#kerma culture

[panafrocore]

Kerma: Uncovering the Ancient History of Sudan's Enigmatic City

The ancient city of Kerma, nestled in present-day Sudan, carries with it a rich history that dates back more than 5,500 years. A cultural tradition that took root around 3000 BC laid the foundation for what would eventually evolve into a thriving urban center. At the heart of this metropolis stood the imposing Western Deffufa, an awe-inspiring adobe temple that served as a central point for the…

[mprgz]

(Kingdom of Kush (Northeast Africa), Kerma) Located along the upper Nile River, the Kingdom of Kush was largely resisted foreign invasion due to its relatively remote location. Kush was first conquered by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1824, but its independence was restored as a nominal Ottoman vassal in 1840. From 1885, it was a de facto protectorate of the British Empire, while still nominally subject to the Ottomans, like Egypt to the north. At the start of WWI in 1914, it was formerly annexed by the UK, and granted independence in 1962. Kush retains many of the cultural practices of the ancient Egyptians, even though they speak Nubian (a Nilo-Saharan language) and have mostly adopted Coptic Christianity or Sunni Islam, although there has been a significant neo-pagan revival since independence. They retain the tradition of male child carrying, despite opposition from more traditionalist sects in the region. The Kushites have a slight preference for the father to carry the children: for example, a child born from the father has seniority over a elder child born from the mother and all children born from the father are considered legitimate. Historically, the wife is only supposed to carry the child if the husband's work prevents him from doing so. This was probably a concession to the military classes. In practice, the rules have loosened, and about 30% of birth in Kush are to women, and some couples have adopted alternating which one gives birth.

[whencyclopedia]

The Kingdom of Kush

Kush was a kingdom in northern Africa in the region corresponding to modern-day Sudan. The larger region around Kush (later referred to as Nubia) was inhabited c. 8,000 BCE but the Kingdom of Kush rose much later. The Kerma Culture, so named after the city of Kerma in the region, is attested as early as 2500 BCE and archaeological evidence from Sudan and Egypt show that Egyptians and the people of Kush region were in contact from the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt (c. 3150 - c. 2613 BCE) onwards. The later civilization defined as 'Kushite' probably evolved from this earlier culture but was heavily influenced by the Egyptians.

While the history of the overall country is quite ancient, the Kingdom of Kush flourished between c. 1069 BCE and 350 CE. The New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1570-1069 BCE) was in the final stages of decline c. 1069 BCE, which empowered the Kushite city-state of Napata. The Kushites no longer had to worry about incursions into their territory by Egypt because Egypt now had enough trouble managing itself. They founded the Kingdom of Kush with Napata as its capital, and Kush became the power in the region while Egypt floundered.

Kushite kings became the pharaohs of Egypt's 25th Dynasty and Kushite princesses dominated the political landscape of Thebes in the position of God's Wife of Amun. The Kushite king Kashta (c. 750 BCE) was the first to establish himself on the Egyptian throne and appointed his daughter, Amenirdis I, the first Kushite God's Wife of Amun. He was followed by other great Kushite kings who reigned until the Assyrian invasion of Egypt by Ashurbanipal in 666 BCE.

In c. 590 BCE Napata was sacked by the Egyptian pharaoh Psammeticus II (595-589 BCE) and the capital of Kush was moved to Meroe. The Kingdom of Kush continued on with Meroe as its capital until an invasion by the Aksumites c. 330 CE which destroyed the city and toppled the kingdom. Overuse of the land, however, had already depleted the resources of Kush and the cities would most likely have been abandoned even without the Aksumite invasion. Following this event, Meroe and the dwindling Kingdom of Kush survived another 20 years before its end c. 350 CE.

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[octotomo]

Splatoon: The Vestigial Species - Design Ideas (North Africa)

If you have not viewed the main post first, please do so. Otherwise, here is a list of archaeological cultures which you are free to choose from to use as an inspiration when designing your human society!

Egypt

Neolithic/Predynastic

Faiyum Cultures

Merimde Culture

Maadi Culture

Tasian Culture

Badarian Culture

Naqada I/Amratian Culture

Naqada II/Gerzeh Culture

Naqada III/Semainian Culture/Protodynastic Period

Bronze Age

Early Dynastic Period

Old Kingdom

First Intermediate Period

Middle Kingdom

Second Intermediate Period

New Kingdom

Nubia

Bronze Age

A-Group Culture

C-Group Culture

Kerma Culture

Other

Bronze Age

Libu Tribe

[sepdet]

Oh come now, it's not kooky— Fly pendants were medals of valour in ancient Egypt because biting flies are FIERCE.

