Early Dynastic Egypt by Toby A. H. Wilkinson

tomb belonged to a contemporary of Narmer’s (Wilkinson 1993b), the recent re-excavation of chambers B1 and B2 and the discovery of an adjoining pit B0 (Dreyer et al. 1996) make it more likely that the whole complex belongs in the sequence of royal burials stretching back from the First Dynasty tombs in Abydos Cemetery B to their Predynastic forerunners in the adjacent Cemetery U. Moreover, the twin chambers closely resemble the tombs of kings ‘Ka’ and Narmer, and the location of B0/1/2—if not the pottery—also suggests that the owner of the complex should be placed immediately before ‘Ka’ in the order of succession (Hendrickx, personal communication, contra Kaiser 1990:289, fig. 1, who seems to place *Iry-Hor rather earlier, to account for the lack of a serekh ).
     
King A
In contrast with some or all of the above cases, two royal names from the late Predynastic period almost certainly refer to particular kings. Because neither can be read as yet, they are designated here as King A and King B. The first is attested on a vessel from the eastern Delta. The inscription consists of a serekh, surmounted by a falcon, with three h signs/maces in its upper part (Fischer 1963:44, fig. 1, pl. Vl.a and c; van den Brink 1996: pl. 30.a). Although the signs may be a writing of a royal name, it should be noted that maces and serekh s occur together on several other vessels dating to the threshold of the First Dynasty (van den Brink 1996: pls 26.a, 28, 30.b-c). Hence, the three maces on the eastern Delta jar may simply represent general symbols of royal authority, and the inscription as a whole could be ‘an extended version of an anonymous serekh’ (Hendrickx, personal communication). Two similar serekh s are attested on vessels from Tura (Junker 1912:46 and 47, fig. 57.1 and 2), though both lack the Horus falcon. Moreover, in both cases the h signs/maces occur in the lower part of the frame, replacing the more usual vertical strokes by which the palace facade is indicated, and three circles are shown beneath the serekh (van den Brink 1996: table 1 nos 18–19). Because of these differences, the Tura serekhs may not represent the ruler whose mark appears on the jar from the eastern Delta. If, on the other hand, the three inscriptions do signify one and the same king, the fact that he is unattested outside Lower Egypt may be significant (van den Brink 1996:147), but it would be dangerous to reconstruct the extent of a ruler’s authority on the basis of a few pot marks.
     
King B
Two rock-cut inscriptions in the western desert behind Armant show another royal name (Wilkinson 1996a). The epigraphy of the inscriptions, particularly the rendering of the falcon atop the serekh, confirms that the king in question reigned at the very end of the Predynastic period (‘Dynasty 0’, c. 3100 BC). Because of difficulties in deciphering early Egyptian script, a plausible reading of the name has not yet been proposed. Given the southerly location of the inscriptions, it is possible that the king was a member of the
royal family of Hierakonpolis, which seems to have maintained control over the southernmost part of Upper Egypt until the threshold of the First Dynasty. The extent of King B’s authority cannot be ascertained, but he was clearly in a position to mount expeditions into the western desert. The inscriptions highlight the extent of Egyptian interest in the peripheral areas prior to the First Dynasty. The serekh of King B may occur again, but without the falcon, on a rock-cut inscription in the eastern desert (Winkler 1938,1:10 and 31). The site lies on the ancient Qena to Quseir route to the Red Sea coast, in an area visited regularly by Egyptian expeditions in late Predynastic and Early Dynastic times.
     
‘Scorpion’ and/or ‘Crocodile’
One of the most striking royal monuments from the period immediately preceding the First Dynasty is the Scorpion macehead from Hierakonpolis. Despite the objection of some scholars (for