The Badarian culture provides the earliest direct evidence of agriculture in Upper Egypt. It flourished between 4400 to 4000 BCE, and might have already existed as far back as 5000 BC. It was first identified in Badari, near Sohag. Map of Upper and Lower Egypt Ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper and Lower Egypt. ... Sohag is an Egyptian governorate that is located in the Upper_Egypt. ...

About forty settlements and six hundred graves have been located. Social stratification has been inferred from the burying of more prosperous members of the community in a different part of the cemetery. The Badarian economy was mostly based on agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry. Tools included end-scrapers, perforators, axes, bifacial sickles and concave-base arrowheads. Remains of cattle, dogs and sheep were found in the cemeteries. Wheat, barley, lentils and tubers were consumed. Social stratification is a sociological term for the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes, and strata within a society. ... Fishing from a Pier Fishing is a term applied to any activity which aims to capture fish or shellfish for subsistence, scientific, commercial or recreational purposes. ... In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ... Firefighter with a fire-axe An axe (also spelt as ax) is a tool with a metal blade that is securely fastened at a 90 degree angle to a handle, usually of wood, while a blade fastened horizontally is called an adze. ... Arrowhead can refer to: the point of an arrow; the Arrowhead region of northeastern Minnesota; a place name in southern California, derived from an arrowhead-shaped geologic formation in the San Bernardino Mountains; sports venues such as Arrowhead Pond and Arrowhead Stadium; HMCS Arrowhead, a World War II Flower class...

The culture is known largely from cemeteries in the low desert. The deceased were placed on mats and buried in pits with their heads usually laid to the south, looking west. The pottery that was buried with them is the most characteristic element of the Badarian culture. It had been given a distinctive, decorative rippled surface.

The Badarian culture seems to have had multiple sources, of which the Western Desert was probably the most influential. It was probably not restricted to the Badari region because related finds have been made further to the south at Mahgar Dendera, Armant, Elkab and Nekhen (which the greeks named Hierakonpolis), and to the east in the Wadi Hammamat. Nekhen (Greek: Hierakonpolis, Arabic: Kom El-Ahmar) was the religious capital of Upper Egypt at the end of the pre-dynastic era ( 3200- 3100 BC.) and probably also during the Early Dynastic Era ( 3100 - 2686 BC). ...

External links

• Neolithic Badarian Culture (http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Badarian_Culture.html)
• Badarian Government and Religious Evolution (http://www.antiquityofman.com/badarian.html)