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    Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation by Barry J. Kemp, Chapter 1

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    The first chapter of Kemps' Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation. Lifted off Google Books, so no copyright infringement.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    729 visualizzazioni21 pagine

    Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of A Civilisation by Barry J. Kemp, Chapter 1

    Caricato da

    Ian Charles Lepine
    The first chapter of Kemps' Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilisation. Lifted off Google Books, so no copyright infringement.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Scarica in formato PDF o leggi online su Scribd
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    Books about ancient Egypt take for granted that the ancient Egyptians were already, in vessence, a nation. It is natural to say that the Egyptians believed in such and such a thing and acted in a certain way, Modern historians, however, might not altogether agree and ask; ‘Are you sure? Are you not being naive?’ For they tend to see the concept of nation hood and national consciousness as having begun in western Europe in the eighteenth, century, and as having been somehow linked to the decline in the power of religion. ‘Nationhood is, from this point of view, to be contrasted with large cultural systems that preceded it, in particular the ‘religious community’ and the ‘dynastic realm’. Mediaeval Europe supplies the presnodern norm, Its Christian retigion and Latin language, and ‘the transfers of rulership of huge swathes of territory through dynastic marriages and conquests, created loyalties and enmities that transcended boundaries of shared inherit- ance and common language, Henry [1, King of England (and Wales) spoke French as his first language and owned and ruled almost the same amount of territory in France. This seems the antithesis of circumstances in which nationhood exists. Another example, very relevant to Egypt, is the Otaman Empire which, in its heyday, extended from Budapest to Baghdad, from Cairo to the Caspian Sea, and held within its embrace many diverse socie- ties, separated by language and local history, What unified them was Islam, the Arabic language (and 10 a lesser extent the Ottoman language of state business) and loyalty to the Sultan and to his representatives. Only in the wake of its collapse came the assertion of local identities which either transformed themselves into nations (as with Greece and Egypt, and the Ottoman heartland of Turkey) or, primarily in the Balkans, have struggled to do so through more than a century of communal violence which is still not at an end.! Collective identity is an ancient, deeply felt, and sometimes rather murky attribute of humanity. It begins on the very local scale, and much of human history is concerned with its evolution, Early anthropologists recognized that human groups have passed through a series of stages of development, starting with the tiny band of hunters and progressing to the tribe, then to the chielélom, and on finally to the state, This evolutionary scheme has to be broadly true because, at one end, the state has emerged as the dominant form of society in the modern word, and at the other end the hunter-gatherer bands which sure vived in the more remote regions of the world into modern times provide the best (in fact, 19 20 Esabtishing iemtiny the only) guide to interpreting the archacolagical evidence from the Palacoithic Period Bur the route from one end to the other is nat necessarily sraghiforward and in a single Tine. Each stage has a working stability, amounting to what is appropriate for is time and place. A society ean progres ta the next stage as circumstances change, or it can dissolve hack into wwhac we, if we have tity minds, can see as a previous rung on the evolutionary ladder? 'Nor isthe nation-state necessarily the final and topmou rung, Beyond i is the poten tial of transnational or transegional groupings which awe been achieved in the past (often in the form af empites). India, the United States of America anel China ate exam ples that have managed to become ‘natura? units; the voluntary union of European states aspites to something like this status; and in the 1960s the shorvlived polieal union of Egypt, Syria and Libya asthe United Arab Republic had the sare aim. We ail live in a politeally transkiona toe, ‘The imagined community Geniral to the concept of the nation: is am imagined poiécal community ....1t i imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fllew-members, mec them ar ‘even hear ef them, yet inthe minds of each ives the image of their communion, By this definition ancient Egypt passes the text reasonably well, The ancient Egyptians, speaking an! writing a common language, occupying 2 territory with a well catalogued deqraphy costed on the Nik villey and subveribing to a dutnctive cult, itapiaed themecves a8 single community. Central to dhat imagined commanity ~ and iti here thar we meet the principal difference from modern nationhood ~ i that it was presided cover by a dynasty of divine kings. Yer we should not emphasize this ifference 100 much, for Egypt had an existence separate rom Pharaoh and rulers weze heavily obligated to maintain the integrity of “Egypt They served it and were ‘the herdsmen of mankind’, the later term meaning, of course, Egyptians just one version of the conceit that anthro polagists have found swidely spread in Ue werd of teal societies, that we! alone see synonyinous with trac humanity). Moreover, kings owed dheir own unique position to the continuing existence of the country called Egypt that they ruled and of its wealth of twaditios, The line of the Phariohs afl all the marks of theie egitiacy to rule cain wed thraugh the first millennium BC, even though by then the holders athe oie were mest of foreign origin. ‘Ancient Egypt provides an example of national canscioussess which i sufficiently clear to exeate the imptesion that it was pethaps exceptional. Yet the carefal study of madern smaller-scale societies reveals just how widespread isthe sense of cultural ienity amongst groups of people, frequently Joined by a common language, and reinforced by a fecling of exclusiveness with fespeet to outsiders. They possess ‘all the characteristics by which political scieatins and philosophers habicually define “nations”! The growth of poi fal structare from hunting band te state keeps im step with an evolution of the sense af Sdentty. Even though the sale might be small the sense of group, identity might be just Who were the ancient Egyptians? 21 ax strong, To se them arising forthe fret time in conjunction with one another lyin tmaclern Barope isto take a very parochial view of the past The imagined community ofthe nation contrasts itself with the world ouside. "We ate special, ‘they’ are inferior and do strange things. The sense of community in the modern ‘world is developed and maintained by diverse means, including the reading of pevspapers the editorial polices of whieh promote national idensty, mast strongly by diguragine foreign peoples and nations. The Egyptians took pleasure in this kind of thinking, We ect it well developed in « piece of ancient Egyptian fiction, the Story of Sinule, a tale of temporary exile in Palestine endured by a courtier of the easly 12th Dynasty who feels the need to fle as a reat of secidental implication in a conspiracy to Uhwart the royal succession. The assumed reaclehip isthe Egypsian erate class and, although seemingly ‘composed around 1950 BG, the story was sll being copied asa school exereise seven cen tures Late? To leave his country, Siauhe has w creep by aight past the Bontier fortress named Tike Walls of the Prince’ which, he staes, was made co repel Uke Asiatic and to crush the Sand/-fuers’ je. the Bedouin). Clase to death is the desert he is rescued by one of these very same people, a pasting eatle nomad who offer hoypitality [n his ssbwequent cele in Palestine he exchanges his persona as an Egyptian courtier clad in fine linen for that ofthe ead of « ibe, andl i eventually forced to adopt the rule moa antthetieal to that of che Egyptian serial elite, the warrior who becomes the hera of personal combat, Despite his focal