Merimde shows a sequence of occupations which lasted almost a millennium according to some estimates. While Junker identified three sequences, others such as Joseph Eiwanger established in 1977 that there are five with significantly different levels of development.
Artifacts such as ceramics were quite primitive during phase I – a phase characterized by a light occupation. Eiwanger documented that storage areas appeared during phase II when the intensity of the occupation increased.
Economy Archaeological evidence suggests that the Merimde economy was dominated by agriculture although some fishing and hunting were practiced to a lesser degree. The settlement consisted of small huts made of
wattle and
reed with a round or elliptical ground plan. Merimde pottery lacked "rippled marks".
Burials Burials had unique characteristics, different from those
practiced in
Upper Egyptian Predynastic Egypt and later Dynastic Egypt. There were no separate areas for
cemeteries and the dead were buried within the settlement in a
flexed position in oval pits without
grave goods and offerings. In the time of the
Maadi-Buto culture, the place was used as a cemetery. Excavations of Merimde burials have yielded a number of skeletons, chiefly those of females. The fossils are generally taller and more robust than later predynastic Egyptian specimens. In this regard, the Merimde skeletons are most similar to those associated with the
Tasian culture. Furthermore, although the Merimde crania are
dolichocephalic (long-headed) like many of the other predynastic skulls, they have a large and wide vault like the Tasian crania. Skulls excavated from
Badarian,
Amratian sites tend instead to be smaller and narrow. File:Sample of Grain from Merimda MET 33-4-59.jpg|Grain from Merimde, MET File:Hand ax MET 33.4.35 EGDP013233.jpg|Hand ax, Neolithic Period, Buto–Merimde–Maadi, Western Delta, Egypt File:Pounder MET 33.4.5 EGDP013219.jpg|Pounder, Neolithic Period, Buto–Merimda–Maadi, circa 4500 –4000 BC. Western Delta, Egypt. ==Relative chronology==