Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Egyptian antiquities chief declared that Tutankhamun was not black ,what's the truth ?
That story is from 2007. Zahi Hawass seems to go all over the place with his statements over the years. He'll defend that the ancient Egyptians were not Arab but has a huge problem claiming them as being Black. Not saying that you have to apply skin color to Ancient people but I don't hear him denouncing that Egyptians were any other color. He seems to only attack Blackness. Seems like he has that "call them anything but Black" mentality that a lot of ignorant and racist Eurocentrics seem to have. Zahi Hawass has a lot of self hate as he probably hates the fact that he has African ancestry. He's seems to be one those Egyptians who only claim their Arab heritage while completely ignoring their African heritage. It's sort of like a mestizo from Latin American who only claims their Spanish ancestry while completely ignoring their indigenous Amerindian heritage.
That story is from 2007. Zahi Hawass seems to go all over the place with his statements over the years. He'll defend that the ancient Egyptians were not Arab but has a huge problem claiming them as being Black. Not saying that you have to apply skin color to Ancient people but I don't hear him denouncing that Egyptians were any other color. He seems to only attack Blackness. Seems like he has that "call them anything but Black" mentality that a lot of ignorant and racist Eurocentrics seem to have. Zahi Hawass has a lot of self hate as he probably hates the fact that he has African ancestry. He's seems to be one those Egyptians who only claim their Arab heritage while completely ignoring their African heritage. It's sort of like a mestizo from Latin American who only claims their Spanish ancestry while completely ignoring their indigenous Amerindian heritage.
I agree with this. Zahi Hawass seems to take special and particular offense to the notion that ancient Egyptians could have been black. And, note, while Hawass will acknowledge that ancient Egyptians weren't Arabs, he says that modern Egyptian Arabs are the direct descendants of ancient Egyptians (NOVA | Who Built the Pyramids?). Now I'm not claiming that all or most ancient Egyptians were black, but there are several things to consider:
Apart from the reality of the 25th Nubian Dynasty of Egypt, which was clearly a black African dynasty, the Hawass narrative ignores the fact that Nubians were very much a part of ancient Egyptian society (note, I acknowledge that this meant different things at different times) and that some pharaohs, including King Tutankhamun, possibly had Nubian ancestry. For instance, it is accepted by some Egyptologists that the Great Royal Wife Queen Tiye, mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamen, was of partial Nubian descent. Specifically, it is accepted by some that Tiye's father, Yuya, was Nubian. But just look at many of the depictions of ancient Egyptians. Many, although not all, have facial features that are very consistent with Nubian/sub-Saharan African features. Note, this is especially important to trying to read into ancient Egyptians' racial background as the colors of various sculptures and paintings apparently don't mean much as ancient Egyptians painted themselves as all sorts of colors (from green to black to red to brown, etc.). Granted, again, I'm not claiming that ancient Egyptians were all black or only black, but I'm not discounting that a significant percentage had black African ancestry, among other ancestry.
That's a good question. Even if we limit our understanding of what is "black" to the peoples of today's sub-Saharan African region, its important to acknowledge that not all of the peoples in this region have the same skin tone, hair texture, etc. (think the stereotypical Somali and Ethiopian vs. the stereotypical Ghanaian and Nigerian).
I've heard it pointed out that what people need to realize is that not all Africans are "black". So saying that the Egyptians were Africans,which they were,doesn't automatically mean they were black or all black. The Berber people for example are indigenous to North Africa but the Berber aren't a black people. Maybe something similar was with the Egyptian population? Maybe this explains why they always painted themselves as looking different from the more obviously black Nubians from the south?
At the end of the day, Ancient Egyptians seemed to have painted themselves black, brown, green, white, etc. Thus, it's hard to ascertain what the color of the painting (assuming this is what you were referring to) tells us as far as race is concerned and Egyptologists generally have refused to do so for this exact reason. But note, the "black" peoples of Africa today do not all look alike. Indeed, as I mentioned before, Somalians and Ethiopians do not look like Nigerians and Ghanaians. Yet, all call themselves black. For this reason, I look more closely at facial features on statutes and paintings, which I think may give greater insight into what the ancient Egyptians looked like. Often times, these sculptures/paintings have features consistent with black Africans.
Note, this conversation is about indigenous ancient Egyptians, not the many outside populations that once ruled over ancient Egypt at various times.
The ancient Egyptians are 90% identical to moderns, except that there is more "black" in them now do to the Arab slave trade.
They are a very mixed race, as Eurasians started back migrating to North Africa in the stone ages. They still have a great deal of native African "E," but this does not mean "black" as North Africans evolved on a similar latitude, and look like Middle Easterners.
Tut's family, including Tiye, had European blood types and red hair. The depiction of her as "black" comes from wood darkening.
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him,studied some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi determinedthat the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been brought about byits being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it proved to be an example of thecosmetic attentions of the embalmers. However, traces of the hair's originalcolour (in youth), remain in the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopicexaminations proved that the hair roots contained traces of natural redpigments, and that therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had beenred-haired. It was concluded that these red pigments did not result from thehair somehow fading, or otherwise altering [/SIZE][SIZE=3]post-mortem,[/SIZE][SIZE=3] but did indeedrepresent Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-sectionof the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses had been"cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a combinationof features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. Scientific analysis of his (Ramses II) has confirmed that inhis youth, the king was indeed a natural redhead. (Tyldesley 2001).
Thuya's hair is luxuriant and the same auburn color (asTiye's). The hair is naturally auburn. (El Mahdy, 2001
Seti I had red hair (Roberts, 2004
]The entire "black Egypt" thing was created to address self esteem needs. Everyone has seen depictions of the ancients, and know what they looked like. A few do look strikingly "black," a vast majority do not, and Afrocentrist always try to pass off depictions of Nubians, Pharoah in symbolic blackness, etc.
Thus, we propose that the Neolithic transitionin this part of the world was accompanied by demic diffusion ofAfro-Asiatic–speaking pastoralists from the Middle East.
and recent human craniofacial dimensions supports thepicture documented by genetics that the extension of Neolithic agriculture fromthe Near East westward to Europe and across North Africawas accomplished by a process of demic diffusion (11–15)....
Whowere the ancient Egyptians? Dental affinities among Neolithic throughpostdynastic peoples
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16331657
JDIRISH 2006
the dynastic period is likely an indigenous continuation of the Naqadaculture, 4) there is support for overall biological uniformity through thedynastic period, and 5) this uniformity may continue into postdynastic times.
Last edited by cachibatches; 01-20-2015 at 05:08 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
