Egyptian Civilization

Late Predynastic Period:

The late predynastic period of ancient Egypt covers the Gerzean or Naqada II phase dated
between 3500-3200 BC. The social differentiation becomes even more apparent in the
mortuary record of Upper Egypt. A large grave in Matmar contained a mace head made
of Travertine, a very rare occurrence in the predynastic phase. Few of other graves in
Matmar and Armant of Naqada II phase reveal a complex social stratification than ever
before. Country-wide, the wealth of burials increases in the Naqada II period, both in
terms of the number of objects interred with the deceased and their costliness. Thus, in
the predynastic cemetery at el-Amra, graves of Naqada II were commonly furnished with
palettes, jewellery and items made from prestige materials such as ivory, lapis lazuli,
copper, silver and gold.
Elaborate child burials point to a ranked society with inherited status. The wealthiest
early grave in the Tort cemetery in Hierakonpolis – a cemetery representing the local
population from which the elite had already been separated, to be buried in discrete areas
– was identified as belonging to a child. The artefacts in the grave included 24 pottery
vessels, palettes and copper objects. As Egypt progressed on the path of statehood, social
distinctions became greater and these became increasingly explicit in the mortuary
record. By the end of the predynastic period, local elites – now royal families in every
sense – had successfully monopolized the economic resources in their territories to such
an extent that they were able to command sufficient labour to construct monumental
tombs. Moreover, they could call upon the services of professional administrators to
obtain prestige goods from abroad by long-distance trade, and employed skilled
craftsmen to manufacture further elaborate grave goods.
The birth of the Egyptian state with its rigid hierarchies can therefore be charted in the
growing differentiation and elaboration of mortuary provision. Painted tombs in
Hierakonpolis and decorated ware potteries of Naqada II culture are symptomatic of the
social stratification during the late predynastic period. Until the beginning of the Naqada
II period, pottery in the Nile valley was made exclusively from alluvial clays. Making
pottery from the alluvial clays required low degree of technical skills and equipments.
Most of the pottery from Badarian and Amratian sites was probably made in this small-
scale way. The specialist workshops for pottery production became much more common
from the beginning of the Naqada II period. The period was marked by the advent of a
more complex ceramic technology, producing vessels of a new and distinctive type. Pots
made from desert or marl clays require much more controlled firing conditions than
vessels made from alluvial clays. The appearance of decorated ware – made from marl
clay – in the ceramic repertoire of Upper Egypt represents a major technological advance,
one which seems to have been made possible by the increasing activity of specialist
potters.

Key Localities:

Four sites represent the concentration of the economic and political power that was to
characterize the formation of the state in Egyptian civilization:
a) Naqada
b) Hierakonpolis
c) Qustul in Lower Nubia
d) Abydos

The site of Naqada has given its name to the predynastic material culture of Upper Egypt
as a whole. Since the name for Naqada in historic times was Nubt, ‘the city of gold’, it is
possible that the site’s early prosperity was founded on this precious commodity,
available at various sites in the eastern desert and no doubt traded throughout predynastic
Egypt. By Naqada II period, the local ruling class had grown wealthy and differentiated
themselves increasingly from the general population. This is most noticeable in the
mortuary sphere, elite burials being located in a separate cemetery. Cemeteries containing
a large number of brick lined tombs, and furnished with abundant grave goods, many of
them in prestige materials are discovered in the Naqada site. Judging from the size and
splendour of their burials, the predynastic rulers of Naqada seem to have controlled a
territory of some size, perhaps amounting to a ‘kingdom’. The importance of Naqada and
its ruling family in the process of state formation is highlighted by the construction of
two royal tombs to the south of the predynastic necropolis at the very beginning of the
First Dynasty. One of these belonged to Queen Neith-hotep, probably wife of Narmer,
who may have been a descendant of the predynastic rulers of Naqada. Moreover, the
local god of Naqada, Seth, was closely associated with the kingship in Early Dynastic
times, being one of the two deities embodied in the person of the king. Hence, a title
borne by First Dynasty queens was ‘she who sees Horus-and-Seth’. Naqada may have
played a key role in the political consolidation of Upper Egypt the preceded the
unification of the whole country.
A large predynastic settlement of Hierakonpolis represents extensive cemeteries and a
concentration of elite burials in one of the cemetery. Like Naqada, Hierakonpolis
benefitted from access to the mineral resources on the eastern desert. Close contacts with
Lower Nubia may have given the rulers of Hierakonpolis control of, or at least access to,
lucrative trade routes connecting Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa, whilst a broad expanse
of cultivable land provided the necessary base for a growing population and an expanding
sector of non-productive specialists. It was here that Egypt’s first historic kings
(‘Scorpion’ and Narmer) dedicated votive palettes and maceheads, to honour the local
god, Horus of Nekhen. In common with the Seth of Naqada, the close identification of
Horus of Nakhen with divine kingship emphasizes the important role played by
Hierakonpolis and its rulers in the process of state formation, and in the formulation of
kingship ideology.