(via faroffdreams)

OK. So I have been working on how to explain the beginning of Ancient Egypt and how it’s culture came to be what it is (at least, before those pesky Romans showed up). And oh boy, it’s taken me a few days, but here’s the start of it. 

******************** Important Side Note *********************

 (If you don’t read this part, you won’t understand any of the following)

• The Predynastic period is divided into Cultural periods.
• Cultural periods were named after where their settlements were discovered.
• The main difference between the PREdynastic Period and the PROTOdynastic period is HOW the cultures are viewed, (PREdynastic being smaller, individualized, even nomadic groups) (PROTOdynastics were large and more organized groupings)

****************************************************************

Let’s start at the beginning….of the beginning

Aterian Industry 

40,000 BC

• Basically nomadic people figuring out how to make stone tools

Khormusan Industry

40,000 BC - 30,000 BC

• They start creating more advanced tools out of stone, animal bones and hematite. 
• Also created small arrow heads (resmbling Native American arrowheads)

LATE PALEOLITHIC

30,000 BC

• Some of the oldest known building were discovered by Waldemar Chmielewski, near Wadi Halfa. These buildings were MOBILE structures, easily moved and reassembled. (think about men nesting in their deer blinds around hunting season)
•  The only modern human skeleton from the earliest Late Stone Age (in Africa) was found in 1980. It is named Nazlet Khater (google him, it’s pretty damn cool).

Halfan Culture

Possibly 24,000 BC or 18,000 BC - 15,000 BC

• Their ancestors were the Khormusan and were passed on the tradition of fishing, which was a good thing, that was their only way of survival…well, that and eating large herd animals.
• They developed along the Nile Valley (between Egypt and Nubia), these guys weren’t seasonal wanderers, they preferred settling for longer periods of time, unlike their predecessors.

Qadan and Sebilian Cultures

13,000 BC ? - 9,000 BC ?

• These guys were like the farmers of their time, fashioning sickles and started grain harvesting.
•  Around this time, the land started drying up, so alot of people had to move to the Nile Valley. (Like a big ancient mixer party!)

Harifian Culture

10,800 BC - 10,000 BC

• Migrating out of Fayyum and the Eastern deserts of Egypt, during the late Mesolithic, the Harifians merged with the Pre-Potter Neolithic B Culture. (That means they were evolving their tools and weapons for survival and haven’t started making pretty cave paintings that tell stories yet).
• This time period led to the Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex (a group of cultures that invented nomadic animal herding lifestyles). 
• These guys may have been the original culture that spread Proto Semitic (ancestor language of Arabic) throughout Mesopotamia. (that’s a big deal)

Mushabian Culture

10000 BC

•  A lot of trading and migrating and skill passing went on at this time.
• These guys migrated (possibly) from the Nile Valley to the Levant and merged with the Kebaran.
• They’re viewed as the parent of the Natufian Culture (Mediterranean area).
•  Epipalaeolithic Natufians (Middle Stone Age Europeans) carried parthenocarpic figs (meaning an ancient form of a present day fig) from Africa to the southwestern corner of the Fertile Crescent (cresent shaped fertile area in semi-arid western Asia).

 THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD

Faiyum A Culture

9000 BC - 6000 BC

• Around 6000 BC, Neolithic settlements appear all over Egypt.
•  The drying lands were forcing the Egyptian’s ancestors to settle around the Nile and develope a more permanent lifestyle.
•  They discovered the usefulness of weaving for the first time.
•  Their dead were found to be buried very close to their settlements, if not inside them. 

PREDYNASTIC PERIOD (Prehistoric Egypt)

6000 BC - 3100 BC

• All of the archaelogical findings from this period were discovered in Upper Egypt, probably because the Nile was rising around the Delta area. Burying most of the Delta sites before modern times.

Merimde Culture

5000 BC - 4200 BC

• Flourishing in Lower Egypt, they had a big settlement at the western Delta, and strong connections with the Faiyum A Culture and the Levant.
• They were becoming a bit more domestic, creating simple pottery, had stone tools, herded animals and farmed the lands. (same old, but evolving)
• They kept burying their dead within their settlements and but started producing clay figurines for them!

