Hierakonpolis (also called Nekhen) was a regional capital of Upper Egypt during the predynastic period. Along with other notable Upper-Egyptian city-states, it started to decline in influence and importance in the early dynastic period. The rise of Memphis (in Lower Egypt) led to an irrevocable decline in early Upper Egyptian settlements like Nekhen and Naqara.

Mery is believed to be the first person to be convicted of tax evasion in Ancient Egypt. He was forced to withstand 100 blows as his punishment.  Pharaoh Kety advised that beatings were better than killings for crimes like these. Many scholars believe that Egyptians were the first to sew wounds closed, a fact that perhaps helped Mery at the time.

Most of Egypt’s Pharaohs, and some of the upper class elites and local rulers, were buried in grand tombs and pyramids; complete with priceless jewelry and valuable artifacts. It would, however, have been impractical for the entire population to have been buried so extravagantly. Instead, most Egyptian people were buried in small graves, with one or two ordinary household artefacts.

Men and women shaved their heads in Ancient Egypt to avoid lice. It also helped them stay cool. Many wore wigs and it was often considered a higher status to wear them. Higher status Egyptians wore wigs of human hair, while the others had wigs of wool and vegetable fiber.

The Early Dynastic Era covers the first two Egyptian dynasties. It was during this period in which Egypt first experienced a sudden rise in it's cultural greatness, developed better and more complex irrigation systems and pyramids, introduced the notion of a semi-divine head of state in the form of a king and developed a writing system. More democratic practices would not be introduced until the Middle Kingdom. 

A wadi is a dry river-bed. They can be found in countless locations, alongside major rivers, in the Middle East. They were particularly important in ancient times because they often contained lucrative mineral deposits.

The Nile is the world's longest river, measuring over 4,250 feet long. Surprisingly, it is extremely shallow relative to rivers of similar size. Many areas, including the central area of the river are not even 10 feet deep.

The Ancient Egyptian numerical system first developed sometime around 3100 BCE and was in a continual state of evolution thereafter, until it fell out of use around 400 CE. It was hieroglyphic in nature, with each number represented and depicted in pictorial form, and relied upon a base ten system, in which symbols were designated in increments of ten. (For example, the symbol for the number one was a single stroke, number ten was represented by a cattle hobble, and one hundred was shown as a coil of rope.) The Ancient Egyptians had no concept of zero; in fact, they would not come to understand this numerical reality for many centuries. This knowledge was finally transmitted to Ancient Egypt sometime in the mid-eighteenth century BCE, through their frequent trade and travel contacts with Middle Eastern and Asian civilizations.

A mastaba is a special type of tomb, in use for centuries throughout Ancient Egyptian history by pharaohs, royal family members, and aristocrats alike. Mastabas were not just simple tombs; rather, they were constructed with a very particular goal in mind: to serve as a house for the deceased person’s spirit. Mastabas had two structural components: an above-ground superstructure (usually shaped like a bench) and a massive underground substructure where the deceased would live. Accordingly, the underground sections of a mastaba would be filled with all the various goods and possessions (such as food, drink, clothing, and furniture) that any individual would need to survive in the afterlife. Later on, once pyramids became more popular, several mastabas would be built in groups, to form a royal court, around a pharaoh’s pyramid, so that his family and friends could surround him during the afterlife.

In ancient Egyptian art, women are almost universally depicted as young and fertile. Women’s hips are heavily emphasized - to demonstrate the importance of women’s role in childbirth. Unlike men, women were never depicted beyond child bearing age. This may be understood as part of society’s desire to highlight the reproductive role of women.