Neolithic and Predynastic Egypt

Abstract

Predynastic Egypt refers to the period and society before state formation and has often been defined by much later historical sources and understandings. Archaeological remains reflect that living in the deserts and Nile Valley of Egypt and Sudan showed continuity, continuous change and regional variation determined by natural and cultural circumstances and shifting power centers. These are typically named after “type-sites” in an effort to organize and understand shifts in material culture as representing ways of life and cultural affinities. Present day borders should not hinder our understanding of Predynastic Egypt as a north-east African culture that had many interactions with south-west Asia. Similarly, present day climatic circumstances with an extremely arid western Desert/eastern Sahara, do not closely resemble those in the period and places under discussion, but climatic change was nevertheless an important factor in habitation shifts.