Badarian & Tasian Cultures

4400 BC - 4000 BC

•  From this point on, Upper Egypt was influenced strongly by the cultures of Lower Egypt.
• The Fayum A Culture and these cultures overlap a bit, with one MAJOR difference: Fayum A was less agricultural and mostly Neolithic while the Tasian & Badarian Cultures were much more defined and organized.
•  Both Tasian and Badarian Cultures are named from their burial site locations by Der Tasa.
• The Badarians follow after the Tasians, their cultures are so much alike that most Egyptologists see them as one continuous period.
• Badarian sites are located from Nekhen to a little north of the Abydos.
•  They had flint tools and sharper, more shapely weapons. Also, the first Faience (fine tinted, glazed pottery) was created.

El Omari Culture

4000 BC to the Archaic Period

• Known from a small settlement near modern Cairo
•  People lived in huts, and they had pottery but it was still nothing elaborate.

Amratian Culture (Naqada I)

4000 BC - 3500 BC

•  Named after the site of El-Amra, in Upper Egypt.
•  Again just more organization of cities, nothing spectacular for another few hundred years.

Maadi Culture

• Also called Buto Maadi Culture, known for the site near Cairo, they’re thought to be in other places by the Delta but it’s not a known fact.
•  These guys are the MOST IMPORTANT Lower Egyptian Prehistoric Culture, along with Amratian in Upper Egypt
• They still lived in huts, and their cemeteries became more elaborate with burial goodies!
•  This culture was replaced by the Naqada III culture, it’s unknown how, either by conquest or infiltration.

PROTODYNASTIC PERIOD

Gerzean Culture “Naqada II”

3500 BC - 3200 BC

• The Gerzeans (named for the Gerzeh site) are similair to the Amratian, spreading everywhere except Nubia.
•  This is the next stage of Egyptian cultural development.
• Unfortunately it was also a time of drought, people began moving to where the food was. So they created cities, some with as many as 5,000 people!
• The people stopped building reed huts and started building real, solid, mud-brick homes. (aww, they grow up so fast)
• The first tombs were built as well, in classic Egyptian style, even including multiple rooms.

Dynasty O

3200BC - 3000 BC

• Also known as Naqada III, it’s the last phase of the Naqadan period.
•  Dynasty 0 signifies that this was the beginning of Kings (as a head of state), but only of certain areas. These Kings also were thought to have been in competition with each other.
•  THE KING- Pharaoh Narmer was the first ruler of a unified Egypt.
• Alot of ongoing political unification (which becomes successful during this time too) took place, forming a single state and the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period.
•  The 3 major states during this time: Thinis, Naqada and Nekhen. Naqada fell first, then Thinis conquered Lower Egypt. Nekhen and Thinis merged peacfully (it’s really unknown if it was peaceful). In the end, the Thinite royal family ruled all of Egypt. Their kings are buried at Abydos in the Umm el-Qa’ab cemetery.
•  This is when hieroglyphs, and serekhs first appeared as well as graphical narratives showed up on palettes
•  The first irrigation system (water routes for farming) and the first appearances of royal cemeteries began.

NARMER

• *Most of what we know about this Pharaoh is based by what we found on a palette. The Narmer Palette was discovered at Hierakonpolis in 1897 by British archeologists James Quibell and Frederick Green.
• *He ruled in the Early Dynastic Period, 3150 BC
• *His wife may have been Neithhotep it’s unclear if she was a Princess of Upper or Lower Egypt. Most think she’s from the north. 
• *Thought to be the founder of Memphis.
• *Some consider him to be Menes (mythical guy who dammed the southern Nile river).
• *Possibly the successor of the Scorpion Pharaoh.
• *Father to Hor-Aha
• *Son of Queen Shesh I

The Main Controversy.

