posted
Scholars Race to Recover a Lost Kingdom on the Nile
Archaeologists are finding widespread evidence that the kingdom of Kush once had influence over a 750-mile stretch of the Nile Valley.
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Published: June 19, 2007
On the periphery of history in antiquity, there was a land known as Kush. Overshadowed by Egypt, to the north, it was a place of uncharted breadth and depth far up the Nile, a mystery verging on myth. One thing the Egyptians did know and recorded — Kush had gold.
A Lost Kingdom on the Nile
The New York Times More Photos » Scholars have come to learn that there was more to the culture of Kush than was previously suspected. From deciphered Egyptian documents and modern archaeological research, it is now known that for five centuries in the second millennium B.C., the kingdom of Kush flourished with the political and military prowess to maintain some control over a wide territory in Africa.
Kush’s governing success would seem to have been anomalous, or else conventional ideas about statehood rest too narrowly on the experiences of early civilizations like Mesopotamia, Egypt and China. How could a fairly complex state society exist without a writing system, an extensive bureaucracy or major urban centers, none of which Kush evidently had?
Archaeologists are now finding some answers — at least intriguing insights — emerging in advance of rising Nile waters behind a new dam in northern Sudan. Hurried excavations are uncovering ancient settlements, cemeteries and gold-processing centers in regions previously unexplored.
In recent reports and interviews, archaeologists said they had found widespread evidence that the kingdom of Kush, in its ascendancy from 2000 B.C. to 1500 B.C., exerted control or at least influence over a 750-mile stretch of the Nile Valley. This region extended from the first cataract in the Nile, as attested by an Egyptian monument, all the way upstream to beyond the fourth cataract. The area covered part of the larger geographic region of indeterminate borders known in antiquity as Nubia.
Some archaeologists theorize that the discoveries show that the rulers of Kush were the first in sub-Saharan Africa to hold sway over so vast a territory.
“This makes Kush a more major player in political and military dynamics of the time than we knew before,” said Geoff Emberling, co-leader of a University of Chicago expedition. “Studying Kush helps scholars have a better idea of what statehood meant in an ancient context outside such established power centers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.”
Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute at the university, said, “Until now, virtually all that we have known about Kush came from the historical records of their Egyptian neighbors and from limited explorations of monumental architecture at the Kushite capital city, Kerma.”
To archaeologists, knowing that a virtually unexplored land of mystery is soon to be flooded has the same effect as Samuel Johnson ascribed to one facing the gallows in the morning. It concentrates the mind.
Over the last few years, archaeological teams from Britain, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Sudan and the United States have raced to dig at sites that will soon be underwater. The teams were surprised to find hundreds of settlement ruins, cemeteries and examples of rock art that had never been studied. One of the most comprehensive salvage operations has been conducted by groups headed by Henryk Paner of the Gdansk Archaeological Museum in Poland, which surveyed 711 ancient sites in 2003 alone.
“This area is so incredibly rich in archaeology,” Derek Welsby of the British Museum said in a report last winter in Archaeology magazine.
The scale of the salvage effort hardly compares to the response in the 1960s to the Aswan High Dam, which flooded a part of Nubia that then reached into what is southern Egypt. Imposing temples that the pharaohs erected at Abu Simbel and Philae were dismantled and restored on higher ground.
The Kushites, however, left no such grand architecture to be rescued. Their kingdom declined and eventually disappeared by the end of the 16th century B.C., as Egypt grew more powerful and expansive under rulers of the period known as the New Kingdom.
In Sudan, the Merowe Dam, built by Chinese engineers with French and German subcontractors, stands at the downstream end of the fourth cataract, a narrow passage of rapids and islands. The rising Nile waters will create a lake 2 miles wide and 100 miles long, displacing more than 50,000 people of the Manasir, Rubatab and Shaigiyya tribes. Most archaeologists expect this to be their last year for exploring Kush sites nearest the former riverbanks.
In the first three months of this year, archaeologists from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago scoured the rock and ruins of a desolate site called Hosh el-Geruf, upstream from the fourth cataract and about 225 miles north of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Their most striking discovery was ample artifacts of Kushite gold processing.
