Abstract:
White cross-lined pottery was among the most important prestige wares elaborated in Naqada I times in the Nile Valley. We should explain the importance of this item not only as an element of the funerary equipment but also as an element that should play an important role in the exchange system of the localities of that period. White cross-lined wares were created and consumed inside very specific local social circuits which agrees well with the leadership system that existed in Naqada I. Also, the redistribution of these products inside some family groups can partly explain that certain localities used very similar ways of expression and iconographic techniques. But these wares were also 'exported' to other distant localities. In this way, vessels with Abydos' typical decorations have appeared in Hammamiya. Matmar, Gebelin, etc. This kind of ties between faraway areas could be explained as an attempt to establish links of union and loyalties among important chiefdoms, perhaps with the aim of keeping the roads open for the achievement of goods from abroad.