Fishing in Early Egypt
The easy availability of fish called Clarias,or Nile catfish,helped foster early human settlements in areas of modern-day Egypt.The Mediterranean Sea’s level 16,000 years ago was far below modern levels.The mouth of the river that would later be called the Nile lay at least 50 kilometers offshore from where it is today.The river passed across a gently undulating near desert dissected by numerous small channels.Thanks to the steeper slope,it flowed much faster than it does today,bringing down more gravel than silt (finer particles carried by water).Far upstream,wadis-channels that were dry except during the rainy season-opened into the river.Small groups of foragers visited some sites to feed on the catfish that abounded in the shallows created by the annual Nile inundations (floods).The catfish harvest offered a temporary feast, but its real importance lay in the possibility of drying the catch, providing food for the lean months when other foods were scarce and elusive.Some groups used fire to smoke their catches.A 12,000-year-old site at Makhadma in Upper Egypt has yielded thick garbage heaps with fish bones and abundant charcoal,including what were probably smoking pits.
As sea levels rose and the Nile slowed,the inundations brought heavy silt loads that built up a large delta (landform)at its mouth. Water also overflowed into the dry Faiyum Depression,eight kilometers southwest of Cairo,forming fish-rich Lake Moeris.Its dunes,marshes,and reed beds made the depression a magnet for human settlement by at least 11,000 years ago.Scatters of 9,000-year-old fish bones from camps along the north shore of the then-extensive lake have yielded numerous catfish bones.The lake also supported a diverse population of other shallow-water species, most of which were taken from the receding floodwaters at spawning (egg laying)season.
The Nile River delta,which would become the largest grain source for Egypt’s rulers,was also a bountiful fishery.Here,the floodplain extended to the horizon,a maze of scrubland,swamps, reed-choked ponds,and narrow,shallow channels that changed with each flood.This was the ancient Egyptians’Ta-Mehu (land of papyrus),named for Cyperus papyrus,a wetland plant that yielded the thin,paperlike sheets used by scribes.Like the Faiyum,the delta was a paradise for shallow-water fishers,a fishery so predictably rich that occasional fishing could give way to routine fishing.The tools and weapons that had long killed terrestrial game and trapped birds-clubs,barbed spears,and simple nets-were more than sufficient in the shallows and at water’s edge.In the Nile River delta,the fishing grounds were extensive and ever changing, the water often too deep for shore-based spearmen.At some unknown moment Egyptian fishers took to the water in boats constructed from the only raw material available in their treeless world,papyrus reeds.
The technology is simplicity itself and is known to have been in use in Kuwait by at least 7000 B.C.E.Almost certainly Nile fishers began using papyrus watercraft about the same time,for this was when the diversity of fish found in archaeological sites increased dramatically to include such deeper-water fish as mullet and Nile perch.The fishers lashed papyrus stalks into tight bundles to form double-ended canoes with elevated ends.Using the same technique,they also built sturdy rafts that could be used for casting nets and carrying loads.The hot,dry climate worked to the fishers’ advantage,for they could prolong the useful lives of their easily waterlogged canoes by laying them out in the sun to dry.Ancient fishers in southern California and coastal Peru did the same. Papyrus revolutionized Egyptian fishing,turning it from occasional foraging into a much more intensive form of subsistence and then into a sport.In much later times,the Eighteenth Dynasty (1539 to 1292 B.C.E.)high official Userhat,who had the imposing title of scribe who counts bread in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, commissioned a painting in which he is shown spearing a fish from a papyrus boat,accompanied by his cats as his family looks on.
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The easy availability of fish called Clarias,or Nile catfish,helped foster early human settlements in areas of modern-day Egypt.The Mediterranean Sea’s level 16,000 years ago was far below modern levels.The mouth of the river that would later be called the Nile lay at least 50 kilometers offshore from where it is today.The river passed across a gently undulating near desert dissected by numerous small channels.Thanks to the steeper slope,it flowed much faster than it does today,bringing down more gravel than silt (finer particles carried by water).Far upstream,wadis-channels that were dry except during the rainy season-opened into the river.Small groups of foragers visited some sites to feed on the catfish that abounded in the shallows created by the annual Nile inundations (floods).The catfish harvest offered a temporary feast, but its real importance lay in the possibility of drying the catch, providing food for the lean months when other foods were scarce and elusive.Some groups used fire to smoke their catches.A 12,000-year-old site at Makhadma in Upper Egypt has yielded thick garbage heaps with fish bones and abundant charcoal,including what were probably smoking pits.
Why does the author discuss a “12,000-year-old site at Makhadma in Upper Egypt”?
