Episode 18. Ancient Nubia Unveiled: Pyramids, Trade Marvels, and Strategic Mastery

Did you know that Nubia had nearly twice as many pyramids as Egypt? Join me, Mike D, on an unforgettable journey through the ancient civilization of Nubia, a land that played a crucial role in shaping the trade networks of Northern and Eastern Africa. We'll explore the profound connection between Nubia and Egypt, brought to life through shared customs, gods, and architectural marvels. Despite its impressive achievements, Nubia's contributions are often eclipsed by those of its more famous neighbor. Our exploration aims to illuminate the significant yet often overlooked influence of Nubia, not just on Egypt, but on the entire ancient world and its lasting impact on modern trade and finance.

Navigate the perilous waters of the Nile River with me as we uncover the geographical and historical significance of its six cataracts. From the first cataract in Aswan to the submerged second cataract under Lake Nasser, and the strategic importance of the fourth cataract affected by the Merowe Dam, these natural barriers were more than just obstacles—they were crucial points for military and trade strategies. We'll also discuss the unique environmental challenges that shaped agriculture in Nubia, providing vital context for understanding historical events and conflicts. Together, we'll paint a vivid picture of the strategic and environmental factors that influenced the lives and decisions of ancient Nubians.

Discover the complex society and economy of ancient Kerma, a city-state standing proudly at the Third Cataract. Learn how Kerma's rulers leveraged their strategic location to dominate trade routes and amass wealth from rich resources like gold and copper. We'll delve into the pastoral lifestyle, unique burial practices, and extensive trade networks that made Kerma a target for neighboring powers like Egypt. By the end of this episode, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the intricate dynamics that made Nubia a significant player in the ancient world, and how its legacy continues to influence our contemporary economic systems. Don't miss out on this captivating exploration of one of history's most fascinating civilizations!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome podcast listener. I'm Mike D, and this is the History of Money, banking and Trade podcast. My goal is to expand your knowledge of the history and evolution of trade, along with money, banking and credit, from ancient civilizations all the way to the present. I truly hope you find these episodes to be informative and entertaining. Now, I'm not a historian but, like Dan Collin likes to say, I am a fan of history.

Speaker 1: 0:31

Now, since I just finished up with the Egyptian series, I thought it'd be a good idea to head south into southern Egypt and Sudan and discuss ancient Nubia. In all honesty, I brought up Nubia several times during the Egyptian series, including the time period we saw the rise of the Black Pharaohs, so I thought this would be a good, natural transition to the next set of episodes. And, as you probably picked up from the Egyptian series, nubia had a long and distinguished history that eventually became so powerful that it would eventually carry on the Egyptian torch and ensure Egyptian culture and customs carried on. I know that sounds kind of weird to say the fact that Nubia had in fact ensured Egyptian customs wouldn't die out, but that's in fact what happened, and as we get into the episodes, you'll see that as it plays out, but also, too, if you take a step back and listen to the Egyptian series, you also would have heard it then as well. In fact, egypt and Nubia were closely related in that they ended up sharing a lot of the same customs and gods and had similar architecture and even similar arts.

Speaker 1: 1:39

In fact, there are more pyramids in Nubia than there are in Egypt, and I'm not sure why this is a fact that's not widely known, but the fact remains is Nubia had almost twice as many pyramids as there was in Egypt, and, as such, it's kind of surprising that this isn't a fact that's widely known. Now, it could be because these pyramids weren't as grand as the pyramids in Egypt, but the fact remains there were many more Nubia than there were in Egypt. In fact, thinking about this, people are probably more familiar with the pyramids in the Americas than they would be in Nubia, so that's another thing to think about. People know that the Egyptians and the Mayans had built these great pyramids, but it seems like people don't realize that it was also the Nubians that had built these great pyramids as well. But either way, the fact remains is there were more Nubia, and the more I think about the relationship between Egypt and Nubia. I tend to kind of look at it in a weird way. It feels like the relationship between Nubia and Egypt reminds me a lot of the younger brother being constantly picked on and bullied, but then one day the younger brother grows up and gets bigger and stronger than the older brother and really shows him who's boss. So that's kind of the way I kind of view that relationship between the two societies.

Speaker 1: 3:04

And through this episode we'll discuss the various city-state kingdoms that would rise up and become very important to the trade within the region. And of course, when I say the region, I'm referring to Northern and Eastern Africa, as well as beyond, into the Mediterranean and out east, into places like Iran and Indus Valley, places like that. And to give an idea of the history of the Nubian peoples, cambridge historian William Adams wrote that Nubia was the quarter which meant things and ideas passed from one world to another. In other words, nubia wasn't some wild frontier or full of backwoods shanty towns. Nubia was filled with advanced ideas and arts and trade that became very important to the civilized world at the time. Now, before I really jump into this episode, I just wanted to be upfront in that this episode might be a bit out of scope, and the reason being is I feel like black African history is often overlooked and I really wanted to just kind of dig into this, despite the fact that I may stray a bit from the scope of the show. However, sometimes it might be appropriate to just give you a little bit more detail regarding certain events that happened away from trade.

