Kemet
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History

Heru Over the Nile This should really be called "ourstory." We know all about his story--even the parts we weren't supposed to know. It's our story we are interested in here.

Any description of the history of ancient Kemet is a description of the history of the world. Our brothers and sisters of the Nile go waaaaay back. History is a relative term. Since people around the world were at various stages of development at any given point in time what is prehistory for one group is only ancient times for another. Even if you're not a history buff you may find the following brief history of Kemet quite interesting.

Way in the Day

Geological evidence indicates that early humans were in Egypt 700,000 years ago. To date, the oldest tools found in the lower Nile Valley have been found in and near the cliffs of Abu Simbel, just across the river from where, millennia later, the descendants of these people would build the temple of Rameses II.

"Slightly" later, dating to approximately 500,000 years ago, are various finds of stone tools, including the stone axes that the Lower Paleolithic is noted for. Gertrude Caton-Thompson and Elinor Gardner report industry in the Achulean Period (c. 250,000 - 90,000 BC) of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.

Neanderthal One of the most important finds from the Achulean Period is known as Arkin 8, discovered by Polish archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski near the the Nile Valley town of Wadi Halfa. Arkin 8, unlike many Paleolithic sites in Egypt, was not only remarkably well-preserved, but astonishingly rich. Arkin 8 boasts the earliest known house-like structures in Egypt and the Sudan, some of the oldest buildings in the world.

During the middle paleolithic period the Mousterian Pluvial 1 allowed human culture to flourish and spread throughout the regions of northern Africa. For roughly twenty thousand years (between 50,000-30,000 years ago) our still Neanderthal ancestors developed the Aterian and Khormusan Industries 2 which standardized the making of various tools that greatly increased the efficiency of their lives in many areas.

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The Mousterian Pluvial ended a few centuries before the beginning of the Upper paleolithic period causing the dispersed African population to move closer to the Nile to escape the encrouching desert conditions of the Sahara. Most of the known data about this period comes from the archelogical site Kom Ombo located on the east bank of the Nile in the southern area of Upper Egypt. Based on the artifacts they left behing the technological developments in Kemet were not parallel with those found in Europe. While the Kemetians seemed to be behing 3 the Europeans in the rather backward way they made burins 4 . However, the discovery of the Silsillian (c. 13,000 BC) Stone Tools effectively puts the early Kemetians back at the forefront of prehistoric technological development. Sisillian was a highly-developed microblade industry that included truncated blades, blades of unusual shapes made specifically for one task, and most significant of all, a wide variety of bladelets for mounting onto spears, darts, and arrows. There is almost no trace of earlier techniques such as Levalloisian, and Silsillian blades in some cases are thousands of years ahead of anything found in Europe from this period.

Sisillians ushered in the creation of microliths--small bladed used mostly as sickles which sets the date for dome primitive form of farming much earlier than was thought. The concentration of artifacts found in the small sites of the Halfan people gfives evidence that these early (18,000-15,000 BC) Kemetians were not wandering nomads but had sttled into more or less stable communities.

As additional evidence of the advanced nature of these prehistoric Kemetian cultures archeologist have found three Qadan cemeteries are: one at Tushka, and two at Jebel Sahaba, one on each side of the river. Along with these cemetaries is evidence of ritual burial.

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Probably due to climatic conditions for some reason the Kemetians abandoned farming and herding shortly ater they were developed and returned to a nomadic hunter-gatherer culture. Fatal wounds found in a strikenly large number of the bodies 5 in these cemetaries during the last 10,000 years of the paleolithic period suggests that these people were attacked en masse--possibly by invaders seeking to take over the regions of the Nile as the Sahara continued to succomb to aridity after the end of the Mousterian Pluvian. This is likely for throughout history scarcity haas prompted more aggressive peoples to attack andmassacre peoples who live in lands of comparative plenty.

Vase Around 6 or 7,000 BC while the rest of the world at large was still in the darkness of primitivism, the Predynastic Egyptians were already creating a world of beauty. The periods known as the Epipaleolithic and Predynastic saw the aKemetians replacing stone tools with metal ones, tanning, decorative pottery, jewelry, weaving, carpentry and a return to settlements with farmiing.

This is also when they developed their religious beliegs in life after death as evinnnnced by the placement of artifacts and food in tombs for the survival and comfort of the dead. Interestingly enough, the dead were buried in a fetal position facing West. I guess this was so that they could follow the sun (Heru) into the afterworld.

Predynasric Period

Previously archeologists believed that the transition between Predynastic and Dynastic was the result of a brutal series of revolutions and warfare resulting from the discovery of metallurgy and the new social structures such as cities, individual dwellings, and writing. Yet as more and more details of this period emerged, we see that it was nothing of the sort, but rather the slow process of technological evolution.

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The Predynastic period is comprised of three distinct staged of development.

Chalcolithic (5,500 BC)
AKA the "Primitive" Predynastic, marks the beginning of the true Predynastic cultures. For the most part the south, especially the Baldarian, practiced an agraian culture while the north depended heavily on hunting and fishing.
Amratian (4,500 BC)
This period is marked by true architecture, individual dwellings, towns and even "urban planning." The Kemetian artist also came into his own with beautiful geometric shapes in paintings and carvings and the well known dancing figurines of women with upraided arms.
Gerzean (4,000 BC)
Although the Amratian period is often designated Naqada I while the Gerzean period is often designated Naqada Ii these are two distinct cultures. During the Gerzean period the north begins to have a great ingluence on the south creating a mingling between the two. Gerzean artistry also evinces that they were familiar with subsesert animals such as the ostrich and the Ibexes which were not found in the Nile region. We also began to see the first depictions of mythological imagery 6 . Most of these mythological images are shown riding in boats and carrying standards very much like the standards later used to represent Kemetian provinces.
Ramses

Dynastic Period

Although this website has separate sections for the historical and theological aspects of ancient Kemet there reallywas no divide between the spiritual and mundane aspects of life for the Kemetians. The political, social and economic practices of the society were directly influenced by the spiritual understanding or how such practices should e carried out. Even buildings were built according to divine laws.

