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65-727: Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt was the period of time starting at the first human settlement and ending at the First Dynasty of Egypt around 3100 BC. At the end of prehistory, "Predynastic Egypt" is traditionally defined as the period from the final part of the Neolithic period beginning c. 6210 BC to the end of the Naqada III period c. 3000 BC. The dates of the Predynastic period were first defined before widespread archaeological excavation of Egypt took place, and recent finds indicating

130-477: A significant decline in rainfall , and farming along the Nile now produced the vast majority of food, though contemporary paintings indicate that hunting was not entirely forgone. With increased food supplies, Egyptians adopted a much more sedentary lifestyle and cities grew as large as 5,000. It was in this time that Egyptian city dwellers stopped building with reeds and began mass-producing mud bricks, first found in

195-548: A free tenon eventually became one of the most important features in Mediterranean and Egyptian shipbuilding. It creates a union between two planks or other components by inserting a separate tenon into a cavity (mortise) of the corresponding size cut into each component." A study on First Dynasty crania from the royal tombs in Abydos generally demonstrated greater affinity with Kerma Kushites , and Upper Nile Valley groups. Moreover,

260-663: A heavy set jaw. Similar results would later be found by a short report from SOY Keita in 2021, showing affinities with the Qarunian skull and the Teita series. Dating to about 5600-4400 BC of the Faiyum Neolithic, continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently, adopting increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The Faiyum A industry

325-629: A much slower period of demographic change, than previously hypothesized rapid conquests of people coming into Egypt from the East. It probably involved the gradual infiltration of a different physical type from Syria-Palestine , via the eastern Delta. Weaving is evidenced for the first time during the Faiyum A Period. People of this period, unlike later Egyptians, buried their dead very close to, and sometimes inside, their settlements. Although archaeological sites reveal very little about this time, an examination of

390-665: A period 15,000 - 10,500 B.C though the industry has been subsequently re-established sui generis as emerging during 13,000 BC. Later archaeology had identified the Sebilian as having occurred during the same periods of time as those industries named the Silsilian , and the Sebekian of Upper Egypt that occurred 12,000 B.C. or perhaps earlier. Vignard's analysis of the findings have been criticised, and later re-evaluated by P.E.L. Smith and Fekri Hassan though are considered to have given life to

455-599: A place to live, but if necessary, could be taken down easily and transported. They were mobile structures—easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled—providing hunter-gatherers with semi-permanent habitation. Aterian tool-making reached Egypt c. 40,000 BC. The Khormusan industry in Egypt began between 42,000 and 32,000 BP. Khormusans developed tools not only from stone but also from animal bones and hematite . They also developed small arrow heads resembling those of Native Americans , but no bows have been found. The end of

520-609: A small settlement near modern Cairo. People seem to have lived in huts, but only postholes and pits survive. The pottery is undecorated. Stone tools include small flakes, axes and sickles. Metal was not yet known. Their sites were occupied from 4000 BC to the Archaic Period (3,100 BC). The Maadi culture (also called Buto Maadi culture) is the most important Lower Egyptian prehistoric culture dated about 4000–3500 BC, and contemporary with Naqada I and II phases in Upper Egypt. The culture

585-402: A system called sequence dating by which the relative date, if not the absolute date, of any given Predynastic site can be ascertained by examining its pottery. As the Predynastic period progressed, the handles on pottery evolved from functional to ornamental. The degree to which any given archaeological site has functional or ornamental pottery can also be used to determine the relative date of

650-399: A very gradual Predynastic development have led to controversy over when exactly the Predynastic period ended. Thus, various terms such as " Protodynastic period ", "Zero Dynasty" or "Dynasty 0" are used to name the part of the period which might be characterized as Predynastic by some and Early Dynastic by others. The Predynastic period is generally divided into cultural eras, each named after

715-530: Is best known from the site Maadi near Cairo, as well as the site of Buto , but is also attested in many other places in the Delta to the Faiyum region. This culture was marked by development in architecture and technology. It also followed its predecessor cultures when it comes to undecorated ceramics. Copper was known, and some copper adzes have been found. The pottery is hand-made; it is simple and undecorated. Presence of black-topped red pots indicate contact with

