Predynastic Egyptian Architecture for Kids - what kind of buildings did people build in Egypt before the pyramids?

Predynastic Architecture

In the earliest days of the kingdom of Egypt, about 4000-3500 BC, when Egypt was still divided into the two countries of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, most people already lived in houses built out of mud-brick, as they would throughout Egyptian history, and as many people in Egypt still do today.

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This was so long ago that Egyptian architects couldn't really build anything much more complicated than a house yet. The only other thing they built (that we know about) was tombs called mastabas. A mastaba was a small, low stone building to put a dead person in. So it was like a house for the dead.

To find out more about Egyptian architecture, check out these books from Amazon.com or at your library:

pyramidpyramidegypt art

Pyramid, by David Macaulay (1982). His architectural drawings are great, and his explanations are simple and clear. For kids.

Eyewitness: Pyramid, by James Putnam (2000). For kids. Good photographs.

The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt (Yale University Press Pelican History of Art), by William Stevenson Smith and William Kelly Simpson (revised edition 1999). Standard college textbook.



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