Clyde Ahmad Winters....

The attacks on Afrocentricism by Eurocentrists are

unfounded. The scientific research methods support the findings of the
Afrocentrists, and not the Eurocentrists.
Recently this debate has been mainly between Europeans and include Lefkowitz,
D'Souza, and Bernal .

D'Souza sets out to prove that "Egypt was a multiracial society" dominated by white
skinned Egyptians, and that the only time that Blacks/Africans ruled Egypt, was
during the Nubian dynasty (Dinesh D'Souza p. 367-368) .

1200 BC The Huastec and Mayan speakers were separated around 1200 BC by a new
linguistic group (Swadesh). African settlers of Mexico wedged in between this group
3000 years ago, linguistic evidence exist in these languages to support this
phenomena among contemporary Meso-American languages.

The Malinke-Bambara languages, and Mayan , Otomi and Taino languages (see :
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/yquiche.htm).

Comparison confirmed cognition between these languages, and suggests a former

period of bilingualism among speakers of these languages in ancient times.

Olmec heads, look like Africans, because there were Africans who modeled for the
heads.

The Taino words, were collected when the early Explorers arrived in America, long
before any African slaves were deposited on these shores make it clear that any
cognition between Taino and Mande terms have to pre-date the coming of Columbus.

1st millenium BCE The African origin of the Olmecs. Africans built the Olmec
civilization (today Amerindian speakers exist in areas formerly occupied by the
Olmec people). Just because these people may live in the Olmec heartland today,
says very little about the inhabitants of this area 3000 years ago. Zoquean/Soquean
and Maya speakers in Olmecland today. But the linguistic evidence of Swadesh
indicate that they were not in this area 3000 years ago when a new linguistic group
appears to have entered the area. Any comparison of Mayans depicted in Mayan art,
and the Olmec people depicted in Olmec art especially the giant heads, indicate
that these people did not look alike (see
http://geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/heads.htm). Moreover, just because
Africans may have come to America with Columbus, does not prove that they were not
here before Columbus. Yet, subscription to these theories is logical, but logical
assurance alone, is not good science.

A new linguistic group invaded the Olmec heartland 3000 years ago; and the lack of
congruence between Olmec and Mayan art.

Tthe Malinke-Bambara origin of the Mayan term for writing;

3) cognate iconographic representations of African and Olmec personages;
4) the influence of Malinke-Bambara cultural and linguistic features on historic
Meso-American populations; and
5) the presence of African skeletal material excavated from Olmec graves in
addition to many other variables.
The relation between these five variables, or a combination of these variables
explains the African origin of the Olmecs.

first millennium B.C. Much of West Africa was heavily forested until the last part
of the first millennium B.C. (McIntosh & McIntosh, 1983; Winters, 1986).
600 BCE Columbus was not the first person from the old world to influence the
people and cultures of America. Over 2600 years before Columbus stumbled on the
Americas, Africans from West Africa were already establishing the first American
civilization in Meso-America (van Sertima, 1976; Wiener, 1920-1922; Winters,
1981/1982).

500 B.C. The worldwide supremacy of African people before 500 B.C. 500 B.C. The
Niger Delta was uninhabited until after 500 B.C. (McIntosh & McIntosh, 1983, 39-
42).

Africans in ancient Greece and the Egyptian influence over Greece. Archaeological
evidence makes it abundantly clear that Egyptians were in Greece hundreds of years
before the coming of the Indo-Europeans.

The archaeological evidence discovered over the past century of Blacks as the
founders of the:
Egyptian,
Elamite and
Sumerian civilizations validates the perennialists Afrocentric view of ancient
history (Diop, 1974; DuBois, 1965, 1970; Jackson, 1974; Winters, 1985, 1989, 1991,
1994).

This body of knowledge discussed in detail by Afrocentric essentialist supports the

proposition that we teach students about the immense role of Blacks in the ancient
world based on the Classical and Old Testament narratives. This literature provides
us with the basis of the "Ancient Model" of world history discussed expertly by
Bernal ( 1987, 1991).

1974 CE. C. Anta Diop is the founder of modern Afrocentricism . Diop (1974,1991)
laid the foundations for the Afrocentric idea in education. Diop (1974, 1991) has
argued that the genetic model can be used to explain the analogy between ancient
African civilizations. There are three components in the genetic model:
1) common physical type,
2) common cultural patterns and
3) genetically related languages (Winters 1989a).
Diop over the years has brought to bear all three of these components in his
illumination of Kemetic civilization (Diop 1974,1977,1978,1991).

Egypt was a Black Civilization. Egyptians spoke an African, rather than Afro-
Asiatic language.

Africans in ancient America, Asia, Greece and the Egyptian influence over Greece.

Kemet (ancient Egypt) (Diop, 1974; DuBois, 1965; Winters, 1994),

the first two ancient civilizations of China (Xia and Shang) (Winters, 1983d,
1985c),
the Pelasgian civilization of Europe(DuBois, 1965; Parker, 1917, 1918; Winters,
1983b, 1983c, 1984a, 1985, 1994) and;
civilizations in ancient America (DuBois, 1965; Rensberger, 1988; van Sertima,
1976; Wiercinski, 1972; Wiener, 1920-1922; Winters, 1977, 1979, 1981/1982, 1984,
1984b) were founded by Black/African people speaking African languages.

Ancient Egypt, Nubia and parts of the Sahara as the original homeland of the people
of Senegal. The migration of West Africans from a "Nilotic cradle" in the East,
into West Africa. There is abundant archaeological and linguistic evidence
supporting the Saharan origin of the West Africans. Toponyms and ethnonyms prove
the migration of West Africans from the Central and Eastern Sudan (Diop, 1981).

Research is the foundation of good science. There are four methods of;
1) Method of tenacity (one holds firmly to the truth, because "they know it" to be
true);
2) method of authority (the method of established belief, i.e., the Bible or the
"experts" says it, it is so);
3) method of intuition (the method where a proposition agrees with reason, but not
necessarily with experience); and
4) the method of science (the method of attaining knowledge which calls for self-
correction).

15th Cen CE When the Europeans came to the Americas they discovered Africans were
already well established in Latin America ( Quatrefages, 1889; Rafinesque, 1836;
Wiener, 1920-1922; Winters, 1984c, 1984d; Wuthenau, 1980). On Columbus' third
voyage he noted Blacks sailing in the Caribbean. Other Africans were found in the
interior of the Isthmus of Panama.

Bishop Las Casas wrote about an African king residing in the same part of Panama.

1889 CE A. de Quatrefages claims that Africans formerly lived in:

Florida,
the Caribbean,
Mexico and
Panama (A. de Quatrefages 1889).

Many nations of Brazil and Guyana are more recent and of African origin (the
American linguist C.S. Rafinesque, 1836).

1836 The American linguist C.S. Rafinesque (the American linguist C.S. Rafinesque,
1836) was sure that "many nations of Brazil and Guyana are more recent and of
African origin" (p.9).

An Amerind language called Yarura was an Ashante cognate (the American linguist
C.S. Rafinesque, 1836).
1700 BC As early as 1700 BC the first Africans settled along the Isthmus of
Tehuantepe in Mexico (Winters, 1981/1982, 1984c).

The precursor civilization/empire in the Americas was that of the Olmecs (Morley,
1983; Pouligny, 1988; Soustelle, 1984).

The Olmecs used various metals to depict Afro-Olmecs, besides "black stone",
including Jade (von Wuthenau, 1980). The Olmecs being Nubians or Kushites of the
Napata-Meroe civilization (van Sertima 1976) may have been the Tamu'Akan/Mande
peoples who came to America by way of West Afraka and founded the Olmec
civilization which preceeded the 2nd civilization of the Kushites by hundreds of
years. Africans in ancient America and study the archaeology of West Africa and the
Sahara. The founders of the Olmec civilization were Mande/Manding speaking people
(Wiener 1922) .

Identification of Manding writing on the Tuxtla statuette created by the Olmecs

(Wiener 1922). Examples of Manding substratum in Amerindian languages (Wiener 1920-
22) since he claims to be a linguist. It was the cognition between the Olmec and
Manding writings that allowed Winters (1979) to decipher the Olmec writing.
Granted, van Sertima (1976) was wrong about the identity of the Olmecs , but
he was correct in claiming that the Olmecs were of African origin. But there is no
denying the fact that Africans early settled the Americas (Sitchin, 1990; Wiener,
1920-1922; von Wuthenau, 1980).
The Olmecs were accomplished artists, engineers and scientists. They invented
Americas first cities, the calendar and writing systems (Soustelle, 1984). This
writing system was passed on to the Maya and other people of Mexico (Morley,
Brainered & Sharer, 1983; Soustelle, 1984).
The Olmecs were the precursor civilization of Meso-America. Jacques Soustelle
(1984) called the Olmecs the Sumerians of the New World, due to their great
contribution to American civilization. He wrote that "The Olmec heritage was
perpetuated in the minds and in the art of the indigenous peoples down to the fall
of Tenochlitlan, and still survives in part among the Indians, whose present is
profoundly steeped in the past" (Soustelle, 1984, 194).
The Olmec civilization is typified by the huge heads with African features
found on many Olmec sites in the Gulf region (van Sertima, 1976; Winters,
1981/1982). The first Olmec head was found at Hueyapan, in the region of San
Andres, Tutla ,Veracruz
(Pouligny, 1988).
The name Olmec for this early culture is taken from the term Olman, which was
given to the coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico where the artifacts of this culture
were found and Olmeca
the name of the inhabitants of this region. The original or native name for this
people was Xi (Shi), the plural form was Xiu (Shi-u).
The Olmec people spoke a Manding language (Winters, 1979; Wuthenau, 1980). The
Manding people lived in ancient the Sahara (Winters, 1986), until they migrated to
Mexico and founded the Olmec empire (Winters, 1979).
The Olmec civilization was developed along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in
the states of Tabasco and Veracruz (Morley, Brainerd & Sharer, 1983, 52; Pouligny,
1988, 34). The linguistic evidence suggest that around 1200 BC a new linguistic
group arrived on the Gulf region of Mexico. This non-Maya speaking group wedged
itself between the Huastecs and the Maya (Swadesh, 1953). Scholars believe that the
Olmecs were these new settlers of Mexico (Soustelle, 1984). Soustelle (1984) tells
us that "We cannot help but think that the people that shattered the unity of the
proto-Mayas was also the people that brought Olmec civilization to the region"
(p.29).
Stela no.5 from Izapa (see figure 1), is an important historical document from
Mexico. This monument has interesting iconographic representations that prove some
of the migration traditions handed down from generation to generation by the
Mexicans.
The Izapa style art is characterized by upright stone stela found at the site
of Izapa, situated near Tapachula, Chiapas. Izapa is located on the Pacific coastal
plain in an area known as Soconusco. This area in middle Preclassic times was a
center of Olmec civilization (Morley, Brainerd & Sharer, 1983).
The research of the New World Archaeological Foundation indicate that this
site has been continuously occupied since 1500 B.C. (Norman, 1973). Much of what we
know about the art from Izapa comes from the work of Virginia Smith' Izapa Relief
Carving , Garth Norman's Izapa Sculpture and Jacinto Quirarte's Izapan-Style Art .
V. Garth Norman (1973) of the New World Archaeological Foundation has
published many of the stone stalae and altars found at Izapa and discussed much of
their probable religious significance. Most researchers including Norman (1973)
believe that the Izapans were "Olmecoid". Smith (1984) disagrees with this
hypothesis, but Michael D. Coe (1965:773-774, 1968:121), and Ignacio Bernal
(1969:172) support an Olmec origin for the Izapan style art. Quirarte recognized
obvious Olmec cultural traits in the Izapa iconography (Quirarte, 1973, 32-33).
The Stela no.5 from Izapa records many glyphic elements common to other
Preclassic artifacts including the jaguar, falling water, mountain, bird, dragon
tree, serpent and fish motifs (Smith, 1984, 28-29). The pictures on this stelae
indicate that the Izapans were related to the Olmec or Xiu people.
This stela also provides many elements that relate to Mexican and Maya
traditions as accurately analyzed by Norman (1973). Some ideological factors not
fully discussed by Norman (1973) in regards to this stelae is its evidence of
elements of the Olmec religion, and the migration traditions of the Mexicans.
The Maya were not the first to occupy the Yucatan and Gulf regions of Mexico.
It is evident from Maya traditions and the artifacts recovered from many ancient
Mexican sites that a different race lived in Mayaland before the Mayan speakers
settled this region (Soustelle, 1984).
M. Swadesh (1953) has presented evidence that at least 3200 years ago a non-
Maya speaking group wedged itself between the Huastecs and the Maya . Soustelle
(1984, 29) tells us that the Olmec brought civilization to the region.
Traditions mentioned by Sahagun, record the settlement of Mayaland by a
different race from the present Amerindian population. Sahagun (1946) says that
these eastern settlers of Mexico landed at Panotha, on the Mexican Gulf. Here they
remained for a time until they moved south in search of mountains. Other migration
to Mexico stories are mention in the Popol Vuh, the ancient religious and
historical text compiled by the Quiche Mayan Indians.
Diehl and Coe (1995, 12) of Harvard University have made it clear that until a
skeleton of an African is found on an Olmec site he will not accept the art
evidence that the were Africans among the Olmecs. This is rather surprising because
Constance Irwin and Dr. Wiercinski (1972) have both reported that skeletal remains
of Africans have been found in Mexico. Constance Irwin, in Fair Gods and Stone
Faces, says that anthropologist see "distinct signs of Negroid ancestry in many a
New World skull...."
This new race come from Africa. Sertima in They Came Before Columbus, and
Weiner in Africa and the Discovery of America believed that some of these foreign
people may have come from West Africa. Dr. Wiercinski (1972) claims that some of
the Olmecs were of African origin. He supports this claim with skeletal evidence
from several Olmec sites where he found skeletons that were analogous to the West
African type black. Wiercinski discovered that 13.5 percent of the skeletons from
Tlatilco and 4.5 percent of the skeletons from Cerro de las Mesas were Africoid
(Rensberger, 1988) .
Many Olmec skulls show cranial deformations (Pailles, 1980). Marquez (1956,
179-80) made it clear that a common trait of the African skulls found in Mexico
include marked prognathousness , prominent cheek bones are also mentioned. Fronto-
occipital deformation among the Olmec is not surprising because cranial
deformations was common among the Mande speaking people until fairly recently
(Desplanges, 1906).
Friar Diego de Landa , in Yucatan Before and After the Conquest, wrote that
"some old men of Yucatan say that they have heard from their ancestors that this
country was peopled by a certain race who came from the East, whom God delivered by
opening for them twelve roads through the sea" (de Landa, 1978, 8, 28).
This tradition is most interesting because it probably refers to the twelve
migrations of the Olmec people. This view is supported by the stone reliefs from
Izapa, Chiapas , Mexico published by the New World Foundation (see figure 1). In
Stela 5, from Izapa we see a group of men on a boat riding the waves and a large
tree in the middle of the stela (Norman, 1976).
It is clear that Stelae No.5, from Izapa not only indicates the tree of life,
it also confirms the tradition recorded by Friar Diego de Landa (1978) that the
Olmec people made twelve migrations to the New World. This stela also confirms the
tradition recorded by the famous Mayan historian Ixtlixochitl, that the Olmec came
to Mexico in "ships of barks " and landed at Pontochan, which they commenced to
populate .
In the center of the boat on Stelae No.5, we find a large tree. This tree has
seven branches and twelve roots. The seven branches probably represent the seven
major clans of the Olmec people. The twelve roots of the tree extending into the
water from the boat probably signifies the "twelve roads through the sea",
mentioned by Friar Diego de Landa (1978, 8, 28).
The migration traditions and Stelae No.5, probably relates to a segment of the
Olmec, who landed in boats in Panotha or Pantla (the Huasteca) and moved along the
coast as far as Guatemala.
This landing in Panotha would correspond to the non-Maya speaking group detected by
Swadesh (1953) that separated the Maya and Huasteca speakers over 2000 years ago.
Bernardino de Sahagun (1946) a famous authority on Mexico also supports the
extra-American origin of the Olmecs when he wrote that "Eastern settlers of Mexico
landed at Panotla on the Mexican Gulf. Here they remained for a time until they
moved south in search of mountains".
Sahagun (1946) claimed that the Olmec were not native to the Gulf coats region
where archaeologist discovered the Olmec civilization. He called these people that
civilized the Mexicans: Olmecs. Chimalpahin the chronicler of Chalco Amaquemecan ,
commenting on the Olmecs wrote that "And the truth is that those who for the first
time came to settle, who made merits for the land were great men, very experienced,
they were learned men, they were skilled at everything. And because they were
skilled learned men, everything they did they always affirmed it" (Portilla, n.d.,
193).
Traditions mentioned by Sahagun, record the settlement of Mexico by a different
race from the present Amerindian population, these foreign people he called Olmecs.
Sahagun said
"Here is the account that the elders used to pronounce
:at a time which no one can speak of any more, that
today no one can remember, those who came here to sow the
grandfathers, the grandmothers, these, it is said , arrived, came,
followed the road, those that came to
sweep it...came to rule here in this land....They came in many
groups in their boats on the and there arrived at the edge of the
water, on the northern coast, and there where their boats remained is
called Panutla, which means
where one passes over the water, today is called Pantla
(Panuco). Subsequently they followed the shoreline, they
went in search of the mountains...." (Portilla, n.d.,
184-185).
Not only did these ancient settlers of the Olmec heartland settle in Mexico,
they also helped spread civilization. Sahagun wrote that:
"So they [Olmecs] invented the reckoning of the destinies,
the annals, and the reckoning of the years, the book of dreams,
they put it in the order in which it has been kept...."(Portilla,
n.d., 186).
These passages from Sahagun makes it clear that the Olmec people came to Mexico by
sea in boats.
It would appear that there was not a single settlement of migrants from across
the sea because ,Sahagun claims that "they came in many groups". This may be a
possible allusion to the twelve migrations mentioned by de Landa (1978), and
recorded on Stelae No.5. It also agrees with the migration story mentioned in the
Popol Vuh.

