The Predynastic Period

Ancient Eygptian history is broken up into sections where the kings came from one family. We call these dynasties. We call the time before the first Pharaoh the Predynastic period. In this time, the country that would become Egypt was split up into a number of much smaller kingdoms. But just because they were smaller, it doesn't mean they didn't have big towns!

A photograph of a mud brick structure rising up out of the desert. Visible in the background is cultivated land with trees, but little of Hierakonpolis remains visible other than this ruin.

Hierakonpolis

Hierakonpolis is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Egypt. This is the site of an ancient city where the Predynastic ancient Egyptians lived and where they buried their dead.​ The photo above shows part of a large building made of mud bricks which has survived as ruins. There isn't much else left of the town.

But did they make mummies in Hierakonpolis? Look at the slides below, you can click on the arrows or swipe left and right to change slide.

Use left and right arrow to change slide in that direction whenever canvas is selected.
Slide 1

Early mummies

At first the ancient Egyptians used a very simple method of burial, burying their dead in pits dug into the sand. This picture is from an archaeological report, and shows someone who had been buried with a few pots and other things. 

A pit grave from an archaeological report, showing a skeleton curled on its left side with pots and other objects around them.
A picture of the Egyptian desert - nothing is visible here other than sand dunes

Natural mummies

Pit graves were dug in hot, dry sand. Sometimes this dried the body out, preserving it. These bodies, which have been found thousands of years later, are called natural mummies. We call them natural because they were not made intentionally, they were just preserved by chance!

Slide 1 of 4

Early mummies

At Hierakonpolis the body of a lady was found wrapped in linen bandages which had been stuck together with a type of glue called resin. This helped keep the shape of her body although the method itself wasn’t very successful at preserving her soft tissues. Inside she is mostly a skeleton. This was one of the first attempts to make a mummy.