New Book: Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization.

Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization.
Edited by Emily Teeter
Oriental Institute Museum Publications 33
Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2011

Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization 

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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.

Table of Contents

The Chronology of Early Egypt
Introduction. Emily Teeter
List of Contributors
Map of Principal Areas and Sites

1. Sequence Dating and Predynastic Chronology. Stan Hendrickx
2. Petrie and the Discovery of Earliest Egypt. Patricia Spencer
3. Political Organization of Egypt in the Predynastic Period. Branislav Andelkovic
4. Hierakonpolis. Renée Friedman
5. The Predynastic Cultures of the Nile Delta. Yann Tristant and Béatrix Midant-Reynes
6. The Predynastic/Early Dynastic Period at Tell el-Farkha. Krzysztof M. Cialowicz
7. Material Culture of the Predynastic Period. Alice Stevenson
8. Iconography of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods. Stan Hendrickx
9. Relations between Egypt and Nubia in the Naqada Period. Bruce B. Williams
10. Crafts and Craft Specialization. Stan Hendrickx
11. The Invention of Writing in Egypt. David Wengrow
12. Early Interaction between Peoples of the Nile Valley and the Southern Levant. Eliot Braun
13. The Rise of the Egyptian State. E. Christiana Köhler
14. Tomb U-j: A Royal Burial of Dynasty 0 at Abydos. Günter Dreyer
15. The First Kings of Egypt: The Abydos Evidence. Laurel Bestock
16. The Narmer Palette: A New Interpretation. David O'Connor

Catalog of Objects
Concordance of Museum Registration Numbers
Checklist of the Exhibit
Bibliography

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• Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization
• Edited by Emily Teeter
• Oriental Institute Museum Publications 33
• Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2011
• ISBN 978-1-885923-82-0
• Pp. 288; 196 figures (most in color), 129 objects (all in color)
• $39.95

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