Egypt in its African Context Manchester.

[anansi]

Egypt in its African Context
Proceedings of the conferenceheld at
The Manchester Museum,
University of Manchester, 2-4 October 2009


43
Some Notes about an Early African Pool of Cultures from which Emerged the Egyptian Civilisation
Alain AnselinUniversité des Antilles-Guyane
Abstract

Using primarily linguistic evidence, and taking intoaccount recent archaeology at sites such asHierakonpolis/Nekhen, as well as the symbolic meaningof objects such as sceptres and headrests in AncientEgyptian and contemporary African cultures, this paper traces the geographical location and movements of early peoples in and around the Nile Valley. It is possible fromthis overview of the data to conclude that the limitedconceptual vocabulary shared by the ancestors of contemporary Chadic-speakers (therefore alsocontemporary Cushitic-speakers), contemporary Nilotic-speakers and Ancient Egyptian-speakers suggests that theearliest speakers of the Egyptian language could belocated to the south of Upper Egypt or, earlier, in theSahara. The marked grammatical and lexicographicaffinities of Ancient Egyptian with Chadic are well-known, and consistent Nilotic cultural, religious and political patterns are detectable in the formation of thefirst Egyptian kingships. The question these data raise isthe articulation between the languages and the cultural patterns of this pool of ancient African societies fromwhich emerged Predynastic Egypt.
Keywords:

Ancient Egypt, Hierakonpolis, linguistic,Predynastic, rock art, Saharo-Nubian.
In those days, we thought that Egypt was only a gift of the Nile…
In 1974, with the intention of publishing the very first
Histoire Genérale de l’Afrique

(‘General History of Africa’), UNESCO gathered scholars from Africa (Egypt,Sudan, Senegal and Congo), America and Europe inCairo to participate in the first colloquium linkingAncient Egypt with its continent, Africa. In spite of thehigh academic quality of the participants, and the criticalexamination of the iconographic, anthropological andhaematological data, the colloquium did not reveal all theanticipated conclusions about the population of AncientEgypt. What was the culprit? Genetic studies, whichdidn’t come to fruition until after the 1980s. In addition,in those days it was thought that Egypt was simply a giftof the Nile. For what reason? Until the 1980s, there was alack of archaeological excavation in Egypt’s WesternDesert. Today, the historical genetics of the Nile Valley,which is at one and the same time the ‘crossroad andrefugium’, and the ‘Saharan affinities’ of the PredynasticEgyptians, have begun to be clearly identified (Keita andBoyce 2005).Since the 1980s, and the renewal of the excavations atKom el-Ahmar (ancient Nekhen/Hierakonpolis) by ateam directed by Michael Hoffman, archaeologists,notably the team led by Fred Wendorf, have given greater attention to the African hinterland of Ancient Egypt, particularly the Saharo-Nubian area, and have excavateda network of sites of ancient African cultures which could provide cultural patterns, ideological features and theframework for the political organisation of the firstkingships of Upper Egypt (Friedman 2002a). In thisrespect, Egypt and Nubia were also ‘gifts of the desert’(Friedman 2002b)
www.academia.edu/1921955/Egypt_in_its_African_Context

[truthteacher2007]

Sept 9, 2013 21:17:23 GMT -5 anansi said:

Egypt in its African Context
Proceedings of the conferenceheld at
The Manchester Museum,
University of Manchester, 2-4 October 2009


43
Some Notes about an Early African Pool of Cultures from which Emerged the Egyptian Civilisation
Alain AnselinUniversité des Antilles-Guyane
Abstract

