It would appear that Gerzian culture was an amalgam of earlier (Naqada
II, Amratian) and intrusive elements coming from the Middle East.
Gerzian was immediately prior to the pre-Dynastic Hierakonopolis
chiefdoms who succeeded in unifying the country in Thinite Dynasty I.
By the time of the unification, the intrustive element had clearly
indigenised, but..... their leaders clearly saw themselves as an
"aristocracy" destinct from at least two other ethnic substrata (one
linked to the Sudan the other o the Libyans).
Gerry: This again is most fascinating. So Gerzian Culture predates
Hierakonpolis and was Semitic. Hierakonpolis succeeds in unifying Upper
and Lower Egypt into one unit and the Semitic element becomes
indiginized only to have the leaders declare themselves "aristocracy".
Now, at Hierakonpolis, who were the leaders? Were they gods or humans?
JC: So the Early Egyptian language was Egyptian, with a thin (and
temporary) Semitic superstructure. The Egyptians in historic times
claimed this "superstructure" came from Punt (usually equated with
Somalia, but until we have better evidence of Somalian archaeology, we
can only conclude it was somewhere in the vacinity of Southern Arabia
(hence the myrrh trees brought back by Hatshepsut) or the horn of
Africa (hence hippos and elephants shown in Deir el Bahri).
Gerry: Yes. The Early Egyptian language was Egyptian. And Egypt was
and is Egypt.
Thanks for the help.
Gerry
--
Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com