This is a recent finding at the Meroitic City in northern sudan, near the temple of Amun. This is from a blog of a Canadian archeologist.

After spending two weeks in Germany visiting fabulous Egyptian museums and collections, I headed south for the excavations at Dangeil. Those who have been following the blog will recall that last year there was nothing mentioned in the entries regarding any discovery we might have made. In truth, due to the sensitive nature of our research, I could not share with you our exciting 2008 discoveries.

But that is a thing of the past! Our exciting finds were published* recently in Sudan & Nubia, the journal of the Sudan Archaeological Research Society and I can now share them with you online.

In an archaeologist’s life, major and significant discoveries are rare. Normally, we find things interesting only to other specialists in the field. Occasionally, you find something absolutely mind-boggling, something that you can’t explain but know that somehow it’s very important… and it’s even better if that special something is actually beautiful and rare. That’s what happened last year at Dangeil.

We found magnificent granite statues of Napatan kings.

We found royal statues, can you imagine? Immediately, we knew we had something special because granite is not found in the area of Dangeil. The nearest granite quarry is at the Third Cataract, much further north, across the Bayuda Desert. Additionally, the artistic style and craftsmanship indicated that we were dealing with sculpture of the Napatan period (8th-4th century b.c.e.), rather than the Meroitic period (3rd century b.c.e to mid-3rd century c.e.). And that completely baffled us. What were these Napatan statues doing in Dangeil, a Meroitic site that has yet to reveal Napatan occupation?

Statues like the ones at Dangeil have been found at only two other sites in the Sudan: Napata, the first capital of Kush located near the Fourth Cataract (after which the Napatan period is named), and Dukki Gel, near Kerma, an ancient city near the Third Cataract, where the Napatans were very active (and later the Meroites, too). The statue cache at Napata was found by George A. Reisner (Harvard-Boston Expedition) in 1916 and that at Dukki Gel by Charles Bonnet and the Swiss Mission to Kerma in 2003.

Considering that the region of Meroe (the second capital of Kush, which gave its name to the Meroitic period) has so far revealed little evidence of royal Napatan occupation our discovery was surprising to say the least. In fact, some archaeologists who heard rumours of our find could not even believe we had found Napatan statues at our Meroitic site! Yet, there we were with three granite sculptures of powerful Napatan kings. Let me introduce them to you.

King Taharqo (690-664 b.c.e.), probably the most famous Kushite king who ruled Egypt during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (715-656 b.c.e.). His statue is the largest of all, weighing well over one ton (!). While we have his body from shoulders to knees, and the statue base that includes his feet, we are still missing the lower legs and the head. (If you go back to my entry about my Tilley hat, you will see Taharqo from the back and me tracing the hieroglyphic inscription of the pillar onto a clear plastic sheet.)

King Senkamanisken (643-623 b.c.e.), whose statue is smaller but better preserved (as you can see from the picture above, he’s got a great body!). Once again, we’re missing his lower legs and head.

King Aspelta (593-568 b.c.e.), at least we think it’s Aspelta. Unlike the other two kings, we have his head and the base with the feet, but not his body! The name of the king is mentioned on the back pillar of the statue, generally between the shoulders and the knees… but we don’t have that part of the statue. The facial features are very similar to statues of Aspelta from Napata and Dukki Gel, so it might actually be Aspelta.

We also have a small statue of a Meroitic queen, possibly the Kandake Amanitore. We know the statue is Meroitic because of the iconography and artistic style. It was also carved out of locally available, poor quality sandstone. There isn’t an inscription on the back of this statue, but because we have found over the years inscriptions mentioning or reliefs representing Amanitore, it might be her. We know she build the temple we are currently digging, so why not?

As you might have guessed, we hoped to find the heads of Taharqo, Senkamanisken and Amanitore during the 2009 season… but that was not to be. Instead we found interesting stratigraphy, post holes (lots of them), and earlier construction phases. However, with or without heads, we would like to find out how these statues ended up in Dangeil and why. It might take a while, but we’re working on it.

* Julie R. Anderson and Salah eldin Mohamed Ahmed. What are these doing above the Fifth Cataract?!! Napatan royal statues at Dangeil. Sudan & Nubia 13 (2009):78-86.

