Sudan's land of 'black pharaohs' a trove for archaeologists

Black pharaohs were known as Nubians.



March 3, 2010

There is not a tourist in sight as the sun sets over sand-swept pyramids at Meroe, but archaeologists say the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan holds mysteries to rival ancient Egypt. "There is a magic beauty about these sites that is heightened by the privilege of being able to admire them alone, with the pyramids, the dunes and the sun," says Guillemette Andreu, head of antiquities at Paris' Louvre museum.

Meroe lies around 200 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Sudan's capital Khartoum and was the last capital of Kush, also called Nubia, an ancient kingdom centered on the confluence of the Blue Nile, the White Nile and the River Atbara.

Kush was one of the earliest civilizations in the Nile valley and, at first, was dominated by Egypt. The Nubians eventually gained their independence and, at the height of their power, they turned the table on Egypt and conquered it in the 8th century BC. They occupied the entire Nile valley for a century before being forced back into what is now Sudan.

At the end of March, the Louvre will host its first exhibition on the Meroe dynasty, the last in a line of "black pharaohs" that ruled Kush for more than 1,000 years until the kingdom's demise in 350 AD. Meroe had three cemeteries containing more than 100 pyramids that are smaller than their Egyptian counterparts. The largest are 30 metres (98 feet) high and the angles are steep, some close to 70 degrees.

Julie Anderson, an archaeologist at the British Museum and co-director with Ahmed of the Dangeil excavations in northern Sudan, says that "if we manage to decipher this language, a new world is opened to us, as if the ancient Kushites were speaking to us."

Their team recently discovered a massive, one-tonne statue of King Taharqa, the most famous of the "black pharaohs," who ruled in the 7th century BC.

Swiss archaeologist Mattieu Honeggar recently discovered a site at Wadi Al-Arab, in a corner of the desert area of north Sudan that was inhabited nearly 10,000 years ago, many millennia before the "black pharaohs," and could allow a better understanding of man's transition to a sedentary lifestyle.

Source: The Associated Press

 

Weren't all the pharos "black"?

 

They use Nubia to separate Blacks from Ancient Egypt...it's a backhanded way to imply the Egyptians were not Africans.

Notice those statues are IDENTICAL to the ones found in Egypt.


ONLY in Africa are ancient civilizations not attributed to the indigenous people.

In North America....for example....NOBODY has a problem attributing ancient achievements to the indigenous peoples.

 

The original Egyptians, known as Ancient Egyptians, were unmixed pure Black folks. Ancient Egypt was an African civilization. The skeletons and skulls of the Ancient Egyptians clearly reflect they were Negroid people with features very similar to those of modern Black Nubians and other people of the Upper Nile and of East Africa.

 

How do they keep getting away with all that bullshit
smdh

 

:smt045

 

Due to invasions by the Greeks and Roman and then the Arabs, the history of the pharaohs was plundered. But historical testimonies by classical Greek and Roman authors described the Ancient Egyptians as Black-skinned with wooly hair.

 

Nubians are the people of northern Sudan and southern Egypt. With a history and traditions which can be traced to the dawn of civilization, the Nubian first settled along the banks of the Nile from Aswan. Along this great river they developed one of the oldest and greatest civilizations in Africa. Until they lost their last kingdom (Christian Nubia) only five centuries back the Nubians remained as the main rivals to the other great African civilization of Egypt.

 

http://www.catchpenny.org/race.html

 

And you know African culture too. Damn FG you're gonna mess around and make me fall in love.

 

Oh I dabble in this and that.... Thank you Andrae!
But have a passion for history - especially The Egyptians. I have soaked that stuff up since I was a kid - completely facinated.

 

Do you know anything about their mythology?

 

I used to read a lot about both theirs, the greeks, romans and the norse.
Mythology is very interesting.
I think you automatically learn at least some of their mythology if you read their history as steeped as their culture really were in it - all of their existence was ruled by it - its hard not not soak up at least a little bit of it

 

Yeah kind of like how our Christian mythology rules our lives. You are a lot more than a pretty face apparently

 

You know, that is something we really dont think about.
On the other hand, we are far from as superstitous as the Egyptians, Norse, Greek etc.

and you are much too kind Andrae

Right back atcha!

 

I think that's because if you're a Christian, to use the term mythology as a descriptor for your faith would be considered sacrilege. Additionally Christian religions have only one God, whereas all other forms of mythology that I've studied involve multiple gods (though the Catholics have muddied that up a bit with all their Saints and the Pope). However, if you follow the strict definition of mythology, then all religions could be considered myths as they all involve faith based concepts that cannot be proven.

 

You should come to Chicago and visit the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. It's AMAZING. I volunteered there years ago as well as at the Field Museum (before I got a FT job at the Field Museum).

It's one of my favorite museums in Chicago. And best of all, it's FREE. Can't beat that!! :smt023

 

Really you think so?

 

Absolutely, but we were much more superstitious than we are today.
Like the habit of burning the live wife along with the dead husband in India, they would have been deeply offended if you suggested that was superstition. Or the Pharao that was burried with everything he ever could need in the afterlife.
We have shrugged of a lot of these things today.

You, know, I go there everytime I happen to be there on the free day (what day is that again??) I should go there the next time YOU are there

think what? that we are less superstitious? absolutely, as we become more educated, we have shrugged of a lot of superstitious rituals that no longer makes sense. Superstition is still there - but we certainly have evolved in that perspect.
Unfortunatelyt not far or fast enuff.

 

Yeah I guess. Something to ponder