How was the Nile civilization formed? What was the initial stage of the development of the slave country in Egypt? What is the basic law of Egypt's early national development? These problems are not only related to the origin of primitive countries in human society, but also to the regularity of the emergence and development of slave countries in the early ancient world.
Ethnic issues, including the origin and development of the country, are "the most complicated and difficult issues". Especially, because the documents of early Egyptian history are extremely poor and brief, and the preserved documents are often incomplete, it is becoming more and more difficult to study the origin and development of ancient Egyptian countries. However, the achievements of archaeological excavations of ancient Egyptian tombs in the last century, especially the in-depth investigation and study of some cultural sites and relics in recent years, although there are still many differences, provide some necessary basis for us to solve the origin of Egypt and the formation of its unified kingdom.
When did the Egyptian state appear? In some works, we can usually find several different answers to this question.
The General History of the World, edited by the Soviet Academy of Sciences, asserts that it is still impossible to determine the date of the Nile Valley countries under our knowledge today. Now it seems that this argument is too arbitrary. In fact, just behind this volume, another author said: As early as the first dynasty, if not earlier, a country had been formed. Some Soviet scholars believe that the formation of the Egyptian state began in the middle of the first dynasty. According to popular saying, the age of the first dynasty in Egyptian history was about 365438 BC+000-2890 BC. Therefore, according to the above opinions, Egypt began to appear as a country around 365,438+000 BC or after 365,438+000 BC.
On the contrary, another view holds that Egypt had a state as early as 3 100 BC. The British "Cambridge Ancient History" wrote that in the period before the establishment of the first dynasty, two kingdoms, the North and the South, appeared in Egypt. Other works clearly show that the country was formed in the middle of 4000 BC, even before 4000 BC.
There are different opinions about the formation time of ancient Egyptian countries. The key is how to understand the symbol of Nile civilization and the formation of Egyptian state. So we must discuss the two together.
"Prehistoric Egyptian culture" or "pre-dynastic civilization" proposed by archaeology includes three successive stages of development: Badali culture (about 4500-4000 BC), Negada culture I (Amra culture, about 4000-3500 BC) and Negada culture II (Grce culture, about 3500-365438 BC+). Although "civilization" and "culture" are conceptually related, they must not be confused. Strictly speaking, Egypt's civilization began at the end of the Nigada culture I era and finally formed in the Nigada culture II era.
Like Badali culture, the first phase of Negada culture is still in the bronze age. However, the production of bronze, stone tools and pottery has further developed. Handicraft production has also become more and more specialized, and has long had commercial relations with Asian tribes.
Houses and cemeteries have been found in the site of the first phase of Nigada culture, and the houses are built with pheasant walls and fortifications, so the people in the first phase of Nigada culture are called "urban residents". Cheng Nan, a residence near Nigada, is an important site. Its fortress and almost rectangular houses are made of small bricks. This is a fortified city. Engels once pointed out: "A city is surrounded by buildings made of stone or brick with stone walls, towers and ridges ... This is a great progress in architectural art and a sign of increasing danger and defense needs"; There are high walls around the new fortified cities, which is not without reason: their trenches are deeply buried in the graves of the clan system, and their towers soar into the sky and enter the era of civilization.
In the first era of Nigada culture, the size, richness and simplicity of tombs were different. In Abadia, the largest and richest tomb is the tomb of a woman. This phenomenon reflects the characteristics of matriarchal clan. Witchcraft items have also been found as funerary objects in some tombs in other places. Western Egyptian scholars believe that this sign shows that the tomb owner is "a wizard or witch doctor, an important member of the commune, and may even be their leader". Some scholars say that in the early days of the pre-dynasty, every village was autonomous, and there was a leader whose power depended on his reputation as "the king of storms", and he was likely to be able to control the Nile flood. These inferences are consistent with Engels' argument that individual members "perform religious functions in a very primitive state" and "these positions are endowed with some sufficient power, which is the bud of state power".
To study the symbols of Egyptian civilization and national formation, it is more important to record the origin of titles and crowns preserved by archaeological relics. One is a piece of pottery pot unearthed from the tomb of Nigada 1546. The jar is marked as a house with a dome, and a bird lives on the roof. This dome-shaped building can be regarded as the later "facade of the palace" or "throne". A bird on the roof is a rough image of Horus, the falcon god. Horus was the patron saint of the Egyptian king in the Pharaoh's era and the first title of the king. The king of the first dynasty was later called a "follower of Horus".
The second piece is a red-crowned embossed black-topped pottery found in the tomb of Nigada 16 10. The red crown is one of the two basic crowns of Egyptian kings and one of the most respected Wang Huizhi. The appearance of the image of the title of king emblem means the germination and appearance of kingship, which is related to the formation of the country. According to the British F. petrie's "chronological method" (S.D.), the age of these two important historical relics is determined to be 37 AD, that is, the end of Nigada culture I; The date of pottery with red crown and king's badge is 35-39 AD, which is about the end of Nigada culture I or the beginning of Nigada culture II.
In the second period of the Negada culture, many tombs were discovered, and 265,438+049 "prehistoric tombs" were excavated in Negada alone. The more exquisite tombs built by the residents of the second generation of Nigada culture are rectangular and have a brick wall structure, but the poor are still buried in circular tombs. There are many T cemeteries in Nigada. There are dozens of graves of different sizes and shapes, most of which are rectangular except for a few circles or semi-circles and squares, and there are several large-scale graves. Researchers believe that T cemetery is the cemetery of the ruling class or group. Tomb 100 has been discovered in Xila Kangpo. Because its walls are decorated with murals, it is also called "painting the tomb" or "decorating the tomb". The size of the painted tomb is about 4.5×2.0×l.5 meters, which is similar to the size of 5×2 meters of Tomb No.20 in T Cemetery. It is also made of rectangular bricks and has a partition wall structure. Tomb painting has some similarities with T 15 and T23 tombs. Although Sheila Campoli's painted tomb was stolen and many relics were lost, there are still as many as 32 relics left, which is in sharp contrast to ordinary tombs with only a few funerary objects. Studies in recent decades have proved that tomb paintings are "part of the leader's cemetery" and belong to the "Wang family cemetery"; "The figures buried in the decorative tomb should be regarded as the legendary king of Upper Egypt". It is also said that Shirakampoli's painted tomb and Nigada's T cemetery are "the burial places of former kings".
In addition to the king's cemetery, the mural painting of the tomb painted by Sheila Campoli also retains the image description of the battle between the aborigines and foreign invaders. What is particularly important is the scene where the king holding the power header kills the captive kneeling in front of him. A similar phenomenon also appeared in some color palettes and right-hand songs at the end of the pre-dynasty.
One of the most important achievements in the second stage of Nigerian culture is the invention of writing. The earliest characters were found on the cylinder seal. As far as we know, the earliest cylinder seal came from the tomb of Negada 1863 (AD 46), which was equivalent to the second phase of the Negada culture. In the later period of this era, words can often be found in cultural relics such as titles and color palettes. Engels spoke highly of the position of writing in history, and pointed out that the invention of writing and its application in document recording led to the transition to civilization.
According to the development level of productive forces, the fortification of residential sites, the differentiation of tombs, the origin of crowns and titles, and the invention and application of writing, it can be confirmed that as early as the end of Nigada culture I, that is, around 3500 BC, the clan system in Egypt had disintegrated, the country sprouted and began to transition to class society. In the second era of Nigada culture, the country was finally established and the oldest Nile civilization in history was formed.