Qarunia

The Qarunia , also known as the Fayum-B culture , is an epipalaeolithic culture of predynastic Egypt .

The culture is approximately between 6000 and 5000 BC. BC. Sites of the Qarunia were identified in the areas north and west of today's Fayyum Basin , the sites indicate only seasonal habitation. The stone industry of Fayum B is microlithic . Typical tools include knives and scrapers, some types, such as arrowheads, overlap with the later Fayum-A culture , which could point to a connection between the two cultures. Ceramic does not occur. Judging by the faunistic remains, the Qarunian communities lived largely from fishing, and they also hunted wild animals and gathered vegetable food. From the entire phase, only one funeral is known: a woman of about forty was buried in a slightly contracted position, lying on her left side, with her head facing east.

literature

• Gertrude Caton-Thompson , Elinor Gardner: The Desert Fayum. Royal Anthropological Institute, London 1934.
• Stan Hendrickx, Pierre Vermeersch: Prehistory. From the Palaeolithic to the Badarian Culture. In: Ian Shaw (Ed.): The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2000, ISBN 0-19-280293-3 , pp. 17-43.

Web links

• Further information and images on the Qarunien, website of University College London (English) , accessed on February 8, 2011