BIRTH OF CIVILISATIONBirth of Civilisation and the Growth of RacesAND THE GROWTH OF RACES
BIRTH OF CIVILISATION
Birth of Civilisation and the Growth of Races
AND THE GROWTH OF RACES
BY PROFESSOR FLINDERS PETRIE
I
IN looking back to the beginning of civilisation in any country, we have to deal with the physical changes which the land has undergone, and to consider the conditions which promoted or hindered the advance of its inhabitants. The nature of a country largely rules the nature of its people, both bodily and mentally; and it may even be true that, if sufficient time be given, the same character and structure will always be produced by equal conditions.
Civilisation 10,000 Years agoHow we can Fix the Date
From historical records, and the cemeteries that have been examined, it appears that the beginning of a continuous civilisation in Egypt must be set as far back as about 10,000 years ago, or 8000B.C.The question then is how far the condition of the country at that age was similar to that now seen? The present state is quite new, geographically speaking, as the deposit of mud by the Nile, providing a suitable soil, is only a matter of a few thousand years. The accumulation of deposit is about 5 in. in a century (4·7 at Naukratis, 5·1 at Abusir, 5·5 at Cairo); and the depth of it is not less than 26 ft., and varies in different places down to 62 ft. The lower depths are, however, often mixed with sand beds, and do not show the continuous mud deposit; hence the average depth of 39 ft. is too large, and if we accept 35 ft., it will certainly be a full estimate. At the average rate of deposit, this would be formed in 6,000 years. But, on the other hand, the deposit may have been slower at the beginning, and hence the age would be earlier. Also, the full depth may be greater, owing to some borings hitting on ground which was originally above the river. Hence the extreme limits of age of Nile deposit in different positions are perhaps 7,000 to 15,000 years, and probably about 10,000 years may be a likely age for the beginning of continuous Nile mud stratification. Hence it is clear that the start of the civilisation was about contemporary with the first cultivable ground.
Stone Age in EgyptThe First Dwellers in the Land
Earlier than the Nile deposits there must have been some rainfall, enough to keep up the volume of the river, and to prevent its slackening, so as to deposit its burden. We must picture, then, the country as having enough rainfall for a scanty vegetation in the valleys, while the Nile flowed down a mighty stream, filling the whole bed as it now does in flood, and bearing its mud out to the sea, except in some backwaters which were shoaling up. Such a land would support a small population of hunters, who followed the desert game and snared hippopotami in the marshes. The Nile had been in course of recession for a long period before it began to rise again by filling its bed. The gravels high above the present Nile contain flints flaked by human work; much as in Sinai such flakes are found, deep in the filling of the valleys which belong to a pluvialperiod. Yet after the Nile had retreated down to the present level, man appears to have been still in the Palæolithic stage, as freshly flaked, unrolled flints have been found at the lowest surface level of the desert. As the country, while drying up, and before mud deposits were laid down, would have only been suited for occupation by hunters, it seems probable that Palæolithic Man had continued in Egypt until the beginning of the Nile deposits—that is to say, till the beginning of the continuous civilisation as discovered in the cemeteries.
BUSHMANTYPE. On turning to the remains of the earliest burials, we find that in many cases female figures of the Bushman—or more precisely Koranna—type, were placed in the graves; while at the same time long, slender figures of the European type are also found. The inference is that the Palæolithic race of the Koranna type was known to the earliest civilised race in Egypt, and that they were being expelled and exterminated, as only female figures are found—representing captive slave women—and even these soon disappear. Thus it would seem that Egypt, as an almost desert region, before the formation of the cultivable mud flats, was the last home on the Mediterranean of the hunters who continued in the Palæolithic stage. The physical type of the figures which we can attribute to this earliest population has the Bushman characteristics of fatness of the thighs and hips, with a deep lumbar curve; and a line of whisker covers the jaws of the female figures, akin to the fur on the bodies of women on the Brassempouy and Laugerie-Basse ivory carvings. This indicates that they belonged to a cold climate, and had not been developed in Egypt. As, however, man had certainly dwelt in the Nile valley for long ages, this northern indication points to a comparatively recent invasion from a colder to a warmer climate, such as has been the rule throughout historical times.
Time Without Dates
PREHISTORICPERIOD. The beginning of the continuous civilisation of the country must be placed at about 8000B.C.The written history extends back to the first dynasty, and places that at 5500B.C., and this is checked at the sixth, twelfth, and eighteenth dynasties by records of the rising of Sirius, and of the seasons in the shifting year, which agree to this dating in general. For the length of the prehistoric age before these written records there is no exact dating. But, as in a given district of Egypt, where all the desert has been searched, the prehistoric graves are about as numerous as those made during the six thousand years of the historic time, at least 2,000 or 3,000 years must be allowed. The amount of change in every kind of production during this age is considerable; and as we can trace two cycles of civilisation, which usually occupy about 1,500 years each in the later times, it is likely that 2,500 years is too little rather than too long a period. As no definite scale of years can be used, the dating of the graves of this age is treated as a matter of sequence. From a careful statistical classing of the pottery, it is practicable to put about a thousand of the fullest graves into their original order; this series is then divided into 50 equal parts, and these are numbered from 30 to 80. Thus, sequence date 30 is the earliest type of graves yet found, andS.D.80 is of the age of Mena, the founder of the first dynasty. The sequence dates are given below for each stage of the prehistoric times.
THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF EGYPTAs female figures of the Bushman type are found in the very earliest Egyptian graves, it is thought that this race was native to the country and was gradually expelled by the first civilised people. The photograph illustrates one of the figures taken from a grave.
THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF EGYPT
As female figures of the Bushman type are found in the very earliest Egyptian graves, it is thought that this race was native to the country and was gradually expelled by the first civilised people. The photograph illustrates one of the figures taken from a grave.
EARLIESTBURIALS. The earliest graves found are shallow circular hollows on the desert, about 30 in. across, and a foot deep. The body lies closely doubled up, wrapped in goat-skins. There are very few objects placed with these burials; a single cup of pottery, red, with black top; rarely, a slate palette for grinding face-paint; and, in onegrave, a copper pin to fasten the goat-skin. Pottery was in a simple stage, and weaving was quite unknown. These graves are classed as sequence date 30.
POTTERY OF FIRST EGYPTIAN CIVILISATIONThe pottery of the first period of Egyptian civilisation is characterised by raised white lines on a red body, and from the fact that it closely resembles the pottery of the Kabyle people, who live in North Africa to-day, it is thought the first Egyptian civilisation may have come from the west. These examples are before 7000 B.C.
POTTERY OF FIRST EGYPTIAN CIVILISATION
The pottery of the first period of Egyptian civilisation is characterised by raised white lines on a red body, and from the fact that it closely resembles the pottery of the Kabyle people, who live in North Africa to-day, it is thought the first Egyptian civilisation may have come from the west. These examples are before 7000 B.C.
Civilisation Emerging from the Mists
FIRSTCIVILISATION. The next period is that of the white patterns on red (S.D.31 to 34). This use of lines of raised white slip is the same as on the present Kabyle pottery, and the patterns are so closely alike on the ancient and modern that this forms a strong evidence for a Western connection of the people. In this period the main lines of the civilisation become clearly marked. The fine flint chipping with delicate serrated edges; the polished red pottery, of circular and of fancy forms; the tall round-bottomed stone vases; the slate palettes for face-paint, of animal forms and of rhombic shape; the use of sandals; the ivory combs with animal figures; the disc-shaped mace-head—all of these were in use with the white cross-lined pottery, and stamp the general type of the beginning of the civilisation. We have before us a settled population, with strong artistic taste in handicraft, but not in copying Nature; with patience for very long and skilful work, and probably organised, therefore, under chiefs who commissioned such labour; yet with sufficient general demand for fine things to have raised hand pottery to its highest level; with strong beliefs about a future life, as shown by the uniform detail of the position of the body and the nature of the offerings in the grave; with the arts of spinning and weaving; fairly clothed, as shown by the use of sandals; fighters, with finely-made and treasured weapons; with the use of personal marks for property—altogether much in the stage which we now see in the highest races of the Pacific or Central Africa.
EASTERNINVASION. This civilisation had lasted for a few centuries when we see a change come over it. On searching the types of pottery we see many new forms arising fromS.D.38 to 43, while many older types disappear betweenS.D.40 and 44. These changes serve to stamp the point of the change, but it is in other respects that the differences are most visible. The black-topped pottery, red polished, and fancy forms of pottery cease to develop after 43, whereas the decorated pottery, with brown line patterns on buff ware, is scarcely known till 40, and the late class of pottery begins at 43. In the stone vases the forms of tall tubular shape, with handles, cease at 40, and the barrel forms begin at 39, and are dominant by 42. In flint work the various new types begin from 39 to 45; the disc mace dies out about 40, and the pear-shaped mace begins at 42. In the slate palettes old types vanish and new ones arise from 37 to 42. The same is seen in ivories. Foreign intercourse was increased, as silver (from Asia Minor?), lazuli (from Persia?), serpentine and hæmatite (from Sinai?) all come into use from 38 to 40. In copying Nature, the steatopygous figures of the Bushman type are only found before 38, and human figure amulets are known from down to 44. Animal figure amulets begin in 45. Multiple burials in graves are common down to 40, and continue till 43; only single burials are known later.
