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Chronicle I of XIV

Prehistoric Egypt

Kemet

Before the pharaohs: Nile hunters, Nabta Playa, and the cultures that became Egypt.

Span
before c. 3100 BCE
Entries
9
  1. 400,000 BC

    Lower PalaeolithicCultural

    Acheulean hunters of the Nile valley

    Bands of early humans range along the terraces of the Nile and the springs of the Western Desert, leaving behind the symmetrical Acheulean hand-axes that mark the oldest human presence in Egypt.

  2. 13,400 BC

    Late PalaeolithicMilitary

    The cemetery of Jebel Sahaba

    On the east bank of the Nile in Nubia, hunter-gatherers bury their dead in an organised cemetery; many of the skeletons bear arrowhead wounds, evidence of some of the earliest known human conflict.

  3. 7000 BC

    Saharan NeolithicReligious

    Cattle herders of Nabta Playa

    In a seasonal lake basin of the Western Desert, pastoral communities herd cattle, dig deep wells, and store grain, building one of the earliest organised societies in north-eastern Africa.

  4. 5500 BC

    NeolithicCultural

    Farming villages of the Faiyum and Merimde

    As the Sahara dries, communities settle along the Nile and the Faiyum lake, cultivating wheat and barley, herding sheep and goats, and weaving the first Egyptian villages from reed and mud.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3
  5. 4400 BC

    Predynastic EgyptCultural

    The Badarian culture of Upper Egypt

    Around El-Badari in Upper Egypt, a refined farming culture produces thin rippled pottery, ivory and slate ornaments, and carefully arranged burials that hint at growing belief in an afterlife.

  6. 4000 BC

    Naqada I (Amratian)Cultural

    Rise of the Naqada culture

    Centred on the great Upper Egyptian towns of Naqada, Hierakonpolis, and Abydos, the Amratian culture spreads a shared style of red-painted pottery, figurines, and decorated palettes along the Nile.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 2
  7. 3500 BC

    Naqada II (Gerzean)Political

    Towns, trade, and the first kings

    Hierakonpolis swells into a true town with a temple and elite cemeteries, long-distance trade reaches Mesopotamia and the Levant, and powerful chiefs begin to fashion the symbols of Egyptian kingship.

  8. 3250 BC

    Naqada III (Dynasty 0)Cultural

    The dawn of writing at Abydos

    In the royal tomb U-j at Abydos, bone and ivory tags incised with the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphic signs record goods and place-names, marking the birth of writing in the Nile valley.

    Meanwhile, elsewhere · 3

  9. 1 more entry, to 3100 BC