Bronze Age Nubia

"...I propose...that for most of the Bronze Age Nubian political systems were strongly centralized, covered large territories, and were akin to states and kingdoms...(pg. 1)
--Ancient Nubia, Egypt's Rival in Africa, David O'Connor

From a review on Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa by Leo Depuydt in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, July-Sept, 1996:

"In the first two-thirds, David O'Connor provides a sweeping survey of ancient Nubia, with many maps and illustrations. The author succeeds in removing Nubia from the shadow of Egypt, placing it on a pedestal for all to see as a brilliant African civilization. It also becomes clear from reading this work how much archaeological work still remains to be done in the Sudan, in comparison with better-explored Egypt, in order to flesh out the picture that we have today. This volume from the pen of a leading archaeologist adequately summarizes where the study of ancient Nubia stands in the early 1990s, when it is enjoying ever increasing popularity, and this in a conceptual framework that is at once open-minded, progressive, sensitive, and refreshing."

More on Nubia

From the book, LOST NUBIA: A Centennial Exhibit of Photographs from the 1905-1907 Egyptian Exhibition of the University of Chicago, by John A. Larson.

"The earliest-known Nubian culture, called he 'A-Group,' flourished from about 3500 to 3100 BC....and our knowledge of them comes primarily from archeological excavations of their cemeteries...It is believed that the A-Group served as trading partners with the Egyptians by transporting exotic products from tropical East Africa through their territory to the Egyptian trading post...The A-group people seem to disappear from the archeological record about 3100 BC, during the time of the First Dynasty of Egypt (emphasis mine) (p. vii)."

In the book on page 25, a photograph showing reliefs of elephants and giraffes show one of the monuments created by the Nubians. James Henry Breasted who took the photograph wrote that it was done around 3000 BC.

Two questions: Is it not possible the A-Group became the primary members of the First Dynasty or at least serious consultants? Is it possible the A-Group were the First Dynasty Egyptians? Could they have heavily integrated the population to create the first Dynasty?

According to the book, little is known about the B-Group (pg. vii) that came after the A-Group. Is it not possible that some of the A-Group--or at least a large segment--remained in Nubia and that is how the monument Breasted photographed came to be?

An assumption: Egypt must have existed before the first Dynasty to be a trade partner with Nubia and Nubia must have developed before Egypt due to its developed trade with much of Africa. It appears to me Nubia developed trade with Egypt--not the other way around.

Who came first--the Nubians or the Egyptians?

Your Nubian detective is still on the search.

More from ARCHEOLOGY--part 2

In the November/December 2009 issue of ARCHEOLOGY, "The Gold of Kush," Geoff Emberling writes:

"Kush controlled a vast area and was able to mass significant military power. Yet Kush seemed to lack some of the characteristics of other civilizations: it had only one city of any size (Kerma), did not leave a trace of writing, and did not make extensive use of administrative tools such as seals (pg. 50)." {Emphasis mine.}

So where did everything from the First Dynasty come from?

Read the section below from the following research, "Nubia and Egypt,":http://nubia.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page.

"Nubia also figures in the archealogical research of scholar Bruce Williams, who along with other writers, suggest a Nubian influence underlying the establishment of the Egyptian state...Williams focuses on the south, based on the initial predominant influence of the south, closest to Nubia, and various cultural linkages with the south such as discovery of the Qustul incense burner and of a city at Kerma dating back to 4,500 BCE.

"A number of scholars demonstrate that the ancient Egyptians were closely related to Nilo/Sudanic peoples like Nubians, sharing substantial genetic admixture, and cultural elements such as the pharonic structure (Keita 1992, Krings et al. 1999, Williams 1999, Yurco, 1989).

"A number of writers dispute any claim that the Nubian kings were responsible for the genesis of the Egyptian monarchies that followed.] Williams however notes that his research advanced no claim of a Nubian origin or genesis for the pharonic monarchy. Instead he holds that the archaeological data shows Nubian linkages and influence in helping to "fashion pharaonic civilization." Such data includes detailed excavations of the burial place of the Nubian rulers with date stamps well before the historical First Dynasty of Egypt. The size and wealth of the tombs were also vastly greater than that of the well-known Abydos tombs in Egypt."

As for now, the evidence is piling up that Nubia--not UFOs, for example--were the primary influence on the development of Egypt's First Dynasty.

Archeology and the Nubian Empire

Geoff Emberling of the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago attended an archeological dig in 2006.

He writes in the November/December 2009 issue of ARCHEOLOGY {The Gold of Kush):

"...in the winter of 2006, we recognized how our excavation could contribute to the emerging picture of Kush as a powerful kingdom rather than a remote Egyptian outpost (55)."

