Early Egypt
The Raymond and Beverly Sackler GalleryRoom 64

Rapid advances in the technology and social organisation of Egypt during the fifth millennium BC produced a material culture of increasing sophistication.

Further innovations followed in about 3100 BC when the separate Predynastic peoples of upper and lower Egypt were united under a single ruler.

The resulting increase in wealth and strong central control led to dramatic achievements in architecture, writing and fine goods, culminating in the building of the Great Pyramids of Giza in around 2600 BC.

Objects on display illustrate the cultural, technological and political development of early civilisation in Egypt throughout this period.