Selected articles

Van Neer, W., Linseele, V., Friedman, R. 2004. Animal burials and food offerings at the Elite Cemetery HK6 of Hierakonpolis, in: S. Hendrickx, R. Friedman, K.M. Cialowicz and M. Chlodnicki (eds) Egypt at its Origins. Studies in Memory of Barbara Adams (Proceedings of the International Conference "Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt", Krakow, 28th August - 1st September 2002. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 138, 67-130.

Linseele, V., Van Neer, W., Friedman, R. 2009. Special animals from a special place? The fauna from HK29A at Predynastic Hierakonpolis. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 45: 105-136.

Van Neer, W., De Cupere, B., Friedman, R. 2013. A leopard in the Predynastic Elite Cemetery HK6 at Hierakonpolis, Egypt. In: De Cupere, B., Linseele, V., Hamilton-Dyer, S. (eds) Archaeozoology of the Near East X. Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on the Archaeozoology of South-Western Asia and Adjacent Areas. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement Series 44, 283-306.

Van Neer, W., Linseele, V., Friedman, R., De Cupere, B. 2014. More evidence for cat taming at the Predynastic elite cemetery of Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt). Journal of Archaeological Science 45: 103-111.

Van Neer, W., Udrescu, M., Linseele, V., De Cupere, B., Friedman, R. 2015. Traumatism in the wild animals kept and offered at predynastic Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 27: 86–105.

Van Neer, W., Linseele, V., and Friedman, R., 2016. More animal burials from the Predynastic elite cemetery of Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt): the 2008 season.[in:] Mashkour, M and Beech, M. (eds.), Archaeozoology of the Near East 9. Oxford: 388-402

Baba, M., Van Neer, W., De Cupere, B. 2017.Industrial Food Production Activities during the Naqada II period at HK11C, Hierakonpolis. In Midant-Reynes, B  and Tristant, Y. (eds), Egypt at its Origins 5: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference ‘Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt’, Cairo, 13th-18th April 2014, Peeters, Leuven: 3–34

Van Neer, W., De Cupere, B., Friedman, R. 2024. The earliest evidence for deformation of livestock horns: The case of Predynastic sheep from Hierakonpolis, Egypt. Journal of Archaeological Science 172, 106104.

(07-2025)

Wim Van Neer is a biologist, trained at the University of Leuven (MA 1976; PhD 1981), specialising in archaeozoology. Since 1984, he has been involved in fieldwork at many Egyptian sites in the Nile Valley, the Eastern and Western Deserts and the Red Sea coast. Wim joined the Hierakonpolis Expedition in 2002 and has analysed or re-analysed the fauna of all localities where animal remains have been found since 1979. He has (co-)authored several scholarly and popular articles on the subsistence strategies of the site’s inhabitants and on the role animals played in the burial ritual. The unusual finds at Elite Cemetery HK6 especially keep him very busy with the more than 150 complete animals so far, both domestic (cattle, goat, sheep, dog) and wild (baboons, elephant, aurochs, hartebeest, hippo, crocodile, ostrich, leopard and wild cats). Research on these wild species focuses, among other things, on reconstructing the conditions in which they were kept by examining the pathologies visible on the bones. Wim is especially excited about (and responsible for) the early evidence for cat taming found on HK6, which predates the domestication known from Pharaonic Egypt by 2,000 years.

Publications of Wim van Neer

Selected HK-related articles
(See also https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Grazia-A-Di-Pietro)
Di Pietro, G.A. and Friedman, R.F., 2022. 'Roulette decorated' pottery at Hierakonpolis: an overview, Nekhen News 34: 12‒13.
Di Pietro, G.A. and Friedman, R.F. 2021. “Translating” the Predynastic Ceramic Corpora: Macroscopically Defined Fabrics in Settlement Assemblages of the Egyptian Nile Valley. Cahier de liaison de la Ceramique Egyptienne 30: 177-229.
Di Pietro, G.A. 2020. The potter's house at HK29: a comparative reassessment, Nekhen News 32: 13–16.
Di Pietro, G.A. 2019. Tracking the traces: Investigating Predynastic vessel function, Nekhen News 31: 7−8.
Di Pietro, G.A. 2019. Change and continuity in the pottery of early Egypt: a stratified ceramic sequence from Nekhen, Hierakonpolis, Antiquity 93, 372: 1479–1494, https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.140
Di Pietro, G.A. 2013. Studio dei materiali ceramici dal sondaggio stratigrafico condotto da Michael A. Hoffman (1984) nell'abitato di Nekhen, Hierakonpolis, Alto Egitto, in R. Pirelli (ed.), Ricerche Italiane e Scavi in Egitto, vol. VI, Il Cairo: Istituto Italiano di Cultura – IIC: 105−118.
Di Pietro, G.A. 2012. Nekhen 10N5W Revisited: Charting Ceramic Changes, Nekhen News 24: 13−14.