success, there is no mistaking the sense of onging for the dian home- Jand, which i both a place and a community, namely Egypt. ‘Come back to Enyp” are the very words ofthe king's subsequent personal advice, At the heart of this loging is the thought that Egype i the only proper place in which an Egyptian can be buried. Mach ‘imphasis is placed on thi, To cane the pain of exile, the Palestinian ruler who befriends Sinube tellingly remarks on the linguistic aspect of community: "You will be happy with sme; you will hear the language of Baypt’, evidently from other Egyptians sho, he states, ‘were already with him. Eventually, pardoned by a benign king, Sinahe eeturns to Egypt, ‘wan enduusiasie welevene andl to an almost ritualistic shedding of the tant of foreign. tess: “Years were removed from my body, Iwas shaved; my hair was cambed. ‘Thus was my squalor eecurned to the forcign land, ray dress to the Sam-farers, I was clothed in fine Jinen; Twas anninced with fine of Talepton a bed And a magnificeet tomb with a gilded satue in its chapel was made fr him at the King’s expense. tis all there? geographical fontirs, language, dies, bodily cleanliness, even seeping ‘on proper beds and were not Egyptians lucky to he ruled by 30 powerful yet kindly and stenezous a king? By these marks Haypt war defined ar nation, which coull ill be image Inecl im these terms centuries Inter as the text was copied and read. ft should be aoted, ‘none the less, that Sinube’s picture of the Asiatcs is essentially Kindly one, ‘They might bbe uncowrh, but they behave with Honour and kindness. They do not comanit acts a sae gery. Sinuhe inhabits a word, or at least luerary dieneasion, of evilized manners. “The term which Sinuhe wes throughout for “Egypt (Ain) means ineally dhe ‘black lane! In other soutces ie is often contrasted with the ‘ed land as in the reference to a mythical partitioning Between Ue gods Horus and Seth: “The while of the Black Land is given to Horas, and all of the Red Land to Seth’* Ie is thus reasonable to understand the pairing of dhe ovo terms as contrast in bast soil colour: the black sf ofthe alluvial plain of the Nile and the sands and rocks of the desert which Egyptians included within 22 Establishing identny igase 4 Foscignts fn the Mempite tombs of Horembeb (2 18S08C), From left wright, in heer proupm Aste, Nublane and Libyans, ARer GIT Martin, The Moaphie Tonk of och, Contd Chiff Titan, Lodo, 1988, Ph 116 1 1 colour term which we conventionally translate as ‘re’ but which really embraced 2 Wwiler palette. As fo themsches the Egyptians offen used a term which is somtimes to be propionate the peopl’ (asin people of Exyp in Sine) ot more brouly fs mankind’. I-made them the centre of the univer; they were the norm. In myth recorded in several royal tombs of the New Kingdom ‘mankine! rebels against the aging Wha were the ancient Egyptians? 23 sun-god Ray who isin one place called ‘the King of Upper and Lower Egypt? From his wrath they flee into the desert and ate there pursued to destruction by att avenging srddes whose hut for blood is astuaged by red-pigmented eer being poured aver the fics as ii were an inundation of dhe river Nike, The imagined location is clkarty Bxypt aul ‘wankine” are the Bayptian people, As the norm of humanity Egyptians as ‘ovanking? were to be contrasted with specific groups who Lived ia che other pars of dhe wont nen to them. At the fsrthest limits were the inbabitasis of Punt (madera Esitrea) who were sad to know nothing of mankind * Egyptians delighted in type-casing thei subdivisions of foreigners, andl di so wish deft caricatures [Figure 4). By micans of clear conventions of classification, using facial shape, skin colour and des, they identified particular groups: Nubians, Asiatic, Labyans, peoples from the Aegean, anl fram ihe eastern Sudanese/Eritrean land of Punt, These sercckypes ‘came (ole again in the nineteenth century AD as western scholars began to record the ancient monuments and thus to explore thé ancient Egyptians’ world through their eyes 1t produced, fe a while, a mond of over-conidence, in which the Egyptians’ portrayals of faneigners were garded as almost photographic representations of ‘racial typee, a subject then high om anthropologist” research agenda. “The same form of head is characteristic of the Armenian today, though With a larger nose was ane much comment on a slel a the temple of Abu Simbel? We have become more cautious with the evidence since then. "Yo complement racial tercotyping dhe Egyptians from time to tine expressed desnean+ ing opinions. "The Asiatic is a crocodile on his Bank. He snatches fons a lanely road. He cannot scize from a populous tows? is pare af the advice of one king to his eweresor A coward is he [any Bayptian king) Who is erven ft his boeder, for the Nubian responds to the tone of voice. To answer him back is to make him retreat Attack him ane he will arn his back, Retreat, and he will start attacking, They are not people to respect. They a4e wretches, craver-liarted announces fing Sennsret IT on hs southern bounlary stl" Libyans who, i the vie of Rameses IU, threatened Egypt, ate made to acmit thet folly in another Egyptian tet: We have hear it said of Egypt from the time of our father’s father: ‘She is the one who tneais our back We have begged our own death by ovr own choice, Our sexy’ on legs have carried i to the fre! More often, the forcigne, when in the postion of a foe, i imply designated by an ac. tive Which seems mast appropriately aalated as "eile From pictures anid words of thi kind ~ and the examples are very mimerous ~ we might paint a picture of the ancieat Egyptians as racially exclusive. By the first millenia BC ouiders were already claiming thit ta be s0, The Greek trvelwriter and historias Herodocus, observing that no Egyptian, man or woman, wil kis a Greek, or wie a Greek knife, cooking-spit, of eauldren, or even eat the flesh ofa bull now to be clean, iit has been cut wit a Greek knife’, put this down to Bayptian distaste af any people who weie prepared to sacrifice cows, sacred to the guddess hi. In a similar wne, the Jewish bi torians who put gether the Old Testament arcand this time or even Inte, i compiling User parabioslike (ale of Egypt and Israel, explained the seating arrangements for 8 meal Establishing iderity nowt Sina tnd ote ‘Who were the ancieat Egyptians? 25 st Jouphis house by saying: forthe Egypeians cannot est with the Hebrews, for that is fdeiesabie to the Egyptians." To what extent these are thenuelves caricatures nade 10 pander to the intended home audiences is now hai to tll For by- contrast, sourees fom ‘within Egypt point a mach grester variety of Egyptian response to foreigners in day-to- day affairs. Building frontiers The Egyptians attempted, by means of border controls at the corners of the delta and across the Nile in the south, to ebeck the immigration of the Asiaties, Libyans and Nubians, The "Walls ofthe Prince’ which Sine had to avoid was ose such control. I thas yet to be Mentied with ap archaeological sve, but its probable successor in the New Kingdom, by then named Tjarw (ile), has been tentatively located at Tell e}Elabwe not far from Kanara on the eait side of the movers Suez Canal (Figure 3; alas the map, Figure 15, p43)!" Dating from a few ecign later than Sioube, the massive fortifications ‘whieh the Egyptians erected to matk thee southeen Groner at Semana in Nubia survived toa remarkable degree until the 19606 (for notes and a pln see pp. 236-9 and Figure 88) A.short text inscribed upon a stone tables by the king who built them {1862 BC) maker their purpose explicit: ‘The southern boundary which was created in the Stk year under the Mafesty of King Senusret THI to prevent any Nebian from passing it when faring northwards, whether an foot or by boat, as well as any cattle of the Nubians. An exception i a Nubian who shall come wo barter at Uke [a farted teading-pos!], or one with 3 oficial message.” ‘This is an echo of an even eater text (an entry on the Palermo Stone, « 2590 BC) which records the ‘building the wall of the south and nordvland (called) “the mansions of Sten ‘When imanigrant presuire ip the west, from Libyan tribes, became acute in the ch Diynany and! was supported by landings of raiders from acrows the Mediterranean a line of fortified seteements was constructed along the Mediterranean coast westwarcs fro the Nile dela! Qa the other sde ofthe deta, the reiga of Merenptah a forties: controlled ‘he eastern end of the Wadi Tumilat which allered an entry point from a more southerly ‘rossng of the Sinai Peninsula the tea is ransated below, Figure S Theo ni th thre Nile da dete i pat oe tl ie ‘ Karash Tt Dyna, 1290 BG. The scene captares the arniguty of such defences {ee an! eerie cana ret arya bvelget eh sale cnr yea ‘crow tobe fry setded in Egype The herophypve label within the force the beste el Somme reas" ‘om the et sie ofthe cama “The forts ot Tara (Sie) ama: "The dividing canal, WaRing to free dhe Feu ‘at Upper and Lowe: Egype. After The Epigraphic Survey, The Bute wl of Rag Say, Chicago, 1980, PL, with aii aching lk ehh ede fom ances AD coi i by AH Gaines, JAG 20. 