De-Constructing the Pan-Grave Horizon: A Community-based Approach

Abstract This article applies Communities of Practice as a framework for understanding the broad variation observable in the archaeological record of the so-called ‘Pan-Grave horizon’. The discussion begins with an overview of key practices and object types diagnostic (or at least characteristic) for the Pan-Grave horizon. This is followed by a comparative study of two pairs of sites, one at Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt, the other at Debeira East in Lower Nubia. Chronology, mobility, physical environment, and inter-community contact and exchange are explored as underlying factors behind the variation between the sites. Using Communities of Practice, it is proposed that the Pan-Grave horizon might instead be viewed as a ‘culture of communities,’ defined here as a system of distinct social communities that are united by a shared set of cultural practices that vary from one situation to another, and eventually become archaeologically manifest in different ways.