• Division of Egyptian prehistory: • Lower Palaeolithic – 700,000-250,000 BP • Middle Palaeolithic – 250,000-50,000 BP • Upper & Late Palaeolithic – 50,0000-10,000 BP • Neolithic - 9,000-4,700 BC (note BP/BC switch!) • Badarian – 4,400-4,000 BC • Naqada I – 4,000-3,500 BC • Naqada II – 3,500-3,200 BC • Naqada III – 3,200-3,000 BC (Dynasty 0) • Archaeological complexes and cultures are ways of defining groups of material (e.g. the Naqada culture)
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Division of Egyptian prehistory: Lower Palaeolithic – 700,000-250,000 BP Middle Palaeolithic – 250,000-50,000 BP Upper & Late Palaeolithic – 50,0000-10,000.
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• Division of Egyptian prehistory:
• Lower Palaeolithic – 700,000-250,000 BP
• Middle Palaeolithic – 250,000-50,000 BP
• Upper & Late Palaeolithic – 50,0000-10,000 BP
• Neolithic - 9,000-4,700 BC (note BP/BC switch!)
• Badarian – 4,400-4,000 BC
• Naqada I – 4,000-3,500 BC
• Naqada II – 3,500-3,200 BC
• Naqada III – 3,200-3,000 BC (Dynasty 0)
• Archaeological complexes and cultures are ways of defining groups of material (e.g. the Naqada culture)
• Prehistoric (predynastic) Egypt
• Environmental conditions variable
• From hyperarid (today!) to less arid, savannah-like conditions (e.g. 9000-4,700 BC)
• Nile also variable – sometimes hospitable, sometimes very fast flowing (Younger Dryas)
• Obscuring the archaeology –
• Nile sediments covering sites
• Nile eroding away archaeological sites
H. Erectus.
Must have been first occupant of Egypt
• Acheulean complex (named after the site in France where first discovered)
• Associated with H. Erectus
• Biface handaxes
• Found in Abydos area, also especially in Nubia
• These dated ca.500,000-300,000/250,000 BP
• Show preparation of foodstuffs (scrapers, cutters)
• Acheulean sites: Kharga, Dakhla, Bir Sahara, Bir Tarfawi
• Climatic conditions much preferable to now (warmer, wetter)
• We can assume the presence of big game animals (and smaller) on the Saharan savannah
• The Middle Palaeolithic (250,000-50,000 BP): the Saharan Mousterian Complex
• Tools made by LEVALLOIS FLAKING from blade cores (improvement on Acheulean)
• Usually associated with H. Sapiens (anatomically modern humans)
• Mousterian sites: again, in Nubia, and the Western Desert
• Climatic conditions similar to Lower Palaeolithic, but perhaps becoming more arid
• Can extrapolate continued food-gathering in the Sahara and in Nubia; use of spears to bring down larger animals?
• Perhaps increasing population? Hard to ascertain in the Nile valley because of Nile erosion/alluviation
• First burial of an Egyptian! Child, ca.55,000 BP at site of Taramsa-1
• What does this indicate?
• Deliberate disposal of the dead and recognition of the change of state