1-Basic Database of Nile Valley Studies

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Nubians and Egyptians- the close affinities



Nubians ethnically the closest to the ancient Egyptians, and share affinities with other tropical Africans. [Quote:]
�In some cases, the statistics reveal that the Egyptian samples were more similar to Nubian samples than to other Egyptian samples (e.g. Gizeh and Hesa/Biga) and vice versa (e.g. Badari and Kerma, Naqada and Christian). .. The clustering of the Nubian and Egyptian samples together supports this paper's hypothesis and demonstrates that there may be a close relationship between the two populations. This relationship is consistent with Berry and Berry (1972), among others, who noted a similarity between Nubians and Egyptians� Thus, the osteological material used in this analysis also supports the DNA evidence. On this basis, many have postulated that the Badarians are relatives to South African populations..
The archaeological evidence points to this relationship as well. (Hassan, 1986) and (Hassan, 1988) noted similarities between Badarian pottery and the Neolithic Khartoum type, indicating an archaeological affinity among Badarians and Africans from more southern regions. Furthermore, like the Badarians, Naqada has also been classified with other African groups, namely the Teita (Crichton, 1996; Keita, 1990)� Nutter (1958) noted affinities between the Badarian and Naqada samples, a feature that Strouhal (1971) attributed to their skulls possessing �Negroid� traits. Keita (1992), using craniometrics, discovered that the Badarian series is distinctly different from the later Egyptian series, a conclusion that is mostly confirmed here. In the current analysis, the Badari sample more closely clusters with the Naqada sample and the Kerma sample.�
-- Godde K. (2009) An Examination of Nubian and Egyptian biological distances: Support for biological diffusion or in situ development? Homo. 2009;60(5):389-404.





Nubians were ethnically the closest people to the Egyptians. Conflict between the two were typical clashes between kingdoms without the simplistic "racial" models drawn by some 20th century writers.
Quote 1:
"The ancient Egyptians referred to a region, located south of the third cataract the Nile River, in which Nubians dwelt as Kush.. Within such context, this phrase is not a racial slur. Throughout the history of ancient Egypt there were numerous, well documented instances that celebrate Nubian-Egyptian marriages. A study of these documents, particularly those dated to both the Egyptian New Kingdom (after 1550 B.C.E.) and to Dynasty XXV and early Dynasty XXVI (about 720-640 BCE), reveals that neither spouse nor any of the children of such unions suffered discrimination at the hands of the ancient Egyptians. Indeed such marriages were never an obstacle to social, economic, or political status, provided the individuals concerned conformed to generally accepted Egyptian social standards. Furthermore, at times, certain Nubian practices, such as tattooing for women, and the unisex fashion of wearing earrings, were wholeheartedly embraced by the ancient Egyptians." (Bianchi, 2004: p. 4)


'It is an extremely difficult task to attempt to describe the Nubians during the course of Egypt's New Kingdom, because their presence appears to have virtually evaporated from the archaeological record.. The result has been described as a wholesale Nubian assimilation into Egyptian society. This assimilation was so complete that it masked all Nubian ethnic identities insofar as archaeological remains are concerned beneath the impenetrable veneer of Egypt's material; culture.. In the Kushite Period, when Nubians ruled as Pharaohs in their own right, the material culture of Dynasty XXV (about 750-655 B.C.E.) was decidedly Egyptian in character.. Nubia's entire landscape up to the region of the Third Cataract was dotted with temples indistinguishable in style and decoration from contemporary temples erected in Egypt. The same observation obtains for the smaller number of typically Egyptian tombs in which these elite Nubian princes were interred. (Bianchi, 2004, p. 99-100)

- Robert Bianchi ( 2004). Daily Life of the Nubians. Greenwood Publishing Group


Yet more mainstream research shows the ancient Egyptians while proudly pro-Egyptian, did not practice the racism of today's whites, and that Nubians and Egyptians mingled and intermarried freely despite OFFICIAL state dogma regarding foreign "enemies."

"..the Egyptians did not engage in the kind of racial prejudice seen in modern times. Modern racism largely revolves around differences in skin color. In particular, dark skin color was (and with some groups unfortunately still is) a sign of inferiority, regardless of individual achievement and sophistication. Miscegenation, or racial intermarriage, was considered immoral. At its worst, skin color distinguished between slaves and slaves and free people in the American South. In contrast, the ancient Egyptians, and indeed ancient Mediterranean peoples in general, did not make skin color a definitive criterion for racial discrimination (Snowden 1983). Slavery was not connected to race or even class. Royce (1982) notes that ethnic definitions stressing phenotype can inhibit the ability of individuals to cross ethnic boundaries, but the separation of language and culture (costume, hair style, etc) from biological phenotype (skin color, facial features), in social practice if not ideology, meant that foreigners could cross ethnic boundaries.

For example, Nubians like solider and royal confidant Mahirper achieved high position in Egyptian society as long as they assimilated to Egyptian cultural norms. Mahirper was raised at the Egyptian court with the future Pharaoh, and so may have been son of a Nubian prince. He held the important military title 'Fanbearer to the Right of the King." he was buried in the valley of the Kings, a privilege reserved only for kings and there immediate relatives. the burial itself was quote Lavish, with, among other things, high -quality coffins and expensive jewelry, reflecting Mahirper''s wealth and position.. In his Book of the Dead, he appears in every way Egyptian, except for his skin color and facial features (phenotype), which fit the Nubian stereotype.. In a similar way, Nubian mercenaries who settled in Egypt during the First Intermediate Period (c. 2150-2050 B.C.) were depicted on Egyptian funerary stelae in Egyptian dress with their Egyptian wives, but with Nubian physiognomy... Nubians, Asiatics and other peoples married freely with the Egyptians, and slaves were sometimes adopted into Egyptian families, at least among the elite. Asiatic gods and goddesses even found a place in the Egyptian pantheon (Redford 1992). It was the cultural identity of immigrants to Egypt that mattered to their success in Egyptian society, not their skin color or ancestry. Even when foreigners remained culturally foreign, more prosaic sources allowed that foreigners could act in positive ways and be incorporated into the civilized sphere. the ancient Egyptian construction of ethnic identities this reflects cultural chauvinism more than racism."

--Stuart Tyson Smith. (2003) Wretched Kush: ethnic identities and boundaries in Egypt's Nubian empire. Routledge, pp. 22-24


One of Egypt's greatest dynasties, the 12th, originated from dark-skinned Nubian stock, according to conservative Egyptologist F. Yurco (1989). The 12th Dynasty ruled approximately 1000 years BEFORE the well known "black" 25th Dynasty.
Quote 2:

"the XIIth Dynasty (1991-1786 B.C.E.) originated from the Aswan region.4 As expected, strong Nubian features and dark coloring are seen in their sculpture and relief work. This dynasty ranks as among the greatest, whose fame far outlived its actual tenure on the throne. Especially interesting, it was a member of this dynasty- that decreed that no Nehsy (riverine Nubian of the principality of Kush), except such as came for trade or diplomatic reasons, should pass by the Egyptian fortress at the southern end of the Second Nile Cataract. Why would this royal family of Nubian ancestry ban other Nubians from coming into Egyptian territory? Because the Egyptian rulers of Nubian ancestry had become Egyptians culturally; as pharaohs, they exhibited typical Egyptian attitudes and adopted typical Egyptian policies."

