New research sets timeline for first pharaohs

Egypt was transformed from a land of disparate farmers into a state ruled by a pharaoh in about 3100 BC, UK researchers have claimed, setting a new timeline for the ancient kingdom's origin.
The research, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, has said that Egypt's transformation to a pharaoh-ruled state was more rapid than previously thought.
Using radiocarbon dating and computer models, they believe the civilisation's first ruler, King Aha, came to power in about 3100 BC.
"The formation of Egypt was unique in the ancient world. It was a territorial state; a state from which the moment it formed had established borders over a territory in much the same way we think of nations today," Lead researcher Dr Michael Dee was quoted as saying by BBC.

"Trying to understand what happened in human history to lead people to establish this sort of polity we felt was a gap in understanding that needed to be filled," Dee, from the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at the University of Oxford, said.
Until now, the chronology of the earliest days of Egypt has been based on rough estimates.

With no written records from this very early period, a timeline has been based on the evolving styles of ceramics unearthed from human burial sites.
Now though, scientists have used radiocarbon dating of excavated hair, bones and plants, with established archaeological evidence and computer models to pinpoint when the ancient state came into existence.

Previous records suggested the pre-Dynastic period, a time when early groups began to settle along the Nile and farm the land, began in 4000 BC. But the new analysis revealed this process started later, between 3700 or 3600BC.
The Palermo Stone is inscribed with the names of early Egyptian kings
The team found that just a few hundred years later, by about 3100 BC, society had transformed to one ruled by a king.
"The time period is shorter than was previously thought, about 300 or 400 years shorter. Egypt was a state that emerged quickly, over that time one has immense social change," Dee said.

"This is interesting when one compares it with other places. In Mesopotamia, for example, you have agriculture for several thousand years before you have anything like a state," he was quoted as saying.
Archaeologists believe Egypt's first king, Aha, came to power after another prominent leader, Narmer, unified the land.