I thought we already realized Kush (and Nubia itself) was an independent nation separate from Egypt. In fact, we have already shown Nubia may have been a major--if not the only--influence on the First Dynasty of Egypt.

On page fifty, Emberling writes, "Excavation over the past 75 years at Kerma and over the past 10 years in the fourth Cataract, began to suggest the early Kingdom of Kush was larger than previously believed...Compared to other civilizations of the region, such as Mesopotamia, early Kush controlled a vast area and was able to mass significant military power."

This too we have discussed.

On page 58: "...{W}e were amazed to have the first clear evidence that they {ancient gold miners} were not Egyptian in origin, but had been used earlier by the Kingdom of Kush."

Why the amazement? Nubia was mining gold before the First Dynasty--or so it appears to me.

Working in Isolation

OK--I've tried to find out as much as I can about Nubia. Got a good lead yesterday from Charles Ellwood Jones and I'll be downloading the file today--review in the near future. (It's 105 pages long.)

But I'm still working in isolation.

Just when I think I may be close, I discover research that is out of alignment, if you will, or not based on any real standards.

So, yes, I'm asking for help from any Nubia or Egyptian scholars--and that's probably you because you're reading this even if you don't think of yourself as a scholar.

Thanks in advance for your help.

The Hall of Records

In yesterday's blog, I wrote about research including information from Jalandris and his book THE HALLS OF RECORDS.

To find out more about The Hall of Records, click here

and here

and here. Below is one paragraph of interest--

"Dr. Messiha claimed to have found the Hall Of Records in 1986, but for some reason he said that the world would not be able to open it until the year 2000. He claimed to be the 'opener of the way' to the Hall, but died in 1998 (from Everything2 : Hall of Records)."

It's 2009. Does the Hall of Records exist or not?

And how does this show us that Nubia was the originator of Egypt?

More to come.

NUBIA STARTED IT ALL

I'm going to quote from the book, EGYPT REVISITED:

"Origin of Egypt:

"Apart from the question of Egypt's chronology, there remains the intriguing question as to who were the Egyptians and from where did they originate? In reviewing Egypt's beginnings, we find an advanced civilization already intact from the earliest Dynasty. The fact has perplexed historians down through the ages. Common sense dictates tha if Egypt began fully mature, then it's civilization must have originated elsewhere. 'We find when we discover Egypt in what we call the first Dynasty, under Menes, that it is at its absolute zenith of culture in painting, sculpture, architecture...It is very much as if th Egyptians found themselves the inheritors of a great ready-made culture of which they could take advantage...but which they themselves did not create' (Jalandris. THE HALLS OF RECORDS, p. 4)."

In 1962, before the rise of flood waters, Keith C. Steele who was then the director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago "...found the birthplace of a pharaonic-centered civilization several generations older than the first historic Egyptian dynasty. There, in Qustul, Nubia, prehistory was transformed...{Steele's} discovery, along with nformation excavated from tombs, proved that Egyptian civilization and culture had not only originated in the south, but that in some remote period of antiquity the inhabitants of Egypt and Nubia were one and the same."

Abbe Emile Amelineau cites other evidence. his excavations show: "These Anu were agricultural people, raising cattle on a large scale along the Nile, shutting themselves up in walled cities for defensive purposes. To this people we can attribute...the most ancient Egyptian books {including} THE BOOK OF THE DEAD and the TEXT OF THE PYRAMIDS...They knew how to use metals. They made the earliest attempts at writing..." (Abbe Emile Amelineau. NOUVELLS FOUILLES d'ABYDOS, 1899, p. 248.

The above three paragraphs come from pages 121 to 125 in EGYPT REVISITED.

Did Egypt Develop Independently of Nubia?--Part 3

"Boat-building and its social context in early Egypt: interpretations from the First Dynasty boat-grave cemetery at Abydos,"
by Cheryl Ward in the journal Antiquity; Mar2006, Vol. 80 Issue 307, p118-129, 12p claims boat building evolved independently in Egypt--during (and perhaps before) the First Dynasty.

Did Egypt Develop Independently of Nubia?--Part 2

Furthermore the article from the USA Today, APR 18, 2002, "First writing may have started under real-life 'Scorpion King' ,"
goes on to state: "During the 1990s, archaeologists led by Gunter Dreyer of the German Institute of Archaeology in Cairo, uncovered a tomb at the site of Adybos that may have been the tomb of a ruler who used "Scorpion" in his title. Other pottery found at the tomb involved another ruler, whose symbol involved a bull's head on a pole.

"At that time, around 3250 B.C., the cities of the Nile valley traded over the desert both to the west and the east, Darnell says. The tableau found by his team seems to recount the victory of the Scorpion King from Adybos over the ancient city of Naqada-a, whose symbol was a bull's head, a conquest that centralized political control over trade in southern Egypt.

"But King Scorpion I seems to have been important for more than just his battlefield prowess. Dreyer's team found evidence that by the time of his death, the hieroglyphic writing of ancient Egypt had already flowered in the Nile Valley under his reign. Scholars still debate this conclusion, which would move the earliest writing from Sumer (in today's Iraq) to Egypt."

Thus writing may have begun independently also--but realize what the last paragraph says: "Scholars still debate this conclusion, which would move the earliest writing from Sumer (in today's Iraq) to Egypt."

Did Egypt Develop Independently of Nubia?

I will bring in more evidence for a Nubian influence for the development of Egypt's First Dynasty, but first--evidence Egypt may have developed independently--or at least had segments of its development come to age independently.

The February 12, 2008 issue of the New York Times had an article by By John Noble Wilford. It stated: "Long before the rule of pharaohs, Egyptians grew wheat and barley and raised pigs, goats, sheep and cattle. Spotty evidence had suggested that agriculture was practiced there more than 7,000 years ago, two millenniums earlier than the first royal dynasties."

In addition: From the USA Today, APR 18, 2002, "First writing may have started under real-life 'Scorpion King' ,"

The article states: "Once upon a time, long before movies were ever invented, a genuine "Scorpion King" may have ruled southern Egypt, researchers say.

"King Scorpion I, as archaeologists call him, ruled much of ancient Egypt more than 5,000 years ago, says Egyptologist John Darnell of Yale University. A team he led uncovered rock inscriptions in 1995, the "Scorpion Tableau," that seem to describe the Scorpion King's reign, a pivotal point in the history of Egypt and of writing itself.

"He may in fact have been the man who united all of southern Egypt," Darnell says. He and other researchers suspect King Scorpion I was the first in the line of rulers who preceded the first dynasty of the Pharaohs. The Pharoahs ruled both the southern Nile Valley and northern Nile Delta, or upper and lower Egypt."

The key words here are: King Scorpion I was the first in the line of rulers who preceded the first dynasty of the Pharaohs.

Egypt Revisited--More Evidence for the Case of Nubia Developing egypt

In the book, EGYPT REVISITED, edited by Ivan Van Sertima, there is a preponderance of evidence that Nubia influenced--if not developed Egypt and that is how the First Dynasty started off as a fully functioning institution. Nubia had a Pharaoh government in place before Egypt, many of the Egyptian gods were first worshiped in Nubia, and Nubia already had developed pyramids.

Additional research in other books shows that Nubia had mining and advanced pottery techniques in place before Egypt.

But--there is also evidence that Egypt may have developed segments of its culture independently. This brings a new question: If parts of Egypt developed independently, why couldn't the entire First Dynasty develop independently?

More Proof Egyypt was Founded by Nubians

"...{T}he cultural unity and kinshin...identifies Nubia (as a) link...responsible for establishing the rudiments of culture that would become Kemet. Self-identification; African philosophy; Foundation of human culture; Deities of upper and lower Kemet; Place names and customs; (all of this places) Africa as the foundation of human culture."
--Nobles, Vera L. Journal of Black Studies; Mar1996, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p431, 16p.

More proof later--Michael H. Brownstein, your Nubian Detective.

Egypt was Founded by Nubians

In the last blog, I explained away the UFO theory. Pyramids and a Pharaoh structure of government--including simple writing techniques, mining and city development began in Nubia at least two hundred years before Egypt.

Egyptians were certainly not European white--they were every shade of color from dark ebony to light skinned.

"We might ask, "What color were the ancient Egyptians?" Being on the continent, Egypt has always been an African civilization though it straddles two regions, Africa and the Middle East. It's fairly clear that the cultural roots of ancient Egypt lie in Africa and not in Asia. Egypt was a subtropical desert environment and its people had migrated from various ethnic groups over its history (and prehistory), thus it was something of a "melting pot," a mixture of many types of people with many skin tones, some certainly from the Sub-Saharan regions and others from more Mediterranean climes. It is impossible to categorize these people into the tidy "black" and "white" terms of today's racial distinctions. The Egyptians are better classified using evidence of their language and their material cultures, historical records, and their physical remains because so-called "racial" identification has been elusive...Skulls have been measured and compared and DNA tests attempted in various forms, but conclusions are few. Skulls are more similar to those found in the Northern Sudan and less similar to those found in West Africa, Palestine, and Turkey. It seems that there has been some genetic continuity from Predynastic time through the Middle Kingdom, after which there was a considerable infiltration into the Nile Valley from outside populations. That the Egyptians by and large were dark is certain, and many must have been what we today call "black." (Orcutt, Larry. What Race Were the Ancient Egyptians? 2000).

To read the entire article, click here.

There was no such thing as racism. This is an invention of Europeans and it is a part of our society still to this day. Racism is not an aspect of this blog but it will have to be--because of racism, Nubia's great civilization was wiped out of the history books.

But first--the next blog will give evidence on how Nubians created Egypt.

Egypt and UFOs

When I was in high school, UFOs became an interest of mine and many of my peers. There was a lot of evidence that made sense, too--for example: how did egypt begin it's first dynasty full blown? How were they able to create the great pyramids? There was even research about helmeted individuals in the pictures and Hieroglyphics.

I'm not going to go into the research Ufologists gave about Stonehenge or the large land structures found in South America, but I am going to answer the questions above.

Nubia was already building pyramid, it already had a Pharaoh structure to its government, and Nubians were mining gold and other material to build things. In one UFO site, they mention the Nubians by their other name: Seti: "The Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. The Seti II Obelisk at the Great Temple of Amun is about 23 feet high."

Click here to go to the page.

Nubia gave its civilization to Egypt and that's how Egypt began. Not out of the blue, but with help from an African nation.

In my next blogs I will give the evidence I discovered to back this claim.

Nubia--And how we change history, part 2

"Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history...has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia in Africa...

"The new findings suggest that the ancient Nubians may have reached this stage of political development as long as 3200 B.C., several generations before the earliest documented Egyptian king."--Boyce Rensberger, "Ancient Nubian Artifacts," The New York Times, March 1, 1979

Read the full article here.

Nubia--and how we change history

Evidence that Nubia came before Egypt.

"...{T}he Nubians to the south...are the remote ancestors of modern towns."--Desmond Stewart, Newsweek, 1971, p. 20

Sumerians can be traced back to the people of Ethiopia.
"...{I}t may be conjectured with the greatest confidence that the arts, sciences and religions descended from Nubia..."
"...{T}he ancestors of the South Egyptians entered the Nile Valley by way of Nubia and brought with them a well-developed civilization, and that this migration took place long before 5000 B.C."
--John G. Jackson: Man, God, and Civilization

"A substantial Ethiopian influence on Isis worship in Greece and in Italy is strongly suggested...by the tradition of Ethiopian association with the cult..."--Frank Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity

Ethiopians invented astronomy. "{They} gave names to the planets."
"The first learned nation was a nation of blacks,"
--Count Volney, Ruins of Empire from the writing of Lucian, an ancient Greek historian

At one point in history, Ethiopians occupied parts of Africa and parts of asia--including India.--George Rawlinson,: On the Ethnic Affinities of the Races of Western Asia. In addition two ancient historians from Greece concurred: Strabo and Ephorus.

"A number of scholars, both ancient and modern, have come to the conclusion that the world's first civilization was created by a people known as Ethiopians."
"...{T}he first civilized inhabitants of ancient Egypt were members of what is referred to as the black race...{or}...Ethiopians."
--John Jackson: Introduction to African Civilization

Egyptians recognize they came from Nubia.--Chik Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization

John Jackson?

Who is John Jackson?

Egypt Revisited

I have come upon a book What They Never Told You in History Class by Indus Khamit Kush and I've identified a number of pages in the book that speak on Nubia. One of the sources is Egypt Revisited and I ordered it through the library system.

According to my email, it arrived today.

Now the Nubian Detective will begin the trek again...

Proof: Nubia Came Before Egypt

"Ancient Egypt is the first major civilisation in Africa for which records are abundant. It was not, however, Africa's first kingdom. On 1 March 1979, The New York Times carried an article on its front page, written by Boyce Rensberger, with the headline: Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In the article, Rensberger told the world that: 'Evidence of the oldest recognisable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia... The discovery is expected to stimulate a new appraisal of the origins of civilisations in Africa, raising the question of 'to what extent later Egyptian culture derived its advanced political structure from the Nubians?'.

"This ancient kingdom, generally called Ta-Seti, encompassed the territory of the northern Sudan and the southern portion of Egypt. It has sometimes been referred to as Ancient Ethiopia in some of the literature, and as Cush (or Kush) in other literature. The first kings of Ta-Seti may well have ruled about 5900 BC. During the time of the fifth generation of their rulers, Upper (ie, southern) Egypt may have united and became a greater threat to Ta-Seti."

Source: New African, Oct 2006: Ta-Seti the oldest

Was Nubia the influence for Egypt? Was Nubia before Egypt?

Now we're on the search for Egypt Revisited by Ivan Van Sentina, the full article from the New York Times by Boyce Rensberger, and, of course, more information on Ta-Seti.

SO WERE THERE AFRICANS IN NORTH AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS--THE WASHITAW NATION, FOR EXAMPLE

According To the book, Black Indians by William Loren Katz, 1986--

No.

In his history of Black Indians, he does not report any African presence in the New World until after Columbus. He does place Africans in a Spanish colony in 1526. This is before a number of Spanish explorers went into the New World.

But this is not a blog about the history of the New World. This is a blog about Nubia and its influence.

So I go back to an earlier statement:

Until someone can offer conclusive proof of an African presence in the New World, I will have to believe contact may have been made by Africans, Africans may have even set up settlements in the New World, but for the most part they were trading partners--nothing more.

The blogs above say it the best--if there is no genetic link found, for example, it's hard to believe they stayed around to develop great empires. Empires like the The Washitaw Nation. This nation may exist, but I doubt very strongly that it existed before Columbus arrived.

BACK TO WERE AFRICANS HERE FIRST

Polymorphic Alu insertions among Mayan populations. Herrera, R. J. 1 herrerar@fiu.edu, Rojas, D. P. 1, Terreros, M. C. 1
Journal of Human Genetics; Feb 2007, Vol. 52 Issue 2, p129-142:

A chart displays specific genetic insertions across the world--and the Mayans (who many believe came from the Olmecs--see below) do not contain any.

Unfortunately, I cannot display the chart, but the two West African populations are at the extreme left and the Mayan and other Native Indian populations are clustered close together on the extreme right.

If contact was made, why is there no genetic proof?

And then I came across the following article:

HLA Genes in Mexican Mazatecans, the Peopling of the America and the Uniqueness of Amerindians. Arnaiz-Viiena, A., et. al., Tissue Antigens 2000, Vol. 56, pgs. 405-416.

"An indirect evidence of Olmec and Mayan relatedness is further suggested, further supporting the notion that Olmecs may have been the precursors of the Mayans...

"Peopling of the Americas was probably more complex than postulated...Specific genetic input from outside is not noticed in Meso and South America Amerindians..." (from the abstract.)

The article does state that the Spaniard explorers did observe large populations of dark skinned people. In it's brief history segment, the authors list archeological evidence to the idea that other races came to assist the Olmecs. One of the strongest cases for this, according to the authors, is the observations of the Spaniards. They report Negroids in the Caribbean, parts of Mexico and in South America.

Nonetheless, if this is true--and the archeological record seems to state it is (but does not give any dates--at least not in this article--so it is possible Africans came after Columbus), then why is the genetic input so pure? Humans explore and conquer, humans mate and have off spring, humans rape and leave genetic evidence behind.

And where are the observations of Africans living in North America?

And why are the pyramids of the Olmecs dated earlier than those of Nubia, Egypt, and Western Africa?

So the mystery continues.

Back on the trail--Were Africans in the New World before Columbus

"Some historians propound that there was a pre-Columbian African presence in Mexico under the Olmec civilization. These scholars cite African features in the art of the Olmecs and linguistic similarities between indigenous and West African languages as their evidence. However, most traditional historians are skeptical of this school of thought. "I think the whole issue is still wide open, and the best we can do right now is to have an open mind on it," says Palmer."

--African legacy. By: Fleming, Mali Michelle, Gleaton, Tony, Hispanic, 08983097, Jan/Feb1994, Vol. 7, Issue 1

And who is Palmer?

Colin A. Palmer is a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nubia, Ethiopia, and India

Did Africa influence other places beside Egypt? India, perhaps?

Greek writers referred to India as a part of Ethiopia.

Source: A History of Ethiopia by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, pgs. 1-2.

Who Came First? Still Searching

Found an interesting book--Introduction to African Civilization by John G. Jackson, Citadel Press Book, 1990. Went to the index and found two pages on Nubia:

Check this out:

"...{W}hile the achievements of Egypt are the best known among African nations, these are not the only achievements that African nations can claim. The nations to the south called Kush, Nubia, and Ethiopia developed many aspects of civilization independent of Egyptian influence. These nations gave as much to Egypt as Egypt gave them.

"Trade was the basis for the earliest contact in Egypt with the rest of Africa. Gold was obtained from Nubia...{T}rading expeditions...spread Egyptian ideas. Egypt, in turn, observed and took ideas from other nations within Africa (14-15)."

Benin and Other Western African Cultures in the New World

Your Nubian Detective has discovered an article in a peer reviewed journal that actually connects Africa to the Mayans of the New World. Genetic indicators seem to be in both cultures.

So is it possible that Nubian technology traded to the Western Africans helped them to land in the New World?

Your Nubian Detective is on the search for the article.

Can there be a basis for the Washitaw after all? Is it possible they landed, created babies and left?

Stay tuned...

OK--Africans did not come to America first and there probably is no Washitaw Tribe

"In 1976, Ivan Van Sertima proposed that New World civilizations those of ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, India, were strongly influenced by diffusion from Africa. The first and China, Europe, and the Americas,4 were created or inmost important contact, he argued, was between Nubians and spired by racially ‘‘black’’ peoples. Olmecs in 700 b.c., and it was followed by other contacts from Mali in a.d. 1300. This theory has spread widely in the African- In articulating their claims, the Afrocentrists relied American community, both lay and scholarly, but it has never very heavily on the ideas of Cheikh Anta Diop (1974, been evaluated at length by Mesoamericanists. This article shows the proposal to be devoid of any foundation. First, no genuine African artifact has ever been found in a controlled archaeological
excavation in the New World. The presence of African origin plants such as the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) or African genes in New World cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) shows that there was contact between the Old World and the New, but this contact occurred too long ago to have involved any human agency and is irrelevant to Egyptian-Olmec contact. The colossal Olmec heads, which resemble a stereotypical ‘‘Negroid,’’ were and is still being sold in bookstores as the latest word on the subcarved
hundreds of years before the arrival of the presumed models. Additionally, Nubians, who come from a desert environment, have long, high noses, do not resemble their supposed ‘‘por- cators, scholars, political activists, and other interested persons.
traits.’’ Claims for the diffusion of pyramid building and mummification are also fallacious."

--Current Anthropology: Forum on Anthropology in Public, Robbing Native American Cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs
Gabriel Haslip‐Viera, Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, and Warren Barbour

Additionally, here is another thought on the subject (one of the comments further discussing the writing above in the same journal):

On another level, however, I think it is appropriate to point out the inherent ‘‘racism’’ of some of the assumptions that are involved in the arguments investigated. If one reports that there are pyramids in Egypt and pyramids in Mexico, or mummies in Egypt and mummies in Chile, the automatic response seems to be, ‘‘When did the Egyptians bring these ideas to the New World?’’ No one ever asks, ‘‘Did the Chileans or Mexicans bring these ideas to Egypt?’’ (a fair question, in light of the fact that the world’s oldest prepared mummies in Chile Van Sertima and his associates pre-date Egyptian examples by two millennia)."

--Comments, David L. Browman, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. 63130, U.S.A.

I started this blog as the Nubian Detective and obviously I took a wrong turn and became the Nubian Defective.

With that statement, I will wait for real evidence that Africans came to the Americas. In the mean time, though, I will go back to my original thesis: Nubia--Did it come before Egypt? Who are the Nubians? What influences did they have on the world?

Back on the trail.

The Washitaw Nation

"Rev. RaDine Amen-ra, author of "The Forgotten Truth Behind Racism in America: The Hidden Ancestral Identity of the Black American, Vol. I," agreed. She said the new fertile homeland (the Americas) was given to the "Black American Moundbuilders" as promised land, before floods separated the East from the West."

And another quote from the same article:

"One man who organizes around a similar argument is Dr. Malachi Z. York (a.k.a. Amunnubi Raa), leader of the United Nuwaubian Nation of the Moors. He leads a community that is based in Eatonton, Ga. He is building a replica of Ancient Egypt there that sits on close to 500 acres, according to Brother Howard Jones (a.k.a. Meduty Khefe-Re). They teach that Nuwaubian is derived from the word Nuwba (Nuba), in Southern Sudan, which would include Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. The root word for Nuwaubians, Nubians and Nabi is Nub, or Nuwb, meaning "color inclining to Black ... kinky or woolly-haired people," York wrote in his book, "Let's Set the Record Straight!"

"York described the Olmec civilization, the oldest high culture in the Americas, as "the original woolly-haired, dark olive-toned people who originally came from Nuwba of South and Central Africa They arrived in the Americas long before the Christian era, but that would have been long after the arrival of those given the promise before the floods."

