The work was carried out by Messrs. Quibell and
Green, in the years 1891-9. Prehistoric burials were found on the hills
near by, but the larger portion of the antiquities were recovered from
the temple-ruins, and date back to the beginning of the 1st Dynasty,
exactly the time when the kings of Hierakonpolis first conquered the
kingdom of Buto and founded the united Egyptian monarchy.
The ancient temple, which was probably one of the earliest seats of
Egyptian civilization, was situated on a mound, now known as _el-Kom
el-ahmar_, "the Red Hill," from its colour. The chief feature of the
most ancient temple seems to have been a circular mound, revetted by a
wall of sandstone blocks, which was apparently erected about the end of
the predynastic period. Upon this a shrine was probably erected. This
was the ancient shrine of Nekhen, the cradle of the Egyptian monarchy.
Close by it were found some of the most valuable relics of the earliest
Pharaonic age, the great ceremonial mace-heads and vases of Narmer and
"the Scorpion," the shields or "palettes" of the same Narmer, the vases
and stelas of Khasekhemui, and, of later date, the splendid copper
colossal group of King Pepi I and his son, which is now at Cairo. Most
of the 1st Dynasty objects are preserved in the Ashmo-lean Museum at
Oxford, which is one of the best centres for the study of early Egyptian
antiquities.
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