Kinship and the emergence of the state in Egypt

Having elucidated the important role of kinship in the articulation and organization of society, the author investigates whether kinship held a dominant position in the early stage of society in Egypt preceding the coming of the state. The organization in Predynastic cemeteries and the shape of the graves are indicators, since they suggest that the dead and living were sharing the same patterns of living. While kinship practice is dominant in the ‘inside' of communities, it cannot extend its network beyond the community and, if strong, would impede the appearance of that other form of organization, the state. It is argued that a rising demand for luxury goods and little flexibility caused conflictive ‘outside' links between communities in the pre-state Nile valley (the Naqada Period), which resulted in conquest wars ending with the advent of the unified state in Upper Egypt during the late Naqada Period. (OEB)