Ancient Nubia the Grand Daddy Of Civilization

The First Pharaohs of the Nile; Egypt's Founding Dynasty and the inventors of Writing and Civilization.

East Africa is often referred to as the birth place of civilization, the Near East is often referred to as the Cradle of civilization, but none stack up to Ancient Nubia, the Grand Daddy Long Legs of Ancient Civilizations.  The reference to the Near East as the cradle of civilization would be quiet an accurate description because compared to the Ancient Nubians they were truly just babies in the infancy of civilization.

Meet Nubt aka late Nubia A-Group, the designation for a distinct culture that arose between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile in Nubia from ca 3800 BC until ca. 2800 BC, time of the Egyptian 2nd dynasty. The A-Group settled on very poor land with scarce natural resources, yet they became the first Nubians to develop agriculture. This culture was one of the two important "kingdoms" in Lower Nubia. Artefacts from this culture were first discovered in 1907 by Egyptologist George A. Reisner.

Vessels of Nubian A-Group, Musée du Louvre.

A-Group royal tombs were found to be two centuries older than those of the Egyptians. The A-Group had strong beliefs in the afterlife. A great deal of time was put into their cemeteries and funerals. The dead were placed in burial mounds with their bodies facing the West. Grave goods such as jewellery, pottery, stone bowls, linen cloth, copper tools, and cosmetic palettes were found on or near bodies.

Decorated bowl of the Nubian A-Group, Musée du Louvre.

By 3200 BC, the A-group was important for his role as mediators in the increased trade between Egypt and the central Africa.

At the royal cemetery at Qustul near by Abu Simbel, one of the main centers of A-Group Nubian culture, the rulers are presented wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt. The elite graves there exist long rectangular shafts cut into the bedrock with a side chamber sealed with a big stone slab. In the immediate vicinity the graves were cattle burials. A grave similar to this was found in the elite cemetery at Hierakonpolis (HK6, Tomb 2), and it's also surrounded by cattle burials.^[1]

This is the same sight as Nekhen which was the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of the Predynastic period (c. 3200 – 3100 BC) and probably, also during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC) ^[2]

The people that inhabited Lower Nubia—the region between the First and the Second Cataract of the Nile and the surrounding deserts—during pre-dynastic times are known as the A-Group. They were among the first civilizations in the world and the Nile to engage in agriculture. They brought exotic goods from the Sudan and Nubia to Egypt, and this trading activity made some of them very rich and powerful. Along the Nile their settlements and cemeteries are clustered in strategic areas, mostly in connection with transport routes through the desert. The chiefs at the top of their society were represented similarly to the early pharaohs of Egypt.

Early A-Group pottery fragments from Hierakonpolis. Antrhopological knowledge of this phase is still limited and the examples found at Hierakonpolis provide useful information as most of the evidence for the Early A-Group has been lost beneath Lake Nasser, following the building of the first Aswan dam.

^[3]

Excavations – directed by European archaeologists, Professor Charles Bonnet and Dr. Matthieu Honegger – had revealed a royal palace, temples, extraordinary tombs and a massive ancient metropolis on the Nile in Northern Sudan in the area inhabited by Nubian Group A. Academics have been speculating over whether this long-lost civilisation may have been the precursor of the famous biblical Kingdom of Kush, which was alluded to in the Book of Genesis. Due to the region’s superbly preserved archaeology, it has yielded evidence of early cattle domestication that pre-dates any in Egypt’s Nile Valley.^[4]

Contents

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·         1 Oldest Recorded Monarchy

·         2 Status as Egypt's Founding Dynasty and the First Writing System

·         3 Early Gold Mining

·         4 Qustul Incense Burner

·         5 Grand Royal Tombs

·         6 Nubian/Egyptian Rock Cut Temples

·         7 Importance in Africa

·         8 First Farmers

·         9 Style of Dress and Clothing

·         10 Sweden and Operation Rescue Nubia

·         11 References

·         12 External links

Oldest Recorded Monarchy

Nubian Monarchy Called Oldest

Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia in Africa.

"Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia." He estimated that "The first kings of Ta-Seti may well have ruled about 5900 BC."Bruce Williams, archaeologist at the University of Chicago, continuing the research, adds "A newly discovered ancient kingdom is always a matter of interest, but when it precedes the earliest known monarchy, the unification of Egypt in the fourth millennium B.C., then history itself is reborn. The place is ancient Nubia at Qustul, where the investigation of archaeological materials recovered during the great 1960s rescue effort has recently unveiled a birthplace of pharaonic civilization several generations before the rise of the first historic Egyptian dynasty." (Archeology Magazine).^[5] If Ta-seti or Ancient Nubia is this old it is not only the oldest monarchy and the longest lasting kingdom but would pre-date Ancient Egypt by approximately 2,900 years.

The findings suggested that the ancient Nubians may have reached this stage of political development as early as 3300 B.C. a few generations before the earliest documented Egyptian king. The discovery is based on study of artifacts from ancient tombs excavated 15 years before 1979 in an international effort  to rescue archaeological deposits before the rising waters of the expanding Aswan Dam in Egypt covered them.The artifacts, including hundreds of fragments of pottery, jewelry, stone vessels, and ceremonial objects such as incense burners, were initially recovered from the Qustul cemetery by Doctor Keith C. Seele, a professor at the University of Chicago. The cemetery, contained 33 tombs that were heavily plundered in ancient times, was on the Nile near the modern boundary between Egypt and the Sudan.

The significance of the artifacts, which were in storage at the university of Chicago's oriental Institute, was not fully appreciated until about 1978, when Bruce Williams, a research associate, began to analyze them.

"Keith Seele had suspected the tombs were special, perhaps even royal," Dr. Williams said in an interview with the New York Times. "It was obvious from the quantity and quality of the painted pottery and the jewelry that we were dealing with wealthy people. But it was the picture on a stone incense burner that indicated we really had the tomb of a king.

"On the incense burner, which was broken and had to be pieced together, was a depiction of a palace façade, a crowned king sitting on a throne in a boat, a royal standard before the king and, hovering above the king, the falcon god Horus. Most of the images are ones commonly associated with kingship in later Egyptian traditions.The portion of the incense burner bearing the body of the king is missing" but, Dr. Williams said, "scholars are agreed that the presence of the crown in a form well known from dynastic Egypt and the god Horus are irrefutable evidence that the complete image was that of a king." ^[6]

Dr. Williams went on to describe how the grand figure on the incense burner, are the earliest known representation of a king in the Nile Valley. Although at the time his name was unknown, he was believed to have lived approximately three generations before the time of Scorpion, the earliest-known Egyptian ruler. Scorpion was one of three kings said to have ruled Egypt before the start of what is called the first dynasty around 3050 B.C.^[7]

Dr Williams said "some of the Nubian artifacts bore disconnected symbols resembling those of Egyptian hieroglyphics that were not readable."They were on their way to literacy," Dr. Williams said, "probably quite close to Egypt in this respect." ^[8] If this is true, this would mean the Ancient Nubians A-Group were among the first two civilization to invent writing. Although from the timeline given by Dr. Williams it is not clear if in his opinion Nubian A-Group symbols that resemble hieroglyphics pre-date Sumerian hieroglyphics/writing as the two civilizations writing systems timelines appear to both developed in the 3rd millennium around the same time (Ie. Nubian pictorial documents and Sumerian tablets with pictographs actually both emerge between 3500-3200 B.C.E.)

Status as Egypt's Founding Dynasty and the First Writing System

The first continuous agricultural tradition in Africa, the Sudanese-Saharan Neolithic, developed almost ten thousand years ago in country west of Nubia that is now desert.

Other representations and monuments could then be identified, and in the process, a lost kingdom, called Ta-Seti or Land of the Bow, was discovered. In fact, the cemetery at Qustul leads directly to the first great royal monuments of Egypt in a progression. Qustul in Nubia could well have been the seat of Egypt's founding dynasty.^[9]

“The pictoral documents left by its (Nubia) kings reveal Ta-Seti’s (Egyptian name for Nubia) claim to having conquered and ruled over Upper Egypt for the time (3400 BCE to 3200 BCE).” ^[10]

Professor of Anthropology at Lincoln University of Missouri Dr. Larry Ross describes in his book Nubia and Egypt 10,000 B.C. to 400 A.D that the Qustul incense burner and Horus Nekhen incense burner are considered to be royal documents. He views the burners as documentation that the pharonic system was in place before Egypt and concludes that there is even strong evidence that the first writing began under the Nubian King Scorpion.^[11]

This book draws on recent archaeological findings that claim Pharonic symbolism, sacred bark, and serekh, are of Nubian origin, not Egyptian.^[12]