‘Major Player’ The pyramids of Merowe distant relatives of the Great Pyramids, north of Khartoum. At a dig in the region, a University of Chicago team is racing to uncover ruins of the kingdom of Kush, which flourished for five centuries in the second millennium B.C. in a state society without a writing system, an extensive bureaucracy or major urban centers. More Photos >
A Lost Kingdom on the Nile Gold was already known as a source of Kush’s wealth through trade with Egypt. Other remains of gold-processing works had been found in the region, though none with such a concentration of artifacts. Dr. Emberling said that more than 55 huge grinding stones were scattered along the riverbank.
Experts in the party familiar with ancient mining technology noted that the stones were similar to ones found in Egypt in association with gold processing. The stones were used to crush ore from quartz veins. The ground bits were presumably washed with river water to separate and recover the precious metal.
“Even today, panning for gold is a traditional activity in the area,” said Bruce Williams, a research associate at the Oriental Institute and a co-leader of the expedition.
But the archaeologists saw more in their discovery than the glitter of gold. The grinding stones were too large and numerous to have been used only for processing gold for local trade. Ceramics at the site were in the style and period of Kush’s classic flowering, about 1750 B.C. to 1550 B.C.
This appeared to be strong evidence for a close relationship between the gold-processing settlement and ancient Kerma, the seat of the kingdom at the third cataract, about 250 miles downstream. The modern city of Kerma has spread over the ancient site, but some of the ruins are protected for further research by Swiss archaeologists, whose work will not be affected by the new dam.
British and Polish teams have also reported considerable evidence of the Kerma culture in cemeteries and settlement ruins elsewhere upstream from the fourth cataract. Near Hosh el-Geruf, the Chicago expedition excavated more than a third of the 90 burials in a cemetery. Grave goods indicated that these were elite burials from the same classic period and, thus, more evidence of the influence of Kerma. A few tombs had the rectangular shafts of class Kerma burials, graceful tulip-shaped beakers and jars of the Kerma type and even some vessels and jewelry from Egypt.
“The exciting thing to me,” Dr. Williams said, “is that we are really seeing intensive organization activity from a distance, and the only reasonable attribution is that it belongs to Kush.”
The primary accomplishment of the salvage project, the archaeologists said, is the realization that the kingdom of Kush in its heyday extended not just northward to the first cataract, but also southward, well beyond the fourth cataract. At places like Hosh el-Geruf, they added in an internal report, “the expedition found the Kushites’ organized search for wealth illustrated in a significant new way.”
The research is supported by the Packard Humanities Institute and the National Geographic Society. The Hosh el-Geruf site is in the research area assigned by Sudanese authorities to the Gdansk Museum, which invited the Chicago team to dig there.
By this time next year, the dammed waters may be lapping at the old gold works, and archaeologists will be looking elsewhere for clues to the mystery of how remote Kush developed the statecraft to oversee a vast realm in antiquity.
The primary accomplishment of the salvage project, the archaeologists said, is the realization that the kingdom of Kush in its heyday extended not just northward to the first cataract, but also southward, well beyond the fourth cataract. At places like Hosh el-Geruf, they added in an internal report, . . .
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
The original text is so full of nonsense it is ridiculous.
1:
quote: “This makes Kush a more major player in political and military dynamics of the time than we knew before,” said Geoff Emberling, co-leader of a University of Chicago expedition. “Studying Kush helps scholars have a better idea of what statehood meant in an ancient context outside such established power centers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.”
Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute at the university, said, “Until now, virtually all that we have known about Kush came from the historical records of their Egyptian neighbors and from limited explorations of monumental architecture at the Kushite capital city, Kerma.”
But it is not like they didnt know it was there. That has nothing to do with why they DIDNT explore it, which has more to do with not CARING about the history of civilization in Africa as opposed to NOT KNOWING about it. Of course they didn't know a lot of details about it, because they never CARED ABOUT THE DETAILS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Then they contradict what they said earlier about the Kushites not having any cities or architecture:
quote: The Kushites, however, left no such grand architecture to be rescued. Their kingdom declined and eventually disappeared by the end of the 16th century B.C., as Egypt grew more powerful and expansive under rulers of the period known as the New Kingdom.
All a boatload of B.S. to cover the fact that archaeologists and historians DIDNT WANT to uncover and reveal the glory of ancient African civilizations, especially one that was undeniably black. That is why they are JUST NOW starting to do last minute excavations as they did in Aswan as a token gesture to recover scraps of African connections to Egypt.
All of the Nile including Aswan, Kush and Meroe are part of the development of Egypt as they are part of the same cultural complex. The most ancient settlements along the nile came from the South and therefore makes Egypt PART of a Nilotic pattern of development not SEPARATE from it. But of course, they want to make Egypt seem like a SEPARATE development.
