In “An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt,” the chapter “The Rise of Complex Society and Early Civilization” covers a general highlight of the Early Dynastic state, discussing the first dynasties mortuary practices, written language, and physical anthropology of the early people. The section in the chapter on the Early Dynastic state begins with giving a general overview of Early Dynastic life and their society. They were a moneyless society, taxes to the state were paid via agricultural surplus which allowed the kings and officials to hire individuals in craft specialization, much of the early Egyptian art style was started in this time. The highly stratified society helped the kings legitimatize their ideology, making people believe they were connected to gods, the Early Dynastic state had cults for both the state and local gods, which did not become synchronized until later. Of these cults the most popular in the state were mortuary cults, the majority of the impressive architecture built during this time were tombs, such as the ones at Abydos and Saqqara. During the 1st dynasty, the state would sacrifice civilians and place them in small rectangular burials in order to serve the king in the after life. Along with sacrifices there have also been stone vessels, pots, and even dogs and dwarfs, all meant to serve the king. Some burial sites included exterior burials, most likely of sacrificed humans and there are even examples of donkeys and boats religiously buried to be used a royal in the afterlife. These practices of sacrificial burials disappeared in the 2nd dynasty. The vessels and pots found in these burial sites showed evidence of craft specialization and artisans who worked directly for the king and other officials, a benefit to the moneyless society. These vessels and pots were used to symbolize the administrative hierarchy, obviously the more important or wealthier individuals were given more artifacts in their burials.

The written language of the Early Dynastic period was developed alongside hieroglyphs, the two languages were extremely similar. Hieroglyphs were invented before the Early Dynastic period and was used for state administrative and economic purposes, most often focusing on the king and other officials. In this text, the king was always shown in a larger scale than other humans, all scenes were arranged in rows, and the human torso was drawn frontally with the limbs in profile.

There is no clear way to say who exactly were the people of the Early Dynastic period. There was much interaction between Egypt and Nubia at the time and the populations often crossed with migration, inter-marriage, and the movements of goods, materials, and ideas. Physical anthropology has to way to label human remains by race, the chapter sums the people of the Early Dynastic period by stating “peoples of the lower Nile Valley under the political authority of the pharaonic state who probably spoke a single language.”