THE STELAE NUMBER 5 AND OLMEC RELIGION

The Olmec people had their own writing. This writing system was deciphered by
Winters (Winters, 1979, 80; Wuthenau, 1980, Appendix B). This decipherment of the
Olmec writing allows us to discover much about the Olmec people and their culture.
We know that the Olmec invited the writing system which was later used by the
Maya because the Mayan name for writing is of Manding/Olmec writing. Kaufman (1976)
has suggested that *c'ib' or *c'ihb' is part of the proto-Mayan lexicon for write.
Brown (1991, 491-492) argues that *c'ib' may be the ancient Mayan term for writing,
but it can not be Proto-Mayan because writing did not appear among the Maya until
600 B.C. This was 1500 years before the break up of Proto-Mayan. The Manding term
for writing is *sèbè. This term corresponds to the Mayan term *c'ib' and probably
was the ancestral name for writing in ancient America introduced by the Olmec
people.
Brown's (1991) view that the writing did not exist among the Maya is supported
by Mayan tradition that they got writing from the "Tutul Xiu" who lived in Zuiva.
As mentioned earlier the name Xiu is the name of the Manding speaking people.
Kaufman (1976) has suggested that The Olmecs had two different religious
associations (ga-fa):the jaguar-man or humano-feline cult (see figure 2) and the
humano-bird cult (see figure 3). The humano-feline cult was called the nama-tigi by
the Olmecs, while the humano-feline cult was called the kuno-tigi.
The leader of the Olmec cult was called the tigi or amatigi "head of the
faith". The Tigi of the Xiu or Olmec secret societies and cults exerted
considerable influence over both the when he was dead and alive. Alive the Tigi
could contact the spirits of the deceased, and serve as intermediary between the
gods and mankind. Upon his death his grave became a talisman bestowing good to all
who visited his tomb.
Sertima (1976) and Wiener (Wiener, 1920-1922) have both commented on the
possible relationship between the amanteca of ancient Mexico and the amantigi of
Africa and the Olmecs. It is interesting to note that according to Dr. Wiener tec /
tecqui means "master, chief" in a number of Mexican languages including Nahuatl .
Many Meso-Americanists have suggested that the Maya inherited many aspects of
their civilization, especially religion from the Olmec. This is interesting because
in the Maya Book of Chumayel, the three main cult associations which are suppose
to have existed in ancient times were (1) the stone (cutters) cult, (2) the jaguar
cult and (3) the bird cult. In lines 4-6 of the Book of Chumayel , we read : "Those
with their sign in the bird, those with their sign in the stone, flat worked stone,
those with their sign in the Jaguar-three emblems".
The Book of Chumayel, corresponds to the gylphs depicted on Monument 13 at La
Venta (Bernal, 1969). On Monument 13, at La Venta a personages in profile, has a
headdress on his head and wears a breechcloth, jewels and sandals, along with four
glyphs listed one above the other. The glyphs included the stone, the jaguar, and
the bird emblems.
Monument 13, at La Venta also has a fourth sign to the left of the personage
a foot gylphs. This monument has been described as an altar or a low column
(Bernal, 1969).
The foot in Olmec is called se, this symbol means to "lead or advance toward
knowledge, or success". The se (foot) sign of the komow (cults) represents the
beginning of the Olmec initiates pursuit of knowledge.
The meaning of Monument 13, reading from top to bottom, are a circle kulu/
kaba (the stone), nama (jaguar) and the kuno (bird). The interpretation of this
column reading from left to right is "The advance toward success--power--for the
initiate is obedience to the stone cutters cult, jaguar cult and the bird cult".
The Jaguar mask association dominated the Olmec Gulf region. In the central
and southern Olmec regions we find the bird mask association (cult) predominate as
typified by the Xoc bas relief of Chiapas, and the Bas Relief No.2, of
Chalcatzingo. Another bird mask cult association was located in the state of
Guerrero as evidenced by the humano-bird figure of the Stelae from San Miguel
Amuco.
The iconographic representation of the Olmec priest-kings, found at Chalchapa,
La Venta, Xoc and Chalcatzingo indicate that usually the Olmec priest wore a wide
belt and girdle. He was usually clean shaven, with an elongated bold head often
topped by a round helmet or elaborate composite mask. During religious ceremonies
the Olmec religious leader, depending on his cult would wear the sacred jaguar or
sacred bird mask. Often as illustrated by the glyphs on the shoulders and knees of
the babe-in-arms figurine of Las Limas element the mask would include a combination
of the associated with the bird, jaguar and serpent.
The cult leaders of the bird mask cult usually wore claws on their feet. The
jaguar cult leaders usually wore the jaguar mask. Stelae No.5 also discusses
in detail the two major Olmec religions: the nama (jaguar) komo (cult) and the kuno
(bird) komo. At the top of Stelae No.5 , we recognize two lines of Olmec writing
across the top of the artifact. On the first line we read from right to left :I ba
i. Lu tu lu. I ba i, which means "Thou art powerful Now! Hold Upright (those)
obedient to the[ir] Order. Thou art Powerful Now!" On the second line we read the
following: I lu be. I lu , which means "Thou hold upright Unity. Thou hold [it]
upright".
The religious orders spoken of in this stela are the Bird and Jaguar cults.
These Olmec cults were Nama or the Humano-Jaguar cult; and Kuno or Bird cult. The
leader of the Nama cult was called the Nama-tigi (Nama chief) , or Amatigi (head of
the faith). The leader of the Kuno cult was the Kuno-tigi (Kuno chief). These cult
leaders initiated the Olmec into the mysteries of the cult.
On the Stelae No. 5, we see both the Kuno-tigi (fig.2) and Nama-tigi (fig.3)
instructing youth in the mysteries of their respective cults.
On Stelae No.5, we see two priests and members of each cult society sitting in
a boat with a tree in the center (Sitchin, 1990, 178). On the right hand side of
the boat we see the Nama-tigi, and on the left hand side we see the Kuno-tigi.
The personage on the right side of the boat under a ceremonial umbrella is the
Nama-tigi. In Mexico, this umbrella was a symbol of princely status. Above his head
is a jaguar glyph which, according to Dr. Alexander von Wuthenau (1980) indicates
that he was an Olmec. This personage has an African style hairdo and a writing
stylus in his left hand. This indicates the knowledge of writing among the Olmecs
which is also evident in the other Olmec inscriptions deciphered by Winters .
On the sides of the boat we see two Olmec signs : they read: "In the company
of Purity". This statement signifies that the Olmec believed that worship of the
Kuno or Nama cults led to spiritual purity among the believers.
On the left hand side of the boat we see a number of birds. Here we also find
a priest wearing a conical hat instructing another youth, in the mysteries of the
Kuno cult around a flame. Among the Olmecs this flame signified the luminous
character of knowledge.
The Kuno priest wears a conical hat. The evidence of the conical hat on the
Kuno priest is important evidence of the Manding in ancient America. The conical
hat in Meso-America is associated with Amerindian priesthood and as a symbol of
political and religious authority . Leo Wiener wrote that:
"That the kingly and priestly cap of the Magi
should have been preserved in America in the iden
-tical form, with the identical decoration, and
should, besides, have kept the name current for it
among the Mandingo [Malinke-Bambara/Manding] people
, makes it impossible to admit any other solution
than the one that the Mandingoes established the
royal offices in Mexico" (author's emphasis)
 (Wiener, Vol.2 1922, 321).
Stelae no.21 , from Izapa also record the decline of the Olmec nama and kuno
religions and probable raise of the Maya speakers and the sa (serpent) cult which
called for human sacrifice (Smith, 1984; Norman, 1973). On Stelae no.21, we see a
decapitated individual lieing on the ground. An elite carries the decapitated head.
This elite may be an early Maya personage because he wears a new style headdress
which resembles the Maya style headdresses and not the style of the Olmecs.
In the background we see an elite personage being borne in an elaborate sedan
chair. Above this chair we see the serpent . This depiction of a serpent as a
background but dominate figure in Olmec religion/rule corresponds to Monument 19 of
La Venta. On Monument 19, from La Venta we see an Olmec personage which has a
serpent behind his back and above his head (Bernal, 1969). This serpent indicates
hidden knowledge or powers from the serpent that the cult leader used to lead the
followers of their cult.
The Olmecs constructed complex pyramids and large sculptured
monuments weighing tons. The Maya during the Pre-Classic period
built pyramids over the Olmec pyramids to disguise the Olmec origin of these
pyramids.
After 100 BC the Olmecs went into a period of decline. They did not disappear
from Mexican history. They were frequently depicted in Mayan text as gods and
merchants, especially the Maya god Ek Chuah (Winters 1981/1982,1984a,1984b,1984c).
The African god Quetzacoatl was worshipped by the Aztecs (Wiener, 1922; Winters,
1981/1982).

African Influence on Amerindian Languages

The Mande/Manding speaking Olmecs had a great influence on the cultural and
linguistic realities of the Americas. As a result we find that many Amerindian
languages show affinity to the Manding languages.
The Taino and Manding languages share many points of phonology and morphology.
Taino was spoken in the Caribbean when Europeans first arrived in the New World.
Taino is presently extinct.
Taino and Manding are agglutinative languages. The joining of two or more
words is commonly used to form new words. For example, Manding words are formed by
adding an affix to a radical e.g., ji 'water': ji-ma 'watery and ba 'finish': to-ba
'to complete'/'to achieve'. In Taino, we have a 'water': a-ma
'great water'; and ca 'soil': ca-za-bi 'bread'.
The Taino and Manding languages share lexical items from the basic vocabulary
e.g., mother Manding (M.) bi, Taino (T.) ba;
dwelling: M. bo, T. ba; ocean: M. ba, T. bali; son: M. le, T. el;
and god: M. jo(/gyo), T. io. Taino and Manding have similar syntax e.g., Taino
teitoca 'thou be quiet'; and Manding i-te-to-
ka 'thou be at ease'.
The Otomi people of Mexico are often believed to have been of African origin
(Quatrefages, 1889). This is proven by a comparison of the Manding and Olmec
languages. The Mezquital Otomi pronominal system shows some analogy to that of
Manding, but Neve y Molina's Otomi pronouns show full agreement e.g., Otomi
ma/i,e,/a, and Manding n',m' /i,e /a. They also share many cognates from the basic
vocabulary including son/daughter: Otomi (O.) t?i or ti, Manding (M.) de/di; eyes:
O. da, M. do ; brother: ku, M. koro ; sister: O. nkhu, M. ben-k ; lip: O. sine, M.
sine; mouth O. ne, M. ne; and man: O. ta/ye, M. tye/kye.
The Otomi and Manding languages also have similar syntax, e.g., Otomi ho ka ra
'ngu 'he makes the houses', Manding
a k nu 'he makes the family habitation (houses)'.
There are many Maya and Manding cognates, e.g., Maya (My.)
naal 'parent ,mother', Manding (M.) na id.; father: My. ba,
M. pa; lord: My. ba, M. ba; maize: My. kan, M. ka.
It is interesting to note that in the Amerind languages
are characterized by first person /n/, and second person /m/.
But in the case of the Otomi and Maya languages we find first person /n/, second
e/i , third person /a/, the same pronoun pattern found in the Manding group.

