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118-751: Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt was the period of time starting at the first human settlement and ending at the First Dynasty of Egypt around 3100 BC. At the end of prehistory, "Predynastic Egypt" is traditionally defined as the period from the final part of the Neolithic period beginning c. 6210 BC to the end of the Naqada III period c. 3000 BC. The dates of the Predynastic period were first defined before widespread archaeological excavation of Egypt took place, and recent finds indicating

236-481: A significant decline in rainfall , and farming along the Nile now produced the vast majority of food, though contemporary paintings indicate that hunting was not entirely forgone. With increased food supplies, Egyptians adopted a much more sedentary lifestyle and cities grew as large as 5,000. It was in this time that Egyptian city dwellers stopped building with reeds and began mass-producing mud bricks, first found in

354-433: A Turkish officer, Selim Bimbashi, were made between 1839 and 1842, and two got to the point about 30 kilometres (20 miles) beyond the present port of Juba , where the country rises and rapids make navigation very difficult. Lake Victoria was first sighted by Europeans in 1858 when British explorer John Hanning Speke reached its southern shore while traveling with Richard Francis Burton to explore central Africa and locate

472-716: A distance of 20 days' journey till it reaches the nearest Ethiopians." Modern exploration of the Nile basin began with the conquest of the northern and central Sudan by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali , and his sons from 1821 onward. As a result of this, the Blue Nile was known as far as its exit from the Ethiopian foothills and the White Nile as far as the mouth of the Sobat River. Three expeditions under

590-468: A factor of 15 at Aswan. Peak flows of over 8,212 m /s (290,000 cu ft/s) occurred during late August and early September, and minimum flows of about 552 m /s (19,500 cu ft/s) occurred during late April and early May. The Bahr al Ghazal and the Sobat River are the two most important tributaries of the White Nile in terms of discharge. The Bahr al Ghazal's drainage basin

708-559: A free tenon eventually became one of the most important features in Mediterranean and Egyptian shipbuilding. It creates a union between two planks or other components by inserting a separate tenon into a cavity (mortise) of the corresponding size cut into each component." A study on First Dynasty crania from the royal tombs in Abydos generally demonstrated greater affinity with Kerma Kushites , and Upper Nile Valley groups. Moreover,

826-689: A heavy set jaw. Similar results would later be found by a short report from SOY Keita in 2021, showing affinities with the Qarunian skull and the Teita series. Dating to about 5600-4400 BC of the Faiyum Neolithic, continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently, adopting increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The Faiyum A industry

944-705: A limited sense to describe the section between Lake No and Khartoum. At Khartoum, the river is joined by the Blue Nile . The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia. Both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift . The source of the Blue Nile is Lake Tana in the Gish Abay region in the Ethiopian Highlands . The source of

1062-637: A much slower period of demographic change, than previously hypothesized rapid conquests of people coming into Egypt from the East. It probably involved the gradual infiltration of a different physical type from Syria-Palestine , via the eastern Delta. Weaving is evidenced for the first time during the Faiyum A Period. People of this period, unlike later Egyptians, buried their dead very close to, and sometimes inside, their settlements. Although archaeological sites reveal very little about this time, an examination of

1180-596: A peak flow of over 680 m /s (24,000 cu ft/s) in October. During the dry season (January to June) the White Nile contributes between 70% and 90% of the total discharge from the Nile. Below Renk , the White Nile enters Sudan, it flows north to Khartoum and meets the Blue Nile. The course of the Nile in Sudan is distinctive. It flows over six groups of cataracts , from the sixth at Sabaloka just north of Khartoum northward to Abu Hamad . The tectonic uplift of

1298-525: A place described as the source of the Rukarara tributary, and by hacking a path up steep jungle-choked mountain slopes in the Nyungwe Forest found (in the dry season ) an appreciable incoming surface flow for many kilometres upstream, and found a new source, giving the Nile a length of 6,758 km (4,199 mi). The White Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda , as

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1416-603: A place to live, but if necessary, could be taken down easily and transported. They were mobile structures—easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled—providing hunter-gatherers with semi-permanent habitation. Aterian tool-making reached Egypt c. 40,000 BC. The Khormusan industry in Egypt began between 42,000 and 32,000 BP. Khormusans developed tools not only from stone but also from animal bones and hematite . They also developed small arrow heads resembling those of Native Americans , but no bows have been found. The end of

1534-622: A small settlement near modern Cairo. People seem to have lived in huts, but only postholes and pits survive. The pottery is undecorated. Stone tools include small flakes, axes and sickles. Metal was not yet known. Their sites were occupied from 4000 BC to the Archaic Period (3,100 BC). The Maadi culture (also called Buto Maadi culture) is the most important Lower Egyptian prehistoric culture dated about 4000–3500 BC, and contemporary with Naqada I and II phases in Upper Egypt. The culture

1652-402: A system called sequence dating by which the relative date, if not the absolute date, of any given Predynastic site can be ascertained by examining its pottery. As the Predynastic period progressed, the handles on pottery evolved from functional to ornamental. The degree to which any given archaeological site has functional or ornamental pottery can also be used to determine the relative date of

1770-399: A very gradual Predynastic development have led to controversy over when exactly the Predynastic period ended. Thus, various terms such as " Protodynastic period ", "Zero Dynasty" or "Dynasty 0" are used to name the part of the period which might be characterized as Predynastic by some and Early Dynastic by others. The Predynastic period is generally divided into cultural eras, each named after

