It's always interesting to look at science and understand how things develop, evolve and lead from one thing to another...you should try it sometime. In your weird mind the wheel popped out of nowhere, and there it was.
NEW RADIOCARBON DATES ON THE CEREALS FROM WADI KUBBANIYA
Science 10 August 1984: Vol. 225 no. 4662 pp. 645-646 DOI:10.1126/science.225.4662.645
quote: Fred Wendorf et al. 1988. New radiocarbon dates and Late Palaeolithic diet at Wadi Kubbaniya, Egypt. Antiquity 62
Vegetable remains are a rarity in Palaeolithic contexts. These new determinations on material from southern Egypt establish securely the date of an intensive grass-tuber and fish economy in the Nile Valley towards 20,000 years ago.
In 1978, during test excavations at a group of Late Palaeolithic sites in Wadi Kubbaniya, near Aswan, Egypt, several grains of barley and one grain of einkorn were found, seemingly firmly associated with a buried hearth (E-78-4) (Wendorf et al. 1979; 1980). Because of the potential significance of this discovery, a major effort was made in 1981-4 to recover more remains of food plants, particularly cereals. Large-scale excavations were conducted at three localities (E-78-3, E-78-4 and E-81-1), and 24 others were partially excavated or tested. Our discussion here will be limited to sites in one geomorphic settings: those in the massive field of dune sand and interfingering lenses of Nile silt. The stone artefacts at the sites are characterized by an abundance of Ouchtate bladelets, which sometimes make up over 80% of the retouched tools, occasional, well-made burins (often on Levallois flakes), scaled pieces, notches, denticulates and truncations.
Flotation could not be used for plant recovery because most of the remains were extremely fragile and disintegrated on contact with water. Instead, several hundred cubic metres of dry sediment were processed through specially constructed sets of graded screens. This yielded a large quantity of plant remains, including barley grains from near the surface of site E-78-3 and date-stones from E-78-3 and E-81-1. Some of the barley grains were blackish in colour, but neither they nor the date-stones were actually charred. Numerous grinding-stones, presumed to have been used for processing the cereals, were found in the sites, often deeply buried, and reinforced the supposed association of the cereals with the Late Palaeolithic occupations. Radiocarbon dates on associated wood charcoal placed the occupations between 18,500 and 17,000 b.p. These finds led some of us to suggest an early origin of food production, with subsequent implications for the initial development of complex societies.
While the Kubbaniya excavations were still under way, it became possible to date very small samples, even individual cereal grains, by the then-new technology of the tandem accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS), and the Kubbaniya cereals and date-stones were among the first materials dated by this technology. The cereal grains were dated at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the date-stones at the Oxford University facility; all were shown to be relatively modern contaminants. The idea that cereals and dates had been important components of the Late Palaeolithic economy of Wadi Kubbaniya was therefore abandoned (Wendorf et al. 1984; Gowlett 1987).
Although we are still unable to agree on how apparently undisturbed archaeological horizons were contaminated by relatively modern plant materials, this experience demonstrates that we must be extremely cautious in evaluating the association of isolated plant fragments with archaeological contexts. At the very least, all such materials found outside their expected areal or temporal ranges should be subjected to direct (AMS) dating, and many of those within their expected ranges should also be dated (Harris 1986; 1987; Legge 1986).
The charred plant remains recovered at the Kubbaniyan sites consisted mostly of wood charcoal, all of which has been identified as tamarisk (Tomczynska, in press). There was also a significant collection of food plant preserved by charring, among which most of the identified specimens are purple nut-grass tubers (Cyperus rotundus). Other identified remains include tubers of club-rush (Scirpus sp. of the S. maritimus or S. tuberosus type), a fern, seeds of chamomile, asparagus, club-rush, an umbell, the receptacle from a flower-bud of a water-lily and fruit fragments of dom palm (Hyphaene thebaica) and Tribulus; identified seeds from human coprolites include club-rush and chamomile (Hillman et al. in press; Hillman in press). These plants still occur today along the Nile and grow either on the terraces and banks, or in marshy areas adjacent to the river.
After the experience with the cereals and data-stones, it seemed prudent to submit several samples of the most abundant class of charred plant-food remains for AMS dating. Twelve specimens were selected, including 11 tubers of purple nut-grass and one tuber of a club-rush. Three specimens were selected from each of two sites and six from the third, all of them indisputably charred. The results are shown in TABLE 1.
Prior to the accelerator measurement, the samples were combusted to CO2, which was then converted by a catalytic process to graphite powder. The graphite powder was packed under pressure into an aluminum target holder and mounted in the ion source of the accelerator. The ratios of 14C/13C in the target samples and in standard samples made from, NBS oxalic acid were made in the manner described by Donahue et al. (in press). the ages given in TABLE 1 are radiocarbon ages calculated from 14C half-life of 5568 years, and the uncertainties are standard deviations of the average of several measurements of each quantity. The measurements were not corrected for variation in 13C/12C ratios. Such corrections would not change the results by more than 25 years.
The results thus confirm that the charred Cyperus tubers were contemporaneous with the Late Palaeolithic occupations. They are in general agreement with the radiocarbon dates given in TABLE 2, which were obtained by traditional methods on wood charcoal from the same layers of the same sites (Haas in press).
However, the AMS and conventional dates do not correspond entirely: statistical analysis shows that AMS dates are definitely younger at site E-81-1, tend to be rather younger at Site E-78-3, and tend to be rather older at Site E-78-4 (Hietala in press). Further research will be needed to resolve this discrepancy.