However, this is a jar, not a pendant, which rouses my curiosity, as do some of its features. I've got a hunch what this was used for... and believe it or not, I managed to tie it to a now-ancient Tumblr meme! 😝

(Disclaimer: Dammit, Jim, I'm a Classics M.A., not an Egyptologist. I was going to be an Egyptologist, but I got distracted. @rudjedet feel free to poke holes in my not-entirely-serious putterings below.)

OK. First of all, I tracked down this fly "juglet" in the Pelizaeus Museum collection.

Provenance unknown 😡 but dated to the 2nd Intermediate Period or immediately after, ie when the chariot-riding Hyksos conquered and ruled Egypt as the 15th-17th dynasties from c. 1650-1550. Latest possible date during reign of Amenhotep I, whose dad founded the 18th dynasty and threw the Hyksos out.

Much of the Hyksos-smiting was actually done by his badass grandma:

Remarkably, the most stunning example of gold fly pendants [above] were found in the tomb of Queen Ahhotep at Dra Abu el-Naga, in the Theban necropolis. Ahhotep’s burial contained three gold flies, large and striking, as well as two silver flies with gold heads. Their presence in a queen’s burial indicates the significant role she played as queen regent during the struggle against the Hyksos, especially when viewed with the other military objects found in her tomb: a dagger and a gold battle-axe. […]

The ancient Egyptians likely adopted the fly as a symbol of military prowess from their southern neighbors, the Kerma Culture, whose kingdom encompassed over two hundred miles of modern-day Sudan. Large fly pendants of ivory and bronze have been found at Buhen, Qai, and Kerma belonging to Kerma ‘warrior’ burials – burials in which the owner also possessed a sword, dagger, or other weapon, indicating a soldiering career.

The fly motif existed in Egypt even before the Old Kingdom, but it is not until after the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period (corresponding to the Classic Kerma Period) that fly pendants were instated as royal rewards for military achievements in Egypt. The Nilotic fly, a symbol of undaunted persistence and unwavering resolve in one Nile Valley culture, became a symbolic object of royal favor in another.

"The Symbolism of the Fly in Ancient Egypt" — great blog post by Taylor Bryanne Woodcock, Egyptology PhD candidate at University of Toronto.

That blog post includes photos of several fly pendants/beads, including this 18th dynasty necklace of gold and carnelian fly pendants which have the same kind of crosshatching on the wings as the clay jug.

Its museum catalogue entry classifies the fly jug as "Tell el-Jahudiya ware," or, as the British Museum calls it, "Tell el-Yahudiyeh Ware has a fabric of grey or light brown clay which has been slipped and burnished. It has a distinctive incised decoration of geometric patterns, usually filled with a white paste. Most of this ware was in the form of juglets, although small zoomorphic [animal-shaped] vessels were also made."

This kind of pottery was found from the Levant (the Hyksos' home turf) to Egypt from about 1750-1550 BC. There's some debate whether it originated in the former or the latter.

While the burnishing, incision, and shaping make it fancier than the most lower-class pottery, clay doesn't have quite the cachet of gold,faience, or stone. (The hands are also a little odd. I don't know whether that's a foreign element or the greater variability of folk art.)

That gives us a hint about its owner, but what does it mean?

As Woodcock's blog post and this writeup for an exhibition at University College London notes, ancient Egyptians used the symbolism of dangerous animals to enlist their aid, to take on their powers metaphorically, and to fend off their attacks:

Take the humble fly for example: the fly symbol was used at the end of the ancient Egyptian word for the insect itself, and to mean ‘to fly’. Flies were also worn as protective amulets as well as symbolising persistence: soldiers were awarded golden flies by the pharaoh as reward for heroic efforts in battle. In addition to symbolising persistence, ancient Egyptians also believed that wearing fly beads and amulets would protect them against disease – they took the dangerous aspect of the fly’s behaviour to cause disease, and used it instead as a protective mechanism.

[word for fly is "af"]

OK. This little jug is about 5cm in diameter. I was going to suggest it was a kohl (eyeliner) container, used by a soldier to apply greasepaint while arming for battle. However, kohl is usually stored in stone jars, and most of them have wide mouths. It's shaped more like a perfume or oil bottle.

