MA'ADI, AL-

predynastic Egyptian site located just south of modern Cairo in Al-Qahirah muhafazah (governorate) in Lower Egypt. The settlement at Al-Ma'adi was approximately contemporary with the widespread Gerzean culture (c. 3400c. 3100 BC) of Upper Egypt. Al-Ma'adi was apparently a peasant village with a separate cemetery; the settlement was characterized by rectangular huts, splay-footed vases, globular, rimmed-neck vessels, and large storage jars similar to those found at Gerzean sites. Copper was occasionally used, and Upper Egyptian stone vase types have been found. In addition to Al-Ma'adi's connections with the culture of Upper Egypt, its position on the southern leg of the Syro-Egyptian trade route also brought it under the cultural influence of Syria and Palestine.