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.
Friday, January 22, 2010
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.
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?
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."
"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."
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