Speaker 1: 4:28

The fact of the matter is, when I set out to do this podcast, I was originally just going to talk about history of capital markets in the United States and I just kind of find myself just kind of pushing myself back further and further in time and I got to the point where I just figured that it'd be a good idea just to kind of get a broad understanding of how trade and capital markets kind of work together and, more importantly, how money was really set out and how it started. And in all honesty, I felt like every civilization and society from the ancient times really did their part to kind of pull together what has become modern finance and modern trade. So you just really can't talk about the Greeks without understanding, well, what happened before the Greeks with the people in ancient Mesopotamia. And then, when you talk about people in ancient Mesopotamia, you're going to obviously talk about the Egyptians and then when you talk about the Egyptians, you're going to talk about the Nubians and the people in this valley and places like that. So my thinking is is why not really understand how they played their part in basically setting up modern societies?

Speaker 1: 5:38

But, like I've said in the past, unfortunately I grew up in the United States and in the United States our educational system is primarily focused on the Greco-Roman histories, with a little bit of Egypt, so I really didn't have a lot of good working knowledge about places like Mesopotamia and definitely not much knowledge with regards to Nubia. I mean, we learned that Mesopotamia was the cradle of civilization, but that was about it and forget about Nubia. That was basically not mentioned at all. So in reality, my knowledge of Nubia originally came from the fact that I would hear certain black American activist leaders who would reference Nubia on occasion, but in reality not enough. I remember as an early teen there was a rap group from New York named the Brand Nubia on occasion, but in reality not enough. I remember as an early teen there was a rap group from New York named the Brand Nubians and at the time I basically didn't know what a Nubian was, except for I would hear certain rappers call women Nubian queens. That's it. It sounds kind of silly that that's all I knew, but that's all I knew. When I heard Nubia, I knew, but that's all I knew.

Speaker 1: 6:44

When I heard Nubia, as I got older and I read more histories, I would hear of an area referred to as Nubia, but sometimes it would also be referred to as Kush or the Kushite Empire. But I didn't know anything about the place and I don't want to be presumptuous, but I'm assuming that most people outside, say Northeast Africa, especially people with European descent, don't know much at all about the history either. And in reality, when putting together the Egyptian episodes the Kingdom of Kush or Nubia or you know, however you want to describe the region it was becoming clearer and clearer that that area was a vital trade partner and I quickly realized that there were a lot more interactions between the two and this further cemented the fact when Egypt was eventually ruled by black pharaohs, who really wanted to bring Egypt back to its glory days and their customs. You know, often I'm fascinated how certain places got their names, and if you're wondering how this region in Northeast Africa ended up being called Nubia. It's believed that the name came from gold. Gold was called Nub, and ancient Egypt may have been the source of the name of Nubia and I guess I'm obviously foreshadowing a bit but Nubia had a lot of gold and it appears to me that Egyptologists and archaeologists probably noticed that the ancient tomb paintings and reliefs that would have been depicting the Nubians as traders and merchants would often show them possessing large sums of gold. And even Herodotus had something to say about the Nubians as he described them as the tallest and handsomest people in the world and estimated that they lived to be 120 years old. The Romans would note that the Nubians were often ruled by strong queens, who were often great generals who led from the front, often using chariots pulled by elephants. The Nubians would have had an alternate reality on the Egyptians and, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, the New York Times was quoted as saying that the conquerors became the conquered Trading partners were reborn as bitter enemies. 5,000 years ago, egypt's pharaohs left their mark on Nubia. 5,000 years ago, egypt's pharaohs left their mark on Nubia. Some 2,000 years later, the Egyptian heritage was Africanized by the Nubians.

Speaker 1: 9:12

And before I get into the history of Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush, I thought it'd be important to discuss the geography of the region, since the geography itself will play a major part in the history of Nubia, along with Egypt. One of the main features of the Nile were its cataracts. In simplest terms, these were regions of the Nile that were shallow and rocky and thus would have caused whitewater rapids. So the fact is is, these areas would have been very tricky and extremely dangerous to navigate, so, ultimately, only the most skilled sailors would have been able to navigate through it, and because of that, they would have acted as natural checkpoints along the Nile. And before I really get into the cataracts, I wanted to discuss a town called Aswan, which was located on the first cataract, which would have been one of the earlier settlements, which, if you look at it from a map standpoint, it would have been kind of on the border of Egypt and Nubia and ultimately, due to its location on the Nile, it would have become a important trading town, as goods would have been transported from this town up and down the Nile River and, ultimately, would have reached places like the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. In fact, the ancient name of the city is also said to have been derived from the Egyptian symbol for trade.

Speaker 1: 10:50

So now, going from north to south, from Egypt into Sudan, there are six cataracts and they would have been as follows the first cataract would have been in Egypt, in Aswan, like I just mentioned. First cataract would have been in Egypt, in Aswan, like I just mentioned, and to give you an idea of its location, it was about 238 kilometers, or about 150 miles to Luxor. And, to give you an idea, if you wanted to go from Aswan to Cairo, that would have been approximately 872 kilometers or 540 miles. Now, if you want to take a trip to modern-day Egypt, you can actually take a four-day cruise from Aswan to Luxor, which I personally think would be an amazing cruise, and I suspect most of you listening to this podcast would also feel the same way. This will be the only cataract in Egypt. The other five will be in Nubia and modern-day Sudan. Cataract in Egypt. The other five will be in Nubia and modern-day Sudan.

