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,
1920 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 within22 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 mealEstablishing 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, FLX26 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 royal2 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 estimatedigure 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 kind2 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 Greek2 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?
8Mo 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 an46 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 resemble50 Establishing identioy
sous may
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Figore 17 Me wee a dw dir ct io ne So tn way
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Who were the anciemt Egyptians? 57
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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