There’s alot of guess work that goes when discussing this Pharoah. From who he really is, to who he married (and if he even did marry). So alot of Egyptologists give Narmer the credit of unifying Upper and Lower Egypt. I don’t think so, SURE he may have been the first PHARAOH of unified Egypt, but I don’t believe he’s the one who did the unifying. Until there’s more proof of him doing that, I remain a skeptic. 

There’s so much yet to be discovered under all that sand…

Can you guess where these are?

I know, I know, it’s an easy one. 

Tomorrow, my wonderful boyfriend and I are going on our monthly date. Where? You ask? His suggestion, “Hey babe, you wanted to see King Tut’s stuff right? Why don’t we go check that out and hit up Bayne’s (a local Cider Mill) after?” I was right, by calling him wonderful, wasn’t I? So we’re going to the Midland Center for the Arts. I will post pictures! 

Although horribly inaccurate (historically speaking), there’s a special place in my heart where these movies are continuously playing. The adventure, ancient magic and characters are classic. 

(via mummymovies)

                                                             BAST

facts:

• She threw wicked awesome cat festivals.
• Daughter of Ra.
• Lived at Bubastis on the Nile Delta.
• Has the head of a cat, sometimes is a cat.
• Cats were mummified with their owners to join Bast in the spirit world.

 a story:

If a fire broke out in Egypt. Bast would send out her cat servants to help. They have the ability to draw out the fire’s power to extinguish it. 

                                                             SHU

facts:

• Son of Atum.
• Father of Nut and Geb with Tefnut.
• God of air.

a story:

Tefnut and Shu decided to create the Earth and sky. So they had Nut and Geb. But the sky kept falling onto the Earth. Shu ended up figuring out Nut and Geb were head over heels for each other, and were making with the love every chance they got. Shu was able to stop them, but not before Nut birthed a few Gods. So now Shu stands between Nut and Geb, holding up the sky.

                                                         ANUBIS

facts:

• Son of Nephtyhs and Ra
• Ruled the Underworld before Osiris took over.
• Is a funerary God.
• Has a jackal head.
• His cult possibly pre-dates Osiris!
• His mommy left him, and Isis found him and raised him..aww.
• Is an attendant of Isis.

a story.

When you die (according to the Ancient Egyptians) He will hold the scales where your heart is to be weighed. If your heart is lighter than a feather you will be lead by him to meet Osiris. However, if your heart is found heavier, your soul will be destroyed by Ammut.

                                                             ISIS

facts:

• Daughter of Geb and Nut.
• Wears headdress of cowhorns and a sun disc.
• A Greek temple was built in her honor in Pompeii
• Had to go into hiding from Set when she was pregnant.
• Married her brother Osiris.

                                                            THOTH

facts:

• Master of time, mathematics, astronomy, reading, writing, arithmatic…etc.
• You speak with a lisp when you say his name.
• Sometimes appears as a baboon, but usually he has the head of an ibis and a wig.

a story.

He pretty much organized the world. Set the night sky, created the number of days in a year, in an hour etc.

                                                         OSIRIS

facts:

• Married to Isis.
• Ruled Vegetation and Fertility until his death.
• He is green!

a story:

Set, being a bad boy, put Osiris’ body in a chest and tossed it into the Nile. Eventually it washed onto shore and became stuck in a giant tree. The tree then turned into a pillar and was relocated at the palace of King Byblos where Isis found it.

Pissed at Osiris’ luck, Set chopped his brother into tiny pieces and scattered them all over Egypt. So, Isis had to search EVERYWHERE for them, trying to piece together her dead husband, thankfully she had some help from Thoth and Anubis.

Together they solved the puzzle that was Osiris’ body…but one piece was still missing. Set threw his penis into the Nile and it was swallowed by a fish! Poor Isis, she had to use her reconstructional powers to create another one, and it was made out of gold. Bling bling!

Osiris was then mummified for burial….he must have looked good, because Isis mounted that gold bling and had such a good time she ended up giving him new life and became pregnant with Horus. Later, Osiris was promoted to become thee judge of the dead along with Maat and Thoth.