Menu
The term predynastic denotes the period of emerging cultures that preceded the establishment of the 1st dynasty in Egypt. In the 6th millennium bce there began to emerge patterns of civilization that displayed characteristics deserving to be called Egyptian. The accepted sequence of predynastic cultures is based on the excavations of British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie at Naqādah, at Al-ʿĀmirah (El-ʿÂmra), and at Al-Jīzah (El-Giza). Another earlier stage of predynastic culture has been identified at Al-Badārī in Upper Egypt.
From graves at Al-Badārī, Dayr Tasa, and Al-Mustaqiddah evidence of a relatively rich and developed artistic and industrial culture has been retrieved. Pottery of a fine red polished ware with blackened tops already shows distinctive Egyptian shapes. Copper was worked into small ornaments, and beads of steatite (soapstone) show traces of glazing. Subsequently, in the Naqādah I and Naqādah II stages, predynastic civilization developed steadily. Pottery remains the distinctive product, showing refinement of technique and the development of adventurous decoration. Shapes already found in Badarian graves were produced in Naqādah I with superior skill and decorated with geometric designs of white-filled lines and even representations of animals. Later, new clays were exploited, and fine buff-coloured wares were decorated in dark red pigment with scenes of ships, figures, and a wide variety of symbols.
Predynastic Egypt Hacked
The working of hard stones also began in earnest in the later Predynastic period. At first craftspeople were devoted to the fashioning of fine vessels based on existing pottery forms and to the making of jewelry incorporating semiprecious stones.
Burial customs of Predynastic Egypt (Badari -Naqada about 4400-3000 BC) In the Badarian period the dead are placed in shallow holes. Burial goods include some vessels. Updated May 19, 2019 The Predynastic Period of Ancient Egypt corresponds to the Late Neolithic (Stone Age) and covers the cultural and social changes which occurred between the late Palaeolithic period (hunter-gatherers) and the early Pharaonic era (the Early Dynastic Period).
Sculpture found its best beginnings not so much in representations of the human form (although figurines, mostly female, were made from Badarian times) as in the carving of small animal figures and the making of schist (slate) palettes (intended originally for the preparation of eye paint) and ivory knife handles. The Hunters and Battlefield palettes show sophisticated two-dimensional representation.
The basic techniques of two-dimensional art—drawing and painting—are exemplified in Upper Egyptian rock drawings and in the painted tomb at Hierakonpolis, now lost. Scenes of animals, boats, and hunting (the common subjects of rock drawings) were more finely executed in paint in the tomb, and additional themes, probably of conquest, presaged those found in dynastic art.
Homepage | Timeline | Maps | A-Z index | Learning |
Predynastic Egypt Pharaoh List
Burial customs of Predynastic Egypt
(Badari -Naqada about 4400-3000 BC)
(Badari -Naqada about 4400-3000 BC)
In the Badarian period the dead are placed in shallow holes. Burial goods include some vessels (food provision for the afterlife), jewellery (status symbols) and slate palettes (for preparing eye paint). |
Burial customs of the Naqada I period are still quite similar to the Badarian period. The dead are placed in shallow holes, with some burial goods around them (jewellery, pottery, slate palettes). |
In the Naqada II period some tombs are quite large and well equipped. The elite of the time is buried in these. Burial goods are often precious and well made objects. The range of objects is similar to those of the poorer tombs: pottery, jewellery, status symbols, cosmetic palettes. The afterlife seems to have been considered a copy of life on earth. |
Most burial goods seem to represent daily life objects, mirroring the belief that the afterlife is similar to the life on earth. However a number of objects might be connected with special religious beliefs or rituals only performed at tombs. Painted vessels might have been made especially for the tomb. Other objects do not appear very often (compare the models of garlic - below). Their specific role in the context of the burials is not clear. Were these too produced for tombs?
Predynastic Egypt Cracked
Naqada tomb 260 contained several clay models of garlic. They might have played some part in a funerary ritual. | Tomb Hierakonpolis 100 was decorated with paintings. It might have belonged to a local leader. | Tomb Qau 1629 was lined with wooden boards. It seems to be a forerunner of coffins. | Tomb Naqada 624 contained a number of painted vessels. |