This catalog for an exhibit at Chicago's Oriental Institute Museum presents the newest research on the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods in a lavishly illustrated format. Essays on the rise of the state, contact with the Levant and Nubia, crafts, writing, iconography, and evidence from Abydos, Tell el-Farkha, Hierakonpolis, and the Delta, were contributed by leading scholars in the field. The catalog features 129 Predynastic and Early Dynastic objects, most from the Oriental Institute's collection, that illustrate the environmental setting, Predynastic and Early Dynastic culture, religion, and the royal burials at Abydos. This volume will be a standard reference and a staple for classroom use.