[2] It is the period during which the process of state formation, which began in Naqada II, became highly visible, with named kings heading powerful polities.

There is also strong archaeological evidence of Egyptian settlements in southern Canaan during the Protodynastic Period, which are regarded as colonies or trading entrepôts.

Nekhen's relationship with Thinis is uncertain, but these two states may have merged peacefully, with the Thinite royal family ruling all of Egypt.

[citation needed] Early Egyptologists such as Flinders Petrie were proponents of the Dynastic race theory which hypothesised that the first Egyptian chieftains and rulers were themselves of Mesopotamian origin,[3] but this view has been abandoned among modern scholars.

He was possibly preceded over some parts of Upper Egypt by Crocodile, Iry-Hor, Ka, and perhaps by the king Scorpion II, whose name may refer to, or be derived from, the goddess Serket, a special early protector of other deities and the rulers.