(07-2025)

Edited volumes and journals
In prep. Friedman, R. (ed.) & Droux, X. (coll.), The Nubian cemeteries at Hierakonpolis: exploring cultural identity in Middle Kingdom Egypt, Griffith Institute Publications 1. Oxford.
2021. Gnirs-Loprieno, A. (ed.) in collaboration with Droux, X., Life Histories of Theban Tombs: transdisciplinary investigations of a cluster of rock-cut tombs at Sheikh ‘Abd el-Qurna, American University in Cairo Press. Cairo.
2008–2024. Assistant editor of Nekhen News, volumes 20–21, 23, 25–28, 31, 33–35.

Articles
2024
Droux, X., Friedman, R. & Pieri, A., 2024, 'The elite predynastic cemetery at Hierakonpolis HK6: 2016–2018 progress report' in Tristant, Y., Villaeys, J. & Ryan, E. (eds.), Egypt at its Origins 7. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference "Origin of the state, Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, Paris, 19th–23rd September 2022. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Leuven-Paris.
* Droux, X., 2024, ‘Revisiting Petrie’s excavations at Naqada: cross-matching the available documentary evidence and new digital map’, Interdisciplinary Egyptology 3 (1): 1–59. DOI:10.25365/integ.2024.v3.4.
Morel, V., Droux, X. & Quirion, A., 2024, 'An ovoid vessel in greywacke (FGA-ARCH-EG-0449)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, May 2024.
Droux, X. & Quirion, A., 2024, ‘Vache sacrée, sacrée vache?’, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art: rapport annuel 2023, Geneva: 44–48, 80.

2023
Droux, X., 2023, 'The Ponda web platform: predynastic Egypt in the 21^st century', Nekhen News 35: 25–26.
Droux, X., 2023, 'A palette of a different type', Nekhen News 35: 22.
Friedman, R. & Droux, X. 'Not the daily grind? Palettes at Hierakonpolis', Nekhen News 35: 18–21. 
Droux, X., 2023, 'Cosmetic spoon with papyrus bundle decoration (FGA-ARCH-EG-0683)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, January 2023.
Droux, X., 2023, ‘Le dieu Râ sous le soleil de Paris’, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art: rapport annuel 2022, Geneva: 9–12, 64.

2022
* Hendrickx, S., Droux, X., Förster, F., Hartmann, R., & Hartung, U., 2022, 'Evidence for the scalping of captives on a Predynastic White Cross-lined jar', Archéo-Nil 32, 51–71.
Droux, X., 2022, 'Ramsès II, en majesté américaine', Fondation Gandur pour l'Art: rapport annuel 2021, Geneva: 14–18, 64.
Droux, X., 2022, 'Jean-François Champollion: une vie d'érudition' in: Collombert, P., Lefèvre, D., Monbaron, N., Quirion, A. (eds), Révéler l'Égypte oubliée : 1822 - 1922 - 2022. Cahiers de la Société d'Égyptologie de Genève 14, exhibition catalogue [Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève - Espace Ami Lullin, 22.09.2022 – 16.10.2022]. Geneva: 32–37.
Droux, X., 2022, 'La Lettre à M. Dacier' in: Collombert, P., Lefèvre, D., Monbaron, N., Quirion, A. (eds), Révéler l'Égypte oubliée : 1822 - 1922 - 2022. Cahiers de la Société d'Égyptologie de Genève 14, exhibition catalogue [Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève - Espace Ami Lullin, 22.09.2022 – 16.10.2022]. Geneva: 44–45.
Droux, X., 2022, 'Champollion conservateur au Louvre' in: Collombert, P., Lefèvre, D., Monbaron, N., Quirion, A. (eds), Révéler l'Égypte oubliée : 1822 - 1922 - 2022. Cahiers de la Société d'Égyptologie de Genève 14, exhibition catalogue [Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève - Espace Ami Lullin, 22.09.2022 – 16.10.2022]. Geneva: 71.
Droux, X., 2022, 'Le voyage d'Égypte' in: Collombert, P., Lefèvre, D., Monbaron, N., Quirion, A. (eds), Révéler l'Égypte oubliée : 1822 - 1922 - 2022. Cahiers de la Société d'Égyptologie de Genève 14, exhibition catalogue [Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève - Espace Ami Lullin, 22.09.2022 – 16.10.2022]. Geneva: 74–79.
Droux, X., 2022, Catalogue entries: 'Lettre à M. Dacier' ; with Lenzo, G. 'Papyrus funéraire avec scène de la pesée du coeur du défunt' ; 'Figurine funéraire de Âa-Oupouaout' in: Collombert, P., Lefèvre, D., Monbaron, N., Quirion, A. (eds), Révéler l'Égypte oubliée : 1822 - 1922 - 2022. Cahiers de la Société d'Égyptologie de Genève 14, exhibition catalogue [Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève - Espace Ami Lullin, 22.09.2022 – 16.10.2022]. Geneva: 234–235 ; 248–251 ; 282–283.
Droux, X., 2022, 'A statue of the goose of Amun (FGA-ARCH-EG-0067)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, January 2022.Artwork of the month'A statue of the goose of Amun (FGA-ARCH-EG-0067)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, January 2022.Artwork of the month'A statue of the goose of Amun (FGA-ARCH-EG-0067)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, January 2022.Artwork of the month'A statue of the goose of Amun (FGA-ARCH-EG-0067)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, January 2022.
Droux, X. & Quirion, A., 2022, 'A scaraboid to the glory of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (FGA-ARCH-EG-0228)' [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, July 2022.Artwork of the month'A scaraboid to the glory of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (FGA-ARCH-EG-0228)' [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, July 2022.

