Late Pre-
dynastic
(sequence-
dates 50 to
70);
10 TH E ANCIENT RACES OF TH E THEBAID
ethnological point of view. If it should appear that there are real ethnological differences
between the earliest Predynastic and the First Dynasty, it will be reasonable to analyse
the racial characteristics of the intervening period. If, on the other hand, no race
differences can be detected between the representatives of the two most strongly contrasted
phases of the Archaic civilization, it is highly improbable that they will be found
where die cultural affinities are so much closer. What is named the Late Predynastic
period is then merely the development and extension of the Early Predynastic. It is the
same life, but fuller and wider. There is a perceptible increase in wealth and luxury; one
or two new manufactures are introduced, and of those which have already been established
some are carried to their culminating perfection, while others are forgotten or disused.
The manufacture of pottery, for instance, gradually deteriorates. The haematitic wares
especially fall into disfavour; for the black-bordered variety is gradually abandoned, and
the white-ornamented pottery is no longer used, while the polished red enjoys indeed
a brief popularity but is eventually ousted by inferior fabrics. The pottery with red
painted designs is abundant however, and the wavy-handled jars for scented fat or palm
011 are at first carefully, and artistically made. It is about halfway through the period
that decadence begins, and between sequence-dates 60 and 70 only three kinds of ware
occur in any considerable quantity. These are the painted vases, from which the finer
and more elaborate designs have now disappeared; the wavy-handled vases, in which
the ornamental ledges are rapidly degenerating into mere excrescences roughly pitted with
the finger; and a plain smooth-faced pottery, which replaces for all common purposes the
rough-faced vessels of the earlier period.
On the other hand, the working of stone vases only attains its highest perfection
towards the close of the earlier period, and is maintained at the same level until the First
Dynasty, while the very finest of the flint implements are not found before the beginning
of the Late Predynastic. It is the more remarkable that precisely at this stage metal
begins to become abundant, and copper daggers are used which are indistinguishable in
form from the earliest Cypriote types. In regard to personal ornaments it may be
observed that ivory carving is less sedulously practised; but otherwise there is no considerable
change, though some new materials, such as turquoise and amethyst, are
introduced into the bead manufacture.
Before leaving the Predynastic period particular attention must be directed to the
extent of the commerce which this early people maintained. Their gold, and much of
their ivory, must have come from Nubia; garnets could not be found nearer than
Abyssinia, and the turquoises were no doubt brought from the mines of Sinai. Their
copper was imported from Sinai or Cyprus; and it has been remarked in connexion with
the pottery that they must have kept up an intercourse with widely distant points
of the Mediterranean, alike in the east and in the west. So early an establishment of
trade-routes is in itself a fact no less interesting than unexpected; but, further, it is to the
exigencies of commerce that the curious Mediterranean ‘ signary ’ owed its origin.
This is composed of certain linear signs, which there is reason to believe form part of
a common system which was diffused over Caria and Crete, North Africa and Iberia.
As it appears in Egypt only in the form of isolated marks scratched upon the pottery
the ‘ signary 1 defies interpretation, and little assistance is afforded by the very much
later variants of it which have survived elsewhere. But its mere existence is important
as indicating that even before the advent of hieroglyphs the different dwellers on the
shores of the Mediterranean could communicate without the use of speech.
T he F irst D ynasty (from sequence-date 70 or a little before 4800 b. c. to 4500 b.c.).
The subject of writing naturally recalls the great innovation which accompanies
the transition from the Predynastic to the Protodynastic, namely, the introduction of
hieroglyphs. Whether hieroglyphs were altogether unknown in the latest Predynastic
time is not quite certain; but, from the entire absence of any inscribed objects in all
the hundreds of tombs known as earlier than sequence-date 60, there is the strongest
reason for believing that at least in the early Predynastic period no script existed
other than the rude signary described in the last paragraph. It is then a very remarkable
circumstance that no sooner has the First Dynasty begun than hieroglyphic writing
appears, and that too as an already matured system. Of its origins and embryonic
stages no trace has as yet been found in Egypt, so that it is impossible to resist the
conclusion that it was adopted, if not actually borrowed, from a system already
elaborated by some more inventive nation. As the only country which has hitherto
yielded evidence of a civilization in any degree comparable is Mesopotamia, it is
reasonable in the present state of knowledge to consider that the Egyptian hieroglyphic
script originated in the same region as the Cuneiform.
The cultural revolution implied in this innovation was contemporary with political
changes of no less magnitude. The establishment of the First Dynasty is a great
landmark. Hitherto there had been no kings of Egypt; there may have been local
chieftains, but they have left no indisputable proof of their existence, though it is
natural to identify them with the owners of some exceptionally rich Predynastic tombs.
But in the First Dynasty there are kings who describe themselves as rulers of Upper
and Lower Egypt, who possess palaces, a court and a staff of officials, and who bear
the titles and use the royal insignia familiar in the later historic records. Whether
the consolidation of government proceeded from within, or was violently effected by
foreign invaders, is a question which must be examined in the light of our anthropometrical
data, for archaeological considerations cannot determine it. In either case, however, the
new order cannot have been produced without warfare and the subjugation of rival
claimants; so that when the pictorial records show one king or another in the act of
chastising his foes, it is at least as likely that the vanquished are actually Egyptians
as that they are the inhabitants of neighbouring lands. For the archaeology of the
First Dynasty there are two sources of information, which are of very different value.
These are respectively the tomb-equipment of private individuals from the lesser
cemeteries of El-Amrah, Hou, and Abydos; and the relics of regal magnificence from
the Royal Tombs of Abydos and the temple site of Hierakonpolis.
The private tombs of the First Dynasty differ in construction from those of the
preceding period. The Late Predynastic graves resemble the earlier in being mere
hollows sunk in the rock, though the shallow round holes have been abandoned in
favour of the more roomy oblong and oval pits, with or without a rock recess. But
in the First Dynasty a great improvement was introduced by the employment of brick ;
and at El-Amrah the most characteristic tombs of this date were walled quadrangular
chambers, sunk indeed below the surface of the ground, but still buildings in embryo.
As more care was given to details the walls were by degrees more carefully laid, the
dimensions of the chamber were enlarged, and offering-recesses were added, until the
perfected form reproduced all the essential features of the Royal Tombs of Abydos,
c 2
The First
Dynasty
(from
sequence-
date 70 or
a little before
4800 B.C. to
4500 B.C.).