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Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 03:20 AM
Several topics have allowed us to discuss the development of complex human activity along the Nile, from domestication, agriculture, language, writing to state formation. Indeed, a lot of innovations along the Nile Valley in historic times, may well be regarded as a cradle. Of course, this is not to imply that, in some of the various regions of the world, the likes of agriculture, or writing, and so on, weren't independently developed. For instance; There are at least seven or eight maybe eleven to thirteen world regions which independently invented agriculture. None in Europe, by the way. - Ehret.
The appearance of fully modern behavior apparently occurred in Africa earlier than anywhere else in the Old World, but spread very quickly, due to population movements into other geographical regions. - Paleoanthropologist Donald C. Johanson, professor of anthropology and Director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 02:57 PM
quote: IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 03:20 PM
Egypt's Dynastic rulership may have originated in Ta-Seti, thus signaling the first such form of government known to mankind. The idea of a pharaoh (king) may have come down the Nile from Nubia to Egypt (and) that would make Nubian civilization the ancestor of Egypt's... Dr. Bruce Williams, Archaeologist
Indeed, the Egyptians gave that same name to their southernmost nome which bordered on Nubia, either because it was adjacent to that country, or else because that portion of southern Upper Egypt was originally part of an earlier kingdom of Nubia with the same name, and which would have existed before the unification of Egypt Or more simply: Ta-Seti was the first nome of Kemet. These are the terms the ancients actually used. They would not have used the term Egypt, a Greek corruption of "House of the Spirit Ptah". They would not have used the word Nubia, a Roman reference to the Nation south of Kemet based on the Km.t word Nub for gold describing a region where gold was mined in Southern Km.t. The area that is Nubia was therefore a part of Ta-Seti, then Kemet, then Kush, with Kemet conquering Kush and then Kush conquering Kemet. Another device of Eurocentric anthropology to disguise the African origin of Nile Valley civilisation is to focus on the conflicts between Kemet and Kush. But this is equivelant to attempting to disprove the common semitic origins of Jew and Arab by virtue of their constant fighting over Palestine; or attempting to prove a 'racial' distinction between the Germans and English because of their history of savage warfare amongst themselves. Even today 'Nubia' is an indigenous part of Egypt and its southern neighbor Sudan. Mesopotamia, now primarily where Iraq is, has little to do with either. Many of the cultural signifiers of Nile Valley nations Km.t and Kush - including mummification, heiroglyphic writing, divine kingship and ancestor veneration, either have roots in the Nile Valley, roots in the western Sahara {Libya}, or roots in the horn {Punt}, great lakes or simply pan African roots. IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 03:44 PM
The Eurocentric discourse engages in backtracking as a last resort. This takes for the form of drawing an imaginery and blatantly racial boundary of African civilisation at "Nubia". ie - You take Nubia - give 'us Europeans' Egypt.
Of course, Africans need not 'negotiate' with the west[???] for which parts of their own history they may acknolwedge, learn from, or identify with.
Consider this plea by Ann Macy Roth: "Why not use Nubia?," "or any of the other great African civilizations? Why can't they leave Egypt alone?" The answer is that these other civilizations did not build pyramids and temples that impressed the classical writers of Greece and Rome with their power, antiquity, and wisdom. Well NO Miss Roth, the answer is that Nubia includes the 1st nome of "Egypt". Nubia actually has the majority of the Pyramids in the Nile Valley, yet with a wave of her magic wand, she has made them disappear.
