Predynastic Research Articles

The Significance of Number Three in The Ancient Egyptian Religion

Ancient Egyptian symbols were employed to represent a wide range of concepts and ideas during different periods of the Egyptian civilization like the idea of trinity. Trinity was formed by combining three components. This idea came into existence from the Pre-dynastic period till the Christian era. Moreover, the ancient Egyptians worshipped their deities in groupings known as triads. Triads are classified into two types: regular and irregular. Furthermore, three used to appear as guardian demons in the Ancient Egyptian religious books. Moreover, in the ancient Egyptian mythology, three signify conflict. Additionally, the ancient Egyptians communicated with the deceased in three different ways. Also number three has an importance in the sacred architecture in ancient Egypt. This study aims to demonstrate the significance of number three and the earliest appearance of numerals in Ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the origin of the idea of trinity. Later, this idea developed into the triad. The methodology of this paper is to study number three and the idea of trinity from the ancient Egyptian religious aspect. However, while seeking to comprehend the ancient Egyptians, their culture, and their symbols one should first understand and study their religion, as the ancient Egyptian religion affects them in all the aspects of their life.

A Comprehensive Description on Ethnopharmacology and Therapeutics of Murdarsang: A Review

Murdarsang is a mineral that contains pbo, or lead oxide is an important medicine in the Unani system of medicine (USM) due to its multiple therapeutic properties. It can be prepared manually with different methods and used in different forms. Etymologically, it is known as 'Litharge' which is derived from Greek 'Litharguros' (lithos meaning stone and arguros for silver) which forms as a 'waste' during the last stage of silver smelting. Throughout human history, lead and lead minerals have been used for medicinal purposes. Galena was used as an eye salve in pre-dynastic Egypt, as well as by the ancient Indian civilisations of Mohendro-Daro and Harappa between 3200 and 2800 BC. Dioskourides in his De Materia Medica says about lithargyros that one is made from sand called molybditis which is roasted until it is totally burned, another from silver, a third from lead. According to Unani system of medicine Murdarsang possess different properties such as Astringent, Agglutinant, mildly Detergent, Desiccant, Anti-inflammatory Refrigerant, Corrosive and Rarefying properties. It is used as a base for making ointments. It composes the drugs and reduces the intensity of their dissolution, corrosion and astringency. It also have a corrosive, Resolvent and Insecticidal action. Many pharmacological activities mentioned in Unani medicine are validated, and many activities need further exploration due to the immense therapeutic scope in this drug. The current review designed to give an overview on the historical, chemical constituents, pharmacological and therapeutic effects of Murdarsang.
 Keywords: Murdarsang, Litharge, Lead oxide, Unani system of medicine.

Predynastic beer production, distribution, and consumption at Hierakonpolis, Egypt

Beer was a staple food, but also served a variety of social functions in the political economy of Ancient Egypt. Recent excavations at Hierakonpolis, a major site of Egypt’s Pre- and Early Dynastic period, have revealed large-scale brewery installations, suggesting that the beverage played a significant role in the development of complex society and the expression of power and status, with collateral impact on craft specialization. However, there is as yet no definite consensus on how beer was produced, distributed or consumed in Predynastic Egypt. To address this gap, this research applies microfossil residue analyses on pottery fragments recovered at two different areas at Hierakonpolis: from a midden near the Predynastic beer production site at Locality HK11C; and from the Second Dynasty ceremonial enclosure of King Khasekhemwy. The results provide the first scientific evidence for a long tradition of beer jars—pottery vessels specifically for and symbolic of beer—beginning in the early Naqada II phase of the Predynastic period. The results suggest that beer production contributed to the economic and ideological integration of society, the rise of the elite, and the cultural unification that took place leading up to the consolidation of the centralized political state.

Can One See the Wood for the Trees in Prehistoric Egypt? A Study of Fayum Neolithic Axes

ABSTRACT The Fayum has been known as the oldest center of cereal cultivation in prehistoric Egypt. How Egypt’s earliest Neolithic farmers lived a life is still a subject of controversy. This article focuses on Neolithic stone axes from Kom W, the type site of the Fayum Neolithic. These axes were collected and insufficiently published by the British archaeologist Gertrude Caton-Thompson in the early twentieth century, and are presently stored in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London. A new study elucidates how these axes were made, used, repaired and recycled. These axes suggest that there was woody vegetation around Kom W and the inhabitants of this site needed to fell trees and work wood.