1888-465: Is an archaeological site located in alluvial deposits formed by an ancient channel of the Nile in the Affad region of southern Dongola Reach , Sudan. There are two theories about the age of the integrated Nile. One is that the integrated drainage of the Nile is of young age and that the Nile basin was formerly broken into series of separate basins, only the most northerly of which fed a river following

2006-534: Is best known from the site Maadi near Cairo, as well as the site of Buto , but is also attested in many other places in the Delta to the Faiyum region. This culture was marked by development in architecture and technology. It also followed its predecessor cultures when it comes to undecorated ceramics. Copper was known, and some copper adzes have been found. The pottery is hand-made; it is simple and undecorated. Presence of black-topped red pots indicate contact with

2124-627: Is better attested at the Naqada site, so it also is referred to as the Naqada I culture. Black-topped ware continues to appear, but white cross-line ware, a type of pottery which has been decorated with close parallel white lines being crossed by another set of close parallel white lines, is also found at this time. The Amratian period falls between S.D. 30 and 39 in Petrie's Sequence Dating system. Newly excavated objects attest to increased trade between Upper and Lower Egypt at this time. A stone vase from

2242-656: Is called an-Nīl . In Biblical Hebrew , it is הַיְאוֹר ‎, Ha-Ye'or or הַשִׁיחוֹר ‎, Ha-Shiḥor . The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος . Beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. Homer called the river Αἴγυπτος , Aiguptos , but in subsequent periods, Greek authors referred to its lower course as Neilos ; this term became generalized for

2360-470: Is clearly demonstrated as existing during this dynasty by retainers being buried near each pharaoh's tomb as well as animals sacrificed for the burial. The tomb of Djer is associated with the burials of 338 individuals. The people and animals sacrificed, such as donkeys , were expected to assist the pharaoh in the afterlife . For unknown reasons, this practice ended with the conclusion of the dynasty. According to historian and linguist Christopher Ehret ,

2478-550: Is estimated to have persisted for approximately 4,000 years. It was characterized by hunting , as well as a unique approach to food gathering that incorporated the preparation and consumption of wild grasses and grains . Systematic efforts were made by the Qadan people to water, care for, and harvest local plant life, but grains were not planted in ordered rows. Around twenty archaeological sites in Upper Nubia give evidence for

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2596-646: Is known as the Bahr al Jabal ("Mountain River" ). Just south of the town is the confluence with the Achwa River . The Bahr al Ghazal , 716 kilometers (445 mi) long, joins the Bahr al Jabal at a small lagoon called Lake No , after which the Nile becomes known as the Bahr al Abyad , or the White Nile, from the whitish clay suspended in its waters. When the Nile floods it leaves a rich silty deposit which fertilizes

2714-418: Is named for the burials found at Der Tasa , on the east bank of the Nile between Asyut and Akhmim . The Tasian culture group is notable for producing the earliest blacktop-ware , a type of red and brown pottery that is colored black on the top portion and interior. This pottery is vital to the dating of Predynastic Egypt. Because all dates for the Predynastic period are tenuous at best, WMF Petrie developed

2832-606: Is of the same scale as the tombs of the (other) kings of that period. Nile Valley The Nile (also known as the River Nile or Nile River ) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa . It flows into the Mediterranean Sea . The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river in the world , though this has been contested by research suggesting that

2950-560: Is subject to scholarly debate about the Egyptian chronology . It falls within the early Bronze Age and is variously estimated to have begun anywhere between the 34th and the 30th centuries   BC. In a 2013 study based on radiocarbon dates , the accession of Hor-Aha , the second king of the First Dynasty, was placed between 3111 and 3045 BC with 68% confidence, and between 3218 and 3035 with 95% confidence. The same study placed

3068-591: Is the earliest farming culture in the Nile Valley. Archaeological deposits that have been found are characterized by concave base projectile points and pottery. Around 6210 BC, Neolithic settlements appear all over Egypt. Some studies based on morphological , genetic , and archaeological data have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent in the Near East returning during

3186-572: Is the largest of any of the Nile's sub-basins, measuring 520,000 square kilometers (200,000 sq mi) in size, but it contributes a relatively small amount of water, about 2 m /s (71 cu ft/s) annually, because tremendous volumes of water are lost in the Sudd wetlands. The Sobat River, which joins the Nile a short distance below Lake No, drains about half as much land, 225,000 km (86,900 sq mi), but contributes 412 cubic meters per second (14,500 cu ft/s) annually to

3304-961: The A-Group culture bearers of Lower Nubia, the Kerma and Kush populations in Upper Nubia, the Meroitic , X-Group and Christian period inhabitants of Lower Nubia, and the Kellis population in the Dakhla Oasis . Among the recent groups, the Badari markers were morphologically closest to the Shawia and Kabyle Berber populations of Algeria as well as Bedouin groups in Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, followed by other Afroasiatic-speaking populations in

3422-595: The Amazon River is slightly longer. Of the world's major rivers, the Nile is one of the smallest, as measured by annual flow in cubic metres of water. About 6,650 km (4,130 mi) long, its drainage basin covers eleven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Tanzania , Burundi , Rwanda , Uganda , Kenya , Ethiopia , Eritrea , South Sudan , Sudan , and Egypt . In particular,

3540-426: The Egyptian and North African Neolithic , bringing agriculture to the region. Studies in anthropology and post-cranial data has linked the earliest farming populations at Faiyum, Merimde, and El-Badari, to Near Eastern populations. The archaeological data also suggests that Near Eastern domesticates were incorporated into a pre-existing foraging strategy and only slowly developed into a full-blown lifestyle. Finally,