- (F. J. Yurco, 'Were the ancient Egyptians black or white?', Biblical Archaeology Review (Vol 15, no. 5, 1989)


"Among the foreigners, the Nubians were closest ethnically to the Egyptians. In the late predynastic period (c. 3700-3150 B.C.E.), the Nubians shared the same culture as the Egyptians and even evolved the same pharaonic political structure."
- (F. J. Yurco, 'Were the ancient Egyptians black or white?', Biblical Archaeology Review (Vol 15, no. 5, 1989)

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Limb proportion studies data - RECAP




Raxter & Ruff, et al. (2008) Stature estimation in ancient Egyptians. Amer J. Phy Anthro 136 (2), 147-55. Most samples drawn from northern Egypt near the Mediterranean, closer to Europe and the Levant, but still link more with Blacks. Earlier studies (Trinkhaus 1981) also link Blacks more closely than Southern or Northern Europeans, or US Whites. Zakrewski (2003) shows similar patterns.


Trinkhaus found Holocene Egyptians plotting nearer to, or resemble more other tropically adapted peoples like Pygmies, US Blacks and Melanesians. The closest match is with fellow Africans. Southern Europeans like Yugoslavs, Northern Europeans like Belgians, and white Americans are more distant from the US blacks and Egyptians. (Trinkhaus, E. (1981) ‘Neanderthal limb proportions and cold adaptation’. p. 211). Trinkhaus’s results confirm studies going back to the 1950s, and recent limb studies by Zakrewski (2003). Raxter, Ruff et. al. (2008) applied limb analysis to ancient Egyptians. The outcome was the same. US Blacks linked closer to the Egyptians, than whites. (Raxter & Ruff, et al. (2008) Stature estimation in ancient Egyptians. Amer J. Phy Anthro 136 (2), 147-55.)

QUOTE:
"Body proportions are under strong climatic selection and evince remarkable stability within regional lineages.” (Gallagher 2009, Population continuity
"..sample populations available from northern Egypt from before the 1st Dynasty (Merimda, Maadi and Wadi Digla) turn out to be significantly different from sample populations from early Palestine and Byblos, suggesting a lack of common ancestors over a long time. If there was a south-north cline variation along the Nile valley it did not, from this limited evidence, continue smoothly on into southern Palestine. The limb-length proportions of males from the Egyptian sites group them with Africans rather than with Europeans." (Barry Kemp, "Ancient Egypt Anatomy of a Civilisation. (2005) Routledge. p. 54)

QUOTE
“The raw values in Table 6 suggest that Egyptians had the “super-Negroid” body plan described by Robins (1983).. This pattern .. indicates that the Egyptians generally have tropical body plans. .. all samples lie relatively clustered together as compared to the other populations." (Zakrzewski, S.R. (2003). "Variation in ancient Egyptian stature and body proportions". Amer J. Phy Anth. 121 (3): 219-229.
"Intralimb (crural and brachial) indices are significantly higher in ancient Egyptians than in American Whites.. Intralimb indices are not significantly different between Egyptians and American Blacks... Many of those who have studied ancient Egyptians have commented on their characteristically ‘‘tropical’’ or ‘‘African’’ body plan (Warren, 1897; Masali, 1972; Robins, 1983; Robins and Shute, 1983, 1984, 1986; Zakrzewski, 2003). Egyptians also fall within the range of modern African populations .. (brachial indices are definitely more ‘‘African’’).. In terms of femoral and tibial length to total skeletal height proportions, we found that ancient Egyptians are significantly different from US Blacks, although still closer to Blacks than to Whites.” (-- "Stature estimation in ancient Egyptians" Raxter & Ruff, et al. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2008,136(2):147-55)

QUOTE
“"It can be seen that all the pharonic values, including those of 'Smakhare', lie much closer to the negro curve than to the white curve. Since stature equations only work satisfactorily in the individuals to whom they have applied have similar proportions to the population group from which they are derived, this provides justification for using negro equations for estimating stature from single bones of the New Kingdom pharoahs, renforcing the previous findings of Robins (1983). Furthermore, the Troller and Gleser white equations for the femur, tibia and humerus yield stature values that have a much wider spread than
those from negro equations with mean values that are unacceptably large."
--Robins and Schute. The Physical Proportions and Stature

QUOTE
"Estimates of living stature, based on X-ray measurements applied to the Trotter & Gleser (1958) negro equations for the femur, tibia and humerus, have been made for ancient Egyptian kings belonging to the 18th and 19th dynasties. The corresponding equations for whites give values for stature that are unsatisfactorily high. The view that Thutmose III was excessively short is proved to be a myth. It is shown that the limbs of the pharaohs, like those of other Ancient Egyptians, had negroid characteristics, in that the distal segments were relatively long in comparison with the proximal segments. An exception was Ramesses II, who appears to have had short legs below the knees."

--Robins and Schute. The Physical Proportions and Stature of New Kingdom Pharaohs," Journal of Human Evolution 12 (1983), 455-465


QUOTE
"Robins (1983) and Robins & Shute (1983) have shown that more consistent results are obtained from ancient Egyptian male skeletons if Trotter & Gleser formulae for negro are used, rather than those for whites which have always been applied in the past. .. their physical proportions were more like modern negroes than those of modern whites, with limbs that were relatively long compared with the trunk, and distal segments
QUOTEthat were long compared with the proximal segments. If ancient Egyptian males had what may be termed negroid proportions, it seems reasonable that females did likewise."
- Robins G, Shute CCD. 1986. Predynastic Egyptian stature and physical propor
tions. Hum Evol 1:313–324. Ruff CB. 1994.)