The Berber-Abidiya Archaeological Project is a joint project of the British Museum, London, and the Sudan National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), Khartoum. The excavations are directed by Drs Julie R. Anderson (BM) and Salah eldin Mohamed Ahmed (NCAM).
This entry was written by Caroline, posted on January 6, 2010 at 12:19 pm, filed under Curatorial and tagged Egyptian, Sudan. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

How could i forget the map of the Mali Empire, which encompass today Senegal, southern Mauritannia, and of course today Mali itself.

i found this video on you tube about the "almoravids dynasty" in spain, even though the Almoravids got a bad rap on this segment of this program, there is no doubt that they were of sub saharan african as this commentors describe them. she describe them as black skinned people. here is the video. it looks like it was telecast in Britian.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8XCmGZJQ-M&feature=related

Bamun Script created in Cameroon during the late 18th century. however, due to french rule, the local population was prohibited of utilizing their writing system. here is a example of the Bamun Script

timbuktu video again


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNw_gPwsnIw

here is several video in reference to the people that live in these regions and a feature from of timbuktu on Aljazeera


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGBOX8BN8ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Cl5qD1IiY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkR0TG9VZ7g&feature=channel

the Songhai Empire in its apogee encompassed the modern nations of Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and of course Northern half of  Nigeria. However, some sources i read from the net suggested that the Songhai Empire reached as far as Cameroon. I feel more research need to be done to determine if the empire reached as far a Cameroon. Here is a map of the Songhai Empire.

Thank you Madlady, i am glad to be back. if you have any questions feel free to ask?

This is the map of Almoravids Empire. the almoravids was a collection of berbers Sanhaja, pulaar or fulani, tuaregs, and other groups from west africa. At its apogee the Amoravids empire encompassed present day Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gibraltar, Tlemcen or Algeria, and a great part of what is now Senegal, and Mali in the south and Spain and Portugal in the north in Europe. However, the Empire planned its military campaign in the south what is known today as Mauritania and northern Senegal to forge their military jihad against the north. This is a map of the Almoravids empire.

map of the Ghana Empire which includes southern or western mali and the southern and central portion of Mauritannia.

however, in western sahel they utilize the arabic language and arabic script for writing, because arabic at that time was a international language, similiar to english today. Even though the educational system was arabic, many other languages was written utilizing the arabic script such as Tamasheq(the language of the tuareg), Pulaar or fulani, Mande, Songhai, and lastly Hausa.

the sahel region in west africa produce one of the greatest civilzation on the african continent, if not the world. the kingdom of Ghana(no relation to the modern state) Mali, and Songhai were definitely ahead of its times. the University of Sankore in Timbuku was established during the 14th century and it was the Harvard and Oxford University of its day. the university attracted students throughout the muslim world and beyond, at its height 25,000 students attended the university in a year. The Universtiy covered subjects ranging from islamic studies, law, literature, medicine, surgery, astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, philosophy, language and linguistics, geography, history and art. Also, the unversity offer trade shops programs ranging from business, carpentry, farming, fishing, contruction, shoe making, tailoring and navigation. here is a few books that is painstokingly being preserve at the many institutes or preservation houses in modern day timbuktu Mali west africa

nsibidi script created by the people that live in south eastern nigeria and cameroon, however it is not dated.

the Ge'ez alphabet is dated from 9th century bc til the present, however it is definitely a possibility that the written language is much older. the ge'ez alphabet not only has connections with cushitic and semetic languages, but languages in the mediteranean area as well. most modern languages in ethiopia, and eritrea is derive from the ge'ez language and alphabet, besides oromo which is mainly cushitic. however, the language is still utilize by the modern ethiopian orthodox church, but it is not understood by the generial population.

old nubian: like the coptic alphabet which derives some aspect of greek letters but still maintaining integrity of the pharaonic language, the same you can say about old nubian. old nubian use both coptic, greeks, and of course meroitic and created a new alphabet for the common people. i assume it was developement of the old nubian alphabet was about the same time as coptic. however, unlike coptic which is not spoken by common people today, nubian on the otherhand is still spoken by some upper egyptians and northern sudanese today. needless to say, the language is not writen due to the conversian of islam about the 15th century. which was the last of the writing system in the nubian language.

as the advent of the pagan beliefs dissipate a new form of writing system develops in the nile valley due to a new religion called christianity. the coptic alphabet was developed in the 3rd century and ulitize by both egyptians and some nubians/beja christian until the 14th century. however, egypt still have a large christian minority which is known locally as copts, and still utilizes the coptic language in church services today. it is similar to the use of latin in the catholic church today

to epi, the sudanese guy is right, most people in sudan is extremely generous. you would not worry about harassment from people unlike our neighbor in the north egypt (oops). did i say that! the people in sudan is great, and you will make friends easily without any strings attach unlike my neighbor in the north. however, i do live in egypt now, so i know what i am talking about.

hello, i am back. sorry, that i have not been on this trend much but been kind of busy debating egyptians and northern sudanese whether egytian and northern sudan should be one country again since southern sudan is about to vote for separation from the north. typical politics
to madlady: i have talked to a specialist of meroitic writing, and you are right madlady the meroitic writing is probably older than what most historians believes, they base this on radio carbon dating to come up with these dates, yet they are not sure of the precise date of meroitic writing, which is still a debate among some scholars today.

The earliest evidence found for the Meroitic writing dates back to the early second century BC. The Meroitic script is composed of twenty-three characters, four vowels, fifteen consonants, and four syllabus signs1.

