When the archaeology of Predynastic Egypt was last appraised in this journal, Savage (2001a, p. 101) expressed optimism that “a consensus appears to be developing that stresses the gradual development of complex society in Egypt.” The picture today is less clear, with new data and alternative theoretical frameworks challenging received wisdom over the pace, direction, and nature of complex social change. Rather than an inexorable march to the beat of the neo-evolutionary drum, primary state formation in Egypt can be seen as a more syncopated phenomenon, characterized by periods of political experimentation and shifting social boundaries. Notably, field projects in Sudan and the Egyptian Delta together with new dating techniques have set older narratives of development into broader frames of reference. In contrast to syntheses that have sought to measure abstract thresholds of complexity, this review of the period between c. 4500 BC and c. 3000 BC transcends analytical categories by adopting a practice-based examination of multiple dimensions of social inequality and by considering how the early state may have become a lived reality in Egypt around the end of the fourth millennium BC.

中文翻译：

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埃及王朝和国家形成

当最后一次对埃及王朝的考古学进行评估时，Savage（2001a，p。101）表示乐观，“似乎正在形成一种共识，强调埃及复杂社会的逐步发展。” 今天的情况还不太清楚，新数据和其他理论框架挑战了人们对复杂的社会变革的步伐，方向和性质的认识。埃及的原始国家形成可以看作是一种更加错综复杂的现象，其特征是经过政治试验和社会边界变化的时期，而不是像新进化论的鼓动那样势不可挡。值得注意的是，苏丹和埃及三角洲的实地项目以及新的测年技术使较旧的发展叙述成为更广泛的参考框架。与试图测量复杂度的抽象阈值的合成相反，本文回顾了c到c之间的时间段。公元前4500年和c。公元前3000年通过对社会不平等的多个维度进行基于实践的考察，并考虑了公元前四千年末埃及的早期状态如何成为现实，从而超越了分析类别。