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Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization
This catalog for an exhibit at Chicago's Oriental Institute Museum presents the newest research on the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods in a lavishly illustrated format. Essays on the rise of the state, contact with the Levant and Nubia, crafts, writing, iconography, and evidence from Abydos, Tell el-Farkha, Hierakonpolis, and the Delta, were contributed by leading scholars in the field. The catalog features 129 Predynastic and Early Dynastic objects, most from the Oriental Institute's collection, that illustrate the environmental setting, Predynastic and Early Dynastic culture, religion, and the royal burials at Abydos. This volume will be a standard reference and a staple for classroom use.
- GenresHistoryEgyptEgyptology
284 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2011
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About the author
Emily Teeter
24 books10 followersEmily Teeter received her PhD in Egyptology from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Her areas of specialization are the religion, social history, and the material culture of ancient Egypt. After recently retiring after a long career in the Oriental Institute Museum, she consults for museums and Egyptology projects throughout the world. Over the last decades, she has developed and led tours to Egypt and many other areas of the Middle East.
Emily has written a wide variety of popular and scholarly articles and published many books, including Baked Clay Figurines and Votive Beds from Medinet Habu; The Presentation of Maat: Ritual and Legitimacy in Ancient Egypt; Ancient Egypt: Treasures from the Collection of the Oriental Institute; Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, and Egypt and the Egyptians (which has appeared in Arabic and Turkish editions). She has curated many permanent and temporary exhibits of Egyptian artifacts in major museums in the United States. Dr. Teeter has conducted fieldwork in Alexandria, Giza, and Luxor, and she has appeared on many television programs about Egypt. Emily also has a deep interest in the later periods of Egyptian history and culture.
She is the past President of the American Research Center in Egypt, and she continues to serve on their board. She is a Research Associate of the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Studies, an Associate of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and she sits on the editorial boards of several prominent academic journals.
Emily has written a wide variety of popular and scholarly articles and published many books, including Baked Clay Figurines and Votive Beds from Medinet Habu; The Presentation of Maat: Ritual and Legitimacy in Ancient Egypt; Ancient Egypt: Treasures from the Collection of the Oriental Institute; Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, and Egypt and the Egyptians (which has appeared in Arabic and Turkish editions). She has curated many permanent and temporary exhibits of Egyptian artifacts in major museums in the United States. Dr. Teeter has conducted fieldwork in Alexandria, Giza, and Luxor, and she has appeared on many television programs about Egypt. Emily also has a deep interest in the later periods of Egyptian history and culture.
She is the past President of the American Research Center in Egypt, and she continues to serve on their board. She is a Research Associate of the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Studies, an Associate of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and she sits on the editorial boards of several prominent academic journals.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 12, 2023
Although this is a museum exhibit catalogue, more than half of it is made up of essays analyzing different aspects of the period it covers. It's meant to show the public the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods, which are still not known widely enough. The book is freely downloadable from the Oriental Institute's website, making it even more accessible to the public.
The essays cover most of the major aspects of the Predynastic Period that you'd find in a more unified book on the subject: chronology, the culture of different periods, relationships with Nubia and the Near East, and so on. Because they're not all that long and neatly divided up by subject, I find them a little easier to read and absorb than the long chapters in other books on the Predynastic. They also discuss some fairly recent discoveries, like some unexpectedly large and complex early buildings at Hierakonpolis or the findings at Tell el-Farkha in the Delta, that aren't included in older sources.
My main problem is that a couple of these essays advocate a particular point of view a little too much for a book aimed at the public. The Tell el-Farkha essay claims that Egypt was fully unified long before Narmer, but that isn't the only possible interpretation of the evidence it cites. (Signs of Narmer's presence are more widespread in Lower Egypt than those of his predecessors and are even found in southern Canaan, so he may have completed the conquest of Lower Egypt and then moved beyond it.) David O'Connor's interpretation of the Narmer Palette is a particular problem, even though he admits that all interpretations of it are speculative. He bases his argument on religious ideas, such as Ra's role as the maintainer of Maat, that are not visible in the record until long after the palette was made. The first mentions of Ra and Maat only date to the Second Dynasty, if not later. I'm similarly annoyed that the catalogue description for a votive plaque from Abydos says it was meant "to gain the favor of Osiris." A temple that was later dedicated to Osiris stood at this site, but until the end of the Old Kingdom, Khentiamentiu was that temple's deity.
The catalogue of objects is limited by the University of Chicago's collection, which doesn't have many of the large, impressive artworks from the period (most of those are in collections in Cairo, London, Paris, and Oxford). But the catalogue does show a good range of the kinds of artifacts produced during the Predynastic and Early Dynastic, including the animal-shaped palettes, the inscribed storage vessels and ivory tags that show us the very beginning of hieroglyphic writing, and those inescapable Naqada pots with their quirky stick-figure art. Despite a few flaws, it's a good way to get a feel for what the Predynastic and Early Dynastic were like.
The essays cover most of the major aspects of the Predynastic Period that you'd find in a more unified book on the subject: chronology, the culture of different periods, relationships with Nubia and the Near East, and so on. Because they're not all that long and neatly divided up by subject, I find them a little easier to read and absorb than the long chapters in other books on the Predynastic. They also discuss some fairly recent discoveries, like some unexpectedly large and complex early buildings at Hierakonpolis or the findings at Tell el-Farkha in the Delta, that aren't included in older sources.