3658-523: The Horn of Africa . The Late Roman era Badarian skeletons from Kellis were also phenotypically distinct from those belonging to other populations in Sub-Saharan Africa . The Naqada culture is an archaeological culture of Chalcolithic Predynastic Egypt (c. 4000–3000 BC), named for the town of Naqada , Qena Governorate . It is divided in three sub-periods: Naqada I, II and III. Similar to

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3776-607: The Murchison Falls until it reaches the northern shores of Lake Albert where it forms a significant river delta. Lake Albert is on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the Nile is not a border river at this point. After leaving Lake Albert, the river continues north through Uganda and is known as the Albert Nile . The White Nile flows into South Sudan just south of Nimule , where it

3894-680: The Nubian Swell diverts the river south-west for over 300 km, following the structure of the Central African Shear Zone embracing the Bayuda Desert . At Al Dabbah it resumes its northward course towards the first cataract at Aswan forming the S-shaped Great Bend of the Nile mentioned by Eratosthenes . In the north of Sudan, the river enters Lake Nasser (known in Sudan as Lake Nubia),

4012-712: The Oldowan industry , are poorly dated. These tools are succeeded by those belonging to the Acheulean industry. The youngest Achulean sites in Egypt date to around 400-300,000 years ago. During the Late Pleistocene , when Egypt was occupied by modern humans, several archaeological industries are recognised including the Silsilian, Fakhurian, Afian, Kubbaniyan, Idfuan-Shuwikhatian, and the Isnan industries. Some of

4130-651: The Paleogene and Neogene Periods (66 million to 2.588 million years ago) a series of separate closed continental basins each occupied one of the major parts of the Sudanese Rift System: Mellut rift , White Nile rift , Blue Nile rift , Atbara rift and Sag El Naam rift . The Mellut Basin is nearly 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) deep at its central part. This rift is possibly still active, with reported tectonic activity in its northern and southern boundaries. The Sudd swamp which forms

4248-512: The Rhône and Po , one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge . The standard English names "White Nile" and "Blue Nile" refer to the river's source, derived from Arabic names formerly applied to only the Sudanese stretches that meet at Khartoum . In the ancient Egyptian language , the Nile is called Ḥꜥpy (Hapy) or Jtrw (Iteru), meaning "river". In Coptic ,

4366-471: The Sudd region. More than half of the Nile's water is lost in this swamp to evaporation and transpiration . The average flow rate of the White Nile at the tails of the swamps is about 510 m /s (18,000 cu ft/s). From here it meets with the Sobat River at Malakal . On an annual basis, the White Nile upstream of Malakal contributes about 15% of the total outflow of the Nile. The average flow of

4484-428: The "Victoria Nile." It flows north for some 130 kilometers (81 mi) to Lake Kyoga . The last part of the approximately 200 kilometers (120 mi) river section starts from the western shores of the lake and flows at first to the west until just south of Masindi Port , where the river turns north, then makes a great half circle to the east and north to Karuma Falls . For the remaining part, it flows westerly through

4602-589: The Amratian Period, to build their cities. Egyptian stone tools, while still in use, moved from bifacial construction to ripple-flaked construction. Copper was used for all kinds of tools, and the first copper weaponry appears here. Silver, gold, lapis, and faience were used ornamentally, and the grinding palettes used for eye-paint since the Badarian period began to be adorned with relief carvings. First Dynasty of Egypt The date of this period

4720-878: The Badarian series to be most similar to a series from the northeast quadrant of Africa and then to other Africans". Dental trait analysis of Badarian fossils conducted in a thesis study found that they were closely related to both Afroasiatic -speaking populations inhabiting Northeast Africa , as well as the Maghreb . Among the ancient populations, the Badarians were nearest to other ancient Egyptians ( Naqada , Hierakonpolis, Abydos and Kharga in Upper Egypt ; Hawara in Lower Egypt ), and C-Group and Pharaonic era skeletons excavated in Lower Nubia, followed by

4838-497: The Badarians and other Northeast African populations. However, according to Eugene Strouhal and other anthropologists, Predynastic Egyptians like the Badarians were similar to the Capsian culture of North Africa and to Berbers. In 2005, Keita examined Badarian crania from predynastic upper Egypt in comparison to various European and tropical African crania. He found that the predynastic Badarian series clustered much closer with

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4956-414: The Ethiopian rainy season when rainfall is especially high in the Ethiopian Highlands ; the rest of the year, the great rivers draining Ethiopia into the Nile have a weaker flow. In harsh and arid seasons and droughts, the Blue Nile dries out completely. The flow of the Blue Nile varies considerably over its yearly cycle and is the main contribution to the large natural variation of the Nile flow. During

5074-567: The Ethiopian Highlands, satellite imagery was used to identify dry watercourses in the desert to the west of the Nile. A canyon, now filled by surface drift, represents the Eonile that flowed during 23–5.3 million years before present. The Eonile transported clastic sediments to the Mediterranean; several natural gas fields have been discovered within these sediments. During the late- Miocene Messinian salinity crisis , when

5192-491: The Ethiopian Highlands. The Blue Nile flows about 1,400 kilometres to Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to form the Nile. Ninety percent of the water and ninety-six percent of the transported sediment carried by the Nile come from the Atbarah and Blue Nile, both of which originate in Ethiopia, with fifty-nine percent of the water coming from the Blue Nile. The erosion and transportation of silt only occurs during

5310-457: The Faiyum A culture as well as the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced a simple undecorated pottery and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were held. Wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried their dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines. The first life-sized Egyptian head made of clay comes from Merimde. The El Omari culture is known from

