Before Egypt: The Maa Confederation, Africas FirstCivilization

byDr. Clyde Winters

Clyde Winters, 2013 This copyright is only for the text and maps. The illustrations in this book belong to those individuals and organizationswho posted this material on the World Wide Web. Table of Contents Page

Table of Contents 5 List of Illustrations 6 List of Maps 7

Introduction 8

Chapter 1: The Maa Confederation 25

Chapter 2: Origins of Proto-Saharan Culture 39

Chapter 3: Boating in Ancient Africa 46

Chapter 4: Animal Domestication 54

Chapter 5: Plant Domestication 71

Chapter 6: Proto-Saharan Writing 85

Chapter 7: The Religions of the Maaites 92

Chapter 8: The Expnasion of the Children of Maa 113

General References 127

List of IllustrationsFigure 1:1. Yardangs that Resemble Pyramids 9Figure 1:2. The God Amon compared to a Yardang 10Figure 1:3. The Nabta Religious Site 12Figure 1:4. An Anu Ruler of Egypt 14Chapter 1 Figure 1:1. Saharan Bowmen 27Chapter 1 Figure 1:2. Bowmen with horned Headress 29Chapter 1 Figure 1:3. Niger-Congo Languages 31Chapter 1 Figure 1:4. African Archers 33Chapter 1 Figure 1:5. Black and Red Pottery 37Chapter 1 Figure 1:6. Red and Black Pottery Sherds 38Figure 3:1 Maaite Chief with Horns 42Figure 3:1 Saharan Boats 48Figure 3:2 Saharan Boats with Sails 49Figure 3:4 Saharan Boat and Horned Captain 54Figure 4:1 Maaite Goat 55Figure 4:2 Saharan Cattle and Maaite Cattle Herders 57Figure 4:3 Mixed Saharan Cattle 59Figure 4:5 Various Saharans with Horses and Chairiots 68Figure 4:6 Saharan Chairioteers 69Figure 6:1 Qustul Incense Burner 85Figure 6:2 Thinite Pottery (Syllabic) Signs 86Figure 6:3 Gebel Sheikh Suleiman Inscription 87Figure 6:4 Oued Mertoutek Inscription 89Figure 6:5 Comparison of Writing Systems 90Figure 7:1 Ancient Saharan God 96Figure 7:2 Seth and Wepwawet 98

Figure 7:3 The Canine God Wepwawet 99Figure 7:4 The God Seth 100Figure 7:5 Seth and Wepwawet 101Figure 7:6 Big Head Monument 103Figure 7:7 Yardang that Resembles Amon 104Figure 7:8 Kushite God Amon 105Figure 7:9 Poseidon 109Figure 7:10 Greek Black Pottery Vase of Poseidon 110Figure 8:1 Saharan Boat 114Figure 8:2 Narmar Palette 116Figure 8:3 Tehenu on Amrathian Pottery 117Figure 8:4 Symbols of Royalty on Qustul Incense Burner 120

List of Maps Page

Saharan Highlands 13

Early Agricultural Sites in Middle Africa 18

Fertile African Crescent 27

Hydralic System and Ounanian Sites 35

Africa 3500-2500 BC 41

African Plant Domestication 73

Kushite Civilization in 3rd Millenium BC 123

West African Highlands 124

Kushite Migrations

125

Introduction

The French scholar Desplagnes (1906) noted that the people of Middle Africa claimed they once belonged to a great

civilization called: Maa. He noted that this view of the African people met was supported by archaeological evidence

that linked ancient civilizations from Egypt and the Fezzan all the way to the Niger Valley. Professor Desplagnes (1906)

mentioned that this ancient civilization was called the Fish or Maa Confederation and it stretched across Middle Africa.

The Maa Confederation was the original homeland of the Egyptians, Mande, Sumerians , Elamites and Dravidian

speaking people. I call these people Proto-Saharans or Maaites. They worshipped Seth and Amon/Amma.

I first became interested in the Maa Confederation when I began discussions of the Proto-Saharan civilization

which existed in the Highland areas of the Sahara after 5000 BC, back in the 1980s. The first evidence of a great

civilization formerly existing in the Sahara came in 1982 when Professor Al Baz, reported on "natural" formations he

found in the Sahara, which he called yardangs, that appeared to me to be similar to the Sphinx,and pyramids[1].

In the Siwa and Farafra Oasis there are erosional formations called yardangs. Geologist believe that these are

geographical features created in the desert as a result of winds eroding rock formations.

Although Al Baz says that the yardangs are geological formations made by the wind, I believe that they may be the

earliest monuments built by the Proto-Saharans who worshipped Amma(n) and Seth.

I believe that some of these yardangs may really represent pyramid fields and other monuments built by the Proto-

Saharans when these regions were fertile. This view is supported by the fact that the yardangs resemble monuments

made in later years by the Kushites to represent Amon.

In this book I will call the people of Maa: Proto-Saharan or Maaites. The Maaites originally lived in the highlands of

Middle Africa.

The Proto-Saharans were tall in stature. The people of the Maa Confederation mined jade or amazonite in Tibesti,

Uweinat and other Central Saharan massifs.

The Maaites probably represented populations associated with the Ounanian and Tenerean cultures. These

populations are associated with projectle points (arrows) and cattle domestication.

Between 7700-6200 BC hunter-fisher-gathers dominated the Sahara. Between 6200-5200 BC, extreme aridification

forced many people in the Sahara to migrant to better watered areas in Africa.

Professor Paul Soreno, of the University of Chicago found that after 5200 BC a gracile population of humans enter

the Saharan Valleys and Oasis. This population was the Proto-Saharans of the Maa Confederation who along with their

cattle dominated much of the Saharan region between 5200-2500 BC.

Maaite population centers were established along paleolakes in the Sahara. The Maaites made many ornaments, tools

(adzes, scrappers) and other artifacts from jade (amazonite) and (hippo) ivory. The numerous finds of these Maaite

tools suggests that in Maaite times the Sahara supported a region rich in minerals, flora and fauna.

The research of Dr. Fred Wendorf, has found cattle bones dating back 9.5 thousand years ago (kya).

Domesticated goats appear in the archaeological record 7kya at Nabta Playa and Dakhlel.

The early domestication of cattle by the Maaites led to the creation of cattle worship among them. A major center of

cattle worship was Nabta Playa. At Nabta Playa the Maaites around 6kya erected stone slabs to study the heavens.

They also dug underground chamber(s) where cattle worship rituals may have been performed.

The people of the Maa Confederation were not Nilo-Saharan speakers. They were probably Niger Congo speakers

who belonged to the Ounanian and Tenerean culturesthic culture. The Aqualithic culture is much , much older than

the Kushite or Egyptian cultures (Winters,2012). I believe that the original founders of the African Aqualithic were

pgymy people. Nilo-Saharans may have learned this cultural tradition from the Anu or pgymy people who may have

earlier founded Egypt and lived in the Sahara.

The Kushites are known throughout the ancient world as expert bowmen. This is highly suggestive that the

Ounanians were Kushites because the arrows (=bowmen), was charateristic of this culture. Drake (2012) wrote

The Ounanian of Northern Mali, Southern Algeria,Niger, and central Egypt at ca. 10 ka is partly defined by a

distinctive type of arrow point (37). These arrowheads are found in much of the northern Sahara (Fig. 3) and are

generally considered to have spread from Northwest Africa. This view is supported by the affinity of this industry

with the Epipalaeolithic that also appears to have colonized the Sahara from the north (41). No Ounanian points occur

in West Africa before 10 ka, suggesting the movement of a technology across the desert from north to south around

this time.

The original inhabitants of the Sahara where the Kemetic civilization originated were Sub-Saharan Africans or

Blacks not Berbers or Indo-European speakers (Winters,1994,2002,2012). These Blacks formerly lived in the highland

regions of the Fezzan and Hoggar until after 5200- 4000 BC (Winters,1994 ,2002, 2012).

As the Saharan plains: Mountains of the Moon became less arid a fertile grassland existed and the Proto-Saharans

migrated down from the Mountains of the Moon to settle around the MegaChad and MegaFezzan lakes. At

MegaFezzan the Proto-Saharans founded the Maa civilization. Around this time West Africa and the Nile Valley was

probably controlled by the Pgymies or Anu people. The Anu were the first rulers of Egypt.

By the Late Stone Age (LSA) Negroes/Africoids were well established in the Sahara. These Maaites were

members of the Saharo-Sudanese archaeological tradition.(Camps 1974) The Fezzanese and Sudanese were Maaite

sedentary pastoralists. In this book we will refer to Sub-Saharan Africans as Negroes or Africoids. There were many Negro groups in ancient North Africa. L.P.Fatti and Hertha de Villiers, have documented the probable spread of

Negroes from southern Africa after 110,000 B.C., into first east and then into North Africa. In North Africa Negroes

were established in the area as early as 12,000 B.C. Numerous Negro remains dating to the fifth millennium B.C. have

been discovered in the Saharan and Sahelian belts. (Salama 1981:534) These Blacks possessed domesticated cattle and

sheep/goat.(McIntosh and McIntosh 1983).