QUOTE
"The late XVII Dynasty and XVIII Dynasty royal mummies display the strongest Nubian affinities. In terms of maxillary protrusion as measured by SNA, the mean value for these Pharaohs is 84.21 comparable to that of African Americans. .. In regards to head shape, the late XVII and XVIII dynasty mummies are very close to Nubian samples intermediate between the Mesolithic and Christian periods. The zygomatic arches are almost always vertical or forward and not receding.“ --PK Manansala 2006 on James Harris & Edward Wente, X-ray Atlas of the Royal Mummies (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1980)


Pharaonic-Nubian links long before 25th Dynasty confirmed by mainstream Egyptology scholars: -QUOTE“The XIIth Dynasty (1991-1786 B.C.E.) originated from the Aswan region.4 As expected, strong Nubian features and dark coloring are seen in their sculpture and relief work. This dynasty ranks as among the greatest, whose fame far outlived its actual tenure on the throne.”-- (F. J. Yurco, 'Were the ancient Egyptians black or white?', Biblical Archaeology Review (Vol 15, no. 5, 1989)


Middle Easterners did not have tropical body proportions like ancient Egyptians – QUOTE:
“Results indicate that the Qafzeh-Skhul hominids have African-like, or tropically adapted, proportions, while those from Amud, Kebara, Tabun, and Shanidar (Iraq) have more European-like, or cold-adapted, proportions. This suggests that there were in fact two distinct Western Asian populations and that the Qafzeh-Skhul hominids were likely African in origin - a result consistent with the "Replacement" model of modern human origins.. What we can say, however, is that in the Holocene, humans from southwest Asia do not exhibit tropically adapted body shape..”
--Holliday, T. 2000. Evolution at the Crossroads. Amr Anthr, 102. 54-68


Egyptians group with tropical Africans and African-Americans
QUOTE – Holliday 2010:
"These same log shape variables were subjected to two
forms of cluster analysis: neighbor-joining (NJ) and unweighted
pair-group method using averages (UPGMA) tree analysis.
Figure 8 is the NJ tree. It has two main branches—a long and
linear body build branch that includes the Egyptians, Sub-Saharan
Africans (except for the Pygmies), and African-Americans and a
second, less linear body form branch that includes the Inuit,
Europeans, Euro-Americans, Puebloans, Nubians, and Pygmies.
Note that the Nubians used in this study are thought by some to
represent an immigrant population from Europe or Western
Asia [see Holliday (1995)."
--Holliday, T. (2010) Body proportions of circumpolar peoples as
evidenced from skeletal data. AmerJrPhyAntrho, 142: 2. 287-302


Northern Egyptians group with Africans:
QUOTE – Smith 2002: "Limb length proportions in males from Maadi and Merimde group them with African rather than European populations. Mean femur length in males from Maadi was similar to that recorded at Byblos and the early Bronze Age male from Kabri, but mean tibia length in Maadi males was 6.9cm longer than that at Byblos. At Merimde both bones were longer than at the other sites shown, but again, the tibia was longer proportionate to femurs than at Byblos (Fig 6.2), reinforcing the impression of an African rather than Levantine affinity."
-- Smith, P. (2002) The palaeo-biological evidence for admixture between populations in the southern Levant and Egypt.- In: Egypt and the Levant: interrelations from the 4th through the 3rd millenium, BCE. Leicester Univ. 118-28


Body/limb proportions have strong genetic element - don’t change quickly over millennia- QUOTE:
"Human body proportions also appear to have a substantial genetic component. Differences in body proportions between Eskimos and non-Eskimos, for example, appear early in ontogeny.. The low sitting height/stature ratio of Australian aborigines is present early in development.. Schultz (1923, 1926) found significant differences between African–American and Euroamerican fetuses in brachial and crural indices, length of the legs relative to the trunk, and relative pelvic width. The fact that these ‘‘racial’’ features are manifested early in fetal life indicates strong genetic encoding of body and limb proportions.
In addition, body shape in human appears to be more resistant to nutritional deficiency or disease than is body size .. Body proportions of human migrants, for example, are conservative; despite often exhibiting a marked increase in stature, children of migrants tend to retain the body proportions of their ancestral homeland, and do not develop the proportions of their new neighbors.. Also, while secular trends in body shape have been documented, they do not negate the value of body proportions as short-term phylogenetic markers... nutritional differences alone cannot explain all of the global variability in body shape. Rather, they note that much of the difference seen today in body shape between broad geographic groups is genetically-driven.
Migration within a larger time framework took place ca. 15,000–18,000 BP, .., ultimately founding the modern Amerindian population. Despite having as much as 18,000 years of selection in environments as diverse as those found in the Old World, body mass and proportion clines in the Americas are less steep than those in the Old World.. Amerindians,. This suggests that body proportions tend not to be very plastic under natural conditions, and that selective rates on body shape are such that evolution in these features is long-term."
--Holliday T. (1997). Body proportions in Late Pleistocene Europe..human origins. Jrnl Hum Evo. 32: 423-447

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Keita - Frigi 2010 - Berbers

Some mainstream scholars question curious racial double-standards in studying European and African populations. Most Europeans do not speak languages that originated in Europe, nor are the ancestors of people who settled today’s Europe from Europe proper. And several groups that speak NON Indo-European derived languages are considered “European” without question, not “mixed race.” But in Africa different rules apply. Indigenous groups with DNA haplogroups originating in Africa, clear physical links, and languages originating in Africa are mysteriously deemed “non-African” or “mixed race.” Keita (2010) questions the assumptions and methods of both academics and non-academics who continue to use these curious double standards.
www.geocities.ws/nilevalleypeoples



QUOTE: KEITA SLAMS HYPOCRISY ON HOW AFRICAN DIVERSITY IS HANDLED

“Europe can serve as a good example. If it is asked who are the “indigenous” Europeans, there would probably be a request to clarify the time depth, given that modern humans are not native to Europe and arrived there from elsewhere. (The next question therefore is at what point do they become “European” and what precisely does this mean: current limb proportions, skin color, genetic variation, language, the presence of Neanderthal DNA?) Does “indigenousness” require residency back to the upper Paleolithic, the Neolithic, and so on? Is it only a biological phenomenon requiring a “drop” of Neanderthal blood or a linguistic phenomenon requiring the speaking of Indo-European languages? Or if the question is who were the indigenous inhabitants of northern, southern, western, eastern, or central Europe, the answers would necessarily take on a different tone, based on other information. Are the Basque speakers the indigenous inhabitants of Europe, if currently spoken language phyla and families are used as “population markers,” a problematic assumption? Basque predates Indo-European, and there is some indication of some level of biological distinctiveness (Alonso et al. 2005). The fact that historical linguists (e.g., Ehret 2002; Nichols 1997) can reconstruct the existence of culture-linguistic units for a proto-language family (e.g., Adamawa) or phylum (e.g., Niger-Congo), which may have migrated, does not mean that they are suggesting that the people making up such entities connote genetic units or Mendelian breeding populations. It also does not mean that the speakers of such proto-entities had a common molecular or social genealogical origin at foundation, or that the linguists are suggesting this.

