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At the Origin of the Egyptian Civilisation: Reconsidering the Relationship between Egypt and Nubia in the Pre- and Protodynastic Periods
Maria Carmela GATTO (British Museum, London)
The relationship between Egypt and Nubia during the period preceding the formation of the Egyptian state has been discussed on many occasions, particularly as far as the A-Group and Naqada cultures are concerned (Reisner 1910; Williams 1986; Smith 1990).
From the start, the cultural prominence of Egypt over the land of Nubia was postulated. All of the prehistoric evidence found at the beginning of the last century during the first Salvage Campaign related to the construction of the Aswan Dam, was interpreted and described by Reisner as Egyptian. But soon after, a real Nubian culture, similar, but at the same time different from Egypt's, was recorded and defined. Of course, any similarities were still interpreted as being cultural influences from Egypt, as the Nubians were thought to be incapable of reaching a high cultural standard without Egypt's "assistance". During the last few decades, following the publication of the A-Group royal cemetery at Qustul, a Nubian origin of the Pharaohs was proposed. In fact, the Nubian kings at Qustul were represented with the same iconography as the Egyptian kings from Upper Egypt. According to Williams' chronological interpretation, the Nubian pharaohs had to be dated right before the first known kings of Egypt. For the first time, a different trajectory in the cultural influences between the two regions was taken into consideration, not without criticism. According to current knowledge, there is a geographical, cultural and political boundary between Egypt and Nubia, and it is located between Gebel es Silsila and Aswan. Any Egyptian evidence in Nubia was seen as an import or as cultural influence, while any Nubian evidence in Upper Egypt was viewed as the sporadic presence of foreign people within Egyptian territory. In the last few years, new research on the subject, particularly from a Nubian point of view, shows that the interaction between the two cultures was much more complex than previously thought, affecting the time, space and nature of the interaction (Gatto & Tiraterra 1996; Gatto 2000, 2003a, 2003b). The Aswan area was probably never a real borderline, at least not until the New Kingdom. Of particular importance in this perspective is the area between Armant and Dehmit, south of the First Cataract, as well as the surrounding deserts, and for the availability of data, more specifically the Western Desert. The data recently collected and a new interpretation of available information are bringing to light a stable and long-term interaction between Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia that has to be seen in a very different perspective. The two regions, and so their cultural entities, are not in antithesis to one another, but in the Predynastic period are still the expression of the same cultural tradition, with strong regional variations, particularly in the last part of the 4th millennium BC. Some of them are clearly connected with the major cultural and political changes of Egypt. This paper aims to revise and better highlight the nature of this relationship, starting from the 5th millennium BC, by pointing out the mutual influences, including the ideological ones, which in some cases became the base of important aspects of the rising Egyptian civilisation. Bibliography GATTO, M.C., 2000. The most ancient Evidence of the "A-Groups" Culture in Lower Nubia. [in:] KRZYZANIAK, L.; KROEPER, K. & KOBUSIEWICZ, M. (eds.), Recent Research into the Stone Age of Northeastern Africa. Poznan: 105-117. GATTO, M.C., 2003A. Hunting the Elusive Nubian A-Group. Nekhen News 15: 14-15. GATTO, M.C., 2003B. The Early A-Group in upper Lower Nubia, Upper Egypt and surrounding deserts. Paper presented at the VIIe Poznan Symposium, "Archaeology of the Earliest Northeastern Africa", 14-18 July 2003, Poznan. GATTO, M.C. & TIRATERRA, F., 1996. Contacts between the Nubian "A-Groups" and Predynastic Egypt [in:] KRZY?ANIAK, L.; KROEPER, K. & KOBUSIEWICZ, M. (eds.), Interregional Contacts in the Later Prehistory of Northern Africa. Poznan : 331-334. REISNER, G.A., 1910. The Archaeological Survey of Nubia: Report for 1907-1908. Cairo. SMITH, H.S., 1991. The Development of the 'A-Group' Culture in Northern Lower Nubia [in:] DAVIES, W.V. (ed.), Egypt and Africa. Nubia from Prehistory to Islam. London: 92-111. WILLIAMS, B.B., 1986. Excavations between Abu Simbel and the Sudan Frontier, Keith C. Seele, Director. Part 1: The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul: Cemetery L. Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition 3. Chicago.