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
^Agree with the sentiments expressed here. Moreover, the euphemism of "Mesopotamia" as a state is just as real a state as "Nubia" ever was - i.e. non-existent.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Myra Wysinger: Primary evidence:
the kingdom of Kush in its heyday extended not just northward to the first cataract, but also southward, well beyond the fourth cataract. At places like Hosh el-Geruf, they added in an internal report, . . .
Archaeologists are finding widespread evidence that the kingdom of Kush once had influence over a 750-mile stretch of the Nile Valley.
Map:
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Myra Wysinger: Primary evidence:
the kingdom of Kush in its heyday extended not just northward to the first cataract, but also southward, well beyond the fourth cataract. At places like Hosh el-Geruf, they added in an internal report, . . .
Archaeologists are finding widespread evidence that the kingdom of Kush once had influence over a 750-mile stretch of the Nile Valley.
Map:
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What is MORE important is that along this 750 mile stretch of river between the 1st an 5th cataracts there were organized settlments, cities, kings and societies from PRIOR to ancient Egypt, some of whom DIRECTLY influenced the development of Egypt. This is the CRADLE of Nilotic civilization, which stretches back tens of thousands of years, to the dawn of man. Therefore, trying to pretend that Egypt is SEPARATE or that Kush is SEPARATE or that MEROE is separate or that those cultures and peoples the existed prior to them are not part of the SAME OVERALL PATTERN of settlement along the nile since prehistoric times, is RIDICULOUS. Mesopotamia has nothing to do state development along the Nile. It has to do with the PATTERNS of SETTLEMENT along the Nile that has been taking place along the Nile for tens of thousands of years, leading up to Egypt itself.
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: The original text is so full of nonsense it is ridiculous.
About the way article is written: "Sometimes we have to dig through S*** to find the pony".
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Yeah, but Myra... Doug M is already riding the pony and has escaped the S***. He's a clear thinker indeed!
Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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Its all well and good that some Western researchers may be belatedly interested in the archaeology of Kush but surely Sudan(40 million), Ethiopia(80 million)and Kenya(35 million)could have found the resources to research the area in question.
After all, the research teams that work in Ethiopia and Kenya have been able to have sizable African contingents on board.
OK the West monopolises the research resources for such thus one could have expected some minimal spill-over effect into African communities of the Americas bearing--40 million in the U.S. and 50 million in Brazil.
And the emphasis by the NY Times article on the non-literacy of Kush bearing in mind that there is a Merotic script(date?) is to be noted.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by lamin: Its all well and good that some Western researchers may be belatedly interested in the archaeology of Kush but surely Sudan(40 million), Ethiopia(80 million)and Kenya(35 million)could have found the resources to research the area in question.
After all, the research teams that work in Ethiopia and Kenya have been able to have sizable African contingents on board.
OK the West monopolises the research resources for such thus one could have expected some minimal spill-over effect into African communities of the Americas bearing--40 million in the U.S. and 50 million in Brazil.
And the emphasis by the NY Times article on the non-literacy of Kush bearing in mind that there is a Merotic script(date?) is to be noted.
I don't for a minute believe that the Kushites were illiterate this is proven by the Qustul artifact and other rock engravings from the area.
quote:Originally posted by SEEKING: Along the Nile . . . more than 50,000 people of the Manasir, Rubatab and Shaigiyya tribes. . .
quote:Originally posted by lamin: And the emphasis by the NY Times article on the non-literacy of Kush bearing in mind that there is a Merotic script(date?) is to be noted.
UNESCO Document:
Some of the languages of great ancient civilizations are still living and used by many groups. One good example comes from the Sudan and Egypt, the Nubian language of today. It is spoken in two dialects the Mahasi-Nubian and the Dongolese - Kenzi Nubian; and is written in one form using its medieval alphabet. Another example, also from the Sudan and Egypt and from Diaspora peoples in Eritrea, is the Beja language. A third example is the Meroitic language of ancient Meroe in Ancient Nubia. New research among the peoples of the Rubatab and Sulamania in the middle Nile Nubian, has shown a very strong possibility of the existence of remnants of this language.
Considering the importance of such languages, we are proposing a study: safeguarding and revitalization of the living languages of ancient Nile Valley civilizations. This is not only a language project. Actually it is about the revitalization of intercultural dialogue between the Nile Valley countries and peoples.