Maybe it held bug salve for a soldier. Or... maaaybe...

Queen Ahhotep (last ruler of the 17th dynasty) rallied the troops, defended the capital of Thebes, and was described as a uniter of Egypt in the texts left by her son Ahmose, founder of the 18th dynasty, for whom she was regent for many years.

18th dynasty pharaohs began the tradition of handing out fly pendants as medals of honor. Is her fly pendant necklace the first Egyptian example of fly-symbolism used to indicate valor instead of just as warding/protection magic?

Was the fly originally a symbol of the queen herself, perhaps after being unwisely dismissed by her enemies as a mere insect?

Did people rallying to the queen's army make flies as symbol of defiance against and unity against the Hyksos?

Did Queen Aahotep herself hand out fly-themed gifts to her followers?

Was this an ointment jar for one of her attendants?

Obviously, I have strayed away from what the object and archaeology can tell us into pure speculation, but here's what I'm getting at:

Maybe it didn't belong to a warrior, but a handmaiden.

Or... MAYBE... considering the times... its owner was both.:)

A kooky fly-shaped clay vessel (15th Dynasty)

With its realistic representation of a fly, it includes large eyes, wings, and legs that resemble hands

[infohub-24]

Kerma, Sudan: The Complete Guide To Your Visit

Welcome to PureTrip24! For the most adventurous and historical trip of a lifetime Karma, Sudan tops that list. A former major city of the Kingdom of Kush! And a very old one, which offers areal regard back to Sudan’s rich days gone by. Looking to have an unforgettable time in Kerme through this definitive complete guide.

Overview of Kerma

Kerma is an ancient city located in northern Sudan, about 50 kilometers south of Dongola on the banks of the Nile. It is home to the ancient Kingdom of Kerma, which flourished from around 2500 BC until about 1500. The region was a major player in trade, culture, and power; it’s an important place to hit if you’re interested in the history of ancient Africa.

Why Visit Kerma?

IMPORTANCE OF THE SITE: The role of Kerma makes it possible to better understand old civilizations and their repercussions in the region. Read more

[afam24]

Nubian history

The Predynastic A Group

Link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-Group_culture

From the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts ) Boston, the premier experts on Nubian history

Exhibition Overview and Highlights

The ancient Nubians established vast trade networks that reached across the Mediterranean into Greece and Rome and far into central Africa. At the time that Nubian kings conquered neighboring Egypt in the 8th century B.C.E., they controlled one of the largest empires of the ancient world. Yet for many people today, this powerful history remains little known. Ancient Nubia Now looks at four moments in ancient Nubian history, presenting more than 400 works of art made in the early Nubian kingdom of Kerma (2400–1550 B.C.E.), during the Egyptian occupation of northern Nubia (1550–1070 B.C.E.) and throughout the Nubian empires of Napata (750–332 B.C.E.) and Meroe (332 B.C.E.–364 C.E.). Each section explores the distinctive artistic achievements of each era and region, as well as broader issues that relate to the objects on view.

Kerma (2400–1550 B.C.E.)

Already an established and fortified city by 2400 B.C.E., Kerma grew to become the capital of a vast Nubian kingdom by about 1700 B.C.E., with a trade network that reached from the Nile Valley into Central Africa and the Red Sea coast. Palaces, offices, workshops and homes within the city clustered around a massive mud brick temple. Outside the walls lay suburbs, ports and smaller settlements. A cemetery to the west of the city housed mortuary temples and mounded royal tombs, where Kerma’s rulers were buried along with the remains of animals and humans, sacrificed to accompany them to the afterlife. 

Two of the exhibition’s galleries are dedicated to Kerma. The first introduces the kingdom’s material culture through objects such as blue faience temple remains, carved inlays from funerary beds, and burial offerings, including jewelry and some of the finest pottery found anywhere in the Nile Valley. The second features objects found in the royal tombs, while addressing how racial prejudices informed Reisner’s work and led to misinterpretations of Kerma. A highlight is the large-scale Statue of Lady Sennuwy (Egyptian, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret I, 1971–1926 B.C.E.), a masterpiece of Egyptian sculpture that was found in Kerma, buried in the tomb of the kingdom’s last ruler. While Reisner originally concluded that Kerma was a military outpost ruled by Egypt, scholars now believe that an army from Kerma attacked Egypt, looted sanctuaries and brought Egyptian objects home as souvenirs and status symbols.