There are numerous other Anthropology scholars who seem to support this view:

"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...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." ^[13] Ph.D

A-Group elements have been found in Egyptian culture such as

•Early A-Group pottery at Naqada,el-Adaima,el-Mamariya,Hierakonpolis,Elkab,MinshatAbu Omar

•First cataract sites

^[14]

Early Gold Mining

Gold mining occurred in Early Nubia A-Group at least as early as 3,250 B.C.E. and pottery making goes back to as early as 8,000 B.C.E. Nubian gold mining supplied Egypt with gold, as the Egyptians never actually mined gold themselves but traded goods with the nubians in exchange for it. The Nubian gold trade with Egypt goes back to 3,250 B.C.E. and perhaps even earlier making this one of the earliest examples of gold trading and currency trading between major nations.

"Nubian pottery has been found dating to as long ago as 8,000 BCE—more proof that Nubia had a civilization before Egypt. There was no Egypt in 8,000 BCE. Furthermore, there was no gold in Egypt, but there were many gold mines in Nubia and Nubian trade with Egypt--once Egypt began as a people and country--shows a reliance on Nubia by Egypt for one of the resources Egypt desired: gold. Apparently Nubians knew how to mine gold and how to utilize it as a trading tool long before Egypt was defined." According to Professor Larry Ross ^[15]

Qustul Incense Burner

Qustul Incense Burner

Description:

A scene in the relief on the outside of a round vessel presents a palace facade and three boats. A man stands behind a structure by the first boat, and a crocodile, whose head is visible below it. Traces of prow and stern remain of the second vessel. Behind it is a harpoon and a goat standing on its hind legs, followed by a man wearing a loincloth. He faces the third boat, one of his arms raised. On the third boat is a large quadruped, and under it is a fish pierced by a harpoon. Above the scene are incised hatchings. The flat rim of the vessel is decorated with hatched triangles.Several similar objects in sandstone as well as limestone have been found in A-group excavations (Save-Soderbergh 1964, 29, pi. Ilia; Nordstrom 1972, 119f.; Nordstrom 1962, 58, pi. Xa; Griffith 1921, 9, pi. IV, 3; Reisner 1910, 277, pi. 64h). They are either undecorated or have only incised lines. Other pieces from Qustul Cemetery L and now in Chicago (Oriental Institute Museum 23684, 23709, 23717, 23719, 24058) have for the most part only a shallow depression on top, and several show traces of burning inside.These vessels have been regarded as censers (Firth), as lamps (Save-Soderbergh 1964, 29; Nordstrom 1972, 119f.), and as dishes for grinding pigments, since an object of this kind found in Grave L 19 shows traces of red dye (Seele 1974, 29-30, 33-34). They might have had nothing to do with cylinder seals, the similarity of form being purely coincidental.The present object should be classified with the pieces cited, which may well include some censers, although others were certainly used as mortars. The fact that the vessel is decorated is a sign of its owner's high position in society. Although the limestone was imported from Egypt, the decoration appears to be the work of a Nubian stonecutter. Similar boat representations are frequently found in rock drawings in Nubia (Landstrom 1970, figs. 73-74 on 25). The goat is a buck of the common domestic type, with twisted horns (Brentjes 1962, 14ff.). The fish is more difficult to identify since its tail fin is not plainly visible; Brentjes thinks it may be a Nile perch (Lates niloticus). He identifies the quadruped standing on the third boat as a baboon, based on the proportions of the extremities, the form of the hind legs, the simian long tail and dorsal line, and the shape of the head (by letter). According to this exact view, we must regard Nubia as the country of origin of the relief, since baboons still existed there when this object was made. Egyptian parallels are lacking.^[16]

The Qustul Burner is considered to be one of if not the most important discoveries of ancient Nubia and Ancient Egypt and Nile Valley Civilizations on a whole because it represents the first royal tomb, the first representation and art, the first writing, the first self evident pharonic monument in the Nile Valley and the first representation of the pharoah in his person and the first dateable monumental-ceremonial object that compares with palettes or maceheads

"Professor Seele had excavated a cemetery of fully royal tombs that equaled the elaboration of its counterparts in Egypt; L 24 was some generations earlier than any tomb in the B cemetery at Abydos.Apart from other "first" in representation and art, the Qustul incense burner (cemetery L 24) stands out at this writing, not as a provincial imitation of some unknown Egyptian monument but as the first self-evident pharaonic monument from the Nile Valley, the first unequivocal representation of a pharaoh in his person, the first datable monumental-ceremonial object that compares with the slate palettes and maceheads of Egypt." ^[17]

