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Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

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sophisticated societies in the Nile Valley ’round about five or six thousand years ago.” 45<br />

Michal Kobusiewicz and Romuald Schild are both renowned anthropologists who have studied Nabta Playa under<br />

the aegis <strong>of</strong> the Institute <strong>of</strong> Archaeology and Ethnology <strong>of</strong> the Polish Academy <strong>of</strong> Sciences. After pointing out that the<br />

ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ian pharaonic state was formed around 3300 BCE, they commented that “we already know that soon after<br />

this date, drought forced the [Nabta Playa] herdsmen to abandon their lands . . . and so where might they have gone, if not<br />

to the relatively close Nile Valley? <strong>The</strong>y brought with them the various achievements <strong>of</strong> their culture and their belief<br />

system. Perhaps it was indeed these people who provided the crucial stimulus towards the emergence <strong>of</strong> state<br />

organization in ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>.” 46<br />

Schild and Kubusiewicz also call “these people” prehistoric herdsmen, prehistoric pastoralists, Neolithic cattle<br />

herders, and sub-Saharans. <strong>The</strong> term <strong>Black</strong>, however, is clearly avoided. As we have seen, the ancient sub-Saharan people<br />

were <strong>of</strong> the pre-Tebu <strong>Black</strong> race whose ancestors inhabited the Tibesti and Ennedi Mountains <strong>of</strong> northern Chad—but<br />

who really were the Tebu? How did they look? In the 1860s, the German explorer Gerhard Rohlfs was among the first<br />

Europeans who had made contact with the elusive Tebu people.<br />

<strong>The</strong>ir stature is svelte, their members fine, their disposition light and swift; they have lively eyes, their lips are a bit<br />

tough, their nose is small but not snubbed, and their hair is short but less wiry than the Negroes. . . . All other<br />

travelers who made contact with the Tebu have noted that their physical traits tend more towards the Negro . . . their<br />

customs and traditions are also nearer to that <strong>of</strong> the Negro . . . the land <strong>of</strong> the present day Tebu is located south <strong>of</strong><br />

Fazan, in the north <strong>of</strong> Lake Chad . . . 47<br />

Plate 1. Satellite map <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Egypt</strong>ian Sahara (produced in part using Google Earth)

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