Nice try, but no thanks, ma'am. [This message has been edited by rasol (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 03:51 PM
Much appreciated posts from Rasol. It is interesting how a few posters every now and then will make hints towards Mesopotamia, usually having nothing to do with facts, but rather, their emotional need to evade the reality that Africa is indeed cradle for both humanity and 'civilization'. Case in point: when an opportunity is provided for these folks to make the case they claim to have, pertaining to this very subject, they simply bail out. It underlies the reality that we are dealing with folks, who don't have facts to stand on, but sheer emotion, without merit! IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 29 May 2005 04:21 PM
Indeed. One thing people forget is that Pharaonic civilization began in the valley of Upper Egypt i.e. southern Egypt. So if Mesopotamia or peoples from the Levant really brought Pharaonic civilization, why are their earliest centers not in the Delta area in the north? It is simple as that. [This message has been edited by Djehuti (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 29 May 2005 04:35 PM
Also, Rasol brought an interesting point concerning the conflict between Egyptians and "Nubians"
quote: Actually Rasol, a better analogy with Europeans would be between Germans and the French! These people had a big fued and their countries border each other the way Egypt and Nubia did. Another thing the Eurocentrics miss is that while they themselves generalize "Nubians" into one people, the ancient Egyptians actually discerned and distinguish actual ethnic groups of Nubia! The Egyptians have never used the term "Nubians" and specified the various peoples that lived in the region we call "Nubia" like Wawat, Medjay, Setju, Irem, Kush, Yam, etc. On the contrary the Egyptians more often than not generalized the peoples of the Levant and Near-East as being "Namu Sho" (Sand people). IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 29 May 2005 04:49 PM
And another thing. When people think about Mesopotamian civilization, they think Sumeria or Akkad or both (Babylonia). Yet hardly anyone has heard of Elam! Elam was located in southwestern Iran and directly east of Sumer. In many ways the Elamites are like the Nubians in that, not only are they a black people but they are also overshadowed by their more popular neighbor--Sumer. Why is it scholars of Mesopotamia rarely ever mention them? [This message has been edited by Djehuti (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 05:12 PM
quote: Good question. The answer lies, I believe, in the interest in lumping Mesopotamia into one entity, while disintegrating the Nile Valley into Egypt and "Nubia", even though, as pointed out many times now, "Nubia" actually comprised of various 'groups' and polities, some of whom, came under some form of Egyptian control during certain timeframes, while others weren't, for the most part, like the Kushites, beyond the fourth cataract! IP: Logged |
jluis Member Posts: 71 |
posted 29 May 2005 05:21 PM
quote: Hmmm, good post. I like the distinction between "Egyptians" and "Nubians". It looks to me as the difference between Upper and Lower Nile Valley. Here we may have the difference between people coming from a "tropical" environment to a "dry" one. But, about the topic, there is no real difference between Nile and Euphrates/Tigris. At least in environmental terms. Both river systems are but the same: an intermediate environment between tropical and temperate lands. Some dry lands to be crossed by people between Africa (proper) and the rest of the world I won't really considerate the land between the river Nile and the twin rivers Euphrates and Tigris to be something RADICALLY different. They are just but the limit between tropical and temperate climates. So, there are not real difference between Kemet and Mesopotamia. These two lands were but just the two borders (west and east) of the same human ecosystems. This can explain why they both look to be the "origin" of civilization (not talking about other places of neolitic origin as China, India and the like). They are just but the same. Western and Eastern limits of the same situation. IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 05:36 PM
quote: ...then you would be making stuff up, and ignoring the primary sources pretty much as the ws.t scholars have done.
quote: This is also inaccurate really as tropical and dry do not define 'different' climate catogories, and much of Nubia is extremely hot and dry.
quote: Who said the land was radically different? I really don't understand this reply. You seem to have missed the point of the parent thread and subsequent responses entirely. [This message has been edited by rasol (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 05:44 PM
quote: Good point.
quote: Correct, also some peoples from Lower Nubia or Ta Seti were simply considered rm.t km.t or "Egyptians" from parts of "Nubia" [Ta Seti] that were also a part of "Egypt" An example can be found in the Prophesy of Nerfertum primary text... IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 05:49 PM
Prophesy of Neferti (and points of note*): A king will come from the South, He will take the white crown, One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler, noteworthy: * Ta-Seti, Nubia, Upper Egypt are co-extensive ** Aamu is a general term referring to Asiatics, and would include "Mesopotamians". IP: Logged |
jluis Member Posts: 71 |
posted 29 May 2005 05:57 PM
quote: Who said the land was radically different? I really don't understand this reply.
