Early Egypt: The Rise of Civilization in the Nile Valley

by A. Jeffrey Spencer

First published by the British Museum Press in 1993. Using ample color and b&w illustrations, the author shows how our knowledge of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods has developed with recent archaeological discoveries and excavations. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

Reviews

[Aksum Oak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early Egypt: The Rise of Civilization in the Nile Valley by A. J. Spencer covers the emergence of civilization in the Nile Valley. From prehistory to Egypt’s unification and the first dynasties of ancient Egypt.

Recently, I had read The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson, and I was still hungry for history of ancient Egypt, so I finally took this book off my shelf to give it a read. Though I didn’t like it as much as the writings of Toby Wilkinson, I did find this book to be enjoyable and informative to read.

From my perspective, it seems when ancient Egypt is discussed it is always about the great pyramids or the Ptolemaic dynasty from the latter days of ancient Egypt, not so much about its prehistoric days. That is one thing I truly enjoyed about this book. The focus on the early hunter gatherer groups that lived in the Nile Valley and the first urban centres that popped up in Upper and Lower Egypt were quite fascinating to me.

Along with this, the book contains many high-quality photographs of various Egyptian artifacts that help greatly with understanding the history of the time period. I enjoyed the photos of the flint knives produced in pre-pharaonic Egypt the most.

In conclusion, this is definitely worth a read if you’re interested in ancient Egyptian history. It was truly fascinating from start to finish. I give this book a 4/5 stars.

[Mark Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting jumping off points, but very dryly written.