Book
From farmers to pharaohs: mortuary evidence for the rise of complex society in Egypt
Sheffield Academic Press • Sheffield, England • Published In 1994 • Pages: vi, 144
By: Bard, Kathryn A..
Abstract
Bard explores the origins of Egyptian civilization and state formation. She first reviews other authors' theories about why the Egyptian state arose. She then reviews the predynastic archaeological evidence in Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt and the absolute dates, Petries Sequence Dating, and Kaiser's seriation dating. Much of the archaeological evidence is from cemeteries. The Armant and Nagada cemeteries are described and an analysis of their grave goods is done to examine the graves' status or ranking. At Nagada one sees the emergence of elites. Increased social differentiation and stratification is one of the major factors in state formation. In Egypt this is coupled with the rise of a mortuary cult. The governing instituitions became symbolically associated with the mortuary cult during the Predynastic. It may have been a way to legitimize secular power.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2005
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Northern Africa
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Sarah Berry ; 2004
- Field Date
- 1978 and 1989
- Coverage Date
- 6000 BP- 5000 BP (4000 B.C.-3000 B.C.)
- Coverage Place
- Upper Egypt
- Notes
- Kathryn A. Bard
- Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Toronto
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-148) and index
- LCCN
- 94130510
- LCSH
- Neolithic period--Egypt/Egypt--Antiquities