"Prehistoric" Finds in Northwestern Sudan

From polishmarket.com.pl
Polish archaeologists score another success
2011-01-07

Rock engravings, ancient burial sites and several dozen terracotta figurines were discovered by a group of Polish archaeologists in the north-eastern part of Sudan by the Red Sea, “Rzeczpospolita” reports.

The research was carried out by scientists from the Archaeology and Ethnology Institute of the Polish Academy of Science, Poznan branch.

Prehistoric settlement has never been researched in north-western Sudan, “Rzeczpospolita” notes. The first rock engravings were accidentally discovered by Krzysztof Pluskota in 1999. An expedition led by Doctor Przemysław Bobrowski has been researching the area. “During the December expedition we discovered lots of rock engravings. Most of them depict cattle but there are also portraits of people and African animals” says Prof. Michal Kobusiewicz, member of the team. “The engravings were concentrated around a solitary phallus-shaped mountain, which suggests that they were connected with fertility rites” Kobusiewicz adds.

According to archaeologists, the mountain was a symbol of fertility cult, which is supposedly proved by its miniature copies made in sandstone found near the engravings. The theory about the cult character of the site may be proved by the discovery of several dozen terracotta figurines of people and the miniature sandstone phallus-shaped mountains. Numerous traces of prehistoric settlement were also discovered near the engravings.

Archaeologists say that the age of the engravings is likely to be determined by radiocarbon dating method and geomorphic research. Research will be continued in 2011, “Rzeczpospolita” reports.

The Rape of Meroe

Excerpted from The New York Times:

Full Review
The Mysteries of Meroe
By SOUREN MELIKIAN
Published: May 21, 2010

In 1772, the Scotsman James Bruce caught sight of broken obelisks and barely discernible traces of pyramids as he traveled back from the source of the Blue Nile. These, he reckoned, had to be the remains of Meroe, known to Ancient Greek historians.

It was the Frenchman Frédéric Caillaud who, on the morning of April 25, 1822, first saw “a host of pyramids.” He accurately drew and described these in his book “A Trip to Meroe on the White River,” published in 1826. The consequences were disastrous. Antique hunters rushed to loot the site.

In 1834, Giuseppe Ferlini destroyed several pyramids. As he blew up one of these, the Italian dealer laid hands on a fantastic treasure that turned out to have belonged to Kandake (Queen) Amanishakheto. The priceless historical documentation that a proper archaeological investigation would have yielded was pulverized by the explosion and the objects were sold to museums in Munich in 1839, and Berlin in 1844.

Eventually, archaeologists stepped in. The Prussian Karl Richard Lepsius, who conducted a three-year-long campaign, produced an exemplary study of the standing monuments.

In the 20th century, a mission funded by Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts worked out the chronological succession of the Kushite rulers of Meroe. Bronzes and ivories came to light, as well as gold jewels inlaid with mother-of-pearl and semi-precious stones that had been overlooked by looters in damaged tombs, and others preserved in funerary caches that had escaped destruction.

More important, the American expedition led by George Reisner opened up a new chapter of cultural history. No one had expected Greek and Roman objects to be found deep in black Africa. The northern necropolis of Meroe yielded a wine vessel in the form of an Amazon figure riding a rearing horse and holding a pouring vessel of the type called rhyton. This is a fifth-century B.C. piece, signed by Sotades, a potter from Athens. Stylistically reminiscent of the Parthenon marble riders, the artefact, fit for kings, was found in a royal tomb. A Roman silver wine cup of the first century A.D. from Italy turned up in the landfill of another pyramid.

And more - much, much more... [Image: © Jürgen Liepe, from National Museum of Sudan at Khartoum, "royal archer."]

Imagine another Egypt, with a marked black African component. This is Meroe, in present-day Sudan. In art, ancient Egyptian deities appear alongside others, unknown elsewhere. The Meroitic cursive script has been deciphered, revealing that it transcribes an African language. It is related to others spoken today, like Taman in parts of Darfur and Chad, Nyima in the Sudanese Nuba mounts, or Nubian in upper Egypt and Sudan. For the moment though, it is only beginning to be partially understood.

The day a bilingual text sufficiently long to give at last a key to the Meroitic language turns up surprises are to be expected. The latest discoveries displayed at the Louvre suggest that it might not be too far off.

Méroé, un empire sur le Nil. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Through Sept. 6.

From the Lourve Museum website:  Meroe, Empire on the Nile

"Oldest Human Sacrifice" Found in Africa?

A typical sensationalist story with absolutely no explanation tendered as to why the archaeologists think this burial or burials entailed human sacrifice. When I read stories like this one, I always wonder why the person(s) who provided the information to the reporter neglects to provide pertinent details - is it perhaps that the pertinent details do not exist? Africa's oldest human sacrifice 'confirmed' in Sudan From correspondents in Khartoum February 05, 2009 02:36am (Story from Herald Sun.com.au) FRENCH archaeologists in northern Sudan say they've unearthed a 5,500 year-old Stone Age tomb which they believe confirms the location of Africa's "oldest human sacrifice". In a graveyard in Al-Kadada, north of Khartoum, the archaeologists have dug up the tomb of a man and a woman facing each other in a ditch, with bodies of two women, two goats and a dog buried nearby. The discovery "confirms'' excavations last year which found traces of the oldest human sacrifice ever identified in Africa, said Jacques Reinold, a researcher for the French section of the Sudanese antiquities department. The unearthed bones date from between 3,700 and 3,400 BC, a period considered to be one of the key stages in the transition from a hunting to a farming society. The Al-Kadada region, on fertile land alongside the Nile, is regarded as one of the cradles of humanity in the Neolithic era. Reinold's team also unearthed polished axes, a millstone, make-up palettes and ceramics at Al-Kadada.

