Category: Great Civilizations

A Heritage of great civilizations on the African soil

Archaeologists Explore the Waters under a Nubian Pyramid to Unveil …

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Moments3 Comments
Nubia_Pyramids of Meroe
Pyramids at Meroe (Wikipedia)

As I stated before, Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt, and at one point its pharaohs ruled Egypt for over a century. Only in recent years, has Nubia (Africa’s Forbidden Pyramids: Meroe, Nubia, and Sudan) attracted the attention of more archaeologists. One archaeologist used scuba diving to explore one of the pyramids at the ancient royal burial site of Nuri; making it the first time it is used in Sudan. He unearthed some amazing pottery figurines and gold leaves. The expert below is from the BBC; for the full article, follow the link.

=====

Nubia_Nuri archaeological expedition 1
Nuri Archaeological expedition / Pearce Paul Creasman (Source: BBC)

An underwater archaeologist has told the BBC of the extraordinary lengths he went to to access a pharaoh’s tomb underneath a pyramid.

Pearce Paul Creasman and his team were the first people to go into the tomb for 100 years and, in that time, it has become harder to access because of the rising water level. Mr Creasman told BBC Newsday that this was the first time underwater archaeology had been carried out in Sudan, the location of the ancient royal burial site of Nuri.

He found pottery figurines and gold leaf.

“The gold offerings were still sitting there – these small glass-type statues had been leafed in gold. And while the water destroyed the glass underneath, the little gold flake was still there,” he told Newsday.

He believes these offerings were for Nastasen, a minor pharaoh who ruled the Kush kingdom from 335 BC to 315 BC.

This gold leaf would have been taken by thieves if it weren’t for the rising water level making the tomb inaccessible to most, underwater archaeologist Kristin Romey writes in the National Geographic.

Mr Creasman told the BBC that the team “dug as far as we could” down a 65-step stairway which led to the tomb entry. …

Nubia_Nuri archaeological expedition
Nuri archaeological expedition / Pearce Paul Creasman (Source: BBC)

He described what he found as “remarkable“:

“There are three chambers, with these beautiful arched ceilings, about the size of a small bus, you go in one chamber into the next, it’s pitch black, you know you’re in a tomb if your flash lights aren’t on. And it starts revealing the secrets that are held within.”

The tomb is part of the ancient site of Nuri which is spread across more than 170 acres in northern Sudan.

These pyramids mark the burials of Kushite royals who are sometimes referred to as “black pharaohs“. The Kush kingdom lasted for many hundreds of years and, in the 8th Century BC, it conquered Egypt which it ruled for almost a century.

Ancient Egyptians were Black – Egypt unveils tomb still bursting with color after 4,300 years

On By Dr. Y.In Great Art, Great Civilizations, Great Moments, Great People7 Comments
EGYPT-ARCHAEOLOGY-HERITAGE-HISTORY
This picture taken on April 13, 2019 shows a view inside the newly-dicovered tomb of the ancient Egyptian nobleman “Khewi” dating back to the 5th dynasty (24942345 BC), at the Saqqara necropolis, about 35 kilometres south of the capital Cairo. (Photo credit should read MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images)

As I read the article about the discovery of this 4,300 years-old Egyptian tomb bursting with colors, I was stunned to see that NO article stated the obvious conclusion: Ancient Egyptians were Black! NO articles stated it: they wonder who the nobleman, Khewi, in whose tomb this was found is, what his link to the Pharaoh is, … they ask a thousand other questions, instead of addressing the reality! This reinstate what we already knew and what the great Cheikh Anta Diop always said, that Ancient Egyptians were black and that their descendants are today’s Subsaharan Africans! One of the statues found inside the tomb beautifully shows its very broad nose, clear symbol of its Black-ness/African-ness, and of course its skin color.  Enjoy! Below are excerpts; for the full article, please go to Fox News.

=====

Egypt_tomb with colors Khuwy-1
A view inside the newly discovered tomb of the ancient Egyptian nobleman “Khewi” dating back to the 5th dynasty at the Saqqara necropolis, about 35 kilometers south of Cairo. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP)

Egyptian officials announced a stunning discovery over the weekend: a 4,000-year-old tomb of a dignitary bedazzled in colorful paintings and inscriptions.

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities unveiled Saturday the ancient resting place of the senior official named “Khuwy, [Khewi in other sources]” noting that he served during the reign of King Djedkare, a pharaoh who ruled Egypt during the Fifth Dynasty — from the late 25th century to early 24th century BC. The next day, the Egyptian government released footage that showcased what it called “exceptionally painted” limestone walls.