5428-526: The Khormusan industry came around 16,000 B.C. with the appearance of other cultures in the region, including the Gemaian . The Late Paleolithic in Egypt started around 30,000 BC. The Nazlet Khater skeleton was found in 1980 and given an age of 33,000 years in 1982, based on nine samples ranging between 35,100 and 30,360 years old. This specimen is the only complete modern human skeleton so far found from

5546-564: The Khormusan tradition of fishing. Greater concentrations of artifacts indicate that they were not bound to seasonal wandering, but settled for longer periods. The Halfan culture was derived in turn from the Khormusan, which depended on specialized hunting, fishing, and collecting techniques for survival. The primary material remains of this culture are stone tools, flakes, and a multitude of rock paintings. The Sebilian culture began around 13,000 BC and vanished around 10,000 BC. In Egypt, analyses of pollen found at archaeological sites indicate that

5664-482: The Mediterranean Sea was a closed basin and evaporated to the point of being empty or nearly so, the Nile cut its course down to the new base level until it was several hundred metres below world ocean level at Aswan and 2,400 m (7,900 ft) below Cairo. This created a very long and deep canyon which was filled with sediment after the Mediterranean was recreated. At some point the sediments raised

5782-464: The Middle East and Africa, and described being told of the source of the Nile in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Later in the 15th and 16th centuries, travelers to Ethiopia visited Lake Tana and the source of the Blue Nile in the mountains south of the lake. Supposedly, Paolo Trevisani ( c.  1452 –1483), a Venetian traveller in Ethiopia, wrote a journal of his travels to the origin of the Nile that has since been lost. Although James Bruce claimed to be

5900-412: The Naqada cemeteries were more similar to each other than they were to the samples in northern Nubia or to samples from Badari and Qena in southern Egypt. The Amratian culture lasted from about 4000 to 3500 BC. It is named after the site of El-Amra , about 120 km south of Badari . El-Amra is the first site where this culture group was found unmingled with the later Gerzean culture group, but this period

6018-425: The Naqada sites in the south. Many imported vessels from Palestine have also been found. Black basalt stone vessels were also used. People lived in small huts, partly dug into the ground. The dead were buried in cemeteries, but with few burial goods. The Maadi culture was replaced by the Naqada III culture; whether this happened by conquest or infiltration is still an open question. The developments in Lower Egypt in

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6136-491: The Neolithic Period or earlier. They also added that there have only been a few studies on ancient Egyptian DNA to clarify these issues. Egyptologist Ian Shaw (2003) wrote that "anthropological studies suggest that the predynastic population included a mixture of racial types (Negroid, Mediterranean and European)", but it is the skeletal material at the beginning of the pharaonic period that has proven to be most controversial. He said according to some scholars there may have been

6254-405: The Nile carries little water (5% of that of the Congo River , for example). The Nile basin is complex, and because of this, the discharge at any given point along the main stem depends on many factors including weather, diversions, evaporation and evapotranspiration , and groundwater flow. Upstream from Khartoum (to the south), the river is known as the White Nile , a term also used in

6372-399: The Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan. The Nile is an important economic driver supporting agriculture and fishing. The Nile has two major tributaries : the White Nile and the Blue Nile . The White Nile is traditionally considered to be the headwaters stream. However, the Blue Nile is the source of most of the water of the Nile downstream, containing 80% of

6490-407: The Nile near the southern point of the Great Bend. The Nile has been the lifeline of civilization in Egypt since the Stone Age , with most of the population and all of the cities of Egypt developing along those parts of the Nile valley lying north of Aswan. However, the Nile used to run much more westerly through what is now Wadi Hamim and Wadi al Maqar in Libya and flow into the Gulf of Sidra . As

6608-411: The Nile since ancient times. A tune, Hymn to the Nile , was created and sung by the ancient Egyptian peoples about the flooding of the Nile River and all of the miracles it brought to Ancient Egyptian civilization. Water buffalo were introduced from Asia, and the Assyrians introduced camels in the 7th century BCE. These animals were raised for meat and were domesticated and used for ploughing—or in

6726-417: The Nile. When in flood the Sobat carries a large amount of sediment, adding greatly to the White Nile's color. The Yellow Nile is a former tributary that connected the Ouaddaï highlands of eastern Chad to the Nile River Valley c.  8000 to c.  1000 BCE . Its remains are known as the Wadi Howar . The wadi passes through Gharb Darfur near the northern border with Chad and meets up with

6844-478: The Sahara (c. 6500 to - 5190 BC). Maciej Henneberg (1989) documented a remote 8,000 year old female skull from the Qarunian. It showed closest affinity to Wadi Halfa, modern Negroes and Australian aborigines , being quite different from Epipalaeolithic materials of Northern Africa usually labelled as Mechta-Afalou (Paleo-Berber) or the later Proto-Mediterranean types (Capsian). The skull still had an intermediate position, being gracile, but possessing large teeth and

6962-431: The Sudd wetlands of South Sudan, the upper reaches of the White Nile remained largely unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Vitruvius thought that source of the Nile was in Mauritania, on the "other" (south) side of the Atlas Mountains . Various expeditions failed to determine the river's source. Agatharchides records that in the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus , a military expedition had penetrated far enough along

7080-422: The Tasian culture was significantly related to the Sudanese-Saharan traditions from the Neolithic era which extended from regions north of Khartoum to locations near Dongola in Sudan. The Badarian culture, from about 4400 to 4000 BC, is named for the Badari site near Der Tasa. It followed the Tasian culture, but was so similar that many consider them one continuous period. The Badarian Culture continued to produce