Invasion from the EastWhat Mythology Says
The racial changes that are thus indicated by these widespread differences can only be traced by the different products. The white line pottery characteristic of the earliest people is closely like that of the Kabyles, and the similarity of the skull measurements show that there is no bar to accepting the connection with the North African race. But the details of the new people, using animal amulets, a face veil, wavy-handled pottery like that of early Palestine, and the Asiatic silver and lazuli, all point to their coming in from the East. This change may be further linked with the religious traditions. This later mythology taught that Osiris had found the Egyptians in a brutal existence, and he had taught them agriculture, laws, and worship; this appears to be the traditionof the bringing in of cultivation by the earliest civilisation atS.D.30. His worshippers were allied with those of Isis, who were a kindred tribe. Hence Osiris is said to have married his sister Isis. The myth further shows that this civilisation was attacked treacherously by the tribe who worshipped Set, in confederacy with an Ethiopian queen, and they succeeded in suppressing the worship of Osiris and removing his remains to Byblos in Syria. This seems to agree to the influx of Asiatic influence, aboutS.D.40, which we have noticed above. The correction of the calendar from 360 to 365 days, is attributed to the beginning of the civilisation (atS.D.30) by the myth that Osiris and his cycle of gods were born on the extra five days.
PREHISTORIC SHIPS: THE EARLIEST PICTURES OF EGYPTIAN VESSELSThe pottery of the second period of Egyptian civilisation is rich in representations of prehistoric ships. The vessels are shown with many oars, and the cabins are placed amidship with a gangway between. It is gathered from these crude drawings that in prehistoric times there was a considerable shipping trade along the coast of Egypt.
PREHISTORIC SHIPS: THE EARLIEST PICTURES OF EGYPTIAN VESSELS
The pottery of the second period of Egyptian civilisation is rich in representations of prehistoric ships. The vessels are shown with many oars, and the cabins are placed amidship with a gangway between. It is gathered from these crude drawings that in prehistoric times there was a considerable shipping trade along the coast of Egypt.
SECONDCIVILISATION. The second prehistoric civilisation, of which we have traced the Asiatic source, is specially marked by the use of a hard buff pottery, on which designs are often painted in brown outline. The art of these has no connection with that of the early white line designs; the habit of covering figures with cross lines, and the imitation of basket-work, have entirely disappeared; and, on the contrary, the plant, ostrich, and ship designs are quite new.
What, then, were the connections of these people? One indication is gleaned from carvings at the close of the prehistoric age. Two tributaries of the new king of Egypt are shown bearing stone vases of the style of those of the second prehistoric civilisation,S.D.45–75. They have large pointed noses, and wear pigtails, and another tributary of the same type wears a long robe. Hence we may see that they came from a cold region where stone vases were wrought; and that by the form of the vase they were probably the same people as the later prehistoric stock. Yet, on the other hand, we occasionally find pottery vases of that people in the earlier prehistoric age, so that they must have been in touch with Egypt throughout. The more likely source for them was the mountainous region, where snow sometimes lies, between Egypt and the Red Sea; and certainly this was the source of the rare igneous rocks used for the prehistoric vases.
The general conclusion would be, then, that a people occupying the mountainous region east of Egypt had an independent civilisation, and were in touch with the early prehistoric people of the Nile valley. Then aboutS.D.38 they began to push down into Egypt, and fully entered it byS.D.44, bringing with them various different points of their own civilisation, and expelling the Osiris worship in favour of Set, who was their god. They probably brought in the Semitic elements to the Egyptian language, along with the other Asiatic connections.
Fleet of Prehistoric Ships
SHIPPING. Under this new order of things we see much more foreign and maritime connection. The introduction of silver from Asia, of lazuli from Persia, of hæmatite from Sinai, of serpentine from the Arabian desert—all show this. On the vases we see the starfish painted, and one of the most usual decorations was the figure of a great galley or ship. These ships are shown with oars on the pottery vases, and without oars or sails on the tomb paintings. From the proportion of the figures they appear to have been as much as 50 ft, long, and this is confirmedby the oars, which number up to sixty. Neither indication is exact; but the tendency would be to exaggerate the size of the figures, and certainly not to diminish them, and so aggrandise the ship. The shipbuilding in the early history may prepare us for the earlier rise of such work, when we read of Senefru building sixty ships of a hundred feet long in one year.
What the Ships Were Like
These prehistoric ships were all of one pattern. Amidships were the large cabins, and there was no poop or forecastle structure, probably because of the want of support fore and aft, the flotation being mainly in the middle. The two cabins were separated by a broad gangway across the boat, and joined above the gangway by a bridge from roof to roof. Lesser cabins projected fore and aft from the main cabins. On the roofs were rails at the corners, so as to secure top cargo without getting in the way of loading it up. In a large ship there was an upper cabin on the hinder main one, a light shelter shaded with branches. From the back of the hinder cabin stood up a tall pole bearing a solid object as a standard, which we shall notice below. At the stern was the steersman seated by an upright post, to which was probably lashed the steering oar, as in the historical boats. In the bows was a low platform, with a rail round it, for the look-out, shaded with branches. The cabins were narrower than the beam, and left free space for rowers on each side.
