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From a green Sahara
A visit to the sand blown ruins of past civilisations along the Nile in Sudan can inspire many questions. Who built them and why, and how did people live in them? Many of the monuments are huge, complex structures, intricately carved and decorated, and they are still sitting there after thousands of years. When first discovered, that is by archaeologists, it was assumed that the ruins provided evidence of the greatness of Egyptian civilisation on its southward march. Further study revealed that ancient Nubia was a cradle of civilisation, and its Kingdom of Kush built empires that ruled Egypt. More recent research by archaeologists is beginning to paint another picture. They are paying attention, not only to clues about the plants and animals that were around back then, but also what the climate was like. Cities and built-up areas, from ancient to modern, are integral with their hinterland.
In the 1970’s researchers began to discover that the Sahara and the Arabian Deserts were once covered in grasses, trees and lakes. The Sahara was watered by monsoon rains from the Atlantic and Indian oceans, in a similar way to the Sahel is today. The inhabitants of the green Sahara lived as nomadic hunter gatherers who domesticated sheep, goats and aurochs – the wild ancestors of modern cattle – and became pastoralists. They left extraordinary images of their world in rock paintings. Then about 6000 years ago, the Sahara began to dry out. The pastoralists congregated around more reliable sources of water, like the seasonal playa lakes, or they moved south across the whole continent, or they began to settle along the Nile where farming was becoming an option as the boggy swamps also dried out.
Expansion, diversification, connections
In the region of what is now Lower Nubia, forms of Nilotic kingship began to appear, known by archaeologists as the A and C group. They were part of a fluid population pattern. If the Nile provided a constant source of water and encouraged settlement and farming, the nomadic communities developed management systems for living in the semi-arid Sahel climate and producing large quantities of livestock. Both lifestyles gave opportunities for trade and cultural exchange, whether between themselves or further afield, and communities also combined lifestyles. This is the landscape that needs examining more carefully to understand how the different lifestyles and livelihoods interacted. The same tribes or families could be involved across the spectrum, in peace or conflict, much as they can be to this day.
The reasons for the drying out of the Sahara are not the same as those behind today’s climate change, which are accelerating an underlying event. This has to do with a wobble in the tilt in the axis of the earth and a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes. In effect, the seasonal rain line that once turned the land green across north Africa has been moving steadily south in a 17,000-year cycle. The point being made here is that the rain line is connected to cycles of cultural exchange. Whatever was built along the banks of the Nile, was part of a much larger pattern of exchange, dependency and interaction, the history of which can be more easily understood if you pay attention to climate.
Rain lines, cattle migration and moving cities
The evidence of this narrative can be found in the migration of Nilotic cities. The change from the Napatan to Meroitic period saw the move of the capital from Jebel Barkal south to Meroe. This movement was not due to an invading Egyptian force, as Meroitic culture remained dominant in the North, but to the shift in the rain belt. Over the two millennia since the Old Kingdom, it had moved so far south cattle could no longer make the migration across the Bayuda desert. Trading continued but the old route, and the drying out of the Wadi Maqqadam as a permanent floodway, made Jebel Barkal unviable. Meroe took over as the centre of cattle trade.
Over the following millennia nomadic cattle herding spread across the Sahel. Kingdoms linked to each other from east to west and trade routes developed alongside seasonal migrations. Archaeological remains from the first settlements in Darfur date to Post Meroitic times and correspond with settlements further west. Although the Nile valley continued as a major north-south route, routes to the coast were also developing as Roman galleys helped link trade along the Red Sea coast to Persia and India.
The role of the cattle nomads persisted throughout the history of the Sahel. It is a form of land management that when done well suits the landscape and climate and is sustainable. Cattle culture iconography can be found in the remains of early Christian kingdoms, which moved south from Nubia to Soba and became the centre of a Christian Kingdom that stretched from Aksum to Istanbul. The arrival of Islam did not suddenly change the picture, but the adoption of the camel as a mode of transport did radically alter nomadic life. The Nile was no longer the only way to the north. Kingdoms across the Sahel had access to trade and developed into small kingdoms. Initially, many had Christian links but the spread of Islam along the long-distance routes that bypassed Egypt, contributed to their Islamic development. The cultural forms of the Nile Valley, the gubbas and mosques, which reflected the earlier pyramids and churches, spread across the Sahel from the Red Sea hills to the Darfur mountains.
In the 16th century Sennar became the capital of the Fung Sultanate, again in proximity to pastoralists, and in early the 19th century the Ottomans established their capital in El Obeid to be close to the nomadic trade from the south and west. The modern development of Sudan, in contrast, was dominated by new forms of transport, like the paddle steamer and train, which did not depend on the rains for their reach. Khartoum was chosen for its defensive position. It sits just on the edge of today’s rain belt.
Brothers
More research has been done on the tangible remains of ancient, settled communities and the monuments they built, rather than on the history of living heritage, its seasonal landscapes and livelihoods. We can say, however, that two large groupings did emerge by the beginning of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The settled communities north of Aswan focused on the seasonal inundation of the Nile, with access to cattle husbandry in the Delta. Alongside their agriculture they developed mortuary cults and written records. Those to the south focused on nomadic cattle herding with trade links across the Sahel and a mobile culture.