A Preliminary Perspective of Industrial Heritage and Geo-Tourism in the Quarry Site of Bir Hammamat

Abstract Bir Hammamat (Persou I) was an important stone quarry for the extraction of greywacke (Bekhn stone) in the Egyptian Eastern Desert that represents a comprehensive image of the stone quarrying process, extraction activities and the life of a quarrymen community. In addition to the archaeological findings, quarrying activities have culturally created a memory of the industrial society. The paper investigates some historical and cultural aspects related to the technical and industrial heritage of Bir Hammamat ranging from the pre-dynastic period until the Roman period. A long quarrying history that left behind a series of tools, settlements, paths, forts and inscriptions. These relics can promote certain types of sustainable tourism where the ancient quarrying industry and technology become a tourist attraction and consequently enhance the preservation of the ancient quarry site heritage and landscape through innovative projects and new itineraries, a step that was started by the author himself during a site survey as a part of a research program in the university of Padua, Italy between 2014 – 2015.

Highlighting on the Eco-tourism at Wadi Hammamat Site,Eastern Desert ,Egypt.

The Wadi Hammamat site is one of the most important Rock art sites all over the world. It's contains different themes date back from the pre-dynastic periods until Islamic age. Also, the site was the main ancient quarry supplied the ancient Egyptian with the raw materials of stones and mines, which used for established the ancient civilization. The paper is highlighting the possibility of using Wadi Hammamat as an eco-tourism site, due to its proximity to the Red Sea coast area, this contributes to diversifying tourism and increasing the country's national income.

Boats Representation in the Byzantine Art

For thousands of years ago, people have been using boats and ships to navigate the sea, which had attracted them to discover it’s secretes. People sailed for the sake of discovery as a type of adventure, settlement, trade, and conquest. In Egypt, the Nile River was the most significant catalyst that helped in flourishing the different watercraft’s industry. Since the Pre-dynastic period, they started to make their first primitive watercraft, representing it on rocks, pottery and walls, and their interest with the boats reached its burial. The boats importance had increased, and its industry became more skillful, passing through the different dynastic periods of the ancient Egyptian civilization, Ptolemaic, Greek, and Roman periods, till reaching the Byzantine Period in which the boat’s representation had gained more symbolism aligned with the new Christian religion. This research aims to focus light on the boats and its uses from the Pre-dynastic till the Byzantine Periods, to analyze different scenes representing boats through this period, to trace the development of the scenes representing boats from ancient egyptt till the Byzantine period, and to determine the boat’s symbolism in Coptic art.

Fine pottery shaping techniques in Predynastic Egypt: A pilot study on non-destructive analysis using an X-Ray CT scanning system

Eight complete Egyptian Predynastic pottery samples were studied using X-ray CT scanning systems to assess such systems’ applicability as a means of refining our knowledge of pottery manufacturing techniques. This non-destructive analysis produces two- and three-dimensional renderings of the external surface and internal structure of an object with high-resolution micro-CT imaging. The 3D images of the air voids inside ceramic walls and observation of the wall cross-slices indicated that the Predynastic pottery was not made only by coiling/slab-building but also combined various techniques. There was also a distinct difference in the CT cross-slice void shapes of black-topped and decorated wares, probably due to variations in the pressure applied, usually associated with the use of a turning device. The results give clearer information about the ancient potter’s choice of technique and application according to shape and size, as well as about a development phase in the radial method.

Ancient Egyptian Urbanism in a Comparative, Global Context

Abstract For more than 50 years, archaeologists have debated whether or not Egypt was a “civilization without cities.” The publication of Nadine Moeller’s book, The Archaeology of Urbanism in Ancient Egypt: From the Predynastic Period to the End of the Middle Kingdom, provides the opportunity to reconsider this issue, using a more complete record of the relevant archaeological finds. I present a new, flexible approach to urban definition, and then I examine the ways in which ancient Egyptian urbanism resembled and differed from other early urban traditions. I conclude that Egypt was indeed an urban society, and that Egyptian urban patterns were highly distinctive within the canon of ancient urban systems. I place these points within the context of competing ideas about the nature of global history.

