Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Textbooks and Nubia

I surveyed three textbooks--McDougal Littell's WORLD HISTORY PATTERNS OF INTERACTION, Glencoe's WORLD HISTORY, and Globe Fearon's WORLD HISTORY.

All three incorrectly identified Menes as an Egyptian king. Only one, Globe Fearon said he might be a legend. What we know is Nubia assisted Egyptians in the building of the First Dynasty and Menes may have been the first leader--and he was Nubian.

None of the books introduce Nubia when it was going strong--around 3200 BC, Nubia was already known for its strength and strong armies. One of the books actually states that as late as 700 BC, the Assyrians were able to easily defeat Nubia (Kush at this time) because they fought with stone age tools.

There is evidence that they beat the Assyrians in a great battle around Jurusalem around 700 BC and for thousands of years the Nubians were known for their prowess with the bow and arrow. They were never known for their stone age weapons.

Globe Fearon's book offered only one page on Nubia--mostly information on the Kush and the 25th Dynasty.

Glencoe's book had only two sentences and though McDougal Littell offered a few pages on Egypt and Nubia, it erroneously gave all the credit to Egypt for influencing Nubia. In fact, they influenced each other.

Nubia did not begin with the 25th Dynasty or even around 2000 BC; Nubia was around way before the First Dynasty (around 3200 BC) and readers of this blog have seen the evidence that shows Nubia and Egypt were often antagonistic, but they have always influenced one another.

In fact, this author feels that Nubia may have been the main influence that brought about the actual First Dynasty in Egypt. In fact, Nubia may have invented the pharoah system altogether.

History books--let's start getting it right.

Friday, May 14, 2010

How To Conquer American Racism

How do we stop racism in America?

Simple.

Teach the children of our nation that the Nubians of Africa had a great and influential hand in the creation of Egypt and were the primary helpers in the creation of the First Dynasty.

Why will this make a difference?

We will be showing that not only did man first come from Africa, but also one of the first great civilizations came from there too.

Letting our children know the great impact Africa had on the early development of religion, government, trade and other aspects that make a civilization and a nation will give our students the needed ammunition they will need when they encounter racism.

Menes was Nubian and Ramesses ll had Nubian children who he honored. The list and influence of Nubian Africa goes on and on.

If nothing else, study this blog to help us rid America of racism today.

How Nubia is Protrayed in History Texts--Glencoe and Others

Unfortunately, Nubia is not displayed accurately at all.

Glencoe, for example, in their 2008 text, JOURNEY ACROSS TIME, has Nubia coming into place in 2000 BCE.

Another text has Menes as an Egyptian--not a Nubian.

If we want to teach our children history, let's teach it correctly--not leave out information and facts.

This blog has already shown that Nubia existed before the time of the first Egyptian dynasty--and heped to create it. I have also shown how Menes was in fact a Nubian--that Egypt has its first roots in Africa, not Europe or Asia.

Glencoe and other publishers--let's start writing history the way history was made.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Were The Nubians Cowards?

I say no. Proof is in the plates taken from various places, but even more conclusively is the following from William Y. Adams, author of Nubia, Corridor to Africa:

"Egyptians...invaded the region again and again, yet seldom referred to it without the epithet 'miserable' or 'abominable'. {I as the author of this blog feel this was only propaganda to give the Egyptian troops a psychological edge because they were afraid to fight the Nubians.} Cambyses, the Persian conqueror of Egypt...ascended to the Nile as far as the Fourth Cataract, but he nearly lost both his army and his life on the return march. A Roman army reached and sacked Napata...yet Nero declined to annex Nubia...and Diocletian abandoned even the northern extremity...Arab armies which elsewhere swept Christianity from the face of North Africa...concluded a treaty (with) Nubia...Salah-ed-Din...conqueror...of Egypt and Syria, gave up all thought of adding Nubia to his domainafter the briefest of forays."

Remember: Nubians helped create the First Dynasty of Egypt and were greatly skilled and honored for their fighting ability.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

An Interview with Bruce B. Williams

A few blogs ago I asked if anyone anywhere could give me information on Bruce B. Williams and/or his publications. His groundbreaking work opened the eyes of myself and others about the positive impact ancient Nubia had on Egypt, it's phaoronic culture and the development of the First Dynasty.

I actually got a chance to meet with him at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. I was sitting at a back table with a few of his books in front of me when he entered the archives and came straight up to me and asked if we could step outside and talk for a few minutes.