10, FLX 26 Establishing ieentiny [Name the les it was not feusible to surround the whole country with a wall, There were innumerable entry points fram the deserts to cast and west and, of course, it-was also pase ‘thle (as Sine did) to sveak past the border posts which did exist and which Lay seress ‘commonly used routes af acess. Their eiectivenes depended to same extent pon patrol= Ting the desert around them. One ancient witness to this practice isa papytus fll OF neat copies of letters tent to a centes) office (perhaps at Thebes) from Serina snd from osher forerewes which were spaced along the Nile in Nubia. One topie concems a people whom the Egyptians called the Medjay and who lived in the valcys of the eastern eesert, The Egyptians employed some as desert trackers as they sougla to collect intelligence about the movements and intentions of strangers. One leter reports that a litle group of ether Medjay had boon brought in for questioning; another chat a differen. group of two mien and Uhtee women had approacled ane of the fore asking for employment bat had een sent away again.” Surveillance isthe subject of « mode letter included in a seribe's set of practice pieces which deals with the fortress mentioned above at the eastern end of the ‘Wadi Turilae (Tyeku: perhaps the arckaeological site of Tell elMaukhuta, see the map Figure 18, p43}: We have finshed leting the Shas wibes of Edom pass the fortress of Mereaptah which is in Tjek en route tothe pools of B-Tum of Merenptal: which are in the province of jek in order to missin therm and sustain their locks through the ‘ood pleasure of Pharaoh ... Fhave sent details tothe place where my lord is, as Well othe cates when the foetress of Merenptah in Tjeku-was passed. .3 1 as accep so fet them in for awhile, but then to Keep wately over them, Opening the gates ‘These measures reflected 1 wish fo comtral thore who might enter and pose 4 threat to the lives and property of Egyptians, They did not aim to keep the country racally separate Demeaning generalizations about forcigners and aatempes to bar them fram entering did rot expres abuolte values but were heavily dependent upon context. Whatever the sense of superiority, Bgyptias dil not wranslate it eto exclusion ls or into customs and behav four which lormect an efective barrie: Throughout its history Egypt took in and absorbed futsicers. For one thing, they could be useful. Through the recruitment of soldiers, anc trough the eaptate af peioners on foceign campaigns the numbers of those brought 10 the Nile valley who were available for the (to the serial elite) distasteful tasks of fight- ing and labouring were swelled. Transferred to the Egyptian side the cowardly foreigner hhecarne valued waeroe {in the direction of Nubia, tothe south, and towards the adjacent deserts, the practice of secruitment to serve in Egypt began at leas a ealy as the Od Kingdom, Commissioned to raise a national army to counter a threat in Palesti Seribe' wha bore chil and not military tives) extended hie demand far slices beyond the pprasinces of Egypt to dhe peuples of five named Nubian homelands (one of them, Med} {he homeland ofthe Mediay, probably inthe eastern desext) and of ‘Libya’ «conventional modeen translation of a vague term for the western desert. Whether, when released Irom Who were che ancient Egyptians? 27 Figare 8 Nubian tanner locally ermploed in Egypt inthe Fit Interred Peed, Left One ‘ifthe gure 334m high im a wooden mode of Nabi oop, fom he tomb of Meschet, Ast {Eeyptin Mn Cy 27H cr dare a o Eytan ann ros ofthe Nubian garter const red elt eld i place wih a green te wasn ter which Get bro ed Sd the ro whic ar down the rn. Bs the tlh a ‘herah ate decorated wi laege dasa ‘hete i sound archaeological exdence fa inet colar abel creation ol the ences an ash a lerving rom a mya tn ore Deas ‘ube to a cloth backing After M, Beta, Mélange Gaal Fae Matar Cairo, 1985, Ta Ils at Litesoge ty tls en Gebel Mbseum of Fine Art, Bast 08.188), 37cm igh, The Iseoglypsslerify the owner I) ava Nabsan [Neher He carries bowe and bane of arrows dons around the ele of shai disings feae hey cred fa with Rute no nde aw = itty wer as lhe sae famed asin oe a sow {Dace pees ining tds The sin our tan) wa crc ethan th fhe ba {Shute lprenumabiy at Egyptlan, Beth woencn ae given» yell ain colour The Wren ee res are nor easy to read But sem to be, i part, Eyam. After H.G,Fcher, Aust 9 (900, 5. military service, they returned to their homes or settled in Egypt the source does not tll us. But the continuing presence of Nubians in Egypt as a recogniable group who cul, J's reversal of roles, artuallloree Egyptians tn work for them was reeognized by a royal 2 abhi ety ecrce ofthe same period whic gave peotecion against them (they are called “friendly Nubians’) a well as againse a sire range of others who might prey on the property belonging to certain old religious endowments.” Perhaps a century ard a half ter sill, a group of Nubian bowmen were settled upstream from Thebes, in the vicinity of Gebelen, where a number of them were buried Gur only means of identification are small gravestones, the idiesyneratic hieroglypas of whieh point to a date inthe Fir Intermeetine Perce (Figure 6, righ). ‘They densi them selves as Nubians by sometimes using for themsehes the clear Egyptian edbnic term for those whe lived in ie Nile valley south of Aswan, ‘Nehesy” (which gave rise co the per- sonal name Panehsy/Pinehas). They are shown with bushy hair, darker skin colour, and a distinctive sash which hangs down the font of thee kilts. They carry Bows and arrows and sonoetines are attended by dogs, Av riverine Nubians their eukural background i well known from exeavations in Nubia itelf and is quite distinctive, So far Few traces of it have been found much to the north of Elephantine (Kubbaniya and Hicralonpolis are {wo ite, pethape Gebelein isa third). Un most of uae material ncceaes of thir ves tHey must have used things of Egyptian stye, including the carved and inscribed graves stones furnished with the standard Egyptian ollering-formula, Even further to the north, fan Egyptian nobleman of che time, named Meschet, included within his tomb at Asyut ‘wooden models of «troop of Nubian archers and anether of Egyptian spearmen (Figure 6, 1af). We identify them as Nubians om xecount of the darker paint used for their skin and User costume, but nothing from local archacalogy identities the presence of a Nubian population? ‘Theve are example, ane they occur repeatedly, of a basic aspeet of the archuealogy of ancient Egypt. Even if immigrants retained for a time their own style of drese and other habits, and pechaps their own language, they tended rapidly w absadon the kind fof cultural markers which survive best on archteological tes, mest paricuaaly their own poster. (his i true even for the Jewish colony of Elephantine ofthe fifth century BC, see ppp. 354-6.) The history ofthe important subject ef immigration has to he veiten Largely from texts and feom arts representations, neither of which provide anything hike a eon: linuous and repreeniative record From periods prior to the New Kingdom come sporadic records of Palestinians (Asiat- jos) in Egypt, to. Some were brought as prisonerofwar. A granite sla from the temple of Memphis (the Mit Rahina stes) in recording court events of the sign of Amenein- hha I (1900 BC), states that one campaign netted 1,554 ‘Asai; another reference (10 the same group?) deals with the dispersal of “Asiatic women’s One consequence af such dlispersals is 10 be found in a papyrus (now in the Brootlya Muscum, USA) of the 13th Dynasty (. 