Meroitic had a flexible, yet advanced, hieroglyphic system. Both, the hieroglyphic and the cursive versions are read in the direction that the figures face. However, most of the cursive writings found are read from right to left and the hieroglyphs from top to bottom. Words are uniquely separated by two or three dots. Examples of deciphered Meroitic words that are commonly found in Meroitic texts include qor for ruler, kdi for lady, ste for mother, and mk for god2.

Deciphering Meroitic would be of immense value to our knowledge of the Kushite civilization. Unfortunately, scholarly efforts aimed at deciphering the script have been limited. Unless deciphered, our knowledge of the Kushite kingdom and its people will remain vague

demotic is another form of writing that was developed during late period of 25th dynasty in egypt and northern sudan, it was used by royals and commoners alike, it stop being used by the 4 century AD.

this script is called hieratic script. however, this script is not derive from hieroglyphs but was in use along with pictorial hieroglyphs. some scholars believe this is an older form of nile valley writing. this was use primarily in the priet class.

The Edwin Smith papyrus is the world's oldest surviving surgical document. Written in hieratic script in ancient Egypt approximately 1600 BC, the text describes anatomical observations and the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of forty-eight types of medical problems in exquisite detail.

Among the treatments described are closing wounds with sutures, preventing and curing infection with honey and moldy bread, stopping bleeding with raw meat, and immobilization of head and spinal cord injuries. Translated in 1930, the document reveals the sophistication and practicality of ancient Egyptian medicine. Plate 6 and 7 of the papyrus, pictured here, discuss facial trauma.

how hieoglyphs was read?

The hieroglyphic script is very flexible. It can be read from left to right, right to left, or up and down.

To figure out how to read the text, you should look at the way animals or people are looking. These signs always look to the beginning of the text

hieroglyphic written by both egyptians and northern sudanese was allegely created around 3000bc-4AD. however, scholar disagree whether hieroglyphics were influenced by outside source such as the ancient sumerians or was it a local constructed. this debate about the origins of the hieroglyphs still linger among scholars

another treasure of the african continent is our writing systems. the writing give us glimpses or aspects of ancient society, their habit, knowledge, technology, rulers, national and international relations whether friend or fore. here i will name several writing systems across the african continent, because that is indeed a treasure for us africans. what our ancestor thought.

Stela of queen Amanishaketo.

Reverse:



The temple of Amon (1st cent. BC/ 1st cent. AD). Hypostyle Hall.



Sudan Ancient Treasures, Derek A. Welsby, p. 181:



"The rear and the sides of the stela have fifteen lines of text in cursive Meroitic, topped on the rear by a line in Egyptian hieroglyphs without specific meaning. In his still unpublished analysis of the Meroitic text egyptologist Claude Rilly (letter of 8 September 2000) states the "feeling of frustration" of the philologist in front of such a well-preserved inscription, but he succeeds at least in defining the character of the text as a religious hymn.



Not only does the text keep its secret, but an important historical question also remains open: why and how was a stela of Queen Amanishakheto, dated about sixty years before Natakamani and Amanitore, donated to the Temple of Amun at Naga, a structure not yet in existence during the lifetime of this queen? Do we have to rethink the sequence of Meroitic rulers?"





Photo from: Poznań Archaelogical Museum

Stela of Queen Amanishaketo



The temple of Amon (1st cent. BC/ 1st cent. AD). Hypostyle Hall.



(left) Goddess Amesemi (right) Amanishaketo



Amesemi - Woman with falcon on head, sometimes also with crescent moon



Amesemi was a Meroitic goddess, who was the wife of Apedemak, lion god of Meroë. The Egyptians never worshiped her. Amesemi wears a crown shaped like a falcon or a falcon standing on a crescent moon. (The falcon is a symbol of kingship and of the god Horus.) The moon was known as the Eye of Horus, as was the cobra on the ruler’s crown. People believed that the moon and the cobra were forms of their ruler’s protective goddess. Because Amesemi wore the falcon and the moon on her crown, many people believe that Amesemi was this protective goddess.
(left) Gold ring; The concluding scene of a sacred marriage is represented here, the crown prince between the king and queen, (right) Gold ring; An enthroned ruler holds a staff in each hand.

i am not sure about this one, i found this on a web site of tim kendall american archeological that specialize in ancient kush mainly in the sudan. i assume that these statues are either in the nuri pyramids mortuary or maybe the new found ruined city of dangeil northern sudan.

different angle of the pyramid complex in northern sudan, also a old kingdom bust of a cushite royality in egypt.

small iron face mask
of the Bambara / Bamana / (Baumana) people from Mali
of course it is not dated, however i find the mask to be very beautiful.

epi: daily life of the nubians. start on page 234-237

Statue of Meroitic queen and two goddesses early 1st century B.C. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
found in the pyramids of meroe northern sudan