Different (city) states in Naqada I-III
The following reconstruction of the political development is based on an article by Toby Wilkinson (Wilkinson 2000).
The author examined the important Naqada cemeteries looking for elite tombs for each period and place. Elite tombs are defined either by size or special finds. Their occurrence is a clear sign for social differences, which might indicate that there was some ruling 'class' with their subjects, buried in smaller tombs.
For Naqada I there are four cemeteries with elite tombs, (Hierakonpolis, Naqada, Hu/Diospolis Parva, This/Abydos) which might indicate four centres of power (Gebelein is badly recorded, but might have been a fifth)
In mid Naqada II there are no elite tombs attested at Hu/Diospolis Parva. The place might have been conquered by the rulers from Abydos.
In early Naqada III the largest elite tombs also disappear at Naqada and Gebelein seems to become less important. On the other hand there are important tombs in Nubia (Sayala, Qustul).
In late Naqada III the Naqada culture is attested throughout Egypt. There are several urban centres with cemeteries and elite tombs. These places might have been capitals of small kingdoms. At this stage writing and the first names of kings appear.
At the beginning of the First Dynasty Egypt is a united state, with Memphis as probably the largest urban centr, judging from the extent of the nearby cemetery fields on both sides of the Nile, at Saqqara (West Bank) and Helwan (East Bank).

It appears that pottery has been able to determine the different stages of the Naqada period:
Naqada period pottery arranged according to Sequence dates

Source:Courtesy of University College London, 2000.

"Brunton excavated in the area of Tasa some graves, which he thought might belong to a separate culture, which he called Tasian. There is no general agreement about the Tasian culture in current research. Already Baumgartel in 1955 proposed that the Tasian is a part of the Badarian culture and not a separate cultural entity (Baumgartel 1955: 20-21; compare Kaiser 1985: 71-79 (argues pro Tasa), Friedman 1999;(argues pro Tasa as nomadic culture)"-courtesy of UCL

...and possible Fayum A and Badari contact?

The similarity in tools...

Fayum A

Badari
(courtesy of UCL)

The existence of still earlier culture,called the Tasins,has been
claimed. This culture would have been chracterized by the pressure of
round based calic form beakers with incised designs filled with white
pigment,which are also known from contexts of similar date in
Nelothic Sudan. However,the exisdtanece of the Tasins as a
chronologically or culturally seperated unit has never been
demonstrated beyond beyond doubt. Although most scholars consider the
tasian to be simply part of the Badarian culture,it has also been
argued that the tasian represents the continuation of Lower Egyptian
tradition,which would be the immediate predessor of the Naquda 1
culture. This however,seems rather implausible ,first because
similarities with the neolithic cultures are no
convincing,and,secondly,because of the tasins obvious ceramic links
with the sudan. If the Tasians must be considered as a specific
cultural entity,then it might represent a nomadic culture with a
Sudanese background,which interacted with the badarian culture
page 40

Ian Shaw

Oxford History of Ancient Egypt

The Merimede probably had a Saharo-Sudanese background to:

There was probably a break in occupation between levels I and II at
Merimda. Level II, known as the Mittleren Merimdekultur and considered by
the by the excavator to be related to the Saharo-Sudanese cultures..."
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Pg 38

"The Fayum Neolithic should thus be viewed as a culture at the intersection
of three routes: one from the eastern Sahara, one from the Near East and one
from the Nile Valley itself."
The Prehistory of Egypt
By Beatrix Midant-Reynes
Pg. 106
=====================================================================

Here is Midant-Reynes statement on the remains of a 40 year old
epipaleolithic woman from the Fayum Oasis in the same book:
" The body was that of a 40 year old woman with a height of 1.6 meters, who
was of a more modern racial type than the classic "Mechtoid" of the
Fakhurian culture, being generally gracile, having large teeth and thick
jaws bearing some resemblance to the modern "negroid' type."
The Prehistory of Egypt
By Beatrix Midant-Reynes
Pg. 82

=========================================================

I recommend that you check out Beatrix Midant-Reynes's book entitled The Prehistory of Egypt

Very good book.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ausar:
check out the following about the Tasin culture:

The existence of still earlier culture,called the Tasins,has been
claimed. This culture would have been chracterized by the pressure of
round based calic form beakers with incised designs filled with white
pigment,which are also known from contexts of similar date in
Nelothic Sudan. However,the exisdtanece of the Tasins as a
chronologically or culturally seperated unit has never been
demonstrated beyond beyond doubt. Although most scholars consider the
tasian to be simply part of the Badarian culture,it has also been
argued that the tasian represents the continuation of Lower Egyptian
tradition,which would be the immediate predessor of the Naquda 1
culture. This however,seems rather implausible ,first because
similarities with the neolithic cultures are no
convincing,and,secondly,because of the tasins obvious ceramic links
with the sudan. If the Tasians must be considered as a specific
cultural entity,then it might represent a nomadic culture with a
Sudanese background,which interacted with the badarian culture
page 40

Ian Shaw

Oxford History of Ancient Egypt

The Merimede probably had a Saharo-Sudanese background to:

There was probably a break in occupation between levels I and II at
Merimda. Level II, known as the Mittleren Merimdekultur and considered by
the by the excavator to be related to the Saharo-Sudanese cultures..."
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Pg 38

"The Fayum Neolithic should thus be viewed as a culture at the intersection
of three routes: one from the eastern Sahara, one from the Near East and one
from the Nile Valley itself."
The Prehistory of Egypt
By Beatrix Midant-Reynes
Pg. 106
=====================================================================

Here is Midant-Reynes statement on the remains of a 40 year old
epipaleolithic woman from the Fayum Oasis in the same book:
" The body was that of a 40 year old woman with a height of 1.6 meters, who
was of a more modern racial type than the classic "Mechtoid" of the
Fakhurian culture, being generally gracile, having large teeth and thick
jaws bearing some resemblance to the modern "negroid' type."
The Prehistory of Egypt
By Beatrix Midant-Reynes
Pg. 82

=========================================================

I recommend that you check out Beatrix Midant-Reynes's book entitled The Prehistory of Egypt

Very good book.

---

I really have to laugh sometimes at reading the wst discourse which year by year moves ever closer to channeling Diop. Look at how the story has changed regarding the so called Tasins.

And Saharo-Sudanese(?), you mean the Sahara is not a mysteriously 'separate' entity from the Sudan-Ethiopia-Nubia? That sounds like Shomarka Kieta!

Euro-essentric(s) will note the references to the Africoid nature of prehistoric Nile Valley skeletal remains, then retreat into brain-lock babblement about no Black Africans in East Africa until the (irrelevant) Bantu expansion - ignorance as rhetorical tactic.