“The remarkable well-preserved colours on the inscriptions are considered royal colours,” the ministry said in an original video posted online.

Egypt_tomb with colors Khuwy-5
Mohamed Mujahid, head of the Egyptian mission that discovered the tomb of the ancient Egyptian nobleman “Khewi,” inspects the tomb’s walls inside the Saqqara necropolis on April 13. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP)

[…] “The L-shaped Khuwy tomb starts with a small corridor heading downwards into an antechamber and from there a larger chamber with painted reliefs depicting the tomb owner seated at an offerings table,” Mohamed Megahed, who led a team of archaeologists in digging up the tomb, told the Egyptian newspaper.

Every inch of the tomb is covered in markings, which archaeologists are carefully studying. So far, the inscriptions have raised questions about Khuwy’s impact on the ancient community as well as his specific relationship with the pharaoh — whose elaborate tomb sits just “a stone’s throw away,” per the ministry.

[…] Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, called the burial “one of a kind in the last decades.”

Egypt_tomb with colors_181215-egypt-new-tomb-al-1210
Statue inside the tomb. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP)

 

“The color is almost intact even though the tomb is almost 4,400 years old,” Waziri said in a statement at the time.

The Lebombo Bone: The Oldest Mathematical Artifact in the World

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Science20 Comments
Lebombo bone_2
The Lebombo bone

Have you ever heard of the Lebombo Bone? It is even older than the Ishango bone. It is indeed the oldest known mathematical artifact in the world. Discovered in the 1970s in Border Cave, a rock shelter on the western scarp of the Lebombo Mountains in an area near the border of South Africa and Swaziland (now Eswatini). The bone was found on the Eswatini side, and dates from 35,000 BC. It consists of 29 distinct notches that were deliberately cut into a baboon’s fibula.

The bone is between 44,200 and 43,000 years old, according to 24 radiocarbon datings. This is far older than the Ishango bone with which it is sometimes confused. Other notched bones are 80,000 years old but it is unclear if the notches are merely decorative or if they bear a functional meaning.

According to The Universal Book of Mathematics, the Lebombo bone’s 29 notches “may have been used as a lunar phase counter, in which case African women may have been the first mathematicians, because keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar.” However, the bone is clearly broken at one end, so the 29 notches may or may not be a minimum number. In the cases of other notched bones since found globally, there has been no consistent notch tally, many being in the 1–10 range. The Lebombo bone resembles a calendar used by the early men of the area, coming from the San clans of Namibia; this way of making tallies is still used by the San people today.

 

Lebombo Ishango bones
Top image: Lebombo bone. Bottom: Ishango bone with prime numbers engraving (J.D. Loreto and D.H. Hurlbert Smithsonian)

According to The Universal Book of Mathematics, the Lebombo bone’s 29 notches “may have been used as a lunar phase counter, in which case African women may have been the first mathematicians, because keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar.” However, the bone is clearly broken at one end, so the 29 notches may or may not be a minimum number. In the cases of other notched bones since found globally, there has been no consistent notch tally, many being in the 1–10 range. This resembles a calendar used by the early men of the area, coming from the San clans of Namibia. These represent the earliest unambiguous evidence for modern human behavior. An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on recent archaeological discoveries, “Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa” , has shown that bone tools were already present 75,000 years ago and were used in San culture.

To anyone who ever doubted it, Africa is indeed the cradle of humanity… and women (if it is indeed a lunar tool) were quite advanced mathematicians 35,000 years ago, using calculators to make lunar calendars!

 

Queen Amina of Zazzau: Woman As Capable as a Man

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Literature, Great People, Uncategorized7 Comments
Queen Amina_1
Queen Amina of Zazzau

A few years ago, I wrote about Queen Amina of Zazzau: the Great Hausa Warrior born to Rule, the woman remembered today in Nigeria as  ‘Amina, rana de Yar Bakwa ta San’ (Amina, daughter of Nikatau, woman as capable as a man). Crowned queen of Zazzau in 1576, Amina expanded her kingdom’s boundaries down to the Atlantic coast; she founded several cities, and personally led an army of 20,000 soldiers to numerous battles. During her 34-year reign, she commanded the construction of a defensive mural around each military camp that she established.  Later, those camps evolved into prosperous cities within those walls, and some can still be seen today in northern Nigeria.  Those cities are known as walls ‘ganuwar of Amina’ or ‘Amina’s walls‘.