Speaker 1: 11:51

The next cataract is actually located in Nubia or modern-day Sudan. However, this is now submerged underneath Lake Nasir, as that is one of the world's largest man-made lakes in the world. As a side note, the lake was built because Egypt had lacked the water it needed for agriculture and electricity. So the Nile River would have naturally filled the lake and the water supply of Lake Nassir would have produced electricity for modern day Egypt. There are pumping stations that control the water going into Lake Nassir, and currently this project generates about 10 billion kilowatt hours of electric power each year to the Egyptians. Now I'm jumping ahead of myself a bit, but this cataract was very important from a historical perspective because the people of Kerma would have often performed regular incursions along the Egyptian southern border at this particular cataract, and this would have prompted Egypt to build 13 fortifications to protect its assets, such as gold and granite mines, and this, like I said, this would have happened before the cataract was submerged by Lake Nasser.

Speaker 1: 13:05

And the third cataract is at a place called Tumus or Hanak. The fourth cataract is in the Manasir Desert and since 2008, it was submerged under the reservoir of the Merbo Dam. This would have been in northern Sudan, about 350 kilometers or 220 miles north of the capital of Khartoum. Its dimensions make it the largest contemporary hydroelectric project in Africa. So, in other words, this was just another power plant that was used to generate electricity. But unfortunately, a piece of history is lost when this happens. But of course you know it's unfortunate that we lose this piece of history. But if you ask people in the region you know getting electricity is probably more important to them. So it's just something that we as modern humans have to put up with. I guess the fifth cataract is near the confluence of the Nile and the Atabar rivers. Between this particular cataract and the fourth cataract the Nile curves and briefly flows southward before curving again and then flowing northward between the fourth and third cataract, between the fourth and third cataract. The sixth and final cataract is where the Nile cuts through the Sabaluca Pluton, close to Moreau, approximately 200 kilometers or 125 miles northeast of Khartoum.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Ultimately, the main reason why I bring up the cataracts right now is because when you go through Nubian and Egyptian history, or even later Roman history for that matter, the cataracts will often be used as a measure to where certain troops made it or where borders were determined. So you might hear that the Egyptians expanded their land to the third cataract or the Romans had a standoff with the Nubians at the first cataract. So in that way it makes it a little easier to kind of visualize where military or even trading events would have occurred. The cataracts were often manned by individuals working for the crown, or even the local ruler, who would have had the passerby pay certain tolls or customs charges and possibly inspections, because it would have been nearly impossible just to sail right through them. You would have had to stop just to navigate your way around in order to make it safely through the cataract. So if someone's going to stop, have someone there waiting for them and they can do their inspection or collect some kind of toll. So ultimately the person that was trying to navigate through the cataracts when they reached them would have had a natural holding pattern and therefore, since you're kind of waiting around anyway and they're going to do their customs duties and other kind of tolls and charges, it kind of makes sense that this area would have made for a natural port and thus local markets would have sprung up and also would have been natural entry points as well into the Nile.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Now, the first cataract was clearly in Egypt, but it was a second cataract that was often an area of dispute between the Egyptians and the Nubians. As such, it was safe to say that the third cataract was in an area that would have been safely in Nubia. This area would have been widely known as the home of the rich and powerful kingdoms of Kerma and Kush. The Nile in Egypt provided Egyptians with lush grasses and fertile lands created by the Nile's annual flooding. The Nile River in ancient Nubia was much different and was referred to in several ancient sources as the Cataract. Nile cataracts and the large granite ledges that rose from the sandstone beneath the large fertile plains did not extend outward from the Nile as they did in Egypt. Therefore, agriculture and even irrigation was a lot harder in Nubia as compared to Egypt. And, to make matters worse, lower Nubia only received about 4 inches of rain annually per year. So therefore, lower Nubia was a lot different than Egypt in that it was nearly impossible to grow the large amounts of cereals like you saw in Egypt, especially Lower Egypt.

Speaker 1: 17:43

And the reason why the cataracts would have been a specific location for either Nubia to expand north or Egypt to expand south is because the cataracts would have presented a natural barrier for invading armies. Now, since the cataracts didn't offer much as far as farming goes, the farming aspect alone would have been a natural defensible barrier, because if armies were to invade to the south when they got to the cataracts, it would have been very hard for them to feed their armies for an extended period of time. If you recall from the episodes regarding Egypt, you might remember that outside kingdoms had a lot easier time marching troops into Egypt because they knew that they would be able to easily feed their armies, because the generals knew that there were so many cereals being grown that this would allow their troops to have enough food to plunder and conquer. So, in other words, it makes it a lot easier to plan a long expedition if you know that when you send troops far away, that they will be easily fed. This is almost the exact opposite issue with Nubia.

Speaker 1: 18:58

However, there is an interesting side effect to this in that, while the Cataract Nile isn't conducive to farming on a large scale, there is another side to the region of the Nile. That would be to the fact that, due to the evolution of the Nile, the cataracts ended up naturally depositing an abundant amount of gold and other precious metals. So, while farming in the cataract region is much more difficult, the fact remains is large deposits of gold would have enabled the local populations of Nubia to trade its gold and other metals for grains and other goods, especially with Egypt, and probably more important is the fact that this would have attracted foreign armies looking for plunder. And you know, I think I should actually back up one second here. I should explain lower and upper Nubia. And it's very similar to lower and upper Egypt. So lower Nubia lies in the northern downriver part of the Nile, while upper Nubia lies in the southern, more elevated upper river parts of the Nile, just like you see in Egypt. So, if you remember from Egypt, lower Egypt is down in northern Egypt by the Mediterranean, and Upper Egypt is southern Egypt, down by the border of Nubia.

