In response to numerous ignorant and incorrect assumptions we have decided to address the most common myths about Kemet (ancient Egyptian) civilization in a question and answer format. A response from Egyptologists to recent incorrect claims that the ancient Kemetyu (Egyptians) were not Black Africans. The Nile Valley Collective and Know Thyself Institute presents...
MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT THE NILE VALLEY
Q: Did ancient Egyptians come from the Levant and build ancient Egyptian civilization and is Flinders Petrie’s "New Race Theory" accepted by Egyptologists today?
A: No. Nor is the Dynastic Race Theory that he and others referred to. The theory was refuted by Jacques de Morgan, the archaeologist who worked the site of Naqada after Petrie did. de Morgan’s results were accepted by the entire Egyptological community, including Flinders Petrie, as he stated in a talk at the Anthropological Institute, which was published in 1899.
Q: Does the Hamitic hypothesis factor into Egyptology or Nubiology today?
A: No. Egyptologists and Nubiologists do not look to the Hamitic hypothesis to explain the movements of the people who settled the Nile River Valley.
Q: Was Egyptian culture African in its origin?
A: Yes. Egyptian culture, as reflected in the early dynastic era, emerged from a set of cultural features that existed across a large swath of northeast Africa.
Q: Did Nubians simply copy Egyptian cultural traditions?
A: No. Choices made by Nubians to combine indigenous cultural elements with aspects of Egyptian material culture—often used in innovative ways—reflect the cultural entanglements between, and long-term cultural memory of, Egyptian and Nubian people over thousands and thousands of years.
Q: Is the earliest evidence of social complexity and large-scale construction in Africa found along the Nile in Egypt in places such as Naqada?
A: No. A number of large carved stone monuments exist at the site of Nabta Playa. Thought to be a regional ceremonial center, Nabta Playa is located in Nubia, 100 kilometers west of Abu Simbel. Human activity in the area began as early as 11,000 years ago. Evidence from the site includes cattle burials, large constructions, specific arrangements of stone, including an astronomical circle, and suggestions of social control and hierarchy. The proposed timeframe, 7500 cal B.P., is earlier than the dating of similar evidence found in the Nile Valley.
Q: Were the Egyptians always antagonistic toward Nubian people?
A: No. Textual and artistic evidence shows that people with Nubian names and people who had themselves depicted in Nubian attire lived in Egypt and married people with Egyptian names.
Q: Could Nubians live in Egypt and not be slaves of Egyptians?
Yes. Several Nubian women were queens of the Dynasty 11 king Mentuhotep II. They also served as priestesses of Hathor. The kings of Dynasty 25 were Nubians who conquered and ruled Egypt. The nobleman Maiherpri was a Nubian who was reared at the royal court, served as a high official under Thutmose IV, and was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Nubians were famed archers. They frequently served as police and as soldiers for the Egyptian king. The famous painted box of Tutankhamun depicts Nubians in the king’s army and accompanying the king on a hunting expedition.
Q: Is there a single African population or “physical type”?
A: No. The many population groups in Africa exhibit a range of external phenotypes, including various different hues of skin tone, different types of hair form and texture, and different physiognomies.
Q: Once people settled along the Nile in Egypt and the desiccation of the Sahara began, was Egypt cut off from other African population groups?
A: No. Even with the desertification of formerly fertile lands, people continued to traverse the desert through routes punctuated by oases. People who lived along the Nile in Egypt continually had interactions with people in Nubia and with people elsewhere in Africa.
Q: Were the ancient Egyptians African?
The African Dimension of Egyptian Origins by Egyptian born, professor Fekri Hassan:
"I have not spoken angrily or arrogantly. I have not cursed anyone in thought, word or deeds." ~35th & 36th Principals of Ma'at
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