ORIGINS OF SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD 17 



Further search for palaeolithic remains in northern Africa and 

 correlation with those of western Europe seems highly- 

 desirable. 



Whatever the period of the beings who produced the 

 flints now found upon the plateau and within the lake 

 deposits, the implement record within the valley itself is 

 complete, beginning with the oldest river terraces. The 

 earliest known archaeological remains are comparatively 

 recent, appearing within the present valley floor, and are 

 estimated as belonging to a period about 15,000 b. c. 5 They 

 have been obtained by borings in the alluvium and consist 

 of fragments of pottery. Elsewhere, pottery is character- 

 istic of an early neolithic stage of development. Between 

 15,000 b. c. and 5000 b. c, the inhabitants of the Nile valley 

 advanced through a neolithic culture to a primitive civiliza- 

 tion. The earliest known burials are placed at approximate- 

 ly 4000 b. c. and show, in addition to pottery and flint im- 

 plements of remarkable perfection, hand-bored vessels of 

 stone, implements and ornaments of ivory, and occasional 

 articles of copper. Barley, millet, wheat, and flax were 

 under cultivation, as shown by the contents of the pottery 

 jars found in the graves. Some of the bodies are wrapped in 

 linen which exhibits considerable textile skill. Sheep, goats, 

 long-horned cattle, and donkeys are pictured as domesticated 

 animals. It is a fair presumption that the domestication of 

 the animal and plant life here represented consumed many 

 centuries. The development of pottery-making as early as 

 15,000 b. c. take us still further into the past. We see 

 stretching back of the dawning age of metal, as shown by the 

 burials (4000 b. a), a period of life on the alluvium, begin- 

 ning perhaps as early as 20,000 years before our era. Future 

 investigations will probably make the record complete, both 

 palaeontologically and archseologically, from the original 

 occupation of the valley by the flint workers of the plateau, 

 perhaps 200,000 years or more ago, to the earliest fixed date 



6 Breasted, J. H., loc. cit. 