Queen Amina’s achievement was the closest that any ruler had come in bringing the region now known as Nigeria under a single authority. Enjoy this trailer for the movie Amina by Izu Ojukwu and the website for it: AminaQueenOfZazzau.com; the BBC also made a cartoon about her. With Hollywood’s recent lack of imagination and appropriation of other people’s culture, I would not be surprised that they copy her story to bring it onto big screen. However, Africans should put forward their own stories and value them… not wait for some imagination-hungry entity to come grab it, to all of a sudden value their own history (Black Panther).

Germany Returns Skulls of Namibians Genocide Victims

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Moments4 Comments
Herero
Survivors of the Herero and Namaqua genocide

I know this dates from last August, 2018, but I had to share. Note that out of the hundreds of skulls taken by Germany, only a bit over 25 were returned; if the German racial study has been discredited, why not return all of them? The excerpt below is from the BBC; for the full article, go to the BBC. As a reminder, the first genocide of the 20th century occurred in Namibia, on African soil. It was perpetrated by Germans on the Herero and Nama people of Namibia. It was extremely brutal and almost wiped out all Herero people. It was a campaign of racial extermination and collective punishment that the German Empire undertook in German South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia) against the Herero and Nama people. It took place between 1904 and 1907 during the Herero Wars. Today it is known as the Namibian genocide or the Herero and Namaqua genocide.

======

Namibia_Skulls
Namibian skulls (Reuters)

Germany has handed back the human remains of indigenous people killed during a genocide in colonial Namibia (German South-West Africa) more than 100 years ago.

… The bones had been sent to Germany for now-discredited research to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans. 

Tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people were murdered in response to an anti-colonial uprising.

Their descendants are still waiting for an apology from the German government.

The genocide began in 1904 after a Herero and Nama rebellion in response to the German expropriation of their land and cattle.

The head of the military administration in what was then known as German South West Africa, Lothar von Trotha, issued an extermination order in October 1904.

Herero_chained
Chained Herero men

The Herero and Nama were forced into the desert and any who were found trying to return to their land were either killed or put into concentration camps.

There is no agreed figure of how many died but some estimates have put it as high as 100,000.

It is thought that 75% of the Herero population and half of the Nama population died.

… There are thought to be hundreds of Namibian skulls in Germany and on Wednesday more than 25 remains were handed back.

Skulls from Germany’s other African colonies, including modern day Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Togo, were also used in the discredited studies.

In 2016, Germany said it was prepared to apologize in principle but it is still negotiating with the Namibian government over the form of the apology and how to deal with the legacy of the genocide. [Funny how, when it was time to kill, they never negotiated]

Namibia_Hendrik Witbooi
Hendrik Witbooi, Namaqua Chief and freedom fighter

… Germany has argued that it has given Namibia millions of dollars in development aid to support all people in the country. [They forget to tell you that they are still benefiting from the mines and resources of Namibia]

… But descendants of the victims are angry that there has been no apology and no agreement of reparations. They are also unhappy that they are not part of the negotiations. …

Great Warrior Queen of Nubia: Amanirenas

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great People6 Comments
nubia_amanirenas
Sculpture of Candace Amanirenas on a pyramid wall in Barwa, Sudan

Amanirenas was a great Candace, queen, of the Nubian kingdom, mother to queen Amanishakheto, and grandmother to queen Amanitore. Amanirenas was a great warrior queen.  She built considerable pyramids and temples at Wad Ban Naqa, where she was buried with great treasures.

Her full name and title was Amnirense qore li kdwe li (“Ameniras, Qore and Kandake“). She reigned from about 40BC to 10BC, and is one of the most famous Kandakes, because of her role leading Kushite armies against the Romans in a war that lasted five years, from 27 BCE to 22 BCE. After an initial victory when the Kushites attacked Roman Egypt, they were driven out of Egypt by Gaius Petronius and the Romans established a new frontier at Hiere Sycaminos (Maharraqa). Amanirenas was described as brave, and blind in one eye. Some say that her name means ‘Amani is her name’. Amani is the Nubian name for Imana/Amon, Unique God of Africa.

nubia_hamadab stela showing amanirenas and akinidad
Hamadab stela showing Queen Amanirenas and Prince Akinidad facing various Egyptian deities Amun and Mut

Meroitic inscriptions give Amanirenas the title of qore as well as Kandake suggesting that she was a ruling queen. She is usually considered to be the queen referred to as “Candace” in Strabo‘s account of the Meroitic war against the Roman Empire. Her name is associated with those of Teriteqas and Akinidad. King Teriteqas died shortly after the beginning of the war. She was succeeded by Akinidad (possibly the son of Teriteqas) who continued the campaign with his mother Amanirenas. Akinidad died at Dakka c. 24BC. The loss of one eye during battle made Amanirenas even stronger and braver. She despised death, and her fearlessness forced the admiration of Strabo, the Greek historian, who said, “this queen has a courage above that of her gender.”