Using primarily linguistic evidence, and taking intoaccount recent archaeology at sites such asHierakonpolis/Nekhen, as well as the symbolic meaningof objects such as sceptres and headrests in AncientEgyptian and contemporary African cultures, this paper traces the geographical location and movements of early peoples in and around the Nile Valley. It is possible fromthis overview of the data to conclude that the limitedconceptual vocabulary shared by the ancestors of contemporary Chadic-speakers (therefore alsocontemporary Cushitic-speakers), contemporary Nilotic-speakers and Ancient Egyptian-speakers suggests that theearliest speakers of the Egyptian language could belocated to the south of Upper Egypt or, earlier, in theSahara. The marked grammatical and lexicographicaffinities of Ancient Egyptian with Chadic are well-known, and consistent Nilotic cultural, religious and political patterns are detectable in the formation of thefirst Egyptian kingships. The question these data raise isthe articulation between the languages and the cultural patterns of this pool of ancient African societies fromwhich emerged Predynastic Egypt.
Keywords:

Ancient Egypt, Hierakonpolis, linguistic,Predynastic, rock art, Saharo-Nubian.
In those days, we thought that Egypt was only a gift of the Nile…
In 1974, with the intention of publishing the very first
Histoire Genérale de l’Afrique

(‘General History of Africa’), UNESCO gathered scholars from Africa (Egypt,Sudan, Senegal and Congo), America and Europe inCairo to participate in the first colloquium linkingAncient Egypt with its continent, Africa. In spite of thehigh academic quality of the participants, and the criticalexamination of the iconographic, anthropological andhaematological data, the colloquium did not reveal all theanticipated conclusions about the population of AncientEgypt. What was the culprit? Genetic studies, whichdidn’t come to fruition until after the 1980s. In addition,in those days it was thought that Egypt was simply a giftof the Nile. For what reason? Until the 1980s, there was alack of archaeological excavation in Egypt’s WesternDesert. Today, the historical genetics of the Nile Valley,which is at one and the same time the ‘crossroad andrefugium’, and the ‘Saharan affinities’ of the PredynasticEgyptians, have begun to be clearly identified (Keita andBoyce 2005).Since the 1980s, and the renewal of the excavations atKom el-Ahmar (ancient Nekhen/Hierakonpolis) by ateam directed by Michael Hoffman, archaeologists,notably the team led by Fred Wendorf, have given greater attention to the African hinterland of Ancient Egypt, particularly the Saharo-Nubian area, and have excavateda network of sites of ancient African cultures which could provide cultural patterns, ideological features and theframework for the political organisation of the firstkingships of Upper Egypt (Friedman 2002a). In thisrespect, Egypt and Nubia were also ‘gifts of the desert’(Friedman 2002b)
www.academia.edu/1921955/Egypt_in_its_African_Context

I would say not so much, also a gift of the desert as also a gift of the green Sahara. In the same vein I've been trying really hard to get a copy of this video. It was only aired a few times and was impossible to get a hold of. I'm glad someone uploaded it:

[anansi]

Thanks for the Vid TruthTeacher I have only seen bits of it myself will check it out later.

[anansi]

Okay saw the vid good stuff although I have some problems with it, the guy's use of the term "Black African" "Black Mummy" looking at a cave painting and determined that "White people" with cattle from Mesopotamia moved into the area while not saying that's not the case and thus impossible he did not take into cattle keeping Kenyans and other East Africans and this would fit neatly with the spread of Afrasian language from the general east African area to the West,keeping in mind many East Africans have angular features not related to outside influence,and as far as I know no artifact from Mesopotamia showed up..and last how did he make the determination that early Mesopotamians were" white" in the first place.

[truthteacher2007]

Sept 11, 2013 22:35:25 GMT -5 anansi said:

Okay saw the vid good stuff although I have some problems with it, the guy's use of the term "Black African" "Black Mummy" looking at a cave painting and determined that "White people" with cattle from Mesopotamia moved into the area while not saying that's not the case and thus impossible he did not take into cattle keeping Kenyans and other East Africans and this would fit neatly with the spread of Afrasian language from the general east African area to the West,keeping in mind many East Africans have angular features not related to outside influence,and as far as I know no artifact from Mesopotamia showed up..and last how did he make the determination that early Mesopotamians were" white" in the first place.

