of tombs containing similar groups of artifacts. Based on the principle that pottery and other objects change in style and popularity over time, sequence dating permitted a chronological order to be placed on the (at that time undatable) Predynastic cultural remains. Petrie arbitrarily assigned sequence “dates” to this relative ordering of Predynastic artifacts. Petrie anchored the late end of his Predynastic sequence by recognizing a shift toward mass-produced, less decorated pottery in the late Predynastic period. Following Petrie’s Predynastic sequence dating, terms to describe different phases of southern Egyptian Predynastic material culture were coined based on “type-sites” that typified the cultural remains of a given phase of the Predynastic. The terms Amratian (adapted from site of el-Amra), Gerzean (based on site of Gerza); and Semainean (based on site of el-Semaina) came into use.

Although these terms are still employed today, archaeologists working on the Predynastic material use a more detailed chronological sequence thatwas developed by Werner Kaiser based on detailed analysis of the extensive Predynastic cemetery located at Nagada in southern Egypt. Kaiser defined the Nagada I (dating ca. 4000–3600 b.c.), Nagada II (ca. 3600–3250 b.c.) and Nagada III (ca. 3250–3050 b.c.) periods, with chronological subphases. Physical dating techniques, principally radiocarbon dating, have served to anchor this Predynastic cultural sequence in absolute years before the present. The Nagada culture has a distinctive assemblage of artifacts. Pottery includes red-ochre polished wares, often with a black topped rim and upper body created by inverting the vessels in the embers during the firing process. Pottery with painted figural and geometric decoration is important in the cemeteries of the Nagada culture. Mud-stone palettes are a standard part of the Nagada culture repertoire. These palettes, usually trapezoidal, or occasionally zoomorphic, in form, were used as tools for grinding cosmetics. Small stone maceheads, at first disc-shaped and then pear-shaped, are a typical weapon type included in burials through the Nagada I and Nagada II. Ivory combs and pins, shell bracelets and a range of figurines are frequent in Nagada culture burials.

One of the major issues in the study of Predynastic Egypt has been the evidence for the development of social stratification. The division of society into distinct social levels with differential access to wealth, resources, and power is one of the hallmarks of complex society throughout the world. The well-preserved Predynastic cemeteries of southern Egypt have provided the principal evidence on this process of social stratification. Unequal control of power and resources is detectable through the appearance of burials that are wealthier, larger, and/or more elaborate than those of contemporaries. For the Badarian culture stratification appears to be minimal, although incipient stratification has been argued based on some differentiation in tomb wealth. Social stratification becomes a more visible feature of Predynastic cemeteries during the later Nagada I period (Amratian culture). This trend toward a more hierarchically organized society reaches a crescendo during the Nagada II (Gerzean culture) and Nagada III period.

The transition from the Nagada II to Nagada III periods (dating ca. 3250 b.c.) is noted for the appearance of a series of tombs at certain sites in southern Egypt that are indicative of the emergence of a super-elite, i.e., individuals occupying positions of wealth and authority far beyond contemporary members of their community. Three sites in southern Egypt—Nagada, Hierakonpolis, and Abydos—have provided indications of this development. At Hierakonpolis, the excavation in 1899 of the so-called Painted-Tomb (Tomb 100) revealed a decorated tomb with wall scenes indicating activities of a chief or proto-king. The decoration in the Painted Tomb at Hierakonpolis includes depictions of a figure wielding a mace and smiting enemies, a type of pose for the king that becomes a standard element of royal iconography at the very end of the Predynastic period. The Nagada Painted Tomb appears to be associated with a powerful chief or proto-king. A similar development is attested in Cemetery T at Nagada.

The best-documented site that displays the evolution of social complexity in the late Predynastic period is the early cemetery of Abydos (known as Umm el-Gaab). Work by E. Amélineau followed by Petrie at Abydos at the turn of