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry with complementary ionization methods in the study of 5000-year-old mummy.

Mummification is one of the defining customs of ancient Egypt. The nuances of the embalming procedure and the composition of the embalming mixtures have attracted the attention of scientists and laypeople for a long time. Modern analytical tools make mummy studies more efficient. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GCxGC/HRMS) with complementary ionization methods (electron ionization, positive chemical ionization, and electron capture negative ionization [ECNI]) with a Pegasus GC-HRT+4D instrument was used to identify embalming components in the mummy from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts acquired in 1913 in London at the de Rustafjaell sale. The mummy dates back to the late Predynastic period (direct accelerator mass spectrometry-dating 3356-3098 bc), being one of the oldest in the world. The results showed the complexity of the embalming mixtures that were already in use 5000 years ago. Several hundred organic compounds were identified in the mummy samples. Various types of hydrocarbons (triterpanes, steranes, isoprenoid, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) prove the presence of petroleum products. Iodinated compounds detected using ECNI define oils of marine origin, whereas esters of palmitic acid indicate the use of beeswax. The nature of the discovered components of conifer tar proves that the preliminary processing of conifer resins involved heating. GCxGC/HRMS also allowed a number of modern contaminants (phthalates, organophosphates, and even DDT) to be identified. Application of a powerful GCxGC/HRMS technique with complementary ionization methods allowed significant widening of the range of organic compounds used for mummification that could be identified. The complexity of the embalming mixtures supports the hypothesis of the high social status of the child made on the basis of the preliminary study of the mummy.

Objectual violence: some remarks on deliberate pottery fragmentation from Predynastic Egypt

Alors que la violence exercée sur les corps humains fait partie des thèmes les plus étudiés en archéologie, la violence infligée aux objets a reçu beaucoup moins de considération. J’explore ici de nouvelles perspectives anthropologiques qui définissent la violence non pas sous l’aspect du «dommage physique humain» mais de celui de la «véhémence». La violence nous oblige en effet à reconsidérer les relations et les limites entre humains et non-humains. J’analyse de manière qualitative des exemples provenant du registre de l’archéologie funéraire qui témoignent de la destruction violente et délibérée d’objets céramiques dans des rituels mortuaires puis leur éparpillement. Bien que la diversité et la complexité du phénomène soient bien mises en évidence, je suggère que cette pratique est importante en tant que «technologie des émotions» provocant le deuil au sein des participants et comme un dispositif mnémonique associant les populations, les temporalités et les espaces sociaux.

Ancient Egyptian Pottery from the Collection of Vladimir S. Golenischev at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts: Individual Selection for a Representative Exposition

The article describes the collection of ancient Egyptian ceramic vessels, collected by the famous Russian Egyptologist Vladimir S. Golenischev and now preserved in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Despite its relatively small size (about 100 samples), the collection is highly representative: It illustrates Egyptian pottery from the early Predynastic Period (Naqada I, 4000–3600 B.C.) to the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 A.D. and allows to study various aspects of the pottery manufacturing, morphological evolution, features of decor, artistic preferences and foreign influence on this type of craft.

Scenes of Mongoose as a Predator in the Papyrus Thicket During the Old Kingdom

This paper studies the mongoose (ichneumon) as a predator widely represented in the fowling and fishing scenes, chasing birds in a papyrus thicket. From the predynastic period, several scholars attempted to attest the mongoose among other animals prevailed at this time, which had been called different names in ancient Egyptian language. It also deals with specific features of mongoose in order to differentiate it from other similar animals such as Otter and Weasel. The paper reviews many tomb scenes of the mongoose as a predator of young birds in their nests, with several scenes, causing the belief that the ancient Egyptian trying to tame it. Besides, it discusses the unrealistic appearance of the papyrus thicket in which the animals were preyed, as a fictional rather than a true reflection of wildlife. furthermore, the religious meaning interpreted these scenes. Especially, all related scenes were found in a funerary context and therefore one expects them to have a religious dimension, even though this was not explicitly stated.