7198-419: The Upper Nile Valley . Halfan sites are found in the far north of Sudan, whereas Kubbaniyan sites are found in Upper Egypt. For the Halfan, only four radiocarbon dates have been produced. Schild and Wendorf (2014) discard the earliest and latest as erratic and conclude that the Halfan existed c. 22.5-22.0 ka cal BP (22,500-22,000 calibrated years before present). People survived on a diet of large herd animals and

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7316-441: The White Nile at Lake Kawaki Malakal, just below the Sobat River, is 924 m /s (32,600 cu ft/s); the peak flow is approximately 1,218 m /s (43,000 cu ft/s) in October and minimum flow is about 609 m /s (21,500 cu ft/s) in April. This fluctuation is caused by the substantial variation in the flow of the Sobat, which has a minimum flow of about 99 m /s (3,500 cu ft/s) in March and

7434-432: The White Nile, even after centuries of exploration, remains in dispute. The most remote source that is indisputably a source for the White Nile is the Kagera River ; however, the Kagera has tributaries that are in contention for the farthest source of the White Nile. Two start in Burundi: the Ruvyironza River (also known as the Luvironza) and the Rurubu River . In addition, in 2010, an exploration party in Rwanda went to

7552-482: The accession of Den , the sixth king of the dynasty, between 2928 and 2911 BC with 68% confidence, although a 2023 radiocarbon analysis placed Den's accession potentially earlier, between 3011 and 2921, within a broader window of 3104 to 2913. Information about this dynasty is derived from a few monuments and other objects bearing royal names, the most important being the Narmer Palette and Narmer Macehead , as well as Den and Qa'a king lists. No detailed records of

7670-444: The afterlife. The east was thought of as a place of birth and growth, and the west was considered the place of death, as the god Ra , the Sun, underwent birth, death, and resurrection each day as he crossed the sky. Thus, all tombs were west of the Nile, because the Egyptians believed that in order to enter the afterlife, they had to be buried on the side that symbolized death. As the Nile was such an important factor in Egyptian life,

7788-412: The analysis too found clear change from earlier craniometric trends, as "lower Egyptian, Maghrebian, and European patterns are observed also, thus making for great diversity". The gene flow and movement of northern officials to the important southern city may explain the findings. Human sacrifice was practiced as part of the funerary rituals associated with all of the pharaohs of the first dynasty. It

7906-439: The ancient Egyptians are the same original population group as Nubians and other Saharan populations, with some genetic input from Arabian , Levantine , North African , and Indo-European groups who have known to have settled in Egypt during its long history. On the other hand, Stiebling and Helft acknowledge that the genetic studies of North African populations generally suggest a big influx of Near Eastern populations during

8024-482: The ancient calendar was even based on the three cycles of the Nile. These seasons, each consisting of four months of thirty days each, were called Akhet , Peret , and Shemu . Akhet, which means inundation, was the time of the year when the Nile flooded, leaving several layers of fertile soil behind, aiding in agricultural growth. Peret was the growing season, and Shemu, the last season, was the harvest season when there were no rains. Owing to their failure to penetrate

8142-411: The camels' case, carriage. Water was vital to both people and livestock. The Nile was also a convenient and efficient means of transportation for people and goods. The Nile was also an important part of ancient Egyptian spiritual life. Hapi was the god of the annual floods, and both he and the pharaoh were thought to control the flooding. The Nile was considered to be a causeway from life to death and

8260-406: The central part of the basin may still be subsiding. The White Nile Rift system, although shallower than the Bahr el Arab rift , is about 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) deep. Geophysical exploration of the Blue Nile Rift System estimated the depth of the sediments to be 5–9 kilometers (3.1–5.6 mi). These basins were not interconnected until their subsidence ceased, and the rate of sediment deposition

8378-471: The confluence with the Blue Nile the only major tributary is the Atbarah River , also known as the Red Nile. Roughly halfway to the sea, it originates in Ethiopia north of Lake Tana , and is around 800 kilometers (500 mi) long. The Atbarah flows only while there is rain in Ethiopia and dries very rapidly. During the dry period of January to June, it typically dries up north of Khartoum . The Blue Nile ( Amharic : ዓባይ , ʿĀbay ) springs from Lake Tana in

8496-463: The course of the Blue Nile to determine that the summer floods were caused by heavy seasonal rainstorms in the Ethiopian Highlands, but no European of antiquity is known to have reached Lake Tana. The Tabula Rogeriana depicted the source as three lakes in 1154. Europeans began to learn about the origins of the Nile in the 14th century when the Pope sent monks as emissaries to Mongolia who passed India,

8614-476: The cultivation of crops and sedentism, as well as pottery production from the late 6th Millennium BC onwards. The natural scientist Frederick Falkenburger in 1947, based on a sample set of around 1,800 prehistoric Egyptian crania, noted great heterogeneity amongst his samples. Falkenburger categorized them based on the nasal index, overall head and face form, taking into account width, eye socket structure, amongst other given indicators. He divided and characterized

8732-664: The delta and moving south through upper Egypt, but failing to dislodge Amratian culture in Nubia. Gerzean pottery is assigned values from S.D. 40 through 62, and is distinctly different from Amratian white cross-lined wares or black-topped ware. Gerzean pottery was painted mostly in dark red with pictures of animals, people, and ships, as well as geometric symbols that appear derived from animals. Also, "wavy" handles, rare before this period (though occasionally found as early as S.D. 35) became more common and more elaborate until they were almost completely ornamental. Gerzean culture coincided with