Below are my notes from this interview:

MB: I have been an avid follower of your findings and I wonder how your theories about Nubia and the development of the First Dynasty is working out.

BBW: More and more people are coming to view the development of the First Dynasty the same way I do.

MB: Menes, according to much of my research, was a Nubian pharaoh in Egypt before the First Dynasty.

BBW: Menes is also known as Narmer. There is no real proof of his existence. Nowhere is he mentioned in the Egyptian literature.

MB: I've been writing a blog about Nubia and its impact on the phaoronic system in Egypt. I have been trying to show how Nubia influenced its development.

BBW: I never said the A-group from Nubia developed the phaoronic system independently. Individuals from Egypt and Nubia had a common purpose and worked together.

MB: Can you give me additional resources for my research?

BBW: (He gave me a list of individuals and websites.) A lot of the material you have to go through and decide on your own what is true, probably true, or not true at all. You're going to have to use a lot of your own common sense in making these decisions.

MB: What about Adam's book, NUBIA--THE CORRIDOR TO AFRICA?

BBW: Some of it is worth knowing, some of it is not. You will have to read it to make your own decisions.

In the next few blogs I hope to give evidence on the development of Nubia and its importance in ancient Egypt from what I was able to learn at the Oriental Institute--including the incense burner Bruce Williams utilizes as evidence that Nubia had a royal leadership that predated Egypt's pharaohs.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

A Discussion with Dr. Larry Ross, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO

I brought specific plates of drawings from Ramesses ll --plates that came from a book entitled, The Beit El-Wali Temple of Ramesses ll by Herbert Ricke, et al. and publised by the University of Chicago as part of its Nubian expedition series in 1967. The book has a number of plates that were taken from the temple before the water from the dam covered it up.

Dr. Ross befgan the conversation by stating that Ramesses ll created the monuments to show off his military strength. "You can take these depictions with a grain of sand because Ramesses is the one creating the monuments."

My argument was that every depiction in his temple shows the Nubians in a positive light--even the plate when they are retreating as in Plate 8. Other plates show his opposition as weak and cowardly--the Syrians, for example, are begging for surrender and some of them are jumping from the wall committing suicide. A Libyan captive is begging for his life (Plate 24) and other individuals are in equally subservient postures. The only two groups that actually face him are the Bedouin (but they are portrayed as fleeing) and the Nubians (who are also the opnly group recovering their injured and dead).

Granted propaganda is written all over the stellas and other places in other places calling the Nubians (or Kush) cowards and other negative statements, but if you look closely at Plate 8 (and I'll try to get a copy of it on this blog so you can see it too), you will see bravery and even his own two favored sons (due to their placement next to their father) who are obviously of Nubian blood.

Furthermore, the one plate that shows Ramesses ll smiting a Nubian shows a very self assured man ready to die and not scared to die in battle (Plate 27).

"In my studies, I go deeper than what the victor has said or done as written on monuments honoring him," Dr. Ross replied. "The Nubians were very strong and courageous and they would not be afraid of death."

I conclude from the plates that the Nubians were strong, courageous and not afraid of death. Ramesses ll had a lot of respect for them. In the plates taken from the walls of the temple honoring him, he shows his respect. The Nubians were defeated, but they faced him in battle. When he executed a Nubian, he presented the individual as a man who "dies well" unlike any of the others he is depicted as slaying.

This brings me to the following conjecture: The negative propaganda written about the Nubians (or Kush) was written to give the army of Ramesses ll more confidence--a mental strategy, if you will, because he understood and admired the Nubians and knew what they could do. This was his way of empowering his army to want to fight, fist, and secondly, to help them believe they were stronger and better than their opponents--psychology to get his army to believe in itself.

In other words, the propaganda was really complimentary to the Nubians (Kush).

Dr. Ross and I will continue this dialog.

Friday, March 26, 2010

More on Plate 8 from the Oriental Institutes Nubian Expedition

Plate 8 in the Oriental Institutes Nubian Expedition Volume 1 by Herbert Ricke, et al in the book, The Beit of El-Wali Temple of Ramesses ll, published by the University of Chicago also show Nubians gathering up their wounded and dead and fighting back even in retreat.

A closer look at the plate when it is joined with other plates to make the complete picture show Nubians as brave individuals. Other plates in the picture show a Libyan begging for mercy, Syrians pleading for their lives, and Asiatic people giving up too easily.

