Political systems and archaeological data in Egypt: 2600–1780 B.C.

Archaeological and textual data, which are both biased and fragmentary, are essentially complementary in any effort to reconstruct the political systems prevailing in Egypt between 2600 and 1780 B.C. An examination of certain aspects of the archaeological data suggests that the political significance of royal burial complexes is rather ambiguous, but that of the cemeteries of the capital and the provinces is more explicit, once the social and chronological complexity of these sites is understood. Some aspects of the provincial data also suggest that the collapse of the comparatively highly‐centralized system of the Old Kingdom, the effects of which were still visible after 170 years of formal reunification, was due to sustained famine created by natural causes rather than a failure in the political system. Finally, any effort to reconstruct Egyptian foreign policy during this period must refer to the archaeological data since the relevant textual sources are heavily biased.