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Study of Gm Immunoglobulin Allotypes in Berbers from Egypt (Siwa Oasis) Clotilde COUDRAY (Centre d'anthropologie, UMR 8555, Toulouse), Evelyne GUITARD (Centre d'anthropologie, UMR 8555, Toulouse), Farha EL-CHENNAWI (University of Mansura, Mansura) & Jean-Michel DUGOUJON (Centre d'anthropologie, UMR 8555, Toulouse)
Siwa Oasis is located in western Egypt, 300km from the Mediterranean coast and 25km from the Libyan border. Its population, now estimated at more than 15,000 people, speaks Siwi, a particular dialect related to Berber language. This Oasis had been inhabited since the end of the Upper Palaeolithic (Fakhry 1973). The first Berbers would have come from the East (colonisation by Egyptian Proto-Mediterraneans going to the Maghreb) or from the West (secondary migration of Berbers from the Maghreb towards Egypt). Archaeological records attest a first occupation of the Oasis at around 6700 to 8800 years BC (Hassan 1978) with a "libyco-capsian" lithic industry. The historical period is then marked by successive invasions (Libyans, Persians, Arabs...) then Siwa Oasis knows a period of decline between the 9th and the 12th centuries AD because of Bedouin assaults. It is only in the 13th century AD that it again becomes a stage for the commercial caravans crossing the Nile Valley desert to join the Mediterranean ports of Libya, but it becomes also a market of slaves from the Sahelian areas. We study the Siwan population within the framework of a CNRS ("Origine de l'Homme, du Langage et des Langues") and EUROCORES ("Origin of Man, Language and Languages") project, having the aim of characterising the genetic and linguistic relationships between North-African Berbers. These populations are divided into small communities scattered across nine African countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt (Siwa Oasis), Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Burkina-Faso. They are linguistically related to the Afro-Asiatic phylum. The Siwi population is particularly interesting because, on the one hand, it is located in the most Eastern part of the geographical Berber areas and, on the other hand, its inhabitants always tried to preserve their culture and their identity in spite of successive invasions. Our study will thus make it possible to measure both the cultural and genetic impacts of invaders on the autochthonous population of the Oasis. In the OHLL/OMLL project, the anthropogenetic characterisation of Berber populations is established with various markers: immunoglobulin allotypes (Dugoujon et al. 2004; Coudray et al. 2004), mitochondrial DNA (Fadhlaoui-Zid et al. 2004), Y chromosome (Arredi et al. 2004), microsatellites (Bosch et al. 2000), Alu sequences (Gonzalez-Pérez et al. 2003). For this work, we consider the occurrence of antigenic markers on immunoglobulin polypeptide chains called Ig allotypes. Four allotypic systems are described according to immunoglobulin classes or chain types but we only investigate the most useful system in characterising human groups: Gm system. Gm antigenic determinants are present on heavy chains of 3 of the 4 subclasses of IgG (IgG1, IgG2 and IgG3) (Lefranc & Lefranc 1990). Their polymorphism is determined by the primary structure of constant regions and reflects differences in amino acid substitutions on the Ig sequence. The Gm system is composed of 18 allotypes forming particular combinations called haplotypes. The qualitative and quantitative differences between the 15 defined Gm haplotypes are an excellent means for comparing human populations (genetic structure, degree of admixture, gene flow, migration and evolutionary history) (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994, Dugoujon et al. 2004) and