By 4400 B.C., Negroes were at Asselar in Mali. Human occupation in Mauritania along the Atlantic coast dates

earlier than 4500 B.C.(Petit Marie 1979). They were in Mali much earlier. French archaeologist have found pottery at

Ounjougou dating 9-10kya (=thousand years ago). Japanese archaeologists have found pottery and arrowheads dating

to 11kya in the same area.

Agriculture has been practiced in Nubia for thousands of years. The most ancient grasses collected in Nubia was

barley in the north and sorghum in the south. Fred Wendorf, discovered that Nubians near Tushka as early as 17000

B.C. were cultivating and harvesting barley. This is 7000 years before the so-called advent of agricultural revolution in

West Asia. (Wendorf 1983)

This is significant because common barley is found throughout the Middle East, but domesticated barley mainly

occurs in ancient Nubia, where it later spread to West Asia and India. Seven thousand B.C. is accepted as the true date

for the African neolithic in West and Northwest Africa.

J.D. Clark, has shown that intensive grass collection appeared almost as early in Ethiopia as in Nubia. Grasses

were collected in 13000 B.C. on the Northern fringes of the Ethiopian highlands (Clark 1977). In 5000 B.C. sorghums

were being cultivated in Ethiopia. Around 3000 B.C. wheat and Barley was being cultivated. (Ehret 1979) And as early

as 6000 B.C. ensete

was probably being cultivated (Ehret 1979) .

By 10,000 B.C. Nubians began to migrate out of Nubia into Asia. These Nubians were not Proto-Saharans. The

Proto-Saharans were still living in the Saharan highlands at this time. These Nubians were the Anu people.

These Anu people made their way into Palestine. In Palestine these Nubians were known as Natufians, they

established intensive grass collection here. The Natufians were Africoid. They practiced the Ibero-Maurusian tool

industry which came from north Africa, especially along the NIle (Wendorf,1968).

The Natufians were about 5ft. 3ins. with narrow heads. They correspond to the Anu people who first ruled Egypt

(Diop 1974). These folk came from Nubia where intensive grass collection originated. Christopher Ehret (1979) has

observed that "grass collection was invented first in or near the lower Nubia, perhaps in the region between the Nile

and the Red Sea, and spread from there to its present areas of occurrence"(p.163).

The Natufians fished and hunted for food. They practiced evulusion of the incisors the same as Bantu peoples and

inhabitants of the Saharan fringes. These Africoids probably were one of the Anu tribes, they also took agriculture into

Iran and Pakistan. The Anu farmers cultivated barley and wheat. For much of the LSA period the Proto-Saharans were

sedentary pastoralists in the highlands. The Anu lived in the lowlands or the Saharan plains.

The Anu invented much of the early hieroglyphic writing used in ancient Egypt. By 4000 B.C. they probably

invented the precursor to the cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia. This writing was used by the Anu to keep records of

their business ventures and knowledge. This writing was later adopted by the Sumerian and Elamite speaking Proto-

Saharans when they took over the former trade centres of the Anu, after the Anu civilization was destroyed as a result

of the great flood after 4000 B.C.

The Proto-Saharans practiced a mixed agropastoral culture. Often Barbary sheep , wild ass, hyena, wild cattle and

hare are found at Saharan sites such as Ti-n-Torha and Uan Muhuggiag. These sites typify Proto-Saharan campsites.

Most Proto-Saharans lived on hillocks or slopes near water. But some Paleo-Africans or Maaites lived on the plains

which featured lakes and marshes.

Ceramics have been found in the central and eastern Sahara on up into North Africa that illuminate the expansion

of the Proto-Sahrans. These ceramics were of Sudanese inspiration and date back to the 7th Millennium B.C. This

pottery was used from Ennedi to Hoggar. The makers of this pottery were from the Sudan (Desanges 1981).

The Tadrart Accacus massif is in the Libyan Sahara or Fezzan. This is a Neolithic/Epipaleolithic area with sites

dating from 9000-3000 B.C. During much of this period the Sahara, resembled the Mediterranean in climate and

ecology.

The faunal remains from Uan Muhuggiag , a major site situated in the Wadi Teshuinat in the center of the

Accacus massif has incised motifs of the Pastoral style that evidence stock keeping. The pictorial evidence in Tadrart

Accacus suggest that Accacus, was occupied from the 7th millennia B.C. The inhabitants of the Fezzan were round

headed Negroes (Jelinek, 1985:273). The cultural characteristics of the Fezzanese were analogous to the C-Group

Culture items and people of Nubia. The C-Group people occupied the Sudan and the Fezzan regions between 3700-

1300 B.C.(Close 1988)

The archaeological research in Tadrart Accacus illustrates the rise of Proto-Saharan culture. This research

indicates that between 9500-8500 B.C., settlers of Tadrart Accacus used simple pottery, they were hunter-gathers.

As aridity set in the inhabitants of this area became sedentary. They hunted gazelle,sheep and intensively used plant

food.

Maaite hunters quickly learned the habits of wild game:sheep and goats. As a result of this hunting experience and

the shock of the short arid period after 8500 B.C., Maaites began to domesticate cattle, and goat/sheep so as to

maintain a reliable food supply. By 6000 B.P. (Before the Present), the inhabitants of Tadrart Accacus were reliant on

pastoralism, due to the increased aridity. They herded cattle sheep and goats. By 3000 B.C., aridity forced people to

seek new settlement areas (Barich 1984:684). This decline in climate and ecology led to the migration of Maaites out

of the Saharan highlands down into the lowland areas formerly settled by the pygmy/Anu people.

The Maaites in the Fezzan were sedentary pastoralists. Although the people may have had seasonal migration

patterns their ceramic tradition and intensive exploitation of plant foods show a continuity and intensive exploitation of

plant foods.This shows a continuity of the technological and structural tradition in the Libyan Sahara, and in my

opinion do not reflect a true nomadic herder tradition characterized by historic nomadic societies.

It is interesting to note that while cattle predominate the pictorial scenes in the Libyan Sahara, the faunal remains

from Uan Muhuggiag,and El Kaduna indicate that most Proto-Saharans kept goat/sheep. (Barich 1987) Moreover, the

earliest animal engravings in the Fezzan were of rams and goats/sheep.

These early Paleo-Africans of Libya are often referred to as the Temehu, by the Egyptians (Behrens 1984:30).

Ethnically the Temehu, had the same physical features as other Black Africans. (Diop 1977, 1978, 1984,1986,1987)

These sedentary pastoral people lived in Nubia and the Fezzan.

The C-Group people began to migrate into the Nile Valley after 3300-2500 B.C. This corresponds to the extreme

advance of aridity in the Libyan Sahara. The C-Group people kept small livestock (Diop, 1987; Farid, 1985;

Winters,1986b). Members of this group founded the first African empire at Qustul in the Sudan.

The northern and southern Temehu or C-Group people had different culture-dress (Winters,1994). The southern C-

Group people, later called Nehesi, by the Egyptians were characterized by the single shoulder strap attached to a high

waist band . The northern Temehu, later called Thenu, by the Egyptians wore crossed shoulder straps. The northern

Temehu also wore this strap style cloak and penis sheaths (Osing 1980).

These C-Group people were the dominant Proto-Saharan group. They had their own writing system which was

used by the Minoans: Linear A; the Harappans: Indus Valley Writing; and the Manding: Libyco-Berber script (Winters

1985b, 1994).

It is interesting to note that the founders of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt appear to have worshipped the main

Proto-Saharan god Amon. This Dynasty is credited with the introduction of syllabic writing into Egypt.

The gods of the Temehu include Amon and Neith (the terrible with her bows and arrows). Founders of the New

Kingdom were worshippers of Amon, and were probably of Proto-Saharan descent.

Descendants of the C-Group people used a common black-and-red ware which later migrated into North and West

Africa, Iran and the Indus Valley (Winters,1994). These C-Group people spoke Niger-Congo, Mande and Dravidian

languages (Winters ,1986 b, Winters, 2011, 2012). B.B. Lal (l963) of the Indian Expedition in the Campaign to Save

the Monuments of Nubia, has pointed out the similarities between the pottery used by the ancient Dravidians and the

C-Group people of Nubia, especially the Megalithic people of South India. The Dravidians of South India and Africans

are closely related (Anselin 1982; Upandhyaya 1976,1979; Ndiaye 1972, Winters 1980,1981,1981b,1985a,1985c

,1989) .

It would appear that many Maaites spoke Egyptian, Dravidian, Mande and Niger-Congo languages. During the LSA

the Proto-Saharan speakers had domesticated ovicaprids (sheep/goats) (Greenberg 1970;Winters 1986,1989b). The

Proto-Saharans utilized selected plant food including millet (Winters 1986b, 2008) Plant remains from the Eastern and

Southern Nile Valley, dating to the 2nd and 3rd millennium B.C. include millet and sorghum (Close

1988:154) . G. Camps (l974) found pollen grains of cultivated Pennisetum millet from the Hoggar at Amekni, other

millet has been found at Meniet (Mcintosh and McIntosh 1983:238).