In summary , we tested four variables relating to the African origin of the

Olmecs : : 1) Africans first came to America with Columbus; 2) Amerindians live in
Meso-America; 3) the Olmec look like the Maya; 4) linguistic groups found in the
Olmec heartland have always lived in areas they presently inhabit. Granted, we do
recognize that Zoquean/Soquean and Maya speakers in Olmecland today. But the
linguistic evidence of Swadesh indicate that they were not in this area 3000 years
ago when a new linguistic group appears to have entered the area.
Secondly, any comparison of Mayans depicted in Mayan art, and the Olmec people
depicted in Olmec art especially the giant heads, indicate that these people did
not look alike (see http://geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/heads.htm). Moreover,
just because Africans may have come to America with Columbus, does not prove that
they were not here before Columbus. Yet, subscription to these theories is
logical, but logical assurance alone, is not good science.
Logically we could say that because Amerindians live in the Olmec heartland
today, they may have lived in these areas 3000 years ago. But,the evidence found by
Swadesh, an expert on the Mayan languages, of a new linguistic group invading the
Olmec heartland 3000 years ago; and the lack of congruence between Olmec and Mayan
art completely falsifies the conjectures of the Amerindian origin of the Olmec
theorists. The opposite theory, an African origin for the Olmecs is confirmed.
I have presented here and on my numerous WebPages a theory for the African
origin of the Olmec people ( http://homepages.luc.edu/~cwinter ; and
http://geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919 ). Within the various WebPages I have
enumerated the following variables: 1) African scripts found during archaeological
excavation; 2) the Malinke-Bambara origin of the Mayan term for writing; 3) cognate
iconographic representations of African and Olmec personages; 4) the influence of
Malinke-Bambara cultural and linguistic features on historic Meso-American
populations; and 5) the presence of African skeletal material excavated from Olmec
graves in addition to many other variables. The relation between these five
variables, or a combination of these variables explains the African origin of the
Olmecs.
For example, the linguistic evidence of Swadesh indicates that the Huastec and
Mayan speakers were separated around 1200 BC by a new linguistic group. This
implies that if my hypothesis for African settlers of Mexico wedged in between this
group 3000 years ago, we can predict that linguistic evidence would exist in these
languages to support this phenomena among contemporary Meso-American languages.
To test this hypothesis, above I compared lexical items from the Malinke-
Bambara languages, and Mayan , Otomi and Taino languages (see :
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/yquiche.htm).
This comparison confirmed cognition between these languages, and suggests a former
period of bilingualism among speakers of these languages in ancient times.
In other words, in the case of the linguistic and skeletal variables alone,
the proposition of my African origin theory, matches the observed natural
phenomena. The predicting power of this theory, confirmed by cognate lexical items
in Malinke-Bambara, the Mayan, Otomi and Taino languages, and the discovery of
African skeletal material during controlled archaeological excavation indicates
that the African origin of the Olmec theory is confirmed. Moreover, the ability to
reliably predict a linguistic relationship between Malinke-Bambara and
MesoAmerican languages, is confirmation of the theory, because the linguistic
connections were deducible from prediction.
We controlled this theory by comparing Malinke-Bambara and Meso-American terms.
This theory was first identified by Leo Wiener who noted the presence of many
Malinke-Bambara terms in the cultural, especially religious lexicon of the Aztec
and Maya speakers. Since we have predicted reliably this variable of the African
origin of the Olmec theory, this variable must be disconfirmed, to "defeat" my
hypothesis. Failure to disconfirm this theorem, implies validity of the prediction.
In this introduction I have discussed the major evidence or variables of the
African origin of the Olmec theory, to demonstrate the difference between science
and conjecture. My ability to predict successfully, a linguistic relationship
between Malinke-Bambara and MesoAmerican languages, makes it unnecessary to search
for a different underlying explanation for the Olmec heads, which look like
Africans, because Africans were the models for these heads. Moreover, the fact that
the Taino words , were collected when the early Explorers arrived in America, long
before any African slaves were deposited on these shores make it clear that any
cognition between Taino and Mande terms have to pre-date the coming of Columbus.
This confirmation of variables in the African origin of Olmec theory
indicates the systematic controlled , critical and empirical investigation of the
question of African origins of the Olmec. This is validation of the Malinke-Bambara
theory first proposed by Leo Wiener, in Africa and the Discovery of America, which
presumed relations among the Olmec and Black Africans.

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CLOUD5
Is the Olmec Syllabic Writing African, Chinese or Mixe

By

Clyde A. Winters

http://homepages.luc.edu/~cwinter

http://geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919

cwinter@orion.it.luc.edu

cwinters@kiwi.dep.anl.gov

The Olmec people introduced writing to the New World. Many Meso-American accept the
possibility that the Olmecs were the first to 1) invent a complex system of
chronology; 2) a method of calculating time; and 3) a hieroglyphic script which was
later adopted by the Izapan and Mayan civilizations (Soustelle, 1984). As a result,
the Olmec people left numerous inscriptions on monuments, celts and portable
artifacts that give us keen insight into the Olmec culture, religion and politics.

Over a decade ago Winters (1979, 1997) deciphered the Olmec writing and discovered
that you could read the Olmec inscriptions using the sound value of the Vai signs.
The Olmecs spoke and aspect of the Manding (Malinke-Bambara) language spoken in
West Africa (Winters, 1979, 1980, 1981,1984).

Scholars have long recognized that the Olmecs engraved many symbols or signs on
pottery, statuettes, batons/scepters, stelas and bas reliefs that have been
regarded as a possible form of writing (Coe, 1965; Gay ,1973; Popenoe and Hatch ,
1971 ; Soustelle, 1984). These experts accept the view that the system of dots and
bars whether associated with glyphs or not, found on Olmec artifacts probably
indicated their possession of a system of chronology (Soustelle, 1984). As a
result, we find that the Olmec monuments: Altar 7, of LaVenta; Stela no.7 of
LaVenta; Monument E at Tres Zapotes; Stela C of Tres Zapotes; and the Tuxtla
statuette are engraved with calendrical information (Morell, 1991; Soustelle,
1984).

Although many Meso-Americanists accept the view that the Olmecs possessed
calendrical symbols controversy surrounds the presence of writing among the Olmecs.
Wiener (1922) and Lawrence (1961) have maintained that the Olmec writing was
identical to the Manding writing used in Africa. Michael Coe and John Justeson
(until recently), on the otherhand believe that the Olmecs possessed a form of
iconography but not writing (Morell, 1991).

The question is, can the Olmec decipherment claims made by some researchers be
supported by the archaeological and linguistic evidence? The noted scholar Cyrus H.
Gordon, in , claims that he has deciphered Linear A or Minoan, using the Semitic
languages. Although he has made this claim, the decipherment is not accepted
because it does not have collateral evidence to support the decipherment.

Maurice Pope in (1975), maintains that you reject a decipherment theory out right
on three grounds: the decipherment is arbitrary, the decipherment is based on false
principles, or the decipherment has been ousted by a better decipherment. The
alleged Shang and Mixe-Zoque decipherments must be rejected because they are
arbitrary and based on false principles.

Today there are three theories relating to the origin of the Olmec writing. The
first theory is that the Olmec writing is an aspect of Malinke-Bambara. The other
two theories maintain that the Olmec were Chinese speakers or speakers of a Mixe-
Zoque language.

Justenson and Kaufman maintain that the Olmec spoke a Mixe-Zoque language. There
are three problems with the Justenson and Kaufman decipherment of Epi-Olmec: 1)
there is no clear evidence of Zoque speakers in Olmec areas 3200 years ago, 2)
there is no such thing as a "pre-Proto-Soquean/Zoquean language, 3)there is an
absence of a Zoque substratum in the Mayan languages.

First of all ,Justenson and Kaufman in their 1997 article claim that they read the
Epi-Olmec inscriptions using "pre-Proto-Zoquean". This is impossible ,a "Pre-Proto"
language refers to the internal reconstruction of vowel patterns, not entire words.
Linguists can reconstruct a pre-Proto language , but this language is only related
to internal developments within the target language.

Secondly, Justenson and Kaufman base their claim of a Zoque origin for the Olmec
language on the presence of a few Zoque speakers around mount Tuxtla, this is a
false principle. Most of the people in this area today speak Otomanguean
languages.The Otomanguean family includes Zapotec, Mixtec and Otomi to name a few.
The hypothesis that the Olmec spoke a Mixe-Zoque or Otomanguean language is not
supported by the contemporary spatial distribution of the languages spoken in the
Tabasco/Veracruz area.

Thomas Lee in R.J. Sharer and D. C. Grove (Eds.), Regional Perspectives on the
Olmecs, New York: Cambridge University Press (1989, 223) noted that

"...closely Mixe, Zoque and Popoluca languages are spoken in numerous villages

in a mixed manner having little or no apparent semblance of linguistic or

spatial unity. The general assumption made by the few investigators who have

considered the situation, is that the modern linguistic pattern is a result of

the disruption of an Old homogeneous language group by more powerful neighbors

or invaders...."

If this linguistic evidence is correct, many of the languages spoken in this area
are spoken by people who may have only recently settled in the Olmec heartland, and
may not reflect the language of the people that invented the culture we call Olmec
today. This makes it very unlikely that Mixe-Zoque was spoken on the Gulf 3200
years ago.

Mixe tradition also suggest that another people lived in the Olmec heartland when
they arrived in the area. In "The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing",
by Frank J. Lipp it is noted that:

"The elders say that there was a people who possessed considerable knowledge and
science and that they could make children sick by simply looking at them. At one
time they came from a part of Veracruz and took up residence here. However, they
spoke a different language. Clearly, they were also Mixe but their language was
very modified, and we did not understand the words they spoke"(p.77).
Finally, the Justenson and Kaufman hypothesis is not supported by the evidence for
the origin of the Mayan term for writing. The Mayan term for writing is not related
to Zoque.

Mayan tradition makes it clear that they got writing from another Meso-American
group. Landa noted that the Yucatec Maya claimed that they got writing from a group
of foreigners called Tutul Xiu from Nonoulco (Tozzer, 1941). Xiu is not the name
for the Zoque. Brown has suggested that the Mayan term c'ib' diffused from the
Cholan and nYucatecan Maya to the other Mayan speakers. This term is probably not
derived from Mixe-Zoque. If the Maya had got writing from the Mixe-Zoque, the term
for writing would Probably be found in a Mixe-Zoque language. The fact that there
is no evidence that 1)the Zoque were in the ancient Olmec land 3200 years ago,
2)there is no Zoque substrate language in Mayan, and 3) there is no such thing as
"pre-Proto-Zoque" falsifies Justenson and Kaufman hypothesis.

Michael Xu assistant professor of Chinese Studies at Texas Christian University has

proposed that the Olmec people may have written in the Chinese language. He based
his opinion on the alleged similarity between the Olmec writing and the Shang
writing.

The Chinese wrote their inscriptions on Oracle bones. These Oracle bone
inscriptions were written by the Shang people to divine the future.

This theory is fine except for the fact that the Olmec writing has little affinity
to the Shang writing. Moreover some of the alleged similarities found by Xu do no
relate to Shang witing at all. Below is a table of Shang symbols. A careful
examination of the Shang table below and the Oracle bone inscriptions above clearly
show that none of these signs are identical to the Olmec writing found on the
LaVenta celt.

Cursory examination of the Shang signs depicted in this table clearly show that
they do not match the alleged Shang signs identified by Xu in his article. In fact,
a comparison of the actual signs on the LaVenta celt and the alleged "Shang" signs
lack any agreement.

The view that Africans originated writing in America is not new. Scholars early
recognized the affinity between Amerindian scripts and the Manned script(s).
By 1832, Rafinesque noted the similarities between the Mayan glyphs and the Libyco-
Berber writing. And Leo Wiener (1922, v.3), was the first researcher to recognize
the resemblance's between the Manding writing and the symbols on the Tuxtla
statuette. In addition, Harold Lawrence (1962) noted that the "petroglyphic"
inscriptions found throughout much of the southern hemisphere compared identically
with the writing system of the Manding.

The Olmec inscriptions are primarily of three types 1) talismanic inscriptions

found on monuments, statuettes, vessels, masks, and celts; 2) obituaries found on
celts and other burial artifacts; and 3) signs on scepters denoting political
authority.

Above is a celt discovered in the 1950's at La Venta offering no. 4. This celt
illustrates the similarities between the Olmec and Mande/Vai writing systems. The
famous inscribed celts of offering no.4 LaVenta, indicate both the plain and
cursive syllabic Olmec scripts .

A comparison of the Olmec and Vai (Mande signs) above illustrate correspondence
between the symbols. This affinity between Olmec and Mande signs supported the
hypothesis of Wiener that the Tuxtla statuette was wriitten in a Mande/Malinke-
Bambara language.

The Olmec script has two forms or stages : 1) syllabic and 2) hieroglyphic. The
syllabic script was employed in the Olmec writing found on the masks, celts,
statuettes and portable artifacts in general. The hieroglyphic script is usually
employed on bas-reliefs, stelas (i.e., Mojarra, and tomb wall writing. The only
exception to this rule for Olmec writing was the Tuxtla statuette.

In the cursive form of the writing the individual syllabic signs are joined to one
another, in the plain Olmec writing the signs stand-alone. The cursive Olmec script
probably evolved into Olmec hieroglyphics.

The inscriptions engraved on celts and batons are more rounded than the script used
on masks, statuettes and bas-reliefs.

In conclusion the Olmec spoke a Mande language. They did not speak Chinese or Mixe-
Zoquean. Recognition of Malinke-Bambara as the language spoken by the Olmec allow
us to read the numerous inscriptions left by these early African explorers of the
New World.

References

Brown, C.H. (1991). Hieroglyphic literacy in ancient Mayaland: Inferences from

linguistics data. Current Anthropology, 32(4), 489-495.

