Merimde culture

Merimde culture is a Neolithic farming culture of the western Nile Delta in what is now Monufia Governorate, Egypt, dated to around the 5th millennium BCE. It is named after the settlement site Merimde Beni Salama where archaeologists defined its sequence.

The site yields low, spread-out settlement remains rather than a single monumental structure. Excavated features include mud-brick house plans, storage pits, and assemblages of flaked stone tools and pottery that show a settled, agricultural economy; organic preservation at the site has produced plant and animal remains. Public visitation is limited since remains are archaeological and mainly visible through museum displays and publications rather than an extensive open-air park.

Archaeological work at the type site exposed a multi-phase Neolithic village sequence and established the cultural horizon now called Merimde; excavations revealed changes in architecture and material culture across several centuries. The sequence helped define regional Neolithic chronology in Lower Egypt and its links to other Delta and Faiyum Neolithic communities.

The principal site sits in the western Nile Delta on the floodplain of the Nile, in the area historically called the Delta region. It is located inland from the Mediterranean coast within Monufia Governorate, northwest of the modern Cairo urban area.

• Type site: The type site Merimde Beni Salama lies in the western Nile Delta and has produced the best-preserved sequence for this culture's settlement remains.
• Material culture: Material remains include simple mud-brick house plans, flaked stone tools, and early painted and burnished pottery that show development toward more complex Neolithic lifeways.