Topic > Predynastic History - 2483

The term Predynastic denotes Egypt before the historically recorded sequence of kings and dynasties beginning ca. 3050 BC (see Egypt: Dynastic). Although there is no official beginning of the Predynastic, in Egyptian archeology the term usually refers to the period following its appearance, ca. 5000 BC, of ​​a Neolithic food-producing economy in the Egyptian Nile Valley proper (as distinct from the Sahara in general). Evidence for reliance on food production using domesticated plants and animals (primarily sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, wheat, and barley) is found in the late Nile Valley compared to the Fertile Crescent of the Near East, perhaps suggesting that hunting/gathering was still viable for a longer period of time in the rich environment of the Nile floodplain. Once adopted, however, food production is linked to a long-term process of population growth, sedentarity, and increasing social complexity in the predynastic cultures of the Nile Valley. The study of Predynastic Egypt has focused primarily on the development of a number of different cultures in both northern and southern Egypt over the two millennia from ca. 5000 to approx. 3000 BC The Predynastic period culminated in a process of political and territorial conquest during the second half of the Fourth Millennium BC (c. 3400–3050) that included the expansion of southern Egypt's cultural tradition into the rest of the country. The emergence of a politically powerful elite, government institutions, royal artistic and architectural styles, and the hieroglyphic writing system can be traced during the terminal stages of the Predynastic period, setting the stage for Egypt's transition to the Dynastic period. The study of Predynastic Egypt differs i...... middle of paper ...... use of foreign artistic motifs by the developing elite of the Nagada III period, but they do not see Mesopotamian inspiration as a major catalyst in Egypt's developing complexity. The motivations behind contact between Late Predynastic Egypt and Mesopotamia remain uncertain, but may have included gold trade that occurred in the desert regions east of southern Egypt. As archaeological work on Predynastic Egypt continues, in future years we can expect considerable new evidence to further reshape our understanding of the rise of Egyptian civilization. The field increasingly benefits from the use of modern techniques such as remote sensing, physical dating and analytical techniques. As the amount of evidence increases, the rise of complex civilizations in the Egyptian Nile Valley during the two crucial millennia from 5,000 to 3,000 BC will become increasingly clear..