predynastic Period

Before the Pharaohs
Egypt has three geographically distinct zones: the delta, the Nile Valley and the desert. Historically the Delta of the north and the Nile Valley of the south dominate and are termed Lower and Upper Egypt respectively. Pharaoh ruled over the two lands and wore the Red and White crown, or Pschest, representing the "Two Lands" of Upper and Lower Egypt. Pharaoh was no ordinary mortal: he was deified upon his coronation and he had to keep order (maat) on earth and in the cosmological universe. Keeping Egypt as a unified land ensured Maat. The period we define as the Predynastic spans from 5500 BC- 3050 BC and this is the period that precedes the Unification of Egypt and rule under one King. Our knowledge of this period is limited by archaeological finds and historical sources. Increasing social contacts and the acquisition of writing are factors that provided impetus for a united nation about 5000 years ago.

Merimde Beni Salamais located on the western edge of the Delta and dating from c. 4750 BC it is the oldest settlement site so far found. The site was occupied for a long time and the progression of house styles and street patterns reflects the growing level of urban organisation. Merimde is in northern Egypt, though our evidence for the predynastic Period largely comes from sites in southern Egypt. This bias is because of the paucity of ancient sites that have survived the less favourable archaeological conditions of the Delta. The Delta is a dynamic wet landscape with annual alluvial deposits and a moving set of Nile River channels. These wet conditions do not normally favour the preservation of organic material such as papyrus, leather or wood. Many ancient settlements were located because of their strategic position that is still viable now and thus many sites are now inaccessible because of modern occupation. Sites such as these often keep the name of the ancient site, e.g. Kom Ombo and Tell el d'aba (Tell and Kom being the Arabic for mound). The most damaging activity in the Delta is the removal of Sebakh, which is degraded mud brick, the most common building material in ancient Egypt, which now makes an excellent fertiliser and is removed with an unquenchable appetite. The sites in Upper Egypt are usually above the inundation level and are located in less densely populated areas. The Supreme Council for Antiquities of the Egyptian Government is addressing this desperate bias by encouraging more excavation and preservation projects in the Delta.

Chronology.

Palaeolithic
Predynastic
Early Predynastic

Middle Predynastic
Late Predynastic

Protodynastic
Early Dynastic

500,000-5500 BC
5500-3050 BC
5500-3800 BC
3800-3500 BC
3550-3400 BC
3400-3300 BC
3300-3200 BC
3200-3050 BC
3050-2613 BC

Fayum A, Merimda, Badarian
Amaratian (Naqada IA-IB)
Early Gerzean (Naqada IC, IIA-B)
Middle Gerzean (Naqada IIC)
Late Gerzean (Naqada IIDI-IID2)
(Naqada IIIA1-IIIC1)

Neolithic Egypt essentially starts with the large-scale use of agriculture and farming of animals. By 5600 years ago the people of the Nile Valley were cultivating Emmer wheat and barley and raising herds of cattle and small stock (goats, sheep and pig) to supplement fish and game meat which could be readily caught along the Nile. This chapter of Egyptian history is called Badarian culture after a village where the first settlements were found by Caton-Thompson Esq. Rather than being a cemetery site this is a domestic site typified by settlements of mud brick and crude simple architecture, which contains evidence right through to Naqada II (c. 3500-3100 BCE). The Badarians normally wrapped their dead in matting and buried them in simple pits. The Badarian pottery that has been found is very well made, and in most cases has a distinctive red appearance with a polished black top. As early as the Badarian we find small copper implements, such as pins, which have been made from naturally occurring copper, and as of yet, we have no evidence of extensive copper ore use.

Settlement in Northern Egypt
Sites in southern Egypt have passed the wrath of time more favourably than those of the delta, and our knowledge of Upper Egypt supersedes that of Lower Egypt. However excavations in the delta have revealed a number of sites that were inhabited before the Naqada I period. Merimde, a site excavated in the 1930's, is situated on the edge of the desert, facing the delta. It covers an area of c 180 000 m2 and was occupied for at least 400 years beginning at about 4900 BC. The inhabitants of Merimde lived within quite humble shelter's (c.3x1.5m) with floors lower than the doorway. The dead were buried within the settlements in shallow oval pits with few grave goods. In later Egyptian culture this trend stops and the whole of the country adopts a more southern style of burial by including lots of goods. Large pits understood to be granaries, have inspired scholars to believe that Merimde pooled together surplus crops in some form of community organisation. Alongside growing cereals people reared cattle, goats and pigs, and hunted animals such as antelope on the grasslands. The Nile supplemented their diets with fish, shellfish, turtle and hippopotami. Pottery found at the site is rather plain and simple in its shape. Various tools made from stone and flint would have been used for butchery, craftwork and felling trees. Some archaeologists believe that pear shaped flint mace heads were used not for killing animals but for use on other humans, and believe that Merimde was possibly at conflict with some other community.