1148 BC} which inclades a Hse of slaves in large household, probably ehat of the vizier Resseneb son of the vizier Ankh. There were originally ninety-five of ther, Sor whom the sighdy damaged text eserves the names and/or ‘les’ of seventy, ‘seosthirds of them women. More than half af dhe names are preceded by the masculine and feminine variations of the word ‘Asia’ (ie, ‘Asiatic man’'Asiatic woman’), In the remaining eases the term use! i either ‘king's servant’ (male) or ‘servan” (emale), an wlication that they are Egyptians. Already some of the Asaties had taken the fist steps ‘awards assimilation, Eight af the Asiatic women are listed as having with them a son oF daughter who all bear Egyptian names. One of the boys, whose Asiatic mother also Bore tn Egyptian name, is stated to have been the son of skipper” whose non-ethnic designa- Who were the ancient Egypsians? 29 tion and Egyptian mame probably identify him ax an Egyptian, 100. A later part of this book (in Chapter 5, pp. 211-21) describes the large planned Middle Kingdom awn of ‘Kaban, a yal foundation. That, to, eapported contingents of Asiatic, male ancl female. ‘This is known from papyri, but their presence is not to be deduced independently from archaeology. In the New Kingdom foreign campaigns were pursued with greater vigour and prob: ably an a larger scale. The battle texts gloat over the massacre of eneties and of the terror ey Pel hen Pharaoh attcka, Those who were caprared, howsver, immediately beranwe assets, were carefully counted and were sent back to Egypt to become part of the prop tty of Pharaoh, or of the eerples (virtually the sane thing! or of men rewarded for their bravery bythe king with gifts of prinoners \ temple text describes Ramores I asthe king. “who carries off the land of Nubia to the delta, and the Asiatis wo Nubia, He has placed te Bedi (Shasu) ie the land of the west and has settled the Libyans (Tjemehu) in the Dsl coustey (he east" Something similar is said of Rameses IF conceraing the Libyans, who, ance captured, were “made 10 cross the Nile, transported into Egypt and turned io garrisans of the vitorious king??? Initially, at last, they could be kept together in ethnically distinet camps. Two stelac from the mortuary ternple of Tuthmenis EY record the foundation of elements for pri ‘nets captured by te king, one group from the Palestinian city of Gezer and another from the Nabiar lands of Kets. Hasson, Amenbetep IL, surrounded his mortaary emple ‘with setilements of Hurrians (Palestinians?) whilst place name at Memphis, ‘eld of the Hits’, perhayt derived fom another such camp." Ramesee IL, in summarieing his achievements, adds telling details about the fate of eaptared groups: “established their Jeadets in strongholds bearing my name. T appointed among. them chiefs of bowmen, leaders of te tribes, (they being) branded = made as slaves ~ with the eartouche of ry name; their wives and cillen were areatedsimlany"™ ‘To assess the impact which this process had an the overall popalation of Egypt we need some indication of sale although numbers from ancient texts are notoriously dificult 1 use with confidence. We have aleeady encountcred 1,554 as the number of “Asiates' cap tured on a Mile Kingtlom expesition, Papyrus Harris lists the Following donations magle by Rameses IIT to the temple of Amun: Syrian and Nubian setlements containing 2,607 persons; to the temple of Ra: 2,093 chariotwarrirs and others (including Ape a Palestinian people); 0 the temple of Ptah: 205 Syrians and Nubians; and also a general ‘donation of 971 Libyans (Meshwesh) for looking afer Berd.” We cannot of course, check the reliability af these numbers. They are, howeves, hardly Hkely to be underestimates given thatthe purpose ofthe text was to record the achievements of the recently deceased King. Yer although hardly overwhelming they Bave to be set against the relatively small population of Egypt in amtiquity. Oa a larger scale, Merenptal's Libyan wat claims ta have netted, as its principal batch of captives, am apparent total the text is damaged) of 9,376 persons.” Far langer figures are given for Amenbetep IT’ second Palestinian cam- pig (Memphis sla), tolling around 100,000, ineluding 36,300 Husrians. Alsbouels they are said to be ‘planer which his majesty cartied af the suanbers are slices dlisroportionate to rae: the suspicion that they are guesses at the total mumbers of the populations invoked. For one thing. if all were brougit back and settled in Egypt the problems of dispersal and support would have been huge, given that this igure is around ‘one-thirteth of the votal population (of around three million) which has Been estimated igure 7 Heckmalers eft) anlbrieklaery ane caries centre an right) av depicted ia the ‘eamb of Rethiira, 8th Dynasty The west an the right rade The eapenes which His Maiesty Frought hark forthe projects ofthe temple of [Amun] the text tothe fet of the mide reac: ‘Maling bricks rebuild the workshop fof Aman) ix Karnal’ The rdera copyist ofthe scene commented “Fai-skinned Syrians wah Bin ar red br brows ever mingle wih darker Nabians tre Tar is dyed (rod ce blac alone aoc ne of uher,undwith ethers whe mre cry clstngusable fom Egyptians hig that te bus eye eau could tar fr rey Aer TEES: Des, The who Ree Thee, New Vo, 1243, 9-9, Pa LVI, LIB clue foe Bgypt at this time" A rare example with nurnbers fom an even cates pevind is the reat ofa Nubian campaign of Sefer ofthe th Dynasty recoded nthe Perna Stone: 7.000 captives (as well ax 200,000 sheep and gots Hone chooses to accep the figure then ane can make she ease that this was a mowe te boost the labour Force needed forthe exceptional building programme of Sefer, hich embraced two major pyramids a¢ Dabur aswell pony the corypletion ofthe pyramid at Med (One can form the rypreston shat at times, and in places where large growpa of pope vere gathered to work on great projects, eperaly monumental building, fegers wou have predominated (Figure 7). One wittesr docoment i wort record sribled on ake cf imestone, whic tell us that a gang labouring with sen blocks foe a temple in western Thebes i de reign of Tathwoss I comprised sity Pakestniars and onl wey “re? (iz, Ravprians) “Where the bates were ja Palestine and Syria, the caprred places and defeated arenes belonged an was the ease in Egypt slave-onning societies, Far some of the prisoner, therefore, capture wil have meant only an exchange of oteners. The process continued times of peace, when people from the ame arcas were sold into captivity in Egypt, although when rumbees are ted they are relatively smal, ‘The arta tribute of ‘San Stave liste i the annals of Tubman IML at Karnak varies betwee fis-one and 702.” Some of the El Amara Lees of the late Ith Dynasty, which are Belt be mote eel ‘ti than temple tenty occasionally cation slaves ether as git to Pharaoh or given in xchange for gld or iver, ad theee numbers are alo not lange. The pence of Jerweaen fr example, sends ten slave, twentwane gids and Gigy peoners™ By coaraa, when wwe read of 2095 charioewarrirs assigned to the temple of Arun by Rameses IMT (be ‘Who were the ancient Egyptian? al implication is that they ae the king’s captives from his battles}, we are cealy dealing with men, probably mostly young men, front among te local elites now experiencing a reat charge of fot the same socal stratum is depicted in the tomb of Reklumira, vizier to Tuthimosis Leading in the children of the princes of the southern lands, together with the children ofthe princes of the notthern lands, carried off as the pick ofthe booty 40 Bil the Labour camps and to be the serfs of the temple estate of is Ether Amun. This trcatment by the Egyptians of the defeated sounds somewhat less harsh than that meted out later during warfare amongst the slave-owning city-states of Greece and the Aegean in the ith century BC, sehen the men of military age were pus vo death and the ‘women pasted into slavery." ‘Once within Egypt they were turned into useful Egyptianized subjects. “They hea the speech of mankind while fllowing the King. He made their specch disappear, changing nee tongues; and they travelled upon the road whieh [ey] had not taker [before.” Cap tives from Nubia were ‘Turned into shiee-bearers, eharioteers, retainers and Eanbexters attending the king’ The Sherden alles ofthe Libyans, whose homeland lay across the ‘Mediterranean (they probably gave their name so Sardinia), were particularly pried in the