Resisters, Vacillators or Laggards? Reconsidering the First Farmer-Herders in Prehistoric Egypt

This article discusses the diffusion of food production from the Levant to Egypt in the Early–Middle Holocene. It attempts to explain how the diffusion and adoption of food production occurred in Egypt in light of optimal foraging theory, niche construction theory and innovation diffusion models. It disputes an old argument that Southwest Asian domesticates appeared late in Egypt and played only a minor role in its inhabitants’ subsistence. The primary focus is on the Fayum in northern Egypt, where the earliest-dated Southwest Asian domesticated cereal remains in Egypt were found together with cultivation-related tools and facilities. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the beginning of food production in the Fayum was not as late as previously thought, and that the subsequent development of food production should be seen as a response to the increasing imbalance between the growing human population and the limited wild food resources available in the Middle Holocene. Lithic evidence strongly indicates that people in the Fayum exerted every possible effort to make food production feasible and efficient with the aid of technology in the course of a millennium, starting in the early-to-mid 6th millennium BC.

Power, Personhood and Changing Emotional Engagement with Children's Burial during the Egyptian Predynastic

Archaeological analyses of child funerary remains have often revolved around discussions of ascribed status and demographic trends. Other social and spatial dimensions of child burial are often left unexplored. This article introduces a novel perspective, through the analysis of child burials in Predynastic Egypt. My analysis focuses on the changing rates and spatial distribution of child burials in community necropoleis, with special attention to how their placement was used to renegotiate power relationships, and perhaps even concepts of personhood, in Predynastic society. The importance of children's funerals for creating of a sense of community through attachment to place is also considered. Criticizing analyses that rely on quantitative data to the exclusion of other factors, I emphasize the contribution of childhood, practice theory, emotions and personhood for the study of social complexity. My arguments point towards significant changes in the emotional dimension of children's funerary practices experienced during the later fourth millenniumbc, and links these transformations to processes of state formation in Egypt.

Craft Specialization in Administration in Pre- and Protodynastic Egypt

Administration in Egypt is one of the key areas of research, which reflects on the organization of the government and the complexity of The Centralized Economy as well as of Society. Its evidence almost entirely dependes on textual evidence that contains information about the titles and hierarchy of officials, Their responsibilities and administrative units, and the nature of The bureaucratic transactions involved. Therefore, at the most basic level, administration deals with the recording of bureaucratic processes in the form of written records (Kohler 2010: 41). Also, Bureaucracy/ administration is one of the parameters of Statehood in Predynastic Egypt. It is the most rational known means of exercising authority and its administrative apparatus are well represented in Pre- and Protodynastic Egypt by Various artifacts (Anđelkovic 2008: 1048). I will discuss administrative items includes a numerous fragments of clay seals and mud jar sealings/ stoppers with impressions of ropes fabrics or hieroglyphic characters, Several cylindrical seal matrices, Ivory Labels, as well as a number of small clay artefacts probably also serving as complex tokens that appear to indicate potential administrative activities at settlement sites. The fact that they were intended for daily, clearly utilitarian use. They may have been related to trade activities once carried out in these sites with Varying intensity, being a collection of objects with commercial and bookkeeping applications (Kolodziejczyk 2012: 267; Anderson 2006: 237).

Landscape change in the Nile Delta during the fourth millennium BC: a new perspective on the Egyptian Predynastic and Protodynastic periods

ABSTRACT The role environmental change may have played at the dawn of Egyptian history has been overlooked in comparison with other periods. Natural landscape changes taking place in the Nile Delta are argued here to have been a facilitating factor allowing, and possibly stimulating, socioeconomic changes leading to the ‘Lower Egyptian – Naqada Transition’ (LE-NT, c. 3350 BC). In this context, the LE-NT may be understood in terms of regional elites using newly agrarian delta lands as an agricultural resource and trade route, with the emerging capital, Memphis, ideally situated. We argue (almost counter-intuitively) that a natural reduction in overall landscape productivity led to agricultural intensification through a positive feedback loop. This may have laid the foundations for the emergence of a more unified Egyptian state beginning c. 3100 BC. Through this analysis, we argue for the incorporation of the environment as an integral component of change narratives of Predynastic Egypt.

Mashes to Mashes, Crust to Crust. Presenting a novel microstructural marker for malting in the archaeological record.

