The Prehistory of Egypt

This books covers the history of the Nile Valley from Nubia to the Mediterranean, during the period from the earliest hominid settlement, around 700,000 BC to the beginnings of dynastic Egypt at the end of the fourth millennium BC. Illustrations.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

Translator's Note.

Introduction.

Part I: The Land of Egypt:.

1. Between the River and the Desert.

Part II: The Palaeolithic Period: .

2. The Earliest Evidence for Humans in the Nile Valley.

3. The Beginnings of Cultural Diversity.

4. Diversity or Nilotic Adaptation.

Part III: The Neolithic Period:.

5. The Process of 'Neolithicization'.

6. The Neolithic Period (Fifth Millennium BC).

Part IV: The Approach to the Pharaonic Period (Fourth Millennium BC): .

7. The Predynastic Period (c. 4000-3000 BC).

8. The First Pharaohs and the Unification of the Two Lands.

Conclusion.

Appendix 1: Relative Chronology and the Traditional Dating Systems.

Appendix 2: 'Absolute Dates'.

Glossary.

Abbreviations.

Bibliography.

Index.

"Egyptologists frequently have little understanding of the prehistoric past, especially the paleolithic periods, and it is commendable that Midant-Reynes has included this overview." International Journal of African Historical Studies

"... integrate[s] the prehistory of Egypt and Nubia through into the (Egyptian) Unification period, thus investigating the entire united Nile region and its flanking deserts in a logical but rarely encountered attempt to develop a cohesive picture ... In this the book succeeds admirably." Journal of African History

The author, Béatrix Midant-Reynes, is Head of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Toulouse (Centre d’Anthropologie, Université Paul Sabatier). She is also editor of Archéonil (a journal dedicated to the study of prehistoric Egypt and Nubia) and Director of the excavations at the Predynastic site of Adaïma (on behalf of IFAO). In 1986 she was Humbolt Stipendiatin in Staatliche Sammlung Ágyptischer Kunst’ in Munich.

The translator, Ian Shaw, is lecturer in Egyptian archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. He is the author of Ancient Egyptian Warfare and Weapons (1991), co-author of The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (with Nicholson, 1995) and co-editor of The Dictionary of Archaeology (with Jameson: Blackwell, 1998) and Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology (with Nicholson, 1999). He also translated Nicolas Grimal’s A History of Ancient Egypt (Blackwell, 1992).

This book covers the prehistory of the Nile Valley from Nubia to the Mediterranean, during the period from the earliest hominid settlement, around 700,000 BC, to the beginnings of dynastic Egypt at the end of the fourth millennium BC. The author explores the prehistoric foundations pf many of the cultural traditions of Pharaonic Egypt.

The book focuses primarily on the fifteen millennia from 18,000 to 3,000 BC, when different cultures can be identified and the earliest forms of agriculture traced with some detail. Textile and ceramic production began at the end of the seventh millennium and were deployed with great skill and considerable sophistication by the beginning of the Predynastic Period at around 4,500 BC. By the Early Dynastic Period much that is considered characteristic of Ancient Egypt, such as cosmology and burial rites, was already established tradition.

This account of prehistoric Egypt will be welcomed as an outstanding narrative, combining both scholarship and accessibility.