late New Kingdom as warriors, and they’ came to form separate contingents in tse Egyptian army, keeping their distinctive headdress (Figure 8). They are worth singling cout for we know something of their longerterm fate. A landeregster from the fourth year fof the reign of Rameses V (1143 BC) which covery a pare of Middle Egypt lite Sherden amongst various categories of people who were cultivating farmland (probably under a kease), Ako mentioned are a Village of the Soldiers and a Village ofthe Army” Together they suggest a policy of rewarding veteran soders with grants of land. We catch a glimpse of Sherden as normal members of local society inthis same part of Egypt acting as testes 10 0 legal document concerning family inheritance around the stmme tnwe. ‘The ‘various proceses of dispersal probably meant that no part of Egypt would fave remained ‘untouched by foreign seulement aad tha, for the longsetted local populations, encaaiers with foreigners woul have been pat of normal ie ‘The ideal of peace achieved through the king's vieories was, by the time oF the Rames- side Kings, an ancient one. By this time, however, i was alo officially recognized that select groups of loyal foreigners were esseetial to the proces. A hymn of thanksgiving for Merenptah'’s having released Egypt from the ear of a Tabyan invasion singles uhem out: Fortreses are let to thenscles, Wells are open for the messengen” use Bastioned ramparts are ecaled ‘Only sunlight wakens the wateamens Medjay are stretched ont asleep, Nau and Teen ace inthe fe they lowe Rameses Il claims credit af the same kind 2 Establishing identity Figure & Miltary ctlementin a ponion of the Nile valley ia Atal Egypt in the 2h Dyna ‘Tee agricaharal tnd divided ie four vectors sian national culture atthe hands of the kings of Thebes, who created the powerful sate that we call the New Kingdom, almost overnight (asi scems fiom our distant perspec- tive) the immigrant cules of the Second Intermediate Period vanished, Their bearers, the Palestinians and eastern desert peoples, ether let the country or were absorbed. The founding of Naukratis, however, was simply a frst step in a widening spread of Greek 2 atablshingidenty re which culminated in the development of Alexandria as one ofthe centres of Greek Jeamming and as the capital ofthe ruling dynasty of the Prolemics, whose culture was 20 ‘thoroughly Greck tha, 30 we are told, the last a the line (Queen Cleopatra VI) was actur ally the fist to have spoken Egyptian, ‘The dlference tn consequences reflects whether or not the content of immigrans culture res, Pan-grave pots and! burial customs belonged to small bands of | iter culture might have been (fr all that we can tel intricately struce tured but evidently aroused ao iniezest in outsiders and could not be tsssmitted further. ‘The Greck pots of Nawrats, however, are only tiny agment of a culture whose scape and tramonisabilty were so great tat, in the end, elements of Egyptian culture were able to survive onky by blending with it. Even the Egyptian language was gradually pushed to ‘one sce by Greck and, im the end, ved on in weitten form through the replacement of the bicrogiyphic sytem by Greek lewers the seripe knows as Coptic Land of promise Many of he Roeigners who ended up ia Egyys were tore from their hownes. But for sone, the country’s prosperity and opportinitis Were a hue, As far as-we can tell, the desert ‘people and the Palestinians who migrated to Upper Egypt and w the eastern deka respec- tively in the late Midlfe Kingdom and Second Intermediate Peviod, and who for a time retained dhe own. culture, did so of their on choosing. They would have brea distant forerunners of the Arabs ant Bedouin who, ater the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD and in a process which was all active in the ninetecath century, set up their camp in Egypt and eventually merged with ehe existing population, Migrancy in the modern world is a major political topic, made more urgent by the ‘universal adoption by’ states of xe frontiers and legal rules of residence, Foe the beelit of the established property-owning citizens, the whole world has become a police state. People sill move, and in ever-increasing cuinbers, through fear and in response to hopes fof a better life. Bue since the mid-twentieth century countries of migrant destination have had suiciently robust systems of government to control the place in soeiery that migrants ‘occupy: Following the huge European migrations wo the Americas, Australasia, parts of Africa and inthe case of fsrae) the Middle East there seems no longer scope for migra- ‘ion by sshle groups who Keep their own hicearchies intact aad seck to re-establish chem cdther in unoccupied territory o w ‘A relatively well documented ease of this kind of transfer, of a complete society from ane region to another, conecms the Libyans during the frst snllenniane BC soho feature $0 fare 1, niga br: as cl Mate Ba ine ac tha Pet ae et ee QA aaa een he aghast a a ee sect (tua cet Tailed tats amp Ah rt iat er oi epee ane wre i 1696, 8, Fg 34 imap, Pig. 52 (dour fami M, Bieta, Tal e Dade VY Nienna 1984, 31-60, eave A/ILL/IDNe objets 4 (por, US ecarab) 810 (dagger, BID ane: abo 163, Abb. 110, ‘jer (po) ra deren grave TELL ELDABIA ‘Who-were the ancient Egyptians? 8 Mo Establbing ide peomninently as the eney in Egyptian battle records of two to thise centutieseasie. Tn a Kinel of reverse exodus, ane despite the earlier defeats atthe hands of the Egyptians, they succesfully moved as acres of complete societies from Homelands that rai have ln long the Mediterranean coastal zone to the Nile valley. There they set themselves up in positions of authority, eventually becoming the rvlers of lage parte of the courty. Early i ths hisorical process the Egyptians rga to ientify them by more specific tribal names, primarily the Lib (ftom sokich the modern marie Libya derivs) andl the Meshwed, sho Thecame the dominant group, as well a tribes called Isbet, Quyqasha, Shaytep, Hasa and Bagana. First an the reign of Mererpta and then in the eeign of Rameses IH the Egyp= vians fought bates against them that were reenrded as overwhelming vicwries.™ Interspersed amidst the language of triumph are short passages of description. We learn from these that they hcl manned leaders, Mariy son of Di in the time of Merenpa, anil Mesheshir son of Keper in the time wf Rameses IL. They travelled with their wives, children, other leaders, large number of fllewers, and with herds of animals, including cattle, They had tented camps (which the Egyptians thm). As a pasoral people, however, they had! undergone 2 transformation, for they came armed! and otherwise equipped with the trappings of the military societies of the Mediterranean Bronze Age: with awards, horses and chariots, vesels of bronze and silver. Someone, i seems, had been supply ing them with uptodate weapons and the means co acquire real wealth. They were politieally organized, 66, for they had foreied sorte soet of gue with rabdes corn across the other side of the Mediterranean, people whom the Egyptians Sdentiied as Agawa- sia, Turshu, Luku, Shereien, Shekelesh ‘and che northerner: who came from every land TThe background to this transformation of ‘Libyar’ societies is unknown, for so far there is remarkably litle archaeological material (even from their presumccl homelands) with hich to supplement the Egyptian writen and pictorial sources. TThe triumphalism of Egypuan bate teats was in vain. Over the next cwo centuries a Inge part off Egypt fll under the contra of Libyan Bimules whose seen sometines bowe ‘non-Egyptian names such as Sheshonk, Osorkon and Nema, andthe tite “Great Chief of the Ma’, an abbreviation for the Libyan tribal name Meshwesh, Some of them created local dynasties of kings. To judge from the scale of Libyan penetration tis entirely rea sonable to conclude that, perhaps on more than one aecasion and spread over a period of time, Egyptian arenes were actually defeated and Libyan groups entered as vietors and took aver the government of many major cites by fore (even though written sources do ‘not document this). Akhough they kept something of their now-Egy pian identiy (idl they continue t speak their own language amongst themselves), they rated within the exis ing system and seem to have been particularly attracted to some of the most prestigious ofthe ents and pricsthoods