THE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD
ca. 4500 - ca. 3100 BC

THE BADARIANS

We believe that the main ancestors of the Ancient Egyptians were the tribe known as the Badarians. They lived in Upper Egypt on the eastern bank of the Nile, near the village of Badari, south of Asiut. Archaeologists have found both a series of settlement sites as well as various cemeteries. They lived around 4400 BC and may even date back as far as 5000 BC.

Though they were a semi-nomadic people, they started to cultivate grain and domesticate their animals. They found the need for a series of small villages in the flat desert bordering on the fertile land created by the Nile, and their burial grounds were found on the outskirts of these villages. They gave their cattle and sheep ceremonial burials.

The graves of the Badarians were simple - the dead were laid to rest on their left sides facing the west, in a fetal position and wrapped in matting. They were buried with fine grave goods including beautifully decorated plates, bowls and dishes. Cosmetic utensils including makeup palettes, ointment spoons, decorative combs and bracelets, necklaces and copper beads and pins.

The graves also usually had an ivory or clay female figure (possibly a fertility idol) placed with the deceased. Unfortunately many of the graves were robbed soon after burial.

This seems to point to a highly evolved funerary system - the dead were buried with their finest possessions, personal possessions and clothing for use in the next world.

THE AMRATIANS (NAQADA I)

Succeeding the Badari, the Amratian people took over. They were one of the most important prehistoric cultures in Upper Egypt and their development can be linked to the founding of the Egyptian state.

The Amratian (Naqada I) culture started as a parallel culture to the Badarian, but eventually superimposed itself on the other, and finally replaced it. The Amratians are now thought of as the first "true" Egyptians and dominated between 4500 to 3100 BC.

Like the Badari, they lived in villages, but began the first permanent efforts to cultivate the fertile Nile valley (and only supplemented their diet with hunting and gathering). Each village had its own animal deity which was identified with a clan ensign. From this came the different Egyptian nomes - each with their own local totems - eventually the gods of the Egyptian pantheon.

Amratian agricultural success allowed artistic skills to flourish. Pottery decorated with animals, with human figures hunting or worshipping, or with papyrus boats appeared. So, too, did the female idol figures continue to grow - they appeared in greater numbers and in a wider variety, and bearded male figures started to appear on pendants and ivory sticks ("magic wands"). These last sets of human figures seems to have been of a magical or spiritual nature.

In the Amratian graves, the deceased were buried with statuettes to keep him or her company in the afterlife. These were the forerunners of ushabti figures found in Egyptian tombs. Along with these figured, the dead person was buried with food, weapons, amulets, ornaments and decorated vases and palettes.

THE GERZEANS (NAQADA II)

In the middle of the fourth millennium BC, the Gerzean - Naqada II period superceded the Naqada I. They had mastered the art of agriculture and the use of artificial irrigation, and no longer needed to hunt for their food. The people started live in towns, not just villages, creating areas of higher population density than ever before.

The Gerzean people continued to expand in the artistic area, creating new styles of pottery and more elegant artwork. They started to create a wide variety of animal-shaped palettes for mixing cosmetics, as well as a shield-shaped cosmetic pallet, the ancestor of the ceremonial palettes in early Dynastic Egypt. Metalworking increased - the Gerzean people made great use of copper knives. They also created their own cast-metal implements and weapons.

They traded with far distant peoples for copper and other goods (they traded much further than the previous two cultures) - silver, lapis lazuli, lead, cylinder seals were some goods traded for from Asia and Mesopotamia. Foreign influences through their trading began to show in their style of dress, ornaments and various implements. Radical changes in the design of knives, daggers and pottery were made by the Gerzeans.

They also introduced the images and totems of the falcon, symbol of the sun god Ra, and the cow, symbol of the love goddess Hathor.

There were also significant changes in the matter of burials. Whereas cemeteries that dated from an earlier period showed that the corpse was generally wrapped in some sort of covering and buried in a contracted position facing the west, those which were located in Gerzean deposits indicated a lack of regular orientation, a more elaborate form of grave, and evidences of ritual procedure at the time of burial in the form of deliberately shattered pottery.

There is evidence of an elite social class from the graves and grave goods found. The more elaborate funerary cult created larger, rectangular graves with walls lined with either masonry or wooden blanks, which could also hold grave goods. The differences in the lavish (or not) graves, with many or lesser goods, pointed to the distinction in classes in the Gerzean people.

In Nekhem (Hierakonpolis), the cult centre of Horus of Nekhem, there is a Naqada II palace and ritual precinct. This area was made of timber and matting, and can only be theoretically reconstructed from the positions of the postholes - some of which were big enough for entire tree trunks! The features of the complex were compared with the buildings of Djoser's pyramid complex, where such buildings were made in stone. It has a large oval courtyard, surrounded by various buildings, and is clearly the forerunner to the royal ritual precincts of Naqada III and the Early Dynastic Period.

This, then, was the root of the Egyptian kingship system and the beginning of the unified state.