Hierakonpolis, prehistoric royal residence of the kings of Upper Egypt and the most important site of the beginning of Egypt’s historical period. Evidence indicates a royal presence at Hierakonpolis, then called Nekhen, which enjoyed its period of greatest importance from about 3400 bce to the beginning of the Old Kingdom (about 2575).
Excavations by J.E. Quibell in 1898 found monuments of early historic import: a ceremonial slate palette of King Narmer and a decorated limestone mace-head of King Scorpion, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. A large town with nearby cemeteries stretched about 2 miles (3 km) along the desert margin. The late predynastic and early dynastic kings built an oval mud-brick and stone temple and a large niched mud-brick enclosure. Later dedications included a pair of large copper statues of Pepi I and Merenre (6th dynasty [c. 2325–c. 2150 bce]). Thutmose III completely rebuilt the archaic temple. During the period of the New Kingdom (c. 1539–1075 bce), the town of Al-Kāb (El-Kab) across the river became economically more important, but Nekhen retained its place as a religious and historic centre.