posted

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quote:

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Here is the site of a large Neolithic settlement (dating probably from about
5000-4000 B.C.); the evidence for this was revealed in aerial photographs
shown at a meeting in Lille, France, in 1994. By now it has probably been
partly excavated. This would seem to be the largest, earliest "city" known
in Africa (including Egypt). Here, too, is the site of a large Bronze Age town,
probably dating as early as 2500 B.C. It may have been the capital of the
"Kingdom of Yam" mentioned in Egyptian documents of the Sixth Dynasty.
By about 2000 B.C. it seems to have been part of the early kingdom of Kush,
centered at Kerma, and it remained probably the chief northern city of that
state (ca. 2000-1500 B.C.), until conquered by the Egyptian pharaohs in early
Dynasty 18. It was evidently called "Sha'a" (from which the modern name Sai
derives); it had its own kings, whose tombs lay on the west side of the townsite
and which are surrounded by hundreds of other smaller tombs. After it was
conquered by the Egyptians, it became the site of an Egyptian fort and town
until the Egyptians withdrew northward from the region about 1150 B.C.

Excavator:
Francis Geus, Lille, France

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quote:

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Originally posted by Whatbox:
5ky old city/Kingdom?

I thought the oldest city in Africa found so far was Sai (also in Sudan, though). I was thinking Yam (mentioned by Kemetians themselves), but now I'm thinking "Sai".

Edit: that video mentions Kerma, and now I've just found what I was taling about, this quote mentions Kerma as well as a 6-7 thousand year old city, Africa's oldest:

quote:

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Here is the site of a large Neolithic settlement (dating probably from about
5000-4000 B.C.); the evidence for this was revealed in aerial photographs
shown at a meeting in Lille, France, in 1994. By now it has probably been
partly excavated. This would seem to be the largest, earliest "city" known
in Africa (including Egypt). Here, too, is the site of a large Bronze Age town,
probably dating as early as 2500 B.C. It may have been the capital of the
"Kingdom of Yam" mentioned in Egyptian documents of the Sixth Dynasty.
By about 2000 B.C. it seems to have been part of the early kingdom of Kush,
centered at Kerma, and it remained probably the chief northern city of that
state (ca. 2000-1500 B.C.), until conquered by the Egyptian pharaohs in early
Dynasty 18. It was evidently called "Sha'a" (from which the modern name Sai
derives); it had its own kings, whose tombs lay on the west side of the townsite
and which are surrounded by hundreds of other smaller tombs. After it was
conquered by the Egyptians, it became the site of an Egyptian fort and town
until the Egyptians withdrew northward from the region about 1150 B.C.

Excavator:
Francis Geus, Lille, France

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