September 30, 1915J 



NATURE 



131 



ported by the results of recent work on the prehistory 

 of the Sahara, Gautier, who has devoted much time 

 to the ethnography of the French Sudan, points out, 

 that while at the end of the Neolithic period the 

 northern Sahara had a stone industry characterised 

 by unpolished implements of Egyptian affinities, in 

 the central and southern Sahara the typical implement 

 was the polished axe, and that this was of Sudanese 

 Negro origin. That the boundary of the two provinces, 

 i.e. the Berber-Negro frontier, was then some looo 

 kilometres further north than it is at present, is 

 in no way opposed to this view. Besides the types 

 already alluded to, Jebel Gule yielded a large number 

 of pygmy implements of quartz, carnelian, and horn- 

 stone. These are similar to those found in South 

 Africa and attributed to Bushmen, and there is reason 

 to believe that this industry also existed at Faragab, 

 where the innumerable disc beads of ostrich eggshell 

 were probably bored with more or less worked-up 

 slivers of quartz. 



Some mention must be made of the existence of 

 stone monuments of megalithic type In the Sudan, 

 although their number is small and their origin 

 obscure. There is a monolith about two metres high 

 on the plateau overlooking the* Khor el Arab near 

 the Sinkat-Erkowit road, to which tradition says 

 Mohammed tied his horse. Another monolith of much 

 the same dimensions has been described and figured 

 by Crowfoot from Isa Derheib, inland from Akik. 

 At present there seems no reason to attribute any 

 i^reat antiquity to these stones ; presumably they are 

 connected with the upright stones and " stelai " of 

 Axum. Probably other rude stone monuments will be 

 found in the Red Sea province ; indeed, I have heard 

 of such, though the information was never very pre- 

 cise. It is, however, worth noting that typical dol- 

 mens do occur in the Madi country in the southern 

 Sudan. 



The only rock pictures as yet found in the Sudan 

 are in northern Kordofan. For the most part they 

 are outlined in red or blackish pigment, but a few 

 examples occur chipped on lumps of granite, on the 

 hillside at Jebel Kurkayla in the Jebel Haraza massif. 

 These figures are very rough, and the examples re- 

 produced by H. A. MacMichael all represent camels. 

 Drawings with pigmented" outlines are found on Jebei 

 Haraza and Jebel Afarit, and from the artistic point 

 of view seem to form two groups. To the first belong 

 rough but spirited sketches of men on horseback, 

 camels, and giraffes. The workmanship of the second 

 group is rougher and much less vigorous; it includes 

 representations of camels, men on horseback, and 

 men marching or dancing, carrying the small round 

 Hamltic shield. This, together with their general 

 resemblance to the " LIbyo-Berber " rock pictures of 

 the southern Sahara, Indicates a comparatively recent 

 date for these drawings. Moreover, MacMichael 

 notes that the work is faint and Indeterminate, and 

 that there is no trace of graving; In other words, the 

 Neolithic tradition has not persisted. 



One of the most difficult questions arising in con- 

 nection with the Sudan is that of ancient Egyptian 

 influence. Its existence may be readily grantee!, but 

 what of its extent and duration? For while it Is a 

 platitude to say that a great and powerful State with 

 a uniform tradition lasting for thousands of years 

 cannot but have Influenced the countries on every side, 

 it must be confessed that where history fails the 

 evidence is often extremely difficult to interpret. Every 

 custom which at first sight seems to betoken Egyptian 

 influence must be closely examined, and the evidence 

 carefully sifted, to determine whether it may not have 

 had its origin in the older and more generalised 

 Hamitic culture of northern and eastern .\frica. In 



NO. 2396, VOL. 96] 



discussing the value of the data upon which ideas and 

 customs are to be traced back to an Egyptian origirt, 

 it is important to remember that general resemblances, 

 either in widely distributed forms of social organisa- 

 tion and belief {e.g. matrilineal descent, cult* of the 

 dead, etc.), or in widely diffused technical devices 

 (e.g. bow and arrow), cannot be admitted as good 

 evidence. Whatever the future may bring, I do not 

 think that in the present state of anthropological 

 science even extreme and unusual beliefs and devices 

 (which at first sight seem so strikingly convincing) 

 should be considered as proof of common influence; 

 otherwise it would be necessary to admit, imme- 

 diately and without consideration, a cultural relation- 

 ship between Papua and Central Brazil on the evidence 

 of the phleme-bow, and between England and the 

 Malay States on that of the fire-piston. It is only 

 when there is a considerable consensus of agreement 

 in underlying ideas and (or) in highly specialised cus- 

 toms or devices, that we are justified in considering 

 an Egyptian origin, and even then it is necessary to 

 bear in mind the possibilities of common ethnic origin 

 and of "convergence." It is obvious that under these 

 conditions facts will be differently interpreted, and 

 opinions will vary within wide limits, while new dis- 

 coveries may at any moment disturb views 'hitherto 

 regarded as well founded. 



Although I propose generally to confine myself to 

 the area included in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, yet 

 In considering the question of Egyptian influence in 

 j Negro Africa I shall overstep these limits. The re- 

 i cords from the Belgian Congo, for example, are more 

 numerous, while recent work in the north-west of 

 Africa has provided material of much value from this 

 comparatively new point of view. 



With regard to the mode in which Egyptian influ- 

 ence was exerted on the Sudan there are three main 

 routes along which we might expect to find its traces. 

 The first is southwards along the Nile, the other two 

 are to the west; one route at first following the 

 Mediterranean coast but broadening westward as con- 

 ditions become more favourable, the other running 

 south-west through the oases and so communicating 

 with Darfur and the Chad basin. Yet another route 

 has been suggested by Sir Harry Johnston, namely, 

 through Abyssinia and Somaliland, presumably reach- 

 ing them vid the Red Sea. Perhaps It was by this 

 route that the sistrum, still used in the church fes- 

 tivals, reached Abyssinia. 



The extension of Egyptian rule up the Nile valley 

 can be traced from the earliest times to the XVI II. 

 dynasty. But although after this Egyptian domina- 

 tion becomes less marked, Egyptian Influence had be- 

 come so firmly established that the culture of the 

 states in the Nile valley had a predominantly Egyptian 

 tinge ^ ; first Napata, then Meroe, and then further 

 south the States which we know later as the Christian 

 kingdoms of Dongola and 'Alwah. 



On a priori gounds the Nile route might be expected 

 to be the most worn and the easiest to trace. For 

 thousands of years Egyptian and Negro were in con- 

 tact on the middle reaches of the great river, so that 

 at least one great negroid kingdom arose ; and though 

 to this day a Negro dialect is spoken as far north as 

 Aswan, yet at the present time there does not seem 

 to be a single object or cultural characteristic which 

 unequivocally can be said to have reached the zone of 

 luxuriant tropical vegetation by way of the Nile valley. 



2 The early Ethiopian kings useH the Kgrptian I nguajfe afid wriiing for 

 their recorH« ; it was onlv towards th^ end of the Meroit'C period" after the 

 downfall of Eeypt, that the Meroitic ianeuage was wrjiteru A speciaj hiero- 

 glyphic alphabet founded on the Egyptian inav date hark to the third century 

 B.C., but the actual Meroitic scrfpt is later thai thi« • Cr wfoot Indect iVgnes 

 i for so late and short a ranee as froin the mirldV of th<' second to the fourth 

 I century A.n. (Griffith, "The Meroitic Inscriptions of Shablul and Karanog," 

 I chap. ii.). •—.-.-..•. ^;^ t^l^ . 