Defining “origins” or “indigenous” becomes one of perspective. How much “Basque ancestry” would a European population have to have for the label of “indigenous European” to apply? If none, why not? (What is the relationship between cultural and biological genealogy?) Can it be assumed that the Basques of today biologically represent those of the past “accurately”? The post-Paleolithic European assimilation of males from Africa and Asia bearing younger genetic variants is documented (Cruciani et al. 2004, 2007): Are such ancient admixed populations to be viewed as “less” European or non-European? Are Nordics or the Basques the “standard” European? Is language, biology, culture, geography, or something else the arbiter of European-ness? In practice, this question seems to be little asked in studies of Europeans: All these groups and nationalities are considered European with little question. Aegean peoples are not presented as “hybrids.” The linguistic and genetic diversity is not a factor in the designation of “indigenous” for Europe.

But in the case of Africa there seems to be a problem with diversity for some scholars. The Indo-European language phylum, in the standard evidence-based interpretation, did not originate in the European heartland (Ehret, personal communication, 2010). Most people in Europe today speak Indo-European languages—now considered as “indigenous” as Basque. What does it mean for the concept of European if Europe’s major language phylum did not originate in what is considered Europe proper? How much of the spread of early Indo-European was due to outright settler colonization and how much to language shift—these are questions that will likely be debated for some time. Are the Finns, Saami, and Hungarians (or their “original” ancestors)—all non-Indo-European-speaking—to be considered Europeans? Apparently so. Contrast this with ideas held by some about Berbers as “Eurasians” who speak a language family that belongs to a phylum whose proto-parent emerged in Africa using standard historical linguistic criteria and whose major history and differentiation occurred in Africa (Ehret 2002; Greenberg 1963; Nichols 1997).”
-- S. O. Y. Keita. 2010. Biocultural Emergence of the Amazigh in Africa: Comment on Frigi et al. Human Biology, (82:4)

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coudray - berbers 2009 - upper egyptians link


QUOTE: “Our results show that North-Africans have, in the total mitochondrial diversity, an intermediate position between European and sub-Saharan populations. We also see a genetic differentiation between North-Western and North-Eastern African groups: populations from Maghreb are related to European and Middle Eastern populations whereas High Egyptians share more affinities with sub-Saharans and East Africans. Our data also reveal a clear and significant genetic differentiation between Berbers from Maghreb and Egyptian Berbers, the latter sharing more affinities with East-African populations."
--(Coudray et al (2009) The mitochondrial lineages and history of population genetics Berber North Africa . Antropo, 18, ​​63-72.




Siwa berbers in Egypt

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NUTRITION not merely Climate can affect Body Mass

Better nutrition does not necessarily rely on sedentary agriculture, and can be obtained by intensive resource exploitation. In the Nile Valley, a substantial, mixed subsistence economy was long in place. The ancient Egyptian Badarians had a substantial population and resource base- reflecting rich subsistence foraging and harvesting, not merely sedentary agriculture.

Body mass impacted by Nutrition: QUOTE:
"Here we demonstrate that this transition is also associated with a modest reduction and subsequent improvement in stature and body mass. This trend could be broadly interpreted in the context of models of relationship between body size and nutrition. In this case, the greater body size of early hunter-gatherers may reflect the benefit of broadly based hunting and gathering subsistence... Archaological evidence suggest that the Badarian civilization had higher population density than did other contemporaneous civilizations (Gabriel, 1987; Hassan 1988)."
--Pihnasi and Stock (2011) Human Bioarchaeology of the Transition to Agriculture


In the Americas, better nutrition & agriculture also associated with body mass- Quote:

"Finally body mass has long been recognized as a morphological trait amongst humans that relates to ecogeographic patterns in association with climate (Holliday, 1997, Rull 1994). However, Auerbach (2007) found that the relationship between climatic factors and body mass amongst a broad sample of New World groups was inconsistent and may have been influenced by subsistence.. ..there is a similar trend amongst both males and females: the agriculturalists are taller and more massive, on the average. This is identical to patterns of diachronic change in stature documented using different samples from the southeast... There is also a coincident slight increase in sexual dimorphism among the agriculturalist samples, accompanied by a slight increase in overall variance in stature, body mass and bi-iliac breath.. the long temporal perspective on the development of agriculture in the Southeast may be characterized by significant overall increases in body size for both males and females."
-- PInhasi and Stock (2011). Human Bioarchaeology of the Transition to Agriculture


Modern body mass studies also show changes due to better Nutrition not simply climate- Quote:

“.. although climatic factors continue to be significant correlates of world-wide variation in human body size and morphology, differential changes in nutrition among tropical, developing world populations have moderated their influence.. Thus, the strong associations between body size and temperature reported previously by Roberts and others reflect the adaptations to joint influence of thermal and nutritional stress.” --Katzmarzyk et al. 1998. Climatic Influences on Human Body Size and Proportions. AJPA 106,


Long native settlement- No mass influx of outsiders- QUOTE:
“Furthermore, the archaeology of northern Africa does not support demic diffusion of farming from the Near East. The evidence presented by Wetterstrom indicates that early African farmers in the Fayum initially incorporated Near Eastern domesticates into an INDIGENOUS foraging strategy, and only over time developed a dependence on horticulture. This is inconsistent with in-migrating farming settlers, who would have brought a more abrupt change in subsistence strategy. "The same archaeological pattern occurs west of Egypt..”--Ehret, Keita, Newman, Bellwood (2004). The Origins of Afroasiatic Science 3 v306, n5702, p1680


A rich, indigenous foraging and harvesting strategy is old news in boosting better nutrition in ancient Africa.
“The adoption of this broad adaptive strategy provided the large food supply needed by a growing population, but achieving maximum production called for a good deal of planning and the management of labor. This marks the beginning of an organized food-producing system: agriculture.” “Dating from more than 15,000 years ago, the evidence from the Nile valley is arguably the earliest comprehensive instance of an organized food-producing system known anywhere on Earth.”
--Africa: A Biography of the Continent, J. Reader, 1998, 120-173

[zarahan]

Conservative Egyptologist actually says it is reasonable
to view ancient Egyptians as "black" based on social construct
race model


“The race and origins of the Ancient Egyptians have been a source of considerable debate. Scholars in the late and early 20th centuries rejected any considerations of the Egyptians as black Africans by defining the Egyptians either as non-African (i.e Near Easterners or Indo-Aryan), or as members of a separate brown (as opposed to a black) race, or as a mixture of lighter-skinned peoples with black Africans. In the later half of the 20th century, Afrocentric scholars have countered this Eurocentric and often racist perspective by characterizing the Egyptians as black and African…..”

“Physical anthropologists are increasingly concluding that racial definitions are the culturally defined product of selective perception and should be replaced in biological terms by the study of populations and clines. Consequently, any characterization of race of the ancient Egyptians depend on modern cultural definitions, not on scientific study. Thus, by modern American standards it is reasonable to characterize the Egyptians as ‘blacks’ [i.e in a social sense] while acknowledging the scientific evidence for the physical diversity of Africans.”

