Includes bibliographical references (p. 439-471) and index.

Introduction : chronologies and cultural change in Egypt / Ian Shaw -- Prehistory : from the Palaeolithic to the Badarian culture (c. 700,000-4000 BC / Stan Hendrickx and Pierre Vermeersch -- The Naqada period (c. 4000-3200 BC) / Béatrix Midant-Reynes -- The emergence of the Egyptian state (c. 3200-2686 BC) / Kathryn A. Bard -- The Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2125 BC) / Jaromir Malek -- The First Intermediate period (c. 2160-2055 BC) / Stephan Seidlmayer -- The Middle Kingdom renaissance (c. 2055-1650 BC) / Gae Callender -- The Second Intermediate period (c. 1650-1550 BC) / Janine Bourriau -- The 18th dynasty before the Amarna period (c. 1550-1352 BC) / Betsy M. Bryan -- The Amarna period and the Later New Kingdom (c. 1352-1069 BC) / Jacobus Van Dijk -- Egypt and the outside world / Ian Shaw -- The Third Intermediate period (1069-664 BC) / John Taylor -- The Late period (664-332 BC) / Alan B. Lloyd -- The Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC) / Alan B. Lloyd -- The Roman period (30 BC-AD 395) / David Peacock.