Trade in Those Days
FOREIGNIMPORTS. Vessels of this large size certainly imply a corresponding importance of commerce. We have noted already the foreign imports into Egypt; and others imply more distinctly a sea intercourse. FromS.D.33 down toS.D.68 there is found black pottery with incised basket-work patterns [page 238] filled in with white. It is always rare, only occurring in less than 1 per cent. of the graves, and in only one case was there more than a solitary example. It is entirely disconnected from the Egyptian types, but it is closely akin to pottery found on the north of the Mediterranean, in Spain (Ciempozuelos), in Bosnia, and in the earliest town of Troy. At the close of the prehistoric age the black pottery of the late Neolithic city of Knossos is found in the lowest levels of the temple at Abydos. And in the royal tombs of the first dynasty there many vases and pieces have been found which are clearly of the earliest age of painted Ægean pottery. Considering that the bulk of the trade must have been for perishable goods—oil and skins from Crete and Greece, corn and beans from Egypt—it is not to be expected that a great amount of breakable pottery would pass and be preserved in burials. There are, moreover, some tallies left to us besides the northern pottery. Throughout the later prehistoric age emery was regularly in use for all the grinding and polishing of stone vases and of carnelian beads; and so common that one excelsior spirit in search of a tour de force had even cut a vase out of block emery, as being the hardest known material. This emery, so far as we know, must have come from Smyrna. Again, the gold of the first dynasty contains a large amount of silver. This points to its source from the Pactolus region, where electrum was found, rather than from Nubia, where the gold is free from silver.
CONNECTION OF THESHIPPING. When we look at the evidence of the ships themselves we see that it points to their having been used at sea rather than on the Nile. It is impossible to row a ship up against the Nile stream, which runs at three miles an hour, and sailing or towing is the only way to go southward in Egypt. But in only one instance is a ship with a sail represented, while there are many dozens of figures of rowing vessels. The galley has always been the type of business ship on the Mediterranean. All through the classical wars the rowing galley was the mainstay of power. The Homeric catalogue of ships, the Phœnician coinage, the Assyrian sculptures, the Greek fleets, the Carthaginian navy and its destroyers of Rome, the pirates of Liburnia and Lycia, down to the Venetian fleet and the French galleys of a couple of centuries ago, all show the dominance of the oar.
ARTICLES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE EARLY CIVILISATION OF EGYPT(1) Slate palettes on which paint for rubbing round the eyes was ground; (2) adze heads and harpoons, the harpoons at the sides being of bone, the others of copper; (3) beautifully flaked flint knife; (4) serpent amulet of stone; (5) maces of quartzose rock, very effective weapons; (6) forked lances of flint; (7) combs of ivory; (8) vases carved from hard stone; (9) black incised pottery, a foreign import into early Egypt.LARGER IMAGE
ARTICLES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE EARLY CIVILISATION OF EGYPT
(1) Slate palettes on which paint for rubbing round the eyes was ground; (2) adze heads and harpoons, the harpoons at the sides being of bone, the others of copper; (3) beautifully flaked flint knife; (4) serpent amulet of stone; (5) maces of quartzose rock, very effective weapons; (6) forked lances of flint; (7) combs of ivory; (8) vases carved from hard stone; (9) black incised pottery, a foreign import into early Egypt.
LARGER IMAGE
Port Ensigns Carried
The nature of the standards upon poles carried by the ships has been variously interpreted. We can distinguish the elephant, bird on a crescent, and fish; the two or four pair of horns, the bush, and the branch; the rows of two, three, four, or five hills; the crossed arrows, and the harpoon, besides other forms which we cannot identify. The question is, what view will account for these most completely?Some have thought they were emblems of gods, and that the boats were sacred to divinities; but there are many which cannot be thus explained. Others have thought that they indicated tribes; but the rarity of repetitions, and the absence of any duplicates together, are against this. Marks of personal ownership have been suggested; and this is not impossible, as they might be well dedicated to special gods. But the prominence of the groups of hills as signs agrees best with their being marks of the ports from which they hailed; the divine emblems would naturally be those of the god of the port, the number of hills would be very likely to distinguish different ports, the elephant, the bush, or the fish might well be the mark of a port. And the parallel in later times of such being distinctive ensigns for ports—as in the ensign of Gades found in the Red Sea—agrees to this usage. The carrying of a port ensign in an age of independent city-states was equivalent to a national flag in later times; and it was essential for showing friends or foes.
We have dwelt at length on the detail of this shipping, as it is the most important subject for showing the extent and character of the early civilisation. It takes two to trade as well as to quarrel; and these large ships were not rowed about the Mediterranean unless there was a paying trade to be done on those coasts, a people civilised enough to produce goods that were wanted and to require foreign stuff in exchange, and a society stable enough to enable goods to be stocked in bulk and traded without any serious risk of fraud or force.