Source: Donald Redford (2001) The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, Volume 3. Oxford University Press. p. 27-28


^^Of course on a non-social construct-science basis, the data shows Ancient
Egyptians clustering or more similar to other Africans, with stronger
similarities based on different eras.

[zarahan]

David OConnor - Ancient Egypt in Africa




".. but his [Frankfort's] frequent citations from African
ethnography- over 60 are listed in the index- demonstrate
that there is a powerful resonance between recent African
concepts and practice on one hand, and ancient Egyptian
kingship and religion on the other.."

Rowlands (Chapter 4) provides much additional evidence
suggesting that 'sub-Saharan Africa and Ancient Egypt
share certain commonalities in substantive images and
ideas, yet whose cultural forms display differences
consistent with perhaps millennia of historical divergence
and institutionalization'.

"First, kingship in Egypt was 'the channel through which
the powers of nature flowed into the body politic to bring
human endeavour to fruition' and thus was closely
analogous to the widespread African belief that 'chieftains
entertain closer relationship with the powers in nature than
other men' (Frankfort 1948: 33, ch. 2). Second, the
Egyptian king's metaphorical identification as an all
powerful bull who tramples his enemeis and inseminates his
cow-mother to achieve regeneration was derived from
Egyptian ideas and beliefs abut cattle for which best
parallels can be found in some, but not all, recent African
societies.."

"Like the chiefs discussed by Rowlands, the king combines
'life giving forces with the power to kill" (Rowlands, Chapter
4:52). Overall, this Egyptian concept of kingship, so akin to
African models, seems very different to that held in the
ancient Near East (Frankfort 1948; Postgate 1995)"

"In conclusion, there is a relative abundance of ancient
materials relevant to contact and influence, as well as
striking correlations between ancient Egyptian civilization
and the ethnography of recent and current sub-Saharan
communities, chiefdoms and states... Perhaps the fact that
commonalities do exist suggests that, because of great
time depth and different organization, these commonalities
may result from inherently African processes."

--David O'Connor, Andrew Reid (2007) ANCIENT EGYPT IN
AFRICA. pp 15-22


Other mainstream scholars

[QUOTE:]

"The evidence also points to linkages to
other northeast African peoples, not
coincidentally approximating the modern
range of languages closely related to
Egyptian in the Afro-Asiatic group
(formerly called Hamito-Semetic). These
linguistic similarities place ancient
Egyptian in a close relationship with
languages spoken today as far west as
Chad, and as far south as Somalia.
Archaeological evidence also strongly
supports an African origin. A widespread
northeastern African cultural assemblage,
including distinctive multiple barbed
harpoons and pottery decorated with
dotted wavy line patterns, appears during
the early Neolithic (also known as the
Aqualithic, a reference to the mild
climate of the Sahara at this time).
Saharan and Sudanese rock art from this
time resembles early Egyptian
iconography. Strong connections
between Nubian (Sudanese) and
Egyptian material culture continue in
later Neolithic Badarian culture of Upper
Egypt. Similarities include black-topped
wares, vessels with characteristic
ripple-burnished surfaces, a special
tulip-shaped vessel with incised and
white-filled decoration, palettes, and
harpoons...

Other ancient Egyptian practices show
strong similarities to modern African
cultures including divine kingship, the
use of headrests, body art, circumcision,
and male coming-of-age rituals, all
suggesting an African substratum or
foundation for Egyptian civilization.."

-- Source: Donald Redford (2001) The
Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Egypt,
Volume 3. Oxford University Press. p.28

MORE MODERN SCHOLARS..

"Ancient Egypt belongs to a language
group known as 'Afroasiatic' (formerly
called Hamito-Semitic) and its closest
relatives are other north-east African
languages from Somalia to Chad. Egypt's
cultural features, both material and
ideological and particularly in the earliest
phases, show clear connections with that
same broad area. In sum, ancient Egypt
was an African culture, developed by
African peoples, who had wide ranging
contacts in north Africa and western
Asia."
--Morkot, Robert (2005) The Egyptians: An Introduction. p. 10)

"The ancient Egyptians were not 'white' in any European sense,
nor were they 'Caucasian'... we can say that the earliest population
of ancient Egypt included African people from the upper Nile, African
people from the regions of the Sahara and modern Libya, and smaller
numbers of people who had come from south-western Asia and
perhaps the Arabian penisula."
--Robert Morkot (2005). The Egyptians: An Introduction. pp. 12-13

"Over the long run of northeastern African history, what emerges most
strongly is the extent to which ancient Egypt's culture grew from sub-Saharan
African roots. The earliest foundations of the culture that was to evolve into that
of dynastic Egypt were laid, as we have already discovered, by Afrasan immigrants
from the general direction of the southern Red Sea hills, who arrived probably well
before 10,000 B.C.E. The new inhabitants brought with them a language directly
ancestral to ancient Egyptian. They introduced to Egypt the idea of using wild grasses
or grains as food. They also introduced a new religion Its central belief, in the efficacy
of clan deities, explains the traceability of the ancient Egyptian gods to different particular
Egyptians localities: originally they were the deities of the local communities, whose
members in still earlier times had belonged to a clan or a group of related clans."
--Christopher Ehret. (2002) The Civilizations of
Africa: A History to 1800. p. 93

".. how is it come about that Neolithic Saharan civilizations, ancient Egypt and
modern Black African civilizations share cultural features? .. Today however,
essentially autochthonous explanations are preferred based on what we call
the substratum theory, whereby all the civilizations in question, even in their
differences and peculiarities share a common cultural substratum as occurs
in the northern world among Indo-European civilizations."
--CERVELLÓ AUTUORI, Joseph, Egypt, Africa and the Ancient World,
in: Proceedings 7th Int. Congress of Egyptologists, 261-272.

[zarahan]

Notice how the heavyweight mainstreamers above in the European academy
have come around to what Diop, van-Sertima and others have been saying
for years.. But they still use subtle distortions...

In the article "CHeikh Anta DIop and Egypt in Africa" Kevin MacDonald attempts to deconstruct Diop's work but emphasizing connections between Dynastic Egypt and the rest of Africa or "the African interior" while minimizing pr dodging the most important core of Diop's work. But McDonald's argument involves building up several strawman aspects:

1) Diop did not place heavy emphasis on "Inner Africa" and visible links with Dynastic Egypt. The lack of trade caravans or pyramid buildings flowing from Egypt to say Senegal is MARGINAL to Diop's overall work. Diop showed a DEEP AFRICAN CULTURAL SUBSTRATUM that extended from the Nle Valley across a vast belt of adjacent territories into the Sahara, East Africa and touching West Africa via the Sahara. Other scholars in the same book (O'connor, Wengrow etc) show just such deep linkages. Diop doesn't need Egyptian temples or boats around the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa to validate various aspects of his position. They already have been validated.