Egyptian Occupation (1550–1070 B.C.E.)

One exhibition gallery explores the intertwined histories of ancient Nubia and Egypt as neighbors on the Nile—particularly during the period beginning in the mid-16th century B.C.E., when Egypt ruled over northern Nubia after defeating Kerma’s army and destroying the kingdom’s capital. Egyptian propaganda cast Nubians as the barbaric “other.” The Reliefs of Thutmose III (Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Thutmose III, 1947–1425 B.C.E.), for example, refer to the ram-headed god Khnum as the “opposer of bows,” in reference to the Nubians’ proverbial skill as archers, and “smiter of bubalis-antelopes,” comparing the Nubians to wild desert animals that need to be brought under submission. The true relationship between the Nubians and Egyptians, however, was far more nuanced. As other objects in the gallery reveal, they lived in proximity, traded materials and luxury goods, shared ideas and religious beliefs, and intermarried.

Napata (750–332 B.C.E.)

During the reign of the Nubian king Piankhy (743–712 B.C.E.), power dynamics in the Nile Valley took a dramatic turn. Piankhy and his army conquered Egypt, which he and his successors ruled as the 25th Dynasty. Official inscriptions and religious texts began to be recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphic script—offering, for the first time in their history, the Nubians’ own voices and perspectives in writing. Piankhy ruled from the city of Napata, which by the beginning of the 8th century B.C.E. had become the capital of an expansive Nubian kingdom, located at a strategic site for controlling trade and near Nubia’s holiest site, the “sacred mountain” at Gebel Barkal.

Three galleries of Ancient Nubia Now are focused on the Napatan era, when Nubia took its place as a world superpower and left monuments and artworks of uncontested beauty and power. Highlights include the spectacular jewelry of Piankhy’s wives; statues of kings Senkamanisken and Akharitene found at Gebel Barkal; the gold and silver “treasure” of king Aspelta; and more than 100 shawabties, or funerary figurines, of kings including Taharqa, the most powerful of Nubia’s rulers.

Meroe (332 B.C.E.–364 C.E.)

By the fourth century B.C.E., the Nubian capital moved south to Meroe—a cosmopolitan metropolis that was one of the great cities of antiquity, yet remains among the least understood. In part, the mystery stems from the fact that scholars still cannot read Meroitic script—the second-oldest African script, after Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Stele of King Tanyidamani (180–140 B.C.E.), on view in the final gallery of Ancient Nubia Now, is covered in the longest known Meroitic inscription, but is yet to be deciphered. The Meroitic period coincided with Greek and then Roman rule in Egypt, bringing Nubia into close contact with the classical world, while also ushering in a deeper relationship with central Africa. Additional highlights of this gallery include finely decorated pottery that drew inspiration from cultural exchange across the Mediterranean; elaborate jewelry that reached heights of technical sophistication unparalleled in the ancient Nile Valley; Greek and Roman objects that may have been diplomatic gifts, tribute or results of trade with Meroe’s many rulers; and a set of recently conserved auloi (reed pipes) that are the subject of an ongoing international research project.

An additional gallery provides further context into the role that archaeology—particularly, the MFA’s own excavations—has played in influencing how ancient Nubia’s story has been told on a global scale since the late 19th century. Twentieth-century photographs from the Museum’s archive, taken by Reisner and his team, are accompanied by historic excavation materials, as well as contemporary photographs and drone footage of modern-day sites at Kerma and Meroe.

Videos

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Be sure to stop at the bottom where it says "More from @afcnamrcn23". Don't be distracted by the pictures and links under that. They will occur again so that you can continue with the main post in sequence

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[lightdancer1]

There's an irony in the case of Pharaohs as with the Hawai'ian Kingdom that absolutism gets the one pass:

At the dawn of recorded history the first Black people to cross from archaeological/oral cultures into recorded, written histories were the peoples of Kush, the ancestors of the Nubians of the present. For the entire span of Ancient Egypt they lived often in its shadow and in the grim realities of serial predation by Egyptian armies of the most powerful phases of Pharaonic civilization, before in the 25th Dynasty proving very capable pupils indeed of their former imperial overlords and winding up more Egyptian than the Egyptians.

