The Predynastic Period of Egypt (prior to 3200 BC) is the period that culminates in the rise of the Old Kingdom and the first of the thirty dynasties based on royal residences, by which Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptiaca. The structure of the nomes, into which Egypt was divided, predates the First Dynasty, and there are inscriptions of pre-dynastic kings such as Narmer. Early excavations of pre-dynastic sites were pursued in the 19th century at Naqada, Abydos, Coptos, and Hierakonpolis. While many authorities begin this prehistoric period with the Naqada culture, others place its beginnings in the Lower Paleolithic.

Late Lower Paleolithic

Anthropological and archaeological evidence both indicate a grain-grinding Neolithic culture farming along the Nile in the 10th millennium BC using the world's earliest known type of sickle blades.[citation needed] But another culture of hunters, fishers and gathering peoples using stone tools replaced them.

Late Neolithic

Evidence indicates human habitation in the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the Sudan border, before 8000 BC.

Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, eventually forming the Sahara (c. 2500 BC), and early tribes naturally migrated to the Nile river where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society.

There is evidence of pastoralism and cultivation of cereals in the East Sahara in the 7th millennium BC.

Domesticated animals had already been imported from Asia between 7500 BC and 4000 BC (see Sahara: History, Cattle period). Interestingly, the domestication of the pig in the Sahara and ancient Egypt has been cited as a likely primary contributor to the desertification of the Sahara (see Sahara Desert (ecoregion)).

The earliest known artwork of ships in ancient Egypt dates to 6000 BC

6th millennium BC

By 6000 BC predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and constructing large buildings.

Subsistence in organized and permanent settlements in ancient Egypt by the middle of the 6th millennium BC centered predominantly on cereal and animal agriculture: cattle, goats, pigs and sheep . Metal objects replaced prior ones of stone.Tanning animal skins, pottery and weaving are commonplace in this era also . There are indications of seasonal or only temporary occupation of the Al Fayyum in the 6th millennium BC, with food activities centering on fishing, hunting and food-gathering . Stone arrowheads, knives and scrapers are common .

Burial items in this era include pottery, jewelry, farming and hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit . The dead are buried facing due west

Baskets of exceedingly high quality date to circa 5000 BC .

5th millennium BC

Items dating to this era of the Al Fayyum (5200 BC-4000 BC) include: axes of basalt, dolerite and limestone ; a diorite mace head; dolerite vase; a wooden sickle  and sickle blades ; arrowheads ; stone palettes and grain rubbers; silos ; dishes, cups, bowls and pots ; as well as beads of amazonite (feldspar) .

The Badarian way of life centered mostly on agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry (see Badarian). Foreign artifacts indicate distant contacts as far away as Syria . Furniture, tableware, decorated pots and vases, combs and figurines all appear around this time . Social stratification has been inferred from the burying of more prosperous members of the community in a different part of the cemetery (see Badarian).

Around 4500 BC the Naqada culture begins, with geometric, human- and animal-shaped designs adorning pottery, both carved and painted . Shapes of vessels become specialized depending on function . Models of rectangular houses (included in grave goods) also appear in this era .

A finely woven linen fragment in the Al Fayyum dates to 4400 BC .

By 4000 BC we have evidence of pre-dynastic alchemists having invented the use of mortar (masonry) (see Alchemy in Ancient Egypt) via one of the oldest known of chemical reactions (see calcium oxide).

4th millennium BC

By 4000 BC human, animal, and other designs on pottery become more realistic . Tomb-building appears in the Gerzean culture, including underground rooms with furniture and amulets . Gerzean practices would later evolve into the Osiris cult of ancient Egypt . Symbols on Gerzean pottery resemble traditional hieroglyph writing .

By the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, ancient Egyptians in Maadi were importing numerous items of pottery from south Naqada and Canaan . The economy of Maadi seems to have centered on metallurgy and foreign trade . Many vessels made of black basalt also appear at this time . There is evidence of the use of wooden posts in Maadi, maybe for buildings and/or fences. Also found are fire places and pits .

The earliest known buildings of stone to appear in ancient Egypt date to this era in Maadi, including one subterranean building that was constructed by covering walls of stone with Nile mud, another building thats entrance seems to have been fashioned by carving the local bedrock, and other building designs which also reveal distant southern Canaanite contact .

Lapis lazuli was being traded from its only known source in the ancient world – Badakshan, in what is now northeastern Afghanistan – as far as Mesopotamia and Egypt by the second half of the 4th millennium BC. Between 1979 and 1985, charcoal samples found in the tombs of Nekhen, which were dated to the Naqada I and II periods, were identified as cedar from Lebanon.