One plate actually has the king standing on top of a Libyan and an Asian. Nubians are shown respect even when they deliver tribute to Ramesses ll.

The Beit El-Wali Temple of Ramesses ll

Plate 8 is an exact depiction--or as exact as one can make it--of the famous battle where Ramesses ll defeats the Nubians. The hieroglyphic tanslation stresses how overpowering the Egyptian army was. Over the head of a woman with two children is the following translation: "...{T}hey are unknow. We have not yet known {such} rage. He is like Seth in the sky."

From The Prehistory of Egypt by Beatrix Midant-Reynes, we read: "We can feel reasonably sure of the emergence of two early Predynastic kingdoms, one in upper Egypt (the Amrarian culture), where Seth was the main diety, and the other in the Delta (the Gerzean culture...(p. 6)"

The state mentioned above was ruled my Menes who we have shown is Nubian--and when he untited the nation of Egypt, he included part of Nubia in his Egyptian conquest (p. 6).

Plate 8 shows a large Ramesses ll in a very large chariot overcoming fleeing Nubians. A closer look at the plate shows the same characteristics on all of the individuals in the battle--Egyptians and Nubians--with the one exception of Ramesses ll who is drawn differently. These drawing depict Africans--including what may be his two sons who are in chariots behind him.

Furthermore, additional translations state that the Egyptians have shown their power against the nine bows and that they have destroyed the Northerner--both references to Nubia.

What is of interest to me is how--even in the 19th Dynasty--Africans are being utilized to fight Africans (Ramesses ll's two sons are drawn the same way as the Nubians) leading me to believe Egypt was more an African state than anything else.

Plate 8 can be found in the Oriental Institutes Nubian Expedition Volume 1 by Herbert Ricke, et al in the book, The Beit of El-Wali Temple of Ramesses ll, published by the University of Chicago.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The 19th Dynasty

Before the waters of the dam swallowed up many archeological wonders, the University of Chicago joined other teams from around the world--including a team of German archeologists. One of their finds shows Nubians as brave individuals who may have lost in battle--but they tried.

One of the reliefs within the temple shows a Libyan captive begging for mercy, Syrians pleading wit the Egyptians for peace, and other groups in subservient positions--but the relief where the king is getting ready to smite a Nubian captive shows none of this: just a brave man ready to die for his nation.

As I explore the plates I received from the University of Alaska--along with the hieroglyphic translations from University of Chicago scholars--I will begin my exploration to what became of the Nubians after Egypt unified.

Stay tuned.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

How Evidence Gets Destroyed

Bruce Williams in the 80's discovered proof that Nubia may have been the first Pharoahic society. Since then, as stated in this series of blogs and in other publications, Egyptian Pharoahic societies that are older have been discovered.

Unfortunately, where Williams and his colleagues discovered the proof is now under water and has been for over two decades. He made his dig weeks before the Answan Dam flooded the area.

Today another area is under water where the modern day Nubians lived. How much has been lost we will never know.

For this reason, we may never know who had the first Pharoaic society.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Bruce Williams and Nubia

Bruce Williams of the University of Chicago excavated areas of Nubia and in his published reports claimed that Nubia had a powerful monarchy--probably the first Pharaohs--and this is how the Egyptian pharaonic empire came to be. Furthermore, he claimed that these Nubian kings attacked Egypt, won, and for this reason, the First dynasty--and the dynasty before it--were actually Nubian.

Later graves have now been discovered in Egypt that are older than the royal graves of Qustel, but the findings of Williams is still strong proof that development around 3,100 BC occurred in both Nubia and Egypt. In fact, according to Robert G. Morkot, author of The Black Pharaohs, the "development of powerful states...[shows} that there was a mutual influence."

Nubian Prehistory--and more proof why the University of Missouri needs to credit Nubia for its pot in its Exhibit

Pottery making in Nubia began 7,000 BC. Pottery and rock art has been found dating back that far. A common material culture began in force in Nubia as early as 7,000 BC.

As pottery making became more common, a style developed. The pots are reddish colored with a black band around their top.

Among the cultures that took root in Nubia: the Shabeinhab Culture-, the Abkan and Khartoun Culture and the Abkan Culture--the culture that designed their pottery. these coutures came to be between 4,000 BC and 3,))) BC--perhaps contemporary with the A group.

