In Lower Egypt the sites of the Faiyumian culture (c.5450-c.4400 BC), previously known as Faiyum A, have revealed evidence of domesticated cereals (emmer wheat and six row barley) and domesticated sheep/goat. There were a number of hearths and granaries but there is no evidence of permanent occupation, the sites resembled the camps of hunter-gatherers.
The Merimde culture (c.4900-c.4300 BC) was concentrated around the main settlement of Merimde Beni-Salama (which had a population perhaps as large as 16,000) at the edge of the western Delta. In Level-I there was evidence of hearths, pottery and possibly shelters. In Level II there were burials, granaries, storage jars and simple dwellings. Levels III-IV revealed new and more substantial dwellings with mud walls.
The Omari culture (c.4600-c.4400 BC) is represented by a site at El-Omari, south of Cairo. The settlements include numerous wattle and daub huts (mud plastered over a lattice of branches), storage pits and evidence that they cultivated emmer wheat and barley. They buried their dead within the confines of the village and sometimes included a small pot.
In Middle Egypt the Badarian culture (c.4400-c.4000 BC) was first identified at sites in the El-Badari district. Settlements on the desert spurs appear impermanent, but the remains of more enduring settlements closer to the floodplain may have been covered with alluvium or washed away by the river. Graves have revealed a distinctive pottery (red-polished ware with blackened tops), terracotta and ivory anthropomorphic figures, slate palettes, stone vases and flint tools. The Tasian culture, named after the site of Deir Tasa in Middle Egypt, is generally thought to be part of the Badarian culture.
Further south, evidence of culture has been found at Gebel el-Tarif, hence the name Tarifian. Another Tarifian site has been excavated further south at Armant. This appears to have been a pre-agricultural nomadic group and has no demonstrable link with the later cultural sequence in Upper Egypt.
In the early fourth millennium two different cultures emerged: the Naqada culture (c.4000-c.3050 BC) in Upper Egypt and the Maadi culture (c.4000-c.3200 BC) in Lower Egypt.
Naqada-I culture (c.4000-c.3500 BC) was first found at El-Amra and called the Amratian culture, but it is better attested at Naqada. Single burials are most common but multiple burials are frequent. The inclusion of magnificent mace-heads at Hierakonpolis probably indicates that the burials were of important individuals. Decorated pottery has geometrical, animal and vegetal motifs with human figures represented schematically in two depictions: the hunt and the victorious warrior. Since the buildings were constructed from mud and organic materials (wood, reed, palm) they have not survived well. The sole surviving structure is at Hierakonpolis.
Naqada II (c.3500-c.3200 BC) was characterised by the expansion of the Gerzean culture, named after El-Gerza, from Naqada northwards towards the Delta and southwards as far as Nubia. The Amaratian trend in burials continued: fewer individuals were buried, but placed in larger tombs containing richer goods. There are the first indications of wrapping of bodies in strips of linen. Self-sacrifice is suggested by the discovery of two cases of throat-slitting followed by decapitation at Abydos. On the pottery there are two types of motifs: geometric and representative. The predominant motif is the boat; its presence representing the importance of the river as the provider of food (fish, fowl) and as the principal means of communication north and south. Copper working intensified, with artefacts replacing stone objects such as axes and blades.
The sites of the Maadi culture named after Maadi, a suburb of Cairo, are very different from the sites of similar date in Upper Egypt. Cemeteries are less prominent and most of our knowledge is derived from the remains of settlements of which there are three types: rectangular houses, oval huts, and oval houses excavated from living rock (i.e. not quarried). Sites with Maadi ceramics extend to Buto (Tell el-Farain), near the Mediterranean. Sherds of imported pottery indicate links with Upper Egypt and Palestine. The end of the Maadi culture was a process of gradual assimilation; the final phase of the Maadi culture coinciding with the middle of the Naqada II culture.