Speaker 1: 20:23

And also, since I'm kind of really rehashing some stuff, I think it's important to know and understand that most of what has been written about the Nubians originated from people other than the Nubians themselves, of which it was often their enemies or adversaries. Most notably, much of the information came from the Egyptians, because writing wasn't developed until around the 4th century BCE. So therefore we are missing a lot of vital information regarding the histories of the Nubian people. And, to make matters worse, oftentimes the Nubians wouldn't get credit for certain things that they had done, but instead it would have gone to the Egyptians. So, according to much of what has been written, if a Nubian had come up with a new technology or technique or whatever that would have been prized by people throughout the ancient world. Well, that credit oftentimes would have gone to an Egyptian, not a Nubian.

Speaker 1: 21:23

But it even gets deeper than that, because the Nubians were black Africans and even when looking at the histories of the Nubian people and even the Egyptians for that matter, their dark skin was met with present-day bigotry. While observing the past, to what I'm referring to, an example would be the 20th century Harvard Egyptologist, george Reznor, who offered the first archaeological evidence that Nubians had ruled over ancient Egypt, and he qualified his own observation by insisting that black Africans could not have possibly constructed monuments as grand as those found in Nubia. He insisted that the Nubians were not black Africans but instead were light-skinned Egyptians or Libyans who ruled over these primitive black Africans. Mind you, this was a person in the 1800s making these observations. Even if it was an Harvard-trained Egyptologist. There still was that bigotry towards dark-skinned people. So in reality, it just appears to me that the 1800, and before that even Zeitgeist, was probably influencing his bigoted ideas. The first archaeologists to make significant Nubian finds did so below the Fourth Cataract at the necropolis at El Kourou. Just like the Harvard professor, they also concluded that these engineering feats must have come from light-skinned people, not black Africans, and, to make matters worse, any significant discoveries would have been attributed to the Egyptians, not the Nubians. But I'm kind of getting ahead of myself already and I'll kind of just move on and just leave it there for now. But you get the point. The fact of the matter is, if you are a person of African heritage, the systematic discrimination has always been present and is still present to this day.

Speaker 1: 23:30

As you may recall from my Egyptian episodes, it was the flooding of the Nile that provided the ingredients for massive production of cereals in Egypt. This flooding was the end result of the early monsoon from May to August that occurred well south of the region. May to August that occurred well south of the region. This rain builds up in the mountains far to the south, which eventually will make its way through Nubia and all the way to the Mediterranean. The Nile originates from two main rivers in the south. The White Nile begins in Uganda from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flows from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands. The White and Blue Nile converge in Sudan and flows northward to the Mediterranean to create the Nile River that we all tend to think of. Now, I haven't mentioned it yet in this episode, but it was mentioned several times during the Egyptian episodes that the flow direction runs from the south to the north, but the winds blow from the north to the south, so boats would always have a natural propellant. Furthermore, we saw a massive improvement in boat building technology that really started long ago nearly 10,000 years ago, in 7,000 BCE which allowed populations to flourish on the Nile.

Speaker 1: 24:45

Now, I previously mentioned it in passing, but the fact is, nubia had an abundance of natural resources, all of which were highly coveted in other lands and kingdoms. One of the things that they had was a big natural reserve of granites, as the Nubian desert is made up of rocky terrain with granite outcroppings and sharp sandstone. Now, this desert that Nubia is in isn't really a desert that you would think of like when you envision the Sahara Desert, you know, with these large sand dunes. Nubia has some of those, but they are much less common. Now, I've already mentioned the fact that Nubia had twice as many pyramids as Egypt, and in part, they were able to do this because they had such natural reserves of granite, which would have been a great building material. This granite will also be imported by the Egyptians once they start with their massive building projects, especially the building of the pyramids and the obelisks. And since Nubia shares the Nile with Egypt, these massive objects like granite could have easily been transported up the river into Egypt. In addition, the early Nubians would have also had access to the Red Sea, which would have been an essential waterway of trade throughout the ancient world. The sea would have also allowed the Nubians to move spices and exotic hardwoods from the lands of Punt and Arabia.

Speaker 1: 26:15

Now I went over Punt in my Egyptian podcast and the issue with Punt was, it's not really clear if this was an actual place or if it was more of a mythological place. Some say it was true, some say it's just a myth, so we're really not 100% sure. But either way, this land would have been somewhere south of Egypt and possibly would have been in Nubia or, at the very least, close to modern day Somalia, yemen or Oman. And the thing is is that punt was most known for the fact that it supplied ebony, ivory, gold spices, panther skins, live baboons and other exotic animals. But it really doesn't matter if it was true or not, because Nubia was supplying these things anyway. So, regardless of punt was a real place, egypt and other places around the Mediterranean were getting the same commodities from Nubia as they would have gotten this from this mythological place called Punt.