The excavation techniques used at Kubbaniya resulted not only in the recovery of plant-remains, but also of a much more complete faunal collection than had previously been known from the Nile Valley. This is particularly true of the fish fauna, which includes the fragile remains of young animals and smaller species. Together, the faunal and floral collections recovered from the Kubbaniyan sites provide our first glimpse of what must have been a very complex and seasonally diverse diet during the Late Palaeolithic in the Nile Valley (Gautier & Van Neer in press; Hillman et al. in press; Hillman in press).
When mature, the wet-land tubers are rich in carbohydrates, but they must also contain toxins and an excess of fibre and must be processed before they can be consumed in quantity. The processing includes roasting, crushing, grinding and perhaps leaching to eliminate the toxins and to make the fibre more digestible. We suggest that the grinding stones in the sites were used primarily for this purpose, and for the grinding of other fibrous foods, such as reed rhizomes and Hyphaene fruits (Hillman et al. in press). Such use is also indicated by the chemical analysis of traces of organic compounds on one of the grinding-stones, showing high values for cellulosics (which could indicate starch, as well as cellulose sensu stricto) and low values for proteins (Jones in press).
The collections of fish bones from the Kubbaniyan sites in the dune field consist primarily of adult catfish (Clarias), with an occasional Tilapia and eel (Gautier & Van Neer in press). this is interpreted as reflecting a massive harvest of catfish during the spawn, which in the Nile Valley begins with the onset of the seasonal flood (in July) and ends just before the water begins to recede (in early September). The excavations also yielded numbers of bird bones, many of which are of sucks and geese which today winter in Egypt, plus rather less frequent bones of large mammals (essentially wild cattle, hartebeest and gazelle). there were occasional shells of Unio abyssinicus, an edible freshwater mussel.
The floral and faunal remains from the dune sites also provide our best clues to the seasonal use of these localities. The yearly round in the Nile Valley begins with the seasonal flood, which rises gradually in early July but then expands rapidly to reach its peak, 7m or more above low water, in mid-August and early September. There is an almost equally rapid decline, with the season of lowest waters from February through June. At peak flood, the water spreads far beyond its normal limits and covers the broad floodplain. In the Late Palaeolithic, the channels of the main river were several metres higher than today and the seasonal rise was at least as great. Thus, during the season of the maximum flood, the floodplain extended several kilometres up Wadi Kubbaniya, over and beyond the massive dunefield in which the sites occur.
It was probably during the period of rising water, from perhaps mid-July until just before the peak of the flood in mid-August, the the intensive harvest of spawning catfish occurred (Gautier & Van Neer in press). The quantities of fish taken during the spawn harvest were so large (one site yielded 130,280 fish bones) that they may have exceeded immediate needs and some of the fish may have been dried or smoked for later consumption.
When the floodwaters covered the dune sites, the people either shifted to the sandstone escarpments on either side of the wadi or, more likely, simply moved up the wadi ahead of the flood to continue the fish-harvest at the edge of the water. Sites that might have been occupied during the highest-water phase are not known; they have presumably been destroyed by deflation. There may also have been some large mammal hunting at this time. The rising water would have forced the animals from the lowland areas to the edge of the floodplain where there was less cover and beyond which there was neither food nor shelter.
As the floodwaters began to recede, fishing probably continued in the swales and cut-off ponds, although we have no direct evidence of this. Such evidence would be extremely difficult to detect among the numerous bones resulting from the spawn-harvest, although distinctive fish spectra, indicating post-flood fishing in cut-off pools, were recovered at some earlier Late Palaeolithic sites in the area.
Plants were also important components of the diet after the seasonal flood. Among the first may have been seeds of annuals, including chamomile, which are available in October soon after the flood recedes. The gathering of nut-grass and club-rush tubers could have begun at about the same time, at which point they would have required only rubbing and roasting to be edible (Hillman et al. in press). However, they reach their maximum food-value only at maturity, in December and January, when they also require complex processing, including grinding or pounding. The grinding-stones and carbonized tubers in the dune sites suggest occupation during the winter months. Purple nut-grass probably grew as a dense carpet over much of the wadi, including the dune areas, and a surplus beyond immediate needs could have been gathered at this time and stored for later consumption; once dried, the tubers retain their food value for several months. It was probably also during the winter that the ducks and geese were taken.
Use of the dunes sites still later in the year is indicated by the presence of dom palm fruits, which mature in February and March, and by the occasional shells of Unio abyssinicus; the Unio probably could be gathered only in the period between February and the end of June. However, there is no evidence that these sites were much used in the driest part of the year (from March until July), and, indeed, it seems likely that most settlements at that time were inside the valley, close to the deeper channels. Such sites are unknown at Kubbaniya and will be rarely found elsewhere, since most of them were destroyed by the down-cutting by the river during the Holocene.
Large mammals were probably taken throughout the year, but they were not so important as fish as sources of protein and fats. Despite the larger size and greater density of mammal bones, they represent only about 1% of all bone in the dune sites. It is possible that these sites were not used during the major hunting periods, but the fish and floral remains indicate some use of them during most of the year.
It is important to note that we are not suggesting semi-permanent or permanent occupations, but rather a settlement system which involved the re-use of key areas to exploit a variety of seasonal resources. Hillman and others (in press) have observed that the plant-food resources which would have been locally available could have supported occupation in one location for most of the year, even without food-storage, but there is no direct evidence for the use of all these potential resources. Instead, the evidence suggests a new economic system in the Nile Valley, based upon the intensive exploitation of a few seasonally available foods which lend themselves to processing and storage for later consumption. Such intensive exploitation is evident in the summer when large quantities of spawning catfish were taken, and in the autumn, winter and spring when wet-land tubers were gathered and processed. Together, these two foods could have provided all the basic components of a balanced diet: the catfish are rich in protein and fat and the wet-land tubers and dom palm fruits contribute the carbohydrates and dietary fibre. Other sources of food were certainly known and used, but their contribution to the diet may have been not essential and less important.
