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Egyptian civilization has a long history. The artistic genius engendered by the Egyptian craftsmen, the superb condition of many burial chambers, and the dry climate have made it possible to reconstruct a history of agricultural technology. Paleolithic-Neolithic artifacts (flint hand axes, arrowheads, hammers) along the Nile date back 12,000 years. A continuous 6,000-year record exists with a unique and productive agriculture at its base (Asimov, 1967; Darby et al., 1976; Janick, 2002; Singer, Holmyard, & Hall, 1954). From 4000 to 3000 BCE the people of the Nile valley formed a government, constructed the first pyramids, and established a highly advanced agricultural technology. The ancient names for Egypt underscore the relation between the land, the people, and its agriculture (Khattab, 2000). These include Ta-meri, the land cultivated by the hoe; Ta Akht, the land of flood and fertile soil; Kmt, the black soil; Tamhi, the land of the flax plant; Nht, the land of the sycomore fig...

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Correspondence to Jules Janick .

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Janick, J. (2016). Origins of Agriculture in Egypt. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10237

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