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780-619: Is better attested at the Naqada site, so it also is referred to as the Naqada I culture. Black-topped ware continues to appear, but white cross-line ware, a type of pottery which has been decorated with close parallel white lines being crossed by another set of close parallel white lines, is also found at this time. The Amratian period falls between S.D. 30 and 39 in Petrie's Sequence Dating system. Newly excavated objects attest to increased trade between Upper and Lower Egypt at this time. A stone vase from

845-470: Is clearly demonstrated as existing during this dynasty by retainers being buried near each pharaoh's tomb as well as animals sacrificed for the burial. The tomb of Djer is associated with the burials of 338 individuals. The people and animals sacrificed, such as donkeys , were expected to assist the pharaoh in the afterlife . For unknown reasons, this practice ended with the conclusion of the dynasty. According to historian and linguist Christopher Ehret ,

910-540: Is estimated to have persisted for approximately 4,000 years. It was characterized by hunting , as well as a unique approach to food gathering that incorporated the preparation and consumption of wild grasses and grains . Systematic efforts were made by the Qadan people to water, care for, and harvest local plant life, but grains were not planted in ordered rows. Around twenty archaeological sites in Upper Nubia give evidence for

975-418: Is named for the burials found at Der Tasa , on the east bank of the Nile between Asyut and Akhmim . The Tasian culture group is notable for producing the earliest blacktop-ware , a type of red and brown pottery that is colored black on the top portion and interior. This pottery is vital to the dating of Predynastic Egypt. Because all dates for the Predynastic period are tenuous at best, WMF Petrie developed

1040-459: Is of the same scale as the tombs of the (other) kings of that period. Sebilian Fertile Crescent : Europe : Africa : Siberia : Sebilian is a pre-historic archaeological culture in Nubia spanning the period c. 13,000–10,000 B.C. The culture is known by the name given by Edmond Vignard to finds he located at Kom Ombo on the banks of the river Nile from 1919 continuing into

1105-548: Is subject to scholarly debate about the Egyptian chronology . It falls within the early Bronze Age and is variously estimated to have begun anywhere between the 34th and the 30th centuries   BC. In a 2013 study based on radiocarbon dates , the accession of Hor-Aha , the second king of the First Dynasty, was placed between 3111 and 3045 BC with 68% confidence, and between 3218 and 3035 with 95% confidence. The same study placed

1170-572: Is the earliest farming culture in the Nile Valley. Archaeological deposits that have been found are characterized by concave base projectile points and pottery. Around 6210 BC, Neolithic settlements appear all over Egypt. Some studies based on morphological , genetic , and archaeological data have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent in the Near East returning during

1235-918: The A-Group culture bearers of Lower Nubia, the Kerma and Kush populations in Upper Nubia, the Meroitic , X-Group and Christian period inhabitants of Lower Nubia, and the Kellis population in the Dakhla Oasis . Among the recent groups, the Badari markers were morphologically closest to the Shawia and Kabyle Berber populations of Algeria as well as Bedouin groups in Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, followed by other Afroasiatic-speaking populations in

1300-426: The Egyptian and North African Neolithic , bringing agriculture to the region. Studies in anthropology and post-cranial data has linked the earliest farming populations at Faiyum, Merimde, and El-Badari, to Near Eastern populations. The archaeological data also suggests that Near Eastern domesticates were incorporated into a pre-existing foraging strategy and only slowly developed into a full-blown lifestyle. Finally,

1365-511: The Horn of Africa . The Late Roman era Badarian skeletons from Kellis were also phenotypically distinct from those belonging to other populations in Sub-Saharan Africa . The Naqada culture is an archaeological culture of Chalcolithic Predynastic Egypt (c. 4000–3000 BC), named for the town of Naqada , Qena Governorate . It is divided in three sub-periods: Naqada I, II and III. Similar to

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1430-685: The Oldowan industry , are poorly dated. These tools are succeeded by those belonging to the Acheulean industry. The youngest Achulean sites in Egypt date to around 400-300,000 years ago. During the Late Pleistocene , when Egypt was occupied by modern humans, several archaeological industries are recognised including the Silsilian, Fakhurian, Afian, Kubbaniyan, Idfuan-Shuwikhatian, and the Isnan industries. Some of

1495-453: The 1920s. Nine sites were found by A. Marks in the area of the Wadi Halfa ; Wendorf located three approximately 10 kilometres from Abu Simbel . The culture is located in entirety only in proximity to the Nile, ranging from Wadi Halfa to Qena . The culture was dated by Vignard as spanning the period c. 13,000–10,000 B.C. Dating by way of geology shows the industry to have occurred within

1560-577: The Amratian Period, to build their cities. Egyptian stone tools, while still in use, moved from bifacial construction to ripple-flaked construction. Copper was used for all kinds of tools, and the first copper weaponry appears here. Silver, gold, lapis, and faience were used ornamentally, and the grinding palettes used for eye-paint since the Badarian period began to be adorned with relief carvings. First Dynasty of Egypt The date of this period

1625-850: The Badarian series to be most similar to a series from the northeast quadrant of Africa and then to other Africans". Dental trait analysis of Badarian fossils conducted in a thesis study found that they were closely related to both Afroasiatic -speaking populations inhabiting Northeast Africa , as well as the Maghreb . Among the ancient populations, the Badarians were nearest to other ancient Egyptians ( Naqada , Hierakonpolis, Abydos and Kharga in Upper Egypt ; Hawara in Lower Egypt ), and C-Group and Pharaonic era skeletons excavated in Lower Nubia, followed by

1690-492: The Badarians and other Northeast African populations. However, according to Eugene Strouhal and other anthropologists, Predynastic Egyptians like the Badarians were similar to the Capsian culture of North Africa and to Berbers. In 2005, Keita examined Badarian crania from predynastic upper Egypt in comparison to various European and tropical African crania. He found that the predynastic Badarian series clustered much closer with

1755-453: The Faiyum A culture as well as the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced a simple undecorated pottery and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were held. Wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried their dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines. The first life-sized Egyptian head made of clay comes from Merimde. The El Omari culture is known from

1820-516: The Khormusan industry came around 16,000 B.C. with the appearance of other cultures in the region, including the Gemaian . The Late Paleolithic in Egypt started around 30,000 BC. The Nazlet Khater skeleton was found in 1980 and given an age of 33,000 years in 1982, based on nine samples ranging between 35,100 and 30,360 years old. This specimen is the only complete modern human skeleton so far found from

1885-564: The Khormusan tradition of fishing. Greater concentrations of artifacts indicate that they were not bound to seasonal wandering, but settled for longer periods. The Halfan culture was derived in turn from the Khormusan, which depended on specialized hunting, fishing, and collecting techniques for survival. The primary material remains of this culture are stone tools, flakes, and a multitude of rock paintings. The Sebilian culture began around 13,000 BC and vanished around 10,000 BC. In Egypt, analyses of pollen found at archaeological sites indicate that

1950-412: The Naqada cemeteries were more similar to each other than they were to the samples in northern Nubia or to samples from Badari and Qena in southern Egypt. The Amratian culture lasted from about 4000 to 3500 BC. It is named after the site of El-Amra , about 120 km south of Badari . El-Amra is the first site where this culture group was found unmingled with the later Gerzean culture group, but this period

2015-532: The Naqada sites in the south. Many imported vessels from Palestine have also been found. Black basalt stone vessels were also used. People lived in small huts, partly dug into the ground. The dead were buried in cemeteries, but with few burial goods. The Maadi culture was replaced by the Naqada III culture; whether this happened by conquest or infiltration is still an open question. The developments in Lower Egypt in

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2080-550: The Neolithic Period or earlier. They also added that there have only been a few studies on ancient Egyptian DNA to clarify these issues. Egyptologist Ian Shaw (2003) wrote that "anthropological studies suggest that the predynastic population included a mixture of racial types (Negroid, Mediterranean and European)", but it is the skeletal material at the beginning of the pharaonic period that has proven to be most controversial. He said according to some scholars there may have been

2145-527: The Sahara (c. 6500 to - 5190 BC). Maciej Henneberg (1989) documented a remote 8,000 year old female skull from the Qarunian. It showed closest affinity to Wadi Halfa, modern Negroes and Australian aborigines , being quite different from Epipalaeolithic materials of Northern Africa usually labelled as Mechta-Afalou (Paleo-Berber) or the later Proto-Mediterranean types (Capsian). The skull still had an intermediate position, being gracile, but possessing large teeth and