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So, who was/were the sacrifice? The couple facing each other? One or both of the women? And what about the animals? Were they sacrifices too? How do the archaeologists know?

Ancient Statues May Hold Clues to Meroitic Script

Great news for those of us interested in ancient languages and linguistics: Sudan statue find gives clues to ancient language Tue 16 Dec 2008, 15:11 GMT By Andrew Heavens KHARTOUM, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Archaeologists said on Tuesday they had discovered three ancient statues in Sudan with inscriptions that could bring them closer to deciphering one of Africa's oldest languages. The stone rams, representing the god Amun, were carved during the Meroe empire, a period of kingly rule that lasted from about 300 BC to AD 450 and left hundreds of remains along the River Nile north of Khartoum. Vincent Rondot, director of the dig carried out by the French Section of Sudan's Directorate of Antiquities, said each statue displayed an inscription written in Meroitic script, the oldest written language in sub-Saharan Africa. "It is one of the last antique languages that we still don't understand ... we can read it. We have no problem pronouncing the letters. But we can't understand it, apart from a few long words and the names of people," he told reporters in Khartoum. Sudan has more pyramids than neighbouring Egypt [this may be true, but they are not giant pyramids like those at Giza and Saqqara], but few people visit its remote sites, and repeated internal conflicts have made excavation difficult. Rondot said the dig at el-Hassa, the site of a Meroitic town, had uncovered the first complete version of a royal dedication, previously found only on fragments of carvings from the same period. He said experts were still trying to work out the meaning of the words by comparing them with broken remnants of similar royal dedications in the same script. "It's an important discovery ... quite an achievement," Rondot said. The statues were found three weeks ago under a sand dune at the site of a temple to the god Amun, an all-powerful deity represented by the ram in Sudan. The site is close to Sudan's Meroe pyramids, a cluster of more than 50 granite tombs 200 kms (120 miles) north of the capital that are one of the main attractions for Sudan's few tourists. Rondot said the dig, funded by the French foreign ministry, would also provide vital information on the reign of a little-known king, Amanakhareqerem, mentioned in the inscriptions on the rams. "Before we started the dig we only had four documents in his name ... We don't even know where he was buried," he said. "We are beginning to understand the importance of that king." (Editing by Katie Nguyen and Tim Pearce) © Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Friday Night Miscellany

It's late, so this will be a short one! A meteor crashed and burned somewhere near Pendleton, Oregon, on Tuesday night, according to this detailed report at the National Geographic website. It's light from the burn-through was bright enough to wake people up in the wee early morning and there was a sonic boom. Scary stuff, actually! Makes one wonder what it would be like if something the size of say "Meteor" hit the Earth - or the remnant that the good guys left over in "Armageddon"... Over at New Scientist, an interesting series of articles on music, sound and our perception of it. I tried the #2 experiment - "Phantom Words" - not sure what would happen. It took a little bit to download the soundtrack (it's a few minutes long) and at first I just heard tones, but then I did "discern" words. First, something that sounded like "melting", then it became "melt me" (which makes absolutely no sense, except I'm sick and tired of the ice I've had to trek over for the past 10 days since our last major ice/snow/rain/blizzard storm, ice that is getting more slippery every day), then it became "no brain" (har!), then "melt me" again, and then for awhile "melt me" and "no brain" alternated, and then the end of the experiment I heard mostly "no brain." Guess that should teach me, heh? These "phantom words" are not to be confused with being woken up in the middle of the night with what are passed off in the scientific world as auditory hallucinations - or hearing someone calling you in the middle of broad daylight while you're full awake, except no one is around (cue spooky music....) I've had both kinds of experiences over the years and they ain't fun, let me tell you! Tee hee hee - got a good laugh over this one: U.S. to Share Satellite Strike Data with China. Did Tom Clancy ghost write the article, perchance? This story got me so angry, I've been doing searches using gool old AltaVista since reading it - Google, eat my nose smuts. Corruption in the U.N. is not a News For Google News (please, try to ignore the lady with the impossibly enlarged bossom in the bikini - she looks like an advertisement for "Steroids for Boobs!") Are the fearless leaders in China finally getting the hint that to play in the bigs they have to be "stake-holders" (remember the laugh a minute about how that term was translatable into Chinese and how the Communist nit-wigs claimed to not "get it?") The USA, in particular, has subsidized the corrupt regime of mainland China almost since the day of it's creation by massively importing it's inferior products. Pig intestines, anyone? It's about time the Chinese government started doing something other than claiming "we no speaky English." China, in New Role, Presses Sudan on Darfur