Speaker 1: 27:14

If it was mythological to begin with, and honestly, the way it would have worked was traders would have crossed the eastern desert and sailed from the Red Sea to get there, and the reason why we think we know Punt existed was the fact that much of what is known about Punt was based on reliefs that were found on walled temples built around 1490 BC in western Thebes. The reliefs show trade between rulers of Punt and the emissaries of the pharaoh, but there is also the tale of the shipwrecked sailor of the Pharaoh, but there is also the tale of the shipwrecked sailor, of which I went over in the Egyptian episodes, but this story may be as old as 2000 BCE, so it's been around for a long time and references to Punt would be at least 4,000 years old. So in reality, the region of Nubia is a very ancient region and in fact, it's one of the more ancient regions of hominids, to begin with, because they were first present in North and East Africa around 2.4 million years ago, of which most anthropologists believe that our first human ancestors began venturing into northeast Africa approximately 1 million years ago. Like all other ancient civilizations, the people of this region were originally nomadic. They would have been traveling in and out of the region and in fact, if you wanted to give a 30,000 foot view of the region's timeline, it appears from archaeological evidence that this region was traversed by hunter-gatherers and their cattle herders, who moved their cattle in and out of the region in accordance to the annual rainfalls, because they would have had to have found suitable grasslands for the cattle to graze. And let's not forget that you cannot picture modern-day Northeast Africa and use that image in your head to see what the region would have looked like back then, because back then this would have been a savanna with natural lakes and rivers and streams. It would not have been a dry climate like you see today.

Speaker 1: 29:21

In fact, we see archaeological evidence that people were definitely in this region 50,000 years ago and by 7,000 years ago. We have evidence of local people domesticating sheep and goats, along with leaving us well-preserved wall paintings indicating that people were using bows and arrows to hunt wild animals. This alone might be some kind of historical foreshadowing, because eventually the Nubians will be known as great archers and great bowmen. So it's kind of interesting that we have these great wall paintings from 7,000 years ago and then fast forward time. The people would be using the people of Nubia as mercenaries because of their great ability to use the bow and arrow.

Speaker 1: 30:05

And, like I said, in the Egyptian episodes, this region of the world and not really just this region, but every region of the world was directly affected by the axial precession, so this region went from wet to dry and, to give you an idea of what this means, with the axial precession the Sahara Desert will be green around 17,000 CE, and one of the earliest known settlements in the region was a place known as Napta Playa, and this would have been just a natural depression which was located well in the heart of ancient Nubia. And, due to climate change, the area that people first semi-settled and lived would have obviously looked a lot different, as I was mentioned previously, because today it's a dry desert region, but around 10,000 years ago this would have been semi-settled by humans, because this would have looked a lot different as it would have been a lush savannah. As such, this would have been home to a wide variety of different animal populations, such as giraffes, gazelle, antelope, buffalo and even hyenas and lions. So there would have been a lot of natural game in the region, but it also would have been populated by apex predators as well, which means the herders would have had to fight off dangerous animals if they were going to attack their cattle or even sheep. So, not to get off topic, but if you remember from my episodes prior, when I was discussing Sumer and Akkad, it was the herders that would often become the most dangerous people to deal with, especially when it comes to the farmers, because they had to be rugged and tough and, most importantly, fearless, because if you're going to save a flock from lions that are attacking it, well, you better be fearless and know how to use weapons as an offensive or defensive measure. So, since these people would have been essentially roaming around constantly looking for fresh water and proper grasslands for the herds, this meant that they would have had to travel great distances and therefore would have been able to make contact with people from great distances from them.

Speaker 1: 32:10

This is kind of obvious in my opinion, but the fact remains. Certain objects would have been found in Nubia that would have originated in far off lands. This also means that they would have demonstrated some kind of ability to trade with people from the local region that they're passing through or, worst case scenario, some kind of plunder. But either way, the fact is is the ability to trade with other people predates written language by thousands upon thousands of years, so trade is just kind of a natural element to the human experience, way back in when people were just hunter-gatherers. And this is precisely why you see remains of certain types of goats or sheep that were found in the region but would have originated in places like Saudi Arabia or Iraq or Iran, or even as far away as Afghanistan. So that indicates that there was exchanges taking place, whether it was peaceful or forcefully, with people in distant lands.

Speaker 1: 33:10

Right sometime around 7500 or thereafter, it appears that the people of Natoplaia, which is one of the oldest settlements, began to settle the region year-round. The reason why we think this is because we start to see very deep wells being built that could hold water year-round. In addition, these homes become a lot sturdier. It also appears that the people of Not-the-Playa may have been part of a cattle cult, whereas they would have worshipped cattle deities that would have overlooked a population to offer increasing prosperity and wealth and health. In fact, it's quite possible that the cattle cults may have eventually evolved into Egyptian goddess Hathor. Hathor might not be a household name, but this goddess was highly regarded in Egypt's pre-dynastic stage, from around 6000 BCE to the unification of Egypt, and even into the Old Kingdom, which the old kingdom would have run from, say, 2700 to 2150 BCE, to give you an idea. Now, she would have been responsible for fertility in the region and possibly been responsible for carrying out Ra's vengeance against chaos. Now, this is just one god or goddess, but it is believed that Nubia was the birthplace of numerous Egyptian and even Nubian beliefs and gods. But in the end, it's not the gods but climate change that will ultimately be the biggest factor in the region Now.

