The Fourth Cataract--after a brief emergence into the archaeological limelight--seems destined to slip back into obscurity, this time for eternity.
Damming Sudan by Andrew Lawler, Science Magazine October 18, 2006
Global apathy threatens a way of life and an unexpectedly rich heritage.
The Land Rover is stuck, and the Manoosir tribesmen aren't lending a hand. In Sudan, where African generosity meets Arab politeness, this means trouble. Even our easygoing Sudanese driver tenses. A few miles downstream from this dusty mud-brick town on a remote bend of the Nile River, Chinese engineers are building the massive Meroe Dam that as early as next year may flood the villagers' homes, fields, and more than 100 miles of fertile valley. And archaeologists working to save what they can of this largely unexplored region before the waters rise are not welcomed by the locals. With our car and our equipment and our pale skin, we are harbingers of the end of their way of life.
Unable to move forward through deep sand, we're forced to back up through a narrow alley as it fills with silent and unsmiling onlookers. But hospitality overcomes animosity, and an old man directs us to another dusty street, which leads to a slightly more passable sand track and the open desert beyond. Our driver guns it out of town. We'd been told in Khartoum not to stop while passing through Manoosir territory. A few months earlier, anger erupted on nearby Sherri Island when tribesmen--many of whom will be forced to relocate to barren desert--led marches and burned offices belonging to the dam project.
In April, less than a month after our visit, militiamen killed and wounded more protesters in a bloody shootout in nearby Amri. And this past winter representatives of the Manoosir, who live on a long swath of the riverbank, politely but firmly told archaeologists to stay away. Foreign and Sudanese excavators are taking that advice seriously, and they are not sure if they can return.
The Meroe Dam already poses a humanitarian crisis. It will displace more than 50,000 people who live along this isolated region of the Nile, growing dates and herding sheep and goats. But the project is also creating a cultural heritage disaster largely ignored by the international media, UNESCO, and private preservation groups. Thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of ancient sites are likely to vanish underwater as early as next year without even cursory examination.
That impending destruction comes just as a half-dozen Sudanese and foreign teams discover that the obscure region was not the backwater archaeologists long imagined. During the past few seasons of hurried salvage work, the teams pinpointed hundreds of settlements and cemeteries spanning four millennia, rock art depicting everything from Neolithic giraffes, to Greek crosses, to an ancient pyramid. "We thought it was inhospitable and poor," concedes Derek Welsby, a British Museum archaeologist who has spent five seasons digging in the region and hopes to return this winter if the violence subsides. "But what we're finding causes us to rethink that. This area is so incredibly rich in archaeology."
Flooding will start in August 2007, though it will be not until 2008 or 2009 that large sections are underwater. With time short and larger forces at work, archaeologists are watching closely to see what they can rescue before it is too late. The Fourth Cataract--after a brief emergence into the archaeological limelight--seems destined to slip back into obscurity, this time for eternity. [Source]
Fourth Cataract area. This is the home of the civilisations of ancient Kush and medieval Christian Nubia.
The area in the big S-bend of the middle Nile in northern Sudan will be inundated by a 108 mile lake after the completion in 2008 of a dam under construction above the modern town of Meroe. (see map)
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Myra Wysinger: Fourth Cataract
The Fourth Cataract--after a brief emergence into the archaeological limelight--seems destined to slip back into obscurity, this time for eternity.
Damming Sudan by Andrew Lawler, Science Magazine October 18, 2006
Global apathy threatens a way of life and an unexpectedly rich heritage.
The Land Rover is stuck, and the Manoosir tribesmen aren't lending a hand. In Sudan, where African generosity meets Arab politeness, this means trouble. Even our easygoing Sudanese driver tenses. A few miles downstream from this dusty mud-brick town on a remote bend of the Nile River, Chinese engineers are building the massive Meroe Dam that as early as next year may flood the villagers' homes, fields, and more than 100 miles of fertile valley. And archaeologists working to save what they can of this largely unexplored region before the waters rise are not welcomed by the locals. With our car and our equipment and our pale skin, we are harbingers of the end of their way of life.
