Homepage Timeline Maps A-Z index Learning

A Guided Tour: The Prehistory of Egypt
(prehistory covers the time before written records)

(for each step, click on the image; then, to return to this page, use the back button of your browser)

1
from about 100 000 BC there is evidence for people living on the area of Egypt
2

archaeologists use the term Neolithic to refer to cultures still using stone tools (rather than metal), but already involved in agriculture; one of the oldest Neolithic cultures in Egypt is the so called
Fayum Neolithic culture (about 4400 BC)

3
the people of the Fayum Neolithic culture already produced pottery
4
the people of the Fayum Neolithic culture did not use metal,
all tools and weapons are made from stone or bones
5
the first important culture in Upper Egypt, is known as the Badarian culture (about 4000 BC), the people of the Badarian culture lived in small villages
6
the people of the Badarian culture already knew metal:
a few copper objects have been found
7
the dead in the Badarian culture were buried in simple pits, sometimes wrapped in matting or animal skins
8
the typical pottery of the Badarian culture is black-topped red burnished ware
9
the people of the Badarian cultures used for the first time faience and glazed materials
10
the Naqada culture (about 4000 - 3000 BC) is named after the extensive site near Naqada in Upper Egypt
11
Naqada is one of the earliest towns in Egypt
12
archaeologists divide the Naqada culture into several distinct phases according to marked changes in pottery style
13
besides copper the people of the Naqada culture already used gold and silver-rich gold (electrum)
14
new forms of artistic expression are found in the Naqada culture
15
the people of the Naqada culture already had many relations to other cultures
16
some archaeologists think that the Naqada culture was already a single political unit; other think that it was divided in several city states
17
towards the end of the Naqada Period
writing was introduced in Egypt
18
the earliest examples of writing are mainly names of kings: the sequence of kings provide the formal basis for dividing Egyptian history from this point on
19
the First Dynasty sees an increase in monumental building, art and technology
20
a guided tour for the First and Second Dynasty

 


 

Copyright © 2000 University College London. All rights reserved.