time of the first kings; the recent explorations of such
archaeologists as Amelineau, De Morgan, and Petrie have brought
to light numerous remains of what is now spoken of as the
predynastic period--a period when the inhabitants of the Nile
Valley used implements of chipped stone, when their pottery was
made without the use of the potter's wheel, and when they buried
their dead in curiously cramped attitudes without attempt at
mummification. These aboriginal inhabitants of Egypt cannot
perhaps with strict propriety be spoken of as living within the
historical period, since we cannot date their relics with any
accuracy. But they give us glimpses of the early stages of
civilization upon which the Egyptians of the dynastic period were
to advance.

It is held that the nascent civilization of these Egyptians of
the Neolithic, or late Stone Age, was overthrown by the invading
hosts of a more highly civilized race which probably came from
the East, and which may have been of a Semitic stock. The
presumption is that this invading people brought with it a
knowledge of the arts of war and peace, developed or adopted in
its old home. The introduction of these arts served to bridge
somewhat suddenly, so far as Egypt is concerned, that gap between
the prehistoric and the historic stage of culture to which we
have all along referred. The essential structure of that bridge,
let it now be clearly understood, consisted of a single element.
That element is the capacity to make written records: a knowledge
of the art of writing. Clearly understood, it is this element of
knowledge that forms the line bounding the historical period.
Numberless mementos are in existence that tell of the
intellectual activities of prehistoric man; such mementos as
flint implements, pieces of pottery, and fragments of bone,
inscribed with pictures that may fairly be spoken of as works of
art; but so long as no written word accompanies these records, so
long as no name of king or scribe comes down to us, we feel that
these records belong to the domain of archaeology rather than to
that of history. Yet it must be understood all along that these
two domains shade one into the other and, it has already been
urged, that the distinction between them is one that pertains
rather to modern scholarship than to the development of
civilization itself. Bearing this distinction still in mind, and
recalling that the historical period, which is to be the field of
our observation throughout the rest of our studies, extends for
Egypt well back into the fifth millennium B.C., let us briefly
review the practical phases of that civilization to which the
Egyptian had attained before the beginning of the dynastic
period. Since theoretical science is everywhere linked with the
mechanical arts, this survey will give us a clear comprehension
of the field that lies open for the progress of science in the
long stages of historical time upon which we are just entering.

We may pass over such rudimentary advances in the direction of
civilization as are implied in the use of articulate language,
the application of fire to the uses of man, and the systematic
making of dwellings of one sort or another, since all of these
are stages of progress that were reached very early in the
prehistoric period. What more directly concerns us is to note
that a really high stage of mechanical development had been
reached before the dawnings of Egyptian history proper. All
manner of household utensils were employed; the potter's wheel
aided in the construction of a great variety of earthen vessels;
weaving had become a fine art, and weapons of bronze, including
axes, spears, knives, and arrow-heads, were in constant use.
Animals had long been domesticated, in particular the dog, the
cat, and the ox; the horse was introduced later from the East.
The practical arts of agriculture were practised almost as they
are at the present day in Egypt, there being, of course, the same
dependence then as now upon the inundations of the Nile.

As to government, the Egyptian of the first dynasty regarded his
king as a demi-god to be actually deified after his death, and
this point of view was not changed throughout the stages of later
Egyptian history. In point of art, marvellous advances upon the
skill of the prehistoric man had been made, probably in part
under Asiatic influences, and that unique style of stilted yet
expressive drawing had come into vogue, which was to be
remembered in after times as typically Egyptian. More important
than all else, our Egyptian of the earliest historical period was
in possession of the art of writing. He had begun to make those
specific records which were impossible to the man of the Stone
Age, and thus he had entered fully upon the way of historical
progress which, as already pointed out, has its very foundation
in written records. From now on the deeds of individual kings
could find specific record. It began to be possible to fix the
chronology of remote events with some accuracy; and with this
same fixing of chronologies came the advent of true history. The
period which precedes what is usually spoken of as the first
dynasty in Egypt is one into which the present-day searcher is
still able to see but darkly. The evidence seems to suggest than
an invasion of relatively cultured people from the East
overthrew, and in time supplanted, the Neolithic civilization of
the Nile Valley. It is impossible to date this invasion
accurately, but it cannot well have been later than the year 5000
B.C., and it may have been a great many centuries earlier than
this. Be the exact dates what they may, we find the Egyptian of
the fifth millennium B.C. in full possession of a highly
organized civilization.

All subsequent ages have marvelled at the pyramids, some of which
date from about the year 4000 B.C., though we may note in passing
that these dates must not be taken too literally. The chronology


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