Unable to move forward through deep sand, we're forced to back up through a narrow alley as it fills with silent and unsmiling onlookers. But hospitality overcomes animosity, and an old man directs us to another dusty street, which leads to a slightly more passable sand track and the open desert beyond. Our driver guns it out of town. We'd been told in Khartoum not to stop while passing through Manoosir territory. A few months earlier, anger erupted on nearby Sherri Island when tribesmen--many of whom will be forced to relocate to barren desert--led marches and burned offices belonging to the dam project.
In April, less than a month after our visit, militiamen killed and wounded more protesters in a bloody shootout in nearby Amri. And this past winter representatives of the Manoosir, who live on a long swath of the riverbank, politely but firmly told archaeologists to stay away. Foreign and Sudanese excavators are taking that advice seriously, and they are not sure if they can return.
The Meroe Dam already poses a humanitarian crisis. It will displace more than 50,000 people who live along this isolated region of the Nile, growing dates and herding sheep and goats. But the project is also creating a cultural heritage disaster largely ignored by the international media, UNESCO, and private preservation groups. Thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of ancient sites are likely to vanish underwater as early as next year without even cursory examination.
That impending destruction comes just as a half-dozen Sudanese and foreign teams discover that the obscure region was not the backwater archaeologists long imagined. During the past few seasons of hurried salvage work, the teams pinpointed hundreds of settlements and cemeteries spanning four millennia, rock art depicting everything from Neolithic giraffes, to Greek crosses, to an ancient pyramid. "We thought it was inhospitable and poor," concedes Derek Welsby, a British Museum archaeologist who has spent five seasons digging in the region and hopes to return this winter if the violence subsides. "But what we're finding causes us to rethink that. This area is so incredibly rich in archaeology."
Flooding will start in August 2007, though it will be not until 2008 or 2009 that large sections are underwater. With time short and larger forces at work, archaeologists are watching closely to see what they can rescue before it is too late. The Fourth Cataract--after a brief emergence into the archaeological limelight--seems destined to slip back into obscurity, this time for eternity. [Source]
Fourth Cataract area. This is the home of the civilisations of ancient Kush and medieval Christian Nubia.
The area in the big S-bend of the middle Nile in northern Sudan will be inundated by a 108 mile lake after the completion in 2008 of a dam under construction above the modern town of Meroe. (see map)
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I bet if a dam was going to jeopardize a 4,000 year old (or more) historical goldmine of CHINESE history they wouldn't do it. But hey, these are Africans and we know African history isnt important.......
People are so full of SH*T!
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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The blame should be equally against so-called Afrocentric scholars searching for Africans in other people's civilizations but neglect their own home grown civilization. Obviously nobody in the so-called Afrocentric community has tried to do archaeological fieldwork or salavaging the Meroe archaeological sites. I remeber a save the Nubia campaign but it was restricte without much advertisement. This is also what people get for being too Kemetocentric and ignoring regions south of Kemt.
The blame goes on the modern Sudanese[for neglecting pre-Islamic heritage];so-called Afrocentrics[that write articles criticing European scholars but assert no original reserch themselves],and the Chinese oil companies[who could care less about Meroe or any other African civlization but natural resources]
Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Doug M: I bet if a dam was going to jeopardize a 4,000 year old (or more) historical goldmine of CHINESE history they wouldn't do it. But hey, these are Africans and we know African history isnt important.......
People are so full of SH*T!
Surely you've heard of Three Gorges Dam!
Posts: 1024 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Yom: People are so full of SH*T! Surely you've heard of Three Gorges Dam!
Three Gorges Dam
Structural work was finished on May 20, 2006
The 370 mile long reservoir will inundate some 1,300 archeological sites. Cultural and historical relics are being moved to higher ground as they are discovered but the flooding of the Gorge will undoubtedly cover some undiscovered relics. Many other sites cannot be moved because of their size or design.
These historical sites contain remnants of the homeland of the Ba, an ancient people who settled in the region more than 4,000 years ago. One of the traditions of the Ba was to bury the dead in coffins in caves high on the cliff, many of which will soon be submerged. This has raised some strong protests from the people.
Ba may have aided the founders of the Zhou Dynasty in its overthrow of the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye; however, Ba's first definitive appearance in recorded history occurred in 703 BC.
