History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery | Page 7

proficient in other arts. They carved ivory and they
worked gold, which is known to have been almost the first metal
worked by man; certainly in Egypt it was utilized for ornament even
before copper was used for work. We may refer to the illustration of a
flint knife with gold handle, already given. [* See illustration.]
The date of the actual introduction of copper for tools and weapons into
Egypt is uncertain, but it seems probable that copper was occasionally
used at a very early period. Copper weapons have been found in
pre-dynastic graves beside the finest buff pottery with elaborate red
designs, so that we may say that when the flint-working and pottery of
the Neolithic Egyptians had reached its zenith, the use of copper was
already known, and copper weapons were occasionally employed. We
can thus speak of the "Chalcolithic" period in Egypt as having already
begun at that time, no doubt several centuries before the beginning of
the historical or dynastic age. Strictly speaking, the Egyptians remained
in the "Chalcolithic" period till the end of the XIIth Dynasty, but in
practice it is best to speak of this period, when the word is used, as
extending from the time of the finest flint weapons and pottery of the
prehistoric age (when the "Neolithic" period may be said to close) till
about the IId or IIId Dynasty. By that time the "Bronze," or, rather,
"Copper," Age of Egypt had well begun, and already stone was not in
common use.
The prehistoric pottery is of the greatest value to the archæologist, for
with its help some idea may be obtained of the succession of periods
within the late Neolithic-Chalcolithic Age. The enormous number of
prehistoric graves which have been examined enables us to make an

exhaustive comparison of the different kinds of pottery found in them,
so that we can arrange them in order according to pottery they
contained. By this means we obtain an idea of the development of
different types of pottery, and the sequence of the types. Thus it is that
we can say with some degree of confidence that the black and red ware
is the most ancient form, and that the buff with red designs is one of the
latest forms of prehistoric pottery. Other objects found in the graves
can be classified as they occur with different pottery types.
With the help of the pottery we can thus gain a more or less reliable
conspectus of the development of the late "Neolithic" culture of Egypt.
This system of "sequence-dating" was introduced by Prof. Petrie, and is
certainly very useful. It must not, however, be pressed too far or be
regarded as an iron-bound system, with which all subsequent
discoveries must be made to fit in by force. It is not to be supposed that
all prehistoric pottery developed its series of types in an absolutely
orderly manner without deviations or throws-back. The work of man's
hands is variable and eccentric, and does not develop or evolve in an
undeviating course as the work of nature does. It is a mistake, very
often made by anthropologists and archæologists, who forget this
elementary fact, to assume "curves of development," and so forth, or
semi-savage culture, on absolutely even and regular lines. Human
culture has not developed either evenly or regularly, as a matter of fact.
Therefore we cannot always be sure that, because the Egyptian black
and red pottery does not occur in graves with buff and red, it is for this
reason absolutely earlier in date than the latter. Some of the
development-sequences may in reality be contemporary with others
instead of earlier, and allowance must always be made for aberrations
and reversions to earlier types.
This caveat having been entered, however, we may provisionally accept
Prof. Petrie's system of sequence-dating as giving the best classification
of the prehistoric antiquities according to development. So it may fairly
be said that, as far as we know, the black and red pottery
("sequence-date 30--") is the most ancient Neolithic Egyptian ware
known; that the buff and red did not begin to be used till about
"sequence-date 45;" that bone and ivory carvings were commonest in

the earlier period ("sequence-dates 30-50"); that copper was almost
unknown till "sequence-date 50," and so on. The arbitrary numbers
used range from 30 to 80, in order to allow for possible earlier and later
additions, which may be rendered necessary by the progress of
discovery. The numbers are of course as purely arbitrary and relative as
those of the different thermometrical systems, but they afford a
convenient system of arrangement. The products of the prehistoric
Egyptians are, so to speak, distributed on a conventional plan over a
scale numbered from 30 to 80, 30 representing the beginning and 80
the close of