Kom El Ahmar is a village and an archeological site in South
Egypt
, about 90km southward Luxor . The Ancient Egyptian name of the village was 'Nekhen' and its Greek name was 'Hierakonpolis' (the City of the Falcon) . Nekhen was the capital of Upper Egypt before the unification of the country and the building of
Memphis
.
Around 4000 BC , Nekhen was a prehistoric settlement in which local hunters gathered in the wake of the change of climate seeking a new sedentary life where they began farming and herding . By 3500 , Nekhen became a huge city that extended 2 kilometers along the River with a population of almost 7500 inhabitants . More than 4000 flint tools–such as scrapers , micro drills , bifacial knives , serrated sickle blades , crescent drills– were found there .
After making Memphis as the capital , Nekhen remained as an important administrative and religious city , where the falcon god (Horus) was worshiped , during the Old and the Middle Kingdoms . Also kings from the New Kingdom restored its temples .
The prominent position of the Kom El Ahmar archaeological site is attributed to the discovery of a large number of monuments and remains of temples dating back to various prehistoric and early dynastic buildings such as the brewery
, a potter’s house on its land . Famous palettes and other pieces of the First and Second Dynasties , such as the Scorpion Macehead ,
Narmer Palette
and small pieces of ivory , were found here in Kom El Ahmar in 1898 by J . E . Quibell and F . W . Green at the Temple of Horus .
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