Coe, M. (1989). The Olmec Heartland: evolution of ideology.

. In R.J. Sharer and D. C. Grove (Eds.), Regional Perspectives on the Olmecs

(pp.68-82). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Delafosse,M. "Vai leur langue et leur systeme d'ecriture", L'Anthrpologie 10, 1899.

Gutherie, J. (ed.).(1995). The Olmec World: Ritual and rulership , Princeton

University: The Art Museum.

Hau, K. (1973). Pre-Islamic writing in West Africa. Bulletin de l'Institut

Fondamental Afrique Noire (IFAN), t 35, Ser. B number 1, 1-45.
Hau, K. (1978). African writing in the New World. Bull. de l'IFAN, t 40, Ser. B ,
number 1, 28-48.

Morley, S.G., Brainered, G.W. & Sharer, R.J. (1983). The

Ancient Maya. Stanford: Standford University Press.

Landa, D. de. (1978). Yucatan before and after the Conquest.

(Trans. by) William Gates. New York: Dover Publications.

Norman, G. (1976). Izapa Sculpture.

Navarrete, C. (1976). The Olmec rock carving at Pijijipan Chiapas, Mexico and other
Olmec Pieces, from Chiapas and Guatemala. New World Archaeological Foundation, No.
35. Provo, Utah : Brigham Young University Press.

Pouligny, D. (1988). Les Olmeques. Archeologie, 12, p.194.

Rafineque, C. (1832). "Second letter to Mr. Champollion on the Graphic systems of

America and the glyphs of Ololum [Mayan] of Palenque in central America-elements of
the glyphs", Atlantic Journal 1, (2) :44-45.

Sahagun, R. de. (1946). Historia General de las Casas de la Nueva Espana. Mexico
City: Editoria Nueva Espana.

Schele, L. & Freidel, D. (1990). A Forest ofKings. New York: William Morrow and
Company, Inc.

Smith, V.G. (1984). Izapa Relief Carving. Washington, D.C.:

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

Stross, B. (1973). Maya Hieroglyphic writing and Mixe-Zoquean. Anthropological

Linguistics, 24 (1), 73-134.

Tate, C. E. (1995). Art in Olmec Culture. In J Gutherie (ed.), The Olmec World:
Ritual and rulership (pp.45-67)

The Art Museum, Princeton University.

Tozzer, A.M. (ed).(1941). Relacion de las Casa de Yucatan. Peabody Museum of

American Archaeology and Ethnology ,1941.

Wiercinski, A. (1972). Inter-and-Intrapopulational racial differentiation of

Tlatilco, Cerro de Las Mesas, Teothuacan, Monte Alban and Yucatan Maya. XXX1X
Congreso International de Americanistas, Lima 1970, Vol. 1, pp.231-252.

Wiercinski, A. & Jairazbhoy, R.A. (1975). The New Diffusionist, 5 (18), 5.

Winters, C.A. (1977). The influence of the Mnade scripts on American ancient
writing systems. Bulletin de l'IFAN, t.39, Ser.B ,Number 2, 405-431.

Winters, C.A.(1979). Manding writing in the New World--Part 1, Journal of African

Civilization, 1 (1), 81-97.

Winters, C.A. (1980). Appendix B: The Jade Celts of LaVenta.

In A. von Wuthenau, Unexpected faces in Ancient America (pp. 235-237). 2nd Edition.
Mexico.

Winters, C.A. (December 1981/ January 1982). Mexico's Black heritage,The Black
Collegian,76-82.

Winters,C.A. (1983). "The ancient Manding script". I. Sertima (Ed.), Blacks in

Science:ancient and modern, (ed.) by I. Sertima, (pp. 208-214), London: Transaction
Books.

Winters, C.A. (1984a). Blacks in ancient America.Colorlines, 3(2), 27-28.

Winters, C.A. (1984b). Africans found first American Civilization, African Monitor,
1, 16-18.

Winters, C.A. (1986)."The Migration routes of the Proto-Mande",The Mankind

Quarterly 27 (1), 77-96.

Winters, C.A. (1997, April). The decipherment of Olmec Writing. Paper presented at
the 74th meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Milwaukee, Wis.

Wuthenau, A. von. (1980). Unexpected Faces in Ancient America. 2nd Edition. Mexico.

Below are a Number of sites where information can be found relating to the African
origin of the Olmecs

http://homepages.luc.edu/~cwinter - Clyde Winters Homepage

http://geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919 - Mwalimu's (Clyde A. Winters) Homepage

| Evidence of an Afrocentric Migration to America in Ancient Times | Olmec

Inscriptions | African Empires of Ancient America

Illustrations for Olmec Writing Article | The Structure of Africalogical Social

Science | The Decipherment of the Olmec Writing | Malinke-Bambara Loan Words in
the Mayan Languages

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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1

THE BLACK RACE, THE FIRST RACE TO DISCOVER THE WES

(1/1)

Bantu_Kelani:
MORE EVIDENCE THAT BLACKS WERE IN THE AMERICAS LONG BEFORE COLUMBUS AND HIS "BOYS"
SET SAIL TO INTRODUCE CORRUPTION TO THE ALREADY DISCOVERED NEW WORLD. SINCE BLACKS
OR PEOPLE OF COLOR HAD LITTLE OR NO CONTROL OVER THE WAY IN WHICH HISTORY BOOKS
DEPICTED THE TRUTH AND FACTS SURROUNDING THE EMERGENCE OF BLACK PEOPLE TO THE
AMERICAS, HOW CAN THESE BOOKS BE TRUSTED TO REVEAL THE 'TRUTH'??! BLACK PEOPLE DID
NOT FIRST COME TO THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE AS SLAVES, BUT AS SEA MERCHANTS OFF THE
COAST OF AFRICA PRIMARILY INTO SOUTH AMERICA AREAS.

-------------------------------

It is likely that African merchants and explorers sailed across the Atlantic Ocean
as early as 800 B.C. These ancient travelers interacted with the indigenous peoples
of the ancient Americas and left monuments and other traces of their presence for
future generations to discover and interpret. Recent scholarship documents the
presence of African peoples in the Western Hemisphere long before Columbus and the
Atlantic Slave Trade. Evidence of this presence includes writing and counting
systems, botanical and skeletal remains, calendars, architectural structures,
symbols, artifacts, linguistic networks, and a mythopoetic legacy. All of this
evidence bears a striking resemblance to the practices and institutions of sub-
Sahara African tradition as well as to the traditions of the great empires of pre-
Columbian America. The dramatic colossal heads at La Venta and other sites in
Mexico, which were created by the Olmec Empire, are an excellent example of this
phenomenon. There is also evidence that suggests Malian traders traveled on an
expedition to the Americas with Emperor Bubakar II in the fourteenth century.[2] In
addition, during the period of colonial expansion, numerous Africans who were not
enslaved came to the Americas. Africans accompanied many European explorers and
conquistadores, intermarried with Native Americans, and settled throughout the
hemisphere.

Notes:
1. Sylvia Wynter, "1492: A New World View," from a paper presented at the Schomburg
Center Summer Teacher Institute, July, 1991.

2. Ivan Van Sertima, They Came Before Columbus (New York: Random House, 1976).

3. Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-education of the Negro (Washington, D.C.: The

Associated Publishers, 1933).

http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Schomburg/text/ap_context.html

--------------------

Following is historical accounts of the vessels used by ancient black Africans who
sailed to the western hemisphere, long before slavery.

Migration to America
These Proto-Saharans came to Mexico in papyrus boats. A stone stela from
Izapa,Chiapas in southern Mexico show the boats these Proto-Saharans used to sail
to America. The voyagers manning these boats probably sailed down TAFASSASSET, to
Lake Chad and thence down the Lower ***** River which emptied into the Atlantic.
This provided the Mande a river route from the Sahara to the coast . These rivers,
long dried up, once emptied into the Atlantic. Once in the Atlantic Ocean to Mexico
and Brazil, by the North Equatorial Current which meets the Canaries Current off
the Senegambian coast.

There are oral traditions and documentary evidence which support the early
migration of the Mande people to Mexico, called the Olmecs by the Amerindians. The
Olmecs probably called themselves Xi or Shi people.

Friar Diego de Landa, in "Yucatan before and After the Conquest", wrote that "some
old men of Yucatan say that they heard from their ancestors that this country was
peopled by a certain race who came from the East, whom God delivered by opening for
them twelve roads through the sea".

This oral tradition of the Maya is supported by Stela 5, of Izapa. In Stela No. 5,
we view a group of men on a boat riding the waves of an Ocean.At the right hand
side of the boat we see a personage under a ceremonial umbrella. This umbrella was
a symbol of princely status. Above his head is a jaguar glyph which according to
Dr. Alexander von Wuthenau indicates that he was an Olmec. This personage has an
African hairdo and a writing stylus in his left hand. This Olmec scribe proves that
the Olmec had writing which was deciphered by Clyde Ahmad Winters in 1978.(Winters
1979;Wuthenau 1981)

In the center of the boat we find a large tree. This tree has seven branches and
twelve roots. The seven branches probably indicates the seven major clans that form
ed the Olmec nation. The twelve roots of the tree which extend into the waves of
the ocean from the boat, probably signifies the "twelve roads through the sea"
mentioned by Friar Diego de Landa.

Stela No.5, also illustrates the two principal Olmec cults. On the right hand side
of the stela, we see the Jaguar Prince instructing a youth in the mysteries of the
Jaguar cult. On the left hand side we see a number of birds.Here we also find a
priest wearing a conical hat,also instructing a youth in the mysteries of the bird
cult. It is clear that Stela No.5 from Izapa not only indicates the tree of life,
it speaks to the origin of the Olmec from a nation across the sea. And that the
Olmec people came to the New World during twelve migrations, as recorded by Friar
de Landa.

In the Popol Vuh, the famous Mayan historian Ixtlixochtl, the Olmecs came to Mexico
in "ships of barks"( probably a reference to papyrus boats or dug-out canoes used
by the Proto-Saharans) and landed in Potonchan,which they commenced to
populate.Mexican traditions claim that these migrates from the east were led by
Amoxaque or Bookmen. The term Amoxaque, is similar to the Manding 'a ma n'kye':"he
(is) a teacher". These Blacks are frequently seen in Mayan writings as gods or
merchants.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919/olmec2.htm

---------------------------------------------

http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/ancientamerica.htm

BLACK CIVILIZATIONS OF
ANCIENT AMERICA (MUU-LAN),
MEXICO (XI)
Gigantic stone head of Negritic African
during the Olmec (Xi) Civilization
By Paul Barton

The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who
entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the bering
straight and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking
that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian
Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the
Americas.
According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about
75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black
Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia,
including India.

Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C.

Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without
a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally
from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock. According to Clyde A.
Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was
discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be
identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although
the carbon fourteen testing date for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People
is about 1500 B.C., journies to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have
come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before
Christ. That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that
was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was
found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history
and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is
today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, existed
and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships
criss-crossed from place to place.

ROOTSWOMAN:

http://homepages.luc.edu/~cwinter/ortiz1.htm

http://homepages.luc.edu/~cwinter/more3.htm

Bantu_Kelani:
Excellent! Thanks for the Links ROOTSWOMAN!

Any one who can Look at the BLACK CIVILIZATION OF ANCIENT AMERICA (the OLMEC (Xi)),
ETHIOPIA, SONGHAY, or ZIMBABWE and does not realize that the Negritic Africans have
Intellectual Abilities and can produce Great Civilizations is a Cretin!

JAH bless Mama Africa!

Kelani-

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The Blacks of China's First Civilization: The Xia

By

Clyde Winters

The first dynasty of China was Xia (She-ya). The Xia civilization of
ancient China. lasted from 2205 to 1766 B.C. According to the Guben zhu
Shu zhi Nien, the Xia dynasty "from Yu to Zhieh had seventeen kings...
and lasted 471 years". (Chang 1987)

Archaeologists believe that the major Xia sites are located in Shanxi
and Henan. According to Chang (1987) northern Henan towards the end of
the Longshan period was the eastern part of the Xia culture.

Xia was probably situated in the Yihe and Luohe river valleys, and along
the Yinghe and Ruhe rivers. The capital of Xia was located in the
Sangshan mountains.

The origins of Xia go back to the Longshan period. During the Longshan
period burial goods included a large number of weapons, including stone
lanceheads and arrows. This suggests that intersocial conflict was at
its height during the Longshan periods, and warfare may have played a
role in the rise of Xia. The Longshan neolithic is characterized by
wheel-made pottery, bronze working, ceramics, wheeled vehicles, writing,
rich grave goods and furnishings.

The Chinese histories tell us much about Xia. According to Chinese

tradition the Xia built their settlements near rivers, lakes and
streams. The Xia Dynasty is mentioned in the oracle bone records.

The leaders of Xia were granted rule based on their Ssu (clan)
membership. The Xia naming system employed the ten celestial stems the
same as the Shang people. (Chang 1980,p.353)

The national tree of the Xia li min was the pine. This tree was used in
the earth ritual.

Xia social organization, and life was based on the clan . The totems of
the major Xia clans were aquatic animals: fish, tortoise, turtle and
etc. This view is supported by the myth recorded in the Annals of the
Bamboo Books, which claims that Yu's mother swallowed a spirits pearl
before the birth of Di (Lord) Yu, founder of the Xia Dynasty. Moreover ,
the dragon motif is common at Xia sites. A pan vessel was found at
Taosi, with a red painted dragon motif.

The Chinese histories make it clear that the Xia had writing and
tortoise books. This view can be supported by the pottery marks on the
Longshan and Erlitou pottery. (Chang 1987, p.265)
Erlitou pottery is often inscribed with various signs and symbols. Fish
were incised on a piece of bone, but up to now, oracle bone inscriptions
have not been found. (Chang 1987, p.314)

Today archaeologists believe that the Erlitou culture is the Xia

Dynasty. This is supported by the fact that the historical text place
Xia in Henan and southern Shanxi. These Chinese provinces are the main
areas where Erlitou artifacts have been discovered. Chinese
archaeologists have suggested that the Henan Lungshan culture and the
Erlitou I-III periods are representative of the Xia Dynasty. (An 1986)

Xia is considered the first dynasty of the sandai (three Dynasties) of

ancient China: Xia, Shang and Zhou. There are many references to the Xia
people. The Xia people were recognized as westerners, because they
settled the middle Yellow river region of China. As a result they were
called the Hua Xia "the middle states people".