make it possible to define the three great groups: "European", "sub-Saharan" and "Asian" haplotypes. One hundred and eighty samples were tested for G1m(1,2,3,17), G2m(23), and G3m(5,6,1 0,11,13,14,15,16,21,24,28) allotypes by using a classical haemagglutination inhibition method (Field & Dugoujon 1989). The results show that Siwan Berbers are composed of more than 45% of Gm haplotypes common in European populations and of more than 50% of "sub-Saharan" haplotypes. These data contrast with those collected for Berbers from North-West Africa where we only find a "sub-Saharan" contribution of about 20%. When we include the population of Siwa in the Gm database of our laboratory (including Berber populations from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, East- African and sub-Saharan groups), we note that Siwi are in the margin of North-African Berber variability. There is neither correspondence between the genetics and linguistics since the Egyptian Berbers are clearly related to East African populations whose dialects belong to a different linguistic family (Semitic and Cushitic). These results raise various questions: would the differences in Gm haplotypic frequencies between Berbers from the Maghreb and Berbers from Siwa translate a different origin of these populations? Would these differences be due to prehistoric and/or historical genetic contributions of the migrant invaders more or less important on local populations? Are they due to the bottleneck that occurs in the 13th century when only seven families lived in the Oasis? Would the settlement of the Siwa Oasis have occurred from the Nile Valley (by Proto-Mediterraneans) or from the Maghreb (by Proto-Berbers)? Our discussion will be argued by the results obtained for other molecular markers
(mitochondrial DNA, microsatellites, Y chromosome). We are grateful to Pr. Farha El Chennawi (University of Mansoura, Egypt) and other people who contributed to the blood sample collection. The sampling was made within the framework of the action "The Origin of Man, Language and Languages" (OMLL) and benefited from funding of the CNRS and the Conseil Regional de Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse, France). Bibliography ARREDI, B.; POLONI, E.S.; PARACCHINI, S.; ZERJAL, T.; FATHALLAH, D.M.; MAKRELOUF, M.; PASCALI, V.L.; NOVELLETTO, A. & TYLERSMITH, C., 2004. A predominantly Neolithic Origin for Y-chromosomal DNA Variation in North Africa. American Journal of Human Genetics 75: 338-45. BOSCH, E.; CALAFELL, F.; PÉREZ-LEZAUN, A.; CLARIMON, J.; COMAS, D.; MATEU, E.; MARTINEZARIAS, R.; MORERA, B.; BRAKEZ, Z.; AKHAYAT, O.; SEFIANI, A.; HARITI, G.; CAMBON-THOMSEN, A. & BERTRANPETIT, J., 2000. Genetic Structure of north-west Africa revealed by STR Analysis. European Journal of Human Genetics 8: 360-366. CAVALLI-SFORZA, L.L.; MENOZZI, P. & PIAZZA, A., 1994. The History and Geography of human Genes. Princeton. COUDRAY, C.; GUITARD, E.; LEMAIRE, O.; CHERKAOUI, M.; BAALI, A.; HILALI, K.; SEVIN, A.; KANDIL, M.; HARICH, N.; MELHAOUI, M.; LARROUY, G.; MORAL, P. & DUGOUJON, J.M., 2004. Les allotypes Gm des immunoglobulines chez les Berbères du Maroc. Antropo 6: 63-69. DUGOUJON, J.M.; HAZOUT, S.; LOIRAT, F.; MOURRIERAS, B.; CROUAU-ROY, B. & SANCHEZMAZAS, A., 2004. Gm haplotype Diversity of 82 Populations over the World suggests a centrifugal Model of human Migrations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 125: 175-192. FADHLAOUI-ZID, K.; PLAZA, S.; CALAFELL, F.; BEN AMOR, M.; COMAS, D. & ELGAAIED, A.B., 2004. Mitochondrial DNA Heterogeneity in Tunisian Berbers. Annals of Human Genetics 68: 222-233. FAKHRY, A., 1973. Siwa Oasis. Cairo. FIELD, L.L. & DUGOUJON, J.M., 1989. Immunoglobulin allotyping (Gm and Km) of GAW5 Families. Genetic Epidemiology 6: 31-34.
GONZALEZ-PÉREZ, E.; VIA, M.; ESTEBAN, E.; LOPEZ-ALOMAR, A.; MAZIERES, S.; HARICH, N.; KANDIL, M.; DUGOUJON, J.M. & MORAL, P., 2003. Alu Insertions in the Iberian Peninsula and north west Africa - Genetic Boundaries or melting pot ? Collegium Antropologicum 27: 491-500. HASSAN, F.A., 1978. Archeological Explorations of the Siwa Oasis Region, Egypt. Current Anthropology 19: 146-148. LEFRANC, M.P. & LEFRANC, G., 1990. Molecular Genetics of immunoglobulin allotype Expression [in:] SHAKIB, F. (ed.), The Human IgG Subclasses: Molecular Analysis of Structure, Function and Regulation. Oxford: 43-78.
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Rock Inscriptions, Niloticising the Desert, and the Origin of Egyptian Writing John C. DARNELL (Yale University, New Haven)
During more than twelve years of work in the Egyptian Western Desert, the Theban Desert Road Survey has discovered many Predynastic rock art and inscription sites on the ancient routes of the southwestern desert of Egypt. At a number of these sites inscriptions are in clear association with other remains of human activity and occupation.
Although many of the dating techniques for rock art are at best of uncertain value (Bednarik 2002), the sites in the Theban Western Desert that occur in conjunction with archaeological remains allow a cultural attribution. The interrelationships of rock art, habitation, ritual, and burial sites within the Rayayna desert provide an important template and test model for those attempting to understand similar assemblages of petroglyphs and archaeological material within an extensive landscape (compare essays in David & Wilson 2002). The area also provides an excellent opportunity to relate models of archaeological site formation with models of rock art site development, and the interrelationships between such sites and the landscape in which they are located. The early sites in the Rayayna desert allow one in turn to test the reliability of models proposed for other cultures in an attempt to use formal methods to "provide a structure for the placement and nature of this imagery on the landscape" (Hartley & Vawser 2000). Hartley and Vawser describe "places with rock-art that serve as 'checkpoints during movements across the desert terrain' as assisting in orientation to locales of water or other necessary resources," a possibility that the work of the Theban Desert Road Survey has specifically addressed. The Rayayna material places us in the unique position of being able to grasp at least a portion of the "emic" significance of the rock art through diachronic evidence. The later developments of some of the motifs into pharaonic iconographic elements which are explicitly explained in later textual material provides an opportunity to avoid some of the pitfalls of subjective "etic" interpretation which are otherwise inevitable when one is dealing with pre-literate societies. The use of rock art in Upper Egypt as a means of marking places and commenting upon terrestrial and cosmic processes and events appears to have led to the increasing "symbolic" nature of Upper Egyptian cultures, a necessary precursor, if not direct antecedent, to the development of true writing in Egypt. The motifs and use of rock inscriptions in the Theban Western Desert reveal the development of a complex repertoire of religious symbols. These symbols and the more abstract concepts they could communicate allowed the individual artist/communicator to comment on the terrain, to communicate with future visitors, to participate with those who have gone before in an ongoing interpretation of the terrain (compare Huyge 2002); they also allowed for personal commentary on the more generally understood motifs. On these routes we see the development of a symbolic communication that linked people, habitation and burial sites, routes, and landscape, and that led ultimately to the development of true writing in Egypt around 3250 BCE. The hieroglyphic script originated in the glyphic symbols of Upper Egyptian rock art. Bibliography BEDNARIK, R.G., 2002. The Dating of Rock Art: A Critique. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 1213-1233. DAVID, B. & WILSON, M. (EDS.), 1993. Inscribed Landscapes: Marking and making Place. Honolulu. HARTLEY, R. &.WOLLEY VAWSER, A.M., 2000. Spatial Behaviour and Learning in the Prehistoric Environment of the Colorado River Drainage (south-Eastern Utah), Western North America [in:] CHIPPINDALE, C. & TAÇON, P.S.C. (eds.), The Archaeology of Rock-Art. Cambridge: 185-211. HUYGE, D., 2002. Cosmology, Ideology, and Personal Religious Practice in Ancient Egyptian Rock Art [in:] FRIEDMAN, R.F. (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert. London: 192-206.
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