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 Early Settlers As far back in time as archaeological evidence can take us we know that man has been living in the Nile Valley. Artifacts from the early Stone Age, particularly pebble tools, have been found from Sudan to Egypt. It is likely that settlement took place over thousands of years perhaps moving north from the Rift Valley of Eastern Africa, the so-called 'Cradle of Humankind', where it is widely believed that human life began. CLIMACTIC CHANGE From the end of the Neolithic Age, around 3,300 to 2,400 BC, the now-arid regions of Northwest Africa and the Sahara were wet enough to allow cattle rearing and agriculture. In this period people did not need to rely upon the Nile. But climate change meant that the Sahara became drier and many people moved themselves and their livestock eastwards to the Nile Valley, joining societies who were already exploiting the resources of the river. By about 3,000 years BC the fertile sediments left by the annual flooding of the Nile left a long strip of arable land supporting an estimated 1.8 million people. The key populations appear to have been around Aswan in southern Egypt, and the region just south of the Nile Delta, which is now the site of modern Cairo. Differing groups of people settled at various points along the valley and this pattern may have given rise to the territorial divisions or 'nomes' which formed the later political structure of Egypt. Although there may have been competition among the people of the Nile to secure land, it is believed that the early settlers would have lived a relatively prosperous life. "The population was very much smaller compared to today and therefore there was a lot of wealth in Egypt. Food was no problem and I think it was a very opulent kind of landscape. You had a lot of grapes, dates, figs, cucumbers, tomatoes, tamarisk trees鈥ll sorts of vegetation. There was a lot of fishing and fowling and we know they had crops like barley and wheat鈥nd also bee honey." Fayza Haikal, Professor of Egyptology, American University, Cairo.  Listen
to Fayza Haikal, Professor of Egyptology, American University, Cairo, describing
the exuberant flora and fauna of the ancient Nile Valley |
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