THE WORLD OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Before the Dynastic Periods, before the invention of writing, the mighty Nile coursed its path through the ancient world.  Peoples and places existed in various spots around the globe. The climate differed from that which we know.  When we think of Ancient Egypt, mighty pharaohs and magnificent monuments immediately enter our thoughts.  But how did this great civilization come to be?  To fully answer this question, we must travel back in time farther than one is accustomed to when contemplating this great civilization.  You are invited to take this journey with me, as we explore this forgotten world of Ancient Egypt.
We need to begin in Prehistoric Egypt to understand what made Egypt become the great ancient civilization we love.  And no, by prehistoric, I do NOT mean the time of dinosaurs, the most frequent image that comes to mind when this word is used.  Prehistory simply refers to times before the advent of writing, when history could not be written down.  So, stop imagining dinosaurs napping by the Sphinx.  We are still talking about a large chunk of time, however, and there are two common methods used to help simply this.
In 1806, Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomson devised the “Three Age System,” dividing prehistory into the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.  As inferred by the titles, each age designation is based upon the accomplishments reached by each civilization at different times in their development.  Like growing children, each civilization advanced at its own pace, some zipping through certain “ages,” while others even skipped an age.  In sub-Saharan Africa, peoples moved from stone to iron tools without an intermediate Bronze.  The Mayan culture in South America had no metal working, so technically they were a Stone Age culture, even though their understanding of mathematics and astronomy was equivalent to Medieval Europe in the 1400s A.D. .                                             
Sometimes, the Age Periods are further divided when lasting an extensively long time, such as the Stone Age for several peoples.  As explained in the Encyclopedia of World History, part 3.f of the introduction, “Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, which applies to societies who used chipped-stone technology; Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) which is a transitional period; and the Neolithic (New Stone Age), when people used polished stone artifacts and were farmers.”  The marvel of the building of the pyramids took several millennia of baby steps to development the knowledge and skills used in their construction.
The favored method of Prehistory classification in use today is based on the societal and political developments of a civilization.  This system can evaluate each on its own merits, rather than technical advances.  This system divides human societies into the categories of Prestate and State-organized societies.
Families started the Prestates, forming into groups of 25 to 60 hunter-gatherers working together.  Clans, related family groups, would join up into tribes, to further the groups success.
These clans were similar to chiefdoms, but less rigid, and smaller in size.  As chiefdoms grew, so did the necessity for formal rules and specific jobs.  
 These state-organized societies were large scale, with a centralized political and social system in place.  There would be an elite ruling group, who often used religion to enforce their power.  These State-organized societies set the stage for Dynastic Egypt.    Now that we have our destination, it is time for our trip to the world of prehistoric Egypt.
Imagine the Sahara Dessert covered in savannah grasslands, with acacia and hackberry trees growing alongside lush riverbanks, clusters of oak and cedar trees standing beside shallow lakes.  Large game, like wooly mammoths and giant sloths, sharing food with herds of reindeer and ostriches.  In the distance, the bellowing of a hippopotamus arguing with a crocodile echoes along the water’s edge.  A Green Sahara. The Nile valley hid under an impassible swamp until 12,000 B.C.. This is neither a dream or an ancient prehistoric memory. This utopia existed as recently as ten to fifteen thousand years ago.  Yet, by only 2,000 years ago, this magnificent Green Sahara had become as dry and desolate as it remains to date.  The last Saharan lake dried out about 1000 B.C. .  This traumatic climate shift began with the ending of the last ice age. The Green Sahara, also known as the African Humid Period, dates from 16,000 to 6,000 years ago.  What happened?
Our planet Earth exists on a Milankovitch Cycle, undergoing an axis change between 22 degrees and 24.5 degrees with regards to its position to the sun.  A change of only 2 ½ degrees,  repeating every 41,000 years sounds rather insignificant, yet the solar radiation emulated by our Sun exerts maximum heat fluctuations, responsible for major climate changes between wet and dry periods on our planet’s surface.  This is called the Holocene Optimum, also known as Hypsithermal or Altithermal Periods. 
 The last major rainy period for northern Africa occurred between 12,000 and 7,000 B.C.,  with both temperatures and rainfall peaking about 9000 B.C., during the most recent Holocene Optimum.  This last Ice Age provided ice caps stretching southward from the Artic, almost to the Mediterranean Sea, before starting to warm up around 11,000 B.C..  With the waters stored in ice sheets, the ocean levels were 300-600 feet lower than now, allowing people to walk from Spain into England, or from Russia into North America.  Every continent, except Antarctica, was inhabited by 10,000 years ago.  Between then and 2,000 B.C., the majority of the five to ten million people on this planet remained Nomadic hunter-gatherers, yet by 8,000 B.C., they had begun to establish settlements in both the Old and New Worlds.  How and when did the swamp-like Nile Valley become inhabited?  Let’s shed some literal light on the subject.
The earliest people on this planet dealt with a cold, dark environment, until about 460,000 years ago, when someone in China began making use of fire.  In Israel’s Qesem Cave, evidence of controlled fire dates usage back three-to-four hundred thousand years ago.  And in South Africa’s Wonderweek Cave, charcoal fragments have been dated back to Homo erectus some 1.5 million years ago.  This find centers around a debate over whether this was actually a controlled fire or from a natural event, such as a lightning strike. This early use of fire allowed people to keep warm, cook food, and move out of the restricted environmental sites of cave dwelling.  The first Homo sapiens, Neanderthal man, appeared 150,000 years ago.  Modern man, Homo sapiens, Latin for “wise or clever man,” arrived about 40,000 years ago. They were responsible for the first known burial rituals, occurring in Australia (Fig. 1).  Homo sapiens also introduced the use of small stone tools, documented from Israel, about this same time.
Man began to rapidly evolve.  Burial of artifacts with the dead dates back 25,000 years, along with art and music. The bow and arrow developed in southern and eastern Africa about 20,000 years ago, with a tribe of hunter-gathers settling in Zaire around 18,000 years ago. With the advent of the Africa Humid Period (the Green Sahara) about 16,000 B.C., the world stage was set for the development of agriculture.
Figure 1 Australia
            Figure 2 Mesopotamia

Figure 3 Catalhoyuk


Figure 4 Indus Valley  


Man also began domesticating animals, beginning with the humble dog, around 15,000 B.C.. This new friend helped protect crops, as well as provide companionship. Tools from Nile campsites, along with sickle blades from Mesopotamia (Fig 2), both date to this period. In France, the fascinating Lascaux Cave Paintings (Figs. 5 & 6) were created. By 13,000 B.C., wild wheat fields were being harvested. Flint blades used for reaping, dating to 12,000 B.C., have been discovered near the Nile. While Egypt planted wheat, Mesopotamia grew barley, and in China, millet predated rice by several thousand years. This worldwide agricultural revolution coincided with the last major rainy period, from 12,000 to 7,000 B.C., which peaked about 9,000 B.C.. By 10,000 B.C., Palestine and Syria used grain pits for storing their harvest, and grindstones to make flour.

LASCAUX CAVE PAINTINGS       
                                 Figure 5 Horse      

Figure 6 Cow


In Catalhoyuk, Anatolia, Turkey (Figs. 3, 7, & 8), the first permanent settlement anywhere was started in 9400 B.C., where they herded cattle and cultivated crops by 8,000 B.C. . Hunter-gatherers established camp to the east of the future site of Jericho about 9,000 B.C. and founded Jericho as the first walled town in the world within 500 years (Figs 9 & 10).. By 8,000 B.C., Jericho covered approximately 10 acres, with from 1500 to 3000 residents, and built a stone tower for protection.

CATALHUYAK, TURKEY   


   Figure 7 Seated Mother Goddess   

Figure 8 Shrine of the Bulls


By 8,000 B.C., the worldwide decrease in rainfall helped fuel the move from hunter-gatherers to farming and animal husbandry. Pigs were domesticated by 9,000 B.C., and cattle, goats, and sheep by 8,000 B.C.. Some theorize that over-grazing by flocks may have contributed to arid conditions in the Sahara. Falling rain levels, increased temperatures, and lack fertile land began funneling peoples of the Sahara towards the Nile valley. Between 7300 to 5500 years ago, the retreating monsoons in Africa also allowed the Nile swamp to become a much more hospitable place. As the climate continued to dry, agriculture flourished, not only along the Nile, but also in the Fertile Cresent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Fig. 2). Jarmo, in northern Iraq, had a population of about 150 by 7,000 B.C.. Many pottery shards come from this site. Within 500 years, pots were being painted with various decorations. The Egyptians added glazing techniques to pottery making around 4000 B.C., with the proper combination of sand, potash, and soda. Their popular deep blue coloring was achieved with the addition of copper salts.