2210-678: The Tasian culture was significantly related to the Sudanese-Saharan traditions from the Neolithic era which extended from regions north of Khartoum to locations near Dongola in Sudan. The Badarian culture, from about 4400 to 4000 BC, is named for the Badari site near Der Tasa. It followed the Tasian culture, but was so similar that many consider them one continuous period. The Badarian Culture continued to produce

2275-528: The Upper Nile Valley . Halfan sites are found in the far north of Sudan, whereas Kubbaniyan sites are found in Upper Egypt. For the Halfan, only four radiocarbon dates have been produced. Schild and Wendorf (2014) discard the earliest and latest as erratic and conclude that the Halfan existed c. 22.5-22.0 ka cal BP (22,500-22,000 calibrated years before present). People survived on a diet of large herd animals and

2340-538: The accession of Den , the sixth king of the dynasty, between 2928 and 2911 BC with 68% confidence, although a 2023 radiocarbon analysis placed Den's accession potentially earlier, between 3011 and 2921, within a broader window of 3104 to 2913. Information about this dynasty is derived from a few monuments and other objects bearing royal names, the most important being the Narmer Palette and Narmer Macehead , as well as Den and Qa'a king lists. No detailed records of

2405-412: The analysis too found clear change from earlier craniometric trends, as "lower Egyptian, Maghrebian, and European patterns are observed also, thus making for great diversity". The gene flow and movement of northern officials to the important southern city may explain the findings. Human sacrifice was practiced as part of the funerary rituals associated with all of the pharaohs of the first dynasty. It

2470-439: The ancient Egyptians are the same original population group as Nubians and other Saharan populations, with some genetic input from Arabian , Levantine , North African , and Indo-European groups who have known to have settled in Egypt during its long history. On the other hand, Stiebling and Helft acknowledge that the genetic studies of North African populations generally suggest a big influx of Near Eastern populations during

2535-476: The cultivation of crops and sedentism, as well as pottery production from the late 6th Millennium BC onwards. The natural scientist Frederick Falkenburger in 1947, based on a sample set of around 1,800 prehistoric Egyptian crania, noted great heterogeneity amongst his samples. Falkenburger categorized them based on the nasal index, overall head and face form, taking into account width, eye socket structure, amongst other given indicators. He divided and characterized

2600-660: The delta and moving south through upper Egypt, but failing to dislodge Amratian culture in Nubia. Gerzean pottery is assigned values from S.D. 40 through 62, and is distinctly different from Amratian white cross-lined wares or black-topped ware. Gerzean pottery was painted mostly in dark red with pictures of animals, people, and ships, as well as geometric symbols that appear derived from animals. Also, "wavy" handles, rare before this period (though occasionally found as early as S.D. 35) became more common and more elaborate until they were almost completely ornamental. Gerzean culture coincided with

2665-632: The earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. The Fakhurian late Paleolithic industry in Upper Egypt, showed that a homogenous population existed in the Nile-Valley during the late Pleistocene. Studies of the skeletal material showed they were in the range of variation found in the Wadi Halfa, Jebel Sahaba and fragments from the Kom Ombo populations. The Halfan and Kubbaniyan, two closely related industries, flourished along

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2730-666: The existence of the Qadan culture's grain-grinding culture. Its makers also practiced wild grain harvesting along the Nile during the beginning of the Sahaba Daru Nile phase, when desiccation in the Sahara caused residents of the Libyan oases to retreat into the Nile valley. Among the Qadan culture sites is the Jebel Sahaba cemetery, which has been dated to the Mesolithic. Qadan peoples were

2795-410: The first faience was developed. Distinctly Badarian sites have been located from Nekhen to a little north of Abydos. It appears that the Faiyum A culture and the Badarian and Tasian Periods overlapped significantly; however, the Faiyum A culture was considerably less agricultural and was still Neolithic in nature. Many biological anthropological studies have shown strong biological affinities between

2860-456: The first to develop sickles and they also developed grinding stones independently to aid in the collecting and processing of these plant foods prior to consumption. However, there are no indications of the use of these tools after 10,000 BC, when hunter-gatherers replaced them. Early evidence for Neolithic cultures in the Nile Valley are generally located in the north of Egypt, exhibiting well-developed stages of Neolithic subsistence, including