Many researchers believe that a food crop may have been the determining factor behind the Paleo-African

dispersals (Ehret and Posnansky 1982:243) .This hypothesis has merit, but given the sedentary-pastoral tradition of the

Maaites and their slash-and-burn method of hoe cultivation, along with the climatic shift of the 3rd millennium B.C.,

suggest that a number of

variables stimulated the African Negro migration waves from the Saharan highlands onto the Saharan plains, and

thence West Africa, not just the introduction of new crops.

Cultivated millet reached India by the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. (Winters,2008).This indicates that 3000

B.C. millet had been domesticated in the Sahel or Sahara as supported by the work of Camps(1974) in the

Sahara.Murdock, has suggested that millet , sorghum and fonio domestication took place around 4500 B.C. By the 3rd

millennium B.C. rice was being cultivated in West Africa (McIntosh and McIntosh 1979; Winters, 1986b).

It does not appear that the Niger Bend area was a centre of plant domestication in West Africa. Although, many

African groups share the same name for many domesticated crops, the Niger region was not occupied until after 500

B.C. This suggest that these Negro-African groups first domesticated these crops in the Saharan zone and took them

with them to the

Niger Delta during their colonization of the area.

The Maaites were clearly influenced by the post Paleolithic complexes of the Hoggar and the Maghrib as evidenced

by North African influences in West Africa (Andah 1981). The Proto-Saharans may have used the Western Saharan

ceramic styles.But ,except for slight variations,there was a general cohesion between Saharo-Sudanese styles (McCall

,1971:38).

Early artifacts from the Niger area support a Saharan origin for West African agriculture. The bowl designs from

the Niger Delta are analogous to pottery styles from the southern Sahara which date between 2000-500 B.C.

(McIntosh and McIntosh 1979:246).

The early inhabitants of the Niger Delta were mainly pastoralists and fishermen. It is believed that millet cultivation

was not introduced until the first millennium A.D., to the Inland Niger Delta (McIntosh and McIntosh 1979; Winters,

1986b). Due to the Sahara's ecological decline, the Upper Niger replaced the Hoggar and the Fezzan as the heartland

for many West African groups especially the Mande speakers.

The Sudan/Nubia is an old centre of agriculture in Middle Africa, as is the Fezzan region of Libya for the Proto-

Saharans. In the eastern Sudan as early as 4000 B.C. millet and sorghum were cultivated ( Marks,Ali and Fattovich

1986:48; Winters2008).

One of the most ancient sites for food production in Nubia, is Es Shaheinab dating to 4000 B.C. Here riverine

people bred goats , the pack ass and sheep. They also engaged in fishing, hunting and collecting grasses (Krzyzaniak

1978).

At Kadero, also in the Sudan people were dependent on vegetable foods and cultivated summer cereals. Some

groups also began cattle rearing, which reached its height during Meroitic times. Kadero dates back to 3310 B.C.

Given the wide variety of names for goats in Nubia, there is a good chance that Nubia's first goats were

domesticated along the Nile. This goat was different from the predynastic Egyptian goats. This goat had screw horns.

The screw horn goat was common to Algeria, where it may have been deposited in Neolithic times by populations

moving eastward as the once fertile plains of the Sahara dried up due to gradual desiccation. After 4000 B.C. we see

we certainly see cattle ,sheep and goat herding spread across Middle Africa westward (Winters,1986b): Tadrart

Accacus (Camps 1969), Tassili-n-Ajjer (Aumassip 1981), Mali (Petit-Marie 1979), Niger (Roset 1983), and the Sudan

. Barker (l989), has argued that sheep and goats increased in importance over cattle because it was better adapted to

desiccation.

No carbonized seeds have been found at Kadero, but many impressed potsherds have been discovered. The

majority of impressions are of sorghum and two kinds of millet, other impressions are of wild grasses (Krzyzaniak

1978:160; Winters,1986b).

There were no indigenous wild cattle, sheep, goat and wolf in the central Sudan. By 15000 B.P. people in Kenya

had domesticated cattle. Four thousand years later cattle appear in the Sahara which was becoming more habitable. By

7000 B.C. we find domesticated goats/sheep in the Saharan zone (Ki-Zerbo 1981). Davies (l978) maintains that the

earliest domesticated stock dates from the sixth to fifth millennium B.C. During this period cattle and sheep were

existing in the Sahara and coastal north Africa (Kabusiewicz 1976) .

Animal domestication in much of the Saharan zone came in response to the decline in resources around lake and

river valleys after 6000 B.C., when the Sahara entered a dry phase. (McIntoch and McIntoch 1981; Barker 1989:35-

36). To ensure steady and reliable food resources for bulging Proto-Saharan populations during this period of

ecological change urban centres were built, and complex political organizations and craft specializations followed, as

clans within tribal units began to specialize in selected occupations.

The shift from a hunter/fisher/gatherer lifestyle to a sedentary-pastoral way of life led many Proto-Saharans to

adopt a form of intensive agriculture characterized by the use of the hoe. Goats and sheep remained their primary

domesticate which they could take with them as

they moved from place to place--as their slash-and-burn agricultural methods dictated. They Proto-Saharans developed

related water storage and irrigation techniques, plus the application of fertilizer (manure) to the land (Winters 1981a,

1981b,1985).

Chapter 1: The Maa Confederation

The Maa Confederation was situated in that part of Middle Africa we call the Sahara. Although today the Saharanregion is arid, around 8000 years ago this area was a center for civilization, and manifested a mediterranean climate(Winters,1985,2012). The Saharan Highlands was the original home of the Niger-Congo, Egyptian, Elamite, Dravidian, Sumerian andManding people (Winters,2011). I call the ancestors of these people of Maa: Maaites or Proto-Saharans. TheProtoSaharans began as a single linguistic community which shared cultural traits that were fashioned in theirSaharan homeland (Winters,1985). The Egyptians referred to the Saharan Highlands as God's land, the home of theGods. The history of the ProtoSaharans of the Maa Confederation begins in the Sahara, some seven to eight thousandyears ago. The ProtoSaharan speakers remained in the highlands until the Sahara began to change from amediterranean to an arid climate. The ProtoSaharans used paleorivers and paleostreams for communication purposes. Due to the abundance of waterduring the Tenerean and Ounanian periods the leaders of the ProtoSaharans were men that could tame the waters bydams, or building boats. The homes of the Maaites were often built on habitation mounds safe from the numerousfloods that occurned annually. Over time the ProtoSaharans formed a confederation of city states called the FISHCONFEDERATION. The population living in the Fish or MAA Confederation shared many common culture features.For example theytraced their roots back to the Sahara, especially Libya and Nubia. The principle god for these ProtoSaharans wasAmon or Amun in the East, and Seth in the Eastern Sahara. In the archaeological literature the Maaites are calledTaSeti (AGroup), CGroup (people of ancient Kush/Nubia). The Egyptians called the major Maaite tribe: Temehu.Archaeologists call the Temehu: CGroup people. The CGroup people settled much of the Sudan. The cylindrical tombcommon to this area was also frequently built by ProtoSaharans when they migrated into Eurasia.

The Temehu originally kept small live stock: sheep and goats 9000 years ago. The Proto-Saharans worshipped anumber of gods, Seth and Wepwawet were worshipped in the western Sahara, while in the eastern Sahara Amon andthe goddess Neith were worshipped. In Europe, Neith was called Athena, to the Manding and Minoans she was knownas Nia. The members of the Maa Confederation include the Egyptian founders of the New Kingdom, Elamites, Dravidians,Manding and the Sumerians.The God Amon of the Egyptians was taken to Egypt during the New Kingdom. The Proto-Saharans later became known as Kushites. They were recognized throughout history as great archersdue to their perfection of using the bow and arrow for hunting and warfare. The Proto-Saharans belonged to the Ounanian culture (Winters, 2012). Drake et al (2012) make it clear there was

considerable human activity in the Sahara before it became a desert. One the earliest Saharan cultures was the

Ounanian culture.

Around the time we see the development of the Ounanian culture in North Africa, we see the spread of the Saharan-

Sudanese ceramic style into the Sahara (Sereno, 2008,Winters,1986b).

There are many rock engravings of figures holding bows found in the Sahara (Soukopova,2012). The Ounanian

population hunted animals with the bow-and arrow. The Ounanian culture existed 12kya (Drake, 2012; Smith,

2005;Winters,2012). This culture is associated with sites in central Egypt, Algeria, Mali, Mauretania and Niger

(Blench,1999; Winters,1986b).

The Ounanians were members of the Capsian population.There was continuity between the Negroes in the

Maghreb and southern Sahara referred to as Capsians, Iberomaurusians, and Mechtoids (Sereno,2008). Many Niger-

Congo speakers are decendants of the Capsian population.

