Hierakonpolis Faience, 2005-2013, with context and accompanying finds - a quest for chronology and possible use

Our recent excavations at the Temple-Town Hierakonpolis have been fortunate to find faience figurines and related objects with accompanying evidence important to context and chronology. Most comparable figurines are known from two temple sites: Abydos and Elephantine. Hierakonpolis provides the first secular context, north in the ancient town. The date of these figurines has been an open question. According to stratigraphic evidence from the Satet Temple at Elephantine, the numerous figurines can be as late as the 5th Dynasty. Hierakonpolis faience found in 1978 trial trenches, led to the 1981 excavations of quadrant 15n8w and the resultant faience figurines published in the preliminary report. Faience has not been common in the temple or town of ancient Hierakonpolis, but a surprisingly dense area of fragments has been found in the northwest and continues the 1981 group. Recent evidence from Hierakonpolis, 2005-2013 seasons, have clarified architecture and fortunately retrieved context for the faience in the northwest part of the ancient town. Each occupational stratum found in 2005 and 2006 is interrelated in finds and consistent in pottery. The 2005-2013 pottery and tapered palette (Inv. 2005-2) not only confirm occupation belonging to Naqada III to the 1st Dynasty, c. 3200-3000 BC but also provide for the first time a date for the Hierakonpolis faience.