A decorated ware pot showing the transportation of shrines on the Nile, c.3200 BC. 

Although little evidence remains of the dwellings and religious buildings of the earliest communities, and written records are not available before the Dynastic Period, objects placed in the graves give some indication of the religious practices of the living.

The Egyptians were always aware of a close affinity with animals, and many of the earliest gods had animal forms. They may have worshipped animals to try to placate them, or because they admired their superior physical powers. In the earliest graves, there are already objects with animal forms, and animal cemeteries were also discovered. Later, some of the animal gods adopted partial human forms and features, but retained their original heads.

Each community had its own special god who had a shrine in the village and was worshipped by the local people; food and drink, as well as prayers, would have been offered to the god by the chieftain. Gradually, the villages were united by conquest and alliance into larger units, and the various gods were also amalgamated into a pantheon. However, individuals would doubtless have remained loyal to their local gods.

Some deities, such as the great mother-goddess and her son/consort, received almost universal worship. The so-called 'Decorated Ware' - a type of pottery found in these graves - depicts religious scenes which sometimes show events in the lives of these gods, and the transportation by boat of their statues in shrines from one village to another.