GENERAL HISTORY OF AFRICA II Ancient Civilizations of Africa UNESCO General History of Africa Volume I Methodology and African Prehistory (Editor J. Ki-Zerbo) Volume II Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar) Volume III Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century (Editor M. El Fasi) (Assistant Editor I. Hrbek) Volume IV Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century (Editor D.T.Niane) Volume V Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century (Editor B. A. Ogot) Volume VI Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s (Editor J. F. A. Ajayi) Volume VII Africa under Colonial Domination, 1880-1935 (Editor A. A. Boahen) Volume VIII Africa since 1935 (Editor A. A. Mazrui) (Assistant Editor C. Wondji) UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa GENERAL HISTORY OF AFRICA-II Ancient Civilizations of Africa EDITOR G.MOKHTAR HEINEMANN- CALIFORNIA- UNESCO First published 1981 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris and Heinemann Educational Books Ltd 22 Bedford Square, London WCiB 3HH Reprinted in 1992 and 1995 by Heinemann Educational Publishers A Division of Heinemann Publishers (Oxford) Ltd Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8EJ Reprinted in 2000 by UNESCO Publishing 1 rue Miollis, 75732 PARIS Cedex 15, France PMB 5205, Ibadan PO Box 10103, Village Post Office, Gaborone FLORENCE PRAGUE PARIS MADRID ATHENS MELBOURNE JOHANNESBURG AUCKLAND SINGAPORE TOKYO CHICAGO SAO PAULO First published 1981 in the United States of America by the University of California Press 2223 Fulton Street, Berkeley California 94720, United States of America © UNESCO 1981 Heinemann Publishers ISBN o 435 94805 9 (cased) ISBN o 435 94806 7 (paper) UNESCO ISBN 92-3-101-708-X University of California Press ISBN 0-520-03913-0 LCN 78-57321 Filmset in 1 ipt Monophoto Ehrhardt by Northumberland Press Ltd, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear Contents List of figures ix List of plates xi Acknowledgements for plates xv Note on chronology xvii Introduction i G. M O K H T AR with the collaboration of J. Vercoutter i Origin of the ancient Egyptians 27 CHEIKH ANTA DIOP Annex to Chapter 1: Report of the symposium on 'The Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of the Meroitic Script' 58 2 Pharaonic Egypt 84 A. ABU BAKR 3 Pharaonic Egypt: society, economy and culture 112 J. YOYOTTE 4 Egypt's relations with the rest of Africa 136 A. H. ZAYED with the collaboration of J. Dévisse 5 The legacy of Pharaonic Egypt 155 R. EL-NADOURY with the collaboration of J. Vercoutter 6 Egypt in the hellenistic era 184 H. RIAD with the collaboration of J. Dévisse 7 Egypt under Roman domination 208 S. DONADONI 8 The importance of Nubia: a link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean 226 S. A D AM with the collaboration of J. Vercoutter 9 Nubia before Napata ( — 3100 to — 750) 245 N. M. SHERIF v Contents io The empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe 278 J. LECLANT 11 The civilization of Napata and Meroe 298 A. A. H A K EM with the collaboration of I. Hrbek and J. Vercoutter 12 The spreading of Christianity in Nubia 326 K. MICHALOWSKI 13 Pre-Aksumite culture 341 H. DE CONTENSON 14 The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century 362 F. ANFRAY 15 Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century 381 ' Y. M. KOBISHANOV 16 Christian Aksum 401 T. T. MEKOURIA 17 The proto-Berbers 423 J. DESANGES 18 The Carthaginian period 441 B. H. WARMINGTON 19 The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa 465 A. MAHJOUBI and P. SALAMA 20 The Sahara in classical antiquity 513 P. SALAMA 21 Introduction to the later prehistory of sub-Saharan Africa 533 M. POSNANSKY 22 The East African coast and its role in maritime trade 551 A. M. H. SHERIFF 23 East Africa before the seventh century 568 J. E. G. SUTTON vi Contents 24 West Africa before the seventh century 593 B. WAI ANDAH 25 Central Africa 620 