian culture
Tasian culture is located in Egypt
Deir Tasa
Deir Tasa
Geographical rangeUpper Egypt
PeriodNeolithic
Dates~4,500 BC
Type siteDeir Tasa
CharacteristicsContemporary with Badari culture, Merimde culture
Preceded byFaiyum A culture
Followed byBadari culture, Amratian culture
Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt
All years are BC
Early
Pre-dynastic period
First Dynasty I c. 3150–2890
Second Dynasty II 2890–2686
Old Kingdom
Third Dynasty III 2686–2613
Fourth Dynasty IV 2613–2498
Fifth Dynasty V 2498–2345
Sixth Dynasty VI 2345–2181
First Intermediate
Seventh Dynasty VII spurious
Eighth Dynasty VIII 2181–2160
Ninth Dynasty IX 2160–2130
Tenth Dynasty X 2130–2040
Early Eleventh Dynasty XI 2134–2061
Middle Kingdom
Late Eleventh Dynasty XI 2061–1991
Twelfth Dynasty XII 1991–1803
Thirteenth Dynasty XIII 1803–1649
Second Intermediate
Fourteenth Dynasty XIV 1705–1690
Fifteenth Dynasty (Hyksos) XV 1674–1535
Sixteenth Dynasty XVI 1660–1600
Abydos Dynasty 1650–1600
Seventeenth Dynasty XVII 1580–1549
New Kingdom
Eighteenth Dynasty XVIII 1549–1292
Nineteenth Dynasty XIX 1292–1189
Twentieth Dynasty XX 1189–1077
Third Intermediate
Twenty-first Dynasty XXI 1069–945
Twenty-second Dynasty XXII 945–720
Twenty-third Dynasty XXIII 837–728
Twenty-fourth Dynasty XXIV 732–720
Twenty-fifth Dynasty (Nubian) XXV 732–653
Late Period
Twenty-sixth Dynasty XXVI 672–525
XXVII 525–404
Twenty-eighth Dynasty XXVIII 404–398
Twenty-ninth Dynasty XXIX 398–380
Thirtieth Dynasty XXX 380–343
XXXI 343–332
Hellenistic Egypt
Thirty-second Dynasty XXXII 332–305
Thirty-third Dynasty XXXIII 305–30
Roman Egypt
XXXIV 30 BC – 313 AD

The Tasian culture is possibly one of the oldest-known Predynastic culture in Upper Egypt, which evolved around 4500 BC.[1] It is named for the burials found at Deir Tasa, a site on the east bank of the Nile located between Asyut and Akhmim. There is no general agreement about the proposed "Tasian culture", and some scholars since Baumgartel in 1955 have suggested it is a part of the Badarian culture, rather than a separate entity.[2]

The Tasian culture group is notable for producing the earliest black-topped pottery, a type of red and brown pottery, which has been painted black on its top and interior.[3] This pottery is vital to the dating of the various predynastic Egyptian civilizations. Since all dates for the Predynastic period are tenuous at best, Flinders Petrie developed a system called Sequence Dating through which the relative date, if not the absolute date, of any given Predynastic site can be ascertained by examining the handles on pottery.

As the Predynastic period in ancient Egypt progressed, the handles on pottery evolved from functional to ornamental, and the degree to which any given archaeological site has functional or ornamental pottery can be used to determine the relative date of the site. Since there is little difference between Tasian and Badarian pottery, the Tasian Culture overlaps the Badarian place on the scale between Sequence Dating 21 and 29 significantly.[3][4]

Excavations of Tasian burials have yielded a number of skeletons. The fossils are generally taller and more robust than later predynastic Egyptian specimens. In this regard, the Tasian skeletons are most similar to those associated with the Merimde culture. Furthermore, although the Tasian crania are dolichocephalic (long-headed) like many of the other predynastic skulls, they have a large and wide vault like the Merimde crania. Skulls excavated from Badarian, Amratian, and Natufian sites tend instead to be smaller and narrow.[5]

Archaeological evidence has suggested that the Tasian and Badarian Nile Valley sites were a peripheral network of earlier African cultures that featured the movement of Badarian, Saharan, Nubian, and Nilotic populations.[6] Bruce Williams, Egyptologist, has stated "The Tasian Period is significantly related to the Neolithic of Sudanese-Saharan tradition as found just north of Khartoum and near Dongola in Sudan".[7]

Tasians were shown to have dental traits similar to Sub-Saharan Africans and some also to North Africans. According to the researchers, it is possible that the population may have been a mix of both groups, but the sample size was concluded to be to small to make definitive statements.[8]

Tasian beaker, found in a Badarian grave at Qau; tomb 569, around 4000 BC; Upper Egypt; British Museum.[9]

References

  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ "University College London. "Tasian"". www.ucl.ac.uk.
  3. ^ a b Gardiner, Alan (1964). Egypt of the Pharaohs. Oxford University Press. pp. 388, 389.
  4. ^ Grimal, Nicolas (1988). A History of Ancient Egypt. Librairie Arthéme Fayard. p. 35.
  5. ^ Forde-Johnston, James L. (1959). Neolithic cultures of North Africa: aspects of one phase in the development of the African stone age cultures. University of California. p. 58. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  6. ^ Egypt in its African context : proceedings of the conference held at the Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, 2-4 October 2009. Oxford: Archaeopress. 2011. pp. 43–54. ISBN 978-1407307602.
  7. ^ Williams, Bruce (1996). "The Qustul Incense Bruner and the Case for a Nubian Origin of Ancient Egyptian Kingship" In Egypt in Africa. Celenko, Theodore (ed.). Indianapolis, Ind.: Indianapolis Museum of Art. pp. 95–97. ISBN 978-0936260648.
  8. ^ Friedman, Renee; Hobbs, Joseph (2002-01-01). "Friedman Hobbs 2002 A 'Tasian' Tomb in Egypt's Eastern Desert". Egypt and Nubia. Gifts of the Desert, edited by R. Friedman.
  9. ^ "Beaker British Museum". The British Museum.

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