It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot closer to the truth than has been shown in the mainstream and even this seems to be of threat to the status quo as it is so damn hard to get a copy of the video. Already youtubes taken that video down. Here's another:

I don't think it is out of the question that there was some migration into the green sahara from Asiatics as the whole region of latitude was green at the time. I do argue the importance they place on them though. If anything, they would have been absorbed into the culture that was already there because looking at how vast an area that culture covered any migrants would have been a drop in the bucket.

The current theory is that cattle came from Western Asia.... Well even if that were true, the natives adapted them according to their own needs. I haven't seen anything resembling the type of animal husbandry in Mesopotamia as what we find in East Africa. In fact, those cultures still survive to this day. Why don't we see them in Iraq, Palestine etc? So while I don't doubt people migrating into the area, I see no evidence of them initiating the cuture that was there. Rather, as is usually the case of migrations, its the new comers who adopt the culture that was already there. We see paralleles of this even with the Mongol invasions in various regions of Asia. In China, even though they conquered the native population, they adopted the culture of the Chinese. And in the west, they adopted the culture of the CEntral Asians and Persians. Same process was repeated later with the Turks.

So I think that in conjunction with other evidence, such as linguistics, genetics and cultural, it does shed more light on the situation. The last element that needs to be addressed is phenotype. When enough studies make it into the mainstraem pointing out that the so called negro type is only one of dozens of physical types native to Africa then it will be settled. As you rightly stated, the assumption that a narrow phenotype is necessarily Asiatic or "Mediterranian", is a mispercention since even among populations where the "negro type" is dominant, you can find dozens of individuals who have narrow features and are not prognethic. It is all a part of the built in diversity native to the continent. Just as you find many individuals who are not admixed, who have green, hazel or even blue eyes. It's all there. Always has been and in not neccessarily evidence of admixture. Sooner or later they will catch up to what we already and have always known. The only thing dark about the Dark Continent, is their level of knowledge about it.

[zarahan]

Good reference. That phrase deserves a second mention-
I'll have to remember it. Egypt is a gift of the Sahara,
not simply the Nile. It was from the Sahara (which once
covered one-third of Africa and even today touches all
the way to the Horn of Africa) that the genesis of Egyptian
civilization sprung.

Below is just a recap for new readers... Hopefully they will
see "Reloaded" as a good resource to use and spread the data,
and the word around on the web. These matters of course are well known by us..




------------------------------------------------------ -------------------

As for migrants- Sure. There was always small scale
Asiatic movement- nomads, traders, war captives etc etc.
It picked up millennia later with Hyskos, then Greeks, Romans, Arabs etc
No one is "denying" such movement as the bogus strawman claim goes.
BUt as you say, such small scales did not significantly affect
the core founding tropical African population, nor override the
detailed cultural links and heritage with the rest of Africa.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for alleged "white" Mesopotamians this has been debunked before.
There was a wide range of variation and diversity, with the tropical
African phenotype clearly represented. Indeed skeletal studies of
so-called "Middle Easterners" outside Egypt show few tropical adaptations
in contrast to what is found in the Nile Valley. ANd cranial studies of
"Middle Easterners" also show tropical African features in place
as well.. in fact, in some studies, the "Near Eastern" or "Middle Eastern"
samples cluster closer to the Africans (Hanihara 1996). Even in the
North of Egypt, limb studies show clustering with Africans.






limb proportions



cranial- note how "West Asians" cluster with Africans.. these are Iranian Bronze Age samples.
If anything one would expect such distant "Asiatics" to cluster AWAY from the Africans, but that
is not the case.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mesopotamians of this period are not identical to Africans but they show a
variable, diverse phenotype, with the tropical African type also represented.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A claim is also sometimes advanced of alleged "white people" in
Saharan cave paintings with chariots further north. But this too
is shaky. Skeletal analysis of the putative "white invaders" and
their chariots show a phenotype similar to UPPER EGYPTIANS, not
contemporary "Asiatics" or "Caucasoids" from the Maghreb
(Brett and Fentress 1997