2) Why is "inner Africa" some sort of litmus test as to Diop, van Sertima or the concept of a deep African cultural sub-stratum in the Nile Valley? Few European scholars are going insinuating that since ancient Greek temples or language do not appear in ancient Sweden or Britain then that means Sweden or Britain are not part of European civilization or culture. Just because hymns to Osiris fail to be found on cave walls in Kenya does not in the slightest bit weaken the fact that the peoples of both Kenya and the Nile Valley are part of one African reality- (DNA, cultural, limb proportion, religion, divine kingship etc) diverse indeed, but ultimately sharing several commonalities- just as Greeks and Swedes form part of a European reality. MacDonald plays the old Eurocentric "splittism" game by insinuation- splitting Africa up into little chunks which can then be regrouped in such a way as to deny or minimize commonality.


3) Why does "compelling cultural or material contact" with "Inner Africa" lying "beyond Nubia" serve as some sort of validator of Diop or "Afrocentric" work? What's wrong with areas NEAR to Egypt showing the deep-rooted African cultural patterns and commonalities? Since when is "beyond Nubia" a point of validation? How come the same litmus test is seldom applied to say European peoples like Greeks to validate common patterns based on the Mediterranean basin in agriculture, culture, material artifacts and so on? The ancient Greeks had the greatest impact in areas comparatively CLOSE TO Greece- North Africa, Anatolia, Italy and the Balkans. Unlike the more land-based Egyptians, their islands were more sea-based and thus it was natural for them to use the broad seafaring belt of the Mediterranean to facilitate that influence. Even so, the bulk of their ancient impact was in that general Medit zone. Few people are going around saying that the Greeks should show temples in ancient France to "prove" they are European, or that the ancient peoples of Gaul should likewise be huddling around such temples as "proof" they also are European.


4) MacDonald purports to be "critiquing" Diop but in fact he avoids the central underpinning of Diop's approach- the African character of the ancient Egyptians. Macdonald dodges this to focus on a tangent- links between dynastic Egypt and "inner" Africa as if that encompasses some sort of "litmus test" of Diop's work.


5) Numerous African areas near to Egypt and sharing culture material and population with Egypt- the Sahara, etc are also "SUB-SAHARAN" OR lie within the tropical zone. Indeed, almost one-sixth of Egypt lies within the tropical zone which for all practical purposes extends even further north (Thompson 1997- Applied Climatology). The peoples therein are tropical Africans, or came from "sub-Saharan Africa in the early era. Trying to play some sort of "geographic apartheid" game where lack of pyramids in Ghana is insinuated to conjure a vast segregation of the Nile Valley from "interior Africa" is a dubious ploy. The Sahara was always a moving target- and donated people and culture to vast swathes of the continent including West Africa.

And yes, pyramids do appear in "sub-Saharan" Africa in the greater Meroe complex - including Naqa and Musawwarat es Sufra part of a cultural region extending into Egypt from the Sudan over the centuries. The move of the desert southwards over decades has obscured the fact that numerous so-called "sub-Saharan" peoples were once well represented far to the north. They do not suddenly become "Eurasian" because the desert continues to move south at variou cycles or speeds.



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

QUOTE:

"Across the continent, the Sahara is spreading southward at a rate of more than three miles a year." -A. Guzman (2013) Overheated: The Human cost of climate change. p lxxiv

"Excessive grazing of cattle and goats by an ever-expanding human population is the main reason for the Sahara's southward expansion at a rate of 5.5 to 8 km per year."
Wolfe, Hertz and Starr (2004) General Biology. p 1224.

" a 1975 survey by the United Nations found the desert to be expanding southward at 5.5 kilometers per year in the Sudan.." Goudie and Cuff (2001) Encyclopedia of Global Change, p. 253.

__________________________ ___

So-called "sub-Saharan" cultures once moved far to the north. As one mainstream scholar notes:

"Populations and cultures now found south of the desert roamed far to the north. The culture of Upper Egypt, which became dynastic Egyptian civilization, could fairly be called a Sudanese transplant."
--J. Vogel (1997) Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa: Their Interaction. Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa. pp. 465-472

[anansi]

And yes, pyramids do appear in "sub-Saharan" Africa in the greater Meroe complex - including Naqa and Musawwarat es Sufra part of a cultural region extending into Egypt from the Sudan over the centuries. The move of the desert southwards over decades has obscured the fact that numerous so-called "sub-Saharan" peoples were once well represented far to the north. They do not suddenly become "Eurasian" because the desert continues to move south at variou cycles or speeds.

But not only do they appear in areas beyond Meroe atleast one appeared in Mali.

Nuer Pyramidal structure

Although not positively identified by Seligman, this seems almost certainly to be a view of the mound built by the Nuer prophet Ngundeng (d.1906) at the end of the nineteenth century, and added to by his son Gwek (d.1928), who also became a prophet. He describes it in his list as a grave pyramid, possibly since he was informed that Ngundeng was buried within his hut at the base of the mound. At one time the mound, known as Deng Kur and associated with the Dinka-originating cult of the spirit Deng, was furnished by elephant tusks around its 300-foot circumference, standing over 50 feet high. Made from the baked earth, ashes and dung of old cattle camp floor layers, it became an important political symbol of Nuer resistence to colonial rule, and was eventually bombed by the administration in 1928. The Seligmans seem not to have visited Nuer country (the heavy bagagge in the foreground is also incongruous with their light trekking), and so this is almost certainly a copy of a print, possibly by E.S. Crispin, who visited and photographed the pyramid as part of the Sudd cutting expedition along the White Nile during 1901-1902.
southernsudan.prm.ox.ac.uk/details.php?a=1967.26.187&show=1967.26.187_O.jpg

Tomb of Askia the great of Mali.
Notice the surrounding walls that reminds one of ancient Kemet.


In Togo,Benin and Nigeria, the Kutito(among Gbe speaking people) and Egungun (among Yoruba speaking people) are masked dancing ancestors returning to earth to help and punish living people. Jean Charles Coovi Gomez pointed out that this ceremony was exactly the same as what we know of Kemetic "raising the Djed Pillar Ceremony".
Egungun ,the Yoruba name of the ceremony means "bone, skeleton". In Kmt, the Djed pillar was considered as the backbone of the neter Ausar. There is ample evidence for mummification in traditional Africa. Félix Dubois reported it among Songhoi people, M.Delafosse among Baule(Akan) people of Ivory Coast, A.M.L Desplagnes among the Dogon and Mossi, J.C.C.Gomez among the Yoruba.

On the far left, is an ancient Egyptian "paddle" doll, courtesy of the British Museum; in the middle, we have Ashanti examples of the fertility doll, and third image is yet another example of fertility dolls common amongst the Akan.