F. VAN N O T EN with the collaboration o/D. Cahen and P. de Maret 26 Southern Africa: hunters and food-gatherers 639 J. E. PARKINGTON 27 The beginnings of the iron age in southern Africa 671 D. W. PHILLIPSON 28 Madagascar 693 P. VÉRIN 29 The societies of Africa south of the Sahara in the early iron age 718 M. POSNANSKY Conclusion 732 G. MOKHTAR Members of the International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa 738 Biographies of Authors 740 Bibliography 742 Indexes 786 vii List of figures Introduction Seasonal flooding of the Nile 24 2.1 The Nile from the Third Cataract to the Mediterranean 83 2.2 Chronology of Egyptian history S6-7 4.1 The Horn of Africa and neighbouring areas in antiquity 146 6.1 Map of the world according to Hecataeus 795 6.2 Map of the world according to Herodotus ig6 8.1 The Nile Valley and the Nubian 'Corridor' 227 8.2 Ancient Nubia 228 8.3 Upper Sudanese Nubia 22g 9.1 Nubia and Egypt 244 9.2 Types of A-group pottery 246 9.3 Types of A-group burials 247 9.4 The inscription of King Djer at Jebel Sheikh Suliman 24g 9.5 Typical C-group graves 253 9.6 Types of C-group pottery 254 9.7 Nubia, 1580 before our era 257 9.8 Types of Kerma pottery 262 9.9 Kerma burial 263 9.10 Nubia during the New Kingdom 264 9.11 (a) Type of New Kingdom burial 272 9.11 (b) Type of New Kingdom burial 272 10.1 Meroitic sites 2jg 10.2 Saqia 288 12.1 The Nile from the First Cataract to the Sixth Cataract 327 12.2 Plans of Faras I 328 12.3 Plans of Faras II 330 13.1 Ethiopia in the intermediary pre-Aksumite period 342 13.2 Ethiopia in the south Arabian period 344 15.1 Map showing Aksum's expansion 382 19.1 Roman provinces in North Africa at the end of the second century of our era 467 19.2 Roman provinces in North Africa in the fourth century of our era 473 19.3 The Byzantine episode in North Africa showing military constructions, fortresses, towns 504-5 20.1 The Sahara in classical antiquity 514 21.1 Hypotheses concerning the origin of the Bantu and the beginning of iron working 535 21.2 Copper sources and caravan routes across the Sahara 544 23.1 East African language groupings and relationships 56g 23.2 East Africa: Political map and map showing the distribution of languages and peoples 570 24.1 West Africa: important prehistoric sites 5Q4 24.2 The Sahara emphasizing the topographic highlands sgs 24.3 The Tilemsi valley complex 600 ix List of figures 24.4 The Tichitt region 601 24.5 Settlement mounds of the Firki 603 25.1 Map of Central Africa showing places mentioned in the text 621 25.2 Uelian polished axe (hematite) 623 25.3 Objects found at the Batalimo site, south of Bangui (Central African Republic) 624 25.4 Map of Central Africa showing areas of 'Neolithic' and 'early iron age' occupation 625 25.5 Objects found at Sanga 626-7 26.1 Rock painting: women with weighted digging-sticks 646 26.2 A group of men with bows, arrows and quivers 64/ 26.3 Fishing scene from Tsoelike, Lesotho 649 26.4 Rock painting showing a group of hunters in their cave 652 26.5 Rock painting showing a large group of figures 656 26.6 Conflict scene 657 26.7 Map of southern Africa showing late stone age sites 659 26.8 The earliest dates available for the appearance of pottery and domestic stock in later stone age contexts in southern Africa 660 26.9 A herd of bat-tailed sheep 662 26.10 A galleon painted in the mountains of the Western Cape 666 26.11 Wagons, horses and trekkers 668 26.12 A group of small stock raiders armed with bows and arrows 669 27.1 Southern Africa: location of early iron age and related sites mentioned in the text 672 27.2 Southern Africa: sites 673 27.3 Early iron age pottery from Twickenham Road 685 27.4 Pottery from Mabveni 687 28.1 Madagascar showing important sites 694 28.2 Madagascar showing places mentioned in the text 695 28.3 Double-valved bellows of the type found in Indonesia 696 28.4 Fish-hooks from Talaky (twelfth century) 712 28.5 Ceramics from Kingany and Rasoky (fifteenth century) 712 x