With successful cereal production in Upper Egypt creating a surplus that could be exchanged for craft goods it is possible that the first southerners to go north were traders leading the way for colonists, i.e. the initial expansion northwards could have been peaceful rather than militaristic. Control of northern Egypt would give control of the trade contracts with other regions of eastern Mediterranean, e.g. the wood for the large boats required for control and communication on the Nile did not grow in Egypt, but came from the area now known as Lebanon. Evidence from the Upper Egypt sites Naqada, Abydos and Hierakonpolis suggests that they were separate cen-tres during Naqada II. Unification of Upper Egypt probably took place through alliances or warfare and was followed by the unification of north and south and the emergence of Dynasty 0 during Naqada III (c.3200-c.3050 BC).
Umm el-Qaab was a burial ground for the rulers of the area of Abydos during Naqada times. It became the royal cemetery for the kings of the first dynasty and the last two kings of the second dynasty. The first kings of the second dynasty were buried at Saqqara, south of Cairo. The last three kings of Dynasty 0 have been identified as Ira-Hor, Ka and Narmer.
Three artefacts showing scenes of vanquished peoples were found at Hierakonpolis (=ancient Nekhen) – the macehead of King Scorpion (Dynasty 0), and the palette and the macehead of King Narmer. It is debated whether Narmer was contemporary with or even the same person as Scorpion. The Egyptian scholar Manetho (c.305-c.285 BC) places Menes as the unifier of Egypt.
Egyptian early history is divided into dynasties described by Manetho in his history of Egypt, Aegyptiaca, which begins with Menes and goes down to just before the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great (332 BC). The following dates are accurate to 200 years c.3000 BC; accurate to 20 years c.1300 BC; and precise from 664 BC.
| PERIOD | DYNASTY | BC-00-AD | REMARKS |
| Predynastic | 0 | 3100-3050 | Naqada III/Menes |
| Early Dynastic | 1 | 3050-2890 | Thinite |
| 2 | 2890-2686 | Thinite/Memphite | |
| Old Kingdom | 3 | 2686-2613 | Djoser |
| 4 | 2613-2494 | Giza | |
| 5 | 2494-2345 | Ra | |
| 6-8 | 2345-2160 | Memphite | |
| First Intermediate | 9-10 | 2160-2025 | Heracleopolitan |
| 11 | 2025-2055 | Thebes only | |
| Middle Kingdom | 11 | 2055-1985 | Theban (all Egypt) |
| 12 | 1985-1773 | Itjtawy | |
| 13 | 1773-1650 | Nile Valley (Itjtawy) | |
| 14 | 1773-1650 | Delta (Xois) | |
| Second Intermediate | 15 | 1650-1550 | Hyksosian |
| 16-17 | 1650-1550 | Theban | |
| New Kingdom | 18 | 1550-1295 | Thutmosid |
| 19-20 | 1295-1069 | Ramessid | |
| Third Intermediate | 21 | 1069-0945 | Tanite |
| 22 | 945-715 | Libyan | |
| 23 | 818-715 | Tanite | |
| 24 | 727-715 | Saite | |
| 25 | 747-656 | Kushite | |
| Late | 26 | 664-525 | Saite |
| 27 | 525-404 | Achaemenid | |
| 28 | 404-399 | Saite | |
| 29 | 399-380 | Mendes | |
| 30 | 380-343 | Sebennytos | |
| 31 | 343-332 | Achaemenid | |
| Graeco-Roman | — | 332-305 | Macedonian |
| — | 305-30 | Ptolemaic | |
| — | 030-00-395 | Roman | |
| — | 395-646 | Byzantine |
A number of texts containing lists of kings with commentaries have survived. Unfortunately, only fragments of the Aegyptiaca have survived. The Palermo Stone (the largest fragment is kept in Palermo) consists of fragments of black stone containing a record of the kings of Egypt from the first dynasty through to the fifth dynasty. The Turin Canon (kept in Turin) is a papyrus containing lists of kings thought to have ruled from the beginning through to the seventeenth dynasty.
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