However, in this section we can look at some interesting facts about ancient Kemet.

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The earliest Kemetians formed an agricultural society around the then fertile Nile valley about five thousand years ago. Their civilization lasted for some three thousand years--longer than any other civilization known to man.

A Pharoah

Politcs

The word Pharaoh means "great house" and was used to refer to the ruler's palace until the New Kingdom when it it was used in refence to the ruler himself. The ruler was sometimes refered to as nefer netjer "good god" and sometimes as aa netjer "great god."

The rulers also had five royal titles one of which he received at birth the other four were bestwed upon him when he was crowned. The first two refered to him as the ruler of the two lands that were united" "the Sedge and the Bee" Nesw Bity and "He of the Two Ladies" Nebty . The other two, "Horus" Heru and "Golden Horus " Nebw , symbolize his identification with God. In fact. at his coronation the ruler wold re-enact the ascension of Heru to the throne after the death of his father Osiris.

In accordance with this close asociation with God the ruler had absolute life and death sovereignty over the people. As a lesser (mortal) little g god the pharoahs stood as mediators between God and men. As such their job was to enforce the divine order that preserved the universe.

People

Society

As you can see from the dynastic timeline the civilization of ancient Kemet began long before the Europeans came out of their caves and it lasted many thousands of years before the white man did come out of his cave and destroyed it. This civiliztion was not based in any respect on the ideals or worldviews of Europe or any other non-African society.

In general ancient Kemetian society was predicated upon its spiritual system. Spirituality was so much an integral part of every aspect of society that they did not even give it a name such as Christianity or Buddhism. Spirituality did not stand apart as a category of society separate from other categories such as religion, government, education etc.

In the Metu Neter Ra Un Nefer Amen describes how spirituality informed on Kemetic life

Order in the land was maintained by a system that effectively developed the moral faculties in people, and by only allowing such men and women who had developed their moral faculties to hold positions of government.
Compare this to western society where order js maintained by law makers, law enforcement officers and religious leaders who are no more morally and/or spiritually developed than those they are trying to control. Also compare this to western religions which teach that man is inherently evil and incapable of internal moral discipline and so such religions merely give people systems of fables to believe and contradictory moral doctrines to try to follow exoterically.

There are many aspects of Kemetian society that deserve exploration. However, for the purpose of this website we will focus on a few of the most fundamental aspcts.

Dynastic Timeline

There were 31 dynasties in ancient Kemet spanning from 2920-332 BC.

Early Dynastic Period

Old Kingdom

First Intermediate Period

The three intermediate periods are times of tremendous governmental instability marked by short. overlapping reigns and disunity.

Middle Kingdom

Second Intermediate Period

The Hyksos invade and conquer. Eventually the Theban princes regain power. Kamose defeats the Hyksos.

New Kingdom

Third Intermediate Period

The capital is moved from one city to another several times during this particularly turbulant period

Late Period

Foreign Invaders

From this period to the present time Kemet has been under the rule of foreign invaders. As European, Mediteranian and Middle Eastern empires expandad southwards they subjugated the Land of the Blacks. One should make no mistake about who built the original civilizations. Even as whites have ridiculed African -American culture then copied that very culture as if they had created it so they have done the same with Kemetian culture. Below are the names of those who have usurped our heritage.

Macedonian Kings - Alexandria

332-304

Ptolemaic Dynasty

323-40 BC

Roman Emperors

30 BC-324 AD

Byzantine Christian Period

306-634

Islamic Period

French Occupation Period

Napolean Years

British Occupation Period

1883-1942

1 A long age of steady and seasonal rainfall. The Sahara Desert has been subject to a number of pluvial eras in its history, the last one ending around 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. The cycle of pluvials in various desert sites around the world have been positively linked to the cycle of ice ages.
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2 An archaeological and anthropological term meaning that a set method of making tools and other artifacts has been created and the artifacts are now mass-produced. It does not imply any kind of monetary or trade situation; merely that a certain group of people have begun to make things the same way.
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3 One has to say "seemed to be behind" because archeologists use the presence of burins here as evidence that this area is from the upper paleolithic period when in fact it may be from an earlier period in which case they would be predecessors not contemporaries of the European tools.
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4 small, stubby, pointed tools made of flakes and characterized by long, narrow flakes forming a point
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5 The tips of stone instruments where found in various places in their bodies--mostly the chest, some in the lower absomen and some in the sjull. Since bone tissue begins to heal very quickly and there is no sign of such healing in these bodies it is assomed that these peole died violently before the healing could began.
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6 These are personifications of divine principles commonly misconstrued as "gods." In truth the Kemetian recognized only one Supreme Being but like the Israelites would do later they gave that Being many different names according to His/Her attributes
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7 Some list Narmer as belonging to Dynasty 0 prior to unification. However he is the first Kemetian monarch depicted wearing both the white crown of Upper Kemet and the red crown of Lower Kemet.
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8 Stjt is thought to be a reference to Syria-Palestine
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Copyright 2006 by Rhonda Johnson. All rights reserved.