The Periods of Egyptian History

The Periods of Egyptian History

Ancient Egyptian History has been divided into a number of main periods which can be summarized as follows:

               Period                                                                   Date

Dawn of Predynastic Period                                               undated

Predynastic Period                                                              ended about 3200 B.C.

Dynastic Period                                                                   3200 B.C. to 332 B.C.

It must be noted that there was never any clear-cut line of demarcation, and customs overlapped from one age to another.

Dawn of the Predynastic Period

This period includes both the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods.

1- The Paleolithic Period:

This period is also called the “age of chipped stone”, during which man, still ignorant of metal, made for himself implements of hard stone, preferably of flint. During this period, the duration of which cannot be defined with any certainty but which possibly continued for many thousands of years, there was heavy rainfall all over Egypt and the present desert was forest and grassland, over which wandered herds of wild animals. The Nile was much larger than now. Neither the habitations, nor the grave of these people have been discovered, and all that remains of them are the large numbers of characteristic flint weapons and implements, with which they could hunt and fight. The paleolothic man in Egypt, as in all the other inhabited parts of the world at that time, must have been essentially a hunter, depending largely for food upon the animals he killed, supplemented by certain fruits, seeds and roots he found growing wild. He was therefore a wanderer                 and a food gatherer.

                                       

2- The Neolithic Period:

Also called the “age of polished stone”, owing to the fact that the inhabitants, at that time, had improved their tools and weapons, polished their surfaces and shaped their axes and arrow-heads with great skill. During this period, the rainfall gradually became less and the land, at a distance from the valley, gradually dried up into desert. This drying up forced the inhabitants to live nearer to the Nile Valley which was very near to what it is now and the Fayum lake, and there, agriculture was discovered, that is to say, someone found out that a constant supply of grain (barley and wheat) which they had been accustomed to gather from wild crops, and which sometimes failed, might be assured by sowing. Agriculture, however, anchors man to one locality and makes a permanent hunting life unnecessary.

When some of the inhabitants settled in one place, needs would arise that were not felt before and had to be satisfied. Thus shelters from the weather would be built, wicker work baskets and eartneware or stone pots would be made as containers for grain and water respectively, sleeping mats would be plaited, cloth would be woven, food would be cooked and animals would be tamed, and others bred, in order to secure a constant supply of meat and skin. All these needs necessitated the invention of some of the primitive industries such as making and shaping pottery, and tanning leather.

The Neolithic existence, steadily and slowly improving all the time, continued for several thousands of years and gradually and automatically developed towards a higher civilization when metals became known and used.