This is the "difference" I was referring to. IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:01 PM
quote: What does these four seasons , i.e., winter, spring, summer & fall, entail here, that aren't supposedly found in the "Nubian" region? IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:01 PM
quote: Precisely Supercar. As was noted an another thread it also allows ws.t scholarship to 'play with' the notion of the origin of civilisation. Quick question: when does "Egyptian" civilisation begin. The standard answer is: Narmer unites Egypt and starts Dynasty 1. When does Mesopotamian civilisation begin? Answer: Whenever ws.t scholarship wants it to, based on whatever they wish to signify it; signs of city building, writing, agriculture and animal domestication. Yet none of these things can be said for certain to have 1st began in Mesopotamia. Thus a culture region is compared to a Nation State, and even though Kemet is unrefuted as the worlds oldest Nation state, it is implicitly made co-equal or even secondary to then 'non-existent' Nations of Mesopotamia. IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:17 PM
quote: And why is that, if one is to consider the Nation State to be the culmination of advanced development of the basic necessities/qualities (from farming to literature and technology) of complex culture? The reason is that, if one is to concede to the idea of the Nation State being indicative of full-fledged notion of 'civilization', then one would have to concede the cradle being in Africa. [This message has been edited by Super car (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
jluis Member Posts: 71 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:17 PM
Who said the land was radically different?
The Valley of the Nile is the link between the tropical (Equatorial) climate and the most temperate climate that starts in Palestina. And further north, in the mountains of Zagros, starts the temperate weather... This is why is there a difference between Afrika proper and what was latter known as Europe and Asia... IP: Logged |
ausar Moderator Posts: 4216 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:19 PM
From what I understand the oldest town in existence in the world is Catal Hyuk. The oldest center of agritculturle is around Jarmo in Iraq and Jerico in Palestine. This is why the whole contreversey about the Natufians. Most probably many civlizations sprang up independent of each other. If Mesopotamia happens to be older than Kmt that still does not necessarily mean that Mesopotamians laid the foundations for Kemetian civlization.
On the Narmer palette you notice the people being tied up look kind of Khoisanoid. Then you have bulls trampling what appears to be people that look different from the Egyptians. Many are drawn with straight hair as opposed to the people being tied up who have peper-corn type hair like Khoisanoids. [This message has been edited by ausar (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
jluis Member Posts: 71 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:22 PM
quote:
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rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:24 PM
quote: You are confusing climate geography and topography among other things, and your discriptions of Nubia and Egyptian climate are simply bizarre. [This message has been edited by rasol (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:27 PM
Namer Palette. [This message has been edited by rasol (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:45 PM
quote:
"The Mushabians moved into the Sinai from the Nile Delta, bring North African lithic chipping techniques." "Thus the population overflow from Northeast Africa played a definite role in the establishment of the Natufian adaptation, which in turn led to the emergence of agriculture as a new subsistence system." -------- "Several early occupation and settlements were identified in this region. For example the remains of the early settlement of fishermen at Wadi El Kubbaniya, to the north of Aswan, dated to about 18 000 BC.[22] Numerous grinding stone and sickle plates were found in Tushki about 13 000 BC.[23] The inhabitants of the region made use of a geometric microlithic technique, which is considered among the oldest in the world." Source: http://www.arkamani.org/vol_5/archaeology_5/missinglinks.htm -------- "One of the archaeological possibilities is a group called the Mushabaeans. This group moves in on another group that's Middle Eastern. Out of this, you get the Natufian people. Now, we can see in the archaeology that people were using wild grains the Middle East very early, back into the late glacial age, about 18,000 years ago. But they were just using these seeds as they were. At the same time, in this northeastern corner of Africa, another people the Mushabaeans? are using grindstones along the Nile, grinding the tubers of sedges. Somewhere along the way, they began to grind grain as well. Now, it's in the Mushabian period that grindstones come into the Middle East." - Ehret. Where is/are the evidence to the contrary? [This message has been edited by Super car (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 29 May 2005 06:50 PM
