UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
minerals. ' 5 The Nubians, famous for their archery, held a prominent place
in the Egyptian army. They were brought in, too, as agricultural labourers
(during the Middle Kingdom, for instance, at Al Fayyum, where villages
are identifiable by their name: Villages of the Nubians), but were fairly
quickly assimilated into Egyptian socio-cultural life. Probably at the end of
the first dynasty, changes occurred in Nubia which in all likelihood
upset relations with Egypt. The slow emergence of Group G, which
appears not to have been fully constituted until the fifth dynasty, leaves
a gap of five centuries in our knowledge of these relations.
The Egyptians began to organize their links with the Sudan at the
end of the fifth dynasty. During the same period, a new political and
economic post was established known as the Governor of the South. The
holder was responsible for guarding the southern gate of Egypt, for
organizing commercial exchanges and facilitating the circulation of trading
expeditions. This post required certain qualifications, among which was a
knowledge of trade and of the languages of the inhabitants of the regions.
Unas, a Governor of the South under the sixth dynasty, was in command
of recruits from different parts of Nubia: Nehesi (Nubians) from the land of
Irhtet, Madja, Yam, Wawat and Kau.
At the end of the Old Kingdom trade relations between Egypt and the
Sudan were interrupted. However, the prince of Edfu relates on the wall of
his tomb at Mealla that grain was sent to Wawat to prevent famine. This
is evidence that relations between Egypt and Nubia continued at that time.
Furthermore, Nubian soldiers played an important part in the battles in
Middle Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. There exist painted
wooden models of a company of Nubian archers, forty-strong, which
show the importance accorded by the Egyptians to the Sudanese soldier.
However, the development at this time of Group C in Lower Nubia
was probably responsible, like the troubles during the First Intermediate
Period, for the decline in relations between Egyptians and Sudanese.
The peoples of Group C are still little known. It was long thought that
they had slowly infiltrated into the Nile valley, but it is now believed that
they were simply the successors of the Group A peoples. Whatever the
reason, the relations between these peoples and the Egyptians were always
awkward. Several pieces of pottery discovered near Jebel Kekan, beside
the Khor Baraka at Agordat (Eritrea), are in the museum at Khartoum.
They are similar to the Group C pottery discovered in Lower Nubia.
Had these Group C peoples, for some unknown reason (drought, Egyptian
forces arriving in Nubia), been led to abandon Lower Nubia, probably
during the twelfth dynasty? These peoples would then have left their homes
in the Wadi el Allaqi Valley for the Red Sea mountains where the Beja
tribes live today. Likewise, some peoples speaking a Nubian language now
15. As from —2500 furnaces designed to melt the local copper were set up by the
Egyptians at Buhen, south of Wadi Haifa.
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