Nubia: the Land of the Bow

"For many centuries, the Egyptians seemed to think that the people south of Elephantine (Nubia) was a potential danger. It was the king from the south that united the two countries so the dangerous potential of the south has always existed. Historically, the 'Land of the bow' was the ancient name...to what we now call Nubia.The fighting prowess of the Nubians and their skill with the bow has won them the name of 'pupil-smiters.'They have long fought in the army of the Egyptians as mercenaries. Their handiness with the spear and the javelin is also known. (p. 58)"

Artwork shows Nubians with bows as early as 7,000 BC. They had a lot to defend and they defended their land for thousands of years. Nubia was full of human, animal and natural resources--including gold and building materials not found in Egypt.

Source for the above two paragraphs: Necia Desiree Harkless, Nubian Pharaohs and Meroitic Kings

Egypt and Nubia--More Influences

According to Necia Desiree Harkless, the author of Nubian Pharaohs and Meroitic Kings, ancient Egypt was known as Kemet, but the "formal name seems to have been Tawy (The Two Lands) that means the black lands along the banks of the Nile River. The people called themselves the Kemites (The Black Ones). (p. 5)"

Egyptologists are now beginning to realize with the new evidence that "...the ancient Egyptiasn civilization is rooted in Africa... (p.8)"

The A group of Nubians lasted for about a thousand years. Through its vast trade, it had contacts to the south and to the north into Egypt. A major factor in their success is that control of the trade route.

Furthermore, there is now a lot of evidence that they developed into city states with leadership and other indicators of a structured society.

They probably came from the B group that preceded them--but not much is known about this group. (Remember: Nubians inhabited that area long before 10,000 BC.)

Lastly, a study on common genes between Egyptians and Nubians show they share genetic material. Click here to read the full article.

3,000 BC--The Development of an Empire in Nubia

3,000 BC and a settlement grew from a loose group of villages into a town. Within a few hundred more years, this town would develop into a large and successful settlement. Kerma, as the town is now known, became a major settlement at time Egypt was unifying into one nation.

It's location helped with the trade routes to the north and it became known for the trade of luxury products.

Nubia's Influence on Egypt

Pedrals, a French archeologist, states in Cheikh Anta Diop's book, The African Origin of Civilization, that the objects and traditions of religion in ancient Egypt are Nubian.

Many individuals who study Nubian religion believe the worship of Amon began in Nubia, not Egypt. In fact, many scholars state the cult of Amon was well established in Nubia. (Necia Desiree Harkless, Nubian Pharaohs and Meroitic Kings)

And then Diop himself writes: "Egyptians themselves...recognize without ambiguity that their ancestors came from Nubia and the heart of Africa. (150)"

Memes--the First Egyptian Pharaoh and He's Nubian

Memes is also known as Narmer and he was th first Pharaoh of Egypt.

Memes is the King from the South who unified upper and lower Egypt.

Nubia was south of ancient Egypt. More proof that Nubia developed and influenced Egypt.

Egypt and Nubia--from a book published in 1933

In S. G. Seligman's short book, Egypt and Negro Africa, published in 1933, the author takes the position that Egypt had a far range influence on Africa. It's his view that Egypt benefitted Africa, not the other way around.

I found two major contradictions in the work.

On page 18, he gives credit to the Egyptians for the bow and arrow, but even at that time, there was enough evidence to prove the bow was not Egyptian, but Nubian. Before the First Dynasty, Nubian archers joined forces with others and helped unite what is today modern Egypt. These same warriors assisted the new country dynasty after dynasty,

Nubians were celebrated for their skill with the bow and arrow long before Egypt's First Dynasty.

The author contends that Divine Kingship originated in Egypt, but at the end of his book, on page 60, he writes: ""...[C}hronological factors forbid us to believe that the Divine Kings of the Sudan are directly due to Egyptian influence; rather must we regard them as examples of an old and widespread Hamitic belief..."

A number of blogs ago I wrote about how Africans may have brought their culture to the New World--and then, after research and contemplation, realized that the New World could just have easily brought their culture to Africa. After all, the New World pyramids are older than those in Egypt and Nubia.

With that in mind, isn't it possible that Divine Kingship developed in Nubia first (Sudan), spread to Egypt and other places, and eventually took on a life of its own? And can't it also be stated that the Hamites were influenced by the Nubians--not the other way around?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

More Mistakes from the Museum of Art and Archeology, University of Missouri

From the wall next to the display at the Museum of Art and Archeology located in Columbia at the University of Missouri, the information on the exhibit states:

"During the Predynastic period (about 4,000-3000BC) the people of the Nile Valley posessed an advanced Neolithic culture that included monumental architecture, invention of metalworking, establishment of Egyptian artistic style, and the beginning of writing...{A}bout 3000BC...{Egypt} united into a kingdom under one ruler."

Let's dissect this, shall we?

One--Nubians were already mining gold and other materials and people from what we now call Egypt were raiding and/or trading with Nubians to get materials.

Two--Pottery began in Nubia. Pottery discovered as old as 8,000BC is found in Nubia. The Nubian pottery is significantly marked and easy to identify as Nubian. The artistic style mentioned above is really a Nubian influence even if it made its way to Naqada.

Three--Nubian and the Nubian A-group already had a structured civilization during this period.

The above arguments gain strength when you read other entries in this blog. Nonetheless, Dr. Larry Ross from Lincoln University is one of the sources I am citing for mumbers one and two.

The second paragraph is even more skewed:

"The Middle Kingdom (about 1540-1075BC) produced a flowering of Egyptian literature and Egypt's first imperialistic expansion into Nubia."

Before Egypt was Egypt, there was what I and a few other scholars call the 0 Dynasty. This is the time when Nubians joined the forces of the Scorpion King and others to unify Egypt into what we now know as Egypt. We're talking 3,500-3,150BC. Furthermore, the influence of the Nubians on Egypt is felt in a number of ways--from pottery to metalworking to the mining of gold to religion to opening trade routes from the central parts of Africa to the sites of what we know as modern Egypt.

Furthermore, Egypt needed the trade routes with Nubia for much of its supplies--including gold and other minerals.

In other words, the land we now know as Egypt was already involved in imperialistic acts towards Nubia for thousands of years. (Remember: the Nubians who joined the armies of the Scorpion King came from Nubia to help unify Egypt.)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A Quick Tour of Nubian Prehistory

The following prehistory is taken from the book, Nubia Under the Pharaohs by Bruce G. Trigger (Westview Press, 1976):

"The Sebekian site at Kate Ombo suggests that as early as 12,000 BC abundant natural resources were being exploited intensively, permitting bands to inhabit single encampments throughout the year..." (24)

In 12,000 BC, there is also proof of warfare with the excavation of a cemetary at Gebel Sahaba in lower Nubia. (24)

Nubia has these groups: Khormusan (begimnning at 25,000 BC to 16,000 BC), Halfan (from 18,000BC to 14,000BC), Germaian (14,000BC to 7,000BC) and during that same period both Ballanan and Qadan. Sebekian (noted above) is located in what is now lower Egypt, but at the time upper Nubia. Egypt and Nubia share the culture, Sebilian, from 14,000BC to 8.000BC.(25)

Tool making, mining (sandstone, for example), and grinding stones were actively utilized from 25,000BC to 9,000BC. Furthermore, the oldest grinding stones known come from the region around 15,000BC.(26-27)

The Sebilian period may have additional technologies due to cultural exchanges with other groups--Tshitolian (from central Africa), Wadi Halfa (a culture on the Niles River), cultures located in the Sahara, and Halfan and Ballanancultures--both grounded in Nubia.(27)

Pottery began showing up and according to Trigger, black pottery with black rims and interiors was a Nubian model. Pottery came from a few African sites and were used in the region. (28-29)

Gold trade began around 3,500 BC--and there were many gold mines in Nubia. The gold moved into southwestern Asia through Egypt. (32)

According to Trigger, the A Group of Nubia may have been heavily influenced by the Egyptians. He claims there was an expansion of the Egyptian populatiomn into Nubia for any number of reasons--including political amnesty. (33)

Nubian mercenaries and toll masters (the individuals who controlled the trade routes from the south into Egypt) became active members of the Egyptian army. Trigger states: "It is tempting to think of the maces in Cemetery 137 as gifts to a Nubian leader for the role that he and his men played in the wars that had unified Egypt." (44)

OK--the work of your Nubian detective continues.

Was gold first mined in Nubia and then found its way to Egypt? Did Egyptians join the Nubians and become Nubians? Is there a more coherent archeological map showing Nubia as the people who jump started the Egyptian rise at the First Dynasty?

But we do know this: the black topped pottery in the University of Missouri's Archeological Museum is not Egyptian--but Nubian.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The University of Missouri Archeology Museum--Mistaken Artifacts

Trade between Upper and Lower Egypt occurred before the first Dynasty of Egypt, before Egypt was Egypt. New objects excavated prove this point: a stone vase discovered at el-Amra, and copper, (which--along with gold--is not present in Egypt), found its way from Nubia--though it may have also come from Sinai. Obsidian and gold definitively came from Nubia.

Two artifacts on display at the Archeology Museum date to before Egypt was Egypt. These artifacts, I strongly believe, came from Nubia. The first, a black topped jar dated 3900-3150 BCE and the second a fish shaped cosmetic palette dated from around 3500 (give or take a few centuries)--both dated years before the First Dynasty of Egypt and add additional proof that Nubia was the civilization that formed the first Egypt--or at least a large influence). The muuseum claims they came from Naqada which is above the first cataract in the Niles--but already a mix of people from many places--and Egypt was not yet Egypt even though Nubia was already Nubia.

Furthermore, how would Egypt know about the large gold mines of Nubia if Nubians did not tell them. (Remember: Nubia was separated from Egypt by cataracts in the Niles that made it very difficult to navigate from one country to the next.)

Unfortunately, only about four percent of the artifacts owned by the museum at the Univrsity of Missouri are on display and I have no access to the other pieces--but I firmly believe that at last the pottery is not Egyptian, but Nubian.

I hope one of the curators of the musum reads this and lets me have access to the collection--or at least can offer proof that the dated artifacts are Egyptian even though Egypt did not begin as a nation until 3150 BCE.

And remember that Nubians were already occupants of the land.

Nubia--A Literate Society

Nubia was a literate society: "...its language was one of the first African ones to be written..."

This sentence sponsored by J. D. Fage and R. A. Oliver, editors of Papers in African Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, 1970, p. 286.

Who Comes First Again--Nubia or Egypt?

After meeting with Dr. Larry Ross from Lincoln University located in Jefferson City, Missouri, I have began again an earnest search for truth, justice, and the historian's way.

I decided a few blogs back that all of the evidence points to Nubia as first. Now I have a lot more proof. So here goes--

According to Dr. Narri Zaroubi, the author of Egypt History (Vantage Press, 1977. p. 26-27), "The long age of Egypt before kings ruled over all Egypt is called the Prehistoric Period. This stage began with the first New Stone Age men who lived in Egypt. The people developed from mingling with the Nile's Paleolithic hunters, nomadic Libyans, Nubians and Southwest Asians. These communities became city-states. By 3500 BC these city states of if the Nile had combined into separate kingdoms..."

Isn't it interesting when the first Dynasty arised, the archers in the Egyptian armies were Nubian?

Egypt is made up of a lot of people, but note in the above paragraph that the Nubians were one of the first groups to organize it into communities.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

What is the Meaning of the Colors in Egyptian Hieroglyphics?

There have been numerous arguments and discussion on the meaning of color in Egyptian representation.

There were no race issues in ancient Egypt or Nubia.

The color yellow was used for every female.

The color red was used for male humans.

The color black was used to represent Nubians (males), a number of Gods, the underworld, the dead, fertility and the heart--among other things.

Blue was used for skin color of solar Gods.

Egyptians tried to match color of skin with an actual color--so why yellow for all females?

More on Who Came First--Nubia or Egypt

Eight thousand years ago, Nubia was creating pottery.

Egypt was not.

Here's a direct quote from a paper in progress by Dr. Larry Ross, professor at Lincoln University:

"Nubia pottery has been unearthed and dated at 8,000 B.C.E., which provides evidence that sedentary life in Nubia predates the Badarian, when Egyptian civilization began to coalesce..."

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Racism in Antiquity

The last blog talked about racism beginning in 1820--or there about. Today I went to Lincoln University to discuss Nubia with Dr. Larry Ross, an anthropology and sociology professor.

He said that racism began a couple of centuries earlier--with the Spanish.

There was no racism in antiquity. The Greeks not only respected the Nubian and Egyptian people, but they held them to a higher standard. Ethiopia means "people with burnt faces," and when you read the Greek historians of that time, they regard these African people to the highest regard.

Nowhere do these two nations--Nubia and Egypt--discuss each other by their skin color--the word negro came centuries later.

There are some notations about not allowing dark skinned people into Egypt--but this was translated wrong.

According to Dr. Ross, racism begins in the early 1600's.

