19. Whilst we know much regarding Ancient Egypt, our understanding of the ancestors of this great civilization – the inhabitants of Pre-Dynastic Egypt – remains limited and speculative
Whilst our understanding of the Egyptian civilization from the ancient period all the way through to the modern age remains detailed, if not complete, we cannot say the same concerning the “Pre-Dynastic” era. Beginning approximately 10,000-8,000 years ago, and extending until about 3100 BCE when Pharoah Narmer or Hor-Aha unified the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Egypt to usher in the “Early Dynastic” period, the current historical record of pre-dynastic Egypt contains significant gaps in knowledge limiting our appreciation of the ancient culture.
Whilst the lands of what would become Egypt was inhabited by humans likely before 40,000 BCE, it is generally believed that it was not until the 11th millennium BCE that agriculture was introduced to the Nile Delta; archeological evidence has suggested wild grain harvesting employing the world’s oldest grain-grinding techniques was begun in approximately 10,500 BCE by the Qadan culture, resulting in the increased migration of people to the Nile region and the establishment of permanent settlements by 8000 BCE. However, between 9000 and 6000 BCE the historical record suffers a three thousand year lapse in knowledge, with the domestication of certain animals and the introduction of cereal likely occurring at some point in this broad gap, and little to no archeological remains dating from this period are available to understand the ancient civilization during this time.
Our comprehension of the more recent millenniums of the pre-dynastic period, although still extremely limited, is aided by an increase in Egyptian innovation, with the Merimde culture, who resided at the edge of the Western Nile Delta, producing simple pottery and the El Omari culture near modern-day Cairo offering an abundance of rudimentary stone tools; additionally, rock art dating from 6000 BCE depicts single-sail ships whilst the Maadi culture of Lower Egypt enjoyed access to metal-working via the archaeological discovery of crude copper devices. Through the slow march of progress these many disparate communities advanced and gradually grew closer in the course of commerce and conquest, until eventually being forcibly unified into a single cohesive nation to become Ancient Egypt.