Three Gorges Dam
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Yom: People are so full of SH*T! Surely you've heard of Three Gorges Dam!
Three Gorges Dam
Structural work was finished on May 20, 2006
[...]
Please don't misquote me. The "People are so full of SH*T!" part is from Doug, not me.
While it may not be on the same scale, it's still pretty significant. Remember, Lake Nasser was allowed to be completed despite the great archaeological harm that it did.
Posts: 1024 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Turkey has/had the same problem where it was found that many sites, not considered archeological, were found along the path of a proposed dam, that contained Roman/Greek/Byzantine artifacts, buildings, etc but it is acknowledged that history is different from an Asian, European and African perspective. Nubia, by its very name, for many, was never considered/given the same status regarding past history, its influences, etc so now it is catching up through the discovery of 'ancient' sites/location that many believed to have nothing of value due to present climate but acknowledgement is driving a new rebith in the country, at least for some.
Posts: 1290 | From: usa | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Yom: People are so full of SH*T! Surely you've heard of Three Gorges Dam!
Three Gorges Dam
Structural work was finished on May 20, 2006
[...]
Please don't misquote me. The "People are so full of SH*T!" part is from Doug, not me.
While it may not be on the same scale, it's still pretty significant. Remember, Lake Nasser was allowed to be completed despite the great archaeological harm that it did.
Absolutely. And the reason why I made my pronouncement is OVERALL, archaeology has ALWAYS looked at Africa as having NOTHING WORTHWHILE to offer in terms of archaeology and especially the history of civilization. Such an attitude is the BASIS of such nonsense as the archaeologists SUDDENLY realizing that there was a treasure trove of history that was going to be submerged under Lake Nasser. Why didn't they NOTICE this before then? Similarly, how could archaeologists have JUST found out about MEROE? Are you KIDDING? This is face saving BULLSH*T to make archaeology LOOK like they care, but in actuality, based on their OWN words, they NEVER CARED about this region in the first place. Therefore, they can ACT shocked and surprised all they want, they KNEW darn well that the upper Nile was a treasure trove of civilization and history since they FIRST stepped foot in Egypt, so this ACT of trying to SALVAGE these artifacts is nothing more than a STAGE show for the press. Furthering what Ausar said, in as much as Afrocentrics should have done more PRIMARY research, mainstream ARCHAEOLOGISTS and their DISTORTIONS in IGNORING LARGE tracts of archaeological history in Africa are JUST AS MUCH TO BLAME.
Anyone remember the Richard Pryor skit from his T.V. show? That was a classic and is EXACTLY what is going on here.....
Posts: 8896 | Registered: May 2005
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Ah, I recall that timeless quote by Chancellor Williams: "Africans and persons of African descent must assume the primary responsibility and leadership in historical research....if we are to continue to leave practically all important historical research and writing concerning the black race to the white man, then we must be prepared to accept, uncomplainingly, the white man's point of view." Although, unlike Diop, I see Chancellor Williams as very distortionist and propagandist like, that particular quote is something worth heeding. So was his point on "Arab Imperialism" in pre-european africa.
Hey Doug, what was it about that Richard Pryor skit? Don't know what cha talking about.
Posts: 447 | From: Somewhere son... | Registered: Sep 2006
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Back in the 70s Richard Pryor, the great Afro American comedian, had a T.V. show. The show was mostly skits featuring Richard and other guest stars, but also had various musical acts interspersed as well.
One skit he did was about a black person (Richard himself), being in a archaeological expedition to Egypt. This lone black man amongst all white archaeologists was there when they opened an ancient site that was said by the archaeologists to be the key to ancient history and the development of civilization. In went Richard and the others and Richard, in his signature comedic style, started to notice how all the people in the images within the site were black. He picked up a book called The Book of Life and was excited to see that this was all done by blacks. However, the whites, upon noticing this, started to back out of the site and one of them called out to someone offscreen and said "OK, there's nothing here too see... go ahead and bulldoze it!!"......... And thus ends the skit.
The moral of the story should be obvious.
And now, due to the wonders of television and technology, we have a WAAAaayyy BAaccckkKK machine that can transport you there: the DVD!!
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