2925-855: The first two dynasties have survived, except for the terse lists on the Palermo Stone . The account in Manetho 's Aegyptiaca contradicts both the archeological evidence and the other historical records: Manetho names nine rulers of the First Dynasty, only one of whose names matches the other sources, and offers information for only four of them. Egyptian hieroglyphs were fully developed by then, and their shapes would be used with little change for more than three thousand years. Alena Buis noted: "Large tombs of pharaohs at Abydos and Naqada , in addition to cemeteries at Saqqara and Helwan near Memphis , reveal structures built largely of wood and mud bricks, with some small use of stone for walls and floors. Stone

2990-454: The geographically more proximate southern Egyptian samples" in Qena and Badari . However, they found the skeletal samples from the Naqada cemeteries to be significantly different to protodynastic populations in northern Nubia and predynastic Egyptian samples from Badari and Qena, which were also significantly different to northern Nubian populations. Overall, both the elite and nonelite individuals in

3055-506: The kind of pottery called blacktop-ware (albeit much improved in quality) and was assigned Sequence Dating numbers 21–29. The primary difference that prevents scholars from merging the two periods is that Badarian sites use copper in addition to stone and are thus Chalcolithic settlements, while the Neolithic Tasian sites are still considered Stone Age . Badarian flint tools continued to develop into sharper and more shapely blades, and

3120-553: The many Egyptian words for "city" provides a hypothetical list of causes of Egyptian sedentarism. In Upper Egypt, terminology indicates trade, protection of livestock, high ground for flood refuge, and sacred sites for deities. From about 5000 to 4200 BC the Merimde culture, so far only known from Merimde Beni Salama , a large settlement site at the edge of the Western Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to

3185-503: The modern field of investigation into a hitherto unknown (or only surmised) area of pre-history of Egypt. Sebilian implements were located along the Nile River at the 10–15 foot terraces. The formal characteristics of the finds indicate a development of technique that passed through three phases. The industry was re-designated SEBILIAN based on those previously classified type I, and described as crudely produced, possibly resultant of

3250-502: The names for the Near Eastern domesticates imported into Egypt were not Sumerian or Proto-Semitic loan words. However, some scholars have disputed this view and cited linguistic , physical anthropological , archaeological and genetic data which does not support the hypothesis of a mass migration from the Levant during the prehistoric period. According to historian William Stiebling and archaeologist Susan N. Helft, this view posits that

3315-704: The north was found at el-Amra, and copper, which is not mined in Egypt, was imported from the Sinai, or possibly Nubia. Obsidian and a small amount of gold were both definitely imported from Nubia. Trade with the oases also was likely. New innovations appeared in Amratian settlements as precursors to later cultural periods. For example, the mud-brick buildings for which the Gerzean period is known were first seen in Amratian times, but only in small numbers. Additionally, oval and theriomorphic cosmetic palettes appear in this period, but

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3380-503: The oldest known structures were discovered in Egypt by archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski along the southern border near Wadi Halfa , Sudan , at the Arkin 8 site. Chmielewski dated the structures to 100,000 BC. The remains of the structures are oval depressions about 30 cm deep and 2 × 1 meters across. Many are lined with flat sandstone slabs which served as tent rings supporting a dome-like shelter of skins or brush. This type of dwelling provided

3445-598: The people of the Sebilian culture (also known as the Esna culture) were gathering grains, though domesticated seeds were not found. It has been hypothesized that the sedentary lifestyle practiced by these grain gatherers led to increased warfare , which was detrimental to sedentary life and brought this period to an end. The Qadan culture (13,000–9,000 BC) was a Mesolithic industry that, archaeological evidence suggests, originated in Upper Egypt (present-day south Egypt ) approximately 15,000 years ago. The Qadan subsistence mode

3510-732: The peopling of the Egyptian Nile Valley from archaeological and biological data, was the result of a complex interaction between coastal northern Africans, “neolithic” Saharans, Nilotic hunters, and riverine proto-Nubians with some influence and migration from the Levant (Hassan, 1988). Faiyum B culture, also called Qarunian due to being of the Lake Qarun or Qaroun area is an Epipalaeolithic (also called Mesolithic) culture and predates Faiyum A culture. No pottery has been found, with blade types being both plain and microlithic blades. A set of gouges and arrow-heads suggests it may have had contact with