ATo suggest that ancient Egyptians needed to move from place to place in order to harvest catfish year round
BTo explain why the catfish harvest during Nile floods offered a temporary feast
CTo support the idea that ancient Egyptians preserved fish by smoking them
DTo indicate that ancient Egyptians burned their waste material in special pits
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The easy availability of fish called Clarias,or Nile catfish,helped foster early human settlements in areas of modern-day Egypt.The Mediterranean Sea’s level 16,000 years ago was far below modern levels.The mouth of the river that would later be called the Nile lay at least 50 kilometers offshore from where it is today.The river passed across a gently undulating near desert dissected by numerous small channels.Thanks to the steeper slope,it flowed much faster than it does today,bringing down more gravel than silt (finer particles carried by water).Far upstream,wadis-channels that were dry except during the rainy season-opened into the river.Small groups of foragers visited some sites to feed on the catfish that abounded in the shallows created by the annual Nile inundations (floods).The catfish harvest offered a temporary feast, but its real importance lay in the possibility of drying the catch, providing food for the lean months when other foods were scarce and elusive.Some groups used fire to smoke their catches.A 12,000-year-old site at Makhadma in Upper Egypt has yielded thick garbage heaps with fish bones and abundant charcoal,including what were probably smoking pits.
According to paragraph 1,the Nile of 16,000 years ago differed from the modern Nile in all of the following ways EXCEPT:
AThe mouth of the Nile was lower than the level of the Mediterranean Sea today.
BThe Nile flowed through a deeper channel in the near desert than it does today.
CThe Nile’s slope was steeper than it is today.
DThe Nile flowed much faster than it does today.
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As sea levels rose and the Nile slowed,the inundations brought heavy silt loads that built up a large delta (landform)at its mouth. Water also overflowed into the dry Faiyum Depression,eight kilometers southwest of Cairo,forming fish-rich Lake Moeris.Its dunes,marshes,and reed beds made the depression a magnet for human settlement by at least 11,000 years ago.Scatters of 9,000-year-old fish bones from camps along the north shore of the then-extensive lake have yielded numerous catfish bones.The lake also supported a diverse population of other shallow-water species, most of which were taken from the receding floodwaters at spawning (egg laying)season.
Paragraph 2 answers all of the following questions about Lake Moeris EXCEPT:
AHow was Lake Moeris created?
BWhat land features first attracted settlers to the Lake Moeris area?
CWhy was there a difference between the time of human settlement and the age of fish bones found around Lake Moeris?
DHow do historians know that long ago Lake Moeris provided large numbers of catfish?
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The Nile River delta,which would become the largest grain source for Egypt’s rulers,was also a bountiful fishery.Here,the floodplain extended to the horizon,a maze of scrubland,swamps, reed-choked ponds,and narrow,shallow channels that changed with each flood.This was the ancient Egyptians’Ta-Mehu (land of papyrus),named for Cyperus papyrus,a wetland plant that yielded the thin,paperlike sheets used by scribes.Like the Faiyum,the delta was a paradise for shallow-water fishers,a fishery so predictably rich that occasional fishing could give way to routine fishing.The tools and weapons that had long killed terrestrial game and trapped birds-clubs,barbed spears,and simple nets-were more than sufficient in the shallows and at water’s edge.In the Nile River delta,the fishing grounds were extensive and ever changing, the water often too deep for shore-based spearmen.At some unknown moment Egyptian fishers took to the water in boats constructed from the only raw material available in their treeless world,papyrus reeds.
According to paragraph 3,which of the following is true of the tools and weapons used by early Egyptians who fished the Nile River delta?
AThey were made of papyrus reeds found on the shores of the Nile River delta.
BThey were effective for fishing in shallow waters and for hunting.
CThey had to be changed frequently because of the difficult conditions in the extensive floodplain.
DThey were just as useful in deep water as they were near the shore.
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The Nile River delta,which would become the largest grain source for Egypt’s rulers,was also a bountiful fishery.Here,the floodplain extended to the horizon,a maze of scrubland,swamps, reed-choked ponds,and narrow,shallow channels that changed with each flood.This was the ancient Egyptians’Ta-Mehu (land of papyrus),named for Cyperus papyrus,a wetland plant that yielded the thin,paperlike sheets used by scribes.Like the Faiyum,the delta was a paradise for shallow-water fishers,a fishery so predictably rich that occasional fishing could give way to routine fishing.The tools and weapons that had long killed terrestrial game and trapped birds-clubs,barbed spears,and simple nets-were more than sufficient in the shallows and at water’s edge.In the Nile River delta,the fishing grounds were extensive and ever changing, the water often too deep for shore-based spearmen.At some unknown moment Egyptian fishers took to the water in boats constructed from the only raw material available in their treeless world,papyrus reeds.
Paragraph 3 suggests which of the following about the practice of fishing in the Nile River delta?
AIt likely progressed from shallow-water fishing to deep-water fishing.
BIt required more specialized skill when it was done from the shore.
CIt provided less food than hunting game and trapping birds did.
DIt yielded the most fish when it occurred right before a flood.