The various fetishism of and manias for the artifacts of Pharaonic civilization tend to neatly slide past that the political culture of these states was a shinier, golden North Korea ruled by divine monarchs who had very literal power of life and death and gloried in pyramids of severed genitalia ripped off the bodies of their victims. This was a reality Kushites spent so much of their time uncomfortably aware of, and the same reality that led them to form and organize both states and armies on a model very like that of their oppressors.

It's also a reality marked in a string of fortresses, which are testaments to the military power of the first great absolute monarchy, and to how it preferred to organize its power in real terms. And these are fortresses designed in line with the best, most hard-hitting technology of their time.

One can also see the first stirrings of one of Africa's most reliable dynamics, that of swaggering arrogant imperialists who march in Conquistador style into the world of Black Africa, and then find out the hard way that kicking a hornet's nest means the hornets kick back.

[i-am-theseeker]

Ancient DNA from Sudan

Linguists often hypothesize that the Sudan area in Northeast Africa may have been the urheimat or “original homeland” of the Afro-Asiatic (Hamitic-Semitic) language family. Certain old cultures in the vicinity — namely, the A-Group, C-Group, Kerma and Meroitic civilizations — also have close ties with that of ancient Egypt and the Cushitic-associated Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. As […]Ancient DNA…

[emcads]

pertinent to nothing ( well, pertinent to being granted patriarchal power and choosing to either reject the standard of oppression or to continue the norm of your peers and predecessors ) but i was thinking about the moment when jack frees the slaves and how that’s not ... an uncomplicated moment of goodness ?  in the way i feel it’s usually interpreted ?  he agrees to haul them as cargo, with every intention of delivering them to the plantation,  for the price of a ship  ( “What sort of a man trades a man’s life for a ship?” )  and its only really when he can’t ignore what he’s done and it inhibits his own comfort –– the wench sailing differently, the smell of human bodies, the sound of the screams –– that he reconsiders. two men died on the voyage and there’s no indication that he improved their conditions or released them from their chains even after he decided to sail to kerma. and being taken to kerma likely offers them a better future than taking them back to west africa, or the caribbean, but ...  why not allow each individual whatever freedom they wanted for themselves ? why not offer them the chance to join his future crew, if they so wished, where their rights will probably be more substantial than living under monarchical rule ? being taken to zezura is literally to trap them on a small island from which they are unable to sail away, in a culture frozen in time that is not their own, with a different language ...  of course amenirdis and shabako promise to be good leaders who themselves have dealt with the experience of being slaves,  but i simply feel that there was more to this than ‘jack did the right thing and this proves he’s a good man'

[kemetic-dreams]

Early settlements sprouted in both Upper and Lower Nubia: The Restricted flood plains of Lower Nubia. Egyptians referred to Nubia as "Ta-Seti." The Nubians were known to be expert archers and thus their land earned the appellation, "Ta-Seti", or land of the bow. Modern scholars typically refer to the people from this area as the ÒA-groupÓ culture. Fertile farmland just south of the third cataract is known as the ÒPre-KermaÓ culture in Upper Nubia, as they are the ancestors civilization originated in 5000 BC in Upper Nubia..

The Neolithic people in the Nile valley likely came from Sudan, as well as the Sahara, and there was shared culture with the two areas and with that of Egypt during this time period.

By the 5th millennium BC, the people who inhabited what is now called Nubia participated in the Neolithic revolution. Saharan rock reliefs depict scenes that have been thought to be suggestive of a cattle cult, typical of those seen throughout parts of Eastern Africa and the Nile Valley even to this day.

[ker4unos]

NORTH & EAST AFRICAN RESOURCES

The Anthropological Masterlist is HERE.

North Africa is an African region that spans the northern part of the continent. North Africa shares many cultural and linguistic similarities with the Middle East.

BERBER ─ “The Berber, or Amazigh, people are an African people. They are native to North Africa.” ─ Berber Encyclopedia (in French) ─ Amazigh Culture (in French) ─ Berber Dictionary (in French)

GUANCHE ─ “The Guanche people are an African people. They are native to the Canary Islands.” ─ Guanche Information ─ Guanche History

KUSHITE ─ “The Kingdom of Kush was a Northeast African civilization that lived from 1070 B.C.E. to 550 C.E. They lived in modern-day northern Sudan and southern Egypt.” ─ Kushite Information ─ Kerma History ─ Meroitic Language

KABYLE ─ “The Kabyle people are an African people. They are native to northern Algeria.” ─ Kabyle History (in French)

East Africa is an African region that spans the eastern part of the continent. East Africa shares many cultural and linguistic similarities with the Middle East. 

