"The First Egyptians," a joint exhibition project undertaken by the University of South Carolina's McKissick Museum and the Earth Sciences and Resources Institute, explores ancient Egyptian civilization as interpreted through modern archeology. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the exhibition focuses primarily on the cultural facets of early Egyptian society as it developed from small chiefdoms into the world's first nation-state between about 4000 B.C. and 2700 B.C. While past exhibitions have emphasized military glory, spectacular art and the monumental architecture of the Pharoahs, "The First Egyptians" examines the social, economic, technological and environmental factors that interacted to produce that extraordinary civilization. A second theme of the exhibition illustrates the procedures of the archaeologists, who through persistence, expertise and modern excavation techniques have recovered part of the significant information featured in this exhibition. Indeed, much of the recent information presented in this exhibition was unearthed by the Hierakonpolis Expedition, an interdisciplinary group of scholars that has been sponsored by the University of South Carolina since 1982.