In the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the two lifestyles were represented by the myth of Horus, the Nile dweller, and Seth the herder, and their story was one of complex power relations. In the original texts describing the supposed invasion of Nubia by the Old Kingdom Pharaohs, the story is about a trade journey where the northern kings relied on permission from their Nubian neighbours to carry out their trade with the south. During the Middle Kingdom the Egyptian Pharaohs built massive forts to protect themselves from their southern neighbours. The breakdown of Egypt in the intermediate periods was in part due to rain failures further south, as well as invasion from Asiatic people in the north. This problem did not affect the nomadic southern Nubian kingdoms as much because when the rains moved, they moved with them. If they were invaded, as happened in the beginning of the New Kingdom, they moved south. The Sahel had no limiting boundaries, it was a vast territory governed by the rain and crisscrossed by cattle and camel migrations and trade routes.
The history of the settled Nile kingdoms is intrinsically related to the nomad populations who inhabited not only the lands to the south but also the delta and the deserts. Seen as a group they each developed specific skills and they needed each other, whether for trade goods, manpower or warriors, agricultural produce or access to cattle for temple and tomb sacrifices or meat and leather. The Nile valley settlements, whilst sustainable due to the regular flood, were also vulnerable to famine, diseases and flood, and the occasional cataclysm, including invasions. The cults that grew up around the myths of Horus and Seth were part of a shared heritage. The Amun temples in Aswan and Jebel Barkal included depictions of nomadic traders as part of the historic record. They depict the Egyptians as a dominant culture but reliant on their neighbours for trade goods, cattle and slaves.
What the recent research suggests is that from the beginning there was a continuous and dynamic cycle of cultural exchange between settled and nomadic communities, spurred on by people reverting to one or other lifestyle, or combining both, as they adapted to the changing climate pushing them south. In this scenario nomads could become farmers, or farmers, nomadic tradesmen, and so on. Evidence can be found in many aspects of Sudan’s living heritage. The music, dance, decorations, costumes characteristic of the Nile Valley, for example, illustrate deep links with nomadic culture. If the cherished temples and tombs of the Nile Valley were built to celebrate immortal life, they did so within a fabric of living heritage that continues to this day within the extended family that is Sudan.
Cover picture: Nawa Island, north of Karima, is badly affected by desertification. © Issam Ahmed Abdelhafeiz
From a green Sahara
A visit to the sand blown ruins of past civilisations along the Nile in Sudan can inspire many questions. Who built them and why, and how did people live in them? Many of the monuments are huge, complex structures, intricately carved and decorated, and they are still sitting there after thousands of years. When first discovered, that is by archaeologists, it was assumed that the ruins provided evidence of the greatness of Egyptian civilisation on its southward march. Further study revealed that ancient Nubia was a cradle of civilisation, and its Kingdom of Kush built empires that ruled Egypt. More recent research by archaeologists is beginning to paint another picture. They are paying attention, not only to clues about the plants and animals that were around back then, but also what the climate was like. Cities and built-up areas, from ancient to modern, are integral with their hinterland.
In the 1970’s researchers began to discover that the Sahara and the Arabian Deserts were once covered in grasses, trees and lakes. The Sahara was watered by monsoon rains from the Atlantic and Indian oceans, in a similar way to the Sahel is today. The inhabitants of the green Sahara lived as nomadic hunter gatherers who domesticated sheep, goats and aurochs – the wild ancestors of modern cattle – and became pastoralists. They left extraordinary images of their world in rock paintings. Then about 6000 years ago, the Sahara began to dry out. The pastoralists congregated around more reliable sources of water, like the seasonal playa lakes, or they moved south across the whole continent, or they began to settle along the Nile where farming was becoming an option as the boggy swamps also dried out.
Expansion, diversification, connections
In the region of what is now Lower Nubia, forms of Nilotic kingship began to appear, known by archaeologists as the A and C group. They were part of a fluid population pattern. If the Nile provided a constant source of water and encouraged settlement and farming, the nomadic communities developed management systems for living in the semi-arid Sahel climate and producing large quantities of livestock. Both lifestyles gave opportunities for trade and cultural exchange, whether between themselves or further afield, and communities also combined lifestyles. This is the landscape that needs examining more carefully to understand how the different lifestyles and livelihoods interacted. The same tribes or families could be involved across the spectrum, in peace or conflict, much as they can be to this day.
The reasons for the drying out of the Sahara are not the same as those behind today’s climate change, which are accelerating an underlying event. This has to do with a wobble in the tilt in the axis of the earth and a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes. In effect, the seasonal rain line that once turned the land green across north Africa has been moving steadily south in a 17,000-year cycle. The point being made here is that the rain line is connected to cycles of cultural exchange. Whatever was built along the banks of the Nile, was part of a much larger pattern of exchange, dependency and interaction, the history of which can be more easily understood if you pay attention to climate.
