(a): PREDYNASTIC EGYPT

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that successful states in the ancient world depended on the ability of elites to extract a surplus from farmers and other producers, and that the ability was greatest when the population was immobile.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the timing and onset of human disturbance in and around inland water ecosystems as revealed through sedimentary archives from around the world, and provide access to a wealth of information reflecting early human activities and their corresponding aquatic ecological shifts.

TL;DR: Finities among the 15 time-successive samples suggest that there may be a connection between Neolithic and subsequent predynastic Egyptians, and there is support for overall biological uniformity through the dynastic period, and this uniformity may continue into postdynastic times.

TL;DR: An absolute chronology for Early Egypt is produced by combining radiocarbon and archaeological evidence within a Bayesian paradigm and indicates that the process occurred more rapidly than previously thought.

TL;DR: In the past, cultural contacts have generally been demonstrated by typological similarities of artifacts, but unfortunately many typological comparisons are open to discussion, and it can be exceedingly difficult to be certain of direct contact by this means alone as mentioned in this paper.