The discovery of the culture of el-Gerza , several kilometres from Meidum , provided the evidence for a third
Predynastic
phase and a second stage of the
Naqada
Period: the Gerzean c . 4000-3300 BC . The differences between the Amratian and Gerzean groups are so marked that it is possible to see in them the increasing influence of the northern peoples on those in the south , which was eventually to result in the appearance of a third , mixed culture: the
Naqada
ill or Late Predynastic period .
This culture flourished from about 3500 to 3150 BC . , a period of some 300 years immediately before the unification of Egypt .
The major difference between the Amratian and the Gerzean lay in their ceramic production . Gerzean pottery developed particularly in terms of decoration , with the use of stylized motifs including geometrical representations of flora• and more naturalistic depictions of fauna and other aspects of their culture . Among the birds and animals represented are ostriches , ibexes and deer . On the other hand , the decoration of these ceramics included human figures and boats carrying emblems that are clearly divine , that later were the standards that came to symbolize the different provinces of Egypt .
These scenes seem to have
been formally related to early pictograms , but were they historical documents or purely emblematic in function? Unfortunately , the material is primarily votive and mostly from funerary contexts . It is significant that the pottery decoration is complemented by another type of representation dating back to the
Badarian
period: the carved schist palettes used to grind eye-paint , which were also frequently buried with the deceased; these palettes would soon acquire value as historical documents .
The Gerzean culture reached a stage of development that was already well-advanced , especially in its funerary and religious aspects . Gerzean tombs had become virtual replicas of earthly dwellings; sometimes they comprised several furnished rooms . There were also amulets , figurines and ceremonial objects decorated with scenes of animals (lions , bulls , cattle , and falcons) which are known to have represented various gods from a very early period of Egyptian history .
Archaeological evidence shows that the change from prehistory to history was the result of a slow process of evolution and not a brutal revolution involving the appearance of new technology and new social structures .
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