Ethnically the ProtoSaharans were round headed mediterraneans of the ancient variety commonly called Negroes(Soukopova, 2012; Winters,2012). For purposes of this book we will call this group Africoid. Around 7000 B.C.mediterraneans of a fairly tall stature not devoid of Negroid characteristics appears in the Sahara at Capsa (nowCafsa).(Desange 1981) These Mediterraneans are called Capsians. This group flourished in an area extending from thewestern borders of North Africa into the southern Sahara. They lived on hillocks or slopes near water. But someCapsians lived on plains which featured lakes and marshes. Their way of life continued from the Neolithic era up to thetime of the Garamante. Using craniometric data researchers it has been determined that the people who belonged to the Maa

Confederation were primarily related to the ancient Caspian or Old Mediterranean (Negro) population

(Winters,1985,2012). Lahovary (1963) and Sastri (1955) maintains that this population was unified over an extensive

zone from Africa, across Eurasia into South India. Some researchers maintain that the Caspian civilization originated in

East Africa (Lal,1963; Nayar ,1977).

Archaeological evidence indicates that there was unity between the ProtoSaharan populations in middle Africa.For example, these Maaites used the bow, made pottery and herded animals as a reliable source of nutrition. Since theclimate was more wetter ten thousand years ago, the major crops of the Maaites were ensete, rice, sorghum, millet,sesame, barley and fonio. Between 60005000 B.C.,the Sahara was parkland with a mediterranean vegetation. At thistime abundant streams, and rivers that dotted middle Africa. Due to the wet environment the ProtoSaharanscommunicated mainly by boat. The original homeland of the ProtoSaharans was in the Saharan zone. The Saharan zone is bounded on the northby the Atlas mountains, the Atlantic Ocean in the West, the tropical rain forest in the south and the Red Sea in the East.It was here that the ancestors of the founders of the river valley civilizations developed their highly organized andtechnological societies.

During the late pleistocene clay pottery or baskets were probably used by hunter/fisher/gather groups to collect

grain, as evidenced by numerous millstones found on early Saharan sites. These baskets evolved into pottery.

Ceramics spread from the central and eastern Sahara into North Africa. These ceramics were of Sudaneseinspiration and date back to the seventh millennium B.C. The Saharan-Sudanese pottery was used from in the Saharan

highlands from Ennedi to the Hoggar .The makers of this pottery were probably from the Sudan(Desanges 1981). TheCapsian pottery tradition also came from the Sudan, and first appeared at the valley of Saoura, and later at FortFlatters. This type of pottery probably originated at Elmenteita in Kenya (KiZerbo 1979).

The Ounanian tradition is probably associated with the Niger-Congo phyla. This is supported by the reality that the

Niger-Congo languages are genetically related to Elamite, Sumerian and the Dravidian languages. The original

homeland of the Niger-Congo speakers was the Saharan Highlands. The dispersal of the the Niger-Congo speakers

from the Fezzan to Mauretania mirrors the Saharan sites associated with the Ounanian tradition (Winters, 2011, 2012).

This suggest that the Niger-Congo group introduced the hunting tradition and use of bow-and arrow into Mauretania,

Mali, Niger and Southern Algeria and played a prominent role in peopling the desert (Winters, 1986b, 2012).

For much of the early history of the Maaites they remained in the Saharan highlands. By the 8th millennium BC

Saharan-Sudanese pottery was used in the Air (Winters,1986b). Ceramics of this style have also been found at sites in

the Hoggar (Winters, 1985,1994). Dotted wavy-line pottery has also been discovered in the Libyan Sahara

(Winters,1986b). In the Sahelian zone there was a short wet phase during the Holocene (c. 7500-4400 BC), which led

to the formation of large lakes and marshes in Mauritania, the Niger massifs and Chad. The Inland Niger Delta was

unoccupied. In other parts of modern Niger the wet phase existed in the eight/seventh and fourth/third millennia BC

(Drake, 2012; Soreno,2008).

Due to the use of the bow people in the Maa Confederation were great hunters. They early domesticated the dog.

Maaite hunters early domesticated the dog. These dogs were used by hunters to catch their prey. The Egyptian

term for dog is uher #. This Egyptian term corresponds to many African, and Dravidian terms for dog:

Egptian uher

Azer wulle

Bozo kongoro

Guro bere

Vai wuru, ulu

Bo(Bambara) -ulu

Wassulunka wulu

Konyanka wulu

Malinke wuli, wuru, wulu

Dravidian ori

The linguistic data indicates that there is contrast between the Paleo-Afican l =/= r. The Egyptian uher # , Azer

wulle # and Manding wuru # suggest that the r> l in Paleo-African. There is also vowel alternation in the terms for

dog o =/= u. The predominance of the vowel /u/ in the terms for dog, make it clear that o

BlackandRed Ware (BRW) Although the Maaites may have had seasonal migration patterns their ceramic traditions and intensive exploitation of

plant foods show a continuity of the technological and structural tradition in the Libyan Sahara, and do not reflect a

true nomadic herder tradition characterized by historic nomadic societies (Winters 1986b). It is interesting to note that

while cattle predominate the pictorial scenes in the Libyan Sahara, the faunal remains from Uan Muhuggiag and El

Kaduda for example, indicate that most Maaites kept domesticated goat/sheep (Obenga 1988 ; Barich 1985;

Soukopova, 2012; Winters 1985a,1986b). Moreover the earliest animal engravings in the Fezzan were of rams and

goats/sheep (Quellec 1985:367). These Kushites used a common redandblack ware that has been found from the Sudan in Africa, acrossSouthwest Asia and the Indian subcontinent all the way into China. The earliest examples of the blackandred ware ofthe ProtoSaharans date to the early Amratian period 40003500 BC. It was after 3500 B.C., and especially 2500 B.C.,that the Proto Saharans began to deeply affect the activities of the Eurasian peoples.

The Amratian period of Middle Africa is the focal point for the spread of BRW. There is affinity between BRWfound at Anau, in Russian Turkestan, and similar pottery from southeastern Europe. Dr. J.G. Andersson (l934) found asimilarity between pottery fragments found at Anau, and fragments discovered at Yangshao sites in Henan and Gansuprovince.All of these sites were early settled by Kushites after 4-5kya.

Chapter 2: ORIGINS OF PROTOSAHARAN CULTURE Linguistic and archaeological evidence can help us to reconstruct the ProtoSaharan economy and socialorganization. The economy was diversified and shifted from huntergatherer to herder and later food producing as aresult of the rise of consistent seasonal rains in Middle Africa after 7000 B.C. This regular rain pattern led to thedevelopment of the mixed agricultureherding economy of the ProtoSaharans. The bioarchaeological remains from theSahara indicates a mixed economy based on the herding of cattle and goats, and the cultivation of millet and barley.Over time the shifting Saharan climate limited , rather than determined the ProtoSaharan sedentary types of foodproducing technology. The earliest horizon of the Sahara during the Late Pleistocene pottery and baskets were probably used byhuntergatherer groups to collect grain, as evidenced by the abundance of millstones on early Saharan sites. Due to therichness of the flora and fauna in the Sahara during this period ethnic groups in Middle Africa were semi-sedentaryhunter fishergatherers who engaged in the exploitation of their habitat. These people may have had a limited interest inthe domestication of plants and animals. But it was not until the return of an arid climate to the Sahara between 12,0007000 B.C., that the Saharans were forced to domesticate cattle and goats to ensure a reliable source of food. It wasprobably during the Ounanian period that ProtoSaharans probably began to seriously domesticate/collect plants tosupplement their diets (Winters,2012).

The Paleoclimate of Africa explains the south and eastern migration of Negroes/Africoids from North Africa andthe Sudan respectively, into West Africa after 1000 BC.There were various climates in Africa. In the Sahelian zonethere was a wet phase during the Holocene (75004400 B.C.) which led to the formation of large lakes and marshes inMauritania, the Niger massifs and Chad(Talbot 1980). In the Niger area, the west phase existed in the eight/seventhand fourth/third millennia B.C.(McIntosh and McIntosh 1986:417). There were very few habitable areas in West Africa during the holocene wet phase. According to McIntosh andMcIntosh (1986) the only human occupation of the Sahara during the humid phase was situated in the Saharan massifsalong wadis. By the 8th Millennia SaharanSudanese pottery was used in the Air region(Roset 1983). Ceramics of thisstyle have been found at sites in the Hoggar (McIntosh and McIntosh 1983,1983b). Dotted wavyline type pottery hasalso been discovered in the Libyan Sahara (Winters,1986b). The pastoralsedentary tradition is a highly developed specialization exploiting food resources of the Savanna andherding cattle throughout Middle Africa over 5000 years ago. The bioarchaeological remains from the Sahara indicatesa mixed economy for the people of Maa, based on herding of cattle goats and sheep, and the collection of sorghum,millet, yam and rice along the marshes and lakes. The view that food production preceded pastoralism in the among people living in the Maa Confederation at thisjunction in archaeological researchis untenable. It would seem more reasonable to assume that a huntergatherergroup which clearly specialized in the hunting of animals (as evidenced by the abundance of arrowheads) would havemoved from huntergathering to animal domestication, since they would be keenly aware of the habits of game, andtherefore make the shift to animal husbandry rapidly when climatic conditions in the Sahara made it impossible tocollect grains. A short arid period affected Middle Africa after the African Aqualithic. The return of the rains during the Ounanianperiod probably led to renewed interest in plant collection and later domestication. It was probably during this periodthat various groups began to specialize either in a pastoral or mixedpastoral food producing economy. The fact thatboth of these economies held the best benefit for a stable society, may have encouraged the diverse Saharan ethnicgroups to form some sort of "federal " relationship which encouraged trade and cooperation between the varying

peoples practicing different economies (Winters,2011,2012). The contemporary nomadic pastoralist tradition in the Sahara was first introduced as a sedentary pastoraladaptation around 7000 years ago. At this time the Sahara was a mosaic of lakes and marshes united by permanentstreams. The vegetation was Mediterranean and grew abundantly in the Saharan highlands, in Hoggar and Tibesti. In addition to cattle, the archaeologist have found that the ProtoSaharans had abundant pottery and grindingstones. This wavy line pottery was first discovered at Khartoum, and dates to 4000 B.C (Winters,1986b). The collection of plants also provided a reliable source of food during the formative stages of ProtoSaharansociety. The discovery of large amounts of pottery and heavy grinding stones during this period at many sites suggestthe possibility that pastoralist were more sedentary at this time. Each community in the Maa Confederation was led by a chief. These chiefs were usually recognized as men withhorns.

