It is possible that the Egyptians came into contact with Mesopotamia in the south, on the route which led from the Red Sea, past Southern Arabia, to the Persian Gulf. There are two arguments against this assumption: it has no analogy in historical times; and there is absolutely no sign of contact with Egypt to be found in Mesopotamia. But it is possible that the meeting-place was a region along the southern route, outside Sumer. In both Sumerian and Egyptian temples censing with aromatics was usual. In the time of Herodotus, frankincense was used for this purpose in Babylon, but we do not know at what date this was first introduced. In Egypt frankincense was known very early; if that holds good for Sumer also, contact might have been established in the regions from which frankincense was obtained—Southern Arabia or the Somali coast. There missions might have met, or middlemen might have acquainted Egyptians with Sumerian achievements. We know that the route to the Red Sea from Egypt—through the Wadi Hammamat—was used at a very early date. Archaic statues of the god Min were found at Koptos at the Egyptian end of that route.[195] They belong to the end of the Gerzean period or to the First Dynasty, and bear designs scratched on their sides which include the sword of the swordfish and pteroceras shells, found in the Red Sea. But the bearing of these facts upon the question where contact between Egypt and Sumer took place must remain, for the moment, a matter of surmise. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE [Illustration: Chronological Table] UPPER EGYPT LOWER EGYPT NORTH MESOPOTAMIA SOUTH MESOPOTAMIA Tasian Period 5000 ? Fayum A Hassunah Period Badarian Period Samarran Amratian Period Merimde Halaf Period Eridu Northern Ubaid Southern Ubaid Period Period 3900 ? Gawra Period Warka Period 3750 ? Early Gerzean Early Protoliterate Period Period Maadi Late Gerzean Late Protoliterate Period Period 3100 Ninevite Period 3100 Protodynastic I Early Dynastic Period Period: Dynasties II 2664 III IV Old Kingdom: V 2425 Dynasties Proto-Imperial Period 2340 VI North Akkadian Dynasty of Akkad 2180 Period 2181 Footnotes