The project necessitates the formation of a panel of language experts from the Nile Valley countries and world universities teaching any of these languages, to build on the available information and detail out the different phases of the project. The Dept. of Archaeology, University of Khartoum, Sudan and international experts will form the starting point. Time envisaged to finish the first phase of the project is three years. [Source]
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Here is an interesting inscription from the eastern Sahara.
If you look carefully at this inscription you will detect signs similar to those found in the Manding writing, Egyptian pottery signs and etc.
The picture has inscriptions under the figures. On the left side we see a figure of a cannine and on the right we have a figure of Seth. Reading the inscriptions from right to left I will decipher the writing. Under the cannine figure we have: Be tu a ka na, or "To exist obedient to the order in joy [with the] Mother".
Reading the inscriptions under the Seth figure we have reading the inscription from right to left: i lu i gyo fa yo gyo, or " Thou hold upright this divinity of the cult, [our] Father, the vital spirit of the society consecrated to (Seth's) cult".
This figure is important in relation to the Western Sahara and the Seth cult. Michael Rice, in Egypt's Making: The Origin of Ancient Egypt 5000-2000 BC, makes it clear that Seth was the god of the Southern people and that Anubis (the canine god) was the protector of the people of the South.
In addition to this evidence of pre-Egyptian writing in Africa we also have the inscription from Oued Mertoutek.
This inscription was also found in the Sahara. It is around 5000 years old. Both these inscriptions make it clear that Africans had knowledge of writing over 6000 years ago. Given this evidence of writing in Africa,we can not positively claim that KUSHITES could not have had writing. It is clear that literacy existed in Africa around this time. A literacy that indicates that 5000 years ago there was a common ideography shared by africans in Middle Africa.
Below is a website that discuss the Oued Mertoutek engraving.
posted
Clyde Winters: Did you already take a look at Claude RILLY's first book about Meroitic (2007)? I'm currently reading it and he briefly mentioned you & your Kushana theory therein.
The book claims to provide a lot of new informations about Kush , I'll post them later.
Posts: 307 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Please call me MIDOGBE: Clyde Winters: Did you already take a look at Claude RILLY's first book about Meroitic (2007)? I'm currently reading it and he briefly mentioned you & your Kushana theory therein.
The book claims to provide a lot of new informations about Kush , I'll post them later.
No. What were his arguments against/opposing my theory?
I know his argument is that he can read Meroitic using his reconstruction of Proto-Nubian.
posted
Dar al-Manasir - the area of the Fourth Nile Cataract
The Manasir people inhabit the region of the Fourth Cataract of the Nile and call their homeland Dar al-Manasir. Similar to their neighbouring tribes, the upstream Rubatab and the downstream Shaiqiyah, the Manasir consider themselves as Arabs who originally migrated from the Arab Peninsula.
Origin
Similar to other Arab tribes, the people trace their origins back to one usually legendary apical ancestor. According to the current oral tradition of many Manasir this person is called Mansur and belongs to the line of descendents of al-'Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet Mohammed. Multiple explanations of their origin are offered (Lagnah, 2005:2):
"Since a tribe called Manasir is well known in the Gulf States and plays a prominent role in today's Arab Emirates, it is proposed that they originate from this region and migrated via Egypt to Sudan. One group of the Manasir settled further south in Central Kurdufan among the Humur tribe in al-Nuhud. Another party migrated to the Gezira area between the Blue and White Nile. [Source]
posted
Are you posting this as a joke or something?
It is seriously retarded for Africans to claim that they derive from Arabs because a handful of arabs came into the country and intermarried with some local tribes. It is sickening that such nonsense is even pushed as though it is a fact.
If that is the case, what happened to all the meroites and kushites, who were NOT arabs?
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Are you posting this as a joke or something?
It is seriously retarded for Africans to claim that they derive from Arabs because a handful of arabs came into the country and intermarried with some local tribes. It is sickening that such nonsense is even pushed as though it is a fact.
If that is the case, what happened to all the meroites and kushites, who were NOT arabs?
" . . the Manasir consider themselves as Arabs who originally migrated from the Arab Peninsula."
You don't believe in back migrations of Africans who left and came back?
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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The article doesnt say Africans who left Africa and came back, it says arabs.
