Summary

In the early twenty-first century the study of the Early Dynastic Period is one of the most vibrant and rewarding branches of Egyptology. Our knowledge of the first halfmillennium of ancient Egyptian civilization has been transformed over the last four decades, and much more remains to be discovered. Far from being a primitive and uneventful prelude to the glories of the Old Kingdom, it is clear that the first three dynasties were a dynamic and pivotal phase of pharaonic history, a period which transformed the Nile Valley and Delta from a disparate collection of competing territories into a strong and centralized nation-state and, in the process, laid the foundations for the majesty and longevity of ancient Egyptian civilization. The pyramids of Giza are simply the ultimate expression of a social order laid down in the Early Dynastic Period.

In material culture, local Predynastic traditions, enhanced and enriched by borrowings from foreign cultures, were moulded into something distinctively and quintessentially Egyptian. What we recognize as ‘‘ancient Egyptian civilization” was undeniably the product of the Early Dynastic court. Under royal patronage, the powerful visual vocabularies of art and architecture were employed and directed in the service of the state to bolster and promote the institution of monarchy and secure its place at the apex of Egyptian society. Perhaps most remarkable of all, the rapid development and relentless promulgation of an ideology of divine kingship set Egypt apart from every other civilization of the ancient world and determined the future pattern of Egyptian society. to Narmer and his successors, kingship was to become the sole political philosophy and the only acceptable form of government in the Nile Valley for the next three thousand years, a stupendous achievement.

Yet, aside from its cultural and political significance, the Early Dynastic Period is important in another crucial respect. In the absence of extensive texts (inscriptions being both a blessing and a curse for later periods of Egyptian history) and with only a few major standing monuments, Early Dynastic Egypt forces us to engage even more closely with the archaeological evidence. In the process, it shows us the fabric of pharaonic society laid bare. The practical reality of Egypt’s foreign relations emerges from behind the barrage of official xenophobia. The self-interest of the ruling class shines through the propaganda. The role of economic management at the heart of policy-making becomes glaringly apparent. The Early Dynastic Period is a window on ancient Egypt as it really was, not as the Pharaohs wished it to be seen.

FURTHER READING

The specialist literature on the Early Dynastic Period is now extensive. The best starting-point is Wilkinson 1999 which combines original research with a digest of over forty years of international scholarship, arranged under thematic headings. Other useful introductions for a more general readership are Spencer 1993b and Brewer 2005. Kemp 2006 contains some of the most original scholarship on the Early Dynastic Period. Equally provocative is

Wengrow 2006 which follows a theoretical approach. The results of the German excavations at Elephantine, Abydos, and Buto are published in interim form in MDAIK, and as final excavation reports by von Zabern in the AVDAIK series. Important volumes of conference proceedings focusing on Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt include Spencer 1993b; Hendrickx et al. (eds.) 2004; and van den Brink and Levy (eds.) 2002. An invaluable tool for the scholar of early Egypt is Hendrickx 1995 with annual supplements in the journal Archeo-Nil.