8850-492: The development of Egyptian civilization. Because the river overflowed its banks annually and deposited new layers of silt, the surrounding land was very fertile. The Ancient Egyptians cultivated and traded wheat, flax , papyrus and other crops around the Nile. Wheat was a crucial crop in the famine-plagued Middle East. This trading system secured Egypt's diplomatic relationships with other countries and contributed to economic stability. Far-reaching trade has been carried on along

8968-402: The dry season the natural discharge of the Blue Nile can be as low as 113 m /s (4,000 cu ft/s), although upstream dams regulate the flow of the river. During the wet season, the peak flow of the Blue Nile often exceeds 5,663 m /s (200,000 cu ft/s) in late August (a difference of a factor of 50). Before the placement of dams on the river the yearly discharge varied by

9086-600: The earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. The Fakhurian late Paleolithic industry in Upper Egypt, showed that a homogenous population existed in the Nile-Valley during the late Pleistocene. Studies of the skeletal material showed they were in the range of variation found in the Wadi Halfa, Jebel Sahaba and fragments from the Kom Ombo populations. The Halfan and Kubbaniyan, two closely related industries, flourished along

9204-553: The entire river system. Thus, the name may derive from Ancient Egyptian expression n ꜣ r ꜣ w-ḥ ꜣ w(t) (lit. 'the mouths of the front parts'), which referred specifically to the branches of the Nile transversing the Delta, and would have been pronounced ni-lo-he in the area around Memphis in the 8th century BCE. Hesiod at his Theogony refers to Nilus (Νεῖλος) as one of the Potamoi (river gods), son of Oceanus and Tethys . Another derivation of Nile might be related to

9322-694: The existence of the Qadan culture's grain-grinding culture. Its makers also practiced wild grain harvesting along the Nile during the beginning of the Sahaba Daru Nile phase, when desiccation in the Sahara caused residents of the Libyan oases to retreat into the Nile valley. Among the Qadan culture sites is the Jebel Sahaba cemetery, which has been dated to the Mesolithic. Qadan peoples were

9440-410: The first faience was developed. Distinctly Badarian sites have been located from Nekhen to a little north of Abydos. It appears that the Faiyum A culture and the Badarian and Tasian Periods overlapped significantly; however, the Faiyum A culture was considerably less agricultural and was still Neolithic in nature. Many biological anthropological studies have shown strong biological affinities between

9558-508: The first European to have visited the headwaters, modern writers give the credit to the Jesuit Pedro Páez . Páez's account of the source of the Nile is a long and vivid account of Ethiopia. It was published in full only in the early 20th century, although it was featured in works of Páez's contemporaries, including Baltazar Téllez, Athanasius Kircher and Johann Michael Vansleb . Europeans had been resident in Ethiopia since

9676-456: The first to develop sickles and they also developed grinding stones independently to aid in the collecting and processing of these plant foods prior to consumption. However, there are no indications of the use of these tools after 10,000 BC, when hunter-gatherers replaced them. Early evidence for Neolithic cultures in the Nile Valley are generally located in the north of Egypt, exhibiting well-developed stages of Neolithic subsistence, including

9794-867: The first two dynasties have survived, except for the terse lists on the Palermo Stone . The account in Manetho 's Aegyptiaca contradicts both the archeological evidence and the other historical records: Manetho names nine rulers of the First Dynasty, only one of whose names matches the other sources, and offers information for only four of them. Egyptian hieroglyphs were fully developed by then, and their shapes would be used with little change for more than three thousand years. Alena Buis noted: "Large tombs of pharaohs at Abydos and Naqada , in addition to cemeteries at Saqqara and Helwan near Memphis , reveal structures built largely of wood and mud bricks, with some small use of stone for walls and floors. Stone

9912-458: The geographically more proximate southern Egyptian samples" in Qena and Badari . However, they found the skeletal samples from the Naqada cemeteries to be significantly different to protodynastic populations in northern Nubia and predynastic Egyptian samples from Badari and Qena, which were also significantly different to northern Nubian populations. Overall, both the elite and nonelite individuals in

10030-459: The great lakes. Believing he had found the source of the Nile on seeing this "vast expanse of open water" for the first time, Speke named the lake after Queen Victoria . Burton, recovering from illness and resting further south on the shores of Lake Tanganyika , was outraged that Speke claimed to have proven his discovery to be the true source of the Nile when Burton regarded this as still unsettled. A quarrel ensued which sparked intense debate within

10148-514: The kind of pottery called blacktop-ware (albeit much improved in quality) and was assigned Sequence Dating numbers 21–29. The primary difference that prevents scholars from merging the two periods is that Badarian sites use copper in addition to stone and are thus Chalcolithic settlements, while the Neolithic Tasian sites are still considered Stone Age . Badarian flint tools continued to develop into sharper and more shapely blades, and

10266-708: The larger part of which is in Egypt. Below the Aswan Dam , at the northern limit of Lake Nasser, the Nile resumes its historic course. North of Cairo , the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the Nile Delta . The annual sediment transport by the Nile in Egypt has been quantified. Below

10384-609: The late 15th century, and one of them may have visited the headwaters even earlier without leaving a written trace. The Portuguese João Bermudes published the first description of the Tis Issat Falls in his 1565 memoirs, compared them to the Nile Falls alluded to in Cicero 's De Republica . Jerónimo Lobo describes the source of the Blue Nile, visiting shortly after Pedro Páez. Telles also uses his account. The White Nile