When Aelius Gallus, the Prefect, or chief magistrate, of Egypt, was absent on a campaign in Arabia in 24 BC, the Kushites launched an attack on Egypt. Amanirenas and Akinidad defeated Roman forces at Syene and Philae, and drove the Jews from Elephantine Island. They returned to Kush with prisoners and loot, including several statues of Emperor Augustus ; the Queen buried a bronze likeness of the Emperor beneath the entranceway to her palace so that she and all who came and went could tread on the head of her enemy. The head, found in Meroë in 1912, now resides in the British Museum

nubia_amanirenas - 1
Stela showing Candace Amanirenas crushing Roman enemies. This also appears in Cheikh Anta Diop’s book cited below

The Kushites were driven out of Syene later in the year by Publius Petronius, who now held the office of Roman Prefect in Egypt. According to a detailed report made by Strabo, the Roman troops advanced far into the Kingdom of Kush, and finally reached Napata. Although they withdrew again to the north they left behind a garrison in Qasr Ibrim (Primis), which now became the border of the Roman Empire. The Kushites made a renewed attempt to seize Primis, but Petronius forestalled this attempt.

A peace treaty was signed between the Meroites and Augustus in the year 21/20 BC, which  continued until the end of the third century AD, with relations between Meroë  and Roman Egypt remaining generally peaceful during this time. However, the Kingdom of Kush had begun to fade as a power by the first or second century AD.

nubia_africa in 400 bc_location of kush
Nubia or the Kingdom of Kush in 400BC

Thereafter a preponderant place falls to two queens, Amanirenas and
Amanishakheto. Their husbands remain forgotten and we do not even know the name of Amanishakheto’s. The throne was also occupied for some years by a king, the former prince Akinidad, son of Queen Amanirenas and King Teriteqas. Nevertheless, it is important which of these two queens came first, both of them ‘Candace’, which is the transcription of the Meroitic title Kdke according to the tradition of the classical authors.

To learn more, check out the UNESCO funded book General History of Africa Vol.2, Ancient Civilizations of Africa, P. 307-308, Nations Negres et Culture by Cheikh Anta Diop , Presence Africaine 1979 p. 216-217, 50 Greatest Africans — Pharaoh Natakamani and Queen Amanitore & Ngola Ann Nzinga , The Kingdom of Kush by László Török, P. 198 and 461, ISBN 90-04-10448-8. Also check out the Rejected Princess website, Lisayapokama.org, and Face2FaceAfrica.com. 

France urged to change heritage law and return looted art to Africa

On By Dr. Y.In Great Art, Great Civilizations4 Comments
Pendant Ivory mask representing Queen Idia, Iyoba of Benin City (16th Century)
Pendant Ivory mask representing Queen Idia, Iyoba of Benin City (16th Century) – exposed at the MET

France, like so many European countries, is being urged to return looted art to Africa. Below is the article. For the full article, go to the Guardian.

=====

A report commissioned by Emmanuel Macron will call for thousands of African artworks in French museums taken without consent during the colonial period to be returned to the continent.

Unless it could be proven that objects were obtained legitimately, they should be returned to Africa permanently, not on long-term loan, said the authors of the report, the Senegalese writer and economist Felwine Sarr and the French historian Bénédicte Savoy.

They have recommended changing French law to allow the restitution of cultural works to Africa, after Macron announced that he wanted it to begin within five years.

… “I cannot accept that a large part of the cultural heritage of several African countries is in France,” the French president said last year in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. “There are historical explanations for this but there is no valid, lasting and unconditional justification. African heritage cannot be only in private collections and European museums – it must be showcased in Paris but also in Dakar, Lagos and Cotonou. This will be one of my priorities.” [Politicians always make promises, but never deliver. Let’s wait and see if Macron can do anything. In 2015, Francois Hollande, then French President Acknowledged French Genocide in Cameroon while in visit in Cameroon, without ever apologizing!]

