A history of ancient Egypt: from the first farmers to the Great Pyramid

pt. 1. Making culture (5000-3000 BC). Beside the Pale Lake: living in the Faiyum, c. 5000-4000 BC : The Nile year ; Measured lives

Sickle sheen: most ancient Egypt and the Neolithic : 'Egyptianness'

Merimda and el-Omari: Lower Egypt, 4800-4300 BC : The cemeteries of el-Omari ; The Merimda head ; The big mistake ; A Neolithic Revolution? ; The character of change

The Badarians: Middle Egypt, 4400-4000 BC : Badarian pottery ; Badarian landscapes ; Pots and history ; The living people ; The burial of the dead

Black-topped, white-lined: life in Upper Egypt, 4000-3500 BC : The graphic image ; Settling and herding ; Naqada, Abydos and Hierakonpolis

A cloud across the moon: death in Upper Egypt, 4000-3200 BC : The oval court ; Great tombs

Boats and donkeys: copper, trade, and influence within the Lower Nile Valley, 3500-3000 BC : Boats and pots ; Maadi-Buto: import-export

Rolling along: of men and monsters, 3500-3000 BC : New space ; New forms

pt. 2. Making Pharaoh (3200-3000 BC). Scorpion and hawk, 3200-3000 BC : The wine-rich tomb

The coming of the king: the origins of hieroglyphs, c. 3000 BC : Interpretations ; On the origins of hieroglyphics

Narmer's palette: the qualities of kings, c. 3000 BC : Purposes and meanings

The hawk upon the wall: history, land and Naqadan resettlement, 3500-3000 BC : Migrations

Taking wing: Naqadan emigration, 3500-3000 BC : Into the Delta ; Into the Levant ; Into Nubia

Taking stock: ordering and accounting within the early state : Counting and accounting ; The order of the state

The shadows of birds: rite and sacrifice within the early state : Tithe and ceremonial ; Sacred and profane

pt. 3. Making a kingdom (3000-2650 BC). The Serekh tomb: the story of the Naqada Mastaba, c. 3000 BC : Uruk in Egypt

A line of kings: the first dynasty royal tombs, 3000-2825 BC : Reconstructing ancient Abydos ; Histories and kings ; Aigyptiaka: Manetho and the dynasties

The lost dynasty: fake histories, real lives: dynasty two, 2825-2675 BC : Let me call you sweetheart? ; From anthroponomy to history ; Aswan 1

2

3

The wheeling hawk: refining Egypt: dynasties one, two and three : trading clichés ; The material world ; Before and after

The realms of pharaoh: dynasties one and three : The politics of sacrifice ; King Djet's comb ; Tithe and sacrifice

Two gentlemen of Saqqara: Merka and Hesi-re: dynasties one and three : Merka ; Mariette and Hesi-re ; Order and the court ; Constancy and change ; Ars brevis

pt. 4. Step pyramid (2675-2650 BC). Djoser's kingdom : Djoser and history ; The switch to stone ; To make a pyramid ; Antiquarian

Heb Sediana: visions of the pyramid : The Egyptian Leonardo ; Forms and functions

Deus absconditus: the hidden god : The Demesne of the shrine

In consequence: the pyramid's effect

pt. 5. Building ancient Egypt (2650-2550 BC). A diadem of pyramids, 2650-2625 BC : In the provinces

Court and country: Metjen and the early reign of Sneferu, 2625-2600 BC : The meanings of words

High society: Sneferu at Maidum, 2625-2600 BC : Country life ; Life and death at Maidum ; The state in life and death ; Offering at the pyramid ; Annals

A building passion: Sneferu at Dahshur, 2600-2575 BC : A history in stone ; Building the machine ; Running the machine

Making the gods: deity at Dahshur, 2600-2575 BC : In the image of the king ; The place of kings

The perfect pyramid: Khufu and Giza, 2575-2550 BC : Imagining the pyramid ; The state machine ; After the pyramid ; The tomb of Khufu's mother

Chronology.