Egypt: History - Predynastic Period

Beginning just before the Predynastic period, Egyptian culture was already beginning to resemble greatly the Pharaonic ages that would soon come after, and rapidly at that. In a transition period of a thousand years (about which little is still known), nearly all the archetypal characteristics appeared, and beginning in !! B" we find e#idence of organi$ed, permanent settlements focused around agriculture. %unting was no longer a major support for e&istence now that the Egyptian diet was made up of domesticated cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, as well as cereal grains such as wheat and barley. 'rtifacts of stone were supplemented by those of metal, and the crafts of basketry, pottery, wea#ing, and the tanning of animal hides became part of the daily life. (he transition from primiti#e nomadic tribes to traditional ci#ili$ation was nearly complete. )ne of the most interesting aspects of the transition period is the shift in burial customs. Pre#ious to the permanent settlements, most burials were done where it was con#enient, often in a centrally*located cemetery near to or inside the settlement, such as the cemeteries at +ebel ,ahaba. 's the seasonal hunting camps grew into more stable agricultural #illages, burial sites and practices changed. "emeteries and single gra#es were no longer located near the li#ing, but were placed further and further away, both from the #illages as well as the culti#ated land, most often on the #ery edge of what would be considered the #illage-s .territory.. E#en children, formerly buried under the floor of their home, were now relegated to these outer cemeteries. (he reasons for this are unknown, but a growing feeling of necrophobia, a fear of the dead, might be the cause, as is often the case in many cultures. Practices too, changed. %ere we see the beginnings of the .life after death. beliefs that centuries later, would make the ancient Egyptians famous. (he dead were buried with pro#isions for the journey into the ne&t life, as well as pottery, jewelry, and other artifacts to help them enjoy it. )fferings of cereals, dried meat, and fruit were included, but hunting and farming implements were also common (presumably so the dead would not star#e after ha#ing eaten all the offerings). E#en then, the Egyptians belie#ed that the ne&t life would be #ery much like this one. Interestingly enough, the dead were buried in a fetal position, surrounded by the burial offerings and artifacts, facing west, all prepared for the journey to the world of the dead, where the sun shone after lea#ing the world of the li#ing. (he "halcolithic period, also called the .Primiti#e. Predynastic, marks the beginning of the true Predynastic cultures both in the north and in the south. (he southern cultures, particularly that of the Badarian, were almost completely agrarian (farmers), but their northern counterparts, such as the /aiyum who were oasis dwellers, still relied on hunting and fishing for the majority of their diet. Predictably, the #arious craftworks de#eloped along further lines at a rapid pace. ,toneworking, particularly that in#ol#ed in the making of blades and points, reached a le#el almost that of the )ld 0ingdom industries that would follow. /urniture too, was a major object of creation, again, many artifacts already resembling what would come. )bjects began to be made not only with a function, but also with an aesthetic #alue. Pottery was painted and decorated, particularly the black*topped clay pots and #ases that this era is noted for1 bone and i#ory combs, figurines, and tableware, are found in great numbers, as is jewelry of all types and materials. It would seem that while the rest of the world at large was still in the darkness of primiti#ism, the Predynastic Egyptians were already creating a world of beauty. ,omewhere around 2 !! B" is the start of the .)ld. Predynastic, also known as the 'mratian period, or simply as 3a4ada I, as most of the sites from this period date to around the same time as the occupation of the 3a4ada site. (he change that is easiest to see in this period is in the pottery. 5hereas before ceramics were decorated with simple bands of paint, these ha#e cle#er geometric designs inspired by the world around the artist, as well as pictures of animals, either painted on or car#ed into the surface of the #essel. ,hapes too, became more #aried, both for practical reasons depending on what the #essel was used for, and aesthetic

