I just got this book in the mail today. It's a terrific book about Egyptian prehistory and how Egyptian civilization evolved. Wilkinson's focus is on rock paintings found in Egypt's southeastern desert, although he also describes artifacts found in the upper Nile Valley. His thesis is that the ancient Egyptian culture evolved from that of semi-nomadic cattle pastoralists in southeastern Egypt who would shift location between the river valley and the savanna every year.
When reading this book and how it reconstructs prehistoric Egyptian culture, I was reminded of another book I read about the Dinka of today's southern Sudan, Warriors of the White Nile by John Ryle and Sarah Errington. The Dinka have the same preoccupation with cattle and semi-nomadic lifestyle that Wilkinson thinks the prehistoric Egyptians had! Unfortunately Wilkinson himself doesn't draw too many parallels between the proto-Egyptians and other African cultures, which disappointed me.
Also, while Wilkinson does claim there were a few Palestinian immigrant communities living in predynastic northern Egypt, he also makes it clear that northern Egypt was mostly an uninhabitable swamp in prehistory and that it was the southern Egyptians who laid the foundation for most of dynastic Egyptian culture. He's also very critical of the "Dynastic Race" theory and says at one point that Egypt can be considered an African development.
All in all, an excellent resource on prehistoric Egypt that I couldn't recommend more!
Posts: 7084 | From: Fallbrook, CA | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:while Wilkinson does claim there were a few Palestinian immigrant communities living in predynastic northern Egypt
As stated this seems a bit misleading. If I recall Ian Shaw in Oxford's history said that there is evidence of a predynastic culture (in Northern Egypt) that had similar pottery and tool kit with Levantine cultures of the time. This culture however also dissappeared in prehistoric times.
Posts: 1038 | From: Franklin Park, NJ | Registered: Aug 2005
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Apocalypse, are you and Truthcentric trying to drum up some controversy?
Of course there is evidence of a predynastic culture (in Northern Egypt) that had similar pottery and tool kit with Levantine cultures of the time. last I checked, there was absolutely no natural barriers between Northern Egypt and the nearby Levant.
Of course there were semi-nomadic cattle pastoralists in southeastern Egypt who would shift location between the river valley and the savanna every year. They were called the Badari.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Apocalypse, are you and Truthcentric trying to drum up some controversy?
Of course there is evidence of a predynastic culture (in Northern Egypt) that had similar pottery and tool kit with Levantine cultures of the time. last I checked, there was absolutely no natural barriers between Northern Egypt and the nearby Levant.
Not I Mike. I'm a peace loving guy. Just saying that, if I recall Oxford's history correctly, the Levantine culture vanished well before state formation. I could be wrong.
Posts: 1038 | From: Franklin Park, NJ | Registered: Aug 2005
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^The merimda culture is what I had in mind. The toolkit and pottery used by the people of this culture had many affinities to Levantive culture.
Posts: 1038 | From: Franklin Park, NJ | Registered: Aug 2005
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I just got this book in the mail today. It's a terrific book about Egyptian prehistory and how Egyptian civilization evolved. Wilkinson's focus is on rock paintings found in Egypt's southeastern desert, although he also describes artifacts found in the upper Nile Valley. His thesis is that the ancient Egyptian culture evolved from that of semi-nomadic cattle pastoralists in southeastern Egypt who would shift location between the river valley and the savanna every year.
When reading this book and how it reconstructs prehistoric Egyptian culture, I was reminded of another book I read about the Dinka of today's southern Sudan, Warriors of the White Nile by John Ryle and Sarah Errington. The Dinka have the same preoccupation with cattle and semi-nomadic lifestyle that Wilkinson thinks the prehistoric Egyptians had! Unfortunately Wilkinson himself doesn't draw too many parallels between the proto-Egyptians and other African cultures, which disappointed me.
Also, while Wilkinson does claim there were a few Palestinian immigrant communities living in predynastic northern Egypt, he also makes it clear that northern Egypt was mostly an uninhabitable swamp in prehistory and that it was the southern Egyptians who laid the foundation for most of dynastic Egyptian culture. He's also very critical of the "Dynastic Race" theory and says at one point that Egypt can be considered an African development.
All in all, an excellent resource on prehistoric Egypt that I couldn't recommend more!
Can you pull some important quotes?
Posts: 1219 | From: North Carolina, USA | Registered: Jul 2004
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I think this whole matter about small communities of "Palestinian immigrants" having lived in northern Egypt is much about nothing, really. You are going to find immigrant communities in just about any culturally and economically vibrant social complex throughout history. However, physical evidence cited for pre-dynastic northern Egypt points to human occupation of the region primarily by autochthonous (African) communities; recalling...
Moving to the opposite geographical extremity, the very small sample populations available from northern Egypt from before the 1st Dynasty (Merimda, Maadi and Wadi Digla) turn out to be significantly different from sample populations from early Palestine and Byblos, suggesting a lack of common ancestors over a long time. If there was a south-north cline of variation along the Nile valley it did not, from this limited evidence, continue smoothly into southern Palestine. The limb-length proportions of males from the Egyptian sites group them with Africans rather than with Europeans. - Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization
As for the matter concerning pottery findings that invoke links to the Levant, I find it simplistic, explanations which propose some kind of "foreign settler" community north vs "indigenous" south dichotomy. It's like for example, if someone were to dig around thousands upon thousands of years down the road, and found evidence of Japanese-made cars in some de facto covered up social complex somewhere in Africa or elsewhere outside of Japan and then attempts to simply read that as evidence of Japanese communities in said locale of interest; I liken the situation in northern Egypt to that example. It never occurs that these could be reflections of trade connections, as opposed to some mass demic diffusion of some foreign settler group to some unoccupied territory. In fact, upon examining pottery in predynastic archeological spots of northern Egypt, one will notice pottery ware of both northern Egyptian local material [distinct from Upper Egyptian material], items similar in pattern to those uncovered in the Levant, as well as those suggestive of Upper Egyptian origin. Not discounting the movement of people (traders) with goods [which is a given in many cases], this interesting mix of pottery ware bespeaks trade connections to me first and foremost, as opposed to some notion of a "foreign settler community north vs an indigenous community south" ideology.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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The change found in body plan is suggested to be the result of the later groups having a more tropical (Nilotic) form than the preceding populations -Zakrzewski Posts: 42939 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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I am not sure how the above relates to the post preceding it, as it concerns evidence of human remains in predynasticnorthern Egypt.
You might also want to understand sources you cite, as a suggestion.
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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