Rain lines, cattle migration and moving cities
The evidence of this narrative can be found in the migration of Nilotic cities. The change from the Napatan to Meroitic period saw the move of the capital from Jebel Barkal south to Meroe. This movement was not due to an invading Egyptian force, as Meroitic culture remained dominant in the North, but to the shift in the rain belt. Over the two millennia since the Old Kingdom, it had moved so far south cattle could no longer make the migration across the Bayuda desert. Trading continued but the old route, and the drying out of the Wadi Maqqadam as a permanent floodway, made Jebel Barkal unviable. Meroe took over as the centre of cattle trade.
Over the following millennia nomadic cattle herding spread across the Sahel. Kingdoms linked to each other from east to west and trade routes developed alongside seasonal migrations. Archaeological remains from the first settlements in Darfur date to Post Meroitic times and correspond with settlements further west. Although the Nile valley continued as a major north-south route, routes to the coast were also developing as Roman galleys helped link trade along the Red Sea coast to Persia and India.
The role of the cattle nomads persisted throughout the history of the Sahel. It is a form of land management that when done well suits the landscape and climate and is sustainable. Cattle culture iconography can be found in the remains of early Christian kingdoms, which moved south from Nubia to Soba and became the centre of a Christian Kingdom that stretched from Aksum to Istanbul. The arrival of Islam did not suddenly change the picture, but the adoption of the camel as a mode of transport did radically alter nomadic life. The Nile was no longer the only way to the north. Kingdoms across the Sahel had access to trade and developed into small kingdoms. Initially, many had Christian links but the spread of Islam along the long-distance routes that bypassed Egypt, contributed to their Islamic development. The cultural forms of the Nile Valley, the gubbas and mosques, which reflected the earlier pyramids and churches, spread across the Sahel from the Red Sea hills to the Darfur mountains.
In the 16th century Sennar became the capital of the Fung Sultanate, again in proximity to pastoralists, and in early the 19th century the Ottomans established their capital in El Obeid to be close to the nomadic trade from the south and west. The modern development of Sudan, in contrast, was dominated by new forms of transport, like the paddle steamer and train, which did not depend on the rains for their reach. Khartoum was chosen for its defensive position. It sits just on the edge of today’s rain belt.
Brothers
More research has been done on the tangible remains of ancient, settled communities and the monuments they built, rather than on the history of living heritage, its seasonal landscapes and livelihoods. We can say, however, that two large groupings did emerge by the beginning of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The settled communities north of Aswan focused on the seasonal inundation of the Nile, with access to cattle husbandry in the Delta. Alongside their agriculture they developed mortuary cults and written records. Those to the south focused on nomadic cattle herding with trade links across the Sahel and a mobile culture.
In the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the two lifestyles were represented by the myth of Horus, the Nile dweller, and Seth the herder, and their story was one of complex power relations. In the original texts describing the supposed invasion of Nubia by the Old Kingdom Pharaohs, the story is about a trade journey where the northern kings relied on permission from their Nubian neighbours to carry out their trade with the south. During the Middle Kingdom the Egyptian Pharaohs built massive forts to protect themselves from their southern neighbours. The breakdown of Egypt in the intermediate periods was in part due to rain failures further south, as well as invasion from Asiatic people in the north. This problem did not affect the nomadic southern Nubian kingdoms as much because when the rains moved, they moved with them. If they were invaded, as happened in the beginning of the New Kingdom, they moved south. The Sahel had no limiting boundaries, it was a vast territory governed by the rain and crisscrossed by cattle and camel migrations and trade routes.
The history of the settled Nile kingdoms is intrinsically related to the nomad populations who inhabited not only the lands to the south but also the delta and the deserts. Seen as a group they each developed specific skills and they needed each other, whether for trade goods, manpower or warriors, agricultural produce or access to cattle for temple and tomb sacrifices or meat and leather. The Nile valley settlements, whilst sustainable due to the regular flood, were also vulnerable to famine, diseases and flood, and the occasional cataclysm, including invasions. The cults that grew up around the myths of Horus and Seth were part of a shared heritage. The Amun temples in Aswan and Jebel Barkal included depictions of nomadic traders as part of the historic record. They depict the Egyptians as a dominant culture but reliant on their neighbours for trade goods, cattle and slaves.
What the recent research suggests is that from the beginning there was a continuous and dynamic cycle of cultural exchange between settled and nomadic communities, spurred on by people reverting to one or other lifestyle, or combining both, as they adapted to the changing climate pushing them south. In this scenario nomads could become farmers, or farmers, nomadic tradesmen, and so on. Evidence can be found in many aspects of Sudan’s living heritage. The music, dance, decorations, costumes characteristic of the Nile Valley, for example, illustrate deep links with nomadic culture. If the cherished temples and tombs of the Nile Valley were built to celebrate immortal life, they did so within a fabric of living heritage that continues to this day within the extended family that is Sudan.
Cover picture: Nawa Island, north of Karima, is badly affected by desertification. © Issam Ahmed Abdelhafeiz
