posted 04 February 2004 09:34 PM            

Branches and probable date of split:
Kushitic - 8th millenium BCE
Egyptian - before the 7th millenium BCE
Omotic - 7th millenium BCE
Hausa - 7th millenium BCE
Semitic - 6th or 5th millenia BCE
Amazigh - 6th or 5th millenia BCE
(I. M. Diakonoff, Afrasian Languages, Moscow 1988)

Herodotus described Libyans as indigenees of Afrika. Egyptian
records list Libyans or Lebou of two types, the Tehenou and the
Temehou (people created light/white skinned). This is simply
recognizing that there was no uniform phenotype in ancient
Tamazgha. It is not saying there was only one phenotype among
the Lebou.

Tehenou and Tamahou were not the same ethnic type. The first
Lebou people that the Egyptians refered to were the Tehenou.
In color paintings they are dark brown. They were the local
blacks of Libya. They were not Nilotics nor Bantu nor Sudanese.
They were a local Libyan ethnic group. (G. Moller, Die Aegypten
und ihre libyschen Nachbaren, ZDMG, Liepzig 1924 pg 78.)

Oric Bates who wrote on the Eastern Libyans records Afrikoid
features. He says that before 12th dynasty Egyptians colored
Tehenou dark brown. The Eastern Libyans, London 1914, pp 43-45.

C. M. Daniels makes a similar report in The Garamantes of
Southern Libya, Wisconsin 1970, pg 27.

Later in time the Tamahou begin to appear in Egyptian paintings.
They are creamy colored often with light hair and eyes. This
is the type that absorbed and replaced the Tehenou.
(W. Holscher, Libyer und Agypter Beitrage zur Ethnologie und
Geschichte Libyscher Volkerschaften, AFU 5, Gluckstadt 1955)

posted 04 February 2004 09:56 PM            

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The Meshwesh are again found in the Classical writings of Herodotus,
over a thousand years later. He refers to this group of peoples as
the "Maxyes", and offers the most physical description outside of the
pictorial reliefs. Herodotus describes their semi-barbaric hairstyle—
consisting of shaving one side of the head while leaving the other—
and the fact that they paint their bodies and lay claim to Trojan
heritage (Selincourt 1954: 306). He goes on to talk about the land
from which they came (eastern Libya), all the while making sure to
guard himself by saying that he cannot vouch for any of these
statements, he is merely passing along what he himself has heard.
These are the two major sources for description, both physical and
cultural, for the Meshwesh. They are initially identified in Egyptian
battle records as having fought alongside the Libyans and their
allies, but also recognized as having risen to their own respective
seat of power following these skirmishes. The fact that they are
again specifically singled out by Herodotus in his Histories serves
notice to the fact that they were indeed a significant socio-
political entity in the Eastern Mediterranean at this time.
Primary Sources.

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quote:

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It is unclear for certain where the Labu originated, but they may
have originated from west of the region of Libya. It is clear,
however, that along with other tribes such as the Meshwesh they
replaced the pervious inhabitants of Libya at some time during the
New Kingdom (Redford 1992: 247). If the Labu are from the west of
Libya, then it seems strange to associate them so closely with the
Sea Peoples, even if the Labu do fight alongside the Sea Peoples
against the Egyptians. Another theory, though, is that the Libu
originated in the Balkans and were driven to migration by the
Illyrians, with the Libu finally settling in Libya (Drews 1993: 58).
The other Sea Peoples are generally thought to have originated in the
Aegean, in the case of the Philistines, or in Anatolia, in the case
of many of the other Sea Peoples tribes.
The Labu are characterized by a number of features when they are
depicted in Egyptian reliefs, such as fair skin, red hair, and blue
eyes. They also wore ornamental cloaks, had one lock of hair, and
were tattooed on their arms and legs. Some of these characteristics
the Labu also shared with the Meshwesh, but unlike the Meshwesh the
Labu wore kilts instead of loincloths and were uncircumcised
(Gardiner 1968: 122.

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