By 6,000 B.C., the climate had reached near modern conditions. Due to the rise in sea levels, Britain became an island. Thailand busily cultivated rice, while the Nile concentrated on wheat and barley. Egyptian skills in basket and rope making, along with matting for sitting and burials, had been perfected, along with some fabrics. The weaving loom was invented by 5,000 B.C., and flax, used to weave most clothing, became predominate around 3,000 B.C.

A drought, occurring about 5,500 years ago, helped Lower Egypt unite to protect the remaining resources, whereas the Urak society, in Iraq, collapsed. Due to the development of a sophisticated irrigation system, Egypt rebounded with the planting of barley and seed grasses in the Nile valley by 5200 B.C., using barley to produce bread and beer. Farming and animal husbandry were equally important, as all large game except reindeer, like the mammoth and giant sloth, were long since extinct. Fish became another important food source, supplied by the Nile.

Figure 9 Mesopotamia & Near East

         Figure 10 Farming at Jericho


Worldwide changes accelerated around 5,000 B.C.. The land bridge between France and England submerged and the first metal tools came into use. People settled into the Indus River valley (Fig. 4), and the Nubian civilization developed. Sumerians settled in Iraq and developed the first system of writing. The Yangshao culture gained strength in China, as did their skills with painted pottery and the cultivation of rice. Mexican cultures grew corn, which became a staple of the American diets. By 4500 B.C., Egypt had settlements in the valley at Badaria, Merimda in the Delta, and at Faiyum (Fig. 16). The first city-state, Sumer (Fig. 9), rose on the Mesopotamian flood plain by 4300 B.C.. And the first date for the Egyptian calendar, equivalent to 4,236 B.C., was recorded. Progress slowed to a halt with a huge drought 4,200 years ago. This major change in usable farm land to the growing desert became a major factor in the development of early civilizations alongside the river valleys; life required water.


Figure 11  Naqada I PeriodMud Statuette of WomanBlack Topped Redware JarFlint Knife

Figure 12  Naqada II PeriodJar with Painted BoatsModel Boat  c. 3650-3300 BC.




Favorable climates developed with the return monsoons occurred between 4000 and 3600 B.C.. The world resumed building, including great megaliths. The first use of the plow occured in 4000 B.C., and the first wheels began rolling around 3500 B.C.. Britain started farming and Hal-Saflieni rose on Malta. Naqada I (Fig. 11) was built north of what would become Thebes, Egypt. In 3500 B.C., Naquada II (Fig. 12) was constructed, which would become the foundation of the Egyptian state. Copper use began in Thailand, and Peru put llamas to use as pack animals. And of great significance, Sumer, located between the Tigris and Euphrates, produced the first food surplus in history.

By 3,000 B.C., weights and measures had become standardized in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Egypt became proficient in the Science of Survey, while the first of three constructions. at Stonehedge (Figs. 13 & 14) began. Then, drought. Ugarit fell. Famine plagued Babylon (Fig. 9) and Syria. Egypt faired better than most, due to their studies of the cycles of the Nile.


Figure 13 Stonehenge Construction
  Using Tongue and Groove Joints.

                       Figure 14 Stonehenge Today.



Ahket (inundation) occurred from June through September. This also corresponded to the hot season of Egypt. No farming occurred during this time frame, as the fields were flooded. Next, came Peret, the growing season, from October through February. As the Nile return to normal levels, much of its precious water had been channeled into a now extensive irrigation system. Finally, the season of Shemu, the harvest, from March into May.

    Figure 15 Shadu System for Transferring Water from Well to Irrigation Ditch




Each season required social organization for the work assignments. Dikes and irrigation canals had to be built (Fig 15). The water levels required monitoring. Planting and harvesting crews needed to be scheduled. Communications along the Nile were essential. All the efforts to control the Nile developed a huge work force to be fed and paid. Intra-structures to manage and maintain this force became more and more elaborate. Egypt’s dependence on the Nile forged a need for political consolidation to manage this huge and vital resource. The period of Dynastic Egypt had arrived.


            Figure 16
           MAP OF
     PREDYNASTIC
      EGYPT


             

Written by

Cathe Beebe, A.A., B.S.



April 19, 2018


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