Before the Dynasties: The Communities and Cultures of Prehistoric Egypt
Kenzy Fahmy
You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t heard of the ancient Egyptians with their larger-than-life tombs and temples, their mighty kings and queens, and their pantheon of eccentric gods and goddesses. The legacy they have left behind is unparalleled and we’re still making new discoveries on an almost daily basis. But our history extends far beyond ancient Egypt and the pre-dynastic communities that once lived here have their own stories to tell.
The term ‘prehistory’ doesn’t refer to a specific time period, but instead refers to the time before a culture developed writing, differing significantly from one region to another. In Egypt, it encompasses everything that came before the 4th century BCE. But just how far back does our story go?
Some of the earliest evidence of human settlement found until now has been dated to around six or seven hundred years ago. Flints, arrows, axes and other tools have been found all along the Nile and deep into the desert. Structures have been discovered that tell the stories of the earliest Egyptians and how they lived. They’ve left behind drawings and rock carvings that show us what life was like many thousands of years ago, and every day we discover more.
Rock art from the Cave of Swimmers (Wadi Sura) in the Western Desert - Image Credit
Our human prehistory is divided into three chapters, the divisions being determined by the stone tools that were left behind. It starts with the Paleolithic, or the Old Stone Age, extending from around 600,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, began approximately 10,000 years ago and here we started to see more sophistication in tool making. The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, took place around 6,000 years ago, finally coming to an end with the invention of writing and the unification of Egypt around 3,000 BCE.
The Old and Middle Stone Ages covered a span of hundreds of thousands of years, but we know relatively little about the people that inhabited Egypt at the time. A drastically changed landscape means that much has been lost, much has been buried. The deserts were not deserts, but savannahs filled with water, vegetation and wild animals. The Nile and the Delta looked very different than they do today; changes in the flow of the river have drowned many of the prehistoric settlements in mud and silt. And because we’re not talking about temples and tombs, all those little fragments of our history are that much harder to find.
What we have found though, tells the story of mankind as it evolved from a migratory animal into a settled one. It tells of how we evolved from hunters and gatherers, into farmers, warriors, clans and communities. It shows how our tools evolved alongside us, becoming more and more sophisticated as our brains became more developed, more complex.
Clapper (ancient percussion instrument) discovered in Maadi - Image Credit
By the time we reach the Neolithic Age, around 6,000 years ago, we begin to see much more advanced cultures. We start to see evidence of weaving, of religion and trade. We see more refined art and music. We begin to see the precursors to the ancient Egyptian civilization we all know so well.
In Lower Egypt, distinct cultures began to form in Fayoum, Maadi, and in the Delta. Further south lived the Tasian and Badarian cultures, and more significantly, the Naqada culture, where we really start to see the building blocks of the great civilization that was to follow. The Naqada culture was so vast, compared to those that came before it, that archaeologists and historians divide it into three sub-periods: the Amratian and Gerzean, both named after the sites where they were discovered, and the Protodynastic period, during which Egypt was finally unified and the first evidence of hieroglyphics began to emerge.
Naqada figure of a woman interpreted to represent the goddess Bat - Image Credit
Unlike the more ancient communities, a lot remains of the Naqada cultures. Some spectacular pieces of pottery have been found and now lie in museums and collections around the world. We begin to see more elaborate burial rituals develop, with larger tombs that are thought to have belonged to a new, elite ruling class. Trade became more common and extended its reaches further and further, even across the Red Sea.
Cities, were forming, and with them came more elaborate housing; what was once built out of reeds was now built out of mud brick. Metals like copper started to appear in tools and in jewelry, both of which were becoming more and more ornate. Irrigation technology began to appear and nautical navigation was becoming more accessible. The very first Egyptian kings were born, alongside them, the first royal cemeteries. And of course, with the Kings came the formation of states, and with the formation of states came war.
Thinis, Naqada and Nekhen were the three main states of Upper Egypt, formed after countless wars and conquests between the smaller communities that lined the Nile. Eventually, they too would go to war with each other, with the Thinites conquering the Naqada and most likely merging with Nekhen. The unification of Egypt had already begun, but it was Narmer, the first of the Egyptian pharaohs, who carried the country into the age of dynasties. The beginning of his reign in 3100 BCE marks the point in Egypt’s timeline where our prehistoric age comes to an end; and the rest, as they say, is history.