quote: You misunderstand. Pertaining to Mesopotamia, most have heard about Sumer and others Akkad and everyone has heard about Babylonia, which is union of the two. Yet very few people have heard of Elam which is in today's southwestern Iran. Elam is just east of Sumer and was another historically important site of civilization, yet it is not popular at all. Most times that Elam is mentioned is in Iranian history but usually in brief passing in contrast to Persia, even though the Elamites were the forebearers of Persian civilization. Why is this? Is it because the Elamites were black? Even though the Elamites were not Africans, they were black asiatics and many of their descendants can be seen today in southern Iran and around Baluchistan. IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 07:01 PM
quote: I think you misunderstood my response to your comment! I was trying to point out that, the reason people don't take notice of such underhandedness in carefully dissecting the various elements in the so-called Mesopotamia regions or within their vicinity, is because many scholars are busy trying to study the region as an entity. The Sumerians too, from the various pictures that depict them, appear to be dark in skin tone, and so, where does that leave us? [This message has been edited by Super car (edited 29 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 29 May 2005 09:18 PM
My point is that not enough is heard about Elam and why not? Elam is just as important in the history of the Middle-East as Sumer. It was the predecessor of Persian civilization and had a significant impact on Sumer just as Nubia had an impact on Egypt! IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 10:02 PM
quote:
I mean, you and I know that the Elamites had a distinctive culture of their own, which deserves attention in its own right, and so why is the so-called Mesopotamia given more attention? IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 29 May 2005 11:09 PM
quote: Speaking of towns, indicative of communities... The degree or pattern of settlement may not always be apparent from visible architecture alone, particularly if architecture in some places, at some point in time, were built from material that weren't meant to withstand the test of time: The reason why there is relatively little settlement evidence from Upper Egypt is probably due in part to earlier excavators' priorities. Located on the low desert, Predynastic cemeteries with well preserved burials, some of which contained many grave goods in sometimes exotic materials, were simply of greater interest to excavate than settlements which had been disturbed by digging for sebbakh (organic remains used for fertlizer) or destroyed by expanding cultivation on the floodplain. Unless permanent architecture was detected, such as mud-brick walls excavated by Petrie at Nagada's South Town, more ephemeral Predynastic settlements, which left mainly dense scatters of sherds, such as Petrie describes at Abadiyeh, were interpreted as having been destroyed (Petrie 1901a: 32). In any case, archaeologists did not have the excavation techniques to understand such site and their formation processes.
Because of alluviation, continuous cultivation, geological conditions in Upper Egypt, and the present dense occupation along the river we may never know much about settlement patterns except from sites preserved above the floodplain.
[This message has been edited by Super car (edited 20 June 2005).] IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 31 May 2005 01:23 AM
More on remains of architecture... Sources:Notes are the courtesy of Archeology.org, and photos are the courtesy of Hierakonpolis Expedition Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt--ancient Nekhen and city of the Hawk--is a vast archaeological site. Stretching for 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) along the desert fringe of the cultivated Nile floodplain and extending for another 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) back into the low desert up the Wadi Abu Suffian, it contains a wealth of remains dating to the Egyptian Predynastic period (ca. 4000-3100 B.C.), for which it is deservedly famous.
