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• What has been originally called Predynastic Egypt was the latest unbroken civilization sequence before the introduction of writing (Archaic Dynasties). There was during a long time no known occupation of the Nile Valley between the Paleolithic and Predynastic Egypt. But now, with the recent discovery of new cultures, the term has been extended to all civilizations known between the Paleolithic and Early Dynastic (the beginnings of writing)
• Because it was difficult to attribuate to the Predynastic cultures precise dates, the whole Naqada period has been devided by the archeologist Flinders Petrie in sequences numbered 30-80 (1-29 were left for older cultures that may be discovered after this system was established), based on the pottery he had recovered from some 900 graves. These were in turn divided in three stages, 30-37, 38-63 and 64-80. The stages are still relevant, but the old sequences system is only partially so, and must be used with extreme care. Since then, the system has been refined several times to better fit new discoveries. Because this system was based on the finds of Naqada, those stages are mostly referred to as Naqada I (or Amratian), II (or Gerzean) and III (or Dynasty O).
• As the Naqada III stage is when writing appears, I will not talk about it here
• Cultures outside Naqada have been discovered since, but most are still badly documented. I will however address them briefly, in particulary the Badarian Culture
• Both the Badarian and the Naqada I - II cultures are cultural denominations that are only valid in Upper Egypt. Predynastic Lower Egypt is divided in Neolithic (5300-4000) and Maadi Cultural Complex (4000-3200). Naqada III is the first period that concerns the whole of Egypt

Other important sources for this part include:

• Ian Shaw, "The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt", chapters 1-3, Oxford University Press, 2000
• The Digital Egypt for University

The first settlers were located south of Asyut, that is in Upper Egypt. They used to live on low terraces in the valley, out of reach of the annual inundations; but at one point they undertook the difficult task of clearing big plots: once that was done, they could enjoy ever-fertile crops. The Badarian is the first farming culture known in Upper Egypt. Its origins are still unclear, as well as its relations with the Naqada I period (some say they were partly contemporanean, other that Naqada I origins are found in the Badarian).

As noted above, dating Egyptian prehistoric cultures is difficult. Concerning the Badarian, the initial date varies from 5500 to 4400 (!),but the end is generally situated around 4000 BC. 5500 could actually be true, but until now, only the period 4400-4000 has been confirmed with any certitude. The first evidence was found at a site near modern El-Hammamiya. More appear on spurs at the foot of the cliff, especially in what has been called the El-Badari 5500 area, some 40 km south of Asyut. There were found cooking pots, some still standing in the ground surrounded by ashes (most probably hearths), and also pottery, baskets and flint flakes.

Some particular types of pottery, deep cooking pots narrowing towards the mouth, were also discovered. Some believe they are the proof of yet another culture known as "Tasian", although the fact that that culture isn't simply a part of the Badarian is still not agreed on. More evidence was found at El-Matmar, the same standing cooking-pots in hearths, but also irregularly shaped granaries and querns. This village was probably more permanent than others like the hunting camps of El-Hammamiya.

However, the biggest part of what we know comes from graves situated in the low desert. They were mostly individuals, oval in form with a mat on which was laid the body, yet some of the biggest were rectangular, with niches to accomodate pots, which demonstrate that they were already some differenciations in wealth among the population, a new trend that will become more important with the next Naqada phases. It is to be noted that children were buried seperatly from the others in no longer in use parts of the settlements, and that animals were buried in the same cemetries as men.

The pottery, mostly recovered from the wealthiest graves, was made of Nils silts, with a very fine organic temper in most cases. The exception was a very fine were, which walls were actually thinner than those of any other following pottery in the country. The shapes were simple and many black-topped and the surface was brownish. Red slip is very rare, as well as decoration; most pieces were "combed" before being polished, an effect called "rippled ware".

In general, the picture we have from those people is that they must have been quite numerous, living probably mostly in tents or huts (since no evidence of solid architecture has been found so far. Another explication could be that more permanent settlements did exist but that, located closer to the flood-plain, they have been either washed away or covered with alluvium). Their economy was based on agriculture and husbandry, as they ate emmer, barley or starch-wheat, which they either grounded and ate or stored. Meat came from domesticated oxen, goats and sheep; it had been believed that it came also abundantly from hunting, but more recent analyses from evidences tend to prove it was only a marginal activity. Fish was also part of the diet, and it seems it was caught with nets only.

They were clothed with skins and linen, which they wore as skirts or kilts, but also as shirts and robes, and it seems that tailoring was actually an activity reserved to men. Some of them wore girdles or belts made mainly of blue glazed beads arranged in strings. Amulets, beads of soft stones, shells (which attest of some connexions with the Red Sea) and parts of organ coral were used as adornments. A few female statuettes in ivory or clay of various styles were also discovered, as well as a few exemples of hammered copper

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It seems that early Naqada is contemporary with the end of the Badarian (roughly 4000-3500), and they are alike in more than a few points, especially concerning funeral offerings. Most of what we know comes from the tombs excavated at Naqada, but some clues come also from other sites. From what has been discovered at El-Hammamiya, people lived in small circular huts with walls made of a mic of mud and limestone and roofs of perishable materials. It appears that there is no opening in the walls, meaning that the huts must have been entered from above. Wooden remains have been identified as remains of windscreens. The lack of settlements remains have resulted in an incomplete image of the economy of the period.

The pottery found there allows us to come to the conclusion that there was a white crossed line pottery produced before a decorated one which appeared only at the end of Naqada I, and not at the same time as the white crossed line pottery as has been long believed. This pottery consists of white or cream geometric patterns on polished red ware. It is not as thin as the fine Badarian ware, which still occurs; but its vases are replaced by stone vessels, and the black-topped was diappearing, as well as the "rippled ware".

Another site is Armant, where no architectural remains have been found, but standing cooking pots, as during the Badarian, have been discovered. Near naqada was found what has been called the South Town, where a settlement very different from the others, as it was a fortified city with almost rectangular brick houses. However, it seems now that it was rather built during the Naqada II period

The graves from which, once again, comes the bulk of evidences we have so far, were very comparable to that of the Badarian, mainly oval, those for women being slightly bigger, and sometimes rectangular. The bodies are contracted, lying on a mat and postioned so that the head is south and faces east. They were usually covered by another mat or an animal skin, and wore a loincloth. Again, most were individual, but some had two people, mostly a woman with a newborn infant. The burial places were larger and wooden coffins appear; this is especially true at Hierakonpolis, which appears as an important site already. Th offerings, it seems, were no indicator of the importance of the person, but rather of his occupation. This is why the tomb in which has been found a large group of 16 statuettes may be that of a sculptor.

Evidence of green face paint was found, along with numerious objects made of ivory, among which a comb bearing what has been recognized as the earliest representation of the strange animal of the God Seth. Flint industry has greatly improved, although to which extent is hard to assess because of the difficulty to clearly distinguish tools from Naqada I and II. Stone work also improved steadily, and the forms of cosmetic palettes, of simple shapes during the Badarian, were greatly diversified. Metalwork, on the other hand, did not witness technical progresses, but a greated variation in shapes.

It is to be noted that it is in the Naqada I culture that are found some developments from which would spring the pharaonic culture. Not only the representation of Seth, but the white designs found on some pottery, that of animal and vegetal motives are the beginnings of the later iconography. Human figures are also present, although unobtrusive, and one scene of hunt found on a Naqada I vessel will be seen centuries later on other pharaonic period pieces. The same can be said of a few other pieces, on which are depicted what will become traditional, scenes of victory. Finally, the beards of men represented on small throwsticks or on big animals' tusks were evidently a symbol of power and would be later reserved as a ceremonial false beard for kings and gods

Again, questions may be asked about the connexions between Naqada and Western Asia, as the pottery reveals both decorations and shapes already known in this part of the worls. Likewise, Egyptian objects have been found in the South Palestine. Is it explained by trade or migration? That debate is still open

Naqada II is marked by improtant changes. Now, the legend has it that it was Menes, founder of the first dynasty, who brought civilization to the north. It was believed by archeologists and scholars that the arriving of new people, again probably from Western Asia, was the best explanation. That migration, or one that could have happened earlier, may have helped to explain the Sementic elements of the Egyptian language. However, recent research seems to indicate that those developments found their origings at the heart of the culture, thus ruling out the possibility that it may have come from the outside.From there what is called the Gerzean culture spread both to the north and te south.

During this period of evolution the valley was becoming dryer, either because of the action of man or the decrease of rainfalls (or both), while the population grew, leading to an intensification of the use of ground available. It was probably then that artificial irrigation was first introduced. To be efficient, this had to be undertaken on no small scale, and therefore required some sort of central organization

Again, with no written evidence, nothing is certain, but it seems we face here a communal economy, where the grain would be centralized and redistrbuted, but if it was an ensemble of small states under he rule of one man as in Early Dynastic is not known. Also, three main centers emerged: Naqada, where the remains of a building 50x30 m large were found (a temple? a royal residence?), Hierakonpolis and Abydos. The only sure thing is that at the end of Naqada II, a king of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt.

There isn't much Naqada II evidence in Upper Egypt; on the other hand, traces of that culture can be found as far south as Sayala in Lower Nubia. However, the area of El-Badari reveals that the common one-room houses of that period were rectangular and had a forecourt; this time, they were entered by a door situated at regular height in the wall.

The tradition of contracted burials continues, with the head and face oriented always in the same direction. Oval tombs are still used by poorer people, while those wealthier had spacious rectangular tombs, some lined with matting or wooden planks, the ancestor of the coffin, and divided by mud-brick walls, creating spaces dedicated to the offerings. All were equipped with objects from everyday life, their quantity and quality depending on the wealth of the person burried. Exemples of early 'mummifications' (that is, with the body wrapped by strips of linen) appear during this period. Ceremonials were probably gettig more complicated as well, with evidences of dismembrement or even self-sacrifice, maybe a premiss to those of Abydos during the Early Dynastic period.

Hard stone and metal, notably gold and silver, as well as obsidian, are used for beads and amulets, which asks the question as to where silver and obsidian came from, since they aren’t found in Egypt. But new stones are found and exploited in the desert. The flint industry reaches new heights, like with the ripple-flicked knives. Cosmetic palettes become more simple in shape but parallely became decorated. The macehead gained its status as a symbol of power. At the same time, copper became more casual, and was not only used for adornments but also for weapons like daggers and axes, although, as the chemical analyses of the metal reveal, they may not all be from Egypt, but Mesopotamia.

Beautiful stone vessels are also in use, a tradition that will continue during the Early Dynastic period. Their high quality suggests that those who did them where specialized workers. As most fabrics of those two industries –stone and copper- were found in Lower Egypt, it is not surprising that this region saw its importance increase at the expense of Upper Egypt.

Flint industry made great progresses, so much in fact that the flints of Naqada II are considered the most beautiful ever found hitherto, anywhere in the world. The best flint was used for knives, and flaking was a technic mostly used for decoration.

Trends in pottery also changed: there is less and less black-topped ware; the polished one is still used, but since the clay differs, so does the colour of the red one. New types of pottery appear: one called "rough pottery" and the other "marl ware". For the latter, the clay came from the desert; it was painted ochre-brown on cream and the pattern were either geometrical or representational, revoloving around a symbolic system not completely deciphered so far. The everyday scenes represented on the ware were almost exclusively religious, and rarely secular. They notably depicted a boat with shrine on the Nile, a standard attached to it with the god’s emblem being common. Even outside this religious purpose, the boat is at the core of the representational art of Naqada II, as it was of the life of the people