A comparative study of the languages spoken by the ProtoSaharans(PS) gives us a very clear indication of theircultural traits. The prototerm for the ProtoSaharan culture trait will be PS plus an asterisk e.g.,*PS. For example theProtoSaharans had chiefs men with horns PS: *sar, and lived in cities/town PS:*uru. In these cities and between theseveral cities they built roads PS:*sila (Winters,1985). Language CHIEF WRITING CITY PLACE DRAVIDIAN CA,CIRA CARRU UR TAELAMITE SUNKI,SALU TALU UR(U) DA,TASUMERIAN SAR SAR, RU UR MANDING SA SEBE,SEWE FURU TA The ProtoSaharans referred to themselves as people or humanity PS:*oku. The mother of the family was calledPS: *amma or *ma ; and the father was called PS:*pa. The children both boys and girls were referred to asPS:*de/di/du. They lived in houses called PS:*lu/du. Due to the abundance of water during the Ounanian period the ProtoSaharans used the suffix PS:*ta, to indicate aplace of habitation. They also used boats called PS:*kalam (Winters,1985). LANGUAGE BOAT MAN FATHER HOUSE PEOPLEDRAVIDIAN KALAM APPAN LON UKAKU SUMERIAN KALAM TIN,MU PAP MU,U UKUMANDING KULU TYE,MOKO AP LU,NU MOKO

It would appear that at the time of the separation of the ProtoSaharans into distinct groups at the beginning of the3rd Millennium B.C. they were familiar with mining and metal working techniques. As a result these people share theterm for digging a hole: Dravidian (Dr.) tulai, Sumerian (S.) dul/tul and Manding (M.) du, tyolo,tuta =PS: *tul(Winters,1985). Before the ProtoSaharansmigrated into Eurasia they also knew about blacksmithing e.g., Tamil/Telugu (languagesthat belong to the Dravidian family) irumbu/inumu, M. numu 'forge', umu 'blacksmith'.Another PS term for blacksmithwas *kamara: Dr. Kamara, Wolof Kamara. It is interesting to note that throughout Africa the term 'uma', is suffixed tothe word for iron and iron working (Winters,1985). LANGUAGE COPPER GOLD STEELDRAVIDIAN URUTTIRAN KANI,KANAM,KANNE ALAVU,URUKKUSUMERIAN URUDU GUSHKINMANDING KURA, KU SAANI TUUFAELAMITE UFAPROTOSAHARAN *URUT *ANI *UFA During the Neolithic Subpluvial (ca. 70006000 B.C.), farming and herding were practiced by the ProtoSaharans inthe green savannas of the Sahara. Migrating ProtoSaharans probably remnants of the future Egyptians tookdomesticated cattle into the Nile Valley(Hoffman 1979:102; Winters,1986b). These pastoral people moved from theSouth into the Nile Valley, not from the Southwestern part of Asia into the Nile Valley. The early ProtoSaharans made adequate uses of local game and plant life, and they established permanent andseasonal settlements around well stocked fishing holes. The wanderings of this hearty folk were dictated by thevarying climatic conditions found in Middle Africa Hoffman(l979:218). commenting on the role of the ProtoSaharansin the founding of Egypt observed that," A exploration of the Western Desert (also known as the Libyan Desert, ormore generally, the Sahara) proceeds at an ever quickening pace, it is now apparent that the despised foreigners ofEgypt's desert frontiers comprised a major areal tradition roughly comparable to those of Upper and Lower Egypt.Paradoxically, it was this desert tradition and not those of the Nile Valley that contributed to prehistoric Egypt thosecritical innovations like farming, cattle pastoralism, and longdistance trade that led to groundwork for her precociouscivilization".

Chapter 3: Boating in Ancient Africa

During the Ounanian period the ProtoSaharans maintained well developed trade links with the east Africanhomelands by boats which could travel across Africa along the numerous streams and rivers which dotted the morewatered Middle African environment 8000 years ago.

The socalled Egyptian and Mesopotamian style boats were first depicted in the Sahara at Tin Tazarift. As a resultwe should really refer to the boats in Saharan rock art as Maaite boats. These boats used by the Egyptians, Sumeriansand Elamites are nothing more than the boats used by the ProtoSaharans. These boats were also used by thedescendants of the ProtoSaharans in Mesopotamia and India. To navigate these boats the ProtoSaharans used celestialnavigation.

Boat building has been known in Africa for thousands of years. Reed boats and reed boat illustrations are foundthroughout Middle Africa. Apart from human and animal figures appearing in Nubian rock drawings the most dominantmotif is the reed boat.Other examples of reed boats have been found in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, both areasof early ProtoSaharan / Kushite settlement. The first use of the mast and sails on reed boats, along with cabins onthe deck appear at TaSeti, in Nubia over 5000 years ago.

In the riverine cultures of the ProtoSaharans, each community had marine architects, ship builders and expert sailors.The captains of the Maaite ships were depicted bigger than the crewmen. They also wore a horned headdressconsisting of two horns or feathers to illustrate their status and rank in society. The presence of an elevated bow and stern on many boats depicted in the Saharan rock art and the peculiar"bowstring", astern and "fuse" for the rudder oar, indicate these ancient ships were used for navigation on the openseas. Reed or plank boats are still made by the Dravidians in India, and the Bozo of West Africa along the Niger river.The Maaite boats also had a cabin on the deck. Boat building has been known in Africa for thousands of years. Boats illustrations throughout Middle Africa rock

art. For example, today reed boats are still constructed by the Mande speaking Bozo people and Dravidian speaking

people in India. Due to shared origin of boating and navigation among the Maaites they share the ter for boat.

Shared Maaite terms for BoatLANGUAGE BOATDRAVIDIAN KALAMSUMERIAN KALAMMANDING KULU

The boat has played an important role in Africa since prehistoric times. As early as Nagada I (4000-3500 BC)

Africans were depicting boats on their pottery (Robert Partridge, ,p.16). The same style boats are found in the Sahara

at Tin Tazarift (Ki-Zerbo,1979,1981). Between 3500-3000BC we find evidence of sails on pottery from Nubia and

Egypt ( Partridge,1996).

The Prophet Isaiah mentions the expertise of the Kushites when he noted in the Bible at Isaiah 18:12 that:

" Country of the whirring wings beyond the rivers of

Cush, who send ambassadors by sea, in papyrus ships

over the waters".

This indicates that as late as the Meroitic Kushite empire papyrus boast were still being used by Africans.

Because the early civilization builders in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Africa, and China after 3500 BC, originated

in the Sahara there existed great similarity between boats engraved on rocks in Mesopotamia, Indus Valley/ India and

ancient boats in the Sahara and Nile Valley (Hornell,1920).

Walter Resch (1967), noted that apart from human and animal figures appearing on the Nubian rock drawings, the

most dominant motif is that of reed boats, many of these boats like the boats at Nagada II, had sails. Henri Lhote

during his 1956 expedition to the Highland Tassili region of Algeria also found reed boat engravings (Lhote, 1957).

Boats with sails were still being used in throughout Africa in 1500BC. Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt, recorded in her

temple at Deir el Bahri a Puntite ship which had sails and 60 oars. This indicates that African ships were usually

prepared for sailing the oceans through the power of the wind, and /or by sail.

Punt is believed to be ancient Somalia/Ethiopia. The people who presently live in Ethiopia call the Puntite empire,

the Arwe empire.

Other examples of reed boats have been found in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. It is among the engraved

Saharan boats that we see the first use of masts and sails, along with cabins on the decks of ships as early as 3100

BC. The presence of this highly developed boat technology among the Proto-Mande provided them with the ability to

sail to America 2000 years ago to found the Mande speaking Olmec Empire along the east coast of Mexico.