BAGANDA ─ “The Baganda, or Ganda, people are an African people. They are native to Buganda in Uganda.” ─ Baganda Culture

BANYARWANDA ─ “The Banyarwanda, or Kingdom of Rwanda, were an African people that lived from the 15th century C.E. to the 20th century C.E. They lived in modern-day Rwanda.” ─ Rwanda in the 20th Century ─ Genocide in Rwanda

DINKA ─ “The Dinka people are an African people. They are native to South Sudan.” ─ Dinka Culture ─ Dinka Language ─ Dinka Language Grammar

ETHIOPIAN ─ “The Ethiopian people are an African people that share the Ethiopian culture. They are native to Ethiopia.” ─ Ethiopian History ─ Afar Language ─ Ethiopian Music

KIPSIGIS ─ “The Kipsigis, or Kipsigiis, people are an African people. They are native to Kenya.” ─ Kipsigis Recordings

LOZI ─ “The Lozi, or Barotse, people are an African people. They are native to Barotseland in western Zambia.” ─ Barotseland Information ─ Lozi Language

LUGBARA ─ “The Lugbara people are an African people. They are native to the West Nile region in Uganda.” ─ Lugbara Culture ─ Sacrifice in Lugbara Culture

MAASAI ─ “The Maasai people are an African people. They are native to Kenya and northern Tanzania.” ─ Maasai Information ─ Maasai Culture ─ Maasai Language

MAKUA ─ “The Makua, or Makhuwa, people are an African people. They are native to northern Mozambique.” ─ Makua Culture

SHONA ─ “The Shona people are an African people. They are native to Zimbabwe.” ─ Shona History ─ Shona Dictionary

SWAHILI ─ “The Swahili, or Waswahili, people are an African people. They are native to the Swahili coast.” ─ Swahili Information ─ Swahili Culture ─ Swahili Dictionaries

VENDA ─ “The Venda people are an African people. They are native to the South African and Zimbabwean border.” ─ Venda Culture ─ Venda Culture

[manypenny]

Kushite architecture: the Deffufa Look closely: it is not a mountain. It is a building. The Deffufa was a Kushite mudbrick temple. We don’t know much about the religious belief at the time due to the lack of writing documents. The Deffufa was a 24 meters high and 52 X 26 meters at its base. It was massive. It had three stories and stairs and alleys to walk inside and to the top. The people who built this knew a about architecture. They knew what they were doing; since we have 3 deffufa that have survived. And it not Egyptian. The Egyptians did not inspire or contributed. It is just not the Egyptian culture. According to the archeologists it was built 4000 years ago. So the fact that it survived to this day is impressive. the Kushites built this only after 400 years of existence (in 2000 BC). As a matter of fact the first villages in kerma will show up only in -2400 BC (one hundred years after the construction of the 3 giza pyramids). So when we say that the Kushite were very well advanced it is not something that we’ve made up. It is real. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ6UAAVNsji/?utm_medium=tumblr

[egyptologylessons]

The Nubian Pyramids 𓉴 The pyramids 𓍋𓅓𓂋𓉴 “mr” were built by the rulers of the ancient Kushite kingdoms. The area of the Nile 𓈗 valley known as Nubia 𓍯𓍯𓏏𓈉 wAwA.t, which lies within present day Sudan, was home to three Kushite kingdoms during antiquity.𓏤 The first had its capital at Kerma (2500–1500 BC). The second was centered on Napata (1000–300 BC). Finally, the last kingdom was centered on Meroë (300 BC–AD 300). They are built of granite 𓌳𓄿𓏏𓏋𓊌𓏫 “mAt” and sandstone 𓂋𓂧𓏲𓌗𓊌 “rwdj. The last two kingdoms, Napata and Meroë, were heavily influenced by ancient Egypt - Beloved Land - Tameri 𓇾𓌸𓂋𓆵𓇋𓊖𓊖 “tA-meri” culturally, economically, politically, and militarily. The Kushite kingdoms in turn competed strongly with Egypt economically and militarily.𓏤 In 728 BC, the Kushite king Piye united the entire Nile valley from the delta to the city of Napata under his rule. Piye and his descendants ruled as the pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Napatan control of Egypt ended after being conquered by Assyria 𓇋𓋴𓇓𓅱𓂋𓏤 “issr” in 656 BC. #egypt #egyptian #ancient #ancientegypt #hieroglyphics #ägypten #middleeast #worldtourismday #thisisegypt #egyptologist #temple #myegypt #egyptianhistory #egyptology #archeology #hieroglyphs #madeinegypt #egypte #egyptians #egyptshots #loveegypt #discoveregypt #ruins #nubia #sudan #kushite #pyramids #assyrian https://www.instagram.com/p/CGFGQwqH2a1/?igshid=1x1i7sn4atc82

