Robert J. Wenke is a scholar of ancient Egyptian civilization and taught at the University of Washington before he retired. A former director of the American Research Center in Egypt, he has conducted fieldwork throughout the world and is the author of Patterns in Prehistory, now in its fifth edition.

• 1. The significance and interpretation of Ancient Egyptian civilization; 2. Introduction to the Ancient Egyptians and their country; 3. Introduction to the evidence and interpretation of Egyptian antiquity; 4. The neolithic and early predynastic origins of pharaonic civilization; 5. Lords of the two lands - the origins of the first pharaonic states; 6. The pharaonic state in early maturity; 7. Egypt and general analyses of state origins.

'This is a book intended for use in undergraduate and graduate courses on early civilisations and states, but as it is written in an accessible style, there is much here to interest and inform anyone interested in the development of ancient Egypt.' Ancient Egypt