Are These Tombs From Before the Pharaohs?

This discovery sheds light on two important historical eras.

Transcript

00:00Dozens of pre-dynastic tombs have recently been discovered by Egyptian archaeologists

00:09working along the Nile River.

00:11These tombs appear to be even older than the Pharaonic kingdom or more than 5,000 years

00:17old.

00:18The archaeologists uncovered 68 tombs from the Butoh period, which began in 3300 BC,

00:25and 5 from the Nekata III period, just before Egypt's first dynasty emerged in 3100 BC.

00:33The archaeologists also found 37 tombs from the Hyksos period, which dates back to 1650

00:40through 1500 BC.

00:43Each historical period had different tomb shapes and designs.

00:47The Butoh tombs were oval-shaped pits with corpses in a squatting position on their left

00:53side and their heads pointing west.

00:56Some of the Nekata tombs contained pear-shaped and cylindrical vessels.

01:01The Hyksos tombs were largely semi-rectangular, with bodies lying in an extended position

01:07and heads also pointing west.

01:09The archaeologists also found ovens, stoves, and pottery vessels.

01:14They also found amulets, which were made from semi-precious stones and jewelry.

01:19Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, noted that this is an

01:25extremely interesting cemetery because it combines some of the earliest periods of Egyptian

01:30history with another important era, the time of the Hyksos.

01:34The question now is to determine how the two groups lived together and if traditions were

01:40shared.