Ingenuity of the HuntersMode of Ostrich Hunting
HUNTING. The main occupation represented in the prehistoric paintings is hunting. The bow and arrow was used. The bow was a single piece of wood, painted red and covered with zigzag white lines; the arrow was of reed, with a point several inches long of hard wood. The forked lance of flint was also a favourite weapon [p. 238]; it was inserted at the end of a wooden shaft, which was controlled by a long thong of leather ending in alabaster knobs which kept it from entirely flying from the fingers. Thus the lance could be thrown by a man in ambush to cut the legs of a gazelle, while, if it missed, it was jerked back by the elastic thong, and so saved from breaking the delicate edge of flint. These forked lances are found throughout nearly all the prehistoric time; and they continued in use in North Africa till the Roman Age, when Commodus borrowed thence their use for hunting the ostrich. This lance retained by a thong was the parallel to the favourite harpoon used in fishing. Another mode of hunting was the trap. This is represented as being formed of pointed splints or stakes, lashed together like spokes of a wheel, with the points around a central hollow. Such traps to catch the legs of animals are used now in Africa, and an example was found at the Ramesseum, dating perhaps from the twentieth dynasty. Sticks or clubs were used in hunting and in fighting.
STANDARDS OF EGYPTIAN SHIPSThere has been much speculation as to the significance of the standards carried by the most ancient of the Egyptian vessels, as recorded on pottery and elsewhere. Some examples of these standards are here given. The most reasonable supposition is that these devices indicated the port from which the vessel sailed.
STANDARDS OF EGYPTIAN SHIPS
There has been much speculation as to the significance of the standards carried by the most ancient of the Egyptian vessels, as recorded on pottery and elsewhere. Some examples of these standards are here given. The most reasonable supposition is that these devices indicated the port from which the vessel sailed.
FIGHTING. The earliest representation of fighting is on a vase of the white slip on red, at the beginning of the prehistoric age. On that a man with long, wavy hair appears to be spearing another man in the side. Later, there are the fighters on the Hierakonpolis tomb, at aboutS.D.63. On this hooked sticks are used, and the fighters are clad with a spotted animal’s hide on the back. One man has been killed, and another is hard pressed, fallen on one knee. To save himself from blows he has taken off the hide and is holding it up, thus anticipating the use of the shield. It seems likely that the Egyptian shields of hide stretched on a frame of sticks were directly copied from this use of the hide that was otherwise worn on the body. In another group a black man is holding three red captives bound with a black cord, while two red men approach him to deliver their kindred.
Fighting with Maces
The weapons mostly found are the stone maces [page 238]. These were sharp-edged discs in the earlier age, a form which is very effective in a mixed fight, as itcannot be turned aside like a battleaxe, but must cut in whatever direction it falls. These maces were usually made of porphyry and other quartzose rocks. The mace used in the later age was of a pear shape, and this form was continued into the historic times, and perpetuated in the conventional scene of the king striking an enemy, even in the latest times. The handle holes in these maces are very small, and this shows that probably the handles were dried thongs of hide. Nothing else would be sufficiently tough and elastic. The flint dagger was probably also used, and certainly the copper dagger. A very fine example of this, dated toS.D.55 or 60, is wrought with a quadrangular blade, giving the utmost strength and lightness, a better design than that of any daggers of the historic times.
Earliest Representation of Fighting; IEarliest Representation of Fighting; IITHE FIRST PICTURES OF FIGHTINGThe earliest representation of fighting, at the beginning of the prehistoric age, shows a man with long, wavy hair, spearing another man in the side. Later, are fighters on the Hierakonpolis tomb, using hooked sticks and clad in piebald hides of animals.
Earliest Representation of Fighting; I
Earliest Representation of Fighting; II
THE FIRST PICTURES OF FIGHTINGThe earliest representation of fighting, at the beginning of the prehistoric age, shows a man with long, wavy hair, spearing another man in the side. Later, are fighters on the Hierakonpolis tomb, using hooked sticks and clad in piebald hides of animals.
THE FIRST PICTURES OF FIGHTING
The earliest representation of fighting, at the beginning of the prehistoric age, shows a man with long, wavy hair, spearing another man in the side. Later, are fighters on the Hierakonpolis tomb, using hooked sticks and clad in piebald hides of animals.
TOOLS. Tools of metal begin with small, square chisels of copper atS.D.38. The intermediate examples have not been found till we reach a fine large chisel of copper at the close of the prehistoric. Adzes of copper [p. 238] begin atS.D.56, or earlier, and increase in size down to historic times; they continued to be the favourite tool of the Egyptians for both wood and stone working until Greek times. Borers are usually tapered, to work in soft material. Needles of copper appear as early asS.D.48, and the fastening pins of copper begin with the very earliest graves ofS.D.30.
Flint working was the greatest artistic industry of the prehistoric age. The surfaces were not merely reduced by haphazard flaking, but the flints were ground into form, and then reflaked in a marvellously regular manner with uniform parallel grooves [page 238]. The finishing of the edges by deep serrations of the fineness of forty to the inch, and the chipping out of delicate armlets of flint, show also the same astonishing skill and perfection of hand work. The Scandinavian flint chipping used to be regarded as the most perfect, but the Egyptian work entirely surpasses it in regularity and boldness.
