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The Ancient Egyptian State: The Origins of Egyptian Culture (c. 8000-2000 BC) (Case Studies in Early Societies), by Robert J. Wenke
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This book focuses on the development of Egypt in its formative phase, from ca. 5200 BC, when Egyptians first began farming wheat and barley, until 2160 BC, as Egypt's central government weakened and appears to have fallen into disorder. During these millennia, which coincide with the Predynastic, Early Dynastic, and Old Kingdom periods, Egyptian civilization became increasingly complex, and many of its greatest pyramids and other monuments were built. Robert Wenke examines this cycle of ancient Egypt's development by analyzing Egyptological, anthropological, and other forms of evidence, which are set into the larger context of early civilizations that developed in various areas of the world. Written in an accessible style, with many anecdotes, quotations, and personal reflections, this book is intended for use in undergraduate and graduate courses on early civilizations and states.
- Sales Rank: #724928 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Cambridge University Press
- Published on: 2009-04-27
- Released on: 2009-06-25
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.98" h x 1.02" w x 5.98" l, 1.55 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 414 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
'This is a book intended for use in undergraduate and graduate courses on early civilisations and states, but as it is written in an accessible style, there is much here to interest and inform anyone interested in the development of ancient Egypt.' Ancient Egypt
About the Author
Robert J. Wenke is a scholar of ancient Egyptian civilization and taught at the University of Washington before he retired. A former director of the American Research Center in Egypt, he has conducted fieldwork throughout the world and is the author of Patterns in Prehistory, now in its fifth edition.
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Book - Recommend To All
By Isaphiah
I REALLY enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. This book is very well-written, and I liked the almost conversational tone taken by the author. The text provides a lot of relevant and recent hard data about the Egyptian past, but these sections of the text are nicely broken up with "boxes," which focus on small interesting topics (including the snakes of Egypt, the experience of living in Egyptian rural communities, Herodotus, etc.). Although the introduction states the book is intended for students in courses such as undergrad or grad comparative civilizations, it is very accessible to the general reader. Throughout the book, Wenke reviews the many attempts to develop a general theory of history and he provides many examples of how such attempts to formulate such a theory have failed. He also describes contemporary attempts to recast archaeology into a science or some other form of general understanding.
The strength of the book is that it integrates a highly detailed review of Egypt's archaeological record during a critical period of cultural change, and yet at the same time it integrates this information with current anthropological theory. Wenke also includes beautifully written essays that help one appreciate the beauty of Egypt's monuments, writing system, and the ancient Egyptians' philosophy, i.e. how they made sense of their world. The sections on how archaeological research is done in the field are very instructive and rarely seen in most introductory books on ancient Egypt.
25 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Ok introduction to dynastic Egypt
By Mohe
I'm not exactly clear on what the purpose of this book is. What exactly is its intended audience, as a book on pre-dynastic and Old Kingdom Egypt it is pretty thin, on state formation it is a complete bust and it discusses lots of theory but in a very superficial and unenlightening way. If one is interested in Ancient Egyptian society there are far better books, if one is looking for a book on the origin of state level societies it offers amazingly little, and if one is familiar with Egyptology and looking for an intro to modern archaeological theory, this is a bad place to start. My only guess is that it might make for a good book for an intro archaeology course, because unlike most such books in covers a subject most students are interested in.
My background is in Archaeology of the Americas and I read this because I was hoping to learn something about State formation in Egypt, but having read a couple of general books on the topic, and the brilliant, if somewhat dated Egypt Before the Pharaohs: The Prehistoric Foundation of Egyptian Civilization, almost none of the information was new to me except for details of the author's work in the Faiyum.
The best parts of the book are the authors little digressions about life as an Egyptologist, but this is supposedly a scholarly book and not a journalistic one and they are not particularly informative, though admittedly they are written with considerable charm. The whole tone is very conversational and Wenke seems to be an engaging teacher, but it is pretty thin gruel. Several times I thought, so this is the Bruce Trigger lite version of early Egyptian history, since Wenke spends a lot of time just repeating things from Trigger.
