Heath - Archaeology hotspot Egypt: unearthing the past for armchair archaeologists

Archaeology Hotspots: Unearthing the Past for Armchair Archaeologists

Series Editor: Paul G. Bahn, independent archaeologist and author of The Archaeology of Hollywood ()

Archaeology Hotspots are countries and regions with particularly deep pasts, stretching from the depths of prehistory to more recent layers of recorded history. Written by archaeological experts for everyday readers, the books in the series offer engaging explorations of one particular country or region as seen through an archaeological lens. Each individual title provides a chronological overview of the area in question, covers the most interesting and significant archaeological finds in that area, and profiles the major personalities involved in those discoveries, both past and present. The authors cover controversies and scandals, current digs and recent insights, contextualizing the material remains of the past within a broad view of the areas present existence. The result is an illuminating look at the history, culture, national heritage, and current events of specific countries and regionsspecific hotspots of archaeology.

Archaeology Hotspot Egypt: Unearthing the Past for Armchair Archaeologists , by Julian Heath (2015)

Archaeology Hotspot Great Britain: Unearthing the Past for Armchair Archaeologists , by Donald Henson (2015)

Archaeology Hotspot Egypt

Archaeology Hotspot Egypt

Unearthing the Past for Armchair Archaeologists

Julian Heath

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

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ISBN 978-0-7591-2401-1 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-7591-2402-8 (electronic)

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Printed in the United States of America

For Mum and Dad ( again ), and Jimmy Blood Brother.

Contents

Acknowledgments

First, I must say a special thank you to Joyce Tyldesley for providing me with the unexpected but welcome opportunity to write this book, and for helping out with various Egyptological queries. Several people also generously provided images for the book, and I must therefore thank Steven Snape, Campbell Price, Lenka and Andy Peacock, Pierre Vermeersch, Bill Manley, Bjrn Christian Trrisen, Ricardo Liberato, Didier Descovens, Philip Pikart, Richard Seaman, Przemyslaw Idzkiewicz, and Berthold Werner. Finally, I must thank Leanne Silverman, Andrea O. Kendrick, and Alden Perkins at Rowman & Littlefield, and my editor, Paul Bahn, all of whom helped this book through to completion.

Chronology of Ancient Egypt*

* All dates before 664 BC are approximate

** BP stands for Before Present.

Introducing Ancient Egypt

In the long course of human history, many great civilizations have come and gone, but the most remarkable is arguably the one that emerged in Egypt some five thousand years ago at the end of the fourth millennium BC. Ancient Egyptian civilization subsequently endured for some three thousand years and its people left as their legacy an abundant collection of stunning monuments and artifacts, which continues to expand as new discoveries are frequently made by archaeologists who continue to work in Egypt despite its ongoing political troubles.

In this introduction, after first examining the geographical setting of ancient Egyptian civilizationwhich had a considerable bearing on its emergence and subsequent longevitywe are going to look briefly at the chronological story of ancient Egypt. Although ancient Egypt is often defined by the spectacular archaeology of the pharaohs this story actually begins in the prehistoric period many thousands of years before their magnificent tombs, temples, and artworks ever saw the light of day. The first Egyptians lived during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and followed a mobile hunter-gatherer lifestyle that was eventually replaced as agriculture appeared in the Nile Valley during the Neolithic or (New Stone Age). The Neolithic marks a hugely significant time in ancient Egypt (as does its appearance elsewhere in the prehistoric world), as the settled agricultural economy of Egypts first farmers ultimately gave rise to the unification of Egypt into a single state, which was ruled over by a succession of ruling families or dynasties at the head of which sat the king or pharaoh. The latter stages of the Neolithic are thus referred to as the Predynastic Period and the time of the pharaohs that followed is known as the Dynastic Period, which eventually came to an end under the heel of the mighty Roman Empire (see the timeline, Chronology of Ancient Egypt, for a detailed breakdown of the various periods of Egyptian prehistory/history as archaeologists and historians generally define them).