Speaker 1: 34:47

Nabta Playa is probably most well known for the stone monuments that were constructed sometime after 4500 BCE to track the alignment of the stars and thus predict drought cycles and keep track of the changing seasons. Now, over the past 40 or 50 years, there appears to be some kind of shift in that belief, and therefore it might be a bit unclear at this point as to why the stone circles, which were were much older than stone heads, why they were even built. The one thing that does seem clear is the fact that they believed this site was the center for surrounding tribes to meet and have certain ceremonies take place, such as sacrificing certain animals to the gods. But regardless of why they were built, the fact is they were ultimately able to track the summer and winter solstices. In addition, if you're going to build an enormous structure sometime around 4500 BCE, then it appears to me that there had to have been some kind of central planning authority in order to make this happen, considering the fact that these rocks were not quarried right there in the spot. Instead, they were brought in from sites from up to three miles away. And let us not forget that these are massive stone megaliths, each one weighing several tons, and they would have had to been brought into precise locations. So you can see that there was definitely a mechanism in place in the region that would have ultimately allowed for a centralized city to form. When you're bringing people from around different regions and they're going to meet up, one of the natural things that's going to happen is there's going to be an abundance of trade that's going to take place. So it's quite possible that this ended up serving two functions. One, a religious cult ceremony that would have been taking place, but more importantly, especially for this podcast, it also would have been an essential meeting place to conduct trade.

Speaker 1: 36:46

Now there also seems to be a lot of debate as to how much influence the Nubians had on the development of Egypt and, in particular, their skin color of the Egyptians. Some people have claimed that the Egyptians were essentially Caucasian, and others have suggested that much of the Egyptian populations were Black Africans, most likely descended from places like Nubia, but the fact remains is I'm not really sure, because there doesn't appear to be a general consensus. However, a British Africanist named Basil Davidson noted that the ancient Egyptians belonged, that is, not to a specific Egyptian region or Near Eastern heritage, but to a wide community of people who lived between the Red Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and shared a common Saharan Sudanese culture and drew their reinforcements from the same great source, even though, as time went by, they were also absorbed into numerous different wanderers from the Near East. So, in other words, the ancient Egyptians were absolutely influenced by the ancient Nubian culture. Furthermore, biologists, anthropologists Shamorka Kiyaita and AJ Boyce have stated that the studies of crania from southern pre-dynastic Egypt from the formative periods which would have been 4000 to 3100 BCE show them usually to be more similar to the crania of the ancient Nubians, the Kushite Saharans and modern groups from the Horn of Africa than those of the dynastic northern Egyptians or ancient or modern southern Europeans. Either way, by about 5,000 years ago, we start to see the settlements become more complex and more permanent. In fact, evidence seems to suggest that these early settlers in Nubia were using oxen to drive water, wheels to irrigate the land, and it is also around the same time that climate change starts to affect the region, as it becomes much drier.

Speaker 1: 38:58

Like the Egyptians, many Nubians lived along the Nile, which curved northward through the desert, and, as I mentioned prior, farming was a lot more difficult in Nubia than it was in Egypt. Farmers still grew grains, peas, lentils, dates and even possibly melons grains, peas, lentils, dates and even possibly melons, but probably more important to them would have been their herds of cattle, which would have ultimately been a measure of wealth and social status In the deserts. Nubians mined gold and carnelian, as well as other mineral resources In Nubia in their prehistory phase of the the region. It was sort of like how it was in Egypt, in that it was basically split between upper and lower Nubia, and each region would have had its own unique and somewhat mysterious civilization, of which archaeologists and Egyptologists would kind of have to piece together how the civilization lived and thrived, and they would have done this through examining their various thrived, and they would have done this through examining their various burial remains, and that would have included things such as pottery and tools and even weapons.

Speaker 1: 40:07

Sometime around 3800 BCE, a new group of cultures would arise in prehistoric Nubia. These would have been known as the A and B cultures. It is this culture that would have been the first Nubians with powerful rulers, and this would be the first time that we can really document extensive trade in and out of Nubia, in particular with Egypt. A big part of this trade would have been certain gemstones that were mined in the Libyan desert to the west and gold from the eastern desert of the Sahara. In addition, ivory and incense, along with ebony, would have been traded in the region as well, with Egypt being its most preferred foreign market, mostly due to the fact that the majority of the population would have been on the Nile, so you can move up and down the Nile pretty easily with your goods. The Nubians would have sailed in large vessels to the kingdoms along the Red Sea coast and up into the Mediterranean coast to trade with their local populations. The items coming into Nubia would have typically been olive oil and other goods. In addition, copper tools and weapons would have also been discovered in the region.

Speaker 1: 41:17

And, as I've alluded to in the past, trade does more than just moving goods from point A to point B. It also moves ideas, and because of that you start to see more complex burial customs, along with new religious ceremonies and beliefs in Nubia. So this shift in religious beliefs meant that the tombs that the people were buried in also would have changed, and now they would have contained certain kinds of pottery and other ceramics, along with other items that would be valuable during the person's lifetime and potentially used for them in their afterlife. In fact, these tombs and markings really mimicked what we see in Egypt's Nakata people. Now, the pottery itself would have been highly advanced for its time and we know this would have been highly prized, because we find the same pottery in places like southern Sudan and Egypt. So it would have always been traded to the north and to the south of the region.

Speaker 1: 42:15

Now it's also worth noting that it appears that the Egyptian culture would have influenced the people of Nubia quite a bit, but it doesn't appear to go both ways, because it appears that the Nubian culture really didn't affect the Egyptian culture quite the same way that the Egyptian culture had affected the Nubian cultures, and it's also worth noting that the language of the A culture is unknown and apparently it's highly debated among scholars at this point. The one thing that the culture is ultimately known for was their bow making abilities. As such, the A group's bowmen were highly sought after mercenaries, especially by the Egyptians, and by around 3500 BCE, Nubia had several permanent settlements in Upper Nubia, which, if you recall, is Southern Nubia. It's so confusing and I apologize. However, through DNA analysis, it appears that the people of Upper and Lower Nubia were very similar and they would have had a culture that was similar to those of Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it's pretty safe to conclude that they would have been sharing a lot of information between Sub-Saharan Africans and Nubians, and, of course, this was probably most likely due to the fact that they were trading with each other. You trade with people, you trade goods and ideas and cultures will shift accordingly. However, despite the fact that there were a similar culture in the early days between Upper and Lower Nubia. It appears that the people of Upper Nubia were really developing their own distinct culture, and this would have been known as the Pre-Kerma culture, due to its location in the city of Kerma. But the one thing we have to make clear is that Ancient Nubia will almost always be kind of tied to Egypt in one way or another.