References Donahue, D.J., et al. In press. Some results from the Arizona TAMS facility: AMS ages of athletic, artistic and animal artifacts. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research
Gautier, A. & Van Neer, W. In press. Animal remains from the Late Palaeolithic sequence at Wadi Kubbaniya, in Wendorf, Schild & Close (in press)
Gowlett, J.A. & Hedges, R.E.M (ed.). 1986. Archaeological results from accelerator dating. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology
Haas, H. In press. The radiocarbon dates from Wadi Kubbaniya, in Wendorf, Schild & Close (in press)
Harris, D.R. 1986. Plant and animal domestication and the origins of agriculture: the contribution of radiocarbon accelerator dating, in Gowlett & Hedges (1986): 5-12
Harris, D.R. 1987. The impact on archaeology of radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London Series A 323: 23-43
Hietala, H.J. In press. Contemporaneity and occupational duration of the Kubbaniya sites: an analysis and interpretation of the radiocarbon dates, in Wendorf, Schild & Close (in press)
Hillman, G.C. In press. Late Palaeolithic plant diet and seasonality in a riverine environment: the charred remains of wild plant foods from Wadi Kubbaniya. In Harris, D.R. & Hillman, G.C. (eds.), Foraging and farming: the evolution of plant exploitation. London: Allen & Unwin
Hillman, G.C., et al. In press. Wild plant-foods and diet at Late Paleolithic Wadi Kubbaniya: the evidence from charred remains, in Wendorf, Schild & Close (in press)
Jones, C.E.R. In press. Archaeochemistry: fact or fancy?, in Wendorf, Schild & Close (in press)
Legge, A.J. 1986. Seeds of discontent: accelerator dates on some charred plant remains from the Kebaran and Natufian cultures, in Gowlett & Hedges (1986): 13-21
Tomczynska, Z. In press. Identification of charcoal fragments from Late Palaeolithic sites in Wadi Kubbaniya, in Wendorf, Schild & Close (in press)
Wendorf, F., Schild, R. & Close, A.E. (eds.) 1980. Loaves and fishes: the prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya. Dallas: Department of Anthropology. Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University
Wendorf, F., et al. In press. Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya Volume 2: paleoenvironment and stratigraphic studies. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press
Wendorf, F., et al. 1984. New radiocarbon dates on the cereals from Wadi Kubbaniya. Science 225: 645-6
Wendorf, F., et al. 1979. the use of barley in the Egyptian Late Paleolithic. Science 205: 1341-7
Posts: 22234 | From: האם אינכם כילדי הכרית אלי בני ישראל | Registered: Nov 2010
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The first breakthroughs to civilization took place in the Fertile Crescent, in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and in the valley of the Nile River during the middle of the fourth millennium BC. The land is flat, and the climate there alternated between the hot and the dry and the very wet, the latter producing flooding of the rivers and swamps. In Mesopotamia, the behavior of the rivers was violent and unpredictable, while in Egypt, the flooding of the Nile was more predictable. The problem facing these peoples inhabiting these lands was to control the water of these rivers by constructing a complex system of canals, dikes, ditches, and reservoirs.
Egyptian Pump.
There were, in short, challenges to be overcome by human skill and ingenuity. Once the rivers were more or less under control, then agriculture flourished, providing the sustenance for a large and growing population. Invented in the process were the ox-drawn plow, the wheel and axle, and the sail. They also developed metallurgy, learning to use copper, tin, and bronze. Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations share a number of feature, some of which will be noted in the course of this class. Important differences also exist. In Mesopotamia, life was uncertain (the rivers were difficult to control and the land was open to invasion) and the outlook of the people was pessimistic; in contrast, the Egyptians were more optimistic (the Nile was predictable and the desert shielded them from invasion).
^^^^^ this is from the Univeristy of North Carolina at Pembroke.
I'm not sure if that particular model is an ancient design or if it's a variation on the sakia mentioned below, could be a mistake
Giovanni Battista Belzoni ( 1778 – 1823), sometimes known as The Great Belzoni was barber, circus performer, a prolific Italian explorer, tomb robber and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities.
At the age of 40 in 1812, Belzoni left England with his wife Sara. They journeyed to Malta, where Belzoni learned from a Captain Ishmail that the Pasha of Egypt, a former Macedonian mercenary named Muhammed Ali, needed a hydraulic engineer. Ali was very Western-minded, desiring modern knowledge to develop his poverty-stricken country. Belzoni wrote of Cairo, "It was barbarous, really barbarous, and it remains so to this day." Of course, he came to the city when it was torn apart by plague.
When Belzoni finally got an audience with the Pasha, Ali was less than enthusiastic about his plans for a new ox-driven water pump (designed by a man by the last name of Allmark) but he did award Belzoni a tiny government allowance which permitted him to live a while longer in Egypt.
Recent scholarship suggests that the water wheel originates from Ptolemaic Egypt, where it appeared by the 3rd century BC.[44][45] This is seen as an evolution of the paddle-driven water-lifting wheels that had been known in Egypt a century earlier.[44] According to John Peter Oleson, both the compartmented wheel and the hydraulic Noria may have been invented in Egypt by the 4th century BC, with the Sakia being invented there a century later. This is supported by archeological finds at Faiyum, Egypt, where the oldest archeological evidence of a water-wheel has been found, in the form of a Sakia dating back to the 3rd century BC. A papyrus dating to the 2nd century BC also found in Faiyum mentions a water wheel used for irrigation, a 2nd-century BC fresco found at Alexandria depicts a compartmented Sakia, and the writings of Callixenus of Rhodes mention the use of a Sakia in Ptolemaic Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy IV in the late 3rd century BC.