The detection of direct archaeological remains of alcoholic beverages and their production is still a challenge to archaeological science, as most of the markers known up to now are either not durable or diagnostic enough to be used as secure proof. The current study addresses this question by experimental work reproducing the malting processes and subsequent charring of the resulting products under laboratory conditions in order to simulate their preservation (by charring) in archaeological contexts and to explore the preservation of microstructural alterations of the cereal grains. The experimentally germinated and charred grains showed clearly degraded (thinned) aleurone cell walls. The histological alterations of the cereal grains were observed and quantified using reflected light and scanning electron microscopy and supported using morphometric and statistical analyses. In order to verify the experimental observations of histological alterations, amorphous charred objects (ACO) containing cereal remains originating from five archaeological sites dating to the 4th millennium BCE were considered: two sites were archaeologically recognisable brewing installations from Predynastic Egypt, while the three broadly contemporary central European lakeshore settlements lack specific contexts for their cereal-based food remains. The aleurone cell wall thinning known from food technological research and observed in our own experimental material was indeed also recorded in the archaeological finds. The Egyptian materials derive from beer production with certainty, supported by ample contextual and artefactual data. The Neolithic lakeshore settlement finds currently represent the oldest traces of malting in central Europe, while a bowl-shaped bread-like object from Hornstaad-Hörnle possibly even points towards early beer production in central Europe. One major further implication of our study is that the cell wall breakdown in the grain's aleurone layer can be used as a general marker for malting processes with relevance to a wide range of charred archaeological finds of cereal products.

К вопросу о сформированности категории личности как саморегулирующейся динамической системы самосознания индивидуума в додинастическом Египте

The question of the appropriateness of the use of the term and category of Personality in relation to studies of the model of the world and the model of I in predynastic Egypt is considered. Points of view are given on the scope and application of the concept, both from the point of view of various schools of psychological science, and researchers belonging to a number of humanitarian areas of science who consider the concept of identity in the context of historical development and historical memory. At the same time, it is taken into account that a personality is traditionally defined in psychology as a self-regulating dynamic functional system of continuously interacting properties, relationships and actions that take shape in the process of ontogenesis of a person. A person is considered as a phenomenon of social development, a specific living person with consciousness and self-awareness (capable of self-reflection). It is taken into account that in social sciences a person is considered as a special quality of a person acquired by him in a sociocultural environment in the process of joint activity and communication. The article considers the social role and hierarchy in predynastic Egypt, as well as funeral rituals in the context of individualizing practices or in the context of attributing it to a collective personality. Two of these arguments allow us to talk about the applicability of the concept of Personality to this historical period. The study suggests that in relation to the period under study, the level of formation of self-awareness Personality can be talked about in relation to social leaders (chief / regional kings). The study is based on the study of archaeological sites such as elite necropolis, a ritual center in Hierakonpolis, as well as artifacts originating from the tombs of an elite necropolis in Hierakonpolis, determining the development of a socially hierarchical society with an aristocratic clan to which the social leader (chief) — regional king) belonged. The study of the formation of the category Personality notes the special role of finds of funerary masks, which most likely represent the first ancestors in the developing form of the cult of the ancestors. The leader in the period under study in the history of Egypt is a collective person and he also leaves for the ancestors, who are also the incarnations of a collective person. Thus, for the preliterate period, there is no way to talk about specific personalities (including named personalities). But already at the initial stages of the development of the Early kingdom, when writing occurs, we can talk about the naming of each of the kings, since the name reflects the personality (its qualities that contain the names themselves). Nevertheless, the name of each king was also accompanied by the name of the ancestor — the deified legendary king Horus in Hierokonpolis, and later — in the royal title, his name as a name of the god was added to the names of the ruling pharaohs until the end of the era of ancient Egypt. The work, therefore, is debatable, since in psychological science the emergence of self-consciousness and personality as an entity is usually referred to the New Time. The question of the possibility of using modern psychological concepts (Personality), to a person of antiquity, in particular to representatives of preliterate culture, is investigated. The image of a person for an individual of a given era was reconstructed through the prism of the reflection of a person of a given period over the limitations of social stratification, ritual and death. Specific personality traits are described as an individual who performs various social roles and is buried according to his merit, both in terms of personal ethics and in the hierarchy of society.

Of culture wars and the clash of civilizations in Prehistoric Egypt – a different perspective

Of culture wars and the clash of civilizations in Prehistoric Egypt – a different perspective