10502-580: The main Nile during the 70,000–80,000 years B.P. wet period. The White Nile system in Bahr El Arab and White Nile Rifts remained a closed lake until the connection of the Victoria Nile to the main system some 12,500 years ago during the African humid period . The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that "Egypt was the gift of the Nile". An unending source of sustenance, it played a crucial role in

10620-625: The many Egyptian words for "city" provides a hypothetical list of causes of Egyptian sedentarism. In Upper Egypt, terminology indicates trade, protection of livestock, high ground for flood refuge, and sacred sites for deities. From about 5000 to 4200 BC the Merimde culture, so far only known from Merimde Beni Salama , a large settlement site at the edge of the Western Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to

10738-508: The names for the Near Eastern domesticates imported into Egypt were not Sumerian or Proto-Semitic loan words. However, some scholars have disputed this view and cited linguistic , physical anthropological , archaeological and genetic data which does not support the hypothesis of a mass migration from the Levant during the prehistoric period. According to historian William Stiebling and archaeologist Susan N. Helft, this view posits that

10856-718: The north was found at el-Amra, and copper, which is not mined in Egypt, was imported from the Sinai, or possibly Nubia. Obsidian and a small amount of gold were both definitely imported from Nubia. Trade with the oases also was likely. New innovations appeared in Amratian settlements as precursors to later cultural periods. For example, the mud-brick buildings for which the Gerzean period is known were first seen in Amratian times, but only in small numbers. Additionally, oval and theriomorphic cosmetic palettes appear in this period, but

10974-507: The oldest known structures were discovered in Egypt by archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski along the southern border near Wadi Halfa , Sudan , at the Arkin 8 site. Chmielewski dated the structures to 100,000 BC. The remains of the structures are oval depressions about 30 cm deep and 2 × 1 meters across. Many are lined with flat sandstone slabs which served as tent rings supporting a dome-like shelter of skins or brush. This type of dwelling provided

11092-658: The people of the Sebilian culture (also known as the Esna culture) were gathering grains, though domesticated seeds were not found. It has been hypothesized that the sedentary lifestyle practiced by these grain gatherers led to increased warfare , which was detrimental to sedentary life and brought this period to an end. The Qadan culture (13,000–9,000 BC) was a Mesolithic industry that, archaeological evidence suggests, originated in Upper Egypt (present-day south Egypt ) approximately 15,000 years ago. The Qadan subsistence mode

11210-747: The peopling of the Egyptian Nile Valley from archaeological and biological data, was the result of a complex interaction between coastal northern Africans, “neolithic” Saharans, Nilotic hunters, and riverine proto-Nubians with some influence and migration from the Levant (Hassan, 1988). Faiyum B culture, also called Qarunian due to being of the Lake Qarun or Qaroun area is an Epipalaeolithic (also called Mesolithic) culture and predates Faiyum A culture. No pottery has been found, with blade types being both plain and microlithic blades. A set of gouges and arrow-heads suggests it may have had contact with

11328-519: The place where a certain type of Egyptian settlement was first discovered. However, the same gradual development that characterizes the Protodynastic period is present throughout the entire Predynastic period, and individual "cultures" must not be interpreted as separate entities but as largely subjective divisions used to facilitate study of the entire period. The vast majority of Predynastic archaeological finds have been in Upper Egypt , because

11446-406: The preceding Badarian culture, studies have found Naqada skeletal remains to have Northeast African affinities. A study by Dr. Shormaka Keita found that Naqada remains were conforming almost equally to two local types, a southern Egyptian pattern (which shares closest resemblance with Kerma), and a northern Egyptian pattern (most similar to Coastal Maghreb). In 1996, Lovell and Prowse also reported

11564-553: The presence of individuals buried at Naqada in what they interpreted to be elite, high status tombs, showing them to be an endogamous ruling or elite segment of the local population at Naqada, which is more closely related to populations in northern Nubia (A-Group) than to neighbouring populations in southern Egypt. Specifically, they stated the Naqda samples were "more similar to the Lower Nubian protodynastic sample than they are to

11682-575: The present course of the Nile in Egypt and Sudan. Rushdi Said postulates that Egypt supplied most of the waters of the Nile during the early part of its history. The other theory is that the drainage from Ethiopia via rivers equivalent to the Blue Nile, the Atbara and the Takazze flowed to the Mediterranean via the Egyptian Nile since well back into Tertiary times. Salama suggests that during

11800-550: The ritual practice of retainer sacrifice originated from the southern region in the Middle Nile. Ehret also stated that this cultural practice was shared with the Kerma kingdom of the Upper Nubian Nile region. Known rulers in the history of Egypt for the First Dynasty are as follows: (or ruled as regent to her son Den or ruled as both king/queen and regent). Merneith was buried close to Djet and Den. Her tomb

11918-414: The river flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria . Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river and its annual flooding since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of the Aswan Dam . Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt developed and are found along river banks. The Nile is, with

12036-585: The riverbed sufficiently for the river to overflow westward into a depression to create Lake Moeris . Lake Tanganyika drained northwards into the Nile until the Virunga Volcanoes blocked its course in Rwanda. The Nile was much longer at that time, with its furthest headwaters in northern Zambia. The currently existing Nile first flowed during the former parts of the Würm glaciation period. Affad 23

12154-466: The scientific community and interest by other explorers keen to either confirm or refute Speke's discovery. British explorer and missionary David Livingstone pushed too far west and entered the Congo River system instead. It was ultimately Welsh-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley who confirmed Speke's discovery, circumnavigating Lake Victoria and reporting the great outflow at Ripon Falls on