STONEVASES. Hard stones were largely employed for making vases [page 238]. In the earlier age tall, cylindrical forms were used, and in the later age barrel forms. The earlier material was usually basalt, but syenite, porphyry, alabaster and limestone were also used. The later materials included slate, grey limestone, breccia, serpentine, and diorite. The hollowing out of these vases was by grinding, but the outside was entirely formed by chipping and polishing without rotary motion. The perfect regularity of the forms, and the fine taste shown in the curves of the outlines, as well as the hardness of the material, place the vase working higher than any work of the historic times.
1,000 Forms of Pottery
POTTERY. Pottery was greatly developed, although the wheel was not used, and all the forms were entirely modelled by hand and eye without mechanical guidance. The outlines are true and fine, the circularity is astonishingly regular, although all the trimming and polish runs vertically; and it was as easy in such a mode of building to make oval, doubled, or square forms, all of which are found. The specially later pottery is the decorated, with brown-red lines on a hard buff body. The forms are clearly copied from those of the stone vases; and the patterns are derived from the fossils and veins in the stone, or from the cordage net in which the vases were slung for carrying. Next appear aloes and other bushes, and figures of ships, which we have already noticed. Rows of ostriches and of hills are also favourite designs.
Other pottery of this ware, but not decorated, has a curious type of projecting ledge, wavy up and down, forhandles. Beginning atS.D.40 as a globular vessel, the type narrows to an upright jar; byS.D.60 the handles dwindle, becoming united around it as a wavy band of pattern; byS.D.70 the jar at last becomes a cylinder; byS.D.75 the band becomes a mere line; and then afterS.D.80—in the first dynasty—the jar dwindles to a rough tube like a thumbstall. The contents of such jars similarly deteriorate. At first, perfumed ointment was put in them, then it was covered with a layer of mud to retain the scent; the mud increased until it was merely scented mud, then only plain mud was used, and lastly they were left empty. Beside many other forms of this hard ware there was also a long series of types in a rough brown pottery, which passed on into the ordinary pottery of the first dynasty. As there are over a thousand different forms of this prehistoric pottery known, and their study has been the key to the whole arrangement of that age, this subject is a very wide one, which we have barely noticed here.
PREHISTORIC POTTERY OF EGYPTThe later pottery of the prehistoric period is characterised by brown-red lines on a hard buff body. The forms and decorations have been copied from earlier stone vases, and from the nets in which they were carried.
PREHISTORIC POTTERY OF EGYPT
The later pottery of the prehistoric period is characterised by brown-red lines on a hard buff body. The forms and decorations have been copied from earlier stone vases, and from the nets in which they were carried.
A Constant Personal Possession
SLATEPALETTES. A constant personal possession was the slab of slate upon which the green malachite or red ochre was ground for colouring around the eyes. Usually a brown pebble crusher accompanies it; and the dead often have a little leather bag of malachite in the hands. These slate palettes begin with a plain rhomb form, probably derived from the natural cleavages of the slate rock. Well-formed animal figures were also carved as slate silhouettes; the deer, hippopotamus, and turtle are the oldest, and the fish also comes into the earlier age. The double bird type begins with the second age, and all the types continuously degrade by repeated copying until their original form is quite indistinguishable at the close of the prehistoric age [page 238].
PERSONALOBJECTS. Ivory carving is common, mainly for long combs to fasten up the hair. These usually have an animal on the top of them; but they only belong to the earlier age, suggesting that the hair was worn shorter in the second period. Decorated tusks of ivory are also early; they were fastened on to leather work, probably to close the openings of water skins. Ivory spoons belong only to the second period, as likewise do the forehead pendants of shell.
Amulets of animal forms were frequent in the second period. They are generally cut in stone, carnelian, serpentine, porphyry, and coloured limestones. The forms are the bull’s head (which continued in use into historic times), the hawk, serpent [p. 238], frog, fly, scorpion, claw, vase, and spear head. The meanings attached to them are quite unknown.
Games are found, as shown by the ivory draughtsmen, the small balls or marbles, the stone gateway and ninepins [page 242], the figures of lions and hares, and the throwing slips for obtaining a count as with dice.
What the People Wore
CLOTHING. The clothing of men was, at most, the kilt of linen, or an animal’s hide put over the body. Often only a belt was worn, with three narrow strips hanging down in front. A usual covering was a belt with a sheath attached to it to hold up the genitals. With the pleated kilt was also worn a belt having apparently a jackal tail hung behind. On some figures there is merely a double rope round the waist. These various forms may belong to different peoples and periods; but there are hardly enough examples to prove any distinctions, as the varying circumstance of the figures, captive and conquered, resting and working, rich and poor, in heat and in cold, may easily have led to the different dress that we see. Women are represented with a white linen petticoat from the waist to the feet. Leather was a favourite material for clothing, as well as for bags. It was painted with patterns, and decorated with beads, reminding us of the North American work.