Like I said a handful or few arab migrants dont make the whole population arabs. They may have more arab admixture, but that does not make them Arabs. Many people do not know that when arabs invaded Africa and other places, the reason they kill the men off (as in Sudan today) and rape the women is to produce offspring who identify with the father, ie. arabs, even though they are still mainly African. This is normally what is meant by Arabization. In this way a handful or relatively few Arabs become the "fathers" of a whole tribe of Africans, even though they are STILL mostly Africans. Then they submit the children to a often HARSH strict Islamic education and arabic indoctrination which STRIPS them of any identity as African. This is why you hear these stories about "legendary anestors" that are the forefathers of mostly African tribes, thereby producing legends that dont match with the genetic facts.
What I am saying is that "arab" in this context is a totally misleading and inaccurate identification. "Arab" in this context mostly refers to language and cultural identity as opposed to genetic ancestry. Most people in Sudan are AFRICANS with some Arab admixture, but because of the history of strife in Sudan and the predominance of Arab minded Africans in the Sudanese government, most of the Northern Sudanese identify as Arabs, because of family history and because of politics.
Such arabic perspectives is what makes this instrament a legacy of ARABS as opposed to Nile Valley Africans:
quote:Originally posted by Doug M: Are you posting this as a joke or something?
It is seriously retarded for Africans to claim that they derive from Arabs because a handful of arabs came into the country and intermarried with some local tribes. It is sickening that such nonsense is even pushed as though it is a fact.
If that is the case, what happened to all the meroites and kushites, who were NOT arabs?
" . . the Manasir consider themselves as Arabs who originally migrated from the Arab Peninsula."
You don't believe in back migrations of Africans who left and came back?
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You ask what could have happened to the Kushites and Meorites? The answer may be that many of these people migrated into West Africa.This would explain the close relationship between the Hausa and Egyptian language.
For example, itis clear from Roman documents that the Beja and Nubians came from the North. These people never belonged to the Meroitic empire. Yet today some researchers claim that they are decendants of the original Meroites.
Moreover, the C-Group people have been identified by Quellec as possessing some Niger-Congo speakers. Welmers also notes that Nubia was probably the homeland of the Niger-Congo speakers. The expansion of the Nubians into the Sudan may have led to the Meroites migrating into Wset Africa.
quote:Originally posted by Myra Wysinger: . . "the Manasir consider themselves as Arabs who originally migrated from the Arab Peninsula."
You don't believe in back migrations of Africans who left and came back?
Doug is correct. The article never said anything about Africans who became 'Arabs' but then moved back!
Ausar has explained many times before about the common tradition among many Muslim peoples(especially in Africa) who claim Arab ancestry as a way of connecting themselves to the prophet Muhammad. Some of these people go so far as to claim direct descent either from the Prophet himself or some member of his family! In fact, notice how the article even states that these people claim descent from an "uncle" of the Prophet! LOLPosts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
I'm a political buff just as much as I am a history buff. I always tell people to assume the general public don't know as much as you do on specific issues. A lot of people don't know a lot of the Romans...they just get more attention. So it doesn't surprise me that the NYT says things like Kush never had a written language, because they probably just don't know any better. But the idea that Kush is some culture that no one ever knew existed is BS all around anyway.
Posts: 1219 | From: North Carolina, USA | Registered: Jul 2004
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You ask what could have happened to the Kushites and Meorites? The answer may be that many of these people migrated into West Africa.
According to what genetic studies and archeological indicators?
quote:Clyde Winters:
This would explain the close relationship between the Hausa and Egyptian language.
Yes, given that they all belong to the same language family, this is to be expected. Hausa is considered to be largely tonal, whereas Egyptian is considered to be closer to the largely non-tonal languages of Semitic and Tamazight/Tamasheq, and then Bedawi.
quote:Clyde Winters:
For example, itis clear from Roman documents that the Beja and Nubians came from the North.
North of where? What would the Romans know about the actual origins of these people?
quote:Clyde Winters:
These people never belonged to the Meroitic empire. Yet today some researchers claim that they are decendants of the original Meroites.
Which researchers proclaim the Bedawi were the original Meroites? The so-called Nubians of the Nile Valley are by and large indigenous to those regions, including descendants of Kushites/Meroites; they hadn't undergone extinction - we've been through this.
quote:Clyde Winters:
Moreover, the C-Group people have been identified by Quellec as possessing some Niger-Congo speakers.
Based on what? The archeologically designated C-group had left no literature, but based on biological and archeological indicators, they represent continuity with other specimens of the region.