--Were original Americans Black Muurs?.
Authors:Muhammad, Lamont.
Source:New York Amsterdam News; 01/04/2001, Vol. 92 Issue 1, p36, 1/2p

My take:

If you can believe in Noah's Ark and the splitting of the Red Sea by Moses, why not this?

Unfortunately, a great flood did not break apart the continents so I have to believe the claims are not viable because they are not open to enough evidence--evidence by anyone.

Were Africans here before Columbus? Sure, there is evidence for that, but is there any real evidence the Mound Builders were Africans who settled here? I do not know, but I'm willing to listen and read and view the evidence.

As for the Olmecs? I am still waiting for more evidence--so bring it on.

Amun or Amen--Nubian God in Egypt

"CAIRO (Reuters) – Archaeologists have unearthed the site of a pharaonic-era sacred lake in a temple to the Egyptian goddess Mut in the ruins of ancient Tanis, the Culture Ministry said on Thursday.

"It was the second sacred lake found at Tanis, which became the northern capital of ancient Egypt in the 21st pharaonic dynasty, over 3,000 years ago.

"The goddess Mut, sometimes depicted as a vulture, was the wife of Amun, god of wind and the breath of life. She was also mother of the moon god Khonsu."

(Writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Amun or Amen. Here it is. One of the gods of Nubia is found to be one of the Gods of Egypt. Keep in mind the Amun (or Amen) of Nubia was also a God of life.

Stay tuned...

Oldest City in the World

"...{I}n 1906, the Egyptian Ministry of Public Works asked the eminent American Egyptologist George A. Reisner to organize an archaeological survey in order to record all of the antiquities in the region. This he did, in the process identifying for the first time several previously unknown cultures, strikingly different from Egyptian culture.

"Reisner returned to Nubia for further explorations in 1913 as the director of the Harvard University Boston Museum of Fine Arts expedition. First, he explored at Kerma, south of the Third Cataract in Upper Nubia. Here he uncovered Nubia's earliest imperial history--though he did not realize it. Despite his brilliance as an archaeologist, Reisner's convictions (or possibly, prejudices) got the better of his judgment, and he concluded that the massive brick structure known as the Deffufa and other monuments of Kerma were built by and for the Egyptian governors ruling the native population.

"In fact, the opposite was true: the Kerma people (2500-1550 B.C.) were so powerful that the Egyptians had to build a series of fortresses to protect Egypt's southern border, and the many Egyptian statues and other objects found at Kerma were not the representations of Egyptian "governors," but rather Nubian war trophies.

"In recent years a Swiss team returned to Reisner's old site and carried out systematic excavations at Kerma, revealing the remains of one of the largest and earliest urban centers in Africa--indeed, in the world--dating back to about 2000 B.C.)"

----Grzymski, Krzystztof.
Source:American Visions; Oct/Nov93, Vol. 8 Issue 5, p20, 6p, 2 charts, 5 color, 1 bw

And so once again The Nubian Detective finds something new. One of the world's first urban center ("one of the largest and earliest urban centers in Africa--indeed, in the world")--in Africa, in Nubia, and a powerful people they were.

And for the nonbelievers among you who think Africa held nothing for us--still holds nothing--the citation is above for you to investigate on your own.

THE DAY AFTER COLUMBUS DAY

As I get more and more into Nubia, I discover things I only thought:

Get this one--

Africans crossed the Atlantic Ocean to trade with the new world as earlly as 7000 BC. In fact, some of the earliest inhabitants of the new world may have been West Africans who, it seems to me, were an offshoot of the Nubian Empire.

7000 BC--9000 years ago.

Check out the Washitaw people.

Check out the ancient cave drawings.

Africans may have even landed in California 10,000 years ago.

You can find out more from Paul Barton in the October 2004 issue of New Africa.

Now The Nubian Detective is in search of the very same journal cited above. Stay tuned...

Back to becoming the Nubian Detective

And still I'm on the trail of the Nubian empire--digging through contradictions, the rewriting of history, the way racists cannot believe white people were not always the best, smartest and strongest.

It's too bad.

Still I'm in need of more information and it's hard untangling what I have--books coming to me through two library systems, a lack of individuals returning phone calls, and even the Internet--interesting as it may be--contradicting itself.

So I'm back on the trail: Did Nubia come before Egypt? How old is the Nubian writing system? How can anyone with even an ounce of brains not realize people of color are all over the pyramids in art, hieroglyphics and ornamentation?

Stay tuned...

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE THE THREE MODERN RELIGIONS

In 701BC, the Assyrian army attacked the Jewish settlements destroying everything in their path, but when they arrived--over twenty thousand strong--at one of the last outposts of Judaism, victory at hand, already surrounding the walls of the city and asking the government to surrender, suddenly they gathered all of their things and went into a great retreat.

