Ancient Mesopotamia (war, Rome, Egypt, facts)

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YouTube - Ancient Mesopotamia

[Mooseketeer]

I was very lucky to attend a lecture in Oxford last night by Dr Abbas al-Hussainy the head of Antiquities in Iraq about the loss of Mesopotamian /Iraqi Heritage due to various factors starting with Saddam's bizarre over-restoration of sites, and the destruction of sites after the American invasion and of course the looting of many sites and the museum of Antiquities in Baghdad and chronic under-funding. It made pretty bleak listening.

We don't even know how much has been lost exactly though Dr Abbas al-Hussaini is now trying to catalogue the archaeology of Iraq and known losses as systematically as possible.

Iraq has not only been a human tragedy because of the huge loss of life, loss of infrastructure and everything which goes hand in hand with war and invasion but possibly also the worst loss of Archaeological treasures in history. The black markets of Europe and Asia are flooded with stolen artefacts and priceless cultural items. As an Archaeologist it makes me weep.

Mesopotamia is part of our shared world heritage and it is tragic and appalling to see exactly how much will never be recovered or be able to be be restored.

I urge anyone with an interest in Archaeology to help raise public awareness and help with funding, volunteering etc...

Dr Abbas al Hussain and his colleagues are working extremely hard to raise awareness, raise money for new excavations and research and despite the war he has managed to lead some new excavations and we were lucky yesterday to be the first people to see some of his latest finds including cuneiform tablets, seals , and small portable objects, all very beautiful.

Protecting Iraq's Ancient Heritage
British Institute for the Study of Iraq: Appeal
Simon Jenkins: In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, allies the vandals | Comment is free | The Guardian
Invaders, Looters and Vandals - Archaeological and Cultural News of the Iranian World
Situation at the Baghdad Museum is bleak but looting decreases - The Art Newspaper
AIA News - AIA Urges Protection of Iraq's Archaeological Heritage

[6 FOOT 3]

Curious as to if all humans came out of Africa which i do believe the archeologists on this then why no ancient cities found in Africa instead they say Mesopotamia is the oldest on earth yet we lived in Africa 100,000 yrs to 1,000,000 yrs back possibly ???

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Originally Posted by 6/3

Curious as to if all humans came out of Africa which i do believe the archeologists on this then why no ancient cities found in Africa instead they say Mesopotamia is the oldest on earth yet we lived in Africa 100,000 yrs to 1,000,000 yrs back possibly ???

There were ancient cities in Africa. Are you including Egypt as a part of Africa? Because they had ancient cities and so did the Nubian area. Mesopotamia was just the first civilization for whatever reason. A civilization was bound to develop in that area at some point because of the Tigris river.

[Mooseketeer]

Sub-Saharan Africa had quite a few cities though none as ancient as Mesopotamia by a long, long way.

For example the city of Aksum in Ethiopia, Jenne-Jeno in Mali , city of Benin, Timbuktu and of course Great Zimbabwe which is Iron age.

Jenne-jeno, An Ancient African City
Ancient Ethiopian City of Aksum
The Ancient West African City of Benin, A.D. 1300-1897
GREAT ZIMBABWE: A History Almost Forgotten


I recommend the following if you are interested :

"LOST CITIES OF AFRICA" by Basil Davidson

"AFRICAN CITIES AND TOWNS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST" by Richard Hull

"AFRICA'S URBAN PAST" by David Anderson

[cpg35223]

Yes, there were quite a number of cities in sub-Saharan Africa. The question is why did those civilizations lack permanence? Even places such as Timbuktu did not rise to nearly the level of sophistication in construction and societal organization as the Europeans, the Semites, the Asians, or the MesoAmericans. After all, with the impressive exception of the Zulus and the Ethiopians, no colonial power seemed to meet any organized resistance. Were budding civilizations, particularly along the Niger, snuffed out by Islamic rule?

It's an interesting question that someone should answer, without any racist nonsense.

My personal theory is that most of Africa is so fertile and rich, that it was entirely possible to live well as a hunter/gatherer society, thereby diminishing the need for agriculture. Meanwhile, Egypt and Mesopotamia had to rely on much more societal structure in order to feed their populations, thereby leading to more fixed settlements. Even the larger African cities seemed to be more along the lines of trading centers, more than sophisticated cities--And certainly nothing like Rome or Alexandria or Babylon.

Just a theory of mine. Anybody have a different idea?

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Sub-Saharan Africa had quite a few cities though none as ancient as Mesopotamia by a long, long way.

For example the city of Aksum in Ethiopia, Jenne-Jeno in Mali , city of Benin, Timbuktu and of course Great Zimbabwe which is Iron age.

Jenne-jeno, An Ancient African City
Ancient Ethiopian City of Aksum
The Ancient West African City of Benin, A.D. 1300-1897
GREAT ZIMBABWE: A History Almost Forgotten


I recommend the following if you are interested :

"LOST CITIES OF AFRICA" by Basil Davidson

"AFRICAN CITIES AND TOWNS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST" by Richard Hull

"AFRICA'S URBAN PAST" by David Anderson

Good info and links Mooseketeer as that's what i was looking for. Since i've studied those ancient or Paleolithic peoples diets out of Africa i knew that there just had to be civilizations there first as all humans migrated out of Africa some 50,000 years ago.

Interesting i was watching a show on PBS a few weeks back about these women in Ethiopia about having medical problems and how they had to walk up to 300 miles to get medical help and they mentioned the capitol city ''Addis Ababa'' which some archaeologists felt it could be the oldest city on earth and the cradle of civilization....Interesting !!