[afam24]

part 2

Sub Saharan history

*Angola*

When the Portuguese arrived in Kongo ( Angola), Mbanza Kongo was already a large town, perhaps the largest in sub-equatorial Africa, and a 1491 visitor compared its size to the Portuguese town of Évora.

Swahili

Before seeing the images of Swahili, it's important to read this important note.

From Wikipedia on Swahili People ( architecture)

Previously thought by many scholars to be essentially of Arabic or Persian style and origin, archaeological, written, linguistic, and cultural evidence instead suggests a predominantly African genesis and sustainment. This would be accompanied later by an enduring Arabic and Islamic influence in the form of trade and an exchange of ideas. Upon visiting Kilwa in 1331, the great Berber explorer Ibn Battuta was impressed by the substantial beauty that he encountered there. He describes its inhabitants as "Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces", and notes that "Kilwa is a very fine and substantially built town, and all its buildings are of wood" (his description of Mombasa was essentially the same). Kimaryo points out that the distinctive tattoo marks are common among the Makonde. Architecture included arches, courtyards, isolated women's quarters, the mihrab, towers, and decorative elements on the buildings themselves. Many ruins may still be observed near the southern Kenyan port of Malindi in the Gede ruins (the lost city of Gede/Gedi?)

Fine traditional architecture of the Swahili. Some of the homes are 600 or 700 years old and modern looking in the interior.

From Basil Davidson 1984 Africa series (10:00 minutes)

Ancient Nubian Homes. 

Understand that the ancient homes are no different than the modern. Same finished off look with the colorful patterns painted on the interior and outside

Interior

Sophistication of ancient Nubians Nubians over 3000 years ago with fine linens

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On a boat 3400 years ago

*Nubian Deffufa*

Kerma had structures called Deffufas. In a sence, they were sort of like early Nubian pyramids in terms of scale. The city was independently Sudanese and below the 2nd contact. Nubians aligned with Egypt were North of that. The general date is about 4000 to 5000 years ago, but some say it goes back much further due to settlements underneath

More detail on Europe' dependency on African gold in the Middle ages ( Scroll down to Portuguese-African Gold Trade

Mozambique Manyikeni is a Mozambican archaeological site

Other ruins in the southern portion of Africa are Tsindi, Khami, Dzata, Bumbusi...

Traditional South African Homes

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The people wore clothing just as colorful as the homes

[dafukdidiwatch]

The End??????????????

That was Crash and Burn and that was a VERY good space read. Absolutely loved it.

The chalk drawings were very pretty. Love the designs of the Aliens, love how xey give off this Space Fae vibe of Beautiful but Deadly.Their culture is interesting to see of this grey skin bird people. The pressure of the current ruler putting on the doctor to kill the heir and xier lover. So much intrigue since xe is risking xier life for xier. 

Mutants exist on Earth. Cora has powers and faces discrimination. And annoying people trying to “play nice”. I feel for her.

The fuck up between the diplomats is very interesting to read, especially after how well Cora had impressed the Heir Kerma...not even going to try to spell it just keeping it like that. Yeah Cora impressing Kerma was cool. Especially since the fuck up started with Indy, an acting diplomat. But then...why did Cora just started yelling and screwing that up?? Is it like...her anger to protect Indy just burst out and she couldn’t stop?? It would have made more sense if she was the one to fuck up and started yelling because she just learned about the “life-servant” thing. But since she was the one who knew all along, it makes it weird that she lost her professionalism so fast. Well they needed an explosion and they got one.

On my Fibonacci Scale of 1 to 21: this gets a 13. I love seeing two different cultures trying to get along. I love the “Murder them to live” ruse going on in Bird Royalty. Humans having Mutants is cool too, along with everyone just trying to get along. And now we crash land onto a pretty planet. Yes, I am still confused about Cora’s sudden turn in anger as a diplomat, but I will be willing to look the other way to continue reading.