Benin_Fon statue symbolizing Behanzin Man shark
Fon statue symbolizing King Behanzin, the Man-Shark by Sossa Dede (c. 1890) – currently exposed at the Musee du quai Branly in Paris

The extent to which France, Britain and Germany looted Africa of its artefacts during colonialism is not known, but according to the report, which will be released this Friday, about 90% of Africa’s cultural heritage currently lies outside the continent.

… The report’s authors travelled to Mali, Senegal, Cameroon and Benin and looked through the works held by the Musée du quai Branly, a museum focused on non-European cultures in Paris, and found that about 46,000 of its 90,000 African works were “acquired” between 1885 and 1960 and may have to be returned.

… To start with, they [the researchers] have recommended that palace doors, thrones and statues stolen from Abomey be returned – something the modern-day country of Benin has long requested [especially given that Béhanzin, the King of Dahomey, was one of the last African Resistant to French Colonization, and had been deported to Martinique and then Algeria – Deportation of African Heads of States]….

Europe’s Largest Museums to “Loan” Looted Benin (Nigerian) Artifacts back to Nigeria

On By Dr. Y.In Great Art, Great Civilizations12 Comments
Queen from Benin kingdom
Cast Bronze figurine from Benin City at the MET museum

Unbelievable! I had to share this article about European museums loaning looted African artifacts back to Africans. It sounds so mind-boggling! How can someone steal from you, steal your cultural work, the work of your ancestors, your sweat, and then several years later loan it back to you, not even return it? and they call that progress! For the entire article, go to  Europe’s Largest Museums Will Loan Looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria and What do you know about Africa’s looted art treasures.

=======

Major museums across Europe have agreed to loan important artifacts back to Nigeria for a new museum the country plans to open in 2021. The African nation’s Royal Museum will house a rotating display of artifacts, including the Benin bronzes that were looted during the Benin Expedition of 1897. The agreement marks a significant step after years of negotiations among European institutions and Nigerian authorities.

Art from Benin kingdom (18th century)
Benin City art exposed at the MET Museum, NYC

… Together, museum leaders from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Britain agreed to facilitate a display at the planned institution within three years. Further specifics—including which objects will be loaned over what period of time—have yet to be confirmed.

… The objects in question were looted by the British army during a so-called “punitive expedition” in 1897. The army took around 4,000 intricate sculptures, including bronze works now known as the Benin bronzes, from the king’s palace in the former Kingdom of Benin.

A century later, the vast majority of these bronzes have ended up in some of the world’s most important museums, including the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. …

Benin City-Cast_brass_plaques_from_Benin_City_at_British_Museum-1024x721
Cast brass plaques from Benin City at the British Museum. Photo: Andreas Praefcke

Ancient Lost African City Uncovered Thanks to Laser Technology

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations2 Comments
South Africa_Kweneng
The Ancient city of Kweneng, in South Africa (Source: BBC)

A few days ago, the ancient lost city of Kweneng in modern-day South Africa was uncovered using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology. LIDAR is a surveying method that measures the distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor. Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D maps of the targeted area. A few months back, scientists and archaeologists had unearthed an ancient Mayan megalopolis the size of New York City or Mexico City (Hidden Kingdoms of the Ancient Maya Revealed in a 3-D Laser Map),  buried under Central American jungles using LIDAR.

Now, Archaeologists using the same technology have rediscovered the ancient city of Kweneng, just outside Johannesburg in South Africa. The settlement dates back to the 15th Century, and was home to up to 10,000 people from the Tswana ethnic group. This is an amazing step forward, and I am sure many more ancient cities around the globe, and in Africa in particular, will be uncovered!

The Wassoulou Anthem: to the Glory of the Great Samori Touré

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great People4 Comments
Samori
Samori Touré

The beautiful words of the anthem below were composed by the Griots of the Wassoulou empire (or Mandinka empire) which went from 1852 to 1898, to the glory of the then Fama (King), the Almamy Samori Touré. The words are quite deep and celebrate courage, vigor, and righteousness. Enjoy! In recent times, this anthem was sung by the Bembeya Jazz National.

 

“If you cannot organize, lead, and defend the country of your fathers, call upon the most valiant men;

If you cannot say the truth, at all times and all places, call on the most courageous men ;

If you cannot be impartial, give the throne to righteous men;

If you cannot protect the iron to face the enemy, give your sword of war to women who would point you to the path of honor;

If you cannot courageously express your thoughts, give the floor to the griots talk.

Oh Fama ! The people trust you, it trusts you because you embody its virtues.”

From the journal l’Autre Afrique N° 01, juillet 2001, new version. Translated to English by Dr. Y., Afrolegends.com