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Hi, It is long time that i didn't visit this forum. But i decided today to (re)repost an article written by me in wikipedia (english). I'm not sure whether i already have posted that article here or this would be the first time.
In any case, i'm interested in your opinions (this doesn't mean i will surely be able to reanswer the other arguments). My article is based on several sources, from online sites, magazines and mostly for the library of Google (google books).
"Berber beliefs or Amazigh beliefs are the beliefs of the indigenous Berber people of North Africa (not to be confused with the Ancient Egyptians or the Nubians). These beliefs were influenced primarily by the beliefs of the Berber’s Egyptian neighbors, as well as by other people who lived in the area, such as Phoenicians, Jews, Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_mythology
I do also believe that is a bit difficult to understand the content if the reader has no complet knowledge concerning the Berber background. Therefore, i do also repost this link to Ancient Libya (Read: The lands of the Berber's ancestors): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Libya
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By the way, i followed last weeks an interesting reportage on the "Black mummy" found in Libya. It was on the Arabic channel "Aljazeera doc" (another aljazeera channel for documentary films/reportages).
Like it is known (althoud to spread) was the black mummy thousand years older than the Egyptian mummies. And the central question was whether the Egyptians would have learnt that from those people that inhabited Uan Muhagag in Libya where the "black mummy" was found.
The researches where led by an Italian team (like usual, since Libya was an Italian colony). And it was supported by satellite pictures in order to reduce the early geography, whether, plants.. of that ancient area. Some archeologic data were also taken into consideration. I recognized the Libyco-script (Tifinagh) on the depictions, but the documentary didn't speak any word on the Berbers. Of course, but that would not be permitted by the Libyan regime.
The most interesting to me was what it said about the influence of the ancient libyan mythology of the Egyptian one. The team showed a depiction on the stone of human with an amimal's head. According to the team, it was older than the Egyptian traditions. The influence was also supported by ancient pots which are believed to be imported by the Egyptians from Libya.
Finally, i believe this is a rich topic in order to emphasize the africanity of egypt, contrary to the opinions considering Egypt isolated from Africa.
Best regards,
Doug M Member # 7650
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My only comment is that when discussing the history of the regions from modern Southern Libya to the coast of Northern Africa, one has to be careful of calling it all "Berber" as in a history unique to modern Berber speakers. There is no way we can be sure that all the people in these regions of the Sahara have always spoken a "berber" language. And these populations are also ancestral to and influential for not only to modern Berber speakers, but also populations to the South as well populations around the Nile as well, as noted in the discussion of Uan Muhagig. The climate and population history of these areas show that there have been substantial changes in population density and cultural characteristics over this time, which cannot all be lumped under a banner of "Berber".
quote: Today we have a sufficiently precise understanding of the evolution of the societies inhabiting this area of the Libyan Sahara over the past 10,000 years. Although this picture is undergoing a process of constant refinement, cultural developments seem to be characterized by a combination of phenomena (social, economic, ritual), heavily conditioned – but never wholly determined – by climate changes.
These shifts in climate accompanied the transition from a hunter-gatherer economy to an organized form of pastoral society (Fig. 5).
This process was slow, irregular and non-linear, and occupied the entire Holocene, from around 10,000 years ago, up to the latest forms of slightly stratified societies, which formed the basis for the Garamantian civilization about 3000 years ago
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The importance of Megaliths is interesting, especially when viewed in the context of similar traditions in Egypt and the Eastern Sahara (cf. Nabta Playa), Ethiopia/Eritrea (e.g. the Stelae/Hawilts) and Eastern Sudan (from whom Rodolfo Fattovich thinks Ethiopian & Eritrean traditions either derive or share a common origin).
Mazigh Member # 8621
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Of course, they have not be Berbers. I didn't also say they were Berbers.
But, so abstractive and enigmatic it is also not. We do call those people "Ancestors of the Berber" whether they spoke Berbers or not.
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