Ancient Egyptian civilization is a very recent phenomenon compared to the prehistoric cultures which preceded it for hundreds of thousands of years. For most of the prehistoric past in Egypt hunter-gatherers lived in small groups generally called bands. The oldest evidence in Egypt of the Paleolithic, which means “old Stone Age,” is from perhaps as early as 700,000 years ago, although the dating of very early remains cannot be precise (see Box 4-B). Paleolithic groups, in Egypt and elsewhere in the old World (Africa, Asia, and Europe), subsisted in part by hunting, but gathering edible wild plants (and sometimes mollusks) was probably more important for daily subsistence than hunting (and fishing), which depended on opportunity, technology (of the tools used), and some degree of cooperation among the hunters, at least to hunt large mammals. Farming and animal husbandry, which provide most of our food today, were not known during Paleolithic times, and Paleolithic hunter-gatherers lived in temporary camps, not permanent villages. Paleolithic peoples used stone tools, although it is likely that tools of organic materials, such as wood, bone, and animal horn, were used throughout the Paleolithic. Such tools have not been preserved in Egypt until the Late Paleolithic and later, and stone tools provide most of the archaeological evidence for the Paleolithic. Pottery was not invented until Neolithic times.
Since most of what is known about Paleolithic cultures is from the remains of stone tools, a typology of stone tools is used to describe the different cultures, from the earliest to the latest. The earliest Paleolithic cultures are called Lower Paleolithic, and are characterized by large stone tools known as handaxes (Figure 4.1). Although smaller flake-tools were also made in the Lower Paleolithic about 250,000-200,000 years ago, flakes became the characteristic tool of the Middle Paleolithic in Egypt, ca. 250,000-50,000 years ago. Following a transitional period, Upper Paleolithic cultures are known from about 33,000 years ago onward and are characterized by long, thin stone tools known as blades. By ca. 21,000 years ago, during the Late Paleolithic, a new type of stone tool called bladelets had developed; these small blades are a type of microlith, less than 5 centimeters long. The last Paleolithic hunter-gatherers in Egypt belonged to Epipaleolithic cultures (also known as Final Paleolithic), after ca. 10,000 years ago.
There are many gaps in what is known about Paleolithic cultures in Egypt, especially in the sequence of archaeological evidence, as well as where the evidence has been found. One major problem is that the Nile has changed its course, volume, and pattern of alluviation, and other geological and hydrological factors have caused evidence to be buried or destroyed. In the Eastern and Western Deserts, areas outside of the oases were only occupied by hunter-gatherers where there were edible plants and animals - and water, all of which were present only during less arid climatic episodes. Because of their isolation, Paleolithic sites in the desert are often much better preserved than those in the Valley, but archaeological exploration of the deserts has also been limited. This is in part due to the very inhospitable conditions there and difficult logistics for fieldwork. Much more investigation is needed in the desert regions.
Map 4.1 Paleolithic sites in Egypt, Nubia, and the Western Desert.
The Paleolithic stone tools that have been found in Egypt were not all produced by the same species of early man. Although there is no fossil evidence of who made Lower Paleolithic handaxes in Egypt, it is presumed that these tools are associated with Homo erectus, which evolved in East Africa about 1.8 million years ago. Homo erectus literally means “erect man,” although it is now known that bipedal locomotion developed much earlier than 1.8 million years ago. H. erectus eventually migrated out of Africa sometime after its evolution there and populated many parts of the old World. An important route of
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Figure 4.1 Handax. Source: Drawing by Angela Close. Reprinted by permission.
Migration was the Nile Valley, which also provided a rich environment for the Homo erectus that remained there.
As a species, we (anatomically modern humans) are classified as Homo sapiens sapiens, which means “wise man.” The Middle Paleolithic in Egypt is associated with an archaic form of Homo sapiens and modern humans, who evolved in Africa about 200,000-150,000 years ago. Although Homo neanderthalensis is known in Europe and southwest Asia, evidence of Neanderthals has not been found in Egypt or other parts of Africa. By Upper/Late Paleolithic times H. sapiens sapiens was the only species of humans in Africa and elsewhere in the old World.
World History
