Between 6000-5000 BC the practice of agriculture was introduced in the Nile Valley in Egypt. Whether it was introduced from the outside or was the product of local invention is not clear. However, scholars now generally agree that agriculture was not first "invented" in Egypt. After 6000 BC, the floor of the Nile Valley was cleared; the cultivation of grains (especially barley) flourished; and the first towns and villages were established. Agricultural surpluses spurred the development of a barter-based market economy focused on the towns, where specialized crafts soon appearedweaving, bone-carving and wood-cutting, and pottery-making. The development of towns continued after 5000 BC and a number of distinct local cultural traditions appeared. Many of these traditions carried on into the fourth millennium, and after 4000 BC, the growth of urban society resulted in the emergence of primitive state structures. These developed and grew slowly, but by 3200-3100 BC, several substantial local states had emerged. Some of these states were sophisticated enough that they could concentrate their resources and use them to extend their domination over surrounding areas. The most important of these states was located in Upper Egypt and was centered upon the town of Hierakonpolis (near modem Edfu). Around 3200 BC its kings extended their control over most of Upper Egyptthat part of the Nile Valley between modem Asyut and Aswan. They then began the process of moving north, bringing Middle Egypt and finally Lower Egypt (the Delta) under their control.
There is much evidence that at the end
of the Pre-Dynastic Period (3500-3000 BC), the polities of the north were
developing as city-states, perhaps on the pattern of the city-states then
appearing in Mesopotamia. There is also evidence of substantial trade contacts
between Lower Egypt and the Fertile Crescent during this eracontacts which
seem to have been cut off when the north was conquered and absorbed by the
kings of Hierakonpolis. The triumph of these kings was completed by about
3000 BC, and this event was probably the model for the "Unification
of Egypt" that the Ancient Egyptians later celebrated as the beginning
of their history. But the names of these early kings are, for the most part,
obscure, and none seem to have borne the legendary name "Meres."
Most likely, the name "Meres" is a corrupt form of some early
royal namesuch as that of "Aha-Mena," a king of the so-called
First 
Dynastythat was used by
later Egyptians to memorialize the achievements of what were actually a
group of kings: the "pre-dynastic" rulers of Hierakonpolis whom
some scholars identify as "Dynasty 0." ultimately evolving into
the earliest form of hieroglyphs. By 3000 BC the hieroglyphic system was
already well enough developed that it could used to record royal names and
regal events.
However, the name of one of these early kings has become celebrated because of its presence on the oldest surviving historical document from Ancient Egypt and a document that also is one of the first great works of pharaonic art. This document is the Narmer Palette, a double-sided slate palette recording the triumphs of a king. On one side of the palette a figure wearing what later will be acknowledged as the "Red Crown" of Lower Egypt marches forward in procession, preceded by standard bearers and, in front of them, the decapitated bodies of his enemies.. On the other side the figures wears what will come to be known as the "White Crown" of Upper Egypt and strides forward in active pose of military triumph and with one arm, up-raised, holding a mace which is about to be brought down upon the head of an enemyan image that Egyptian kings would continue to employ for the next three thousand years in order to proclaim their greatness and power.
The Narmer Palette also offers one of the earliest examples of the use of Egyptian hieroglyphics to convey written informationin this case, the king's name, "Narmer," which appears between the two bull's heads at the top of the palette. The best evidence is that the Egyptian script developed out of the practice of pottery-makers who, in the fourth millennium, began to inscribe or paint their ware with special marks, both as a record-keeping system and a means of proclaiming their craftsmanship. In the centuries that followed, these marks became more sophisticated and began to take on true pictographic qualities. Finally, between 3200 and 2700 BC, the system evolved into the fully-developed hieroglyphic script that would become one of the defining elements of pharaonic civilization.