Carved into a ridge of sandstone due west of the enclosure are the decorated stone-cut tombs of the local dignitaries of the late Old Kingdom to Second Intermediate period. Already of historical significance, new discoveries across the river at El Kab are revealing just how important these rare tombs really are... IP: Logged |
kenndo Member Posts: 762 |
posted 31 May 2005 02:13 PM
I listen to this talk show from time to time called wnyc am in newyork city,it is amazing with new info coming out about africa past,egypt and nubia and others certain talk show host will still bring on guest,more so iraq scholars to keep telling the lie that civilization started in sumer.for one guest i sent updated info saying that egypt and sumer might have started the same time or egypt earlier and nubia earlier than both,but like certain folks they do not like to hear any good news or new finds about africa and they keep finding guest to say the same lies and they do not even correct the guest even if the host has been give the info and many of these hosts are white liberals. listen to this show to understand what i mean.click below and make sure your speakers are on and listen to the whole show if you can.the bbc many time and other misinformed talk shows and news progams say the same crap many times to.any click below. http://wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/05312005 [This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 31 May 2005).] [This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 01 June 2005).] IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 31 May 2005 04:07 PM
quote: Agreed. IP: Logged |
Super car Member Posts: 1326 |
posted 31 May 2005 05:21 PM
Some of those folks used to hang onto the idea of earlier writing by Sumerians, but even that lifeline was cut, with discoveries of even older scripture in the Upper Nile Valley. BBC article on the find of Gunter Dreyer, director of the German Archaeological Institute in Egypt: "The find challenges the widely-held belief that the first people to write were the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) sometime before 3000 BC... The newly discovered Egyptian writings also show that the society then was far more developed than previously thought, Dreyer said... Although the Egyptian writings are made up of symbols, they can be called true writing because each symbol stands for a consonant and makes up syllables." New York times take on the Dreyer’s find: “The other earliest primitive writing, the cuneiform developed by Sumerians in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley of present-day Iraq, remained entirely pictographic until about 1400 B.C. The Sumerians are generally credited with the first invention of writing, around 3200 B.C., but some recent findings at Abydos in Egypt suggest a possibly earlier origin there.” IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 31 May 2005 05:50 PM
Wasn't there archaic forms of hieroglyphics around Nubia in Qustul and Sayala? [This message has been edited by Djehuti (edited 31 May 2005).] IP: Logged |
rasol Member Posts: 3652 |
posted 31 May 2005 07:36 PM
quote: IP: Logged |
kenndo Member Posts: 762 |
posted 01 June 2005 09:57 AM
quote: IP: Logged |
kenndo Member Posts: 762 |
posted 01 June 2005 10:00 AM
when certain shows start talking about sumer or iraq it is harder for me to listen more and more because i know in most cases the first lie out of their mouth and that is civilization they would say started in iraq and we know that is a lie. [This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 01 June 2005).] IP: Logged |
Djehuti Member Posts: 1044 |
posted 01 June 2005 12:21 PM
Has anyone seen this: Nubians in Hierakonpolis http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/hierakonpolis/nubians.html ..Carved into a ridge of sandstone due west of the enclosure are the decorated stone-cut tombs of the local dignitaries of the late Old Kingdom to Second Intermediate period. Already of historical significance, new discoveries across the river at El Kab are revealing just how important these rare tombs really are--but more on that later.... In addition to these Egyptian monuments, there are also cemeteries that display distinctly non-Egyptian attributes. Surface surveys undertaken across the site by Michael Hoffman in 1978 and Fred Harlan in 1983 revealed the presence of three discrete cemeteries with Nubian cultural traits apparently dating to the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate period (ca. 1800-1500 B.C.). These had never been investigated, so in January-March 2001 we decided to take a walk on the historic side and conduct test excavations at each of these localities. Initially we thought all three belonged to the mysterious Pan Grave culture, which was first identified in 1910 by Flinders Petrie, who is also famous as the father of Egyptian prehistory. At