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Journal of Archaeological Research [jar] PP078-295744 April 20, 2001 8:17 Style file version Nov. 19th, 1999
Journal of Archaeological Research, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2001
Some Recent Trends in the Archaeology
of Predynastic Egypt
Stephen H. Savage1
The traditional explanation of the origin of Egypt credits the legendary Menes
with founding the state through the conquest of the Delta region, but this is more
of a political legend than explanation. Anthropological archaeologists and Egyp-
tologists are bringing new methods and questions to their search for an adequate
explanation for the development of one of the world’s first territorial states. Early
investigations of cemetery sites in Upper Egypt and settlements in the Delta have
been supplemented by the excavation of more Upper Egyptian settlement sites,
while cemeteries and other important settlements are now being uncovered in
the Delta. Three trends are particularly important for the development of social
complexity in ancient Egypt: (1) a growing appreciation of regional differences in
Predynastic culture; (2) chronological refinements; and (3) an emphasis on group
social and political developments, and trade. A consensus appears to be develop-
ing that stresses the gradual development plex society in Egypt, in which a
number of small polities coalesced into three or four larger entities during the late
Predynastic, followed by the assimilation of the northwestern Delta by the Thinite
rulers. The effort to control trade with the southern Levant and Mesopotamia seems
to have encouraged expansion of Upper Egyptian cultural and political influence
northward.
KEY WORDS: Egypt; Predynastic; Early Dynastic; state formation; trade.
INTRODUCTION
In the Ptolemaic period, a priest named ho wrote a history of ancient
Egypt for his Greek overlords; he described 30 ruling families, or dynasties, and
credited the founding of Egypt to the first king of the 1s