1. Division of Egyptian prehistory:
Lower Palaeolithic – 700, ,000 BP
Middle Palaeolithic – 250,000-50,000 BP
Upper & Late Palaeolithic – 50, ,000 BP
Neolithic - 9,000-4,700 BC (note BP/BC switch!)
Badarian – 4,400-4,000 BC
Naqada I – 4,000-3,500 BC
Naqada II – 3,500-3,200 BC
Naqada III – 3,200-3,000 BC (Dynasty 0)
Archaeological complexes and cultures are ways of defining groups of material (e.g. the Naqada culture)

2. Prehistoric (predynastic) Egypt
Environmental conditions variable
From hyperarid (today!) to less arid, savannah-like conditions (e.g ,700 BC)
Nile also variable – sometimes hospitable, sometimes very fast flowing (Younger Dryas)
Obscuring the archaeology –
Nile sediments covering sites
Nile eroding away archaeological sites

3. Must have been first occupant of Egypt
H. Erectus.
Must have been first occupant of Egypt

5. Acheulean complex (named after the site in France where first discovered)
Associated with H. Erectus
Biface handaxes
Found in Abydos area, also especially in Nubia
These dated ca.500, ,000/250,000 BP
Show preparation of foodstuffs (scrapers, cutters)

7. Acheulean sites: Kharga, Dakhla, Bir Sahara, Bir Tarfawi
Climatic conditions much preferable to now (warmer, wetter)
We can assume the presence of big game animals (and smaller) on the Saharan savannah

8. The Middle Palaeolithic (250,000-50,000 BP): the Saharan Mousterian Complex
Tools made by LEVALLOIS FLAKING from blade cores (improvement on Acheulean)
Usually associated with H. Sapiens (anatomically modern humans)

10. Mousterian sites: again, in Nubia, and the Western Desert
Climatic conditions similar to Lower Palaeolithic, but perhaps becoming more arid
Can extrapolate continued food-gathering in the Sahara and in Nubia; use of spears to bring down larger animals?
Perhaps increasing population? Hard to ascertain in the Nile valley because of Nile erosion/alluviation
First burial of an Egyptian! Child, ca.55,000 BP at site of Taramsa-1

11. What does this indicate?
Deliberate disposal of the dead and recognition of the change of state
Raises issues; correct (normative) behavior; ritual & beliefs?

12. The Upper Palaeolithic (50,000-24,000 BP) curiously absent.
Period of extreme aridity?
All settlements in the Nile valley? Covered by sediment?
The Late Palaeolithic (24,000-10,000 BP)
Significant cultural developments…
Great variety in stone-tools across Egypt (bow and arrow!)
Diversified environments; exploited natural plant resources, fish, animals.
Sites still seasonal (no sedentism, i.e. permanent villages)

13. First proper cemetery in Egypt, at Gebel Sahaba
Ca.12,000 BP; 59 skeletons in total
All lying in the same way; left hand side of body, head to south
24 showed signs of violent death; EITHER chert points (spears/arrowheads) embedded in vital areas
OR cut marks to long bones
What does this tell us?
Inter-group competition for diminishing resources in the Nile Valley (this is an arid period)? Uniform belief/religion?

14. Another hiatus in Egyptian settlement 11,000-9,000 BP (coincides with the Younger Dryas) – the “Wild Nile”?
Around 10,000 BP switch to Neolithic (so move to BC/AD! 10,000 BP = 8,000 BC)… this period subdivided:
Early Neolithic
Middle Neolithic
Late Neolithic
CYCLICAL ENVIRONEMTAL CHANGE: Again, warmer and wetter between 8,000 BC and 4,000 BC

16. The Saharan Neolithic: not the Neolithic you were expecting…
NO EVIDENCE FOR CEREAL DOMESTICATION!
BUT; evidence that people in the Sahara ca.8,000-4,000 BC were keeping cattle (domesticated? To what extent?)

17. First ceramics!
Storage?
Decoration? (n.b. the first red/black polished pots…)
…but also traditional hunting (gazelle, wild sheep etc)

18. In the Nile Valley…
7,000 BC, communities of hunter-gatherers at el-Kab, but not much else…
BUT: ca.5,400 BC, the FAIYUM CULTURE and the MERIMDE CULTURE
Both of these Neolithic; known as early predynastic cultures…

19. Faiyum (Kom W) True Neolithic cultures: Lower Egypt
Cereal and animal domestication (wheat, sheep/goat): 3000yrs behind Levant
109 storage pits: these pits grouped
Sedentism - villages!
Ceramics. Lithics associated with the Sahara LN lithics – relationship?

20. MERIMDE BENI SALAMA True Neolithic cultures: Lower Egypt
5,000-4,100 BC
Agriculture, animals, fishing and hunting
Oval dwellings with hearths and storage areas
Burials between houses; no grave goods
First human representational art! Human head with holes for ‘hair’ – i.e. space for feathers

21. True Neolithic cultures: Upper Egypt
BADARIAN

22. BADARIAN True Neolithic cultures: Upper Egypt
Ca. 4,400-4,000 (but could be as early as 5,000)
Sites at Hammamiya, Mostagedda, Matmar, as far south as Hierakonpolis
Very fine ceramics; relationship to Nabta Playa red/black wares
BURIAL EVIDENCE; differential amounts of material interred (beads, combs, greywacke cosmetic palettes)
Meaning: SOCIAL RANKING (differences in wealth)
Body ornamentation and display (related to status)

23. First evidence of social ranking INESTIMABLY IMPORTANT – shows differential access to goods and status; increasing SOCIAL COMPLEXITY!
Continuity of this, and full realization, in the NAQADA PERIOD!
Named for site (Naqada) where Petrie discovered the culture
Divided into I (4,000-3,500), II (3,500-3,200) and III (3,200-3,000)
Extremely important: sees shift from emergent social complexity (4,000 BC) to Egyptian state (3,000 BC)…
NAQADA I
Main changes in burial goods…

24. Naqada I ceramics:
Human depictions
Animal depictions
Sexual characteristics emphasized; power

25. Naqada I ceramics
Hunting scenes (again, power)
Prefigure dynastic imagery
Humans v nature? Control over the wild

26. Naqada I: In general… Very little settlement archaeology known
Increasing disposal of wealth with the deceased
This wealth a marker of status
Statuses different – emergence of basic social classes?
Imagery – making power claims?
Sets the scene for development of Naqada II…