Summer 2008 Midterm

ANTH 335: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION Fall 2008
MIDTERM EXAM
Questions 1 through 7 can be answered in a few words, or one or two short sentences
1. What is the archaeological significance of Nabta Playa? (5 pts / 60)
2. What is the significance of Jebel Sahaba? (5 pts / 60)
3. Why was the practice of co-regency introduced during the Middle Kingdom? (5 pts / 60)
4. What evidence exist to support the fact that the Hyksos may not have invaded the Delta, but
may have in fact been present in large numbers during the Old Kingdom? (5 pts / 60)
5. Name two reasons why the earlier periods in Egyptian prehistory are not well documented
archaeologically. (5 pts / 60)
6. Describe the “Democratization of the Afterlife” and name one archaeological correlate. (6
pts/60)
7. Name two specific artifacts that have been used as evidence that the initial unification of Egypt
was the result of violent conquest. (4 pts/60)
Questions 8 through 10 should be answered in a few sentences, up to about half a page
8. Name three archaeological sites in Upper (including Nubia) and three in Lower Egypt. For
each, specify if it is primarily known for being a cemetery, a settlement, or a religious center,
and name one period in which it was occupied. (9 pts / 60)
9. We witness in Egyptian prehistory and history efforts to intensify and extensify subsitence
practices through technological change or the inclusion of new food resources in the diet. Name
and briefly describe 4 of these developments between the Mid-Palaeolithic and the Early
Dynastic Period that are attested by archaeology. (8 pts / 60)
10. Describe 4 changes that characterize the Amarna period relative to earlier and later periods. (8
pts/ 60)
BONUS QUESTION: What famous British heavy metal band from the 1980's had an album cover
design loosely based on the temple at Abu Simbel? (1 pt). You also get an extra point for naming the
album.

ANTH 335: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION
MID-TERM STUDY GUIDE
For the midterm (oct 21st), you should be familiar with, and be comfortable to discuss the items listed
below. All of them have been addressed in lectures or readings, and generally in both, i.e. nothing is
too obscure. Good luck.
Concepts
Complexity and Civilization
Components of social power
Distinction between adaptationist and coercive models
for the development of civilization
Main wild and domesticated resources
Middle to Final Paleolithic developments
Badarian culture
Naqada culture (I, II, III)
Maadian culture (Buto-Ma'adi)
Dynasty 0
Main cultural developments and characetristics for
main periods
Pyramid / coffin texts
Conditions leading to Old Kingdom collapse
Democratization of the Afterlife
Co-regency
Problems with pharaonic chronology
Egypt's main imports from its neighbors (be able to
name a few for Nubia, the Levant – including the
Sinai - and the eastern desert).
serekh
ka, ba
and
akh
Demotic and coptic scripts
People and Gods
Manetho
Flinders Petrie
Howard Carter
Tutankhamon
Imhotep
Djoser
Unas
Osiris, Isis, Horus and Seth
Intef II
Pepy II
Mentuhotep I
Sobekneferu
Ahmose
Hatshepsut
Akhenaten
Nefertiti
Sneferu
Ptolemy I
Places, objects, and sites
Palermo Stone
Turin Canon
Rosetta Stone
White Nile, Blue Nile
Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt
Kemet, Deshret
Akhet, Peret, Shemu
Sodmein Cave
Jebel Sahaba
Nabta Playa
Merimde
Narmer Palette
Royal cemetery at Abydos
ushabtis
mastabas
Abusir
Saff-tombs
Lahun (or Kahun)
Hyksos
Kingdom of Kush
Avaris (Tell el Dab'a)
Amarna (Tell el Amarna)
Karnak
Valley of the Kings
Deir el-Medina
Amarna Letters
Abu Simbel
Tomb U-J, Abydos
Saqqara
Beni-Hasan
Kerma
Tanis
Napata
Philae
Meroe
Memphis
Buhen