Figure 3:4 Sahran Boat and Horned Captain

Papyrus boats were capable of traveling thousands of miles over the open seas. Earastosthenes, chief librarian of the

Egyptian papyrus library in Alexandria said that papyrus ships, with the same sails and riggings as on the Nile sailed as

far as Ceylon and the mouth of the Ganges (Indus Valley) (Heyderdahl,1981). In summary, the rock art from the

Sahara, across Mesopotamia, and India are identical. It indicates that during Proto-Saharan times each community

(Mande >Proto-Olmec, Sumerian, Dravidian, etc.) had marine architects, shipbuilders and expert sailors. The presence

of an elevated bow and stern and the peculiar "bowstring" astern and "fuse" for the rudder oar, indicate that the ships

used by the Proto-Saharans, including the Mande and Dravidians were used for navigation in the open seas.

Once the descendants of the tribes who formed the Maa Confederation moved into the African Savanna and Forest

zones, the Indus Valley and South India they began to discontinue the building of papyrus boats; except among the

Budumu along Lake Chad and the Bozo on the Niger River . Most West Africans began to build dugout canoes due to

the gigantic trees found in many parts of the Savanna and Forest zone.

Chapter 4: Animal Domestication The ProtoSaharans had a mobile life style and cattle was the mainstay domesticate. Much of the evidence relatingto this pastoral way of life comes from the discovery of cattle bones at excavated sites in the Sahara, and the rockdrawings of cattle found at many of these sites. Bones discovered at desert sites inhabited between 70002500 B.C.,indicate that residents here not only farmed butherded sheep, goats and cattle, when the Sahara blossomed. Animal domestication in much of the Saharan zone came in response to the decline in resources around lakes andriver valleys prior 5000 BC when the Sahara entered a dry phase(McIntosh 1980). The ProtoSaharans probablydomesticated sheep and goats initially, and supplemented these animals with cattle (Camps 1974). The ProtoSaharanscalled the sheep *kari. A major ProtoSaharan site was Tadrart Acacus (95008500 B.C.). Here the people were reliant on pastoralism by4000 B.C. They herded goat/sheep.LANGUAGE SHEEP DOG CATTLE,COW,OX HORSEDRAVIDIAN KURI,KORI ORI NAKU PARI, IYULI

SUMERIAN ZAR,SAR UR GUD PARU 'MULE'MANDING SARA WURU GUNGA,KONGO BARI,WOLO /WOLUPROTOSAHARAN *SAR *UR *(N)GU *PAR The Paleo-African hunters quickly learned the habits of wild sheep and goats. As a result of this hunting experienceand the shock of the short arid period after 8500 B.C., Paleo-Africans began to domesticate goat/sheep to insure areliable source of food. By 6000 B.P. the inhabitants of Tadrart Acacus were reliant on sheep and goats (Barich 1985).

The first domesticated goats came from North Africa. This was the screw horn goat common to Algeria, where itmay have been deposited in neolithic times. We certainly see goat/sheep domestication moving eastward: TadrartAcacus (Camps 1974), Tassili-n-Ajjer , Mali (McIntosh & McIntosh 1988), Niger (Roset 1983) and the Sudan. Barker(1989) has argued that sheep and goats increased in importance over cattle because of their adaptation to desiccation. The Egyptian terms for sheep,ram are zr #, sr # . In the terms for sheep we find either the consonant /s/ or/z/ before the consonant /r/, e.g., s>0/#________r. This corresponds to many other African terms for sheep, ram:Egyptian sr, zr Wolof xarCoptic sro Bisa sirKouy siri Lebir sirAmo zara Dravidian kuri,korriBobofing se-ge,sege Toma sereeMalinke sara Busa saBambara sarha,saga Koro isorBoko sa Bir sirAzer sege 'goat' Diola sarha There is phonological contrast between s =/= z. We find both sr # and 0 zr # for sheep. Here we haves>z/V_______(V)r 'sheep' There is also clear evidence for the Paleo-African domestication of the goat. The Egyptian word for ram is b #, ba #. This corespondence to many African terms for goat:

Wasulu ba Malinke ba Kpelle balaCham bii Vai ba Mende mbalaDaduja bii Bambara ba Loma baalaBurak bii Dyala baEgyptian ba Gban buBagirmien ba-t Boko ble In the African terms for goat we find an a>i pattern . This suggest that /i/ developed from /a/ as a result of soundchange. This is not surprising because we find a similar a > i pattern in the African term for sheep. The Paleo-Africanterm for goat was *ba .

Cattle Domestication

As early as 15,000 years ago cattle were domesticated in Kenya. In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated

many animals including the pack ass, and a small screw horned goat which was common from Algeria to Nubia.

The zebu or humped cattle are found in many parts of Africa.The oldest faunal remains of the Bos Indicus come

from Kenya, and date to the first millennium B.C.

The recent evidence that Bos Indicus , humped cattle, may have originated in East Africa suggest that this type of

cattle may have first been situated in Africa, and then taken to Asia by the Proto-Saharans. Testimony to the ancient

humped cattle in Africa is supported by the depiction of this type of cattle in the rock art of the Sahara.This view is

also supported by the fact that the advent of the Bos Indicus, cattle in Egypt corresponds to the migration of the C-

Group people into the Nile Valley.

The C-Group people came from the Fertile African Crescent. Augustin Holl (1989) has made it clear that

pastoralism was the first form of food production developed by post Paleolithic groups in the Sahara.

In the western Saharan sites such as Erg In-Sakane region, and the Taoudenni basin of northern Mali, attest to cattle

husbandry between 6000 and 5000 B.P. (McIntosh & McIntosh, 1979,1981,1986,1988). Cattle pastoral people began

to settle Dar Tichitt and Karkarchinkat between 5000 and 3500 B.P. (Holl, 1989).

The term for cattle, cow in the various African languages show correspondence. Below we will compare the term

for cow from various African languages:

CATTLE/ COW

Egyptian ng, nag

Wolof nag

Fulani nag

Hausa nagge

Angas ning

Ankwe ning

Susu ninge

Nuer yang

Baguirmi m-ang, mang

Gbea m-angu, mangu

Sar(a) m-ang, mang

Serere nak

Mande nika

Burma nak

Tamil n_ku

Malayalam n_ku

Tulu n_ku

Jarawa i-nak

Kagoro nyak

Kaje nyak

Burak nyek

Kagoma nyak

Bobo nyanga

Kono-Vai nige

So.W. Mande ninke

Sembla nigi

Congo-Benue *i-nak

Duala nyaka

Mpongwe nyare

Fang nyar

Kwa nare

Azer(Azayr) na

Soninke na

Gourmantche nua, nue

Tamil _, _n

Malayalam _, _n

Konda _.v

Kannda _, _vu

Telugu _vu

Senufo nu

Ewe nyi

Niellim nya

Boua (Bwa) nya

Tarok ina

Iregwe nya

Dadiya nee

Amo na

Baya nday

Bobofing nya-nga

Gera ndiya

Koro indak

Malinke gu_ga, ko_go zebu

Songhay dyu_go

Swahili Ki-go_go

Kannada g_nde

Kolami k_nda, kanda

Gadaba k_nde

Gondi k_nda

The correspondence between Dravidian and African terms for cattle support the archaeological evidence for the

early domestication of cattle in the Maa Confederation. This view is supported by the similarity in the terms for

cow/cattle by speakers of the Dravidian, Mande, Niger-Congo, Chadic, and Afro Asiatic Supersets.

The oldest written evidence from Africa comes from the Egyptian language. The Egyptian terms for cattle/ cow

were ng and nag . In other African languages we find either the consonant n-, before the consonant g/k , e.g.,

n/v______(v)g/k ;or the nasal consonant n- , before the vowels -i,-y , and -a , e.g., n+i+a =nia , or n+y+a = nya .

This evidence of cognition in Dravidian, African terms for cattle/cow show considerable correspondence in

consonants and vowels within roots.

Table 1.

Correspondence within Roots

Niger-Congo Nilotic Dravidian Chadic Egyptian

-g/-k g -g/-k -k -g

-s- -- -z- s/z

-n- -n- -n- -m- n-

Table 2.

Correspondence within Vowels

Niger-Congo Nilotic Dravidian Chadic Egyptian

-i/-y -e/-a -i/-y -y

a/u a a/u a/u a

The linguistic evidence supports the view that the Paleo-Dravido-African term for cattle/cow in the Maa

Confederation was *n'n , *n'g /n'k , and *nia . This data also makes it clear that /g/ and /k/ were interchangeable

consonants long before the separation of the Proto-Saharans into distinct African cultural and linguistic groups.

It is interesting to note that the Chadic terms for cow and cattle corresponds to the Mande terms. Mukarovsky

(1987) provides numerous analogous Mande and Chadic terms for cow/cattle.

Mande Chadic

Bambara misi Sha nisi mu

Xassanke nyinsi Gofa mizzaa

Dyula misi Welamo mizzaa

Malinke nisi, misi Zala mizzaa

Basketo mizaa

Boro miizaa

Anfillo mintso

*misi *mizaa

This illustrates an ancient alternation of the s =/= z consonants in Paleo-African. In terms of the term for cow and

cattle it would appear that the usual pattern was m/v__(v) s/z__.

