Al-Maʿādī
ancient site, Egypt
Al-Maʿādī, predynastic Egyptian site located just south of present-day Cairo in Lower Egypt. The settlement at Al-Maʿādī was approximately contemporary with the Amratian and Gerzean cultures of Upper Egypt. Al-Maʿādī was apparently a village with a separate cemetery; the settlement was characterized by oval huts, ring-base vases, globular, rimmed-neck vessels, and large storage jars similar to those found at Gerzean sites. Copper was occasionally used, and Upper Egyptian stone vase types have been found. In...