Excavations at the necropolis of Tell el Farkha have been carried out for two field seasons in 2001 and 2002. There is no doubt that the site - dated to Early Dynastic period - is related to the nearby settlement.

Examination of the cemetery yielded various untypical features when compared to contemporaneous cemeteries. Important differences have been observed in the burial architecture (from simple pits to complicated two-chamber-brick-constructions), as well as in the character and wealth of offering goods and the position of the bodies of the deceased. Although some of the graves were robbed in antiquity, many relevant analyses were successfully conducted. Their preliminary results will be the subject discussed in my paper. Nevertheless answers for the most intriguing questions concerning the horizontal distribution of the unearthed graves and the puzzling stratrigraphy of the whole cemetery are at present still beyond reach.

[28]