2021
* Droux, X., 2021, ‘A hippopotamus in a dish: Predynastic bowl Cairo Museum JE 85928 and aspects of hippopotamus symbolism in predynastic Egypt' in: Buchez, N. & Tristant, Y. (eds.), Rochecouste, O. (coll.), Égypte Antérieure. Mélanges de préhistoire et d’archéologie offerts à Béatrix Midant-Reynes par ses étudiants, collègues et amis, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 304. Leuven: 301–323.
Droux, X., 2021, ‘Found in a cellar, but from Naqada? A new predynastic hunting scene on a C-ware fragment from the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool’ in: Claes, W, De Meyer, M. Eyckerman, M. & Huyge, D. † (eds), Remove that pyramid! Studies on the archaeology and history of Predynastic and pharaonic Egypt in honour of Stan Hendrickx. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 305. Leuven: 389–404.
* Droux, X., 2021, 'Chiefs, bound captives, and harpooned hippopotamuses: an exceptional unpublished C-ware vessel in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (inv. 900.2.13)', Archéo-Nil 31: 41–60.
Droux, X. & Friedman, R., 2021, ‘Animals in Predynastic material culture at Hierakonpolis’, Nekhen News 33: 14–17.
Friedman, R. & Droux, X., 2021, ‘The art of intrigue: the Hierakonpolis Painted Tomb’, Nekhen News 33: 22–23.
Droux, X., 2021, '« Une offrande que fait le roi » : les stèles funéraires de la Fondation Gandur pour l'Art', Fondation Gandur pour l'Art: rapport annuel 2020, Genève : 26–32, 103–105.
Droux, X., 2021, 'A New Year’s flask with the name of Pharaoh Ahmose II (FGA-ARCH-EG-0086)', [Artwork of the month], Geneva, Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, January 2021.

2020
* Hendrickx, S., Friedman, R. F., Droux, X. & Eyckerman, M., 2020, ‘Size mattered in Predynastic Egypt: a very large Decorated vessel in the British Museum’, in Warfe, A., Gill, J., Hamilton, C., Pettman, A. & Stewart, D. (eds), Dust, Demons and Pots: studies in Honour of Colin A. Hope. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 289. Leuven : 279–304.

2019
* Droux, X., 2019, ‘Les palettes à fard prédynastiques en forme de bovidés sauvages’, in Vuilleumier S. & Meyrat P. (eds), Sur les pistes du désert : Mélanges offerts à Michel Valloggia, Gollion (Switzerland) : 43–62.
Droux, X., 2019, ‘A foray to the other side: how big was HK6?’, Nekhen News 31: 4–5.

2018
* Hendrickx, S., Droux, X. & Eyckerman, M., 2018, ‘Predynastic human representations: two sides of a story’, in Huyge D. & Van Noten F. (guest eds), What ever happened to the people: humans and anthropomorphs in the rock art of northern Africa, Académie royale des sciences d'outre-mer et Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire. Brussels: 431–443.
* Hendrickx, S., Droux, X. Hartmann, R. & Eyckerman, M., 2018, ‘Hunting for power: an exceptional white cross-lined jar in the National Museum of Danemark’, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 74: 83–97.
Friedman, R. & Droux, X., 2018, ‘More adventures under the spoil heap: HK6 in 2018’, Nekhen News 30: 15–17.

2017
* Friedman, R., Van Neer, W., DeCupere, B., & Droux, X., 2017, ‘The elite predynastic cemetery at Hierakonpolis HK6: 2011–2015 progress report’, in Midant-Reynes, B. & Tristan, Y. (eds), Ryan E.M. (ed. ass.), Egypt at its Origins 5. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, Cairo, 13th-18th April 2014. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 260. Leuven: 232–89.
Droux, X., 2017, ‘Buried beneath the back-dirt: HK6 in 2017’, Nekhen News 29: 4–6.

2016
Droux, X., 2016, ‘Figuring out Structure F’, Nekhen News 28: 4–5.
Droux, X. & Friedman, R., 2016, ‘Putting White cross-lined pottery on the map’, Nekhen News 28: 7–8.

2015
Friedman, R. & Droux, X., 2015, ‘Complex arrangements: HK6 in 2015’, Nekhen News 27: 4–6.
Droux, X. ‘Hierakonpolis hippo round up‘, Nekhen News 27: 8–9.

2014
Droux, X., 2014, ‘A tomb fit for a king? The discovery of Tomb 72 at HK6’, Nekhen News 26: 4–7.

2013
Droux, X., 2013, ‘The horned quadrupeds conundrum’, Nekhen News 25: 20.

2011
* Droux, X., 2011, ‘Twinned predynastic hippopotamus figurines of the Predynastic period’, in Friedman R. & Fiske P. (eds), Egypt at its Origins 3. Proceedings of the Third International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, London, 27th July-1st August 2008. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 205. Leuven: 349–77.
Droux, X., 2011, ‘Where’s the beef ? The surprise of Tomb 49’, Nekhen News 23: 16–17.

2003–2010
Droux, X. & Pieri, A., 2010, ‘Further adventures at HK6: the 2010 season’, Nekhen News 22: 4–6.
Droux, X.,2009, ‘The tale of Tomb 30’, Nekhen News 21: 15.
Friedman, R. & Droux, X.,2009, ‘The elite predynastic cemetery at HK6’, in Friedman R. et al., ‘Report on the 2006–2007 season of the Hierakonpolis Expedition’, Annales du Services des Antiquités de l’Égypte 83: 192–4.
Droux, X.,2008, ‘Heading west at HK6’, Nekhen News 20: 14–5.
* Droux, X., 2005-2007, ‘Une représentation de prisonniers décapités en provenance de Hiérakonpolis’, Bulletin de la Société d'Égyptologie de Genève 27: 33–42.
Droux, X. & Friedman, R., 2007, ‘The columned hall at HK6 and other wonders’, Nekhen News 19: 7–9.
Droux, X., 2007, ‘Headless at Hierakonpolis’, Nekhen News 19: 14.
McNamara, L. & Droux, X., 2006, ‘When is a tomb not a tomb ?’, Nekhen News 18: 9–10.
2003 Notices for the exhibition catalogue Voyages en Égypte de l'Antiquité au début du XXe siècle, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva.

_________________________
Peer-reviewed publications indicated with *.

(07-2025)

Although graduating in 1981 with a degree in Geography and Mathematics, our webmaster, Peter Robinson was always interested in archaeology and the landscape. He first became involved in archaeological excavations when working on early medieval sites in Britain and northern France, and published a number of academic papers on the Anglo-Saxon landscape before going on to complete a Master of Philosophy degree on the early Medieval 'Domesday Book' in 1988. But in the early 1990s, Peter began to study Egyptology. It was once Peter had become a Friend of Nekhen, following a trip to Hierakonpolis with a local British Egyptology society, that Peter offered to help with the website, using his experiences in computing. Since then, Peter has helped maintain the site and has updated the design of the website a number of times over the years.

In 2005, Peter came to help at Hierakonpolis as a member of the excavation team for the first time, planning the excavation trench and cataloguing the finds from Tomb 23 in the predynastic cemetery at HK6. He wrote a short piece about his experiences at Hierakonpolis in the following edition of Nekhen News. Peter has been to Hierakonpolis a number of times to help map parts of the site and 'pottery/small finds draw', and has also worked in Luxor with the team of the University of Memphis, Tennessee, surveying and planning a New Kingdom tomb. He has also been a member of a number of local Egyptological societies, both in the UK and also Canada, where he is a Trustee on the Board of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, based in Toronto. Peter has also published a number of (non-Hierakonpolis related) papers on the Ancient Egyptian afterlife and the 'maps' of its landscape found in coffins and other texts. 

HK-related articles 
Robinson, P., 2005. ‘A first-timer at Hierakonpolis’, Nekhen News, 17, 29-30.