Egypt Prehistory

By | January 3, 2022

The news about the earliest times are not too abundant, but thanks to systematic research they have become more precise in recent years. It seems that, until the Pleistocene, the equatorial Nile was held back by strong rocky barriers, forming another system with large lakes. The frequent upheavals of the ground, which are characteristic of that geological period, and the increased atmospheric precipitation broke the equilibrium, one or more times; and the waters poured impetuously up the slope, sweeping the lakes formed downstream and digging a deep bed. When the flood and speed failed, the river began to recede, leaving several successive terraces before setting its current course. The most ancient testimonies of men are also in Egypt, those rudimentary flakes of etched flint which are designated with the name of eoliths; and they found themselves at the mouth of the valleys at el-Wādiyein (el-Qurnah of Thebes), at Wādī Abū Girwah (between Armant and esh-Shaghab), at ‛Izbet el-Wus (at esh-Shaghab), at el- Khawī (near el-Kāb) and several times at ‛Abbāsiyyah, a suburb of Cairo, where they were recently detected in the deeper layers. In this place it was also possible to establish the succession of the three industries of the lower Paleolithic: Chelléan, Aheulean, Mousterian, which were later traced in the terraces: the Chelléano at about 30 m., The Aceulean at 15, a first Mousterian type among the 9-7 m., Another, between 4.50-3 m. These artifacts are attributed to the Riss-Wurm interglacial and the Middle Quaternary Wurm (Mousterian) glaciation. The upper Paleolithic, similar to that of “Capsian” North Africa, it was studied in Sabīl (north of Kōm Ombō); the last phase is constituted by the microliths, whose main stations are Ḥelwān and Abū Ghālib (in the western Delta margin). We can not guess anything of the associated life of those times; the laboratories and the development of industries on the same site make it clear that there are no stray individuals, but sedentary groups. The oldest Neolithic is for now el-‛Omarī (north of Ḥelwān), a shepherds’ camp with their laboratory and a necropolis; they owned pottery, saws, sickles, rasps, scrapers to work the hides. Somewhat later is that of Fayyūm, which shows a uniform layer of civilization, whose residents lived by hunting, fishing, but were farmers at the same time (wheat is not the alleged Triticum dicoccoides) and owned domestic animals (ox, goat, sheep, pig). Benī Salāmah (Merinde) in the Western Delta also goes back to this age. The objects found sporadically at the apex of the Delta Turah and el-Gīzah are ascribed to a later date. For Egypt history, please check areacodesexplorer.com.

The discovery of metals marks a milestone in the archaeological sequela; the period that begins with them bears the name of “predynastic”. It seems to span no less than two thousand years. The numerous necropolises and traces of villages dating back to this period (explored especially in Upper Egypt) gave us a detailed vision of the high degree of development that the country had reached at that time. The ceramics and stone furnishings amaze with their unsurpassed perfection. Writing dates back to this age and has already passed the ideographic stage and represents the elementary sounds of the language, the alphabet. Then the solar calendar of 365 days was also elaborated, divided into months and seasons. The unity of this culture, from the Paleolithic to historical time, the peculiarity of every aspect, they exclude that other alien civilizations have had any influence on that of the Nile valley. The alleged conquest of Egypt by the Semites, which no tradition and no document supports, is to be considered as a hasty hypothesis made by philologists to explain the presence of Semitic words in the most ancient Egyptian language. Since these words are (much more than previously thought), not cultural loans, but the very foundation of the linguistic heritage, it must be deduced that Hamites and Semites in prehistory formed a unity, which only in Africa could find its site.

The political movement from which the Egyptian nation arose is traceable only to the age closest to history. In Upper Egypt a kingdom with capital N ḫ en (Hieraconpolis, today’s Kōm el-Ahmar) had been established and a king also dominated the Delta from Ṣ eb ‛ éwe (Tell el-Farā‛īn) by the lake el-Burullus. It is a pretext that there were differences in civilization between the two states; but certainly Lower Egypt enjoyed greater fertility and therefore greater wealth. This could be one of the reasons why he solicited the greed of the southerners. After various alternatives, the final victory remained with these. The two kingdoms never got confused, they united only in the person of the pharaoh; it must be deduced that a long course of time had created in the two states feelings and interests in such strong contrast that the victor was unable to destroy the tradition of the vanquished and the latter was unable to assimilate the ruler.

Egypt Prehistory