Egypt before pyramids 2800-AKEGYPT

1. Introduction: Egypt Before History
– Definitions of prehistory and protohistory
– Sources: material culture, settlement archaeology, bioarchaeology
– Environmental and geographical background
– The Nile Valley and deserts
– Holocene climate change
– Resources, ecology, and their impact on settlement patterns

2. Chronologies and Key Terminology
- Petrie, Kaiser, Hendricks, Köhler
- Seriation

3. The Paleolithic in Egypt
– Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic cultures in the Nile Valley and oases
– Sites: Nazlet Khater, Kom Ombo, Taramsa Hill
– Environment and adaptation strategies

4. Neolithic Communities in the Nile Delta
– Sites: Merimde Beni Salama, Fayum A, El-Omari
– Economy: agriculture, fishing, hunting, storage systems
– Architecture and domestic life

5. Neolithic and Early Pastoralism in the Western Desert
– Sites: Nabta Playa, Bir Kiseiba, Gebel Ramlah, Gilf Kebir
– Ceremonial structures, calendar circles, cattle burials
– Relations with the Nile Valley

6. Badarian Culture: Beginnings of Upper Egyptian Society
– Sites: El-Badari, Mostagedda, Hammamiya
– Pottery, grave goods, early status differentiation
– Environmental adaptations

7. Naqada I: Cultural Consolidation in Upper Egypt
– Sites: Naqada, el-Amra, Hierakonpolis
– Regional styles, mortuary practices, symbolic items (masks, figurines)

8. Lower Egyptian Pathways
– Sites: Maadi, Buto, Tell el-Farkha, Tell Iswid
– Architecture, foreign contacts (Levant), copper
– Distinct cultural traits vs. Upper Egypt

9. Naqada II: The Rise of Complexity in Upper Egypt
– Sites: Hierakonpolis, Abydos, el-Gerza
– Funerary complexity, elite symbolism (decorated palettes, maces)
– Temple foundations, early writing

10. Art and Symbolism in the Predynastic Period
– Iconography on pottery and palettes, combs etc.
– Animal symbolism, kingship motifs
– Changing visual language from Naqada I to III

11. Craft, Technology, and Trade
– Lithic industries, metallurgy, stone
– Pottery production and standardization
– Long-distance trade with Nubia, Levant

12. Settlement Organization and Early Administration
– Urbanism in Elephantine, Hierakonpolis, Tell el-Farkha
– Evidence for elites, storage, planning
– Proto-writing and administrative tools

13. Religious and Funerary Practices
– Cemeteries and mortuary diversity
– Cults, temples (e.g., HK29A at Hierakonpolis)
– Changes in burial architecture and grave goods

14. Naqada III and the Road to Unification
– Expansion of Naqada culture into the Delta
– Elite cemeteries at Abydos
– Narmer Palette and the first kingship

15. The Formation of the Egyptian State
– The 0 Dynasty and Dynasty I
– Elephantine, Abydos, Tarkhan, Helwan, Saqqara, Buto
– Unification theories
– Long-term legacies of Predynastic cultures in Pharaonic Egypt