"First published in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books"--T.p. verso.

Making culture (5000-3000 BC). Beside the Pale Lake : living in the Faiyum, c. 5000-4000 BC ; Sickle sheen : most ancient Egypt and the Neolithic ; Merimda and el-Omari : Lower Egypt, 4800-4300 BC ; The Badarians : Middle Egypt, 4400-4000 BC ; Black-topped, white-lined : life in Upper Egypt, 4000-3500 BC ; A cloud across the moon : death in Upper Egypt, 4000-3200 BC ; Boats and donkeys : copper, trade, and influence within the Lower Nile Valley, 3500-3000 BC ; Rolling along : of men and monsters, 3500 -- Making Pharaoh (3200-3000 BC). Scorpion and hawk, 3200-3000 BC ; The coming of the king : the origins of hieroglyphs, c. 3000 BC ; Narmer's palette : the qualities of kings, c. 3000 BC ; The hawk upon the wall : history, land and Naqadan resettlement, 3500-3000 BC ; Taking wing : Naqadan emigration, 3500-3000 BC ; Taking stock : ordering and accounting within the early state ; The shadows of birds : rite and sacrifice within the early state -- Making a kingdom (3000-2650 BC). The Serekh tomb : the story of the Naqada Mastaba, c. 3000 BC ; A line of kings : the first dynasty royal tombs, 3000-2825 BC ; The lost dynasty : fake histories, real lives : dynasty two, 2825-2675 BC ; The wheeling hawk : refining Egypt : dynasties one, two and three ; The realms of pharaoh : dynasties one and three ; Two gentlemen of Saqqara : Merka and Hesi-re : dynasties one and three -- Step pyramid (2675-2650 BC). Djoser's kingdom ; Heb Sediana : visions of the pyramid ; Deus absconditus : the hidden god ; In consequence : the pyramid's effect -- Building ancient Egypt (2650-2550 BC). A diadem of pyramids, 2650-2625 BC ; Court and country : Metjen and the early reign of Sneferu, 2625-2600 BC ; High society : Sneferu at Maidum, 2625-2600 BC ; A building passion : Sneferu at Dahshur, 2600-2575 BC ; Making the gods : deity at Dahshur, 2600-2575 BC ; The perfect pyramid : Khufu and Giza, 2575-2550 BC.

The first volume of a history of the earliest days of ancient Egypt challenges popular archaeological understandings to chronicle the ancient world's first agricultural practices through the construction of the pyramids.