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14.01.2023 Feature Article

Against present challenges: Glories of ancient Sudan back to the limelight

Against present challenges: Glories of ancient Sudan back to the limelight
14.01.2023 LISTEN

Premised on the common perception that all humans alive today can be traced back to a common ancestor, a new study may have found where that ancestor originates. The British Telegraph newspaper reported last December that a new research study by the research team of Dr. Jan Wang of Oxford's Big Data Institute, have mapped the entirety of genetic relationships among humans, thus, paving the way for the creation of a massive global hereditary family tree, and eventually concluded that Sudan might have been the ancestral home of everybody alive today.

The credibility of the results of this research has been reflected in the exceptional interest manifested by prestigious scientific and research bodies on the results of this study, such as the Journal of Science and Harvard University, which is one of the most important research and academic institutions in our world today, along with the British Newspaper the Independent.



In a related story, it was not by mistake that the release of this results, has coincided with the publication of yet another important article by Emma Thomson, in National Geographic. Emma says (Powered by agriculture, ancient Sudan’s great civilizations thrived and erected mighty temples and tombs honoring their gods, kings, queens, and nobles. Their building boom left behind some 255 pyramids... “It’s the biggest congregation of pyramids in the world,”)

Emma who is a renowned activist, award winning writer and actress concludes her interesting article by saying (It’s a strong message and one that’s inspired a fresh wave of national pride. For just as Ancient Greece informed so much of today’s European culture, so too did Nubia shape Sudan. It is the bedrock that formed the country’s sense of self and identity. Understanding this history suggests a way forward for Sudan.)

On the other hand, and interestingly enough, holy scriptures might have preceded everyone in referring to Sudan as the cradle of humanity. For instance, the first thing mentioned about Sudan came in the Torah of Moses in Genesis, written between 1450-1410 BC. " …. God created man and put him in the Garden of Eden, which comes out of the river and one of these rivers is the River Gihon (the Nile) in the land of Cush "

In line with the biblical text, the Sudan is an extension of the land, which lies hidden paradise in scope among the three countries, including Yemen, and Iraq (Genesis 2:13). Likewise, pursuant to the Hebrew Bible, Cush was the oldest son of Ham and a grandson of Noah. He was the brother of Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. Cush was the father of Nimrod, a king usually referred to by historians as “the first heroic warrior on earth".

By the same token, reviewing the prophecies in the Bible about Kush, Dr. Akram Habib, in one of his lectures in the city of Brighton UK, in September 2014, goes on enumerating some compelling evidence that Kush, mentioned about 40 times in the Bible (albeit in different names) is only the current Sudan.

That in a way or another, dispels an intriguing ambiguity and conceptual confusion the terms Sudan and Ethiopia in ancient history convey different entities, whereas it is the opposite; both Kush and Ethiopia, among others, were literally, old names for the Sudan of today. Fortunately, some Bible translations in contemporary European languages such as English, use the name "Sudan" as an alternative to Kush and Ethiopia.

At the end of the day, it's no secret, that it was Emperor Haile Selassie, who picked Ethiopia as a name for his country recently after World War I, most probably to honor the memory of King Ezana (330 and 356 AD)., the ruler of the Kingdom of Axum, (no less equally great ancient kingdom, located in what is now Eritrea and Ethiopia) whose fame is derived from invading Meroe, the capital of Ethiopia (Sudan) and braggingly dubbed himself at that time, as the King of kings.

As a matter of fact, stone tools have been discovered in the Sudan in recent years of pottery, besides traces of the prosperity of leather and timber manufacturing belonging to the ancient and modern stone ages, date back more than hundred thousand years B.C., thus out-living the age of neighboring civilizations that does not exceed 10 thousand years.

Additionally, the research published by Humphris & Thomas Scheibner, on the ancient iron mines of Meroic era of the Sudan, clearly exposes the presence of a Kushite iron production tradition spanning over one thousand years.

The said research goes on to conclude that the Sudanese royal city of Meroe, must have been the Birmingham of ancient Africa; the smoke of its iron smelting furnaces must have been continually going up to heaven, and that it might have been the main iron supplier to the whole of northern Africa.

In the light of the foregoing, Sudan must have been the gateway to the first migratory herds of Sudanese ancestors to Europe, Asia and Middle East, necessarily carrying with them to their new homelands, a broad range of flourishing skills, such as agriculture, taming of wild animal, grazing, iron smelting, fine architecture of palaces and temples, to name a few.

As a matter of fact, the announcement that Sudan might have been the ancestral home of everybody alive in the world today, comes in align with not to say, reinforcement to the statements and assumptions made by successive archaeologists, who were closely engaged in unearthing and documentation of mind boggling archaeological wonders of Sudan ancient civilization especially during the last two or three decades.

In this regard, there are not enough words to express the gratitude of our people to the outstanding and invaluable efforts of the Swiss archaeologist Charles Bonnet, who spent 43 years of his life, with diligence and unwavering determination in Sudan’s vast desert and under its scorching sun, in pursuit of proving a single assumption; that Sudan truly possesses the world’s most diverse and oldest civilization. As Bonnet himself put it " I found out that the origin of human civilization started here and that Sudanese Kerma civilization is the oldest human civilization. Interestingly, preempting and preceding in a way or another, the findings of Oxford Information Institute, referred to in the opening paragraph of this article.