of Egypt. Two examples will suffie to ustrate this, One is ‘memorial stone set up in the Serapeum at Sakkara, which recor the pity and gencros- lity of the donoe is arranging fo the burial ofa sacted Apis bull at a time close to the end ofthe Libyan political arcendancy’of the 22d Dynasty (Figure |). The donor, Pasenkor, vas both rommander of an army ane high priest of the cult of the god Heryshet at the provincial city of Herakleopotis in Middle Egypt. He added his genealogy, ascending back through fifteen generations, Some of his male ancestors were previous Libyan Kings of Egypt, but most had heen like him, in charge of the temple of Herysbet, The earliest are also termed ‘ygeat chief, and the very frst in the list ie simply called “the Libyan, Buyte ‘wawal, presumably the patriarchal leader of a tribe before the descent into Fgype Who were the ancient Egyptians? = 45, N05) Bayona the Libya Maton potty 7) oats an i | ee atti att Fa] | smn pelt ano nae gastrin mary S| aston: ita =H ol fl] esemen asat is | ov] xdior! —seoseeare ser |] csctkows tegen aso | ‘Nery ‘gor. of Unper Egypt, ctiet priest of Merakieapots, general 2 | ramen orl ett et |e eee eee ee] rates eaterton utp eit, nt w]e rst ot tence ant ne | ake elt td ei igere 1 The groealogy ofthe pret Pascnor who ved inthe reign of Shenk V of the 225 Dynan. Ons comsnrat i hens fn gencaons of anon whe faced fat ings and, ble ten, yan chi pba sued ogy (Neo ane Pa are Ey Taney Fie fn sneer be recognises Byrn wes iu eater to brag be {ito Egypt all the generations represen ey the sae ith of ne, Dea wo hae Ted dy afer theo ofthe New Kinga Te luo it sneer ave Libyan as tse Nemiut Aer KLACRithen, he Th intemal m Exp 100-050 BC), thi ey, ‘amine, (95, 56,48, Tobe 1 ‘The seconel example alsa conccens a high priest of Amun. at Karnak (Piebes) It has Jong been known that, at the end of the New Kingdom, southern Egypt came under the effective rule oF che high priests. This should not be seen as a trum of the clergy: however, since these men also posseised their own armies. The first, Herihor, bore an 46 Bsablishing ideesity Egyptian name, ax di his wile, Nest. As pat ofthe decoration whic he added one of the Theban temples, dedicated tothe goe Kons, were pcre of his sons aud dlaugh- ten. Five of the ingen sons have Libyan names! Masaharta, Maskaharta, Nawasn, Onorkor and probably Madenen. Ie cen fey chat Herr as either another of these succenful Libyan wldiersetter, or dewended frm one. The high pricsdhood of emu remained under their conto fr dhe centuries, ul the establishment of she Sulanese th Dynasty Gee Chapter 8, pp. 348-6)" Aa is so often the ease wit presmoder ison has bec necessary #9 fa o rly upon evidence that is hard 10 quantify and is often aneedval. The tomb of ‘Bera called Fahekamen' might be a nice Mustaion ofa process of naturalization but how peal was 32 AL deren periods ehat was the rate of immigration and absorption? ‘The only pos stiity of quantticaton af population charge Ties in the stay of atual hurnan remains from ancient cemeteries, andthe attempt 10 iden the ethnic origin of individuals or groups This, Bowever, lads to an akogeter sore controversial ubjet. For ne thing, we need wy havea baseline of comparison, thus an agreed view of what the cay ingenious population of Fypt looked like, ane! whom they were most closely related, even perbapse from where they came The peopling of Egypt ‘White (Caucasian) male, in is micesinties, height 5 feet 9 inches (1.75:metes), weight 180 pounds (68 Kile). So. police fle aight describe me, The broadly phrased racial categorization is normal and isan aid to recognition, atleast in my enn country and the USA, I extends ack into the skeleton where it hecomes a means ohelping to establish the ienity of decayed human resains in police cases, As Jong 2s one keeps o very broad cate ‘gories, groups of certain skeletal traits turn out to offer highly reliable guide to placing the hones ofan individual within one category or another, Sines these rcthods afd cate ‘gories became evidence tobe tested in law courts they can be said to posses a reasonable degree of objectivity. The racial categories which ate defined in forensic marnals are three= Mongoloids, Blacks or Negri, and Whites or Caucsoids, An example of the eriteria ix the shape of the nasal aperture: very broad and lacking a sharp lomer border in Blacks, and very narrow anel with a prominent sharp lower border in Whites. Its exact breadth, ‘when combined with other measurements ia a carcfully consucted scoring system and definitions of scope, provides an arithmetical basis for identifying race based on modern reference populations of the USA. tthe skeletal level, defined in this broadest of fashions, Tabare ny whiteness’ with peoples o€ Noeth Afiiea and India ‘The reason for making this point is that conventionally the houndazy berweem Cauca soids and Negroids runs through North Aitica, passing across the Nile valley well ta the south of Egypt, in the nocthers Sudan. Eayplians are thas clased as Caseasoids, alone swith the peoples ofthe Middle East, India and Europe. What i a broad clasification of convenience becomes politically contentious when the ancient Egyptians are also pat into {hie group, and by implication a truly “Arica origin for ancient Ey ation = 18 which black Africans of all parts of she continent, as wel ax Afio-Caribbeans, ean lok ‘wih pride as part oftheir heritage ~ seems wo be questioned Aldkowgh the modern rac= tice of racial leeetiieavion is intended 1 be neutral and descriptive, it easily lies, im the Who were the ancient Rayptiane? a case of ancient Egypt ito a concept af ancestral homelands Might not the evidence show ‘hat the Egyptians, as Caucasoids, ultimately came from the eastern Mediterrancan and Middle Ban? Discussions took thie caurse even into the 19906, most natably on the theme that the development of Egyptian civilization was given a vigorous push by the immnigra- tion around the beginning of the Ist Dynasty ofa orcefut and intelligent peop frm the ca, the ‘dynastic race’, who came to dominate the existing population of predominantly Negtold type. Teday these are nraubled waters which eioa people who wrle about ate Egypt from within the mainstream of schlarship avoid Groupings as broad as this do not correspond with most peopie's conceptions of race whieh recognize mare finely divided stereotypes. The ‘whitenest which [share with people from the Maghreb and the Punjab is obviously far from 'strcet’ experience. Although skin colaur and other superficial aspects play an important part, it has lng heen apparent that genetic distances between populations he modern euphemistic phrasing for race’) are Tellected in set of precise measurements taken at agreed points ot along agreed Fines om the skull, Much thought has been given to ways of pooling sets of skull measurements to produce @ convenient and statistically valid single summary measure, an ‘index’, by which a given ancient population, from say an Early Dynastic cemetery from Abydos, can be ‘compared with an index similasly derived for other groups. But there are many: easoas (0 be Custos in evaluating the resus of such studies Unless population has been isolated to an uawal extent ina way that did not happer in ancient Egypt), the physical, including facia, features ofindvdials within a population can be expected to display a degece of variation swhich ean be quite wide and which may ‘overlap with that present in 2 different population, One ofthe aims of modern studies by anthropologis i to determine whether a particular set of people resembled one another closely or not, Did the population in question tend towards homogeneity oF heterogeneity? The general reader wanting a clear picture of what a particular ancient people looked Hike hopes for the former whereas the ter tends to rule, At Bist sight it might scem that we already know what the ancient Exyptians loaked like {rom the innumerable pictures and statues that they made of themselves. ‘The skeletal evidence, as well ae our own general ‘experience of living in Farge communities, however, warns us that this must disguise a range of variation by time and loeality which att id not reflect, the reason being that absolute likeness was not generally its purpose. Egyptian artists turned the same ability boy which they stercotyped foreigners on to themselves as well. They created an Egyptian