the site of Hu near Abydos, while undertaking important Predynastic excavations, he also found two cemeteries of these strange people, previously mistaken for Predynastic as they also used blacktopped pottery. He coined the name Pan Grave because of the shallow, round burials, which he thought looked like frying pans--as indeed they sometimes do! Subsequently, Pan Grave cemeteries were found at a number of sites in Egypt, and their distinctive pottery has a wide distribution throughout Egypt, Sudan, and into Ethiopia; yet these people remain a mystery. It is not quite clear who they were, although it does seem that they are a semi-nomadic Nubian people, who can be equated with the people the ancient Egyptians called the Medjay--fierce Nubian bowmen who served as mercenary soldiers in the war of liberation against the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate period. The name Medjay is later in the New Kingdom given to the desert police, although it does not appear to have an ethnic connotation at that time. Test excavations at two of the cemeteries (HK47 and HK21a), situated on opposite borders of the site as guardians of the desert access routes, revealed unmistakable evidence of the Pan Grave culture, including their distinctive frying pan-shaped graves (but also some much deeper), characteristic jewelry, and the tools of their trade: bows, bowstrings, and arrows, remarkably with the feathers still intact! Originally thought to be yet another Pan Grave cemetery, HK27, in the center of the site, proved upon excavation to belong to the Nubian C-Group culture. This cemetery is located about 100 meters (328 feet) northwest of the Enclosure of Khasekhemwy. Considering that the Nubian C-Group was previously known only from the area of the First Cataract at Aswan (approximately 110km/60 miles south of Hierakonpolis) and southward from there, this was a big surprise! Together, the three cemeteries attest a formidable Nubian presence at Hierakonpolis in the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, which given the area's prominence in the latter period presented us with intriguing questions about the site, its relations with the south lands, and the political and economic situation prior to the New Kingdom. The cultures of Lower Nubia (the area between the First and Second cataract of the Nile, i.e., from Aswan to Wadi Halfa) were first named in 1907 during the initial year of what is now called the First Nubian Survey, the world's first organized salvage campaign, which was made necessary by the building of the First (Low) Aswan dam. It's director, the American Egyptologist George Andrew Reisner named the new non-Egyptian cultures that he encountered with letters, a scheme that is still in use today:
The second Nubian campaign of 1959-1969, which preceded the activation of the Aswan High Dam and the creation of Lake Nasser, put meat on the bones, but did not substantially change the understanding of the inhabitants and history of Lower Nubia. A student of his times, Reisner believed that all cultural change was the result of incursions by new people bringing with them new ideas. As a result, the C-Group has long been considered a mysterious Nubian culture of uncertain origins. It seems likely however, that it represents the re-emergence of the indigenous (A-Group) people after they had adapted to and negotiated various influences from the surrounding areas, the most notable being Egypt on one side, with their string of 17 formidable fortresses placed along the length of Lower Nubia for the purpose of controlling this native population, while on the other side was the equally powerful and ambitious Kingdom of Kush centered at Kerma near the Third Cataract. Living in the buffer zone between these two central powers must not have been an easy, but the C-Group people tenaciously clung to their distinct cultural identity for nearly 800 years, well into the Egyptian 18th Dynasty, when they disappear or become so Egyptianized that their burials are no long distinguishable. This Egyptianization is a process that can be traced throughout their history, and their burials have actually been dated by the degree to which they reflect Egyptian traits. They appear in Egyptian documents as soldiers in the First Intermediate period and Middle Kingdom, and ones well paid enough to afford Egyptian stela for their graves, but actual archaeological evidence for their distinct culture has only been found in Egypt with certainty at Aswan and Kubbaniya, a site only 20 km/12.4 miles to the north. It has thus been assumed that although other Nubian peoples like the Pan Grave had apparently fairly free access or at least invitations to Egypt, the C-Group Nubians did not. Some have suggested they were boycotting to protest Egyptian imperialism, but our work at Hierakonpolis has clearly shown this not to be the case. The C-Group cemetery at