"Museum Spotlight: African Ancestors of Egypt and Nubia: From the Green Sahara to the Nile"

Opened February 11, 2022

Brooklyn Museum, 3rd Floor

"Located in the Museum’s Egyptian galleries, this installation focuses on ancient Egypt and Nubia as African civilizations, challenging racist and colonial assumptions of early Western archaeologists. Examples of pottery and figurines, made more than five thousand years ago, reveal a common origin of the two civilizations on the African continent. Objects such as headrests and sistra further demonstrate close ties between Egypt and other African cultures."

"Ancient Egypt: An African Culture:

The ancient Egyptians were an African people who first appeared in the Nile Valley by 4500 B.C.E. and created a distinctive culture. Egyptologists no longer maintain the false hypothesis that lighter-skinned outsiders created Egyptian culture.

Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians largely interpreted the archaeological evidence on the African continent through a racist filter that rejected the notion that Africans could create a high civilization. Today Egyptologists have data that clearly shows that Egyptian culture was invented by indigenous people in southern Egypt and spread toward the Mediterranean Sea about 3000 B.C.E.. This evidence includes distinctive jars and bowls like those to your left. The decoration on these vessels first appeared in southern Egypt by 3400 B.C.E. and then by 3000 B.C.E. is found in the north. During this period rectangular house designs from the south replaced earlier oval houses in the north. At the same time distinctive southern, oval-shaped graves began to appear in the north, replacing northern shallow pit graves. A southern cult that centered on cattle worship was also transferred northward in this time period. Archaeologists cannot determine from this kind of evidence whether this cultural change was peaceful or the result of conquest, though some evidence for fortified towns suggests conflict.

During prehistory, nomadic peoples travelled through present day Egypt. The first settlers in the Nile Valley brought their language and a deep religious belief in the afterlife. In the period from 4000 to 3000 B.C.E. they were intensely creative, inventing hieroglyphic writing, developing a system of artistic representation, and establishing a political system centered on a divine king. After 3000 B.C.E., Nubians, Semites, Libyans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans came to Egypt through migration and conquest. All of these groups adopted and contributed to Egyptian culture.

The Egyptians defined themselves as separate from all other peoples. They perceived their difference to lie in their distinctive culture rather than in physical characteristics such as skin color"

"The ancient Egyptians were an indigenous African people who first appeared in the southern (Upper Egypt) Nile Valley by 4500 B.C.E. and spread northward to Lower Egypt. Joined over five thousand years by other Africans from Nubia and Libya, as well as Semites, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, their distinctly multicultural society produced an astonishing array of objects and structures."

I’m asking the history people not the “I had a cousin whose grandfather was killed by Ras whomever” and Im not talking about Hailesilassie. But when did the Eritrean identity form? What made Eritrea special?

Is Ethiopia or Eritrea the true inheritors of the Axumite legacy?

Pet meaning animal like cats or dogs. My parents have named every cat we had Shashu. When I ask why, they say because it’s an Eritrean cat name. Are there any other common names for pets?

This question is mostly for the women, we all know abortion is banned in Eritrea unless for few exceptions like , incest,rape or if the life of the mother is in the line, but what do you as an Eritrean woman think of this, do you agree on those exceptions or should it be completely legal????? (For Eritrean woman only) Others can give your opinion.

Can anyone explain what is in it?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFI9iq9v5Gd/?igsh=dnVnMTh2aHlueXFu

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assembly_(Eritrea)

So far I think the reason being is because Ibrahim posed a great threat to him, Mesfin aswell, but since Ibrahim had a pretty strong clique of his own and was revered & well respected Commander, isaias had no option but to take him out.

Share what you think and explain

And how different would Shabiya be if Ibrahim never died.

people of Sudan and Egypt don't hate us as much as those ethopian do, who have been giving us problems since the start of Independence and after independence, and probably for the next 40 years with them since they started barking of taking our city Assb, anyway with Sudan and Egypt though we can do a lot of things in Manufacturing, Agriculture, Digital trade moving goods by trucks or by train from Cario to Khartoum to Asmara we are red sea brothers after all and we have a large amount of Arabic speaking populations so communication wouldn't be a problem, I think it will be helpful for Gashbarka and Ansba regions, and yes I am talking about after Sudan recover from the war, what do you guys think and please be respectful.

I used to be an avid supporter of the Eritrean government because Ethiopia was illegally occupying our land (Badme), and it was difficult to continue as a nation when war could break out at any moment. At that time, I genuinely believed the government was taking extreme measures to ensure the survival of the nation. I went to Eritrea in 2022 during the midst of the Tigray war. During that time, I talked to many family members and strangers and there was a sense of hope. The notion I was getting from everyone was that after this war, we'll have our land back , weyane will be no longer be a threat, and there will be change. When I went back this past year , I was dissapointed. There was no change and it seems like conditions are the same or even worse. I understand that Ethiopia is threatening to take our ports but we can't continue to halt all development and domestic issues to prevent external threats. I feel the government has become content with under-delivering to its people and making false promises

So anyone who knows anything about bilen peopole and thier culture and history i would gladly want to know more.

https://www.reddit.com/r/EritreansinAcademia/s/0iHZv10vJO

Please share this with whoever might be interested so we can grow the community.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the current state of the Tigre language and how much Arabic influence it has absorbed over time. It’s well known that Tigre has borrowed a lot of Arabic vocabulary—some estimates say up to 35-40% of the lexicon.

Historically, Tigre and Tigrinya were more mutually intelligible, but with the heavy Arabic influence, that gap has widened. Arabic dominates religious life, but it’s also creeping into daily conversation, education, and even administrative functions. In urban areas, many people mix Arabic so much that it’s hard to tell where Tigre ends and Arabic begins. I happen to understand both Tigrinya and Arabic and it seems like they are speaking Tigrinya but then they start speaking a string of Arabic out of nowhere.

I know Tigre still maintains its core original grammar, but if this trend continues, it will eventually shift further toward Arabic. Should there be an effort to preserve the Tigre language and hopefully have steps to make Tigrinya and Tigre more mutually intelligible, as that would benefit Eritrea not only economically but also socially?

Curious to hear what others think—especially those who are Tigre.