Örjan Wikander (2008). "Chapter 6: Sources of Energy and Exploitation of Power". In John Peter Oleson. The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford University Press. pp. 141–2. ISBN 0-19-518731-8
^ Jump up to: a b Adriana de Miranda (2007). Water architecture in the lands of Syria: the water-wheels. L'Erma di Bretschneider. pp. 38–9. ISBN 88-8265-433-8
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
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quote:Originally posted by the lioness,:
Good stuff from Intef and do! Been trying to find KV155 art these past few days.
Posts: 8179 | From: the Tekrur straddling Senegal & Mauritania | Registered: Dec 2011
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Nice to know folks are dispelling the nonsense that the Egyptians never had a "wheel". Even predynastic graves yielded stone circles with hollow centers and sticks. I don't know how the notion that Egyptians never had a wheel ever got promoted. But then there is also the nonsense that other Africans didn't have a wheel until Europeans came along. Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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The fact that the chariots found in West Africa resemble those of Crete does not mean that the riders of these chariots had to have come from Crete. In fact Greek traditions make it clear that the ancient Cretans, called Minoans came from Africa
The Dravidian and African languages share similar names for the wheel. For example:
Galla makurakura Tulu gali, tagori Swahili guru, dumu Mande koli, kori, muru-fe Tamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri Ka. gali tiguri, tigari
It would appear that the proto-African-Dravidian term for wheel was *-ori / *-uri *go/uri and *ko/uri. The proto-South Dravidian term for wheel *tigu/ori . The linguistic evidence suggest that in the proto- language the speakers of proto-African-Dravidian used either the vowels o/u or a/i after the consonants. It is also evident that the l and r, were interchangeable in the construction of the term for wheel.
It is clear that African people employed chariots in aadition to boats to travel long distances in many parts of Africa.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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In addition to chariots West Africans also used ox carts at Dhar Tichitt. Holl says these ox carts date back to the Early Iconographic Tradition at Dhar Tichitt.
The presents of ox-carts at Dar Tichitt highlight the early use of wheeled transportation in West Africa.
This is evident in an examination of the Mande and Dravidian (Tamil) words for wheel and round. The words for wheel are Mande koli, kori, muru-fe; and Tamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri, in Kanada: gali tiguri, tigari. The term for cart in Tamil is Kal. In the Mande languages the word for round is Kuru,kulu, the word for carriage is is also Kulu and Kuru. The existence of Kal in Tamil for wheel and cart, and in the Mande languages: Koli for wheel and Kulu for carriage indicate that the original Proto-Dravido-African term for cart was probably *Kali or kuli. .
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
Posts: 8179 | From: the Tekrur straddling Senegal & Mauritania | Registered: Dec 2011
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In addition to chariots West Africans also used ox carts at Dhar Tichitt. Holl says these ox carts date back to the Early Iconographic Tradition at Dhar Tichitt.
The presents of ox-carts at Dar Tichitt highlight the early use of wheeled transportation in West Africa.
This is evident in an examination of the Mande and Dravidian (Tamil) words for wheel and round. The words for wheel are Mande koli, kori, muru-fe; and Tamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri, in Kanada: gali tiguri, tigari. The term for cart in Tamil is Kal. In the Mande languages the word for round is Kuru,kulu, the word for carriage is is also Kulu and Kuru. The existence of Kal in Tamil for wheel and cart, and in the Mande languages: Koli for wheel and Kulu for carriage indicate that the original Proto-Dravido-African term for cart was probably *Kali or kuli. .
Hol says the carts date 620-380 BC according to Munson and Munson 1971
Posts: 42920 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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In addition to chariots West Africans also used ox carts at Dhar Tichitt. Holl says these ox carts date back to the Early Iconographic Tradition at Dhar Tichitt.
The presents of ox-carts at Dar Tichitt highlight the early use of wheeled transportation in West Africa.
This is evident in an examination of the Mande and Dravidian (Tamil) words for wheel and round. The words for wheel are Mande koli, kori, muru-fe; and Tamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri, in Kanada: gali tiguri, tigari. The term for cart in Tamil is Kal. In the Mande languages the word for round is Kuru,kulu, the word for carriage is is also Kulu and Kuru. The existence of Kal in Tamil for wheel and cart, and in the Mande languages: Koli for wheel and Kulu for carriage indicate that the original Proto-Dravido-African term for cart was probably *Kali or kuli. .
Hol says the carts date 620-380 BC according to Munson and Munson 1971
The date for the ox cart does not really matter. The fact that it was found is evidence they were used in West Africa.
The existence of Kal in Tamil for wheel and cart, and in the Mande languages: Koli for wheel and Kulu for carriage indicate that the original Proto-Dravido-African term for cart was probably *Kali or kuli. This is important because it indicates that wheeled vehicles were already in use in Africa before the Dravidians and Mande speaking people entered Eurasia 5kya.
posted
Hol says the carts date 620-380 BC according to Munson and Munson 1971 (Phd Dissertation)
The Tichitt tradition : a late prehistoric occupation of the southwestern Sahara Muson and Munson 1971
quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: The date for the ox cart does not really matter. The fact that it was found is evidence they were used in West Africa.
The existence of Kal in Tamil for wheel and cart, and in the Mande languages: Koli for wheel and Kulu for carriage indicate that the original Proto-Dravido-African term for cart was probably *Kali or kuli. This is important because it indicates that wheeled vehicles were already in use in Africa before the Dravidians and Mande speaking people entered Eurasia 5kya.
^^^ this paper was put up earlier but it's only the first page. haven't read the whole thing
The rock art however is notoriously difficult to date however
I dont know much about this topic. So if there's these pictures of carts in West Africa isupposedly in 620-380 BC can it be assumed they invented them independantly there? I don't know. if they did their use should continue into later dates.
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Wheeled vehicles found in ancient West Africa- in Niger for example
Robin Law, The Horse in West African History, 1980- pg 160, 155-163) "Heavy draught work in these early times had therefore to be done by oxen rather than horses; and there are, in addition to the horse-drawn chariots, numerous rock engravings depicting ox-drawn carts in both the central and the western Sahara. However by the Islamic era wheeled transport had apparently gone completely out of use in the Sahara... "
then it talks about the engravings in Mali:
"The most southerly depiction of a wheeled cart in Saharan rock art is an engraving at TOndia, near Goundam to the northwest of the Niger bend: unfortunately the engraving is too stylized for it to be clear whether the draught animals shown are intended to be horses or oxen."
"Interestingly, the earliest representation of wheeled vehicle from Egypt (tomb of Sebeknekht at El Kab, Dynasty XIII) shows sledges, mounted on four disk wheels rather than rollers."
-- Wheeled vehicles and ridden animals in the ancient Near East (1997), By M. A. Littauer, J. H. Crouwel. p14 -------------------------------------------------------- "Little is known about the raising of loads using ropes, but stone grooves and pulleys, around which ropes would have passed, are preserved from the 4th Dynasty, and wooden wheels for simple rope pulleys existed from the Middle Kingdom onwards."
------------------------------------- "Much earlier forerunners are shown in tomb paintings of the late Old Kingdom and the 11th Dynasty showing siege towers with wheels; depictions of movable siege towers exist from the 6th Dynasty onwards.) This indicates that the wheel was used in the transport of heavy loads more frequently than assumed.. The use of wheeled equipment in building is not yet attested to but may have been fairly common. The soft surface of the desert sand and the mud of the cultivation may have been a serious obstacle for heavy carriages but not so much for sledges."
--The encyclopaedia of ancient Egyptian architecture By Dieter Arnold. 2002. p 195 -------------------------- "In all probability wheels would have been of little practical use, for the building blocks used were far too large and too heavy to be carried on a wooden-wheeled cart. The relative scarcity of wood in ancient Egypt would have made the building of such carts difficult and overcoming the practical and technical difficulties of building carts to carry and move great weights would have probably proved impossible.
Wheels would have been, in any event, a far from practical method of transport on either agricultural land or the desert where they would have become quickly bogged down in either mud or sand."
--R. Partridge. (1996) Transport in ancient Egypt. p76
WHeeled carts also seen in movement of material during religious processions
"The solid wooden wheel existed from the Old Kingdom, but it was too heavy for regular transport use over rough ground surfaces and was only employed on four wheeled carriages, which sometimes carried coffins or the god's sacred bark during his festival procession." --Rosalie David 1999. HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. p260
Nubians may have manufactured wheeled vehicles- chariots
"Nubia, too, must have benefited from the international arms trade. Although battle scenes show Nubian enemies conventionally as bowmen with relatively little equipment, other sources show the use of chariots by the elite, and the "tribute" scenes show weaponry and armor that was manufactured in Nubia... the inclusion of chariots as part of the Kushite tribute to Egypt suggests that they, too, were eventually being manufactured in Nubia itself". --R. Morkot 2003. Historical Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian Warfare p26 -----------------------------------------
quote:Originally posted by alTakruri: 5th Dynasty Old Kingdom wheels on a scaffold.
A fuller view of the wheeled device depicted in Kaemheset's tomb appears to be a builder's scaffold rather than a war machine. Note the men on it have contractor's tools not weapons. Also nothing going on on the four floors inside the building remotely suggest a siege is happening,
12th Dynasty Middle Kingdom potters' wheels
How old is the myth about Khnum sculpting freshly conceived children on a turntable.
^Excellent example Tukler.
Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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I read that cog-wheels and gears were used in somalia, particularly in deeply dug wells, which were needed as parts of somalia are very arid and can see very little rain. Just goes to show, if the wheel is needed, it'll be used, adapted, or independently invented.
Posts: 74 | From: Kanata | Registered: Oct 2013
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quote:Originally posted by HidayaAkade: There's a book on African written scripts by Saki Mafundikwa. I have it and it's a good book.
The book is called Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. It's a good book. Very visual. I like it. It is also appropriate for children imo (especially those who likes arts, forms, history, drawing and curious in general). It is the type of book some children could read/browse fast, but never forget it, if you know what I mean.
Posts: 2981 | Registered: Jan 2012
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quote:Originally posted by blingdogg: I also read that the Asantehene ruler had a large collection of books that the British found when they attacked. As nice as it sounds, I don’t believe that there was much literacy within the Asante empire, at least among the Asante people. The Asante were known for using Islamic talismans and portions of scriptures from the Quran (even though they didn’t know Arabic) sewed into clothing, or worn, for their spiritual properties and belief that they brought good fortune.
They did however, encourage Hausa scholars and Hausa people in general, to settle in Asante because they were literate in Arabic. The Asante assigned various positions in government to Hausa for helping in administration, so maybe some of those books could have been brought by Hausa from the north.
However, it’s not to discount that the Asante themselves never learned to read also.
