Pan-Grave culture

The archaeological tradition was first identified by Flinders Petrie at a cemetery location in Hu, south of Abydos.

Typically speaking, the body is buried in a crouched position on its right side with handmade bowls, animal skulls, and Egyptian-style weapons.

[1] Furthermore, the Medjay appeared in Egyptian texts such as the Autobiography of Weni and the Semna Dispatches, dating to the Old and Middle Kingdoms, respectively.

[1] Scholars such as Maria Gatto have also argued that the Pan-Grave were instead pastoral nomads that migrated to the Nile Valley during the Second Intermediate Period.

Scholars such as Aaron de Souza believe that the types of burials used changed as the Pan-Grave culture evolved.

[6] Rectangular graves are the rarest type of Pan-Grave burial and date back to the late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth dynasties of Egypt.

Common grave artifacts include axes, armbands, bovine skulls, and, most importantly, pottery.

This was not a rite for just the men either; women and young children, who were no older than a few weeks or years old, were buried with wood axes as well.

[6][8] The only textual evidence that has been definitively associated with the Pan-Grave culture was found in a grave at a large cemetery in Mostagedda.

However, scholars such as Julien Cooper have suggested that the text is rather etymologically descended from an ancient Eastern African language, and thus the common interpretation is inaccurate.

[3] The Egyptian art style and script may allude to a strong connection between the Pan-Grave Culture and Egypt.