What is the 'Pan-Grave Tradition'?

The Pan-Grave culture, dating from the end of the Middle Kingdom to the early New Kingdom (ca. 1800-1500 BCE), partly overlapped with the C-Group and Kerma cultures sharing some traits with them. Stretching from Memphis to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile and the East and West Desert, it is more common between Middle Egypt and Abu Simbel. Its characteristics include a semi-nomadic pastoral lifestyle, a variety of tombs (frequently, though not always, flat or ‘pan-like’ -hence the name), painted animal skulls, leather goods, ostrich eggshell, bone, seashell and mother-of-pearl personal ornaments, and incised or combed and black-top pottery tempered with dung, straw or sand. Tombs or assemblages consistent with the Pan-Grave tradition, as defined above, are sometimes found interspersed with those of other (Nubian and Egyptian) traditions.