Why?

The Nubians (then known as the Kush--African rulers who now controlled Egypt) attacked and the Assyrians could not run fast enough.

Thus an alliance between the Nubians and the Jews stopped the extermination of one religion which, as time went by, was instrumental in developing the other two modern day religions: Christianity and Islam.

AMEN--Where does this word really come from

Amen comes from the Nubian God, Amun or Amen. Two spellings--a great God who looked after the people.

Amen is a Nubian God.

Interesting how we end all of our prayers with a salute to one of the Gods of Africa.

Nubia--and how we change history: Cowardly or Brave?

In 1850, a famous historian (I'm trying to find his name) claimed Egyptians and Nubians were white. This after the Greeks named the Nubians, Ethiopians which actually means burnt faced people or black.

Other historians reading Egyptian writings told of how Nubians were a cowardly and weak people. Yet Nubia with a very small population due to the geography of where they lived was able to keep invaders out of their nation for over a thousand years before Egypt with a very large army attacked. Perhaps when the Egyptians took on Nubia, the Nubians were very smart--why fight when the odds against you are so great?

Don't forget that Nubia under the name of Kush took over Egypt and ran it as the 25th Dynasty.

Don't forget when the Greeks defeated Egypt, they were not able to defeat the Nubians.

Strange how historians continue to change history to fit the needs of the class in power.

OK--they may not have been the first and oldest civilization if you base civilization on the ability to write, but they were there before the Egyptians, they survived in a very harsh environment, they were able to mine gold, metals and other minerals to create amazing works, and they had an incredible army that kept the nation safe for centuries.

Even the mythology of their religion predates Egypt.

Who Came First: Nubia or Egypt?

"From earliest times Egypt looked with covetous eyes at its neighbour Nubia, particularly on account of the raw materials to be round there. There was ivory and ebony, there were leopard skins and incense that the Nubian tradesfolk acquired from more southern countries. But above all there were the natural minerals: and there was gold, most coveted of all. incidentally, the word for gold in ancient Egyptian was 'nub'. Probably Nubia meant the Land of Gold (jacobins.mairie-toulouse.fr)."

The above comes from an article by the above author entitled: EGYPT IN NUBIA.

I have only one question: If Egypt was jealous of Nubia from its earliest times, then Nubia must have already been there to begin with. You cannot be jealous of something that is not already there and you probably would not be jealous of something that was not already prominent, rich and powerful.

OK--so the above was not a question, but it seems to me Nubia was first, not Egypt.

THE LINCOLN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI

We drove the two big hills to get to the library at Lincoln University--an historical African-American school--and we were told that, yes, if we have a Jeff City library card, we could use the library. The librarian hooked us up and we put in our key words and--and--an entire page of Nubia and/or Kush books and reference materials filled the page.

We went to the stacks (actually fast walked to the stack)--two of them (one in the basement and one on the second floor). Once again, Egypt--a few shelves. Ethiopia--a number of books. Sudan, Congo, South Africa--represented and represented well. But Nubia?

Nothing.

And this is the sad part--every book we checked on was listed as available on the library's data base.

So I went to the reference desk and asked about all of the books and this is what I found out--the books are neither checked out or available. A professor has asked for them and he has an office in the library so he may have them all stacked nice and neat on his desk. He's writing a book on Egypt. (Does Egypt need another book?) Here's his phone number. He's really nice and he's always accessible.

He really was accessible. This is how dialog begins. And it turns out he's writing a book on Nubia.

THE NUBIAN DETECTIVE

A friend asked if I could assist her in an art project about the Nubian people. I had heard of them, but really did not know much about them. So we walked to the library--the Missouri Regional Library in Jefferson City, Missouri--and found...

Nothing.

Not one book about Nubia. Egypt was everywhere. Ethiopia had its share. There were even books on ancient and modern day Sudan. But Nubia?

Nada.

We scored the shelves. Then--buried near the bottom, shoved in further than it had to be, we found a book that did not fit in--as if books too have popularity issues. Too thick with quite a misleading title: The Rescue of Jerusalem--The Alliance Between Hebrews and Africans in 701 BC by Henry T. Aubin, Soho Press, 2002, the book leaped into my hand--or so it seemed--and when I went to the index, I found, oh, yes, "Nubia, see Kush."

And there in the library's data base under the keyword Kush was a children's book: The Ancient Kushites by Liz Sonneborn, Scholastic, 2005.

Were the Nubians the Kush?

I took both books out and...

The art project? History. Nubia? The detection begins.