Fertility dolls are a fairly common theme in Africa, from the Akan speaking groups of Ghana to the Donguena, Evale, Hakawama, Himba, Humbe, Kwanyama, Mukubal, Mwila, Ndimba, Ngambwe, Ovambo and Zemba people of the semi-desert areas of Angola for example, and it appear that the ancient Egyptians were no different in this aspect.

A little trivia on the Egyptian "paddle doll"...

Such dolls are usually found in Upper Egypt and Nubia. When complete they have faces and hair of clay. Hair may also be of faience beads. This one is missing its hair. A number have been found dating to the second half of the 11th Dynasty from tombs in the neighbourhood of Deir el Bahri and are common at Thebes. However, at least two have been found in earlier tombs at Beni Hasan and one at Rifeh. Another was found beneath the Ramesseum at Thebes dating to the 13th Dynasty (Bourriau 1988, 126-127). Most are of 11th Dynasty to Middle Kingdom.
exploring-africa.blogspot.jp/2008/11/examples-of-cultural-similarities.html

More Links this time in the form of serekhs in both cases by an object or an animal and while the Kemetic symbols developed into a full writing system where the name could be read,the Beninese kings used theirs as a memory device.


Prince Gagni Xesu (1620) is symbolised by a bird and a drum.

Dyn 0 Kemet King Scorpion.

King Hwegbeadja (1645–1680) is represented by a fish and a fyke net.


Narmer
Now one or two similarities we could chalk-up it to coincidence but an entire cluster points to linkage

[anansi]

Mali


Kemetian



Modern Egyptian


Mali

Modern
Sudanese:

Compare the Mali/Savannah religious structure with the Kemetic
thousand of miles and yrs apart The first building is in Mali the last three is in Egypt and Sudan.
What were are observing here is a building tradition that goes back before the dawn of Ta-Seti,Kemet and Kush as states as well as those of Western Africa,the main difference is that the Kemites aka Egyptians and Kush built for the most part in stone and to greater scale,but for regular buildings like common houses they built exactly alike.

ITHEORIES OF DIVINE KINGSHIP
The Shilluk first became famous, in Europe and America, through James Frazer’s book
The Golden Bough
. They are so firmly identified with Frazer that most are unaware the Shilluk did not even appear in the book’s first two editions (1890 and 1900). Originally, in fact, Frazerdrew largely on Classical literature in making an argument that all religion was to some degree derived from fertility cults centered on the figure of a dying god, and that the first kings, who embodied that god, were ritually sacrificed.
their bare essentials. It strikes me this is especially true of the predatory and utopian elements,both of which can be seen here in embryonic form—not because the Shilluk political system is inany sense “primitive,” in fact; not because forms of sovereignty were only beginning to emerge like some half-formed idea, because it seems obvious that anyone living so close to ancient centers of civilization like Egypt, Meroe, or Ethiopia was likely to be perfectly aware of what astate was; but rather, because those elements in Shilluk society who would have liked to create something along those lines.

vhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/56633170/David-Graeber-The-Divine-Kingship-of-the-Shilluk-2010


Early predynastic temples of Naqada. connected to the fertility god Min[ compare to the Shilluk sanctuary below

[anansi]

Top image shows the Fon art on the left hand side, which is reminiscent in its theme, of the ancient Egyptian wall relief of Rameses smiting an enemy on the right hand side. Bottom image shows another example of parallels between west Sahelian/Sub-Saharan art [likely Benin carving] — sporting the head of some carnivorous creature [likely a feline of some sort] on the left hand side, and two ancient Egyptian figurines — one sporting a falcon head, and the other, a feline; what stands out here, is the remarkably similar standing postures, particularly what they are doing with their arms and hands.



Congolese Bes.

Nigerian Bes.

Kemetian Bes

Note all three are wearing the same skull necklace..coincidence me thinks not!


Figure 1. (A) Egyptian stone sculpture shows the skull designating females of noble birth. (B) The elongated head of an African princess identifies her high societal ranking. From Henshen P: The Human Skull: A Cultural History. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1966. With permission from Praeger Publishers.
Btw the Princess would be a Tutsi
www.thebarrow.org/Education_And_Resources/Barrow_Quarterly/205261

The above should be put into perspective given what we know about the dna connection with the Great Lakes region.

[zarahan]

Indeed. Excellent roundup. I am glad you include that info from Mali, and on the many masks. Never seen it before.

[zarahan]

Nubia had close relationships with Egypt in pre-Dynastic and early
Dynastic periods via pastoralism and other shared cultural elements.
Nubia also a key player in the African pastoral tradition. QUOTE:

Morphological and genetic research seems to provide further support for the topic. According to Grigson (1991, 2000) Egyptian cattle of the 4th millennium BC were morphologically distinct from Eurasian cattle (Bos taurus) and Zebu (Bos indicus), meaning that African cattle may have been domesticated from the local wild Bos primigenius before the aforementioned date.... The zoological, genetic and linguistic studies thus not only suggest an African origin for cattle domestication, but also provide a precise time frame and geographicallocation which, generally speaking, fits well with that proposed by the CPE (Combined Prehistoric Expedition). A further element which might give support to the matter comes from the archaeological record, namely the pottery."

"To sum up, Nubia is Egypt’s African ancestor. What linked Ancient Egypt to the rest of the North African cultures is this strong tie with the Nubian pastoral nomadic lifestyle, the same pastoral background commonly shared by most of the ancient Saharan and modern sub-Saharan societies. Thus, not only did Nubia have a prominent role in the origin of Ancient Egypt, it was also a key area for the origin of the entire African pastoral tradition."
--Gatto M. 2009. The Nubian Pastoral Culture as Link between Egypt and Africa A View from the Archaeological Record. British Archaelogical Reports: Egypt in its African Context: BAR S2204- Archaeopress. 21-29

[zarahan]

The Qustul Incense Burner demonstrates the close relations between the early Nubian and Egyptian regions and Nubian influence in the genesis of Ancient Egypt: namely the formulation of key indices of royal power, such as the White Crown and related iconography later adopted by the Egyptians of the Early Dynastic Period, or as an example of shared cultural symbols and traditions between the two closely related peoples of the Nile Valley. Whatever the exact influence, the monumental Pharaonic culture was entirely at home in Nubia.


"The white crown, associated in historic times with Upper Egypt, is first attested later than the red crown, but is directly associated with the ruler somewhat earlier. The earliest known depiction of the white crown is on a ceremonial incense burner from Cemetery L and Qustul, in Lower Nubia (Williams 1986: pls 35,38). Tomb L24 contained a variety of prestige objects and in all probability belonged to a late Predynastic king of Lower Nubia, contemporary with the ruler buried in Abydos tomb U-j (*Naqada III2, c, 3150 BC). The Qustul incense burner is a remarkable object of supreme importance for the development of Egyptian royal iconography. The incised scenes around the edge of the object include the representation of a seated ruler, wearing the tall white crown. Evidence of close contacts between the rulers and their contemporaries at Heraknopolis may support the theory that the white crown originated at the latter site..