Re: Relationship with Prophet.
Yes, sections of Muslim populations of Africa are known proclaim 'false' genealogies linking to the Prophet Muhammad.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
He didn't *refute* your theory, he just said that:
"After Zyhlarz's works, Meroitic studies didn't experience many attempts of excentric decipherment, especially if one compares them with Etruscan studies, which still keep on generating more and more extravagant hypothesises. One can still mention C.A. Winters' works, who links Meroitic to Tokharian (an Indo-European language from the Tarim Bassin, Western China, attested in VII-VIIIth century AD as two dialects. The second dialect is named Koutchéen after the name of the Koutcha Oasis where were found many manuscripts. Its paronymy with the name of Koush constitutes one of Winters' arguments) on the light of Afro-Centrist theories, and who has recently published a "translation" [quotation marks not mine] of Taneyidamani's stela (REM 1044). [After citing a bunch of other attempts of decipherment, he goes on to say]. One can hardly expect progress from such claims as much heteroclite as unsubtantiated."
Claude RILLY (2007), La langue du royaume de Méroé : un panorama de la plus ancienne culture écrite d'Afrique subsaharienne, Paris : H. Champion, p.56
quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters:
quote:Originally posted by Please call me MIDOGBE: Clyde Winters: Did you already take a look at Claude RILLY's first book about Meroitic (2007)? I'm currently reading it and he briefly mentioned you & your Kushana theory therein.
The book claims to provide a lot of new informations about Kush , I'll post them later.
No. What were his arguments against/opposing my theory?
I know his argument is that he can read Meroitic using his reconstruction of Proto-Nubian.
quote:Originally posted by Please call me MIDOGBE: He didn't *refute* your theory, he just said that:
"After Zyhlarz's works, Meroitic studies didn't experience many attempts of excentric decipherment, especially if one compares them with Etruscan studies, which still keep on generating more and more extravagant hypothesises. One can still mention C.A. Winters' works, who links Meroitic to Tokharian (an Indo-European language from the Tarim Bassin, Western China, attested in VII-VIIIth century AD as two dialects. The second dialect is named Koutchéen after the name of the Koutcha Oasis where were found many manuscripts. Its paronymy with the name of Koush constitutes one of Winters' arguments) on the light of Afro-Centrist theories, and who has recently published a "translation" [quotation marks not mine] of Taneyidamani's stela (REM 1044). [After citing a bunch of other attempts of decipherment, he goes on to say]. One can hardly expect progress from such claims as much heteroclite as unsubtantiated."
Claude RILLY (2007), La langue du royaume de Méroé : un panorama de la plus ancienne culture écrite d'Afrique subsaharienne, Paris : H. Champion, p.56
quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters:
quote:Originally posted by Please call me MIDOGBE: Clyde Winters: Did you already take a look at Claude RILLY's first book about Meroitic (2007)? I'm currently reading it and he briefly mentioned you & your Kushana theory therein.
The book claims to provide a lot of new informations about Kush , I'll post them later.
No. What were his arguments against/opposing my theory?
I know his argument is that he can read Meroitic using his reconstruction of Proto-Nubian.
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Thanks for the information. Can you tell us more about the book? It appears that it is 600 pages.
I can't really imagine what he can be talking about in 600 pages.
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
It is sad, but many important facts and pieces of evidence have been rotting in the sun since the time of the Meroites. There are whole cities that lay baking in Sudan whom no one seems interested in studying from Medieval Dongola and other sites.
There is so much history in Sudan covering more than 10,000 years of history from early human habitations, to predynastic Egypt to Kush and Meroe to the Medieval city states it is ridiculous.
Not to mention the linkages between Kush and India:
(It is funny but Bollywood cinema is popular in Sudan....)
As well as Kush and the later christian empires: (note the cherub that is so similar to early christian motifs) Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
^^ I've not finished reading the book yet, but it reveals to be pretty interesting. The author not only relies on comparative genetic linguistics to get more info about the language, but also on likely Proto-Meroitic names in Egyptian documents as early as Egyptian's MK, bilingual documents, etc.
The chapters of his work deal with the following issues: -History of the Meroitic language written evidence and studies, the nature of the documents where they were found. -Meroitic Phonology -The principles of the writing system -The different hypothesises about Meroitic's genetic position -Some assumptions about the language's grammar.
He also will likely publish distinct works about Meroitic classification & lexicon.
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