Maadi is quite a large settlement just 5km south of Cairo. This late Predynastic site presents itself as an important merchant town providing interesting imported pottery and products from Palestine. The Native pottery is quite poor with similar upper Egyptian pottery being found here. Like Merimde the population of Maadi took advantage of fish resources, though in a greater dependence. The people of Maadi achieved high standards in processing copper from Sinai ores. Large storage jars, remains of agricultural activity (granaries and millstones) and craft specialisation would suggest that Maadi became a community of increasing complexity. Buto is a similar site that was excavated in the 1980's and revealed upper Egyptian pottery, basalt vessels and pottery related to the Amuk/Uruk culture. Trade and diffusion of ideas with west Asia and Mesopotamia increased in Upper and Lower Egypt before the unification of Egypt, some 5050 years ago.

What is Naqada?
Naqada is a term used a lot in Predynastic chronology. Naqada is a place located on the west bank of the Nile, around 25 km north of Luxor. Archaeologists began work at Naqada over a century ago; namely Professor Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie and James Quibell of University College London, and Professor John Garstang of Liverpool University. What they found was evidence of an early culture that emerged near the start of the early Predynastic (c. 3800 BC). This culture persisted throughout the predynastic and stretched as far south as Nubia (Hemamein of Naqada I period), and is referred to as Naqadan culture. Petrie excavated a vast number of simple open pit style graves that were dug in the lower desert. The deceased was placed in a foetal position with an assortment of jars and pottery vessels laid beside the body. In the afterlife the contents of these jars would have sustained the needs of the dead. "Wavy-handled" jars are a material feature of this culture that are very familiar in form to vessels from Palestine and Syria. The eminent Egyptologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, devised a relative chronology for this cultural phase using these jars. Petrie's contextual serration allowed pottery from the Naqada cemeteries to be assembled into successive orders which could be used to form a time line of pottery styles. Petrie pioneered this system because he could not stratigraphically link one grave to another. He made an itinerary of grave goods from all excavated graves and appreciated that styles of pottery (shape and colour) have a limited duration. By his own interpretation he placed the varying styles together (like was put with like) in order of degradation, and then he placed graves with the same style of pottery alongside each other chronologically. His relative chronological sequence is still valid today.

Scholars have subdivided the culture into three chronological stages:

Badarian
Naqada I
Naqada II
Naqada III

5000 BCE - 4000 BCE
4000 BC - 3500 BC
3500 BC - 3100 BC
3100 BC - 3000 BC

Naqada I
This large site has a geographical spread much wider than the Badarian, and spreads further south into Nubia. Pottery is the dominant form of craftsmanship, with some being decorated with patterns. By c. 4000 BC a distinctive type of "black topped ware" pottery is found within grave good assemblages. Skilled craftsmen produced stone vessels from hard stone, to a standard that was never to be reached again. Even though agriculture was widely practised, hunting was still relied upon for supporting their diet.

Naqada II
Some scholars agree that the shift from Naqada I to Naqada II was the result of more intense interaction and trade with foreign groups from west Asia. The cultural group spreads with settlements stretching from Nubia to as far north as the Delta. These settlements are now larger, with the usual round huts now being joined by rectangular red stone houses. A greater improvement in variety of artefacts represents a new socio-economic shift. The characteristic red pottery with a black rim first seen at Naqada is now found in use as far north as Buto. Indeed the spread of Naqada culture into Lower Egypt is more likely to be the result of a more cohesive Egypt, rather than invading stronger southern groups conquering over the north. Copper and gold sources in the Eastern Desert are being exploited to produce copper tools and worked gold objects. Extremely well accomplished stone tools and a greater amount of mud-brick buildings reflect an increasing Mesopotamian influence. Evidence would suggest that these large settlements are regions of strong influence, with more lavish tombs belonging to a chief figure of the community.

Naqada III
This phase is acceptably divided into at least three subdivisions with Naqada IIIc being the same as the so-called 'Dynasty 0', which represents the phase before the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Burials become more elaborate, with most graves containing stone vessels and some possessing precious jewellery and sophisticated tools. Hierokonpolis is one of the centres of upper Egyptian Naqada cultures, and of key importance during the Naqada III cultural phase.

