We find it inhabited by at least one race, possibly of Libyan origin, which for the present we must term pre-historic.

Its burial-places are met with in various localities in Upper Egypt.

The members of the race were not acquainted with the use of metals, but they were expert artificers in stone and clay.

Stone was skilfully carved into vessels of different forms, and vases of clay were fashioned, with brightly polished surfaces.

Sometimes the vases were simply coloured red and black, or adorned with patterns and pictures in incised white lines; at other times, and more especially in the later tombs, they were artistically decorated with representations of men and animals, boats, and geometrical patterns in red upon a pale drab ground.
The pre-historic race or races had already reached a fair level of civilisation--neolithic in type though it may have been--when a new people appeared upon the scene, bringing with them the elements of a high culture and a knowledge of working in metals.