stereatype. Archarological samples tend to be quite small, those from Egypt being no exception. TThe statistical pooling process is naturally influenced by the degree of variation from fone individual to another, and sith small samples ~ perhaps uwenty indivials ~ there isa danger thatthe presence af a very few people who were a late unusual in their own day will have a disproportionate effect on aw the averages appear. Moreover, time and again it emenges that ets of measurements taken on male skull differ fom those taken om Females even allowing forthe general natural difference related to stature, This reduces sample ses sil further, more or less by half. Heterogeneity can then be quite marked. Then again, over the kind of long periads of time that archaeologists deal with there is a chance that a degree of genet drift has taken place, an accumulation of tiny modii= ‘ations which in the ene! make later representatives of the same population look a Title dierent from theie ancestors, This i especially likely if the way of Te as changed, 48 Boeablshing identi particularly if this invalves dice One resale of heterogeneity is that the eliagears which fre often wed to illustrate the statistical pooling process will place one population in respect to others ~ for example, an carly Predynastic group from El-Badari (near the smedera village of Qa) compared to 4 mediaeval group from Eda — ina significantly cif ferent part of the chare depending om the exact procecices ofthe individual researcher we are looking for changes to an indigenous population we must frst define what that indigenous papulation was, For Egypt this has meant, in practice, the people represented bby burials im Predynastie cemeteries, for these are che caries human remains which have bbeen four in significant quantities. OF these the very earliest belong to the Badarian culture of Upper Egypt, dated wy around 4400-4000 BC (possibly lie earfer. Yet in terms ofthe history of human prescace in the Nile valley, etherwite represented only by sone tool, the Badarians and othr Predymastic groups are actually quite recent. How can we know if Predynastic Egyptians were not themselves population alzeady modified bby immigration, andl 0 on, ever farther back in time? It could well be that the concept ofan indigenous population of the Nile valley has to remain only a theoretical possibility and that it will never be identiied owing to the extreme carity of the survival of human remains [rom periods prior to the Predymatic (Neolithic) periads. Many tenvof thousands of years of human presence had preceded the Predymaste groups but smallness of umbers and simpler syle of life have not left ws conveniently dense cemeteries to excavate." A rare exception isa Late Stone Age cemetery at Gebel Sahabs, in the northern Sidan. Tt contained the skeletons of about sixty persons (men, women and children) buried over a Period of time somewhere around 12,000 uw 10,000 years ago, a remarkably carly date for such a find.* Primarily a hunting population, from tame ve time they engaged in conic with other groups, for almost half those buried had died violenly, mestly fom flin-tipped weapons, In appearance, there people would not kane fallen. inn am easly identiable modern categary and certainly would not have Fooked like Predvnastic Egyp= tian or Nubians. Instead they shared features with a popalstion of early How apis ‘which i found spread acrase North Alrica and into Europe (Cro-Magnon). ‘heir physial difference from Precynastéc Egyptians implies that the lance were the product of further genetic modification, primarily in the ditection of slenderness of estures (gracliztion). Whether this took place in a stable population all the ine occupying the same part of Egypt or within groups clirwhere who later migrated to the valley, or a combination of the two, we simply eaanot tll fr lack of evidence. We ate also abliged to see these past populations only as shapes. The history of colour (of skin anel eyes and ually of hai, to) ‘romaine completly unknown snc at presen, knowl, TThe importance of appeeciating that the ancient Egyptians, even those om the ently periods, were the result of tens of thousands of years af miceo-esolation and of moverient In that it prepares one for the difficulties of drawing clear conclusions From the mary detailed studies of urman skeleial material (often just the skulls) stich have been recov ‘ered from ancient cemeteries. The subject is, for one ching, dominated by sampling bi Pardly this fs natural, for bones are mucl beter preserved in the ey deserts of the south than in the damper soils of the north, This means thas itis much easier to compase Upper Egyptians with Nubian ancl Sudanese chan itis to compare Lower Egyptians wih the peoples of Palestine and the Near East, another huge area where preservation ix-ustally pot. Partly the bias has been ercated by archacolagists. Mest ofthe thousands of bodies and bone groups discovered in the nineteenth and aver much of the twentieth centuries Whe wore the ancient Eayptiams? 19 they threw away or chusied without record, mitakenlyregerding human remains a fe es imporant than the objects found with them. When they dil calle they teed 10 46 5 torn ease pesiods at the expense of laer pero, Te tent = tha the samples avallable fr study are only a tng, sad and wneprescetative remnant. A notable Lowe pint in available data the New Wingvdom, a time when, from its general air of prosper it is tempting to think of a peak in population numbers. Since this lo appeats, fom his toric sources, to have been a ie of considerable immigration, partly ened, the small Ameuatof shee evidence available for study is patealasy sppeantng, ‘AG 1 way of puting the subject into perspective, cmsider one Fecen comparative study of Egyptian skills hat wes data aken ftom thirty-one cemeteries spread across roughly {bur thousand years from the Badatian period xo he beginning of the Chrisien era ‘The skulls total $058, bot many were not suficinty well preserve fr all de recs sary measurement to be taken al wo the working totals Lea (286) Wanight al ser a reatonable number to work with, except that Ht represents a apn of four thoweand years. That might be [30 geseratins with 3 mean age at ath of thirty in pout tio for ancient Egypt of lt us say conservative, a milion and a Fal on aerage, So during that four thousand years at last two handed milion people will have ied. The 206 selected shuls are thay tiny fraction of | per cent, Morey vcr 40 pe cent ot these come from a single cemetery (Giza) foun te Late Pera leaving tly 60 per ent to represent thirty ses over four thowsarcl years. ving socees socal aSentits nd cpinion-poll analysts are content to work with small samples, but go to area engl to Achieve representative seletions. We cannot da that with aeeltaenlogieal data. We have teork widh what has accidentally and hapbasardly mrsveeh With microncopcaly smal samples and ofen poor knowlege of who they represent iis not surprising that progress in writing @ population histor of ancient Egypu sow, Thea thete ts the question of methods Thon that are accepted with confidence in smovder forensic incetgatons compare an unknown individual with data devived enn modern reference eolleons. The etic afliasions ofthe individuals who make up these ‘alleetions (gaily poor whites and lacks fats the cis of the USA) are known gs the full range oftheir characters, including the colour of weir skin. With ancemt remains there aze naturally no equivalen reference collections where more is kown about the people than whats preserved on their sheleons. Reference collections re the ery thing thatthe anthropologist x stemping 1 erate. Consent t cannot be ase that the refined method of calculation used in ners police cases works othe same dere With {cient populating A recurrent and daconceting tendency forthe {favo the right slong the branches ofthe dendrogram before mcesing a Lishage ine, Inde he tm to “Altca getup cd move reomsbly tan hut lato th ocral crangeencm Ibe rotated tothe top af the diagram, If thtee=dimensional play were to be adopted thin oy ‘would be lot, After FW. Rast, ab fdas wad Egan co Bere vn Acer, Sturyart and New York 1990, 203, Abb. 138 1h (a). Stmilar dendeogram fees the CRANID program) which places Egypt amide popula tions from the main world regia. Im conta (0 the preston dingrane, Egypt epee by Oni a single cemetery