My main problem is that a couple of these essays advocate a particular point of view a little too much for a book aimed at the public. The Tell el-Farkha essay claims that Egypt was fully unified long before Narmer, but that isn't the only possible interpretation of the evidence it cites. (Signs of Narmer's presence are more widespread in Lower Egypt than those of his predecessors and are even found in southern Canaan, so he may have completed the conquest of Lower Egypt and then moved beyond it.) David O'Connor's interpretation of the Narmer Palette is a particular problem, even though he admits that all interpretations of it are speculative. He bases his argument on religious ideas, such as Ra's role as the maintainer of Maat, that are not visible in the record until long after the palette was made. The first mentions of Ra and Maat only date to the Second Dynasty, if not later. I'm similarly annoyed that the catalogue description for a votive plaque from Abydos says it was meant "to gain the favor of Osiris." A temple that was later dedicated to Osiris stood at this site, but until the end of the Old Kingdom, Khentiamentiu was that temple's deity.
The catalogue of objects is limited by the University of Chicago's collection, which doesn't have many of the large, impressive artworks from the period (most of those are in collections in Cairo, London, Paris, and Oxford). But the catalogue does show a good range of the kinds of artifacts produced during the Predynastic and Early Dynastic, including the animal-shaped palettes, the inscribed storage vessels and ivory tags that show us the very beginning of hieroglyphic writing, and those inescapable Naqada pots with their quirky stick-figure art. Despite a few flaws, it's a good way to get a feel for what the Predynastic and Early Dynastic were like.
June 24, 2021
Cuando pensamos en el Antiguo Egipto, solo nos acordamos de las Pirámides, la Esfinge y los sarcófagos coloridos. Nunca nos preguntamos como surgió esa gran civilización africana que nada tuvo que ver con los árabes que hoy habitan Egipto.
En los primeros artículos de este catálogo que acompañó a una exposición sobre objetos predinásticos, se hace un reconocimiento al arqueólogo y egiptólogo W. Flinders Petrie, británico que llegó a Egipto a fines del siglo XIX (1890) hasta el inicio del siglo XX. Petrie era devoto de la teoría de la "raza predinástica", creía que la civilización egipcia vino de algún lugar fuera del país. Siempre quiso excavar en Saqara, pero, ese lugar era exclusivo de los franceses. De modo que se fue a Koptos, Abidos, Naqada y Heirakonpolis a buscar su raza predinástica. Por desgracia, Petrie nunca probó su teoría, porque la población egipcia era oriunda. Naqada y Abidos pertenecen a la época predinástica, así como las dos primeras dinastías. A pesar de tener que cambiar su opinión en cuanto a su teoría, a él se debe la invención de la secuencia de fechas como una herramienta arqueológica de seriación de objetos para su datación cronológica. Este método se ha ido adaptando con los años, sin embargo, la secuencia es todavía la base para la datación.
A partir de la cultura Naqada surge el Alto Egipto y a base de política, logra su unión con el Bajo Egipto, de tal manera que para un mejor gobierno cambia su capital a Menfis, todo esto sucede "Antes de las Pirámides", como el nombre del libro lo indica.
Lo extraordinario de este catálogo es que tiene mapas para ubicarnos en el espacio, tiene dibujos con la secuencia de datos, fotos en color de estatuillas, paletas, cerámica y hermosos vasos tallados en piedra. Vale la pena echarle un vistazo.
En los primeros artículos de este catálogo que acompañó a una exposición sobre objetos predinásticos, se hace un reconocimiento al arqueólogo y egiptólogo W. Flinders Petrie, británico que llegó a Egipto a fines del siglo XIX (1890) hasta el inicio del siglo XX. Petrie era devoto de la teoría de la "raza predinástica", creía que la civilización egipcia vino de algún lugar fuera del país. Siempre quiso excavar en Saqara, pero, ese lugar era exclusivo de los franceses. De modo que se fue a Koptos, Abidos, Naqada y Heirakonpolis a buscar su raza predinástica. Por desgracia, Petrie nunca probó su teoría, porque la población egipcia era oriunda. Naqada y Abidos pertenecen a la época predinástica, así como las dos primeras dinastías. A pesar de tener que cambiar su opinión en cuanto a su teoría, a él se debe la invención de la secuencia de fechas como una herramienta arqueológica de seriación de objetos para su datación cronológica. Este método se ha ido adaptando con los años, sin embargo, la secuencia es todavía la base para la datación.
A partir de la cultura Naqada surge el Alto Egipto y a base de política, logra su unión con el Bajo Egipto, de tal manera que para un mejor gobierno cambia su capital a Menfis, todo esto sucede "Antes de las Pirámides", como el nombre del libro lo indica.
Lo extraordinario de este catálogo es que tiene mapas para ubicarnos en el espacio, tiene dibujos con la secuencia de datos, fotos en color de estatuillas, paletas, cerámica y hermosos vasos tallados en piedra. Vale la pena echarle un vistazo.
May 3, 2024
Not something I'd have wanted to read if I didn't already know a bit about the period. The essays, which take up half the book and range from tedious to absorbing, assume you've got some background in the subject -- you'd think a museum would cast a wider net, but the Oriental Institute knows its audience better than I do. My advice: Read the first volume of John Romer's "A History of Ancient Egypt" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...), which is better-written and much more comprehensive in any case. Then, if you're inclined, come back to "Before the Pyramids," especially the second half, which is lavishly illustrated with artifacts and has concise, well-written explanations of what you're looking at. Pleasingly, unlike my reaction to faded Dynastic-era wall paintings (of the Sea Peoples, say) that to me might as well be Rorschach blots, I found I could more or less make out the various hieroglyphics and pictorial elements the authors claimed to see in even badly damaged artifacts. Either I'm getting better at this, or Egyptologists are.
November 27, 2021
Some informative essays. Lots of great photos. It’s nice to see a book on pre-dynastic Egypt.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews