posted
Interesting TV film about ancient Kush. We get to follow archaeological research concerning Kerma, Napata and Meroe. Among other things we learn about an examination of a water filled chamber in the pyramid of Nastasen in Nuri. We also get to follow the search for the main settlement of Napata close to the mountain Djebel Barkal.
Bio-anthropologist Abagail Breidenstein takes samples for DNA close to Nuri and Mahmoud Bashir examines graves from a place called Berber, north from Meroe.
All in all an interesting introduction to some of the ongoing research about Kush.
Also we learn about the threat to the ancient remains, modern exploitation and construction, political unrest and planned dams.
quote: The Kush Empire was an ancient superpower that dominated the Nile Valley and rivaled the Egyptians, and now, a new, cutting-edge investigation at a mysterious tomb could reveal the secrets of this formidable lost kingdom.
quote:Originally posted by Archeopteryx: [QB] Interesting TV film about ancient Kush. We get to follow archaeological research concerning Kerma, Napata and Meroe. Among other things we learn about an examination of a water filled chamber in the pyramid of Nastasen in Nuri. We also get to follow the search for the main settlement of Napata close to the mountain Djebel Barkal.
Bio-anthropologist Abagail Breidenstein takes samples for DNA close to Nuri and Mahmoud Bashir examines graves from a place called Berber, north from Meroe.
All in all an interesting introduction to some of the ongoing research about Kush.
Also we learn about the threat to the ancient remains, modern exploitation and construction, political unrest and planned dams.
quote: The Kush Empire was an ancient superpower that dominated the Nile Valley and rivaled the Egyptians, and now, a new, cutting-edge investigation at a mysterious tomb could reveal the secrets of this formidable lost kingdom.
Lost Kingdom of the Black Pharaohs TV Movie 2019 1h 33m Director: David Starkey
The Kush Empire was an ancient superpower that dominated the Nile Valley and rivaled the Egyptians, and now, a new, cutting-edge investigation at a mysterious tomb could reveal the secrets of this formidable lost kingdom.
Release date December 1, 2019 (United States) Country of origin: United Kingdom Official sites: Discovery Channel
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Director: David Starkey
BBC David Starkey resigns from university role over slavery comments Published 3 July 2020[/IMG]
Fitzwilliam College, at Cambridge University, has announced it has "accepted the resignation of historian David Starkey from his honorary fellowship with immediate effect".
The college said: "Our student and academic bodies are diverse and welcoming to all. We do not tolerate racism."
His comments on slavery were criticised on Thursday for being racist.
The TV historian has not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment.
Starkey told an online show hosted by conservative commentator Darren Grimes that slavery was not genocide, because of the survival of "so many damn blacks".
The master of Fitzwilliam contacted Starkey following his comments, and the college added: "Fitzwilliam prides itself in leading the way in Cambridge in opening access to higher education for underrepresented groups."
The statement went on to note that while the author "holds no teaching role" there, that "honorary fellows have the same responsibility as all members of our college to uphold our values".
Canterbury Christ Church University, meanwhile, has also announced it has "terminated David Starkey's position as visiting professor with immediate effect".
The university called the comments "completely unacceptable".
Professor Rama Thirunamachandran, vice-chancellor of the university, apologised to staff and students who have been offended and upset by the "appalling" comments.
He said: "Widely reported comments by historian David Starkey during a recent online interview are, in our view, completely unacceptable and do not reflect the values of our university and community."
Lancaster University has also initiated a review of Starkey's honorary graduate status.
"His comments are abhorrent and contrary to our values," the institution tweeted.
Writing on Twitter, former chancellor Sajid Javid said: "David Starkey's racist comments are a reminder of the appalling views that still exist."
The Mary Rose Trust said it was "appalled" by Starkey's comments, adding on Thursday evening they had accepted his resignation.
Starkey made the offensive remarks in an episode of Darren Grimes's YouTube show Reasoned, entitled "Dr David Starkey: Black Lives Matter Aims To Delegitimate British History".
The show's host tweeted on Thursday: "I reject in the strongest possible terms what Dr Starkey said in that clip and so very wish I'd caught it at the time. I am still learning the ropes, I will be much more alert to challenging this kind of thing in future."
In it, Starkey said: "Slavery was not genocide otherwise there wouldn't be so many damn blacks in Africa or Britain would there? An awful lot of them survived."
He also claimed that the Black Lives Matter protests, following the death of George Floyd, had been characterised by "violence" and "victimhood".
He described cancel culture and the pulling down of statues as "deranged". The academic went on to discuss the links between slavery and the British Empire.
Starkey said: "As for the idea that slavery is this kind of terrible disease that dare not speak its name, it only dare not speak its name, Darren, because we settled it nearly 200 years ago."
"We don't normally go on about the fact that Roman Catholics once upon a time didn't have the vote and weren't allowed to have their own churches because we had Catholic emancipation."
Starkey's comments were heavily criticised by several social media users.
Nicholas Guyatt, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, tweeted: "Can't speak for my employer but as someone who teaches history at Cambridge I'm ashamed of our connections with David Starkey and urge both the university and Fitzwilliam College to cut all ties with him."
It's not the first time Starkey has been involved in a public race row.
Complaints over Starkey's race comments In 2011, the BBC received nearly 700 complaints about Starkey's claim that "whites have become black", during a Newsnight discussion about riots in the UK.
2019
February 2008
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^^ They could have called these "Kushite Dynasty of Egypt" or something of the like "The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt" perhaps
but instead they choose "Black" the race word
subliminally it suggests that Egyptian pharaohs were not black. Nat Geo did it in 2008, took some criticism about it but it didn't stop Discovery from doing it again in 2019
Regardless of what one's view is on the 'race' of the Egyptians I don't think "white", "black" etc. are helpful in titling historical documentaries.
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I saw the film recently on Swedish television. Here it was divided in two parts, every part 50 minutes long. It is available on Swedish Televisions homepage, until August.
In Swedish they called it De svarta faraonernas rike (Kingdom of the Black Pharaohs).
It is presented like this (in translation)
quote:Episode 1 For a long time there has been talk of a mythical Nubian rule in Egypt, and now excavations have shown that it seems to be true. Around 800 BC came conquerors from present-day Sudan into mighty Egypt. It appointed its own pharaohs who ruled the kingdom for nearly 100 years. Part 1 of 2. ----- Episode 2 In the Nile Valley in Sudan, there are some of the world's most magnificent pyramids. In addition, there are the most pyramids in the world here. Those who believe it to be a remnant of an ancient Egyptian stronghold have never heard of Nubia, or the independent black kingdom of Kush - a kingdom strong enough to invade and rule Egypt for over a hundred years. Part 2 of 2.
Inside the tomb of Nastasen
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2686 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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posted
The comments of David Starkey may be seen in the context of a rather intense debate over slavery and other racial and historical issues in the UK, fuelled by the Black Lives Matter movement. There have been demands that certain statues of people involved in the slave trade shall be removed, and sometimes the debate has become rather bitter.
Small echoes of it have also reached Sweden where there have been demands of removing statues of Carl Von Linné, and where the names of Anders- and Gustav Retzius (two race biologists, father and son) have been washed away from the campus of the "Karolinska Institutet" (the Karolinska Institute), Swedens leading faculty of Medicine (it is its Nobel assembly which nominates the Nobel prize winners in Medicine).
Sometimes the debate in UK seems to have gone a bit astray like when some people do not want that a couple of leading sports teams shall wear sailing ships as symbols, since ships can be connected to slavery and slave ships.
quote:Originally posted by the lioness,: ^^ They could have called these "Kushite Dynasty of Egypt" or something of the like "The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt" perhaps
but instead they choose "Black" the race word
subliminally it suggests that Egyptian pharaohs were not black. Nat Geo did it in 2008, took some criticism about it but it didn't stop Discovery from doing it again in 2019
Regardless of what one's view is on the 'race' of the Egyptians I don't think "white", "black" etc. are helpful in titling historical documentaries.
Ironically, I think it is even backfiring on them (Eurocentrics). Why? Because bioanthropology shows that Nubians are closely related to Egyptians and share the same traits and even genetic ancestry.
For example, here are cranial data that Antalas cited:
metric
nonmetric
^ In both data sets Kerman Kushites group closest to late predynastic Naqada Egyptians who founded dynastic civilization yet nobody calls them 'black' why is that?
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26267 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Right now there are several programs about Ancient Egypt available on the homepage of Swedish Tellevision. Here are some:
quote: Tutankhamun's Space Dagger A jeweled dagger was found among the bandages wrapped around the mummy of the famous pharaoh Tutankhamun. But it was surprisingly not made of gold; the dagger was made of iron. How was this possible several hundred years before the Iron Age? Where did the dagger come from? The scientists' detective hunt led them all the way to space. (2023) --- World History: Egypt's Valley of the Dead - In Saqqara outside Cairo, at the foot of Pharaoh Tetis' pyramid, there is one of the world's largest burial sites. Queens, priests and high officials have all been given their final resting place here. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass takes us on an exciting journey of discovery among sarcophagi and mummies at one of the world's largest burial sites at the foot of Pharaoh Tetis' pyramid. (2022) -- The Pyramid of Cheops - The Mysteries of the Pyramids Do we now have the answer to how the pyramids were actually constructed? So advanced for its time, now seen from a whole new perspective. With the help of completely new technology, an Egypt that existed more than 5,000 years ago is recreated. One step closer to finding out the countless secrets the pyramids still hold. (2019) -- Cleopatra Who was the mythical Cleopatra? Most people know her from Hollywood movies that are mostly based on negative propaganda from ancient Rome. Her life as the queen and ruler of Egypt is worthy of blockbuster movies. But historians have found evidence that she was far more than a beauty queen. She played a high political game and had children with both Emperors Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius. She was a skilled mathematician, spoke nine languages, and was a shrewd and strategic leader of a superpower kingdom. In search of the real Cleopatra, we get unique new information about how she lived, where she might be buried and how it was possible for her to reach the position of power she held. (2021) -- The cruel pharaoh Pharaoh Cheops built the world's largest pyramid in Giza 4600 years ago. Rumor has it that Cheops was the worst of all pharaohs; evil and filled with delusions of grandeur. But what do we know about this man who came to build one of the seven wonders of the world? Is the world's largest pyramid rather a monstrous monument built under terrible conditions accompanied by strange ceremonies or is there another truth to be found among Egypt's archaeological finds? (2021) -- Pepi II - Age of the Pyramids The Age of the Pyramids In ancient Egypt, the throne was inherited for hundreds of years and the pharaohs of the dynasty would become famous for the largest pyramids in history. But what makes this powerful and historic kingdom finally die, that the time of the pyramids is over. Climate, war, religion or just weak leadership? (2021) -- The World's Worst Kings: Ramses II Ramses is played by Özz Nûjen In 1257 BC, it is the vain and cruel Ramses II who rules and sets Egypt. Ines and Ian struggle hard to impress "the great pharaoh" - they wash Ramses' children's poopy nappies, paint the pharaoh's portrait and are also forced to clean up after a bloody mummification (childrens program, 2021)
Ramses II in a Swedish childrens program, played by the actor Özz Nûjen, originally from Turkish Kurdistan.
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2686 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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The problem with this is the people in the ancient dynastic era never called them "black" pharaohs. This distinction is only being played up by modern European based Egyptology and it purely based on modern views of race. In fact, the ancient dynastic era never used the term black for so-called "Nubians" at all as would be expected if they were so different in skin color from the dynastic citizens. "Black" was used in the name of the dynastic kingdom and literally if they followed this logic Kush would have been called KMT: "The Black Kingdom".
In fact, the color black was sacred to the people of the ancient dynastic era and would never be used to refer to "wretched" Africans from farther south. And the color was used to identify great and power historical ancestors such as Ahmose Nefertari.
Not only that, but the art of the dynastic era often depicts southerners in the same complexion as people further South.
And beyond that, the first time so-called "Nubian" rule was actually mentioned in the ancient Nile valley, it was related to the Middle Kingdom in the Prophecy of Neferti which describe a king rising from Ta Seti to take the throne. Obviously Ta Seti and Kush were never lumped together by the ancients as "Nubia". However, since modern Egyptology does so, then they should be consistent and admit the 25th dynasty was not the first time "southerners" or so called "Nubians" were on the throne.
Not to mention so-called "Nubians" were an extremely important part of the military of the dynastic kingdom, showing up as archers in the Middle Kingdom, sometimes suggested as mercenearies and generally being seen as a potent military force. But these people gloss over all of that to make a totally made up and fictional narrative. And, unlike the other enemies seen as war prisoners in various every day scenes, you never see any coal black so-called "nubians" as slaves in ancient dynastic art. Not to mention the numerous great wives who had so-called "Nubian" ancestry throughout the dynastic era.
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Kerma, Kush and so-called "Nubia" wee never lost to begin with. Kush has been part of the historical record since biblical times. The Kingdom of Meroe and Axum were ancient and medieval empires known to the world. The reality is that Egypt was "lost" to history until the French expedition to uncover its monuments, along with a lot of the monuments of ancient Greece which were also lost to Western Europe.
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In the film they look for different structures like tombs, houses and similar. First they try air reconnaissance, remote sensing and similar techniques. Then they (according to the film) come up with the simple, but brilliant idea to ask the local people, which seem to work well, they often know where to look. In the case of Nuri they also discover that many of its pyramids have been reused as walls, and buildings during later times.
One object they found with modern technique though was the ruins of the houses for more ordinary people at Napata. The houses were located not far from the mountain Djebel Barkal.
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2686 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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