There are numerous textual references to Xia. Han Fei Tzu writing in the
third century B.C., in his Shih Guo, observed that:

"Yu made the ritual vessels painting the interior black and the exterior
in red."

The tradition recorded by Han, of the black-and-red ware for the Xia li
min suggest some relationship of Xia to the Yangshao culture which also
used BRW and analogous pottery signs.

Chang (1987) believes that the legendary sages and heroes of China,
probably lived during the Lungshan culture period. The Lungshan culture
had walled cities and evidence of rank and rituals. This clearly
illustrates how archaeology can compliment textual history.

The artifacts of Erlitou include BRW, red,black and buff wares. These
artifacts were made of stone, shell and bronze. The bronze instruments
found by archaeologists at Erlitou sites correspond to the descriptions
by Yuan Kang, in the Yueh Zhueh Shu, quoting the philosopher Feng Hu Tzu
of the tools made by the Xia. Yuan Kang wrote that:

"In the Age of Yu, weapons were made of bronze, for build -ing
canals...and..houses...."

The black-and-red ware (BRW) common to the Fertile African Crescent was
also used in China. There is affinity between the BRW from Nubia, and
the pottery from Yangshao sites in the Henan and Gansu sites of China.

The textual history of Xia is synthesized in the Chinese book Shih Zhi.
This evidence from the Shih Zhi, was used by Hsu Husheng , of the
Chinese Institute of Archaeology, to find the xu (ruins) of Xia: the Xia
xu. Hsu Husheng using this source hypothesized that the center for
traditional Xia Dynasty towns was the Loyang plains and the Dengfeng
river valley. This coincides with the Erlitou sites of this area which
date to 2100- 1800 B.C.

The Xia people were recognized as being different people from the
mongoloid Chinese they politically dominate China today as a people that
came from the west (i.e., Iran), before they settled the middle Yellow
river. A Zhou saying observed that :
"The rituals [or rules of] the Three Dynasties [sandai] are one".

The early Xia lived on mounds, in houses made of grass and mud. Pounded
earth walls surrounded Xia villages to protect the li mim from attack.
The Xia probably spoke a Manding language. This view is supported by the
earlier discussion of the analogy between ancient Chinese and Manding.

The major clan totem of the Xia as mentioned earlier was the dragon. The
zu (clan) or tsu was the basic point of social organization for the li min.

In China the dragon was regarded as the deified serpent. (Andersson

1973, p.7) It also denoted the symbol of perfect man, the son of Heaven,
the Emperor.

The clan emblem for the ancient Manding was the first lizard/dragon. A
dragon is nothing more than a giant lizard. This dragon motif was also
found in Iran and Babylonian Assyrian civilization and the Anau
civilization in Russia, which had similar painted pottery to the pottery
styles of Henan (Xia). (Winters 1983c)

The Xia li min built their settlements near rivers, lakes and streams.
They are mentioned in the Oracle bone writing. The sacred tree of the
Xia was the pine. The Xia naming system was the same as that used by the
Shang.

The founder of the Xia Dynasty was Yu. His father was Gun. Myths about
Gun are found throughout southwest Shanxi. Yu's son founded the Pa
culture. The Pa culture was a megalithic culture. Great Yu was the
regulator of the waters and builder of canals. He invented wetfield
agriculture.

Yu was born in Shihnew. His mother was Sewege (Seuge). She is alleged to
have become pregnant and swallowed a spirit's pearl.

Under the orders of Emperor Shun, Yu was to dredge the Yellow river. Yu
traveled the empire for 10 years draining the land of water. One
tradition claims that "but for Yu we should all have been fishes".

Beginning with Xia the fundamental political unit of this dynasty and
succeeding dynasties of China was the yi or walled town. These yi were
organized into small and large guo (states). Each guo, was known as a shih.

The administrator of the guo was a member of an agnati clan or xing. The
xing, ruled over members of their own clan and non- related clans living
in the various yi, forming the guo.

Emperor Shun, appears to have given Egeu, his son, the princi -pality of
Shang, and Yu the principality of Xia. After the death of Shun, Yu
became the leader of the confederation of Seihshin: the large guos of
Xia and Shang. According to Gu Tsu Yu, in the Du Shih fang yu Zihiyao,
written in the 1600's:

"It is traditionally stated that when Yu assembled the lords at Dushan

there were ten thousand states [cities] that came carrying jades and
silks".

The second great leader of the Xia Dynasty was Qi, the son of Di
(Emperor) Yu. According to the Guben zhu Shu Zhi Nien, the Xia dynasty
had seventeen kings and lasted 471 years.
The Xia Dynasty remained strong until the tyrant , Zhieh, came to power.
In 1766 B.C., Zhieh was deposed and exiled by Zheng Dang, ruler of Shang.

There are thirty references to the capital of Xia in the Zo Zhuan, Guo
Yu , and Guben zhu Shu Zhi Nien. Loyang plain in central Henan,
especially the region of Dengfeng and Yuxien in the upper Ying river
valley, and the area near the Fenhe river valley in southwestern Shanxi
south of mount Ho are usually mentioned in these sources as the area
where the Xia capital was established.

The first capital of Xia was Yangcheng. This city was in southwestern
Shanxi. Archaeologist believe that Taosi and Wangchenggang may be Xia
cities.

Taosi dates to 2500 to 1900 B.C. Here the people raised oxen, pigs and
sheep. They grew millet. Their homes were built half-way below ground.
They smelted copper . The coiled dragon motif is common at this site
along with crocodile skin drums.

The Taosi site is important because the artifacts excavated from the
more than 1,000 tombs, indicate that a hereditary system of chiefs and
class was already established.

The dragon motif at Taos may have been the totem of the Xia dynasts at
Taosi. This would correspond to Chinese legends of the Long (Dragon)
ethnic group.Huan Long (Dragon Breeding Clan) and Yu Long (Defend the
Dragon) clan. The dragon legends are associated with the Chinese sages
Yan, Yao, Shun and Yu.

The capital of Xia Yangcheng is believed to be the city of

Wangshenggang. As mentioned earlier the yi, or 'walled city', was the
basic political unit of Xia. These walls were built layer upon layer and
called hangtu. Chinese traditions allege that Yu's father, Gun, built
the first hangtu.

Wangshenggang site is 10,000 sq. meters . It is situated near the Wudu

river. This structure contains skeletons of all ages.

P>

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allan, S , "Sons of Suns:Myth and Totemism in Early China", Bulletin of

the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS) XLIV,(1981) pages
290-326.

Allan, S , "Drought, Human Sacrifice and the Mandate of Heaven in a Lost

Text from the Shang Shu", BSOAS XLVII, (1984) pages 523-535.

An Jinhuai, "In Search of China's Oldest Capital", China Pictorial,

(1986) pages 39-41.

An Jinhuai, "The Shang City at Cheng-chou and related Problems", In

Studies of Shang Archaeology, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986)
pages 15-48.

Chang, K C , "Prehistory and Early Historic Culture Horizon and

Traditions in South China", Current Anthropology 5, no5
Chang, K C , The Archaeology of Ancient China, New Haven:Yale (1964),
pages 359-375.

Chang, K C , Shang Civilization, New Haven:Yale University Press,1980.

Lacouperie, T de , The Languages of China before the Chinese,

London:David Nutt, 1887.

Lacouperie, T de, "Origin from Babylon and Elam of the Early Chinese
Civilization:A summary of the Proofs", Babylonian and Oriental Record 3,
no5 (1989), pages 97-110

Ling Shun-Sheng , A Study of the Raft, Outrigger, Double and Deck Canoes
of ancient China, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, Taipei:Nankang, 1970.

Winters, Clyde Ahmad, "A Note on the Unity of Black Civilizations in

Africa, IndoChina, and China",PISAS 1979, Hong Kong :Asian Research
Service,1980b.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Are Dravidians of African Origin", P.Second

ISAS,1980,( Hong Kong:Asian Research Service, 1981b) pages 789- 807.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Further Thoughts on Japanese Dravidian

Connection",Dravidian Language Association News 5, no9 (1981c) pages 1-4.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Blacks in Ancient China,Part 1:The Founders of Xia

and Shang", Journal of Black Studies 1,no2 (1983c).

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Possible Relationship between the Manding and

Japanese", Papers in Japanese Linguistics 9, (1983d) pages 151-158.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Further Notes on Japanese and Tamil"

,International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 13, no2 (June 1984c)
pages 347-353.

Winters, Clyde Ahmad, "The Indus Valley Writing and related Scripts of
the 3rd Millennium BC", India Past and Present 2, no1 ( 1985b), pages
13-19.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "The Far Eastern Origin of the Tamils", Journal of

Tamil Studies , no27 (June 1985c), pages 65-92.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Dravidian Settlements in ancient Polynesia", India

Past and Present 3, no2 (1986c)pages 225- 241.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad Winters ,"The Dravidian Origin of the Mountain and

Water Toponyms in central Asia", Journal of Central Asia 9, no2 (1986d),
pages 144-148.

Winters,Clyde Ahmad, "Review of Dr. Asko Parpolas' "The Coming of the

Aryans". International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 18, no2 (1989) ,
pages 98-127.

Winters, Clyde Ahmad, "The Dravido Harappan Colonization of Central

Asia", Central Asiatic Journal 34, no1-2 (1990), pages 120-144.

Other Afrocentric Links by C.A. Winters

 * Ekwesi's Afrocentric Homepage
<http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/7051>
* Mkubwa's Afrocentric Homepage
<http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8919>

Return to Winters Homepage <http://orion.it.luc.edu/~cwinter>

REFERENCES
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Africaine, no.137/138, pp.25-57.
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Heinemann Educational Books.
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Paris: Presence Africaine.
Obenga, T. (1978a). Africa in antiquity, Africa Quarterly, 18, no.1, pp.1-15.
Obenga,T. (1978b). The genetic relationship between Egyptian (ancient Egyptian and
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Egypt and the deciphering of the Meroitic script (65-72). Paris: UNESCO.
Obenga, T. (1988). Esquisses d'une histoire culturelle de l'Afrique par la
lexicologie, Presence Africaine, no.140, pp.1-25.
Obenga, T. (1992). Le chamito-semitique n'existe pas, ANKH , no.1, pp.51-58.
Obenga, T. (1993a). Origine commune de l'Egyptien Ancien du Copte et des langues
Negro-Africaines Modernes. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan.
Obenga, T. Origine Commune de l"Egyptien ancien du coptes et des langues negro-
africaines modernes. Paris: Editions l'Harmattan.
Olderogge, L. (1981). Migrations and ethnic and linguistic differentiations. In J.
Ki-Zerbo (Ed.),General History of Africa I: Methodology and African History (271-
278). Paris: UNESCO.
Pawley,A. & Ross,M. (1993). Austronesian historical linguistics and culture
history. Annual Review of Anthropology, 22, 425-459.
Pfouma, O. L'abeille royale, Carbet, no.6, pp.98-105.
Robins, R.H. (1974). General Linguistics. Bloomington: Indiana State University
Press.
Ruhlen, M. 1994. The origin of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Senghor, L.S. (1961). Negritude and African socialism, African Affairs, pp.20-25.
Toukara, B. (1989). Problematique du comparatisme , egyptien ancien/langues
africaines (wolof), Presence Africain, no.149/150, pp.313-320.
Welmers, W. (1968). Niger Congo-Mande. In T.A. Sebeok (Ed.), Current Trends in
Linguistics, 7,113-140.
Williams, B. (1987). The A-Group Royal Cemetery at Qustul:Cemetery L. Chicago:
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Press.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad (1977). "The influence of the Mande scripts on ancient American
Writing systems", Bulletin l'de IFAN, T39, serie b, no2, (1977), pages 941-967.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1977a) "Islam in Early North and South America", Al-
Ittihad) .
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (January 1979b). "Trade between East Africa and China",
Afrikan Mwalimu, pp. 25-31.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1979c). "Manding Scripts in the New World", Journal of
African Civilization 1, no1 , pp. 61-97.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1980a). "The genetic unity of Dravidian and African
languages and culture",Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Asian
Studies (PIISAS) 1979, Hong Kong:Asian Research Service.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad.(1980b) "A Note on the Unity of Black Civilizations in Africa,
IndoChina, and China",PISAS 1979, Hong Kong: Asian Research Service.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1981a) "The Unity of African and Indian Agriculture", Journal
of African Civilization 3, no1,pp. 103-110.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1981b). "Are Dravidians of African Origin", P.Second
ISAS,1980,( Hong Kong:Asian Research Service) pp.789- 807.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad (1981c). "Further Thoughts on Japanese Dravidian
Connection",Dravidian Language Association News 5, no9, pp. 1-4.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (December, 1981/ January 1982a) "Mexico's Black Heritage", The
Black Collegian,pp. 76-84.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad, (1982b) "The Harappan script Deciphered :Proto-Dravidian
Writing of the Indus Valley", P Third ISAS,1981,(Hong Kong:Asian Research Service)
pp.925-936.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1982c). Lectures in Africana: Kushite Diaspora, Chicago:
Uthman dan Fodio Institute.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad (1983a).The Ancient Manding Script",In Blacks in
Science:Ancient and Modern, (ed) by Ivan van Sertima, (New Brunswick:Transaction
Books ) pages 208-214.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1983b) "Les fondateurs de la Grece venaient d'Afrique en
passant par la Crete", Afrique Histoire, no8,pp. 13-18.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1983c). "Blacks in Ancient China,Part 1:The Founders of Xia
and Shang", Journal of Black Studies 1,no2.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1983d). "Possible Relationship between the Manding and
Japanese", Papers in Japanese Linguistics 9, pp. 151-158.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad Winters. (January 1984). "Magyar and Proto-Saharan
Relationship",Fighter (Hungarian language Newspaper) Cleveland,Ohio , p.2.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad(1984a). The Indus Valley Writing is Proto-Dravidian",Journal of
Tamil Studies , no 25 , pp.50-64.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (Juin 1984b). "A Note on Tokharian and Meroitic", Meroitic
Newsletter\Bulletin d"Information Meroitiques , No.23 , pages 18-21.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad(June 1984c) "Further Notes on Japanese and Tamil ,International
Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 13, no2, pp. 347-353.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1984d). "The Inspiration of the Harappan Talismanic Seals",
Tamil Civilization 2, no1 , pp. 1-8.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1984e). "The Harappan Writing of the Copper Tablets",
Journal of Indian History LXll, nos.1-3, pp. 1-5.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1985a). "The Proto-Culture of the Dravidians, Manding and
Sumerians", Tamil Civilization 3, no.1 , pp. 1-9.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1985b). "The Indus Valley Writing and related Scripts of the
3rd Millennium BC", India Past and Present 2, no.1 ( 1985b), pages 13-19.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1985c). "The Far Eastern Origin of the Tamils", Journal of
Tamil Studies , no27 , pp. 65-92.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1985d). "The genetic Unity between the Dravidian, Elamite,
Manding and Sumerian Languages", Sixth ISAS ,1984,(Hong Kong:Asian Research
Service) pp. 1413-1425.

Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1986). The Migration Routes of the Proto-Mande", The Mankind
Quarterly 27, no1 , pp. 77-96.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1986b). "Blacks in Ancient America", Colorlines 3, no.2 , pp.
26-27.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1986c). "Dravidian Settlements in ancient Polynesia", India
Past and Present 3, no2,pp. 225-241.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad Winters. (1986d). The Dravidian Origin of the Mountain and
Water Toponyms in central Asia", Journal of Central Asia 9, no.2 , pages 144-148.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1986e). "Dravidian and Magyar /Hungarian", International
Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 15, no.2.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1986f). "The Rise of Islam in the Western Sahara",Topaz 2,
no.1 , pp. 5-15.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1987). The Harappan Script. Journal of Tamil Studies, no.
30, pp.89-111.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1988). "The Dravidian and Manding Substratum in
Tokharian",Central Asiatic Journal 32, nos. 1-2, pp. 131-141.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1986b). Common African and Dravidian place name elements,
South Asian Anthropologist, 9, no.1 pp.33-36.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1989)"Tamil,Sumerian and Manding and the Genetic
Model",International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics ,18, no.l.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1989b). "Cheikh Anta Diop et le dechiffrement de l'ecriture
meroitique",Cabet: Revue Martinique de Sciences Humaines et de Litterature 8, pp.
149-152.
Winters,Clyde Ahmad. (1989c). "Review of Dr. Asko Parpolas' "The Coming of the
Aryans". International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 18, no2 , pp. 98-127.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad.(1990). "The Dravido Harappan Colonization of Central Asia",
Central Asiatic Journal 34, no1-2, pp. 120-144.
Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1991). The Proto-Sahara. The Dravidian Encyclopaedia.
(Trivandrum: International School of Dravidian Linguistics) pp.553-556.

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THE BLACK GREEKS

To deny the African origin of Grecian civilization the Eurocentrists attack Martin
Bernal's book: Black Athena. This book has nothing to do with Afrocentrism. In the
two volumes published thus far, Bernal maintains that Semites from Phoenicia and
the Semitic Hyksos speaking rulers of Egypt, took civilization to Greece, not Black
Africans.

J.A. Rogers in Sex and Race, Parker, Diop and DuBois on the other hand, are
Afrocentric scholars. These scholars have reviewed the writings of the classical
authors, the anthropological, linguistic and historical evidence to reach the
conclusion that the ancient Greeks were blacks and that the European Greeks learned
the liberal arts and sciences from their "black ancestors" who first settled Greece
and the Egyptians.

According to the Olympian Creation Myth the earliest groups to appear on earth were
the Libyco-Thracians .The Libyans were Proto-Saharans, as were the original
Thracians. Some Thracians were descendants of the Kushite and Egyptian troops
established at Trace, by Sesostris (Thutmose III or Ramses II), when he conquered
Asia and Europe.(Diop 1991; Winters 1983a,1984b,1985a)

Many of the so-called Greek myths are in reality historical texts which show the
ancient lifestyle of the pre-Aryans in Greece and the transition from Pelasgian
matriarchy to Greek-Aryan patriarchy. The term Amazon was often used by the Aryans
to denote matriarchal societies living on the Black Sea. The battle between Thesus
and the Amazons, led by Queen Melanippe, records the conflicts between the ancient
Aryan-Greeks and the Libyans settled around the Black Sea.

Dr. Lefkowitz (1992) and Snowden (1992,1976) perpetuate the myth that the only
blacks in ancient Europe were slaves or mercenaries. This is false the Greek
historical works make it clear that many ancient settlers of the Aegean came from
Africa , especially the Garamantes and Pelasgians. G. W. Parker wrote that: "I need
not go into details concerning the ethnical relations of the Romans, since they,
too are Mediterranean and are closely related to the same African confederation of
races ...[situated in Greece]. Aeneas, their mythical founder of Troy. The Aenead,
like the Illiad, and Odyssey and all other of the world's great epics, is the
poetic story dealing with African people". The heroes of these tales used long
shields, the characteristic shields of the Indo-European speaking Greeks were
round.

The Eurocentrists attempt to prove there was "considerable cultural and linguistic
continuity from the twelfth century to the eight century BC" ,in the Aegean . Yet
there is no way it can be proven that Indo-European Greeks have always been in
Greece. This view on the continuity between the Linear B Greeks and later Greeks
held by Lefkowitz is disputed by Hopper who noted that " after all, so much which
characterizes Minoan Crete seems wholly alien to later Greece, despite the efforts
of scholars to detect 'continuity' " .

Given the wealth of Afrocentric literature it would seem logical that the
Eurocentric "resisters" review these works, and point out the weaknesses within
these text to prove that Afrocen- trism is a "myth" (Lefkowitz 1992). But, instead
of doing just this, the "resisters" simply mention text written by Afrocentric
scholars and then attack Black Athena, as if Afrocentrism is based solely on this
text.

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante has observed that: " The aim is to open [Afrocentric] fields
of inquiry and to expand human dialogue around questions of social, economic,
historical and cultural concern. Everything must be run through the sieve of doubt
until one hits the bedrock of truth. Our methods, based on the idea of African
centeredness, are meant to establish a clear pattern of discourse that may be
followed by others". Based on this definition Black Athena, is not an Afrocentric
work. This book is meant to imply that the Hyksos or Semitic speaking west Asians
developed civilization in Greece not the blacks. This book because of its lack of
African centeredness fails the test of an Afrocentric work..

Black Athena, is not the Afrocentric Bible on Black Egypt. We doubt that Cheikh
Anta Diop would even agree with most of the thesis of this book. Trigger observed
that:

"Although he [Bernal] has acquired an enthusiastic following among

exponents of negritude and occasionally describes some of the Egyptian

Pharaohs as "black" or "Nubian", he aligns himself not with Anta Diop but with more
moderate "Negro intellectuals"...who...do see Egypt as essentially African" .

Bernal (1987,1991) believes that the Greeks resulted from a mixture of European and
(Semitic speaking) Mediterranean people.

In volume 2 of Black Athena , Bernal outlines his thesis that the "Egyptians"
founded Greek civilization. But these "Egyptians" are not blacks, they are Semitic
speakers. Bernal (1991) makes it clear that he believes that the civilization of
the Aegean was founded by Semitic speaking Phoenicians, and the Semitic speaking
Hyksos Dynasty of Egypt.

Bernal (1991) sees Hyksos invaders as Hurrian, Semitic, Indo-Iranian speakers. As a

result he believes that the Danaos and Kadmeans or Egyptian founders of Thebes in
Greece, were the Hyksos. (Bernal 1991, p.495) In general, Bernal (1991) believes
that when the Hyksos were driven from Egypt, they settled in the Aegean and
developed civilization.

Bernal's view of the Hyksos as the founders of Grecian civilization has nothing to
do with the work of Afrocentric scholars. The problem with Bernal (1991) is that he
believes that the "Pre-Hellenes" or Pelasgian people were Indo-European speakers.
This view is not held by Afrocentric scholars who recognize that the founders of
Athens and Attica were blacks. Diop (1974,1991) and Clyde Ahmad Winters (1983b)
make it clear that Blacks came to Greece in prehistoric times and remarried in
Greece in significant numbers until classical times. Therefore the apparent errors
in Bernal's Black Athena, should not be seen as proving that Afrocentric scholars
are wrong. These errors only prove that Bernal (1991) has failed to prove that the
Hyksos founded civilization in the Aegean.

Afrocentric scholars are accused of using old and outdated sources. This is true of
some Afrocentric scholars who have written books based on secondary sources. Yet,
those Afrocentric scholars such as DuBois, Diop (1974,1991), J.A. Rogers, Parker
(1917,1918), Winters (1983b,1985b,1989a,1989b) use up-to-date sources to prove
historical facts about the African past, even before Diop used primary sources to
illuminate the African past. These Afrocentric ,scholars of African and African-
American origin because of their unique character as a black people unaware of
their specific original African home have not been blinded by ethnocentrism to look
for the history of blacks in one part of Africa and the world. These scholars have
sought to illuminate the African past throughout the world.

For example, Parker (1917,1918) used anthropological, archaeological, historical

and classical sources to prove that blacks once lived in the Aegean. Parker
(1917,1918) used the Greek classics to prove that the Pelasgians were of African
origin. He also discussed the origin stories about the Pelasgic founders of
selected Grecian cities and proved that these men were blacks and not Indo-
Europeans. Parker (1917, pp.341-42) also observed that "the great Grecian epics are
epics of an African people and Helen, the cause of the Trojan war, must henceforth
be conceived as a beautiful brown skin girl" . These Africans sailed to the Greece
from North Africa.

Early boat used by the ancient Pelasgians in Greece

Using archaeological evidence and the classical literature C.A. Winters (1983b)
explained how the African/Black founders of Grecian civilization originally came
from the ancient Sahara. Winters(1983b) makes it clear that these Blacks came to
the Aegean in two waves 1) the Garamantes a Malinke speaking people that now live
along the Niger river, but formerly lived in the Fezzan region of Libya; and 2) the
Egyptians, Phoenicians and East Africans who were recorded in Greece's history as
the Pelasgians. The Pelasgian civilization has been discussed in detail by Parker
(1917,1918).

The Pelasgians founded many cities. The Pelasgian founding of Athens is noted by
Plutarch in Theseus 12, and Ovid in Metamorphosis vii, 402 ff. According to
Herodotus vii.91, the Pelasgians also founded Thebes. Many of these Athenians may
have introduced the Geometric style to Greece during the so-called Dark Ages (1200-
600 BC).
This is fine Geometric Style piece dating to the "Dark Age" period of Greece note

the broad shoulders depicted on this piece of art.

Winters (1983b) makes it clear that the Garamantes founded the Greek cities of
Thrace, Minoan Crete and Attica. The Garamantes were also called Carians by the
Indo-European Greeks.

The Garamantes or Carians originally lived in the Fezzan. These Garamante were
described by the Latin classical writers as black or dark skinned: perusti (Lucan
4.679), furvi (Arnoloius, Adversus Nationes , 6.5) and nigri (Anthologia Latina,
155,no.183).

As a result of the research of Parker (1917,1918) and Winters (1983b), when

Lefkowitz (1992) argues that Socrates could not have been black because he was an
Athenian citizen. Because it is her opinion that the Athenians were not of African
origin eventhough Greek traditions make it clear that Pelasgians which were not
Indo-European speakers founded this city. As a result, she fails to prove Socrates'
racial heritage because the Greeks made it clear that the founders of Athens were
Pelasgians or Blacks. Moreover, the earliest art from Athens known as the Geometric
style depict African or Black

people.

On this Athenean funeral vase (c. 750 BC) the dead and

Those who weep for him in this Geometric Style pottery have Negroid features

Lefkowitz noted that "Thus , if Socrates and his parents had dark skin and other
African racial features, some of his contemporaries would have been likely to
mention it...Unless, of course, all the rest of the Athenians also had African
origins; but then why are they not depicted as Africans in the art? " This question
is easily answered. There are numerous Africans depicted in Greek art, but rather
than admit that some of these blacks were descendants of the Pelasgian and
Garamante groups they are all referred too as Ethiopian slaves or mercenaries
(Snowden 1976).

The work of Diop (1974,1991), Parker (1917,1918) and Winters (1983b) make it clear
that the Afrocentric discussion of the African influence in the Aegean is not based
solely on the work of Bernal (1987,1991) as the "resisters" would have us believe.
Use of Bernal (1991) as a method to dispute the findings of the Afrocentrists is
groundless because his work fails to acknowledge the African origin of the
Pelasgians.

BLACKS IN THE AEGEAN

The earliest inhabitants of Greece and the Aegean Islands were Blacks from ancient
Libya, Palestine, and Asia Minor. These Blacks founded Athens, Thebes Thera and
Attica. They occupied much of the mainland and all the Aegean Islands. These Blacks
are frequently depicted in the art associated with the so-called Dark Ages (1200-
600 BC). There are also fine frescos from Thera (Sanorin) Island which illustrate
one of the Agean cities occupied by these Blacks during the 16th and 15th centuries
BC.

This is one of the Thera Frescos. Note the busy atmosphere

Associated with the Pelasgian cities during the 16th Century BC

Although these people of the Heroic age came from diverse origins, the Aryan-Greeks
called them Pelasgians. According to the Greeks, the first man was Pelasgus--
ancestor of the Pelasgians. The Pelasgians were a combination of different Black
tribes called Achaeans, Cadmeans, Leleges, Carians or Garamantes.

The term Pelasgian was applied to all these pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece.
R.J. Hopper, in The Early Greeks, noted that "indeed the classical Greeks believed
in the separate existence of diverse ethnic elements side by side, and thought
particularly of the Pelasgians in this connection".

According to tradition, the Pelasgians inhabited Arcadia and many Aegean Islands.
These Blacks took their own writing to Greece which was later used by the Aryan-
Greeks. According to Herodotus quadrigas or four-horse chariots were introduced to
Greeks by the Libyans .

The Aryan-Greeks adopted the language of the Pelasgians and Egyptians. The
linguistic evidence shows that there was a differentiation of Greece into East
Greek and West Greek. The Black Greeks spoke East Greek (Achaioi or Achaean). West
Greek was spoken by the Dorian or Aryan Greeks. The earliest Aryan tribe called
Ionians spoke a dialect of East Greek called Aeolic.

Many classical scholars teach the world that the Greek language is entirely Indo-
European. This view of Greek is wrong.

Dr. Anna Morpurgo Davies, has made it clear that "less than 40% of the words which
have an Indo-European etymology". According to Dr. Davies, 52.2 % of the Greek
terms in Chantraine's Dictionnaire Etymologique de la langue Grecque (1968) have an
unknown etymology. The mixed nature of the Greek language results from the early
settlement of the Aegean by Blacks from Africa.

