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Africa's Lost World

The first slab of stone was amazing enough. Beautifully carved, preserved under sand and rubble for nearly 2,000 years, the piece was clearly an exciting discovery. But it was only the beginning.

American archaeologist Timothy Kendall's team, working in the African country of Sudan earlier this year, discovered a second, similar slab. And then another, and another after that, until there were 25 in all. The workers laid them in the sand like the pieces of an ancient jigsaw puzzle.

When Kendall and his team fit the pieces together, they formed a beautiful picture: stars set against a sky colored with traces of blue, and crowned vultures flying into the distance.

But the importance of these stones goes far beyond their beauty. Kendall and others hope they will help unlock the mysteries of an ancient African civilization called Nubia that may be as old as Egyptian civilization. Dietrich Wildung, curator of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, Germany, says the slabs, along with more finds that are expected to follow, represent "the discovery of a new dimension of the ancient world."

Emerging From Egypt's Shadow
Many people have never heard of Nubia. That's because researchers have tended to ignore this ancient African land and focus instead on its neighbor to the north, Egypt. Much of what we know about early civilization in northern Africa comes from Egyptian pyramids, writings, mummies and other artifacts.

But today more archaeologists than ever are turning their attention to ancient Nubia, the world's first known black civilization. At least 15 teams from the U.S., Europe and Sudan are sifting through the same sands for secrets of ancient Nubia.

Why have archaeologists waited until now to study Nubia closely? Although Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt, it was considered a "no-man's-land" until recently, explains Wildung. This view came partly from the first Europeans to study the area. They found Egypt to be less isolated and less affected by disease than Sudan. Besides, Egypt proved to be so rich with artifacts, including the famous treasures of King Tut, that there was little reason to search farther south along the Nile River.

Experts say there is another reason why Nubia was overlooked for so long: racial prejudice. Many researchers viewed Nubia as an offshoot of Egyptian culture rather than a unique civilization separate from Egypt. "They didn't believe black Africa was capable of producing high civilization," says Kendall.

But that view is changing. Last month a Nubian history museum opened in Egypt. The museum is "a first step toward paying attention to the Nubian people and their history," says Yehia Mokhtar, a writer who, like more than 500,000 other black Egyptians, traces his heritage to ancient Nubia.

A Glorious Kingdom
Kendall hopes his discovery will help convince the world of Nubia's importance. The slabs he found may have made up the ceiling of a passageway that led to a temple, dug into a 300-foot-high hill known today as Jebel Barkal. From a distance, the hill looks like a crown with a cobra coiled around it, which is an ancient symbol of royal power. Kendall thinks that's why the temple at Jebel Barkal may have been used as a sacred place to hold royal crowning ceremonies.

It appears that about 1,800 years ago an earthquake and rockslide closed the passageway. Kendall's next big goal is to clear a path through the huge boulders that block what he thinks is the temple's entrance, and find out what's on the other side.

Other researchers have already made important discoveries about Nubia. French archaeologists have found beautiful ceramic figurines and bowls at sites that date from at least 8,000 B.C. That's 3,000 years older than any known Egyptian objects! This suggests that ancient Nubia might have influenced the development of Egypt's culture, as well as the other way around.

Charles Bonnet, a Swiss archaeologist who has spent 24 years studying ancient Nubia, admits that he first went to Sudan to find Egyptian civilization. "But step by step, I came to understand that the Nubian civilizations are really extraordinary," he says. "There might be Egyptian influences, but there is a Nubian originality and a Nubian identity."

For now, some secrets of ancient Nubia may remain buried under the rocks of Jebel Barkal. Kendall and his team aren't planning to start digging again until 1999. When they finally break through the rubble, what will they find? Statues of goddesses? Jeweled crowns? Royal thrones? If Kendall's hunch is right, the Jebel Barkal discovery will be a crowning achievement in the study of Nubian culture.

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