The Narmer Palate indicates that the white crown was the superior of the two crowns, since the figure of the king wearing the white crown is significantly larger than the figure wearing the red crown. The superiority of the white crown may have derived from its intimate association with the royal line of Hierakonpolis, which played a decisive role in the unification of Egypt. The white crown retained this superiority throughout Egyptian history. More than simple items of regalia, the red and white crowns were imbued with magical significance and were worshipped as cult objects in their own right."

--Toby A.H. Wilkinson - 2002 -Early Dynastic Egypt - Page 165


"O'Connor has argued that the incense burner was made in Egypt or decorated by Egyptians and presented to a ruler of Qustul as a gift (O'Connor 1993: 21). It has been argued that incense burners are, however, unknown in Egypt and so it would seem unlikely that Egyptian craftsmen would make something so unfamiliar in order to send it to Nubia.. An alternative explanation is that these images of rulership- the seated figure with white crown the high prowed barque, the standards, falcon and serekhs- may have been long shared as such. In other words the region of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia had a common cultural tradition. Can we see this as a gift from one ruler to another, i.e. among equals? The iconography would presumably only be significant in a gift if it was understood by the recipient. Williams himself has argued that the design elements of the Qustul incense burner are to be found throughout the Egyptian Nile Valley from Naqada II on (Williams 1986:144).. While these motifs may not have had the same precise meanings in their Egyptian contexts (Pittman 1996: 13-14) it can be suggested that at an early date (at least Naqada II) there was a movement of ideas as well as objects in this case and a burgeoning elite, and that certainly the Nile River would have facilitated the fluidity of such exchanges.... Williams is partly justified in stating that "it indicates that monumental Pharaonic culture was entirely at home in Nubia", at least among a certain group, and that it highlights closer ties between Egyptian and its southern neighbours."

--Jane Roy. 2011. The Politics of Trade: Egypt and Lower Nubia in the 4th Millennium BC. 215-217


Scholar Nancy Lovell studied dental traits among some high status persons of the key Egyptian Naqada group and found that they resembled the peoples of Nubia.

"A biological affinities study based on frequencies of cranial nonmetric traits in skeletal samples from three cemeteries at Predynastic Naqada, Egypt, confirms the results of a recent nonmetric dental morphological analysis. Both cranial and dental traits analyses indicate that the individuals buried in a cemetery characterized archaeologically as high status are significantly different from individuals buried in two other, apparently non-elite cemeteries and that the non-elite samples are not significantly different from each other. A comparison with neighboring Nile Valley skeletal samples suggests that the high status cemetery represents an endogamous ruling or elite segment of the local population at Naqada, which is more closely related to populations in northern Nubia than to neighboring populations in southern Egypt."

--(T. Prowse, and N. Lovell "Concordance of cranial and dental morphological traits and evidence for endogamy in ancient Egypt". American journal of physical anthropology. 1996, vol. 101, no2, pp. 237-246 (2 p.1/4)

[zarahan]

[zarahan]

Archaeological Evidence Shows Meriotic Influence Ranging Down Into Central Africa- Quote:

"Further south in Roseires area, Chattaway reported a number of sites, which might be of interest to this question after the exploration (Chattaway 1930: 259-264).. The most recent discoveries of datable sites and objects south of Khartoum suggest the presence of Napatans and Meroites along the Blue and White Niles, probably south of Kosti (Eisa 1987: 155-162; 1990). Such presence is also attested by the discoveries of the Wellcome Expeditions to the Sennar area (Gebel Moya, Abu Geili village and recently the objects found near Grisly village), and by the site and objects of El Getina (site of Mahmoud El Araki). The study of those objects as well as pottery sherds and bricks showed the strong probability of their Napatan and Meroitic affinities. Some other sites between El Getaina and El Kawa could be identified (Ni'ma, Wad el Zaki, Hashaba.. etc).

Near the town of El Kawa we have the site of Hilat Said, where golden objects were found which date most probably to the Napatan period (the inscription says: Imn-r df nh mj r - "God Amun Re gives life like Re', which seems to be a life-scarab) (Eisa 1994). Another scarab was found in Kosti town which may be of the same data as that of Kawa (Arkell 1961: 136-7). South of Kosti the investigations of Else Kleppe showed the presence of archaeological material o a different nature (of probably Meroitic date) (in El Rank area, Upper Nile province; Kleppe 1982a; 1982) as well as in the western Sudan.. So it seems that the White Nile was the route of penetration of the Kushites to these southern regions and the interior of Central Africa."

--Steffen Wenig (1992). Studien zum antiken Sudan. Akten der Internationalen Tagung für meroitische Forschungen vom 14. bis 19. 367-368- September 1992 . IN: Meroitica, v15, 1999




=============================================================================

Originally posted by Anansi: Modern
Sudanese:

Compare the Mali/Savannah religious structure with the Kemetic
thousand of miles and yrs apart The first building is in Mali the last three is in Egypt and Sudan.
What were are observing here is a building tradition that goes back before the dawn of Ta-Seti,Kemet and Kush as states as well as those of Western Africa,the main difference is that the Kemites aka Egyptians and Kush built for the most part in stone and to greater scale,but for regular buildings like common houses they built exactly alike.

THEORIES OF DIVINE KINGSHIP
The Shilluk first became famous, in Europe and America, through James Frazer’s book
The Golden Bough
. They are so firmly identified with Frazer that most are unaware the Shilluk did not even appear in the book’s first two editions (1890 and 1900). Originally, in fact, Frazerdrew largely on Classical literature in making an argument that all religion was to some degree derived from fertility cults centered on the figure of a dying god, and that the first kings, who embodied that god, were ritually sacrificed.
their bare essentials. It strikes me this is especially true of the predatory and utopian elements,both of which can be seen here in embryonic form—not because the Shilluk political system is inany sense “primitive,” in fact; not because forms of sovereignty were only beginning to emerge like some half-formed idea, because it seems obvious that anyone living so close to ancient centers of civilization like Egypt, Meroe, or Ethiopia was likely to be perfectly aware of what astate was; but rather, because those elements in Shilluk society who would have liked to create something along those lines.

www.scribd.com/doc/56633170/David-Graeber-The-Divine-Kingship-of-the-Shilluk-2010

Indeed. I have heard some link the Shilluk as the origin of Egyptian concepts
of divine kingship. The concept did not originate with Egyptians but seem
to be part of a Northeast African cultural complex later adopted "up North"
which of course, got all the press..

Interesting article. Do you have anything n trade networks moving up
and down the Blue and White Niles to the south in the Kushite/Meriotic times?