Читать книгу A History of Ancient Egypt - Marc Van De Mieroop - Страница 34

Because of Egypt’s location at the junction of Africa and Eurasia, many hominid migrations out of Africa passed through the country. It is no surprise then that early human stone tools were found there. The evidence of human activity in the Nile Valley from 700,000 BC to the beginning of Egyptian history around 3000 BC is scarce, however, and at many times nonexistent, and we cannot see a continuous development from these early times. The growth of an Egyptian culture only becomes clear in the last millennia of prehistory, from the mid‐6th millennium on. From 5400 to 3000 is a very long time, but developments in Egypt were rapid when compared to other prehistoric societies. They include a shift in subsistence from hunting and gathering to farming, and the evolution of a social and political structure with a clear hierarchy of power and wealth that culminated in the Egyptian state. Throughout these two‐and‐a‐half millennia we do not see abrupt cultural changes or the sudden appearance of populations that brought new practices with them, so the evolution must have been indigenous, albeit with influences from the outside. The processes of formation of the Egyptian state accelerated around 3400, and we will look at them in the next chapter. Here we will focus on earlier events.