New timeline for origin of ancient Egypt

Rebecca Morelle, BBC News, 04-09-2013

A new timeline for the origin of ancient Egypt has been established by scientists. A team from the UK found that the transformation from a land of disparate farmers into a state ruled by a king was more rapid than previously thought. Using radiocarbon dating and computer models, they believe the civilisation’s first ruler – King Aha – came to power in about 3100BC.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. Lead researcher Dr Michael Dee, from the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at the University of Oxford, said: “The formation of Egypt was unique in the ancient world. It was a territorial state; a state from which the moment it formed had established borders over a territory in much the same way we think of nations today. “Trying to understand what happened in human history to lead people to establish this sort of polity we felt was a gap in understanding that needed to be filled.”

Until now, the chronology of the earliest days of Egypt has been based on rough estimates. With no written records from this very early period, a timeline has been based on the evolving styles of ceramics unearthed from human burial sites. Now though, scientists have used radiocarbon dating of excavated hair, bones and plants, with established archaeological evidence and computer models to pinpoint when the ancient state came into existence. Previous records suggested the pre-Dynastic period, a time when early groups began to settle along the Nile and farm the land, began in 4000BC. But the new analysis revealed this process started later, between 3700 or 3600BC.

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