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The technology is simplicity itself and is known to have been in use in Kuwait by at least 7000 B.C.E.Almost certainly Nile fishers began using papyrus watercraft about the same time,for this was when the diversity of fish found in archaeological sites increased dramatically to include such deeper-water fish as mullet and Nile perch.The fishers lashed papyrus stalks into tight bundles to form double-ended canoes with elevated ends.Using the same technique,they also built sturdy rafts that could be used for casting nets and carrying loads.The hot,dry climate worked to the fishers’ advantage,for they could prolong the useful lives of their easily waterlogged canoes by laying them out in the sun to dry.Ancient fishers in southern California and coastal Peru did the same. Papyrus revolutionized Egyptian fishing,turning it from occasional foraging into a much more intensive form of subsistence and then into a sport.In much later times,the Eighteenth Dynasty (1539 to 1292 B.C.E.)high official Userhat,who had the imposing title of scribe who counts bread in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, commissioned a painting in which he is shown spearing a fish from a papyrus boat,accompanied by his cats as his family looks on.
The word“elevated”in the passage is closest in meaning to
Alightweight
Bnarrowed
Craised
Dbalanced
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The technology is simplicity itself and is known to have been in use in Kuwait by at least 7000 B.C.E.Almost certainly Nile fishers began using papyrus watercraft about the same time,for this was when the diversity of fish found in archaeological sites increased dramatically to include such deeper-water fish as mullet and Nile perch.The fishers lashed papyrus stalks into tight bundles to form double-ended canoes with elevated ends.Using the same technique,they also built sturdy rafts that could be used for casting nets and carrying loads.The hot,dry climate worked to the fishers’ advantage,for they could prolong the useful lives of their easily waterlogged canoes by laying them out in the sun to dry.Ancient fishers in southern California and coastal Peru did the same. Papyrus revolutionized Egyptian fishing,turning it from occasional foraging into a much more intensive form of subsistence and then into a sport.In much later times,the Eighteenth Dynasty (1539 to 1292 B.C.E.)high official Userhat,who had the imposing title of scribe who counts bread in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, commissioned a painting in which he is shown spearing a fish from a papyrus boat,accompanied by his cats as his family looks on.
In paragraph 4,which of the following is mentioned as evidence that Nile fishers began using papyrus watercraft by about 7000 B.C.E.?
AArchaeological sites dating to about this time contain the remains of several deep-water fish species.
BEasy access to such wetland plants as papyrus became possible at this time.
CFishers in Kuwait are known to have shared their watercraft technology with Nile fishers around this time.
DThe remains of ancient papyrus watercraft dating to around this time have been uncovered at sites near the Nile.
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The technology is simplicity itself and is known to have been in use in Kuwait by at least 7000 B.C.E.Almost certainly Nile fishers began using papyrus watercraft about the same time,for this was when the diversity of fish found in archaeological sites increased dramatically to include such deeper-water fish as mullet and Nile perch.The fishers lashed papyrus stalks into tight bundles to form double-ended canoes with elevated ends.Using the same technique,they also built sturdy rafts that could be used for casting nets and carrying loads.The hot,dry climate worked to the fishers’ advantage,for they could prolong the useful lives of their easily waterlogged canoes by laying them out in the sun to dry.Ancient fishers in southern California and coastal Peru did the same. Papyrus revolutionized Egyptian fishing,turning it from occasional foraging into a much more intensive form of subsistence and then into a sport.In much later times,the Eighteenth Dynasty (1539 to 1292 B.C.E.)high official Userhat,who had the imposing title of scribe who counts bread in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, commissioned a painting in which he is shown spearing a fish from a papyrus boat,accompanied by his cats as his family looks on.
According to paragraph 4,which of the following caused problems for papyrus watercraft?
AHeat
BDry air
CExcess water
DHeavy loads
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As sea levels rose and the Nile slowed,the inundations brought heavy silt loads that built up a large delta (landform)at its mouth. Water also overflowed into the dry Faiyum Depression,eight kilometers southwest of Cairo,forming fish-rich Lake Moeris.[■]Its dunes,marshes,and reed beds made the depression a magnet for human settlement by at least 11,000 years ago.[■]Scatters of 9,000-year-old fish bones from camps along the north shore of the then-extensive lake have yielded numerous catfish bones.[■]The lake also supported a diverse population of other shallow-water species, most of which were taken from the receding floodwaters at spawning (egg laying)season.[■]
Look at the four squaresthat indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage
This feature of the lake meant that settlers did not have to depend only on catfish.
Where would the sentence best fit？Click on a square sentence to the passage.
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Fishing in and around the Nile supported early human settlements in areas of modern-day Egypt.
AFishing in early Egypt was done by foragers,providing food at specific times,and the fish could be smoked or dried for later consumption.
BNile catfish were highly sought after because they lived in shallow waters where they were easy to catch throughout the year,and fishing for them did not require the construction of boats.
CThe construction of papyrus boats allowed Egyptians to fish more intensively and in deeper waters.
DRising sea levels and the slowing of the Nile created a fish-rich lake and helped to build up the Nile River delta,a rich area for shallow- water fishing.
ESettlers turned to occasional fishing of the Nile’s shallow waters because few game animals and birds could be hunted where papyrus plants grew in the Nile River delta.
FAs fishing moved from shallow waters to deeper waters,Egyptian fishers replaced technologically simple tools and weapons with more complex alternatives.