In fact, Bonnet’s excavations and his studies, helped in rewriting the region’s ancient history His contributions to the new (Kerma) site museum allowed, inter alia, a more balanced assessment of this African civilization, which has long been hidden in the shadow of neighboring Egypt, as a reflection of Egypt or an Egyptian out-post. In other words, the Nubian civilization was indeed a civilization that stands on its own, with its unique identity.

On his part, his fellow German colleague, Professor. D. Wildung, the former director of Egyptian Museum in Berlin, went perhaps an extra mile in celebrating the Nubian ancient culture. According to him " when Egypt woke up that is to say 4500. P C. the Sudan had already an established long cultural tradition”.

According to Prof. Wildung, the cultural evolution in the Sudan antedated its counter Egyptian one with around 500 years, and thereby worthy to be pointed to as the roots of the pharaonic civilization. " the roots of all European civilization lie overall, in the north of the current Sudan” the leading German archeological professor goes on to conclude.

Such paradigm shift, could have behind the official regret and apology of the MFA’s (Museum of Fine Arts) in Boston, for its presumable role in the systematic forgery of Nubian ancient history. To that very effect, MFA’s apology should be read in the framework of a wider campaign aims to redress and set right, the longstanding systematic prejudices, misrepresentation and distortion, practiced against African old history and civilizations.

Thanks to MFA, which opened its doors for the public in 1876 and which currently welcomes approximately 1.2 million visitors each year, for having started to display few years ago, a collection of hundreds of Nubian artifacts and priceless treasures (jewelry, pottery, sculptures and metalwork), showcasing the artistry that flourished during the Nubian era. in recognition of the grandeur of ancient Nubian civilization.

With due thanks to the efforts of the Nubian Square Coalition(NGO), the glow of symbolic restitution for such historical injustices against the Nubian civilization extended to include multiple other events, for instance, the renaming of the biggest square in the primary commercial center of Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, from Dudley Square to Nubian Square. Equally, the name of the very neighborhood’s main bus station was changed to become the Nubian Station.

More importantly, Boston City Education Council has decided to include the history of Nubian civilization in schools’ curricula, as an integral part of the world human heritage. A benign gesture to enable children to learn the true history of Africa; when Africans were kings and queen warriors, pioneers of science, astronomy, arts and mining, just to name a few. These noble gestures serve in re-instilling, at the end of the day, a sense of dignity and respect for African history, consistently subjected to counterfeiting by repugnant racist myths,

In line with the above, commenting on the importance of these discoveries in Sudan, The French archaeologist Claude Rilly, an internationally renowned Egyptologist specialized in the Meroite Language, puts it “Just as Europeans look at ancient Greece symbolically as their father or mother, Africans can look at Kush as their great ancestor.”

Quoting an article published by Sudan Now Magazine in July 2018 Prof. Rilly wrote “Sudan has undergone millennia of civilizations and had not yet revealed the secrets of its history. The sensors of archeologists have so far reached very little of Sudan’s history and there are many more treasures to unveil in the history of Sudan,”

Prof. Rilly wrote, it is the Sudan, the legendary country from where the luxury products used to come to our monarchs. It is the people of Sudan whom Homer mentioned several times and described them as the most pious within mankind and whom Herodotus had described as a nation of miraculously long-living people, and who cherish utmost wisdom. The ancient Egyptians had described the Nubians as the powerful magicians who kidnap a Pharaoh (Egyptian) with their magic at night, beat him in their homeland and return him at dawn quite exhausted, with whip scars covering his body.

The article goes on enumerating more attributions to the Nubians such as the first to have had tamed wild African cattle and even elephant. The ceramics of Nubia according to Prof. Rilly, had reached striking beauties, beauties the world had never known before. During the Middle Ages, the Dongola and Faras painters had produced incomparable wall drawings.

On her part, the distinguished British-Sudanese journalist who has presented the documentary series “The History of Africa” on the BBC, says “At its height, the Kingdom of Kush was a dominant regional power and that Kush’s surviving archaeological remains “reveal a fascinating and uncelebrated ancient people the world has forgotten.”

I can't find the best to conclude with this article, other than some relevant excerpts, from an important article written by Ambassador the late Dr. Hassan Abidin, published in Al Rakouba Electronic Newspaper in February 2014. According to Dr. Abdin, we need to re-read the history of Sudan, as an inherent part of the continent's history, and rather as one of its chapters, in terms of the relationship of African societies with each other and equally Africa's relationship with the outside world. However, without losing sight of the fact that some of Sudan's history has been closely contacted and influenced by Arab and Islamic cultures. Such realities are non-controversial and cannot be jumped over, whether in Sudan or other parts of the continent, albeit, with varying degrees.

Despite the challenges Sudan faces today, in rebuilding a modern democratic and civil state. At a time, ambiguity and complexity currently mars the political and economic landscape, the bright history that Sudan’s forefathers have left behind, filling the horizon with their wisdom, epics, talents, and artistry, must continue to be, not only a source of national pride and self-confidence but also a guiding beacon, an inexhaustible reservoir for insight, strength and inspiration.

finally, yet importantly. We in Sudan were once a great nation, and against all odds, we do have all what it takes, to become great again. It is our collective responsibility to work enormously for the preservation of that hope.

Mubarak Mahgoub Musa

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