Roots Of Kemet

Mark A Cella is a world renowned archeologist and professor of Egyptology at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica California. He’s led over a dozen digs and expeditions to the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings over the past fifteen years.

Predynastic Egypt (5,500 - 3,100 BC)

Beginning just before the Predynastic period, Egyptian culture was already beginning to resemble greatly the Pharaonic ages that would soon come after, and rapidly at that. In a transition period of a thousand years (about which little is still known), nearly all the archetypal characteristics appeared, and beginning in 5500 BC we find evidence of organized, permanent settlements focused around agriculture. Hunting was no longer a major support for existence now that the Egyptian diet was made up of domesticated cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, as well as cereal grains such as wheat and barley. Artifacts of stone were supplemented by those of metal, and the crafts of basketry, pottery, weaving, and the tanning of animal hides became part of the daily life. The transition from primitive nomadic tribes to traditional civilization was nearly complete.