Ballas
el-Ballas; el Ballas; Deir el-Ballas; Deir el Ballas; Zoweiyda; Zawaydah
Town (Dynasty 17); palaces (Dynasty 17); cemetery (Early Dynastic Period).
The site of a royal palace and administration centre was occupied by rulers in the Second Intermediate Period was unclosed by a wall. The complex consists of a northern palace that served as a royal residence, a southern palace that served as an administrative centre, a village for staff, workers and artisans, and various utilitarian building like granaries and stables.
Further excavations in the 1980s revealed a much larger site with additional palace complexes, a group of large houses and further settlements.
Site Gallery
Bibliography
Catalogue of a collection of Egyptian antiquities : discovered in 1895, between Ballas and Nagada ; exhibited at University College, Gower St., London, July 1st to July 27th. 1895. London : Egypt Exploration Fund.
Petrie, W. M. Flinders and J. E. Quibell 1896. Naqada and Ballas: 1895. British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account [1] (1st year). London: Bernard Quaritch.