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The People of the Cobra Province in Egypt - A Local History, 4500 to 1500 BC (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,467
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The People of the Cobra Province in Egypt - A Local History, 4500 to 1500 BC (Hardcover)
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The book delivers a history from below for the first half of
Egyptian history covering the earliest settlements, state formation
and the pyramid age. The focus is on the Wadjet province, about 350
km south of modern Cairo in Upper Egypt. Here archaeological
records provide an especially rich dataset for the material culture
of farmers. Histories of Ancient Egypt have focussed heavily on the
kings, monuments and inscriptions, while the working population is
hardly mentioned. The book investigates the life of people far from
the centres of power. One main aim of the book is the interaction
between farmers and the ruling classes at the centres of power and
locally. How did decisions at the royal centre affect the life of
ordinary people? The Introduction offers a critical survey of
Egyptologists and their attitudes towards the working class. The
social and cultural background of these researchers is analysed to
assess how heavily they are influenced by time and their political
and cultural background. The First chapter then describes the
location and gives a history of previous research and excavations.
The archaeological sites and the recorded ancient place names of
the province are presented to provide a geographical framework for
the book. The following chapters are arranged in chronological
order, mainly according to the archaeological phases visible in the
province. It appears that in phases of a weak central government,
people in the provinces were much better off, while in phases of a
strong central government burials of poorer people are almost
absent. The reasons for this are discussed. A substantial part of
the book comprises descriptions of single burials and the material
culture in the province. The archaeology of the poorer people is
the main focus. Burial customs and questions of production are
discussed. For a fuller picture, evidence from other parts of Egypt
is also taken into account. Thus settlement sites in other regions
are presented to provide contemporary evidence for living
conditions in particular periods. As the book will focus on the
lower classes, the Tributary Mode of Production will be used as the
main theoretical framework. The Tributary Mode of Production
(previously known as the Asiatic Mode of Production) is a term that
goes back to Karl Marx, but was mainly used in the 20th century to
describe ancient societies whose economies were not based on
slaves. A constant question will be the status of the working
population. Were they slaves, serfs or free citizens? It will be
argued that they were most often in a dependent position comparable
to that of serfs, while there is little evidence for slavery. The
numerous burials presented in the volume are important for
highlighting the diversity of burials in the different periods.
Many will be placed in special subchapters. Readers can skip these
chapters when they prefer to concentrate on the main text.
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