A was the name of a Early Dynastic

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

of Ancient Egypt. His name is known from a graffito

serekh In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest conven ...

carved into a sandstone outcropping 10 to 12 kilometers southwest of Umm el-Dabadib at the

Kharga Oasis The Kharga Oasis (Arabic: , ) ; Coptic: ( "Oasis of Hib", "Oasis of Psoi") is the southernmost of Egypt's five western oases. It is located in the Western Desert, about 200 km (125 miles) to the west of the Nile valley. "Kharga" or ...

in the Western Desert. The presence of the serekh shows evidence of royal activity in the far reaches of the Western Desert as early as the protodynastic period.

Discovery

During the 2004 season of the North Kharga Oasis Survey (NKOS), a serekh was discovered on north-eastern face of a sandstone massif under the direction of Dr. Salima Ikram. It was isolated near the Darb Ain Amur, the ancient caravan route that connected the Kharga Oasis via the site of Umm el-Dabadib and Ain Amum to the Dakhla Oasis. The Serekh was located among other groups of graffiti with different styles and depths of cut, implying that they were from different time periods.

Serekh

The serekh is surmounted by a falcon, as is conventional for serekhs, and contains a single sign. The sign is an arm, or ''A'' (D36 in

Gardiner's sign list Gardiner's Sign List is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. It is considered a standard reference in the study of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Gardiner lists only the common forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but h ...

). This name does not correspond to any other known Early Dynastic ruler. One of the legs of the falcon reaches into the serekh, and the crouching position of the falcon is typical of serekhs from the

Dynasty 0 Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating from approximately 3200 to 3000 BC. It is the period during which the process of state formation, which began in Naqada II, became highly visible, ...

or the First Dynasty. Thus, it would seem that the serekh contains the

Horus name The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term: the "serekh nam ...

'A' of a previously unattested king belonging to Dynasty 0 or the First Dynasty. Surrounding the serekh on the sandstone massif are illustrations of various animals including a crocodile, a giraffe, a hippopotamus, an ostrich, a cow or bull, and a possibly pregnant oryx.

References

{{Pharaohs Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Predynastic pharaohs