One thing I really admire about the Asante is the extremely developed and complex government structure they had, without literacy (their use of drums also helped in communication across distances). It impressed the British tremendously, and dispelled their myths of “African savages”. The Asante really showed that a civilization doesn't require literacy, and that pre-literate African states were just as complex as the Islamic ones, and those of the rest of the world.
The Akan writing system (Adinkra) is very much writing and they were very much literate in it, though they are not the originates of it. I believe it came from Cote D'Ivore and I forget who created it. Adinkra isn't syllabic though, it is a logographic, like Chinese and Japanese for example. There was a great peer reviewed article on the subject I read some months ago. I will post the name of it, when I get a chance.
Posts: 1296 | From: the planet | Registered: May 2011
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quote:Originally posted by HidayaAkade: There's a book on African written scripts by Saki Mafundikwa. I have it and it's a good book.
The book is called Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. It's a good book. Very visual. I like it. It is also appropriate for children imo (especially those who likes arts, forms, history, drawing and curious in general). It is the type of book some children could read/browse fast, but never forget it, if you know what I mean.
I just checked Amazon. They want 500 dollars for that darn book.
Posts: 1296 | From: the planet | Registered: May 2011
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quote:Originally posted by HidayaAkade: There's a book on African written scripts by Saki Mafundikwa. I have it and it's a good book.
The book is called Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. It's a good book. Very visual. I like it. It is also appropriate for children imo (especially those who likes arts, forms, history, drawing and curious in general). It is the type of book some children could read/browse fast, but never forget it, if you know what I mean.
I just checked Amazon. They want 500 dollars for that darn book.
Sorry, I didn't know about that. When I bought it, it didn't cost nearly as much (they put it on the rare item category i guess). Maybe there's some other places online with some better prices.
Here's a link to a video presentation by Saki Mafundikwa:
Why so damn expensive??? Anyways I am watching the video and this mans seems to know his stuff when it comes to writing in Africa. The book has good reviews on Amazon. It seems to focus on the less known writing scripts of Africa. But one reviewer asked why the book didnt include the Nubian Meroiric script.
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posted
03:14 into the video and its damn interesting! He talks about the many writing scripts and them being used by secret society. He talks about the Nsibidi script. I thought it was a recent script created in the 19th century, but I did research and found that its origin is unknown and that it is centuries old...
Does anyone know the origins of it?
Posts: 1135 | From: Top secret | Registered: Jun 2012
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quote:Originally posted by HidayaAkade: There's a book on African written scripts by Saki Mafundikwa. I have it and it's a good book.
The book is called Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. It's a good book. Very visual. I like it. It is also appropriate for children imo (especially those who likes arts, forms, history, drawing and curious in general). It is the type of book some children could read/browse fast, but never forget it, if you know what I mean.
I just checked Amazon. They want 500 dollars for that darn book.
Sorry, I didn't know about that. When I bought it, it didn't cost nearly as much (they put it on the rare item category i guess). Maybe there's some other places online with some better prices.
Here's a link to a video presentation by Saki Mafundikwa:
Ahhh this guy! I saw that video when it was first released. Wish that book wasn't so much, very disappointing Posts: 1296 | From: the planet | Registered: May 2011
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quote:Originally posted by Son of Ra: 03:14 into the video and its damn interesting! He talks about the many writing scripts and them being used by secret society. He talks about the Nsibidi script. I thought it was a recent script created in the 19th century, but I did research and found that its origin is unknown and that it is centuries old...
Does anyone know the origins of it?
That is the "problem" with trying to track the history of African scripts. Most if not all are associated with secret societies. My family is from Southern Sierra Leone where Poro society is strong and there is a script there. This seems to be a African tradition of having scripts in the societies. Herodotus made the claim that the Egyptians had a Hidden script only known by the priest and another for the general public.
Posts: 1296 | From: the planet | Registered: May 2011
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quote:Originally posted by Son of Ra: 03:14 into the video and its damn interesting! He talks about the many writing scripts and them being used by secret society. He talks about the Nsibidi script. I thought it was a recent script created in the 19th century, but I did research and found that its origin is unknown and that it is centuries old...
Does anyone know the origins of it?
That is the "problem" with trying to track the history of African scripts. Most if not all are associated with secret societies. My family is from Southern Sierra Leone where Poro society is strong and there is a script there. This seems to be a African tradition of having scripts in the societies. Herodotus made the claim that the Egyptians had a Hidden script only known by the priest and another for the general public.
Why are the scripts only confined to secret societies?
Also what can you tell me about the Bassa script? There are claims that say its as old Hannibal/Carthage.
Posts: 1135 | From: Top secret | Registered: Jun 2012
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quote:Originally posted by HidayaAkade: There's a book on African written scripts by Saki Mafundikwa. I have it and it's a good book.
The book is called Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. It's a good book. Very visual. I like it. It is also appropriate for children imo (especially those who likes arts, forms, history, drawing and curious in general). It is the type of book some children could read/browse fast, but never forget it, if you know what I mean.
I just checked Amazon. They want 500 dollars for that darn book.
Sorry, I didn't know about that. When I bought it, it didn't cost nearly as much (they put it on the rare item category i guess). Maybe there's some other places online with some better prices.
Here's a link to a video presentation by Saki Mafundikwa:
Does anyone have any info on "proto-saharan" writing?
Yea, I coined the term Proto-Saharan. The Proto-Saharan script is based on the Thinite writing system.
The first syllabic writing system of Africans was the Thinite script. This writing was used first by Blacks in Nubia, like the Niger-Congo people who migrated out of this region into the rest of Africa.
The Thinite script provides many of the signs that are included in later scripts used by Africans.
In Nubia, Black Africans were using Thinite symbols before the rise of Egypt to record their ideas and report on important events.
At this time your people may have been living in the caves of the Caucasus mountains.
This writing was later used by Africans to write inscriptions throughout Middle Africa.
The evidence of this writing is found throughout the Sahara. By the time Mande speaking people settled Dar Tichitt they left numerous inscriptions.
The people of Dar Tichitt were Mande speakers. These Mande speaking people also lived in the Fezzan where they were called Garamante/Garamandes. The Garamante settled Crete and are recognized as the Eteo-Cretans or Minoans.
As you can see from the above chart the Linear A signs and Mande/Manding signs are identical. If you look careful you will note that Africans, or Black people had also taken their writing system to Anatolia were your ancestors were living in the Caucasus mountains as hunter-gatherers.
The Minoans, who were Africans introduced Linear A, whose signs are identical to the writing left by Africans throughout the Sahara, like those found at Tichitt and presently represented in the Vai and several other West African scripts.
Your people adopted this writing to write business documents and we know it as Linear B.
Europeans only got writing from the Egyptians. The Greeks who obtained writing from the Blacks of Africa and Phonesia passed on writing to the Romans. With the fall of Rome Western Europeans got writing from the African Muslims who taught them the arts and sciences. .
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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Apparently the Baka use leaves of Megaphrynium, "ngongo" different from the mongongo nut tree of Kalahari, I thought they were the same tree, since books confused the two.
Note: The Flores Hobbits are called Ebu Gogo by today's villagers there, probably means "ancestors NgoNgo ~ Co-Ngo".
I see the Pygmies are being driven out of the Congo rainforest "for their safety", the real reason is mining for Coltran mineral used in high-tech industry. When there are no more Pygmies living traditionally in the Ituri forest, the extinction of Homo will begin, though it may not end for a long time.
posted
Does anyone have depictions of the wheel from Sub-Saharan Africa? I'm currently arguing with a known troll and racist on FB who at first said only Egypt had the wheel, then when I beat him back with Saharan rock art that:
"No there is not. Sub sahran Africans never discovered the wheel. That along with other things is why they never advanced like the rest of the world."
"Still not seen an authentic pic of wheel use in sub Saharan Africa. Looks like more Afrocentric bs."
I cited sources regarding wheel use in Sudan and he dismissed it as requiring outside help, lmao.
Posts: 574 | From: Guinee | Registered: Jul 2014
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quote:Originally posted by Punos_Rey: Does anyone have depictions of the wheel from Sub-Saharan Africa? I'm currently arguing with a known troll and racist on FB who at first said only Egypt had the wheel, then when I beat him back with Saharan rock art that:
"No there is not. Sub sahran Africans never discovered the wheel. That along with other things is why they never advanced like the rest of the world."
"Still not seen an authentic pic of wheel use in sub Saharan Africa. Looks like more Afrocentric bs."
I cited sources regarding wheel use in Sudan and he dismissed it as requiring outside help, lmao.
There are numerous depictions of wheeled vehicles throughout West Africa along the chariot routes from the Fezzan into the Niger Valley.
The fact that the chariots found in West Africa resemble those of Crete does not mean that the riders of these chariots had to have come from Crete. In fact Greek traditions make it clear that the ancient Cretans, called Minoans came from Africa
The Dravidian and African languages share similar names for the wheel. For example:
Galla makurakura Tulu gali, tagori Swahili guru, dumu Mande koli, kori, muru-fe Tamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri Ka. gali tiguri, tigari
It would appear that the proto-African-Dravidian term for wheel was *-ori / *-uri *go/uri and *ko/uri. The proto-South Dravidian term for wheel *tigu/ori . The linguistic evidence suggest that in the proto- language the speakers of proto-African-Dravidian used either the vowels o/u or a/i after the consonants. It is also evident that the l and r, were interchangeable in the construction of the term for wheel.
It is clear that African people employed chariots in aadition to boats to travel long distances in many parts of Africa.
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In addition to chariots West Africans also used ox carts at Dhar Tichitt. Holl says these ox carts date back to the Early Iconographic Tradition at Dhar Tichitt.
The presents of ox-carts at Dar Tichitt highlight the early use of wheeled transportation in West Africa.
This is evident in an examination of the Mande and Dravidian (Tamil) words for wheel and round. The words for wheel are Mande koli, kori, muru-fe; and Tamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri, in Kanada: gali tiguri, tigari. The term for cart in Tamil is Kal. In the Mande languages the word for round is Kuru,kulu, the word for carriage is is also Kulu and Kuru. The existence of Kal in Tamil for wheel and cart, and in the Mande languages: Koli for wheel and Kulu for carriage indicate that the original Proto-Dravido-African term for cart was probably *Kali or kuli. .
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Dr. Winters could you give me the locations of those rock arts you posted? Trying to keep all of thus information handy wanting stuff that predates tbe hittites
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Meet on the Level, act upon the Plumb, part on the Square. Posts: 574 | From: Guinee | Registered: Jul 2014
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quote:Originally posted by Punos_Rey: Dr. Winters could you give me the locations of those rock arts you posted? Trying to keep all of thus information handy wanting stuff that predates tbe hittites
I will try and find my sources I got them off the WWW years ago.
quote:CLyde says: The absence of navigable rivers in Africa is a recent phenomena, that is why we find engravings of boats throughout the Sahara dating to periods before the Sahara became a desert.