12272-536: The sea level rose at the end of the most recent ice age , the stream which is now the northern Nile captured the ancestral Nile near Asyut . This change in climate also led to the current extents of the Sahara desert, around 3400 BCE. The Giza pyramid complex originally overlooked a branch of the Nile that no longer exists. This branch was highest during the African Humid Period . The existing Nile has five earlier phases: Flowing north from

12390-515: The silt of the Nile River was more heavily deposited at the Delta region , completely burying most Delta sites long before modern times. Egypt has been inhabited by humans (including archaic humans ) for over a million (and probably over 2 million) years, though the evidence for early occupation of Egypt is sparse and fragmentary. The oldest archaeological finds in Egypt, stone tools belonging to

12508-655: The site. Since there is little difference between Tasian ceramics and Badarian pottery, the Tasian Culture overlaps the Badarian range significantly. From the Tasian period onward, it appears that Upper Egypt was influenced strongly by the culture of Lower Egypt . Archaeological evidence has suggested that "the Tasian and Badarian Nile Valley sites were a peripheral network of earlier African cultures of around which Badarian, Saharan, Nubian, and Nilotic peoples regularly circulated." Bruce Williams, Egyptologist, has argued that

12626-444: The skulls into four types: Cro-Magnon type, " Negroid " type, Mediterranean type, and mixed types resulting from the mixture of the aforementioned groups. Similarly, the craniometrics of early Egyptians were according to the physician and anthropologist Eugene Strouhal in 1971, designated as either Cro-Magnon of North Africa, Mediterranean, "Negroid" of East Africa, and intermediate/mixed. According to professor Fekhri A. Hassan ,

12744-484: The soil. The Nile no longer floods in Egypt since the completion of the Aswan Dam in 1970. An anabranch river, the Bahr el Zeraf , flows out of the Nile's Bahr al Jabal section and rejoins the White Nile. The flow rate of the Bahr al Jabal at Mongalla is almost constant throughout the year and averages 1,048 m /s (37,000 cu ft/s). After Mongalla, the Bahr Al Jabal enters the enormous swamps of

12862-515: The term Nil ( Sanskrit : नील , romanized :  nila ; Egyptian Arabic : نيلة ), which refers to Indigofera tinctoria , one of the original sources of indigo dye . Another may be Nymphaea caerulea , known as "The Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile", which was found scattered over Tutankhamun 's corpse when it was excavated in 1922. Another possible etymology derives from the Semitic term Nahal , meaning "river". Old Libyan has

12980-422: The term lilu , meaning water (in modern Berber ilel ⵉⵍⴻⵍ means sea ). With a total length of about 6,650 km (4,130 mi) between the region of Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea , the Nile is among the longest rivers on Earth. The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers (1,256,591 sq mi), about 10% of the area of Africa. Compared to other major rivers, though,

13098-519: The times previous to the unification of the country have been the subject of considerable disputes over the years. The recent excavations at Tell el-Farkha  [ de ] , Sais , and Tell el-Iswid have clarified this picture to some extent. As a result, the Chalcolithic Lower Egyptian culture is now emerging as an important subject of study. The Tasian culture appeared around 4500 BC in Upper Egypt . This culture group

13216-480: The tropical African series. Although, no Asian or other North African samples were included in the study as the comparative series were selected based on "Brace et al.'s (1993) comments on the affinities of an upper Egyptian/Nubian epipaleolithic series". Keita further noted that additional analysis and material from Sudan , late dynastic northern Egypt (Gizeh), Somalia, Asia and the Pacific Islands "show

13334-559: The water and silt . The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum . The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Nubian Desert to Cairo and its large delta , and

13452-480: The word ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲟ , pronounced piaro ( Sahidic ) or phiaro ( Bohairic ), means "the river" (lit. p(h).iar-o "the.canal-great"), and comes from the same ancient name. In Nobiin , the river is called Áman Dawū , meaning "the great water". In Luganda , the river is called Kiira or Kiyira . In Runyoro , it is called Kihiira . In Egyptian Arabic , the Nile is called en-Nīl , while in Standard Arabic it

13570-474: The workmanship is very rudimentary and the relief artwork for which they were later known is not yet present. The Gerzean culture, from about 3500 to 3200 BC, is named after the site of Gerzeh . It was the next stage in Egyptian cultural development, and it was during this time that the foundation of Dynastic Egypt was laid. Gerzean culture is largely an unbroken development out of Amratian Culture, starting in

13688-574: Was enough to fill and connect them. The Egyptian Nile connected to the Sudanese Nile, which captures the Ethiopian and Equatorial headwaters during the current stages of tectonic activity in the Eastern, Central and Sudanese Rift systems. The connection of the different Niles occurred during cyclic wet periods. The Atbarah overflowed its closed basin during the wet periods that occurred about 100,000 to 120,000 years ago. The Blue Nile connected to

13806-597: Was even less understood. The ancients mistakenly believed that the Niger River represented the upper reaches of the White Nile. For example, Pliny the Elder writes that the Nile had its origins "in a mountain of lower Mauretania ", flowed above ground for "many days" distance, then went underground, reappeared as a large lake in the territories of the Masaesyli , then sank again below the desert to flow underground "for

13924-491: Was used in quantity for the manufacture of ornaments, vessels, and occasionally, for statues. Tamarix ("tamarisk" or "salt cedar") was used to build boats such as the Abydos boats . One of the most important indigenous woodworking techniques was the fixed mortise and tenon joint. A fixed tenon was made by shaping the end of one timber to fit into a mortise (hole) that is cut into a second timber. A variation of this joint using

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