Furthermore, the Qustul incense burner and Horus of Nekhen incense burner are royal documents and other incense burners with serekhs [were the enclosing devices within which the early names of Kings were written] are comparable with the prehistoric palace facades from Egypt. The Qustul incense burner clearly shows the nesu [king] with Horus about four generations before Iry-Hor, and a series of roughly contemporary seals and sealings from other sites refer to the dynasty by the use of the same unusual form of palace facade. One sealing actually refers to the name Ta-Seti, the name used at this period of the plaque of Hor-Aha from Abydos, the Gebel Sheikh Suleiman inscription, as well as this sealing from Nubia, that connects this particular form of palace facade with the name Ta-Seti.^[18]

Grand Royal Tombs

This ancient Sudanese civilisation appears to have been ruled by a series of extraordinarily powerful kings – perhaps even emperors. Several of the royal tombs were spectacular man-made hills, 30 metres wide and up to 15 metres high. To underline their power in this life (and the next), the rulers of Kerma seem to have had the unsettling habit of taking all their retainers and many of their relatives with them to the afterlife! One tomb held 400 skeletons. Even before these kings began taking human escorts with them to eternity, their funerals had still been massive ritual events in which their imperial power over vast areas of territory was symbolically demonstrated. Indeed, excavations and subsequent scientific investigations over the last few years have revealed that some of the kings had themselves buried alongside the remains of literally thousands of cattle. In front of one royal grave, the king’s retainers had sacrificed 4,500 of the animals – arranging their skulls in a huge, horn-shaped crescent in front of the tomb. But of greatest significance was the chemical analysis of the horns, which revealed that the cattle had been reared in different environments and been brought to the funeral from the length and breadth of the kingdom. ^[19]

Nubian/Egyptian Rock Cut Temples

The Egyptian Speos (Temples)The Egyptian rock cut temple, or speos, was of Nubian origin. The earliest example of which was the cave sanctuary at Sayala, a Nubian site just north of Abu Simbel on the west bank of the Nile River. This site is dated to the period of the Nubian A-Group culture (3700-3250 B.C.E.). This particularly Nubian architectural expression was adopted by the Egyptians of the New Kingdom, whose pharaohs commissioned several temples in Upper Egypt and in Nubia. The earliest of these, at Speos Artemidoros, is dated to the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of Dynasty XVIII, and the most famous are the paired Northern and Southern Temples at Abu Simbel. Here, Rameses II, to whom the Greater, or Southern Sanctuary is dedicated, is equated with male solar deities but can only dawn via the ministration of the female principal, ascribed to his chief queen Nofertari, to whom the Lesser, or Northern Sanctuary is dedicated.

^[20]

Importance in Africa

The Royal Cemetery of Ta-Seti of Qustul is thus the key element in a reorientation of our understanding of events in Nubia. The eclectic tastes of the Kerma-Kushites had concealed the diversity of cultures above Aswan. As with the A-Group before, the Kushites held the geographical pivot of northeastern Africa. They mixed ideas and materials from the north (Egypt), east (Pan Grave-Medjay), and south to west (Sudanese-Saharan). Since no one could pass them by they mediated contacts among these groups. At the same time, the A-Group-Kushite tradition remained a major center of Lower Nile civilization. Having a common origin with Egypt in the Naqada I-II, the southern group remained more true than Egypt to the archaic heritage that was passed to its descendants at Napata and Meroe, and, though modified by continuing contacts with Egypt, was revived in dramatic form by the Noubades in the final pharaonic cemeteries at Qustul and Ballana.^[20]

First Farmers

According to Professor Kevin Shillington, there exist increasing amounts of archaeological evidence that the people south of the Nile's first cataract (Egyptians and Nubians) may have been engaging in farming of wild barley as early as 10,000 B.C. and perhaps even as early as 16,000 B.C. He further states that Sorghum and millet which are African in origin were being harvested in the Khartoum region of the Nile as early as 6,000 BC. He additionally believes that these people of the Nile were not restricted solely to farming and that they also engaged in fishing, gathering and hunting. The implications of this are that Nubians and Egyptians were farming 2,000- 8,000 years before people in Southwest Asia. Based on maps from his book, it appears this farming occured from the 4th cataract of the Nile going all the way into lower Egypt.