Climate/enviro factors no doubt has changed the watery landscape once allowing boats in the Sahara. The time periods & amount of change varies over time. Africa has always had navigable rivers but the crucial point is (a) how far they were navigable internally before being interrupted by sandbars, rapids or cataracts, and (b) their access to the sea without continual interruption. Other factors include unpredictable rainfall that makes water levels fluctuate problematically. Another is how navigable by large vessels. It has been estimated that long stretches of the Niger Riger can only handle barges below 20 tons during the low-water level dry season. Whereas the Yangtse River in China can handle huge barges weighing in at 10,000 tons going hundreds of miles inland without interruption at any time. All the above just points out that substantial movement of materials and technology is not as easy in many parts of Africa as in other places. It does not mean Africans did not master boat technology. They did, long before others. And it is true that Africans had navigation knowledge as well.
A friend asked me for more data on this and it made me think about the new suggestions of African agriculture and urbanization dating back very far. so I'm back. Just wondering Do you have any studies on the problems with African rivers? How much China's rivers can hold and stuff. I tried to give them some but I'd like to know if you've got any more.
Posts: 2508 | From: . | Registered: Nov 2011
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quote:CLyde says: The absence of navigable rivers in Africa is a recent phenomena, that is why we find engravings of boats throughout the Sahara dating to periods before the Sahara became a desert.
Climate/enviro factors no doubt has changed the watery landscape once allowing boats in the Sahara. The time periods & amount of change varies over time. Africa has always had navigable rivers but the crucial point is (a) how far they were navigable internally before being interrupted by sandbars, rapids or cataracts, and (b) their access to the sea without continual interruption. Other factors include unpredictable rainfall that makes water levels fluctuate problematically. Another is how navigable by large vessels. It has been estimated that long stretches of the Niger Riger can only handle barges below 20 tons during the low-water level dry season. Whereas the Yangtse River in China can handle huge barges weighing in at 10,000 tons going hundreds of miles inland without interruption at any time. All the above just points out that substantial movement of materials and technology is not as easy in many parts of Africa as in other places. It does not mean Africans did not master boat technology. They did, long before others. And it is true that Africans had navigation knowledge as well.
A friend asked me for more data on this and it made me think about the new suggestions of African agriculture and urbanization dating back very far. so I'm back. Just wondering Do you have any studies on the problems with African rivers? How much China's rivers can hold and stuff. I tried to give them some but I'd like to know if you've got any more.
My major thoughts about these issues are found on my blog:
posted
Bumping again with another question: What about the potter's wheel? Any insight as to why that still hasn't taken off in many parts of SSA compared to other methods of pottery?
Posts: 2508 | From: . | Registered: Nov 2011
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posted
Probably because the methods they used were sufficient for their needs. Here's a video showing African pottery making from different regions in West Africa, it's long.
posted
What I wanted to know is: what makes these techniques more efficient than the potter's wheel among African potters, that the wheel still lacks the popularity it has in "Eurasia?"
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posted
I said SUFFICIENT for their needs and it doesn't matter the method as they required something so they developed it.
Posts: 1123 | From: New York | Registered: Feb 2016
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quote:Originally posted by Oshun: What I wanted to know is: what makes these techniques more efficient than the potter's wheel among African potters, that the wheel still lacks the popularity it has in "Eurasia?"
Go to 18:30 in the video he sent you and listen Edit: Ignore this. Your question relates to the wheel, which wasn't directly addressed. Though it's implied that the techniques they used gave them more stylistic/artistic freedom.
Posts: 1781 | From: New York | Registered: Jul 2016
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quote:Originally posted by Oshun: Bumping again with another question: What about the potter's wheel? Any insight as to why that still hasn't taken off in many parts of SSA compared to other methods of pottery?
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Mass industrial quantities of pots outside central Africa (Arid) gave incentive to speed-up production along slow river bends, while in South Africa ostrich eggshells worked better, in SEAsia bamboo did too, so no strong support for Potter's wheels.
Posts: 2021 | From: Miami | Registered: Aug 2014
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posted
Originally posted by Oshun: What I wanted to know is: what makes these techniques more efficient than the potter's wheel among African potters, that the wheel still lacks the popularity it has in "Eurasia?" - I think the oldest "slow" potters wheel was found in Nubia, not sure where the "fast" potters wheel developed. The huge water/food storage jars might be more easily and efficiently made by coiling than spinning. If few were made per year, why bother making a high-precision turntable? Stamping the pots with emblems was common in EurAsia, perhaps instead other types of signing was used in central Africa?
"It does not mean Africans did not master boat technology. They did, long before others. And it is true that Africans had navigation knowledge as well." ---
In my opinion, coracles were the oldest reusable watercraft, simply inverted dome huts (before doorways, a domi.cile was a round shield of wicker and broadleaves), common in Africa and EurAsia. The oldest longboats & canoes were invented in Papua as a result of sago palm processing, the inner pith removed with a proto-adze, leaving the rind in the form of a canoe. From that developed bark canoes (used in Australians, Tasmanians, Yahgan@Tierra del Fuego, Ojibwe@Great lakes, Beothuk@Newfoundland, Piraha@Amazon) and then the true adze was invented to craft wooden dugout canoes and catamarans (katu maram@Tamil: tied (& planed) logs. Reed boats & rafts with floats probably developed along with other longboats.
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
posted
Can't guess why wheeled pottery would be a superior technique.
Usually don't do vids but good exceptions like this (wait for the humongous jar coiling technique) https://youtu.be/52HKSwkI1hs?t=1499 To me, those art & practical pieces seem impossible to wheel. Big ups Thereal
I wonder if wheeled pottery was limited for the same reason ferrous metallurgy rarely industrialized, hobbled by tradition.
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