Speaker 1: 44:12

Around 3100 BCE is when Egypt was unified, and that unification meant a much powerful neighbor to the north was now residing. Therefore, egypt would have been able to flex its military muscle a lot easier and at will. The issue for Nubia is it had so many natural resources that were highly coveted by the Egyptians and the surrounding states, and, considering the fact that Egypt was so much more powerful than Nubia was, by this point, it was able to basically strip lower Nubia of its mineral resources over the next 500 years and, in the process, essentially erase the egg culture from existence culture from existence. And it was the Egyptian pharaoh, sennephru who ruled from 2613 BCE to 2589 BCE. Now he was able to expand its borders all the way to the second cataract, which would have been in modern day Sudan. Since Egypt had control of the lands from the second cataract to the north, it made it a lot easier for the Egyptians to establish settlements at the second cataract. And since Nubia had reserves of copper, the Egyptians were able to build one of the world's first copper factories in the region, along with granite quarries, of which they were ultimately shipped back to Egypt by around 2300 BCE.

Speaker 1: 45:35

We start to see better trade relations between Egypt and Nubia, and when I say this, I mean it wasn't like it was before, where Egypt can just come in and essentially plunder their resources, as the relationship between the two countries had become a lot more friendly. In fact, an Egyptian governor had persuaded the Nubians to quit warring with the Libyans because they wanted to keep their trade routes open, and the Nubians respected this governor so much that they ended up gifting him over 300 donkeys and provided him with an armed escort to transport ebony, ivory and incense back to his region. What is interesting is, the Egyptian governor was able to get certain chieftains and warlords in Nubia to establish very good relations, to the point that many of these tribes began to unify. And now this would be good for Egypt with regards to the trade aspect, but it did have an unintended consequence in Nubia, because now Nubia had become a lot stronger and thus would eventually challenge Egypt's stronghold in the region.

Speaker 1: 46:44

Eventually, the remnants of the A group culture that had dominated certain parts of Nubia had merged with nomadic groups and formed the C culture, as in the letter C, not C as in water. This culture also would have brought in customs from sub-Saharan Africa. So, in the end, the sea group was a mix of nomadic herders and settled farmers that would have traded with the Egyptians. Now, this trade would have been very strong between the two countries, and the primary port for the trade would have been in the city of Aswan, which would have been just north of the first cataract in southern Egypt or sometimes it would have been northern Nubia, depending on the date typically would have included items that the Egyptians would have used in their religious temples, along with ivory and ebony, which were prized in their jewelry making, and, of course, copper and gold, along with the granite. In reality, with the exception of the animals, a lot of the goods that were traded with the Egyptians would have been vital to their death economy. In the grand scheme of things, the Egyptians and Anubians lived peacefully together, to the point that mixed marriages would have been quite common Now, as the population around the second cataract began to grow, we started to see some sort of migration out of the region and they started to slowly migrate south to the third and fourth cataract beyond.

Speaker 1: 48:19

The original people that made it to this region would have started settling the region around 32 to 2600 BCE and these people would have been known as the pre-Kerma culture. These people would have been a little bit more isolated from the Egyptians since they were a bit farther south and that kind of would have had a double-edged sword, because on one hand you don't have to worry about the powerful Egyptians coming down to invade and plunder, but on the other hand you lose those valuable trade relations and even new and powerful ideas, for that matter. But either way, by 2600 BCE the city of Kerma had grown into essentially a regional power in Nubia. Now, keep in mind this is still an ancient civilization and populations were still quite small. It appears that the city was populated by a little over 2,000 people, so it's really not a city, it's more like a village. By 1700 BCE the population had grown to over 10,000 people.

Speaker 1: 49:28

However, despite its small size, the city of Kerma was large enough to support its own palace and temples, along with permanent homes and storage facilities for the grains and seeds the people of Kerma were primarily farmers, of which they primarily would have traded their cereals and fruits, and even livestock, within the city of Kerma and their local markets. These markets would have also traded the ceramics and other metallic goods, such as jewelry and tools and weapons. Now, in order to maintain some kind of order by the central authority, the people of Kerma would have had to pay certain taxes and tolls. Now, one little tidbit of information is they wouldn't have been called the Kerma people by outside peoples, including the Egyptians, because they, the Egyptians, especially the Egyptian pharaoh, would have referred to them as Kushites, a name that I think a lot of people would be familiar to this day. So, by the time we get to the middle Kerma culture so we're talking 2250 BCE these people would start to eventually mix and trade with people in the northern regions of Nubia. In addition, these Kerma people started to get more powerful and would start to have a much bigger influence in the middle of Nubia and also, around the same time, the people of lower Nubia, which is in northern Nubia. Well, they start to unite under a strong ruler who was able to basically get a bunch of tribes together and form a larger culture. Now this new ruler in northern Nubia then wanted to travel south, to where the people of Kerma are, and establish a strong trade relationship, along with trade relations with Egyptians as well.

Speaker 1: 51:25

By the time we get to 2000 BCE, the sea culture is basically non-existent in upper Nubia, so it's essentially wiped out of the historical record. The reason why that is is because by this time, kerma is starting to become the dominant culture throughout Nubia and in fact, by 1750, the city of Kerma would have grown to over 10,000 people, which is still a small town when you compare it to, say, babylon, but it would have been a city that would have been disruptive in Nubia. The unfortunate part is Kerma, like the other Nubian cultures well, they did not leave us with any written records or anything that we can basically know, because most of what we have would have come from the Egyptians, along with the various archaeological digs that have been done recently. So what we have at this point is Kerma is starting to become a dominant player in Upper Nubia, but Egypt still has a stronghold over Lower Nubia. Also, this is when the Egyptians start to refer Upper Nubia as the Kingdom of Kush. However, the Nubians refer to the city of Kerma as Doki, meaning the Red Hill.

Speaker 1: 52:39

The one thing that Egypt and Kerma did have in common was the fact that the rulers were depending upon their lineage. Now, since Kerma was on the third cataract, they were able to control all the trade that was flowing from the north to the south in Central Africa. In addition, they would have controlled the eastern and western flow of trade as well. So, in the grand scheme of things, if you wanted to trade something with lower Africa or the Mediterranean, well there's a good chance that you would have had to have gone through Kerma, and because of this, they were able to extract a lot of taxes and tolls on the trade. Furthermore, business administrators would have to rise through the ranks and manage the trade, along with the livestock in the region. Now, since Kerma was on the third cataract, this would have meant that they would have been outside the control of Egypt or even Egypt's influence, and thus all the wealth that they would have generated would have been kept by the people of Kerma and not siphoned off by the Egyptians. And let us not forget that this region had a lot of gold and copper, so it was becoming a very wealthy city-state and because of this and their collection of taxes and tolls at the Third Cataract, they were able to reinvest the monies back into the military. This resulted in the society becoming a quasi-military society, somewhat similar to that of the Spartans.

Speaker 1: 54:13

But the army of Kerma would have been known as Ta-Seti, or the land of the bow, because their archers were some of the best in the world. Now, from what I've read is these bows were pretty large, in that they were approximately six feet tall. In addition, they would have used palm fiber as their string. These archers would have been able to fire their arrows at a much greater distance than their other armies at the time. In addition, the velocity of these arrows would have been able to pierce armor at short distances. On top of all that, it is believed that the Kerma arrows may have been dipped in poison before firing them off. Kerma arrows may have been dipped in poison before firing them off. Ultimately, they were able to get the trifecta distance, velocity and poison. So in the end, these archers absolutely would have been feared by the opponents and their enemies.

Speaker 1: 55:12

And the thing you got to understand is having a strong military, especially during this time period, is it means that you can protect your local farms and workshops. These workshops would have produced some of the finest jewelry and ceramics and, of course, weapons, in the known world at the time. Now, despite this, kerma was still a pastoral society, as livestock was vital for Kerma's society as it was their primary source of protein and calcium during the long summer months. On the flip side, during the winter, crops like wheat and barley would have been primarily consumed as a food staple. Now, mind you, there is going to be an issue with getting water for the crops, so therefore, water-intensive crops would not have been able to be grown consistently, so they wouldn't have been able to grow certain cash crops for export, for example. Their main food exports would have been certain lentils and peas.

Speaker 1: 56:10

But in the grand scheme of things, the people of Kerma probably raised livestock more than any other societies in the ancient world at the time, because, for one, the livestock would have been profitable commodities, but also they would have been able to be used as beasts of burden. And when I say profitable, what I'm referring to is the fact that their height and skins would have been sold for clothing and even holsters for weapons, and. And to give you an idea how important livestock were, they may have developed into a cattle cult, and the reason why we think this is because excavation sites have noted cattle skulls buried with individuals, and sometimes these skulls could have been quite numerous for wealthy and important people, and, if you can imagine, this would have been a very expensive burial process because that would have meant that a large number of cattle would have been ritually sacrificed for that person. But that wasn't the only thing that was found in these burial sites. There was also a great number of expensive jewelry, including gold and precious stones, but of course these items weren't exclusively buried with the dead. They were more likely to have been traded with others in the ancient world, with gold being Kerma's most profitable export between Egypt, central Africa and the Red Sea, in addition to the ebony and ivory that would have been exported as well. And I just want to make it clear that their trade wasn't necessarily just with Egypt. The trade would have happened deep into Southern Africa as well as up north into Egypt and into the Mediterranean, and it's these vast trade networks that made certain individuals of Kerma extremely wealthy, as they would often be served by middlemen between traders that came in from up north or down south, from central or even southern Africa.

Speaker 1: 58:09

British historian Michael Brass described the region as a sedimentary state with a prestige goods economy, less centralized than Egypt, with direct control by the ruling family. Now, as you can imagine, certain individuals are becoming very wealthy. Well, that's going to start to attract attention of outside forces, and especially from the Egyptians. Outside forces and especially from the Egyptians. I want to thank you for taking your time to listen to this first episode of Nubia. We'll be back in a few weeks with this second and final episode. As always, I want to thank you for taking your time to listen. I truly hope you were entertained and, more importantly, hope you learned something new, if you like what you hear and want to donate to the show. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon.