El-Badari is an area of Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...

 between Matmar and Qau, including numerous Predynastic

Predynastic Egypt

The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BC, starting with King Menes/Narmer....

 cemeteries (notably Mostagedda, Deir Tasa and the cemetery of el-Badari itself), as well as at least one early Predynastic settlement at Hammamia. The finds from el-Badari form the original basis for the Badari

Badari

The Badarian culture provides the earliest direct evidence of agriculture in Upper Egypt during the Predynastic Era. It flourished between 4400 and 4000 BCE, and might have already existed as far back as 5000 BCE. It was first identified in El-Badari, Asyut.About forty settlements and six...

an period (c. 5500-4000 BC), the earliest phase of the Upper Egyptian Predynastic period. The el-Badari region, stretching for 30 km along the east bank of the Nile, was first investigated by Guy Brunton

Guy Brunton

Guy Brunton OBE was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the Badarian culture. He married Winifred Newberry on 28 April 1906...

 and Gertrude Caton-Thompson between 1922 and 1931. Most of the cemeteries in the Badarian region have yielded distinctive pottery vessels (particularly red-polished ware with blackened tops), as well as terracotta and ivory anthropomorphic figures, slate palettes, stone vases and flint tools. The contents of Predynastic cemeteries at el-Badari have been subjected to a number of statical analyses attempting to clarify the chronology and social history of the Badarian period.