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Ancient and ArchaeologyΒ  permalink

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• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by SannaW (U3805550) on Wednesday, 19th April 2006

  I was discussing with a friend when this question came up in my head, and as neither of us could reason our way to an answer, or find it in encyclopedias, I'm asking here:
  
  What people were the ancient egyptians, where did they come from? And are the egyptian arabs of today their descendants, or did they come to Egypt later? The reason I'm wondering, is because the ancient statues (although more picturesque than truthful) don't look much like todays egyptians.
  
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Artorious (U1941655) on Wednesday, 19th April 2006

  Hi San,
  
  A good question but difficult to answer. Ancient Egyptian civilisation spanned more that 4000 years and over that time, like any civilisation, a host of peoples moved in and out and left renmnants of their identity there.
  
  The aboriginal Egyptians I am not sure about without lookng it up but would have come up into Egypt at some distant point in the past from more southern African regions, but the Sumerians probably expanded into Egypt at some early period bringing their knowledge,weopons and organisational skills to bear and forming the first expansion of Egyptian civilisation.
  
  We also know that other races followed and all intermingled including the Hittites, Isrealites, Babylonians, Hyksos(Arabs), Sudanese, other african races,Persians, Greeks, Romans...the list goes on....

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  Posted by Eliza6Beth (U2637732) on Thursday, 20th April 2006

  Isn't there a whole 'Black Egyptian' theory, and indeed, some of the paintings from that time show Egyptians with definitely Black African/Negroid (whatever's PC!)colouring and appearance.
  
  What happened when the Roman world collapsed? Did the Islamic conquerors replace the indigenous Egyptian population, or does it remain a descendent of the ancient egyptians?
  
  I always think population replacement/displacement a fascinating topic, and very seldom paid enough attention in history.
  
  Eliza.

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  Posted by Zeiltje1thehague (U3193096) on Sunday, 23rd April 2006

  Pharaonic Egypt started with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by farao Menes around 3100 BC. Earlier evidence is not there. It is supposed that tribes from the eastern Sahara settled on the Nile and became agriculture settlements. After the conwuest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in about 330 BC and the foundation of Alexandria, Lower Egypt became a meltingpot of people up to Islamic times around 630 AD. But the old Egyptians do still exsist as a people.

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  Posted by Eliza6Beth (U2637732) on Sunday, 23rd April 2006

  That's fascinating. One modern development I love is the applicatoin of genetics to demographic history. I believe it can show suprising and counter-intuitive results, eg, with the romano-british replacement by the Saons, which I believe geneticlaly there are a LOT of RB descendents still around in non-Celtic Britian.
  
  it would be interesting to know what similar studies would reveal aobut other demographically contested areas!
  
  Eliza.

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by henvell (U1781664) on Sunday, 23rd April 2006

  Among the many elements that comprised the population of the first dynasty were the Badarins,who had a close relationship with the earlier 5th millennium BCE Tasian culture.Although the latter's origins are equivocal,fragmentry evidence suggests that they came from the south.During the Badarian era the people of the Nile had a primarily water,trade link through the wadis with the Red Sea.This was eventually abandoned,when the annual rainfall declined.Excavations of Badarin cemeteries indicate that they had multiple origins and that there had been an influx of migrants from the east along the wadi trade route.There was a direct or relayed commodity exchange network with Mesopotamia.There is a legend that the first kings of Horus came from the east.
  Post 3500 BCE the climate gradually changed and the lakes in the deserts on both sides of the Nile River diminished in size.People from the eastern and western deserts were forced to relocate to the Nile River valley,where there was a source of freshwater.By circa 3100BCE many Nile dwellers could trace their descent to semi-nomads and nomads,who had roamed the deserts.
  The Nile delta region established trade links with the Near East during the 6th millennium BCE.There was a relatively constant flow of people between the two regions.Excavations of the cemetaries on the delta has revealed that the early populace had mixed origins,which included nomads from the western desert,the Near East and the locales.The southern Nile Valley had a much larger Nubian component than the delta.

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