The Oldest Capital of Egypt
DECAY OFCIVILISATION. All of this civilisation gradually decayed; thepottery is seen becoming coarser, good work dying out in rougher copying, new types seldom appearing, cheaper and poorer objects being more usual. There is ground, however, for supposing that at some time in this age there was a central rule at Heliopolis. There are many traditions of a principality there, which must certainly have been before the dynasties. The sacred emblem preserved in the temple was the shepherd’s crook,haq, which served for the title of “prince” in all later times; the other sacred emblem was the whip, and these two were the royal emblems of Osiris. The title of the nome was “the princes’ territory,” and this capital retained in later ages the reputation of being the centre of learning and theology. And on the fragment of the early annals known as the “Palermo Stone” there is shown a long row of kings of Lower Egypt before the dynasties; these cannot have ruled at Memphis, as that was a new foundation by Menes.
THE EARLIEST GAME OF NINEPINSThese ninepins, the gate to play through, and the porphyry balls were all found in a child’s grave.
THE EARLIEST GAME OF NINEPINS
These ninepins, the gate to play through, and the porphyry balls were all found in a child’s grave.
History as Reflected in MythologyEnd of Prehistoric Times
HISTORY INMYTHOLOGY. Of the breakup of this civilisation we may trace some relation in the mythology. After Isis had recovered the body of Osiris, and the worship of the Osiris and Isis tribes had revived again from the Semitic invasion of Set worshippers, Set again attacked the Osiris worship, and scattered the body of Osiris into fourteen parts in different places. This refers probably to the distribution of parts of the body to different districts, when it was cut up in the funeral ceremonies, according to prehistoric usage. These parts of Osiris were kept at sixteen nomes in Egypt in historic times, six in the Nile valley and ten in the Delta, probably the original nomes of the country. The civil discord implied in this persecution must have weakened the land; and then came the attack by the hawk worshippers from the south. In the legend of Horbehudti, or Horus of Edfu, we read that the crocodiles and hippopotami (animals of Set), attacked him, and his servants, armed with metal weapons, smote and conquered them, slaying 381 before the city of Edfu. Then the worshippers of Horus allied themselves with the sun worshippers, and “Horbehudti changed his form into that of a winged sun disc,” and “took with him Nekhebt the goddess of the South and Uazet, the goddess of the North, in the form of two serpents, that they might destroy their enemies in the bodily forms of crocodiles and hippopotami.” That is to say, the Horus, Ra, and serpent goddess tribes were all allied to attack the domination of the Set tribe. They gradually drove them back, and “Set went forth and cried out horribly”; he was finally struck down atPa-rehehu. “Thus did Horbehudti, together with Horus, the son of Isis, who had made his form like unto that of Horbehudti.” That is to say, the rest of the Horus worshippers joined the Horus-Ra party.
The final battle and expulsion of Set was at Zaru on the eastern frontier of Egypt. This, in mythological form, seems to give the history of the driving out of the Semitic population of the later prehistoric age, by the dynastic race descending from Upper Egypt, at the close of the prehistoric period. An actual result of this war, all through later times, was the multitude of towns named Samhud, or “United to Behudti,” marking the allies of the Horus party.
HISTORICALSLATEPALETTES. Of the period of the conquest by the dynastic races, which closed the prehistoric age, there is an invaluable series of monuments carved on slate. These carved slates are the elaborated outcome of the slate palettes used for grinding the face paints throughout the prehistoric age. A similar elaboration of a simple article is familiar in modern times in the snuff-box. A plain receptacle of bone or wood was decorated, plated, made of silver and of gold, inlaid with diamonds and painted with the costliest miniatures, and yet—it was but a snuff-box. So the plain slip of slate was carved into animal outlines, had animals scratched on it, thensigns in relief upon it, and at last was covered with the most elaborate carvings, and yet—it was but a paint grinder, and had always the pan for colour carved on it, exactly of the shape of the pans on the painters’ palettes of that age. Every stage can be shown, from a formless slate to an artistic scene in relief. There are many stages to be seen in the artistic development.
A. In the prehistoric age are the scratched outlines.B. The well-incised elephant is as early asS.D.33–41; and with it are those signs in low relief.C. The high relief sign is ofS.D.60–63.D. On the boat slate, the drawing is much more detailed than on the boats of the Hierakonpolis tomb ofS.D.63. We can hardly separate this from the work of the artistic new-comers, and it may well be aboutS.D.70–75.E. The animal slate seems to be next, as the treatment of the lion’s hair is unlike the following.F. The four-dog slate, being a coarser but more elaborated design of the same type, may well be next.G. The hut slate shows for the first time the arrangement of lion’s mane as on the ivory lions of King Zer.H. The gazelle slate shows the same treatment more advanced.J. The towns slate shows the wiry detail of muscles, beginning to appear in archaic manner.K. The bull slate has the same style carried out fully and finely.L. The Narmer slate has a less forcible and smoother treatment of the bull, and brings us down to touch with the historic times.
A. In the prehistoric age are the scratched outlines.
B. The well-incised elephant is as early asS.D.33–41; and with it are those signs in low relief.
C. The high relief sign is ofS.D.60–63.
D. On the boat slate, the drawing is much more detailed than on the boats of the Hierakonpolis tomb ofS.D.63. We can hardly separate this from the work of the artistic new-comers, and it may well be aboutS.D.70–75.
E. The animal slate seems to be next, as the treatment of the lion’s hair is unlike the following.
F. The four-dog slate, being a coarser but more elaborated design of the same type, may well be next.
G. The hut slate shows for the first time the arrangement of lion’s mane as on the ivory lions of King Zer.
H. The gazelle slate shows the same treatment more advanced.
J. The towns slate shows the wiry detail of muscles, beginning to appear in archaic manner.
K. The bull slate has the same style carried out fully and finely.
L. The Narmer slate has a less forcible and smoother treatment of the bull, and brings us down to touch with the historic times.
The figures can be seen in Capart’s “Primitive Art in Egypt,” where they may be identified by these letters, corresponding to the paragraphs above: A, B, figures 61, 62; C, 63; D, 169; E, 171–2; F, 173–4; G, 170; H, 177–80; J, 175–6; K, 181–2; L, 183–4.
RACIALTYPES. These slate carvings not only show the art of the time, but they present the different races and the details of their life, more fully than we find them for many centuries later. We see six different types of physiognomy in the early remains, and learn how complex the racial history must be at the most remote period accessible to us.
A. Theaquilinetype is that of the principal prehistoric race, closely like the Libyan on the west and the Amorite on the east. When mixed with negro it produced the exact type of a European-Negro mulatto. Probably equal to the Libyan. [See Heads 1 to 4 onnext page.]
EGYPT IN THREE PERIODS OF ITS CIVILISATIONThis map of Egypt shows Egypt in three of its early periods. (1) The earliest centres of culture were at the places where parts of Osiris were preserved in the prehistoric age, here named. (2) The second period is shown by other centres being placed in the right geographical order, all here numbered I to XIX, following down each branch of the Nile. (3) The third period is when other centres were inserted in the lists in the wrong order, here numbered 8 to 20. These three stages of Egypt’s history are all before the monarchy.LARGER IMAGE
EGYPT IN THREE PERIODS OF ITS CIVILISATION
This map of Egypt shows Egypt in three of its early periods. (1) The earliest centres of culture were at the places where parts of Osiris were preserved in the prehistoric age, here named. (2) The second period is shown by other centres being placed in the right geographical order, all here numbered I to XIX, following down each branch of the Nile. (3) The third period is when other centres were inserted in the lists in the wrong order, here numbered 8 to 20. These three stages of Egypt’s history are all before the monarchy.
LARGER IMAGE
[Northern Part of Preceding Map]
[Northern Part of Preceding Map]
[Southern Part and Legend of Preceding Map]
[Southern Part and Legend of Preceding Map]
THE EARLIEST PORTRAITS OF VARIOUS RACES IN EGYPTNumbers 1 and 2 are the aquiline type, similar to 3, the Libyan, and 4 the Amorite. 5 is the curly hair type, 6 the sharp-nosed type, 7 the short-nosed type, 8 the forward beard type, 9–11 the straight-faced type of dynastic conquerors. 12 is King Khafra of the Pyramid age, reverting to the original type of 1 and 2.
THE EARLIEST PORTRAITS OF VARIOUS RACES IN EGYPT
Numbers 1 and 2 are the aquiline type, similar to 3, the Libyan, and 4 the Amorite. 5 is the curly hair type, 6 the sharp-nosed type, 7 the short-nosed type, 8 the forward beard type, 9–11 the straight-faced type of dynastic conquerors. 12 is King Khafra of the Pyramid age, reverting to the original type of 1 and 2.
B. Thesharp-nosedtype, firstly, with the hair in a pigtail, bringing stone vases as tribute, and sometimes dressed in long robe; secondly, with bushy hair and armed with spear, throw-stick, mace, bow and arrows. Probably the Arabian mountain race mixed with Libyan. See figure 6 onthis page.
C. Thecurly hairtype, with plaited beard, conquered and destroyed by type B. Probably from North Syria, by sculptures there. See figure 5 onthis page.
D. Theforward beardtype, with close-cut hair; much like the figures on early Naukratite vases. Probably a coast people of Libyan connection. See figure 8 onthis page.
E. Theshort-nosedtype, a variety of D, apparently belonging to the Fayum.Fig. 7.
F. Thestraight-facedtype of the dynastic conquerors. See figures 9–11 onthis page.
All of these different peoples were in continual mixture and struggle during the few centuries before the first dynasty. Looking to the tribal hints given by the mythology, it seems probable that: