s involved, amongst other things showing the
exact point at which the "prehistoric" series merges into the Ist
Dynasty, for, as might be surmised, in many cases the prehistoric
cemeteries continued in use under the earliest dynasties. The finest
pottery, often painted but all hand-made without the wheel, belongs to
the prehistoric period; so also do the finest flint implements, which,
in the delicacy and exactitude of their form and flaking, surpass all
that is known from other countries. Metal seems to be entirely absent
from the earliest type of graves, but immediately thereafter copper
begins to appear (bronze is hardly to be found before the XIIth
Dynasty). The paintings on the vases show boats driven by oars and sails
rudely figured, and the boats bear emblematic standards or ensigns. The
cemeteries are found throughout Upper and Middle Egypt, but as yet have
not been met with in the Delta or on its borders. This might be
accounted for by the inhabitants of Lower Egypt having practised a
different mode of disposing of the dead, or by their cemeteries being
differently placed.

Tradition, mythology and later customs make it possible to recover a
scrap of the political history of that far-off time. Menes, the founder
of the Ist Dynasty, united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. In
the prehistoric period, therefore, these two realms were separate. The
capital of Upper Egypt was Nekheb, now represented by the ruins of El
Kab, with the royal residence across the river at Nekhen
(Hieraconpolis); that of Lower Egypt was at Buto (Puto or Dep) in the
marshes, with the royal residence in the quarter called Pe. Nekhebi,
goddess of El Kab, represented the Upper or Southern Kingdom, which was
also under the tutelage of the god Seth, the goddess Buto and the god
Horus similarly presiding over the Lower Kingdom. The royal god in the
palace of each was a hawk or Horus. The spirits of the deceased kings
were honoured respectively as the jackal-headed spirits of Nekhen and
the hawk-headed spirits of Pe. As we hear also of the "spirits of On" it
is probable that Heliopolis was at one time capital of a kingdom. In
after days the prehistoric kings were known as "Worshippers of Horus"
and in Manetho's list they are the [Greek: nekues] "Dead," and [Greek:
heroes] "Heroes," being looked upon as intermediate between the divine
dynasties and those of human kings. It is impossible to estimate the
duration of the period represented by