Egypt Before the Pharaohs: The Prehistoric Foundations of Egyptian Civilization

by Michael Allen Hoffman

From the advent of Paleolithic hunters almost a million years ago to the unification of Upper & Lower Egypt, the author demonstrates that many of the institutions of ancient Egyptian civilization were firmly rooted in prehistoric antecedents. Illustrated.
Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
The paleolithic age in Egypt, c. 700,000-5500 BC
The predynastic peoples of upper Egypt: the emergence of the valley tradition, c. 5500-3100 BC
The predynastic peoples of lower Egypt: the delta tradition, c. 5500-3100 BC
Peoples of the frontiers: the desert tradition, c. 6000-3100 BC
From prehistory to history, c. 3100-2700 BC
Bibliography
Index

Genres: History, Egypt, Africa, Nonfiction, Egyptology, World History, Archaeology

404 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed, in depth account of prehistoric Egypt and the archaeologists who have accumulated the evidence for what we know. Make sure you've read a summary history of Egypt before reading this book, otherwise it won't mean much and you won't finish it. Best for graduate-level anthropology and history students.

[Scott Rezer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, one of the better books dealing with the little known prehistory of Egypt! I’ve read it several time and always discover something new.

[Clifton Toliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book on the history of Egypt. Well written and researched.

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is 40 years old, but it is still probably the most thorough description of Predynastic Egypt. The study of Egyptian prehistory progressed sluggishly and was weighed down by outdated ideas during the middle of the 20th century. Hoffman wrote after a wave of discoveries and new thinking transformed scholars' picture of the subject into something not very different from that of today. Hoffman's book examines the whole sweep of time from Paleolithic Egypt to the unification of Egypt, with a postscript on Khasekhemwy, a Second Dynasty ruler, as a symbol of the emergence of the sophisticated Egyptian state.

Hoffman's versatility is impressive. He interweaves his story of how Predynastic Egypt developed with the history of how Egyptologists studied the period, which is interesting but may be a little hard for some readers to follow. Our understanding of the Predynastic leans heavily on the evidence from Upper Egypt from Abydos to Hierakonpolis, and that was still more true when Hoffman was writing than it is today. Yet, as much as was possible in 1979, he examines the widely different regions of Egypt, from the Delta to Nubia, and how each environment shaped the development of the societies there. He also compares Predynastic Egypt to other cultures across the world to understand the processes that formed it. He thus brings in a breadth of anthropological ideas that are rarely found in Egyptology, but they're from the 1970s, and our understanding of early civilizations and state formation has changed a lot since then. It's in this area that Hoffman's work is most likely to be outdated, though I haven't noticed any errors with my limited knowledge of the subject.

This book has not yet been fully replaced by a recent one. Béatrix Midant-Reynes' The Prehistory of Egypt is similar to Hoffman but slimmer, less theoretical, and more focused on early (pre-Badarian) prehistory than Hoffman is. If you want more current theorizing, The Archaeology of Early Egypt is stuffed with it, as well as with abstract Latin nouns that make it a slog for most readers. Before the Pyramids is a museum catalogue that discusses most aspects of the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods, and it includes recent discoveries not found in Midant-Reynes or Hoffman. The definitive book that picks up where Hoffman leaves off is Early Dynastic Egypt.

[Tiberius Claudius Nero · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published forty-five years ago, this book is held back by the absence of more recent scholarship. An example of this is with the so-called neolithic cultures of the Western Desert, which would greatly influence the later Nilotic cultures: this book sheds almost no light on them. Besides these understandable blindspots, however, the book is good. It has a lot of good stuff on the development of Egypt through the Palaeolithic right through to the emergence of the state itself around 3000 BC. Michael Hoffman writes well and neatly weaves in the story of prehistoric Egypt with the struggles of the pioneering Egyptologists who uncovered it. Not only do the tales of their discoveries provide a nice personal touch, but also acquaint the reader with archaeological practice (and malpractice) as it evolved over time. To be frank, the most valuable knowledge this book has is about the Egyptologists themselves.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some fascinating information here but the book is as much a history of Egyptian archeology as it is a history of Egypt.

[Charlotte Wenner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the personal and historic details about Egypts excavations. Hoffman hints at things which he does not deliver, however. Still, definitely worth reading.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly interesting, although a bit outdated at times.

[Clint Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is what it is...not bad.