"It has generally been accepted that the strains of barley and wheat cultivated in Ancient Egypt were first domesticated in Mesopotamia. But there is increasing archaeological evidence that certain strains of wild barley were being tended and possibly cultivated by the ancient peoples of Egypt and Nubia (south of the Nile's first cataract) by 10,000 B.C. and perhaps even as early as 16,000 B.C. Sorghum and millet, certainly of local African origin, were being harvested in the Khartoum region of the upper Nile by 6000 BC.

All these "farming" communities, however, seem to have been only partially dependent on farming. They still spent a considerable time hunting, gathering and sometimes fishing. In addition, the climate was then wetter than it is at present and a small annual rainfall would have provided some vegetation to the east and west of the Nile.  ^[21]

Style of Dress and Clothing

Clothing and AccessoriesIn certain respects, the costumes and accessories of the Nubians of the A-Group culture find their correspondences in the immediately preceding Neolithic Period and suggest a degree of cultural continuity.The Nubians of this period continued to hunt, fish, and fowl, but also placed great value on the raising of cattle, on the model provided by the modern Maasai. The hides of these herds were cured and dyed for manufacture into clothing. The presence of the antelope as a motif on vessels of the period and on petroglyphs putatively of the same date suggests that their hides were also used for such garments. More rarely, the Nubians of the period wore linen garments, but either the bolts of cloth or the garments themselves had to have been imported into Nubia from Egypt because flax, from which linen is derived, was not natively cultivated during this period. The leather garments were either simple loincloths in a short and long style or phallus sheaths for men, which were worn separately, not together, if one can trust later depictions of the phallus sheath. These could be secured around the body with belts, which like the leather garments, might be decorated with a network of beads either of bone or imported faience sewn into geometric patterns.

There is evidence that the Nubians also wore a leather cap. The appearance of the cap at this time indicates the longevity of certain fashion statements, because a similar cap was also worn by Nubians during the Kerma culture. Both of these are evocative of a cap still worn by Nubians today.The accessories of the Nubians were rather simple in design. These included bracelets, which often incorporate seeds, strung as if they were beads.

Luxury materials such as ostrich egg shell and ivory were Grafted into armlets and necklaces, which might also be designed from stones. Beads were by far the most popular form of decorative element in the jewelry of the period, and those made of faience represent imports into Nubia from Egypt. Finger rings are known, but are rare. The presence of palettes suggests the continuing use of cosmetics, which may have also been used in life, in order to accompany the styling of hair, as the presence of both combs and hairpins suggests. Nevertheless, certain articles of the Nubian toilette continued to serve as indices of decorum. Graves of elite members of the Nubian oligarchy at Sayala, for example, were buried with cosmetic mirrors made of a mica, cosmetic palettes (indicating the practice was unisex), and two ceremonial maces, the handles of which were gold sheathed. One presumes the weapons were used in life as parade accessories. To date there is no evidence for the use of ear, lip, or nose plugs during this period.

^[20]

Sweden and Operation Rescue Nubia

In 1954, the government of Egypt made the construction of the High Dam at Aswan a major objective to expand the agricultural production and employment, electricity production and improved navigation that benefits tourism of the country.

Soon thereafter, on the 8 of March 1960, the UNESCO called its members to an international rescue operation for Nubia, saving monuments in Egypt and in the Sudan. Most important of these were the temples of Abu Simbel which were relocated together with over 20 other monuments and architectural complexes to the shores of Lake Nasser under the “UNESCO Nubia Campaign”.

The Swedish king Gustav VI Adolf took a leading position in forming the rescue committee for the UNESCO, and Sweden was given an important position in the campaign.The Scandinavian countries Sweden, Norway and Danmark together with Finland joined forces under the scientific leadership of T. Säve-Söderbergh, professor of Egyptology at Uppsala University, and began to excavate the northernmost area on the East bank in the Sudan. ^[22]

The French writer Constantin-François Volney (1757-1820), in his important work, The Ruins of Empires, extends this point of view by saying that the Egyptians were the first people to “attain the physical and moral sciences necessary to civilized life.” In referring to the basis of this achievement he states further that, “It was, then, on the borders of the Upper Nile, among a Black race of men, that was organized the complicated system of worship of the stars, considered in relation to the productions of the earth and the labors of agriculture; and this first worship, characterized by their adoration under their own forms and national attributes, was a simple proceeding of the human mind.”