Susu ninge Anga nin

Mende nika Goemai nin, nen

Malinke ningi Kofyar nen

Kono ningi Sura nin

Vai nii Sha nisi mu

Bande nika-i Tamil n_ku

Lomo nik Malayalam n_ku

Kpelle nina Tulu n_ku

Bobo nyanga

*nig / *nik, *nin *nin

In the above Chadic and Mande terms for cow/cattle we see the n/v_________(v) n. The pattern for Dravidian,

Chadic and Mande pastoral words is n/v_________(v) k. The cognition between Chadic Dravidian and Mande terms

for cattle/cow indicate that the speakers of these languages were in close proximity to one another during the neolithic.

Horse Domestication

It has usually been assumed that the horse was introduced into Africa by the Hyksos. But as indicated below theaffinities between the terms for horse in Dravidian and African languages indicate that the horse was domesticated byDravidians, and other Proto-Saharans before the Asian invasion of Egypt and spread of the Indo-European speakingpeople. Archaeological evidence indicate that the horse was known to the Nubians centuries before its common use inEgypt . Saharan Africans used the donkey and later horses as beast of burden. The ass or donkey was domesticated in theSahara at Maadi 3650 BC . A domesticated Equus was found at Hierakonpolis dating around the same period . The horse was also found at other sites in the Sahara. Skeletons of horses dating to between to around 2000 BChave been found in the Sahara-Sahel zone In West Africa according to Daniel McCall the horse was in the Sahara during the Second Millennium BC Thiswould explain the affinity between the Dravidian and African terms for horse outlined above. The Saharan horse was small in size. These horses match perfectly the horses depicted with the Saharan chariotriders. These horses were stiil be used by the warriors of ancient Ghana as noted by the Arabic writer al-Bekri whenhe visited this area. Most researchers believe that th horse was introduced to Africa/Egypt by the Hysos after 1700BC. This is aninteresting date, and far to late for the introduction of the horse given the archaeological evidence for horses at Maadiand the Sahel-Sahara zone. At Buhen, one of the major fortresses of Nubia, which served as the headquarters of the Egyptian Viceroy ofKush a skeleton of a horse was found lying on the pavement of a Middle Kingdom rapart dating to 1675BC. Thiswas only 25 years after the Hysos had conquered Egypt. This suggest that the Kushites had been riding horses for anextended period of time for them to be able to attack Buhen on horse back. This also supports the early habits ofAfricans riding horses as depicted in the rock art. The Nubians and Upper Egyptians were great horsemen whereas the Lower Egyptians usually rode the chariot, theNubian warriors of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty rode on horseback . The appearance of the horse laying on a Buhenrampart may indicate it was used by Kushite warriors attacking Buhen. No matter what the use of the horse was, thelinguistic evidence makes it clear that the horse was part of Saharan culture before the advent of the Indo-

Europeans.

Figure 4:5 Various Saharans with horses and Chariots The Nubians and Upper Egyptians were great horsemen whereas the Lower Egyptians usually rode the chariot, theNubian warriors of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty rode on horseback . The appearance of the horse laying on a Buhenrampart may indicate it was used by Kushite warriors attacking Buhen. No matter what the use of the horse was, thelinguistic evidence makes it clear that the horse was part of Saharan culture before the advent of the Indo-Europeans. There are many Dravidian and African words for horse, one of the most ancient Dravidian forms for horse may beBrahui hulli and Tamil ivuli. This ancient form of the word for horse appears in African languages with consonant /l/or/d/, as the main consonant and the vowels /o/ or /u/. Below we compare the Malinke(M.)-Bambara (B.), Nubia (N),Wolof (W.) Hausa, Tamil (Ta), Malayam (Mal) Somali (Som.) Kanarese (Ka.) Telugu (Tel.) Kordofan Nubian (KN)languages. The African languages belong either to the NigerCongo Family or the Cushitic Family of languages.HorseM. wolu, Bam. blu, wolo, N. unde Ta. Iyuli, Brahui hulli Another ancient form of the word for horse was *par- / * far-. Below are other Dravidian-African terms for horse:Mande wolu Bam. Blu, wolo Mande bara grey horse, Hausa baraba swift horseWolof fas Somali fara-ka Egyptian nefer Serere pisTamil , Mal. Pari Tamil payyeru, Fulani puucu Mande bari Geez faras Galla or Oromo farda, ferdaKa. Karte Tamil kartai Hausa doki Tel. gadide Kanuri Nile ko Hausa godiya The Dravidians and Niger-Congo speakers formerly lived in the highlands of the Sahara. Many of these peoplemigrated into West Africa. In West Africa according to Daniel McCall the horse was in the Sahara during the SecondMillennium BC This would explain the affinity between the Dravidian and African terms for horse outlined above.

The fact that the chariots found in West Africa resemble those of Crete does not mean that the riders of thesechariots had to have come from Crete. In fact Greek traditions make it clear that the ancient Cretans, called Minoanscame from Africa

Figure 4:6 Saharan Chairioteers The Dravidian and African languages share similar names for the wheel. For example:Galla makurakura Tulu gali, tagoriSwahili guru, dumu Mande koli, kori, muru-feTamil kal, ari, urul , tikiri Ka. gali tiguri, tigari It would appear that the Proto-African-Dravidian term for wheel was *-ori / *-uri *go/uri and *ko/uri. The proto-South Dravidian term for wheel *tigu/ori . The linguistic evidence suggest that in the proto- language the speakers ofAfrican-Dravidian used either the vowels o/u or a/i after the consonants. It is also evident that the l and r, wereinterchangeable in the construction of the term for wheel. The horse disappeared from the Sahara as the area became increasingly drier. This forced the original West Africandomesticated horses to move southward where they are presently found.

Chapter 5: Plant Domestication

The earliest Neolithic farmers n Saharan Africa cultivated barley. They used a wavy line ceramic style of MiddleAfrica referred to as the SaharanSudanese ware. The ProtoSaharans, once engaged in intensive agriculture began to build towns. Complex political organizationsand craft specialization followed as Maaite ethnic groups, and clans became more and more sedentary. The ProtoSaharans practiced a form of intensive agriculture characterized by use of the hoe, related water storageand irrigation techniques, plus the application of fertilizers (manure) to the land. The ability of the ProtoSaharans to produce surplus food led to an increase in population and changes in socialorganization. Naturally population increases forced the ancestors of the ProtoSaharans to spill over into more marginalareas. This forced them to domesticate plants and animals to preserve traditional levels of food production, that hadresultedfrom plant collection. In Nubia the people long practiced agriculture. In 17000 B.C the people at Tushka were cultivating barley. Thefarmers at Tushka were the Anu people who first took civilization to Egypt and Mesopotamia. At Kadero, a ProtoSaharan site in the Sudan we find that by 3310 B.C.,sorghum and millet was being cultivated.InNorthwest Africa rice was being cultivated by 3000 B.C. Land of cultivation was called *ga(n), in ProtoSaharan. Barren land near water that was cultivatable was calledPS:*de(n)/di(n). The mainstay plant collected by the ProtoSaharans was millet and or sorghum. They took

this crop with them to Asia. The ProtoSaharans called their grain *se. The word for cultivate was PS:*be. They usedthe hoe PS:* pari, to cultivate the land. In addition they had dogs PS: *ur, to help them hunt and watch over their

domesticated stock.

There is abundant evidence that African millets were cultivated not only in Africa but also in the Indus Valley during

Harappan times (Weber, 1998; Winters,1981a,1981b, 2008). Weber (1998) maintains that Indian agriculture was

"greatly influenced" by these millets from ancient to modern times (p.267).

The archaeological evidence ndicates that local millets were cultivated before the 3rd millenium B.C. (Weber, 1998;

Winters, 1981b). But by the founding of the Harappan civilization and rise of civilization in Gujarat the African millets

were integrated into a well established South Asian subsistence pattern (Weber,1998).

The major grain exploited by Saharan populations was rice ,the yam and pennisetum. McIntosh and McIntosh

(1988) has shown that the principal domesticate in the southern Sahara was bulrush millet (pennisetum). Millet

impressions have been found on Mande ceramics from both Karkarchinkat in the Tilemsi Valley of Mali, and Dar

Tichitt in Mauritania between 4000 and 3000 BP (McIntosh & McIntosh 1983a,1988; Winters 1986b; Andah 1981).

Given the archaeological evidence for millets in the Sahara, leads to the corollary theory that if the Dravidians

originated in Africa, they would share analogous terms for millet with African groups that formerly lived in the Sahara.

Controversy surrounds the transportation pattern for African millets to India (Weber, 1998). Yet it would appear that

millets arrive in South Asia, both in the 3rd and 2nd millennium B.C. It is interesting to note that where the African

millets represent the dominate cereal grain, rice was also a major domesticate (Weber, 1998).

Wiegboldus (1996) believes that these millets may have been transported to India, from African countries situated

along the Indian Ocean. The only problem with this theory is that Wiegboldus (1996) found no evidence of the African

millets and bicolor sorghum in East African countries until late antiquity, millenia after African millets were cultivated at

Harappan sites.

There is linguistic evidence that the Dravidians may have introduced African millets to India in Harappan times.

Many linguist believe that Dravidian was spoken by the inhabitants of the Harappan cities (Winters, 1990). This view is

supported by the large number of Dravidian tribal groups in North India, and the existence of Brahui, also a Dravidian

language, in Pakistan and other parts of Central Asia.

Thundy (1983) maintains that most Dravidiologist recognize Africa as the original home of the Proto-Dravidians.

Aravanan (1976,1979,1980) claims that the Dravidians and Africans share many similarities in culture and physical

type. Winters (1994) presents numerous linguistic examples that suggest a geneological relationship between the

Dravidian and African languages (Winters,2007,2008b).

Winters (1985, 2007,2008b,2010b) has suggested that the Proto-Dravidians formerly lived in the Sahara. This is an

interesting theory, because it is in the Sahara that the earliest archaeological evidence has been found for African

millets. Millet has been found in the Sahara dating back to 7000 kya from Dakhleh (Thurston 2003).

One of the principal groups to use millet in Africa are the Northern Mande speaking people (Winters, 1986,). The

Norther Mande speakers are divided into the Soninke and Malinke-Bambara groups. Holl (1985,1989) believes that the

founders of the Dhar Tichitt site where millet was cultivated in the 2nd millenium B.C., were northern Mande speakers.

To test this theory we will compare Dravidian and Black African agricultural terms, especially Northern Mande

(Winters, 2008,2010). The linguistic evidence suggest that the Proto-Dravidians belonged to an ancient sedentary

culture which existed in Saharan Africa. We will call the ancestor of this group Paleo-Dravido-Africans (Winters,

1994,208b,2010b).

The Dravidian terms for millet are listed in the Dravidian Etymological Dictionary at 2359, 4300 and 2671. A

cursory review of the linguistic examples provided below from the Dravidian, Mande and Wolof languages show a

close relationship between these language. These terms are outlined below:

Kol sonna --- --- ----

Wolof (AF.) suna --- ---- ---

Mande (AF) suna bara, baga de-n, doro koro

Tamil connal varaga tinai kural

Malayalam colam varaku tina ---

Kannanda --- baraga, baragu tene korale,korle

*sona *baraga *ten *kora

Below we will compare other Dravidian and African agricultural terms. These terms come from the Mande

languages (Malinke, Kpelle, Bambara, Azer, Soninke), West Atlantic (Wolof, Fulani), Afro-Asiatic (Oromo, Galla),

Somali, Nubian and the ancient Egyptian.

The Paleo-Dravido-Africans came from a sedentary culture that domesticated cattle and grew numerous crops

including wheat and millet. The Egyptian term for cultivation is The major grain exploited by Saharan populations

was rice ,the yam and pennisetum. McIntosh and McIntosh (1988) has shown that the principal domesticate in the

southern Sahara was bulrush millet (pennisetum). Millet impressions have been found on Mande ceramics from both

Karkarchinkat in the Tilemsi Valley of Mali, and Dar Tichitt in Mauritania between 4000 and 3000 BP. (McIntosh &

McIntosh 1983a,1988; Winters 1986b; Andah 1981).

Given the archaeological evidence for millets in the Sahara, leads to the corollary theory that if the Dravidians

originated in Africa, they would share analogous terms for millet with African groups that formerly lived in the Sahara

( Winters, 2008,2010).

The major grain exploited by Saharan populations was rice ,the yam and pennisetum. McIntosh and McIntosh

(1988) has shown that the principal domesticate in the southern Sahara was bulrush millet (pennisetum). Millet

impressions have been found on Mande ceramics from both Karkarchinkat in the Tilemsi Valley of Mali, and Dar

Tichitt in Mauritania between 4000 and 3000 BP. (McIntosh & McIntosh 1983a,1988; Winters 1986b; Andah 1981).

Given the archaeological evidence for millets in the Sahara, leads to the corollary theory that if the Dravidians

originated in Africa, they would share analogous terms for millet with African groups that formerly lived in the Sahara.

b j(w) #. Egyptian b j(w) # corresponds to many African terms for cultivation:

Galla baji 'cultivated field'

Tulu (Dravidian language) bey, benni

Nubian ba, bat 'hoe up ground'

Malinke be

Somali beer

Wolof mbey, ambey, bey

Egyptian b j(w)

Sumerian buru, bur 'to root up'

These terms for cultivate suggest that the Paleo-African term for cultivate was *be.

The Egyptian term for grain is sa #. This corresponds to many African terms for seed,grain:

Galla senyi

Malinke se , si

Sumerian se

Egyptian sen 'granary'

Kannanda cigur

Bozo sii

Bambara sii

Daba sisin

Somali sinni

Loma sii

Susu sansi

Oromo sanyi

Dime siimu

Egyptian ssr 'corn'

id. ssn 'lotus plant'

id. sm 'herb, plant'

id. isw 'weeds'

The identification of a s>0/#_________e pattern for 'seed,grain' in the above languages suggest that these groups were

familiar with seeds at the time they separated into distinct Supersets. The fact that Sumerian se # and Egyptian

sen #, and Malinke

se # are all separated both in time and geographical area highlight the early use of seeds * se , by Paleo-

Dravido-Africans.

The Paleo-Dravido-Africans used the hoe to cultivate their crops. The Egyptian terms for hoe are hbs # and

wb #, which mean 'to open up' in Egyptian. These Egyptian terms are analogous to Black African and Dravidian terms

for hoe:

Tamil parai

Malayalam para

Kannanda pare

Nubia bat

Malinke daba

Egyptian per 'to plough'

Hausa fartanya

Swahili palile

Egyptian hbs

Galla buqis 'root up'

Sumerian buru 'to root up'

It would appear that contrast exist between b and (f)_______p.

This indicates that in Paleo-Dravido-African that b < p. The Paleo-Dravido-African term for hoe was probably

*ba(r)/pa(r).

The Paleo-Dravido-Africans also possessed other terms for hoe:

Malayalam kuntali

Tamil kuntali 'pickaxe'

Nubian Kadid

Wolof konko

Malinke kope, daba

Galla doma

Hausa garma

Kod guddali

Kannanda guddali

Kpelle kali

This evidence suggest that t > d. The phonological contrast between t =/= d, highlight the alternation patterns of many

Paleo-Dravido African consonants for hoe including:

b =/= p

l =/= r

g =/= k.

Rice

Soninke dugo

Vai ko'o

Manding malo

Dravidian mala-kurula

Mende molo, konu

Kpelle moloy

Boko mole

Bisa muhi

Busa mole

Sa mela

Bambara kini

Yam

Bozo ku, kunan

Vai jambi

Malinke ku

Dravidian kui, kuna, ku

Bambara ku

It would appear that all the Proto-Dravidians were familiar with the cultivation of rice, yams and millet. This is not

surprising because Weber (1998) made it clear that millet cultivation in ancient South Asia was associated with rice

cultivation.

The linguistic evidence clearly show similarities in the Afican and Dravidian terms for plant domesticates. This

suggest that these groups early adopted agriculture and made animal domestication secondary to the cultivation of

millet, rice and yams. The analogy for the Malinke-Bambara and Dravidians terms for rice, millet and yams suggest a

very early date for the domestication of these crops. MILLETAzer soma, kengeBozo dyempi, pyinManding kene, nyoDravidian sonne, connalWolof sunaBambara nyo RICEAzer dankanteSoninke dugoVai ko'oManding maloDravidian mala-kurulaMende molo, konuKpelle moloyBoko moleBisa muhiBusa moleSa melaBambara kini YamBozo ku, kunanVai jambiMalinke kuDravidian kui, kuna, kuBambara ku

In summary, population pressure in the Sahara during a period of increasing hyperaridity forced hunter/gather/fisher

Proto-Dravidian people to first domesticate animals (Winters, 1999a,1999b) and then crops. The linguistic evidence

discussed above indicate that the Dravido-African speaking Maaites migrated out of Africa to Harappan sites with

millet, yam and rice already recognized as principal domesticated crop. Increased agricultural production also played a limited role in the expansion of the Proto-Mande. The major grainexploited by Saharan populations was rice ,the yam and pennisetum. McIntosh and McIntosh (1988) has shown thatthe principal domesticate in the southern Sahara was bulrush millet (pennisetum). Millet impressions have been foundon Mande ceramics from both Karkarchinkat in the Tilemsi Valley of Mali, and Dar Tichitt in Mauritania between 4-3kya (McIntosh & McIntosh 1983a,1988; Winters 1986b; Andah 1981). It would appear that all the Proto-Mande were familiar with the cultivation of rice, yams and millet. There aresimilarities in the Malinke-Bambara and Vai terms for plant domesticates. This suggest that these groups early adoptedagriculture and made animal domestication secondary to the cultivation of millet, rice and yams. The analogy for theMalinke-Bambara and Dravidians terms for rice, millet and yams suggest a very early date for the domestication ofthese crops.

Chapter 6: Proto-Saharan Writing

The ProtoSaharans had writing. They either engraved their syllabic script in rocks, or used a stylus to engrave wetclay. This view is supported by the fact that the term for writing ofte