The title would suggest it would focus on the formation of the dynastic state, and its time frame extends into the Pyramid building Old Kingdom, but except in the last couple of pages it has very little to say on this. The subtitle speaks of the origin of Egyptian culture, and while this is discussed at some length, very little in the way of specifics are discussed. Far less in fact than many a scholarly general history of Ancient Egypt would. It is part of a series on the archaeology of ancient societies, but most of the archaeology is described in such broad strokes that it is not very coherent. A lot of time is spent discussing theory as well but with no depth and in a very glancing way.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
aesthetic analyses
By Ian K. Hughes
Robert J. Wenke's "The Ancient Egyptian State" is quite remarkable; a book that, based on the details of its publication (part of the Cambridge series "Case Studies in Early Societies" ) and formidable designation (subtitled "Origins of Egyptian Culture c. 8000-2000 BC") would seem to promise very little other than the usual dry-as-desert academic prose through which a reader is fated to sift. And make no mistake, such "sifting" is necessary when going over the many tomes which may, purely in terms of subject matter, constitute excellent scholarship but that are entirely void of aesthetic qualities. Amazingly enough, Wenke (a retired Professor of Anthropology) has produced a work which fuses scholarly rigor and stylistic charm, taking an approach encapsulated in the preface where he writes:
"On the one hand, the reader is asked to use the book to analyze the origins of the Egyptian state and civilization. To do this one must use the analytical methods of anthropology, history, ecology, Egyptology, and other disciplines to try to understand the dynamics of a remarkable process of cultural evolution that occurred in Egypt...At the same time, the reader is invited to use the book simply to experience and enjoy early Egyptian civilization as a unique and fascinating culture...the study of Egypt in this sense needs no justification in terms of an analytical science of history."
Formerly director of the American Research Center in Egypt and veteran of archeological fieldwork throughout the world, Wenke has organized the seven chapters of the book in what I conceive to be four sections;
the first a kind of aesthetic prologue ( Chapter 1- "Significance and Character of Ancient Egyptian Civilization" );
the second comprised of extended "introductions" ( Chapters 2 & 3 ) regarding the evidence and interpretation of Egyptian antiquity;
the third section ( Chapters 4, 5 & 6 ) a chronological rendering of the Neolithic, Predynastic and Dynastic Periods ( down to end of Old Kingdom c.2100 BC ); and
the fourth a brief, epistemologically focused epilogue ( Chapter 7 ) which delves into the various contending scientific and theoretical approaches modern scholars have formulated in their analyses of Egypt and other ancient civilizations.
From the start, a great number of different areas are touched upon-
Egypt's physical environment (geology, climate, natural history, flora/fauna);
"Cultural geography" (demographic factors, agricultural cycles, settlement patterns, relations with neighbors, language, religion, political organization);
Historical background of the "re-discovery" of Egypt in the modern era (19th Century AD) and subsequent endeavors (sublime to ridiculous) in the "Wild Wild East" period of early Egyptology ( includes a nice tribute to the pioneering Flinders Petrie );
Excellent and highly detailed information on modern archeological methods and practices (Wenke gives a personal account of fieldwork at Delta site of Kom el-Hisn) and the stark realities which such labor-intensive work entails (along with alternately amusing and horrifying anecdotes about daily life in camp);
Research projects and how they are conducted, from the beginning stages (funding and proposals, governmental requirements) to the methodology involved. As an example, Wenke describes (again, in quite detailed fashion) a project in which his team attempted to date the Old Kingdom monuments via radiocarbon analyses (this section includes a nice candid photo taken mid-way up Khufu's "Great" Pyramid).
As regards the chronologically based historical section ( Chapters 4,5,6 ), it should be noted that the author does not (as is all too common in general surveys) give short shrift to the Neolithic or Predynastic periods- in fact, the Narmer Palette isn't even covered until page 180 ( exactly halfway through the book ). The point is, Wenke is thorough, even in a book which he readily admits is "neither a comprehensive anthropological analysis nor a detailed Egyptological description of the early Egyptian state".
Which brings to mind another unique (and vitally important) aspect of this book; for all his technical thoroughness, in terms of style Wenke takes what might be termed a humanistic approach, sprinkling the text with literary quotations (mostly poetry, in the form of epigraphs) and dryly humorous asides; effective juxtapositional relief to topics which, if not counterbalanced, tend to weigh (in their numbing granularity) heavily on the reader.
Finally, a mention should be made of the numerous fascinating maps, illustrations, graphs, figures and tables; some are originals with the others taken from various works cited in a generously extensive bibliography. Some of Wenke's information comes from personal correspondence with renowned (and somewhat infamous) experts such as Donald Redford and Zahi Hawass and from (as yet) unpublished work. In any event, a serious student could take several years digesting these works, an interested layman, decades. As an aside, it should be noted that while Wenke cites many authors throughout the course of his book, there are a few names which keep coming to the forefront, in particular Bruce Trigger ("Understanding Early Civilizations") and Barry Kemp ( "Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization" ).
To conclude: Robert Wenke has produced an outstanding and unique book, having in addition to the virtues mentioned above, the honesty to admit where evidence is lacking and a willingness to discuss various anthropological and archeological theories and methods in a good-natured, non-combative manner. In sum, an approach both humble and informative, appealing to our higher sense of curiosity and wonder:
"...We need not consider grand questions about the meaning of the past and the `science' of history in order to benefit from the contemplation of Egypt's wonders. Nor do we have to choose between analyses of the Egyptian past and an aesthetic appreciation of that past; these are complementary perspectives. This book allots more space to analyses of the socioeconomic dynamics of the Egyptian past than to appreciation of it, but both are necessary for a comprehensive understanding of this culture."
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