Volney’s Ruins; or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires, Boston, J. Mendum, 1869

Stephanus of Byzantium, who is said to represent the opinions of the most ancient Greeks, says:

“Ethiopia was the first established country on the earth, and the Ethiopians were the first who introduced the worship of the Gods and who established laws.”

Quoted by John D. Baldwin, Prehistoric Nations, p. 62.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) Greek philosopher, scientist, and tutor to Alexander the Great.

Aristotle is said to have written 150 philosophical treatises.

 

 

“Too black a hue marks the coward as witness Egyptians and Ethiopians and so does also too white a complexion as you may see from women, the complexion of courage is between the two.”

(Physiognomics, Vol. VI, 812a)

 

Aristotle makes reference to the hair form of Egyptians and Ethiopians: “Why are the Ethiopians and Egyptians bandy-legged? Is it because the bodies of living creatures become distorted by heat, like logs of wood when they become dry? The condition of their hair supports this theory; for it is curlier than that of other nations, and curliness is as it were crookedness of the hair.”

(Physiognomics, Book XIV, p. 317)

References

1.    ^ "http://interactive.archaeology.org/hierakonpolis/nubian.html"

2.    ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nekhen

3.    ^ http://interactive.archaeology.org/hierakonpolis/nubian.html

4.    ^ David Keys (2007

5.    ^ 1 March 1979, The New York Times front page Bruce Williams, Ph.D., a graduate of the University of Chicago in Egyptology Online Quotation of a similar but not identical version can be found at: http://ourweekly.com/news/2009/jun/18/ta-seti-worlds-oldest-civilization/#.Uh7RvtJwpRt

6.    ^ New York Times, March 1, 1979 Nubian Monarchy Called Oldest By Boyce Renseberger

7.    ^ The New York Times, March 1, 1979 article that appeared on pages 1 & A16) Nubian Monarchy Called Oldest By Boyce Renseberger

8.    ^ The New York Times, March 1, 1979 article that appeared on pages 1 & A16)Nubian Monarchy Called OldestBy Boyce Renseberger

9.    ^ http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/special/nubia/ THE NUBIA SALVAGE PROJECT

10.  ^ The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800  Christopher Ehret

11.  ^ Ross, Larry. Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD, 2012, p. 74.

12.  ^ http://www.amazon.com/Nubia-Egypt-000-B-C-A-D/dp/0773426469

13.  ^ Ph.D Gatto, Maria Yale University. The Nubian Pastoral Culture as Link Between Egypt and Africa, Oxford Press, 2009, p. 26.

14.  ^ The Nubian Pastoral Culture as Link between Egypt and Africa: A View from the Archaeological Record Lecture Maria Carmela Gatto, PhD Yale University Department of Anthropology Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

15.  ^ “Egypt’s reliance on Nubian products was perpetual from the emergence of Dynastic Egypt around 3,250 BCE until…525 BCE.” (p. 15: Nubia and Egypt: 10,000 BCE to 400 AD)

16.  ^ Africa in Antiquity, The Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan, Steffen Wenig, The Brooklyn Museum, p. 177 (1978)

17.  ^ Excavations Between Abu Simbel and the Sudan Frontier 1964 by Dr. Keith C. Steele. 

18.  ^ The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition                    Published in 1986 Bruce Beyer Williams Page 1-2: Cemetery L and Egyptian History

19.  ^ David Keys (2007)

20.  ^ ^a b c The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul, Cemetery L by Bruce Beyer Williams, The university of chicago oriental institute Nubian Expedition, (2004)

21.  ^ Professor Kevin Shillington, History of Africa, St. Martin's Press, 1995, pp. 16-17

22.  ^ http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/Cooperation/Rescue_Nubia/?languageId=1

External links

·         Early States and the A-Group 'Proto-Kingdom'

·         Regional variations in the so-called “A-Group” Culture of Lower Nubia

·         Hans-Åke Nordström: The Nubian A-Group

·         Bruce Breyer Williams: The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul, Cemetery L

·         Maria Gatto: Hunting for the Exclusive Nubian A-Group People; Renée Friedman: Setting the Scene

·         Nubian Cultures: A and C-Group

·         Early Burials: A-Group and C-Group

·         The Exhibit of Nubian Antiquities

·         Nancy C. Lovell: Nubian A- and C-Groups

·         Maria Carmela Gatto: The Nubian A-group: a reassessment