Some of these words are of African origin. Robert K.G. Temple, in The Sirius
Mystery, shows that many of the most common words of the Greek vocabulary are of
Egyptian origin. Diop (1991) has also discussed the Egyptian origin for many Greek
terms.

GARAMANTES

Some of the first African colonists to arrive in Greece came from Crete. These
Cretans were called Garamantes. After the goddess Ker or Car, these people also
came to be also known as the Carians. The Carians spoke a Mande languages.

A Pelasgian boat from Thera

These people usually sailed to the Islands in Aegean and the surrounding coast were
they established prosperous trading communities.

There is frequent mention of the Garamantes of the Fezzan, in Classical literature

of Greece and Rome. The Garamantes were recognized as a Black tribe. They were
known to the Greeks and Romans as dark skinned. In Ptolemy (I.8.5.,p.31) a
Garamante slave was described as having a body the color of pitch or wholly black.

Graves (1980) and Leo Frobenius linked the Garamante to the ancient empire of Ghana
(c.300 BC to A.D. 1100). Graves (1980) claims that the term Garamante is the Greek
plural for Garama or Garamas. He said that the present Jarama or Jarma are the
descendants of the Garamante; and that the Jarama live near the Niger river.

The Olympian creation myth, as recorded by Pindar in Fragment , and Apollonius

Rhodius, makes it clear that the Garamantes early colonized Greece. Their
descendants were called Carians. The Carians practiced apiculture. As in Africa the
Carians practiced matrilineal descent. According to Herodotus , even up until his
time the Carians took the name of their mother.

Many of the Greek myths are historical text which discuss the transition of Greece
from an matriarchal society to a patriarchal Aryan society. The term Amazon was
often used by the Aryans to denote matriarchal societies living on the Black Sea.
The battle between Thesus and the Amazons, led by Queen Melanippe, records the
conflicts between the ancient Aryan-Greeks and the Libyco-Nubians settled around
the Black Sea.

The classical Carians and Egyptians were very close. Having originated in the
Fertile African Crescent they had similar gods and cultural traditions dating back
to the Proto-Saharan period.

The Garamantes founded Attica, where they worked the mines at Laureium. Demeter,
the goddess of agriculture and fruitfulness, came from the Fezzan (Libya) by way of
Crete. It was Demeter who took poppy seeds and figs to Europe.

Apollonius Rhodius (.iv.1310) tells us that the goddess Athene was born beside Lake
Triton in Libya. The goddess Athene, was called Neith by the Egyptians and Nia by
the Cretans in Linear A writing. This shows that the Garamantes took this god to
Europe in addition to Demeter and Amon (=Ammon ,Amma).

By 3000 BC, the Garamantes has spread their influence to Thrace and early Hellenic
Greece. Hesiod, who was a Kadmean (i.e., of Egyptian descent), in Works and Days ,
said that before the Hellenic invasion the Grecian people lived in peace and
tranquility and had matriarchal societies. The name Europe comes from Aerope, the
daughter of King Catreus, a Cretan. Thucydides observed that:

"The first person known to us by tradition as having

established a navy is Minos. He made himself master

of what is now called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over

the Cyclades into most of which he sent the first colo-

nies, expelling the Carians and appointing his own sons

as governors; and thus did his best to put down piracy

in these waters, a necessary step to secure the revenues

for his own use".

Thus we find that many Cretans also settled much of mainland southern Europe.

THE PELASGIANS

The Greeks often called the first inhabitants of Greece Pelasgians. The Greek
writers claimed that Pelasgus, the great ancestor of the Pelasgians was the first
man. The Pelasgians were a combination of diverse Black tribes which included the
Achaeans , Kadmeans, and Leleges. The Garamantes were also often called Pelasgians
by some classical writers. Strabo said "that the Pelasgi, as indeed the most
ancient nation, were diffused through all Greece, and especially among the
Aeolians".

The city of Argo was founded by Phoroneus, the father of Pelasgus, Iasus and
Agenor. It was these folks who divided the Peloponnese between them.

Herodotus referred to the Pelasgians as "venerable ancestors". He said that the

first Athenians "they were Pelasgi, the later possessing the country now designed
Hellas". The Pelasgian founding of Athens is also noted by Plutarch in Theseus 12,
and Ovid in Metamorphosis vii.402ff. According to Herodotus vii.91, the Pelasgians
also founded Thebes in Europe. Pausanias, noted that "The Arcadians make mention of
Pelasgus as the first person who existed in their country. From this king the whole
region took the name Pilasgia". Hopper noted that the Pelasgians founded Attica.

The Black immigrants from Canaan were also settled in the Aegean at Argolis. They
called themselves the "Sons of Abas". Many of the Melampodes later took part of
Argolis away from the Canaanites.

The earliest Greek alphabet was made by the Pelasgians, it was lost and later
reintroduced by Kadmus to Boeotia. Another Pelasgian, Evander of Arcadia introduced
writing to the Italians. This script was used to make the first fifteen characters
of the Latin script according to Pliny and Plutarch.

Pelasgians from Thera

Pliny says that one of the Aegean scripts was created by an Egyptian named Menos.
An Egyptian creation of one of the early Greek alphabets is not out of the question
because the early Predynastic Egyptians used the Proto-Saharan script as did the
founders of the 12th Dynasty. Moreover, the Tiles of Rameses II, published by F.
Hitching, in The Mysterious World, are analogous to the early Greek characters.

EGYPTIANS

The Egyptians established many colonies in ancient Europe. The Egyptians called
themselves Melampodes or "Blackfeet". The Egyptians were also called Danaans in
Greek history. According to Hyainus in Fabula, and Apollonius Rhodius when the
Danaans came to Greece they were a combination of diverse African tribes.

When the Danaans came to Greece they took away part of Argolis from the Canaanites.
The Danaans took the Mysteries of Themoporia and the oracle of Dodona to Greece.
This view is supported by the discovery of an inscribed stone in the Peloponnese
that had Egyptian writing on it dating to the Vth Dynasty of Egypt. Greek
traditions speak of Egyptian colonies founded by Cecrops who settled Atica, Danaus
the brother of Aegyptus was the founder of Argolis. Danaus is alleged to have
taught the Greeks agriculture and metallurgy.

MYCENEANS

The ancient Myceneans were Blacks. These ancient people came from Crete, and the
Western Sahara. Alain Anselin has shown how many of these Myceneans spoke Dravidian
languages especially the Termils of Asia Minor.

The cities of Troy, Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes and Orochomenos were founded by the
Eteocretans or "Real Minoans", as opposed to the later Greco-Cretans. These
Eteocretans spoke a Manding language.
Ring made of gold depicting a Stag hunt (c. 1500BC)

(Note the Afro hairstyle worn by the Mycenaeans)

Mycenean art gives ample evidence of the rich and varied culture shared by the
Africans of Mycenae. Africans are depicted in hunting and war motifs on artifacts
recovered from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae.

The best known African artifacts from Mycenae include the "Stag Hunt", "Lion and
Spearman Hunt" and the "Siege Scene" depicted on the Silver Rhyton Cup. All of
these artifacts date to 1500 BC

Achaeans

By 1200 BC, much of the Mycenae civilization was under the control the Achaeans.
The Achaeans later founded other city-states in Greece. After conquering the
Mycenaeans, the Achaeans formed the Greek states of Peloponnesus. Their major
cities: Mycenae and Tiryns in Argolis, and Pylos Messenia were originally founded
by other Pelasgian groups.

Here is a Geometric Style (or Achaean) scene of an

Overturned boat (c. 850 BC) for Athens

Between 1200-800 BC, the Achaeans began to take control of the Greek mainland , the
southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, Crete and numerous islands in the Aegean
Sea. The Achaeans conquered the Nubian, Egyptian and Phoenician armies at Troy.
Some of the troops fighting with the Achaeans were Indo-European speaking people.

ORIGIN OF THE INDO-EUROPEANS

There is disagreement over where the Europeans originated and when they spread
across Europe. Dr. M. Gimbutas maintains that Europeans had their origin in the
Pontic steppe country on the north coast of the Black Sea and began to expand into
Europe as Kurgan nomads after 4000 BC In 1987, Dr. C. Renfrew hypothesized that the
Indo-Europeans lived in eastern Anatolia and spread into Europe around 7000 years
ago with the spread of agriculture. Both of these views have little support based
upon the ancestral culture terms used by the Proto-Indo-European which are
predominately of non Indo-European (I-E) origin. After a comparison of the
linguistic, agricultural and genetic evidence researchers have found little support
for both of these theories. Sokal et al, noted that: "If the IEs originated in situ
by local differentiation only, there should be no significant partial correlation ,
since geography should fully explain the observed genetic and linguistic distances.
This was not the case. If the genetics-language correlation were entirely due to
the spread of populations accompanying the origin of

agriculture, then the origin-of-agriculture model should suffice, or at least there

should be some effect due to origin of agriculture. But we saw that origin-of-
agriculture distances (OOA) cannot reduce the partial correlations remaining after
geography has been held constant."

The genetic evidence supporting the absence of an Indo-European origin in the

Anatolian region is supported by the historical and archaeological evidence. The
north and east of Anatolia was inhabited by non-Indo-European speakers. It appears
that Indo-Europeans did not enter Anatolia until sometime between 2000 -1800 BC At
this time we note the appearance of Indo-European (Hittite) names in the literary
records of the Old Kingdom of Hatti. And at least as late as 1900 BC Anatolia was
basically still Hattian.

The usual method of Indo-European and Chinese invasion was two-fold. First, they
settles in a country in small groups and were partly assimilated. Over a period of
time their numbers increased. Once they reach a numerical majority they joined
forces with other Indo-European speaking groups to militarily overthrow the
original inhabitants in a specific area and take political power. Since these
communities occupied by the blacks often saw themselves as residents of a city-
state, they would ignored the defeat of their neighbors. This typified their second
form of invasion of the countries formerly ruled by the Proto-
Saharans/Kushites/Blacks.

Blacks have failed even today to recognize that even though whites are highly
nationalistic and engaged in numerous fratricidal wars, they will unify temporarily
to defeat non-European people. As a result in case where the Blacks have been
politically organized into states or Empires, rather than isolated city-states, the
large political units have lasted for hundreds of years as typified by ancient
Egypt, Axum, Mali and ancient Ghana.

D'iakonov on the other hand, believes that the Indo-Europeans (I-E) homeland was
the Balkan-Carpathian region. He has shown that the culture terms of the I-E group
indicate that they made their way across forest-steppe and deciduous forest zones
to settle other parts of the world. This view is highly probable.

The view that these people were farmers seem unlikely, since the ideal farming
areas in Europe were already settled by the Anu and people from the Fertile African
Crescent as discussed in this unit. Instead of being farmers the I-E people were
originally nomads.

The steppes could not have been the homeland of the Indo-Europeans because it was
heavily occupied by the Proto-Saharan people until after 1300 B.C.In support of an
early presence of Indo-European speakers on the steppes many scholars maintain that
the Andronovo cultures and wheeled vehicles are markers of Indo-European "High"
culture.

But this theory has been proven to be unsupportable by the archeological and
linguistic data. The civilizations and economy that characterized "Old Europe" are
foreign to the Indo-European culture portrayed in the Indo-Aryan literature.

Many scholars use the chariot and horsemanship as an ethnic marker for the Indo-
Europeans. But it can not be proven that the horse drawn chariot was an exclusive
Indo-European marker. The wheeled vehicles were used in Mesopotamia and the Indus
Valley before the 3rd millennium. The presence of pre-Dynasty and early Dynasty
wheeled toy animals from Egypt and elsewhere support the view that the wheel was a
well known technology to the Kushites before the expansion of the Indo Europeans.

This view is further supported by the fact that the IE roots for "wheel" number
four. Use of a number to signify the "wheel" illustrates that this technological
innovation must have come from elsewhere and was later adopted by the Proto-Indo-
Europeans after there dispersal.
The horse can not be a marker for the Indo-European dispersal either. It would
appear that in the steppes, the horse was not intensively used until the iron age.
V.M. Masson believes that horse domestication and riding developed in the 1st
millennium BC, on the steppes.

The early I-E were Kurgan nomadic warriors. Kurgan is a name used by archaeologist
for the early Europeans.The term I-E does not refer to a racial type, because many
of the ancient I-E speakers may have been black , given the fact that among the
depictions of the People of the Sea on Egyptian monuments their are African people.
But today the only I-E people we have are Caucasian.

Evolving in the Caucasus mountains, the Kurgan folk were pastoralist. They herded
cattle, pigs and sheep.

The Kurgans were a very destructive people. They destroyed vast regions of forest
across Europe. By the Fourth millennium BC, wide tracts of forests were gone in
Europe. Upon their encounter with civilized Africoid communities, the latter were
enslaved while the Kurgans adopted their culture. The Kurgan warriors used these
slaves to grow grain.

The Indo-Europeans remained an insignificant group until they learned the art of
metal working from the Hittites of Asia Minor. This along with natural disasters
that took place around the world after 1600 BC, helped the Kurgans to infiltrate
civilized areas in the Aegean and Indus Valley.

The Kurgan people are also known as the Battle Axe/ Corded Ware Folk. By the Third
millennium BC, the Kurgan were breeding horses and organized themselves into
militarized chiefdoms. The symbol of the warrior class was the horned helmet common
to the Sea Folk and later Vikings. Their common weapon was the double axe.

The Kurgan folk in small numbers slowly migrated into the centers of civilization,
first in northern Mesopotamia, then India. By 3500 BC, the Kurgans were invading
the Caucasus region. Beginning in 3700 B.C., Old European settlements had walls
built around them to keep out the Kurgan warriors.

These early I-E people practiced human sacrifice. At the death of a man his wife
was often killed and buried with him.

The Kurgan people mixed with the indigenous Africoid people. Some of them were made
slaves by the warrior elites. If black communities were more powerful than the
Kurgans, they formed an alliance between themselves and conquered weaker groups.
Once the Kurgan tribe became stronger it would knock off its former ally.

The People of the Sea began to infiltrate the Aegean area after 1200 BC. These
people usually wore horn helmets and used round shields

Pictures of these nomadic warriors are depicted in courtyard of Medinet Habu, in

Egypt. These white Japhetic Philistine folk were relocated in Palestine, where two
hundred years later they destroyed Sidon and Troy. This Philistine Kurgan ethnic
group is called Phrs in Egyptian documents.

