The value and limitations of zooarchaeological analyses', this thesis attempts to describe the effects of the adoption of domesticated species of cattle, sheep, goat and pig on social structure in three key areas of Egypt: the eastern and western deserts, the Delta and the Nile Valley. A descriptive (rather than explanatory) predictive model was created based on economic and social production noted in modern societies using the same species under similiar environmental conditions. This was then applied to the case study to determine why certain food production strategies were used in the formative period before the emergence of the first unified Egyptian state, what factors may have governed it, and what impact this had on Egyptian society.