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.