Another group of Kurgan tribes took Crete. From bases in Crete, they invaded North
Africa west of Egypt. These Kurgan tribesmen were called Rebou, by the Egyptians.
This group formed the white Libyan population which occupied much of the Delta
region of Egypt, before the founding of Carthage by the Phoenicians.

By 1300 BC, the Dorian tribes invaded Greece and defeated the Achaeans. The Dorian
conquest of Mycenae led to Crete becoming a major center of Achaean civilization.
The Dorians learned the art of writing from the Phoenicians.

Among the early I-E social relations were patriarchal. The hereditary warrior class
controlled the best lands and large slave populations made up mainly of the native
Blacks and poor Indo-European population. The landless people served as serfs for
the ruling class made up of warriors.

Each Indo-European ethnic group was led by a Basileus. He was military commander,
judge and high priest.

In summary the myths , archaeological and historical evidence all indicate that
Europe was not the homeland of the White race. It would appear from the evidence
that the ancient Greeks were Blacks. Moreover, it is clear that these blacks taught
the Europeans civilization and government and that these symbols of government and
civilization can not be claimed solely as the property of Europeans.

The historical, archaeological and linguistic evidence proves that contemporary

ancient history text must be re-written to reflect that the blacks in Europe were
not just slaves, but founders of Grecian civilization.. These new history text
must, for the first time reflect of the African role in history so that black
children and white children will know the truth about history, and not just false
hoods that deny the existence of a native Grecian African role in the rise of
ancient Greco-Roman civilization.

These blacks in Greece just like African-Americans today built the culture and
civilization of ancient Greece. But their efforts, unfairly have been ignored and
over looked by scholars who knew the truth, but hid this truth to validate White
World Supremacy.

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Blacks in China

From West Asia to China the land was occupied predominately by Blacks. The Blacks
were forced from East and Southeast Asia by the expansion of the Thai, Annamite,
Bak and Hua Mongoloid. The Blacks ruled China until around 1000-700 BC.
Names for the Blacks in China
The Blacks of China were known in the historical literature by many names,
including Negro, Austroloid, Oceanean, etc by the Europeans. The East Indians and
Mongoloid groups had other names for these Blacks such as Dara. Yneh-chih. Yaksha,
Suka ,and K'un-lun. Lushana and Seythians.
The original Black population that lived in China was the Negritos and Austroloid
groups. After 5000 BC, Africoid people from Kush in Africa, began to enter China
and Central Asia from Iran, while another group reached China by sea. This two-
route migration of Blacks to China led to the development of southern and northern
Chinese branches of Africoids.
The Northern Chino-Africans were called Kui-shuang (Kushana) or Yueh-chih, while
the southern tribes were called Yi and li-man Yueh and Man. In addition to the Yueh
tribes along the north east coastal region, they also lived in Turkestand,
Mongolia, Transoxiana, the Ili region and Xinjiang province.
IN NORTHERN CHINA the Blacks/Africoids founded many Civilizations. The three major
empires of China were the Xia, Dynasty (1900-1700 BC), Shang/Yin Dynasty (1700-1050
BC) and the Zhou Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty was the first dynasty founded by the
Mongoloid people in China.
The Xia and Shang dynasties were founded by Black tribes living in ancient China.
The key to understanding Chinese civilization is to remember the fact that both Xia
and Shang came from similar ancestors.
In Southeast Asia and southern China, ancient skeletal remains represented the
earliest inhabitants to be Austroloids and Negrillo/Negrito. By the beginning of
the Present (Holocene) period the population in China could be differentiate, and
placed into categories designating Mongoloid in the north, and Oceanic on Black
races in the south. Both of these groups evolved out of a common Upper Pleistocene
substratum as represented by the Tzu-yang and Liuchian skulls. By at least 2500 BC
Africoids of the Mediterranean and West African type entered this areas by way of
India. The skeletal evidence from the Shantung and Kiangsu China show the modern
Africoid type especially at the initial Qinglien King and Machiabang phases.
The archaeology of southern China is related to the Southeast Asian pattern, with
numerous finds of chipped stone of the type found in Szechewan Guangxi, Yunan and
in the western part of Guanguung as far as the Pear River delta. The Neolithic
culture of southern China as the people parallel southeastern Asian developments.
There were several major centers of Neolithic culture in China were pottery and
agriculture flourished. In southern China the most well known early Chinese culture
was called the Dapenkeng culture of the southeastern coast dating to the 5th
millenium BC.
The Dapenkeng sites are characterized by cord-marked pottery. The color of the
pottery dating to 4450 BC ranges from buff to dark brown. These folk had large jars
and bowls. They made dugout canoes to communicate.
Blacks also founded the Yangshao site at Huang Ho basin in North china. In the
southeastern section of China the people at Hupeh and Guangxi made use of
artificial irrigation and by terracing of the mountain slopes. They were using
bronze.
As in other black societies the woman's were highly esteemed. They also
participated in the religion which consisted of worship of a mountain and snake
cult.
The Neolithic technology of Blacks in south China, as areas further North was
typified by hunting with the bow and arrow. The stone inventories of ancient China
include shoulder axes, similar to those found at Ya-an in Sikang, and on the island
of Hainan.
The ceramics are characterized by corded red ware. There was also painted pottery,
black pottery, and tripod pottery which were later duplicated in bronze. The people
practiced single burials.
The pottery inscriptions show that the Southern Chinese already had their own
writing system. The writing system of the Shang and Xia Dynasties was developed in
the Proto-Sahara. This writing later evolved into modern Chinese script.
The Blacks of southern China, according to Dr. Shun-Shang Ling, in A study of the
raft, outrigger, double and deck canoes of ancient China, the Pacific and Indian
Ocean, spoke Austronesian languages like the aborigines of Hainan and Taiwan. Here
many Dapenkeng sites have been discovered.

Mound Culture
There was an extensive mound culture in China stretching from its plateau in the
west to the western coast of the Pacific Ocean, it includes Huang-Huai (the Yellow
River and the Huai River) plan of north China and the lower valley of the Yangtse
River of central China, these mounds lie in the ancient line of Austronesian
habitation. The mounds were occupied when these areas were much warmer than they
are now.
The Austronesian people descended from the Yuanshan and Lungshan cultures. In
accordance with oral traditions and Chinese Proto-history mounds were invented
Huangdi Fuxi. The legendary rulers Tai-Hao and Huangdi were buried in chiu
(mounds).
The Chinese mound culture had began around 3000 BC, a thousand years after a
similar culture had developed in Africa. One of the most important mound cultures
of China was that of Hu Shu. The Hu Shu mounds were man-made knolls called
'terraced sites'. The mounds served as 1) burial places, 2) religious centers, and
3) habitation.
From southern China the Oceanic peoples invaded Northern China, which was mainly
inhabited by Australoids and a smallish Negroid-Mongoloid group. Although the
Australoids had been the first inhabitants of China, by 1000 BC many of them had
been exterminated or absorbed by the taller heavier Mongoloid Bak tribes, that were
slowly expanding southward from the north.
By 3000 BC the Negritos were being forced into isolated areas of China by Proto-
Saharan blacks. Around the same time the Oceanic people were moving northward from
the coastal plains area.

THE XIA AND SHANG DYNASTIES

Many Scholars and laymen alike have recognized similarities between ancient China
and Africa. For example, the straw hats worn by West African peoples are also worn
in China. Moreover, both the ancient Chinese and West Africans had a mound culture
that possessed similar burial customs and common symbols.
Numerous theories have been put forward concerning the origins of these
similarities but few of them satisfy scientific proof because they neglect to
address the possibility that Blacks lived in China before the advent of the East
African slave trade. Although this has been true of other authors, the present
author will explain and discuss the role of Blacks in China, during the founding of
Xia and Shang dynasties.
The first two dynasties of China were founded by people from Africa. These Black
people spoke Dravidian and African languages.
The first civilizations were called Xia and Shang. They were ruled by emperors
called Xuan Di "Black Emperors".
These Blacks introduced farming and writing to China. Trade cities and travel grew
under their leadership.
In addition to writing, the Blacks of Xia and Shang introduced bronze working to
China. They also invented the pounded earth architecture associated with early
Chinese city-states.

Xia Dynasty
The first civilization of China was the Xia dynasty. It was founded by the Yueh
tribes.
It was from Xia that Shang sprung. The Zhou people had an old saying that supported
this fact:
"The rituals/or the rules/of the three Dynasties are one...the Yin inherited their
rituals/or rules/from the Xia and what they took out or added on is known, and the
Zhou inherited their rituals/or rules/from the Yin, and what they took out or added
on is known".
The founder of the Xia dynasty was King Yu. He founded Xia in the Second Millenium
BC. the father of Yu, was Kun.
Myths about Kun are found through out southwest Shansi. The on n of Yu was the
founder of the Pa culture. The pa culture was a megalithic culture.
Chinese traditions claim that the great Yu, was then regulator of the waters and
the builder of canals. He also invented wetfield agriculture. The Xia dynasty was
founded by Yu.
The Xia culture was centered in southern Shansi and northwestern Ho an. This
culture developed out of the Lungshan culture. Lungshan people had black pottery
and oracle bones. This culture appeared first in the east ;and then progressively
moved northward. Artifacts from Lungshan show affinities to those found in the
southern regions of the Pacific coast. This is archaeological evidence make it
clear that the ancestors of the Oceanic people in Southern China and the Xia people
were closely related.
By the beginning of the Xia dynasty walls were being built around cities to protect
them from invading nomadic tribes. The Xia, had writing, inscribed pottery, bronze
vessels and household items.
Yin/Shang Dynasty
The most important culture in Chinese history is the Shang or Yin dynasty. The
Shang culture was founded by Yi tribes. Both the Yi and Yueh bribes according to
Prof. Shun-sheng Ling, were Blacks. Fu Ssu-nien, in the Yi hsi tunghsi shuo, makes
is clear that the Shang culture bearers remained allied to the rest of the Yi
people who originally lived in southern Chin.
The name Shang refers to a town which was the early capital of the emperor.
According to the Shang poem Xuan ciao: "Heaven bade the dark bird/to come down and
bear the Shang".
The earliest Shang capital was located at Zhengzhou. There were 30 kings of Shag,
the last 14 Shang kings reigned at An-yang, Henan in the Yellow River Valley.
Artifacts discovered at Panlongcheng, Hubei far to the south in the Yangtze River
Valley show bronze vessels 'culturally homogeneous' to the Zhengzhou type 'in every
respect". At this time China had a different environment. Then this part of China
was much wetter and warmer several millenium before the Christian era. Many animals
found only in southeast Asia and southern China today, once lived in the north.
In the Anyang area during the Shang period there were two harvest of millet and
rice. There were also elephants and rhinoceros in the area according to oracle
records. During the Shang period the Chinese wrote much information on bones and
turtle shells. This form of writing is called oracle bone writing.
The plants cultivated by the Shang had first been domesticated by the Yi and Yueh
people in the south and later taken northward as they colonized northern China.
Shang society was based on totemic clans called tsu. The clan signs are visible in
clan emblems in bronze and oracle bone inscriptions, they were based on animal
signs.
The symbol of the Shang clan was the bird. Later Shang clans, probably representing
the Xia clans and nomadic Chinese were affiliated with cattle.
The eastern coast was a major area of Black Habitation in ancient times. One of the
popular symbols of the southern Chinese tribes was the egret bird, according to F.
Hirth in The ancient History of China.
In the Kushitic world due to a sedentary economy, such concepts as matriarchy,
monotheistic religion and totemism were the major aspects of social organization.
In examining the history of blacks in ancient China we find that totemic names
denoting blackness refers to first rulers of Shang in ancient China.
Shang was the first recorded dynasty in China, where there is substantial
archaeological information to elucidate aspects of its culture and history. In
examining the traditional literature of the Chinese, there is much mention of Black
totems for the founders of the Shang dynasty. The most important traditional text
relating to Yin/Shang is the Yin pen chi, which is located in a chapter of the Shih
Chi , by Ssu-ma Chien, the official historian-archivist of Emperor. We Ti (140-87
BC) of the Han dynasty.
According to the Yin pen Chi, the founding ancestor of Shang was Xieh a member of
the Tzu clan. Kwing-Chih Chang, in Shang Civilization, translates part of the Yin
pen chi as follows:
"Yin's Xieh, his was Chien Ti, a daughter of Yu Jung Shih and second consort of Ti
K'u. three persons/including Chien Ti/went to take a bath. They saw that black bird
dropped an egg. Chien Ti took and devoured it, became impregnated and give birth to
Xieh. Xieh grew up. [And] assisted Yu in his work to control the flood with success
".
The use of the term 'black bird', as Yu, the father of Hsieh relates to a totem
popular among the Black tribes of ancient China. This passage indicates that the
founders of Shang were of mixed origin. The fact that the bird myths such as the
one above are mainly centered on the east coast also suggest a Black origin for
Shang since this area was the heartland of ancient Black China.
This view is also supported by many archaeologist including K.C. Chang, evidence
which indicates that the Neolithic Mongoloid population of north China resembled
the Oceanic-Mongoloid type, not the modern Mongoloid group we find living in China
and much of southeast Asia today.
But during the last 273 years of the Shang dynasty, Shang was not the capital of
the empire, because the people had been conquered by nomadic tribes. This view is
supported by the Zhou poem Pi Kung, which talks about the Great King "who lived on
the southern slopes of mount Qi/and began to trim Shang".
Once the Yi were conquered they were made into slaves by the Chinese. These folk
usually captured in war served as farmers. All their labor was done to benefit the
nobles or lords of the land they lived on.
The Shang had extensive trade relations with the Southern Chinese. The sources of
Shang copper and tin were in the southern areas of China. Here the southerners
mined metals and sold them to Shang.
The monetary system of ancient China included the use of cowry shells. The cowry
shells appear to have been introduced into northern china from the eastern
seacoast.
For divination the Yi of Shang used turtle shells. The characters written on the
shells give us the earliest written records of china's first civilization. As in
the case of other elements of Shang culture the source of these shells lied in
south China.
Both the ancient Chinese and contemporary Africans had similar naming practices. As
in Africa the Shang child had a day name. The Shang child was named according to
the days of the Xuh on which he was born. These days are called the ten celestial
signs.
Shang was destroyed by Zhou nomads. these people came form central Asia, some of
these people many have been Tibetans. