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.