th nf the Enc Period at Gx The other enroqrams (peal thre ot Fgare Py pp 56, P) qecnoa how eprevemaite of ences Eqyps the Cx prop ln Aer Nar ‘Sits 23 February 2008, 23, Establishing identity Early Dynastic Periods. When the Blephantine reall are added toa broader pooling of the physical characteristics of poptlations drawn from a wide geographic region ‘which jacades Affica, che Mediterranean and the Near East quite strong alinies cmenge between Elephartine andl populations fram Nubia, supporting the idea of a outhe north cline (Fagare 16b,p. 53) Moving to the apposite geographical extremity, the very small sarnple populations avilable from northern Egypt from before the Ist Dynasty (Merimela, Maaelt and ‘Waal Digla) turn out to be sgnificanly different fom sample populations from carly Palestine and Byblos, suggesting a lack of common ancestors over along time. Hf there ‘was a sauth-north cline af variation along the Nie walley itil mot, ree this Linited, cvidence, continue smoothly on into southern Palestine. of males fron te Egypedan sites group tem with Africans rather than with Eatope- By conrast an exeavated set of around 300 burials fom ‘Tell eLDab'a fn the north- east delta belonging to a group considered to be Pulestinian immigrants living im the late Middle Kingcdom/Second Intermediate Peviod (1730-1550 BC) have physical characteristics which group thern more closely with ancient populations from the Near Eat and ata greater distance from those from Elephantine, although male and female characteristics alo show differences." The Levantine association matches expectations fem archacelogy, and the general reuh encourages confience that skeletal measurt= nent can prodice believable resus, What is unfortunate is thatthe poor conehitions of preservation in the deta mean that no otber delta populations ofthe historic period of significant size are yet availabe for comparison. One right wonder if by this tage in history, the distinction betsven the peoples ofthe easter dea and thove af Palestine apparent in the Predynastc Period (and the subjet of the last parageaph) was begine ning ta break down genraly ‘The moat debated studies are those Based oi groups of carly skulls collected ering the late nineteen andl easly twentieth centuries. Predynastic skulls, all fom Upper Egypt, appear ta be noticeably dlleret is their measurements rom ane Old Kingdon sroup from tombs arounel the pyramids of Giza. This finding prompted ane investiga= tor to claim that the pyramid builders weve a different race frem the people whose descendants they had hitherto heen suppowed ta be’ The change, he explained, was the result af immigration from the cast of peaple who came to form Egype' elite who ruled at indigenous poppalation akin to AFTican peoples living further south, But might this not be a distingtion of geography within Exypt, between populations actually separated by 500 kilometres? More recent studies based! on many of the same skull ‘collections have taken shi view. Taking measurements is ot the only way to describe Skulls, There ste other characteristics to nate (non-metrieal variations) chat might be tensiive genetic markers. Non-metric studies of these very same collections have not substantiated this population divide but have instead found comtimaty rather sham die oatiauity across this perio ef time.” Wadi Halas in the northern Sudan provides a rare cave of cleasly formulated bite torical rable tha could he directly addressed ly new and major excavations.” The arty New Kingcm saw the wholesale eplaceres of iraigenous Nubian culture (the (C-group phase sith purely Egyptian cure, inthis casein a part ofthe Nubian Nile valley not diveetly adjacent to an Egyptian celoatal town (probably part of the terri ‘Who were the ancient Egyptians? 58 tory of Teh-Khet, sce Figure 1, p. 38), ‘The historical problem asks: are we witnessing the old population adopting the styles ofits canguerors or the results of population replacement in which Egyptian immigrant calotists pushed out the local people? Excavations in che [960s provided substantial comparative calletions of skeletons of Dot periods (althouge those of the New Kingdom were badly preserved). Detailed analysis determined that the to series were not identical, but the Later one, instead of looking more ‘Egyptian’, resembled most closely the male population of Suda= ruse site (Kerma) from even farther south, The anthropologist responsible concluded that none oF the hypotheses pat forward fully explained the data, The lack of clear answer in a better-ihan-normal situation underlines the intrinsic difficulties of ena ing skal poplaons wo he curl groups that we const from ober Kind of 6 Ima database of human cranial variation worldwide (CRANID) based on standard: ized sets of measurements, the population that is used to characterize ancient Egypt Ties firmly within « EutoperMedterranean bloe (Figure WGa, p. 32." The original surce is the largest series of skulls from Egypt {1,500}, collected by Peteie in 1907 from a cemetery on & desert ridge ww the south of Giza and dating from the 26th ta the 30th Dynasties. Some of the skull bear weapon injuries. The cultural material found with them is wholly Egyprian, but was small in quantity. Conceivably the com- ‘nity was inumigrant, perhaps meresnaries and heir familise Or it could be thas, by this period, northera Egyptians, so long exposed to populatin vending tomate a greater similarity with European popitlations than had been she ease ea 1, an the other hand, CRANID had wsed one of the Elepharsine populations of the samme peri, the geagraphie asoeiavion would be mock more with African groups ta the south, I is dangeraus to take one set of heleons ancl use them to characterie the popalation of the whole of Egypt. Imagining Egyptian ‘Television has popularized one way of partially answering the question — what did the peoples ofthe past look like ~ by demonstrating the technique nf facial reconstruction, Trained medical artis reconstruct in movellingeclay (or sometimes on computer screen} the features that originally existed in fleshy Gssue over shu. Piancered for police work, ithas been ‘succesfully’ ied an ancicmt skulls, incading afew from Egypt. In a uniquely rich combination of ancient sources Roman Egypt ichiest wo midthint centuries AD) hhas supplied many astonisuingly Ie-like punted porteavals ofthe dead that aecompanicd their mummified remains” Many of these people lived in towns in the Fayum, a fertile casislike region on the western edge ofthe Nile valley, that had by tis ime been settled Dy Greek immigrants, Whilst they retained for & long time mich of thelr Greek cultute, as people they were in the position of eiher immigrant groupe who sctled over the ce tures, and soa would be wrong to say that they were not proper Egyptians, The painted Images appear to be portraits, in vat family groups share faial chaeacterstic, such as a cel chin, whilst examination of eases where the mummy has also sursived reveal cor- espondences between dhe two of age and sex, Fasial econstenesion has been carried out fon the skulls of four of the portrait owners. Two af the reconstructions closely resemble 50 Establishing identioy sous may Lame a pe) ‘i ta po) age 0 tay fewer 0 posttoueesd onan bye 28 Sonor 4D 583 Toston fart Pane Thebes 2K ache W Aan cont 8) arena cr. a0 Toone (Co cai Ft at nt A) “nd ata amici BE) PuY F Figore 17 Me wee a dw dir ct io ne So tn way EST ant ten ce ee ee tk ee Fre ‘irem pie pags Sarason en hey el eee or ee (are) Ou set etry ena n erdlg uneed gases ne ren acne Who were the anciemt Egyptians? 57 ‘Exghavn (mes) | ¢ € €@ 6 "ate gen) Lf. Dentiogram which shows the rete ones o a dance fm oe amar of main Sihy-drce human poplata torn Alta and th Ndacrascen epic The progeam hat no fail or chs vaste Iie he recmug oe expt rope cy cong Sn sna wa depot chong odcting, merges ey cn The exert wo which the Late Herod Gen cemetery rt fpeseate of apt ae daly of one stage in pption change tad dea. Note haw tbe exten diflerence a the Wa Hal sect fom of te et ha ale le of spe to th et i et the dena compari othe Cog fo Teme FA Res Cathet ce ad “pw ar Bohan x gyn, Sgt ae New Monk, Po 2, Ab. 2 Aber, Similar devdecgram for jms in tir ofthe same populations, Athough there an ‘vera siniarty wth the male devirogram,idivioal groups can be give signiiamy

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