The Art of Ancient Egypt | Publications for Educators | Explore & Learn

Predynastic Period (mid 5th- end of 4th millennium B.C.)	Period during which some agricultural communities developed into urban settlements. Distinct cultural differences between Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt, with the latter, in the earliest phases, showing affinities with North African cultures on the one side and western Asiatic on the other.
Protodynastic Period (ca. 3300-2960 B.C.)	Lower Egypt increasingly infiltrated by Upper Egyptian culture, probably through trade that also included goods from Canaan. Rich cultural influences came also from other parts of western Asia. Political unity achieved gradually by the spread of a uniform material culture and a series of conflicts rather than by one single conquest. Beginning of hieroglyphic writing. Some names of these early kings (Dynasty O) are known.	Comb (ca. 3200 B.C.)