reasons. 6ecorati#e clay objects were also popular, particularly the .dancer. figurines, small painted figures of women with upraised arms. 7et perhaps the most important detail of all about this period is the de#elopment of true architecture. 8ike most of Egyptian culture, we ha#e gleaned much of our knowledge from what the deceased were buried with, and in this case, we ha#e se#eral clay models of houses disco#ered in the gra#es that resemble the rectangular clay brick homes of the )ld 0ingdom. (his shows that the idea of indi#idual dwellings, towns, and .urban planning. started around 2 !! B"9 (he third stage of the Predynastic period is dated to around 2!!! B" and is labeled the :er$ean period or 3a4ada II. 'mratian and :er$ean are #astly different from one another, and one can see the growing influence of the peoples of the 3orth on those of the ,outh. ,oon this would result in a truly mi&ed people and culture, that of the 8ate Predynastic, or 3a4ada III. (he greatest difference between the 'mratian and the :er$ean peoples can be seen in their ceramics industries. 5hile 'mratian pottery did ha#e some decorati#e aspects, its primary purpose was functional. :er$ean pottery, on the other hand, was de#eloped along decorati#e lines. :er$ean pottery is adorned with organic*inspired geometric motifs, and highly realistic depictions of animals, people, and the many other things that surrounded the :er$ean people. (here are more than a few surprises in the motifs, howe#er. ;nusual animals such as ostriches and ibe&es gi#e clues to a possibility that the :er$eans hunted in the sub*desert, as such animals were not to be found near the 3ile. 5e also find what are possibly the first representations of gods, almost always shown riding in boats and carrying standards that greatly resemble the later standards that would represent the #arious pro#inces of Egypt. It is possible too, that these are simply some form of historical records (#isits of chieftains, battles, perhaps<), but as they are almost always painted on #oti#e artifacts buried with the dead, the plausible e&planation points to the sacred. 5hen compared to the Pharaonic periods, the :er$ean culture is not much dissimilar, ha#ing reached a high le#el of ci#ili$ation, especially in is religious aspects, and particularly in those dealing with funerary customs. 'mratian burials were most often simply a pit in the ground, co#ered o#er by a skin*co#ered framework, but with the :er$ean, tomb*building became a foreshadowing of what was to come, with furnished underground rooms, near replicas of the dwelling that the deceased had occupied in life. 'mulets and other ceremonial objects, many of which depict the early animal*form gods of the :er$eans, are also prolific in these tombs. (he :er$ean form of the afterlife would e#entually grow into the "ult of )siris and the magnificent burials of the 6ynasties. Pre#iously it was belie#ed that the transition between Predynastic and 6ynastic was the result of a brutal series of re#olutions and warfare brought about as a result of the disco#ery of metallurgy and the new social structures such as cities, indi#idual dwellings, and writing. 7et as more and more details of this time period are unco#ered, we see that it was nothing of the sort, but rather the slow process of technological e#olution. (he abo#e*mentioned new technologies could be =esopotamian in origin, as they are found there earlier than they are in Egypt, yet there is little proof of this. 'bout the only =esopotamian artifacts found in Egypt proper are cylinder seals, and these only point to a strictly commercial*political connection. ' few artifacts of Egyptian origin do bear =esopotamian design traits, but again, this could be the result of an eager artist copying an imported artifact. It is of course their writing system that is the Egyptian hallmark, but where did it begin, and when< ,ome ha#e said that writing was imported, but after a brief study of the motifs found on ceramics from the 3a4ada periods we can discard this as only a remote possibility. (he pottery motifs e#ol#e distinctly o#er a period of time into a regular set of images that greatly resemble the traditional hieroglyphics. 'lready they show the fundamental principle of hieroglyphic writing, that of the combination of pictograms and phonograms. ' pictogram is an actual representation of the item it represents. In such a system, the pictogram for a man is a picture of a human figure, the pictogram for water is a picture of water. ' phonogram is a picture that stands not for its image, but for a sound or set of sounds. /or e&ample, the picture of a water bird might mean sa, and the word sa would not mean .bird. but .child,. or sa e#en might be combined with other phonograms to create a larger word. ,uch systems of writing e&ist e#en today. +apanese, with its combination of a phonetic alphabet with a set of comple& characters that can mean either a sound or an entire word, is a perfect e&ample. (hese

symbols found on pottery and other artifacts of the 'mratian period might be writing, but by the :er$ean they most definitely are a form of writing. 3o time of the Predynastic offers as many 4uestions as the period of unification of southern and northern Egypt. E&actly who con4uered whom is the first. =any sources point to the e#ent as the #ictory of the south o#er the north, yet the resulting social system resembles more that of the north than the south. 0urt ,ethe and %ermann 0ees, among the first to draw conclusions about this period came up with a combination of both theories> that Egypt was first unified under the north, but for one reason or another collapsed and the power was picked up by the southern kings, who kept the original form of go#ernment set up by the north. ?ecent archaeological e#idence is beginning to discredit this, but it still seems to be among the most logical e&planations. 'nother theory is that the south con4uered the north, but adopted much of the northern culture into their own. (his is not unusual in the least when dealing with Egypt. (he Ptolemies were the :reek rulers of Egypt after 'le&ander the :reat, yet they absorbed as much of the Egyptian culture as they could, calling themsel#es Pharaohs and e#en being buried according to Egyptian custom instead of :reek. E&actly who the first king of unified Egypt was is also difficult to say, or e#en when the actual unification occurred. (he most powerful piece of data on this e#ent is the 3armer Palette, a triangular piece of black basalt depicting a king whose name is gi#en as 3ar*=er in the hieroglyphs. )n the ob#erse he is shown wearing the white crown of the south and holding a mace about to crush the head of a northern foe, and on the re#erse, the same figure is shown wearing the red crown of the north while a bull (a symbol of the pharaoh-s power) rages below him, smashing the walls of a city and trampling yet another foe. 'nother artifact, the .,corpion. =acehead, depicts a similar figure, only this time the name is gi#en by the pictogram of a scorpion. (his king*figure is called in many documents alternati#ely 3armer, or 'ha, and if the historian Eratosthenes is to be belie#ed, this is the legendary king =eni, or =enes. 5hether .0ing ,corpion. is the same person as 3armer is a bit of contention, but the two are widely accepted to be the same. If these two artifacts, and others like them from the same period, do in fact depict this as the first king of unified Egypt, then the date for the ;nification can be placed sometime between @A ! and @AA! B".