. Ancient Egypt. Egyptology. suggested that severe floods mav have decimated the indigenous population, leaving the valley open to migrants from the west or elsewhere. Whatever the case, between 5000 and 4500 , several settled agricultural communities ap- peared in the areas of the Delta, Fa\'um, and Upper (southern) Egj-pt. Much more is known about the area of Upper Egvpt because of the concentration of archeological work in that area. Our picture of the pred\'nastic period is based principally on the work of Sir Flinders Petrie and another English archeologist, Guv Brunton. At the Prter
. Ancient Egypt. Egyptology. suggested that severe floods mav have decimated the indigenous population, leaving the valley open to migrants from the west or elsewhere. Whatever the case, between 5000 and 4500 , several settled agricultural communities ap- peared in the areas of the Delta, Fa\'um, and Upper (southern) Egj-pt. Much more is known about the area of Upper Egvpt because of the concentration of archeological work in that area. Our picture of the pred\'nastic period is based principally on the work of Sir Flinders Petrie and another English archeologist, Guv Brunton. At the Prter Lacovara is a doctoral candidate in Egi'ptoloi^' at the Univcrsiti' of Chicago. end of the last centun' Petrie e.\ca\'ated the site of Naqada, near modern LiLxor, and evcntuallv real- ized that the objects he had uncin-ered predated anv period that was pre\'ioush' recognized in Eg^pt. Bv organizing the potten' from individual burials on the basis of st\'le and technological developrnent he was able to place the gra\'e groups in chronolog- ical order and successfulh' date them long before the development of modern methods of absolute dating such as Carbon 14. The pred\'nastic period in Upper EgN-pt has been divided into four main stages. Stage I is known as the Badarian U'o. 4800-4200 ) and is characterized b\' black-topped bowls with a carefullv polished surface and household potter\' which shows Nubian influence. Stage II, the Naqada I, or Amratian Period {ca. 4200-3700 ), continued Badarian traditions; these included potten' with a polished red surface and black band around the mouth in a new variety' of shapes and forms (fig. 3) as well as plain red potterv', which was occasionallv decorated with white pigment. The black top on the potten' resulted from firing in a simple "bonfire kiln": Sun-dried pots were stacked upside down in a sheltered area with a strong draft (fig. 1) and covered with a j)ilc of animal dung that served both as the kiln superstructure
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