Ancient Egyptian HistoryClass 2, Spring 2010

Instructor – Joe Boisvert Gulf Coast Community College Encore

Today’s Discussion

September 25, 2009 October 2nd

Maps, Time Lines for

Overview of all of Egyptian History,

Pottery ??Beginning of Ritual

Burial, Why??? Introduction to WrittenLanguage

Maps Introduction and discussion of Upper and Lower Egypt

What did Egypt Look like? Transition from Hunting

and Gathering to Agriculture

More on written language and need for calendar

Africa Now

Northern Africa

Ancient EgyptDistribution of theFamous Archeological Sites

The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt,

Was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world.

It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and existed, and functioned as a major center of scholarship, at least until the time of Rome's conquest of Egypt, and probably for many centuries thereafter.

 The Library at Alexandria was charged with collecting all the world's knowledge

Upper and Lower Egypt

Upper Egypt Starting at FirstCataract a Elephantine present day Sight of Aswan Dam

The Nile River Flows 750 Miles from The First Cataract to the Mediterranean Sea

Nubian was strongly Influenced by EgyptBut never officially part of Egypt.

The Nile flooded on a predictableAnnual Basis Leaving in its wakeVery fertile soil for farming.

The Desirable LandEgypt is a special place and the development was different

There because of the special nature of the Nile River is that Region.

Every year in Ancient Times the land is flooded and rich soil is deposited By the Nile River.

Early on because of the rich black soil people turned earlier to Agriculture From the Typical Hunting and Gathering of Primitive Societies.

Predynastic (5,500 - 3,100 BC)Beginning just before the Predynastic period, Egyptian culture was already beginning to resemble greatly the age of the Pharaohs' that would soon come after. The beginning of dynasties and the Old Kingdom

5500 BC Transition from Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture

Starting to find evidence of organized, permanent settlements focused around agriculture. Hunting was no longer a major support for existence. The Egyptian diet was made up of domesticated cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, as well as cereal grains such as wheat and barley.

Transition from Hunting and Gathering

Artifacts of stone were supplemented by those of metal, and the crafts of basketry, pottery, weaving, and the tanning of animal hides became part of the daily life.

The transition from primitive nomadic tribes to traditional civilization was nearly complete

Earliest Human FigureFound in EgyptDates From4500 to 4000 BC

View of now, shows how the First Cataract of the Nile looks most of the year. Showing the broken up nature of the stream.

The Nile River Blessing’s

The Nile Flows 750 Miles from the First Cataract in Upper Egypt to the Mediterain Sea.

The Yearly Flooding and Depositing of Rich Black Soil Creates Unique Opportunities for Wide Scale Farming

In Ancient Times Egypt was called the “The Gift of the River”

The Flood and Redepositing of Soil is Needed Every Year. The Height Of the Flooding is in Mid August.

Like Most Things in Nature the Action of the Nile is Unpredictable.

Some years the Floods Fail to come at all and Famine can be the Result.

Some years the Floods are low and not all the cultivated Land is Covered.

The Other Thing That Occasionally happened was a Great Flood Destroying Buildings and Killing Live Stock.

Since Normally New Soil is Deposited Every Year the Normal Problems of Killing the Growing Potential is Eliminated. Thus in Egypt it was not necessary to rotate the crops.

Evidence of the growth of cereal crops have been discovered prior to 5000 BC

The Nile is Unpredictable

Eastern Dessert of Egypt Source of Grey Granite source of fine stone in Antiquity

Prehistoric Slate Palette Adorned with Birds Head

The Pitt River Knife a Fine Example Of a ripple flaked serrated flint knife Of Prehistoric Period

Prehistoric Egyptian Artifacts 3500 to 3100

BC

Advantages of Agriculture and Society

Hunting and Gathering does not require large scale Cooperative Effort like Farming Requires.

Societies begin to organize and flourish to accomplish the tasks required by large scale Agricultural Activities.

First you need a calendar to predict when to plant and when to harvest.

Second you need to store the harvest, cultivate seeds, and distribute the food.

Modern Brick Makers in Egypt Use Same Techniques as in Antiquity bricks formed individually and baked in the hot dessert sun.

Domestication of Animals

The Unification CrownFor Upper and Lower Egypt

Two Headdresses combined byInserting the conical White Crown into the Red Crown

Used after Unification of Upper and Lower EgyptBy Menes First Pharaoh In List of First DynastyOld Kingdom

Egyptians Died From Many of the Same Diseases We Face

MALARIA PRESENT IN ANCIENT EGYPT:

INVESTIGATION ON  PREDYNASTIC MUMMIFIED REMAINS

We examined samples from the Marro's Collection, belonging to the Anthropological and Ethnographic Museum of Turin, to determine the presence of malaria antigens.

The specimens we assessed belong to predynastic mummies (3.200 B.C.) from Gebelen.

True writing, or phonetic writing, records

were developed independently in four

different civilizations in the world, namely 

Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, and 

Mesoamerica.

Next Week We Will

Discuss Who Had Writing

Systems First