Book
Egypt before the pharaohs: the prehistoric foundations of Egyptian civilization
Knopf • New York • Published In 1979 • Pages:
By: Hoffman, Michael A..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Hoffman has written a comprehensive account of Egypt's prehistory, from the Lower Paleolithic down to the first Dynasty, for the general reader. Hoffman stresses the importance of the early researchers in Egyptian prehistory, stating, '… Egyptian prehistory is a collection of individual researchers … Thus, in our account … individual excavators, their foibles, finds, and interpretations will be as important as the material which they have unearthed.' (page xvi). He includes discussions of the impact of climate changes on prehistory. During the last great drought in the Sahara, from 40,000 years ago to 7,000 years ago, people would have had to immigrate to the Nile Valley. Hoffman and others have hypothesized that cattle might have been domesticated independently in Africa and these people might have brought their domesticated animals with them. Then, from 7,000 to 3,100 years ago, Egypt was wetter and people could live near the wadis away from the Nile river and into the Sahara. Hoffman discusses contact between the people living near the Nile and those living in the Western Desert and the Red Sea Hills and also between Egypt and Nubia. Only the data that pertain to the Upper Egypt Predynastic period were indexed for OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials) subjects.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Identification
- Reviews and critiques
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Ceramic technology
- Settlement patterns
- Visual arts
- Chief executive
- Burial practices and funerals
- Chronologies and culture sequences
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Upper Egypt Predynastic
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry ; 2004
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1969, 1978
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 7500 BP-5100 BP (5500 B.C.-3100 B.C.)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Egypt
- NotesAdditional notes
- Michael A. Hoffman
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-376) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 78020371
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Neolithic period--Egypt/Egypt--Antiquities