Overview

Egyptology Lesson 2: Pre-Dynastic Overview

Modern day Egypt is 90% desert, however this was not always the case. During the Paleolithic Period the land surrounding the Nile valley was thick with vegettion and an abundance of animals. Around 5000BC the was a climate change and as the land dried out and became desert, the people of this area moved closer to the Nile Valley.

Neolithic Period

This represents the Period 500BC to around 4000BC, during this period cattle and animals were domesticated, and the hunter lifestyle was replaced by that of agriculture and the growing of crops. One of their first needs would be the building of canals to flood and irrigate the cultivated land during the annual Inundation of the Nile. It is also during this time that we start to see evidence of relgious and funerary beliefs in a life after death.

Major Periods

Badarian - 5000BC
Naqada I (Amratian) - 3400BC
Naqada II (Gerzean) - 3400BC - 3100BC
Unification of Egypt - 3100BC

Inundation of The Nile

The annual Inundation of the Nile is due to the rains in Eythopia and was a feature of the Nile Valley culture until the building of the High Dam at Aswan in the 1970's. Each year the floods would reach Aswan around late June and lasted a period of 4 months, with river levels being at their lowest during April. As the land was flooded, the black silt would be deposited on the farm lands.

The Two Lands

As well as dividing the land of Egypt into Upper (The White Land) and Lower Egypt (the Red Land) Kingdoms, there was also the division of the land in terms of cultivated areas and the desert surrounding it. The Black Land (Kemet) was the cultivated land, and is associated with life and the desert (Deshret) the Red Land (not to be confused with the political entity) as a place of death.

There was also a further divison of East and West, the west was the land of the dead. The divisions deeply affected the culture and beliefs of the early Ancient Egyptians.

Snippets

kmt - Kemet

Kemet was the name given by the Ancient Egyptians to Egypt. It is traditionally used to mean the Black Land, meaning the black silt deposited by the annual Innundation of the Nile. However more Afrocentric scholars, are using the term to mean Black City indicating the colour of the people who inhabited the Nile Valley.