But this blog is not on racism--this blog is on Nubia and now I have a lot of new material, new books, even a manuscript.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Nubia Revisited

I haven't been here for awhile, but my research continues. There is still a lot of contradictory information out there and I'm trying to process as much of it as I can.

One thing I have learned is that the ancient Egyptians were not a racist people--in fact no one was in the ancient times. It appears around 1820, a few prominent men researching archeology in the Middle East decided to begin the race issue--a nonissue (even with slavery and slave trade).

For the people of color of Africa--this was the beginning of the end (in my opinion)--and, of course, Nubia and its history became a non-history.

It's too bad we allow racism even today to color our perceptions.

Monday, January 4, 2010

And now more on the writing issue: Did the Nubians Help Invent the First Writing?

Did the first Nubians have a kind of writing? Could they have helped--if not created by themselves--the first writing?

In an article, "Nubian Monarchy Called Oldest* by Boyce Rensberger in the New York Times, March 1, 1979 issue states: "Dr. Bruce Williams said in an interview, 'It was obvious from the quantity and quality of the painted pottery and the jewelry that we were dealing with wealthy people. But it was the picture on a stone incense burner that indicated we really had the tomb of a king.'

"On the incense burner, which was broken and had to be pieced together, was a depiction of a palace façade, a crowned king sitting on a throne in a boat, a royal standard before the king and, hovering above the king, the falcon god Horus. Most of the images are ones commonly associated with kingship in later Egyptian traditions.

"The portion of the incense burner bearing the body of the king is missing but, Dr. Williams said, scholars are agreed that the presence of the crown—in a form well known from dynastic Egypt—and the god Horus are irrefutable evidence that the complete image was that of a king.

"The majestic figure on the incense burner, Dr. Williams said, is the earliest known representation of a king in the Nile Valley. His name is unknown, but he is believed to have lived approximately three generations before the time of Scorpion, the earliest-known Egyptian ruler. Scorpion was one of three kings said to have ruled Egypt before the start of what is called the first dynasty around 3050 B.C.

"Dr. Williams said the dating is based on correlations of artistic styles in the Nubian pottery with similar styles in predynastic Egyptian pottery, which is relatively well dated.

"He said some of the Nubian artifacts bore disconnected symbols resembling those of Egyptian hieroglyphics that were not readable.

"'They were on their way to literacy,' Dr. Williams said, 'probably quite close to Egypt in this respect.'"

Dr. williams wrote a monologue about this artifact and now the Nubian detective is in search of it.

First Writing

"First writing may have started under real-life 'Scorpion King" USA Today, APR 18, 2002--Database:
Academic Search Premier

"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."

Southern Egypt?

Isn't this also the homeland of what we would later call the Nubians? It is true no written work has ben found in the archeology of Nubia until a much later time--during the time the Nubians actually ruled Egypt--but can't it also be true given this is southern Egypt that Nubia had its hand in the play of the Scorpion King?

Other questions that need to be addressed. And then another:

In fact, three-four thousand years ago, were the borders so clear cut that we could state as a fact that this is Nubia and this is Egypt?

First Agriculture in Egypt

According to a New York time's article written by JOHN NOBLE WILFORD untitled "Archaeologists found evidence of a farm settlement from 5200 B.C." and published February 12, 2008:

"The rise of agriculture occurred at various times around the world, beginning 10,000 to 11,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and adjacent lands in the Middle East. Some artifacts suggested that the people at the settlement had trade links with the Red Sea, a possible clue that this was the route by which agriculture was introduced to Egypt, possibly from the region of present-day Iraq."

The key word here is possibly. Is it not also possible the trade route came from the south in what later would become Nubia? The second key phrase is "some artifacts." This implies other artifacts. Where did they come from?

Unfortunately, much of specific Nubian sites are now under water--but the questions above need to be addressed.

The article gives a brief history of the archeology of the find: "The discovery was made by a team led by Willeke Wendrich of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Rene Cappers of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. They said the research, supported in part by the National Geographic Society, expanded on findings in 1925 by British archaeologists, who uncovered a wood sickle with a serrated flint blade and grain storage pits. The remains of the Neolithic, or Late Stone Age, settlement were buried under a thick layer of sand at an oasis about 50 miles southwest of Cairo, in a desert region called the Faiyum. The excavations last fall uncovered multiple layers of farm remains and hearths, indicating occupation over at least 1,000 years."