3575-512: The place where a certain type of Egyptian settlement was first discovered. However, the same gradual development that characterizes the Protodynastic period is present throughout the entire Predynastic period, and individual "cultures" must not be interpreted as separate entities but as largely subjective divisions used to facilitate study of the entire period. The vast majority of Predynastic archaeological finds have been in Upper Egypt , because

3640-406: The preceding Badarian culture, studies have found Naqada skeletal remains to have Northeast African affinities. A study by Dr. Shormaka Keita found that Naqada remains were conforming almost equally to two local types, a southern Egyptian pattern (which shares closest resemblance with Kerma), and a northern Egyptian pattern (most similar to Coastal Maghreb). In 1996, Lovell and Prowse also reported

3705-543: The presence of individuals buried at Naqada in what they interpreted to be elite, high status tombs, showing them to be an endogamous ruling or elite segment of the local population at Naqada, which is more closely related to populations in northern Nubia (A-Group) than to neighbouring populations in southern Egypt. Specifically, they stated the Naqda samples were "more similar to the Lower Nubian protodynastic sample than they are to

3770-536: The ritual practice of retainer sacrifice originated from the southern region in the Middle Nile. Ehret also stated that this cultural practice was shared with the Kerma kingdom of the Upper Nubian Nile region. Known rulers in the history of Egypt for the First Dynasty are as follows: (or ruled as regent to her son Den or ruled as both king/queen and regent). Merneith was buried close to Djet and Den. Her tomb

3835-406: The silt of the Nile River was more heavily deposited at the Delta region , completely burying most Delta sites long before modern times. Egypt has been inhabited by humans (including archaic humans ) for over a million (and probably over 2 million) years, though the evidence for early occupation of Egypt is sparse and fragmentary. The oldest archaeological finds in Egypt, stone tools belonging to

3900-538: The site. Since there is little difference between Tasian ceramics and Badarian pottery, the Tasian Culture overlaps the Badarian range significantly. From the Tasian period onward, it appears that Upper Egypt was influenced strongly by the culture of Lower Egypt . Archaeological evidence has suggested that "the Tasian and Badarian Nile Valley sites were a peripheral network of earlier African cultures of around which Badarian, Saharan, Nubian, and Nilotic peoples regularly circulated." Bruce Williams, Egyptologist, has argued that

3965-444: The skulls into four types: Cro-Magnon type, " Negroid " type, Mediterranean type, and mixed types resulting from the mixture of the aforementioned groups. Similarly, the craniometrics of early Egyptians were according to the physician and anthropologist Eugene Strouhal in 1971, designated as either Cro-Magnon of North Africa, Mediterranean, "Negroid" of East Africa, and intermediate/mixed. According to professor Fekhri A. Hassan ,

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4030-438: The times previous to the unification of the country have been the subject of considerable disputes over the years. The recent excavations at Tell el-Farkha  [ de ] , Sais , and Tell el-Iswid have clarified this picture to some extent. As a result, the Chalcolithic Lower Egyptian culture is now emerging as an important subject of study. The Tasian culture appeared around 4500 BC in Upper Egypt . This culture group

4095-416: The tropical African series. Although, no Asian or other North African samples were included in the study as the comparative series were selected based on "Brace et al.'s (1993) comments on the affinities of an upper Egyptian/Nubian epipaleolithic series". Keita further noted that additional analysis and material from Sudan , late dynastic northern Egypt (Gizeh), Somalia, Asia and the Pacific Islands "show

4160-418: The workmanship is very rudimentary and the relief artwork for which they were later known is not yet present. The Gerzean culture, from about 3500 to 3200 BC, is named after the site of Gerzeh . It was the next stage in Egyptian cultural development, and it was during this time that the foundation of Dynastic Egypt was laid. Gerzean culture is largely an unbroken development out of Amratian Culture, starting in

4225-439: Was used in quantity for the manufacture of ornaments, vessels, and occasionally, for statues. Tamarix ("tamarisk" or "salt cedar") was used to build boats such as the Abydos boats . One of the most important indigenous woodworking techniques was the fixed mortise and tenon joint. A fixed tenon was made by shaping the end of one timber to fit into a mortise (hole) that is cut into a second timber. A variation of this joint using

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