Hierakonpolis, the northernmost occurrence of this culture in Egypt, is also one of the last remaining cemeteries of its type. The others are now beneath the waters of Lake Nasser. Our discovery is not only a remarkable surprise, but a precious resource that may hold the key to many still unanswered--and long considered unanswerable--questions. We were understandably anxious to return! The cemetery at HK27c is located on a low but prominent rise behind the Enclosure of Khasekhemwy and near the hills housing the decorated rock cut tombs. Unlike the Pan Graves on the outskirts of the site, this cemetery is in a place of some prestige. In our first season (2001), we excavated seven graves in the short time available. Our test square (10x10m) turned out to be on the northeastern edge of the cemetery. Most of the graves were the typical Nubian rectangular shape with one rounded end, approximately 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) deep. The bodies were buried in the traditional contracted position on their right sides with their heads to the north (or east by river orientation). At this time, Egyptians were buried in an extended position either on their backs or sides. Among the burials of this traditional type, we also discovered two long rectangular graves with wooden coffins. Cuttings were made in the grave floors to accommodate the external wooden cross planks of the coffins and fragments of degraded wood. We found some still covered with white plaster in these furrows. Both were completely plundered, so we have no evidence to determine whether this Egyptian style of burial also included a change in the position of the body in the coffin (in the traditional contracted position or the extended Egyptian position). Despite this Egyptian influence, the amount of stone strewn throughout the area suggests that a traditional Nubian tumulus, a ring of dry laid stone masonry often rubble or sand filled, covered most of the graves. In contrast to Egyptian customs, these superstructures were the focus for offerings to the deceased, generally pottery, placed on the ground at the head end of the graves or nestled in the rocks of the tumulus. Several of these offering places were found remarkably intact, with the pots still rim down just as they had been deposited covering the libation. At least one distinctive hand-made Nubian pot was found in almost every offering place. The typical Nubian black-topped bowls were, the most common were, but we also recovered a fragment of blackware incised with white-paste triangles and parts of a small "milk-jar" with an incised cow and calf (another diagnostic pottery type in Nubia). Egyptian pottery was also included in these deposits above ground as well as within the grave. Among them was a wheel-made Egyptian bowl painted black and red to imitate a C-Group black-topped vessel. Evidently the presence of Nubian pottery, perhaps especially black-topped bowls, was of great importance to C-Group funerary ritual--if a real one could not be procured, an imitation would have to do. Also of Egyptian manufacture is the beautiful glazed steatite scarab inscribed with a knot design typical of the late Middle Kingdom (mid to late Dynasty 13) unearthed on the very first day of the 2001 excavations. We found this scarab in conjunction with ostrich eggshell and faience beads still on their original string providing us with evidence for the original stringing pattern of a bracelet belonging to a teenager (13-15 years of age). The cemetery's size and the orderly east-west arrangement of the graves suggested to us that there might be over 100 graves here, indicating a sizeable population of Nubians at Hierakonpolis. Even after severe plundering, the objects we found show that these people had access to a certain level of wealth. They were able to afford wooden coffins, scarabs, and so forth, yet they retained their Nubian burial practices and ceramic technology. It seems unlikely that they were slaves or domestic servants, but who were they? And what are they doing at Hierakonpolis? These are some of the tantalizing questions that in November 2003, with the assistance of a grant from the Michela Schiff-Giorgini Foundation, we returned to the cemetery to try to answer. A highlight of the 2001 season was recovering an intact bracelet. A shallow frying pan shaped grave in which the bracelet was found The distinctive Pan Grave pottery found at Hierakonpolis A painted ox skull with a portrait of a Pan Grave chief from Mostagedda, Middle Egypt. Second Intermediate Period. (Now in the British Museum.) Feathers at the end of the Pan Grave arrows were remarkably found still in place! A traditional Nubian burial at HK27c with the owner in a contracted position within a slightly oval grave [This message has been edited by Djehuti (edited 01 June 2005).] IP: Logged |
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