Hierokonpolis lies about 100 km below Naqada, on the West Side of the Nile, positioned between Edfu and El Kab on the eastern side of the Nile. Our evidence for this area is exceptional, mostly owing to good excavations. This immense site was occupied for a very long time, with core samples providing evidence for occupation from Badarian times. To the ancient Egyptians this area was called Nekhen and was home to the important hawk god ' Horus of Nekhen'; the Greeks called the town Hirokonpolis, "city of the falcon". Horus is the one deity whose form is unequivocally associated with early dynastic kingship. In early history the ruler was seen as a manifestation of Horus, the falcon sky god. Hierokonpolis's occupation stretches back to the beginning of Naqada I when farming and herding lifestyles joined hunting. Over the next 1000 years the population increased alongside the growing regional technical specialisation. The American archaeologist Hoffman believes that by 2500 BC the population of Hierokonpolis had rapidly swelled to at least 10,500 people. Demographic change placed too much pressure on the ecological balance and people had to leave the periphery and move nearer to the Nile flood plain. By at least 3200 BC a large mud brick wall with a niched façade gateway was built around the settlement. In 1898 AD James Quibell and Frederick Green excavated an early temple with deposits of ceremonial and votive objects. Further evidence of monumental architecture was discovered by the American archaeologist Hoffman, who located another temple with faunal and ceramic offerings that date to Naqada IIb-IId cultural phase. These temples and the vast size of Hierokonpolis concur that this was a site of great importance.

At the very end of the Nineteenth Century the archaeologist Green Esq. discovered a tomb that would appear to belong to a chief, and has been attributed as the tomb of one of the legendary kings of Upper Egypt. The grave goods were of typical Gerzean assemblage: stone vases, bowls and non-wheel spun red and brown pottery. The grave may have contained more valuable, luxury commodities, but Green believed that it had been robbed in the recent past. It is the decorated walls of 'Tomb 100' that is of greatest interest. The rectangular shaped grave is much larger than the other graves, and the walls have been decorated with scenes that later become characteristic of royal iconography. The deceased is shown as a leader and represented on a larger scale than the other submissive figures. Men appear wearing long kilts, and there is a picture of a foreign ship that suggests a sophisticated level of trade at Nekhen. Indeed certain elements of the repertoire have a distinct foreign flavour. This chief figure was a man of power; the smiting scene shows his dominance over weaker foes. Scenes of a figure overpowering fierce beasts are laced with heavy symbolism, and although some scenes depict conflict, it would be obtuse to say they represent intense warfare.

Conclusion
It is the south of Egypt that we traditionally associate with the rise of kingship; though we must be conscious that greater sites in the north may have been lost under thick alluvial sheets. The sites of Hierokonpolis and Naqada claim associations with the two gods that feature prominently in the unification myths and symbolism. Prominent graves at these sites would appear to those of significant rulers, indeed speculation has suggested that they are the tombs of legendary kings of Upper Egypt. It is the period preceding the First Dynasty that has produced the most typical assemblage of Gerzean material. The rise in number of comparatively superior graves is evidence of social differentiation. What we seem to have in the south is a collection of dynamic communities with cult centres, such as Hierokonpolis, acting as centres of a proto-state. Hierokonpolis and Naqada claim associations with the gods Horus and Seth, the two gods that later become representative of a united Egypt. At Hierokonpolis the Abu Suffian cemetery contained graves belonging to an emerging elite class who had access to larger quantities of foreign pottery. It is this ability to procure foreign goods and trade with far-flung communities that would make them powerful figures in the development of a unified Egypt. Evidence of Near Eastern contact is plentiful at Naqada, Hierokonpolis and other Middle Egypt sites. Foreign luxuries would be premium goods, of great desire to a social elite. The need of high order goods, and the growing dependency on trade would encourage the expansion of Naqada culture into the north, in order to protect developing trade routes with Asia. Indeed, even at sites in the north, such as Merimde Beni Hassan, we have imported Palestinian pottery, copper and carnelian beads. By 4000 BC artefacts typical of the Naqada I cultural phase, such as "black topped ware" were being used throughout much of the Nile Valley. This cultural change did not happen over night; during the Naqada II cultural phase southern sites use typical Naqada II pottery yet retain their own distinctive burial practices. Lower Egyptian sites were taking on board the material culture of the south, and this is largely the result of an increased awareness of ones personal geography, and an increasing cohesion of Egypt as a cultural and economic system, that is part of the Near East.

The increasing amount of trade necessitated that some form of organisation be fostered. The German discovery of inscribed clay tablets in the tomb of king Scorpion in the Suhag province (300 miles south of Cairo) is evidence of very early hieroglyphic writing. The clay tablets acted as recordings labels for items such as jars of beer and oil, and have been radio carbon dated to between 3300 BC - 3200 BC. This script is the result of chieftains expanding their span of influence, and needing to keep record of taxes, paid in the form of commodities. This is the period before the unification, a time when social organisation was becoming more complex and when bureaucracy developed. A rising number of social elite, the growth in cross cultural contacts and the acquisition of writing, with all its organisational potential, are three dominant factors that played integral parts in the creation of a unified country governed by one person: the Pharaoh.