Prehistoric Ages

Origin of the science of prehistory

The science of prehistory originated in Europe which makes it logical to find all terminology and scientific jargon purely European. The studies in such branch of science started in Western Europe which makes us find some differences when we attempt to apply the results that have been reached in Western Europe and the results that have been reached in Eastern Europe. There no wonder then to find differences between results reached in Europe and those reached at other parts of the world. This is a natural matter, for the soil of each country and its conditions give it its own special identity that distinguish it from others in several regards.

Prehistory in Egypt and Europe

Before discussing our main topic, we must ask ourselves the following questions: To what extent is the prehistoric ere in Egypt similar to the prehistoric era in Europe and to what extent do they differ? The answer is that they are similar in many respects according to what information has reached us unless the future came with new proof against this. Therefore, we must study both the Egyptian and the European prehistoric eras in parallel and compare them to one another then bring them closer to each other. This methodology makes it easier for us to study the prehistoric era of our country Egypt.

History beginds in 3200 BCE

The Egyptian prehistoric era starts at the time when man started to appear in the Nile Valley and ends at the beginning of the First Kingdom around 3200 BCE.

Research done during the last forty years has resulted in dividing that long prehistoric era into three main periods. Not all anthropologists though acknowledge the existence of the first of those three periods.

Prehistory stages

1) The first period is called the Old Pre-Stone Age (Ioletic). In that period, ~zaran rocks were used as they were found in nature while slightly ~polished.

2) The second period is call the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic). This was the age of using stones that have been slightly ~polished after being cut. From this age branches the New Stone Age (Teolithic) which is the age of stones that have been polished after ~polishing.

3) The third period is when the use of metals appeared. That age is called the Age of Using Iron (Neolithic). In that age, stone, cupper and iron were used side by side to make tools. Before discussing these ages in some detail we must note that it is almost impossible to give specific dates for the prehistoric eras in Egypt except perhaps when we start discussing the age of starting to use metals (Neolithic). By comparing tools that appeared during the New Stone Age with those that appeared after that during the Age of Metal Use (Neolithic) we may provide relative dates specially after studying pottery that appeared during the New Stone Age.

Flinders Petrie and prehistoric pottery

The first to carry out such unique methodology in research was Sir Flinders Petrie. He was able to conduct such research by studying intact tombs found at a cemetery that dates back to the Age of First Using Metals. Through his observations and deductions he was able to order the different types of pottery found in those tombs and sort them into categories that appeared in consecutive time periods which he numbered from one to eighty. These numbers are called consecutive dates. The number 80 is equivalent to the beginning of recorded history that is the age in which writing appeared.

Consequitive dating

Sir Flinders Petrie started creating his consecutive date system by first assigning the number 30 to the oldest type of pottery known at his time and reserved the numbers between 1 and 30 to what might be discovered later on of pottery belonging to older time periods. A very old site has been recently discovered next to the Badari village dating back to a time period before that of number 30. scientists have indeed assigned the range of numbers from 20 to 29 for this site. despite the fact that it is almost impossible for us to provide a definitive date for the prehistoric era in Egypt, yet we can in the meantime mention that the New Stone Age might have started around ten thousand years ago and that the age of starting to use metals started approximately size or five thousand years ago. These dates are not based on scientific evidence but are mentioned as a loose sign for guidance only.

Now let us mention each of the prehistoric eras in Egypt briefly according to their natural order then discuss each era in more detail after that.

Ioletic Age

Early Old Stone Age

Self defense of prehistoric man

The first goal of the first humans who appeared on earth was to find weapons for themselves in order to e able to defend themselves against animals that surrounded them and be able to live among them. Probably the first weapons to come to their minds were what was within their reach. For instance, they cut tree branches and smoothed it to use it for self defense. They also collected hard rocks provided by nature from around them then smoothed them a bit by themselves to let them have sharp edges then used them in whatever they needed. Such tools that had been made using this method have been called Iolite by geologists.

First appearance of man

Geologists date those tools back to the Triocence. However, the existence of humans during that age is debated. This is because no human remains from that age have ever been found.

Uncertainity about the appearance of man during the Triocene

In Egypt, we can easily collect many pieces from the tools of that age from the desert land but then again the date of such pieces is not confirmed. The reason behind this is that the atmospheric conditions such as high and low temperatures and the periodic appearance of day followed by night results in the breaking down of part of the new flint that resemble the old Ioletic pieces. Mr. Shfinfort collected many pieces of this kind from the ~stops of King doors. Yet traces of human hands are found in many of these pieces. Nevertheless, we find such pieces mixed with tools from the age following that one, which is called the Paleolithic Age (the Old Stone Age). We have nothing to make us believe that it belongs to an older age. In fact there is no ancient or new Egyptian ~stop in which there appeared human made tools and pieces produced by nature itself and then people used them skillfully. The principle of conserving human energy in production played a major role in the life of early humans in Egypt as was the case in other countries. It comes as no surprise then when we find that humans used to use pieces created by nature to help them carry out their needs during their first appearance on earth and during the time before they hand knowledge of crafts.

Old Stone Age

Subdivisions of the old stone age

The old stone age is known by the use of smoothed stone. It is subdivided into three stages. The first stage is the Lower Old Stone Age which includes what parallels Cheulian and Acheulean crafts in Europe. The second stage is the Middle Old Stone Age in which Mousterian crafts prevail. Finally, the third stage is the Upper Old Stone Age in which auriqnacienne crafts prevailed followed by solutereenne then magdalenienne crafts.

New Stone Age

The new stone age comes right before the Age of First Using Metals. It is the age of using polished stone after smoothing. The subdivisions of that age are somewhat complex and will be tackled later on.

The Age of First Using Metals

The age of first using metals is the age of transition. During that age man started to use metals. Man started using cupper and gold then bronze and iron. Yet the stage at which iron had been used in Egypt was different from that of other countries. It was not until Egypt reached its greatest time in history that iron started to be used for it was unknown in Egypt before that.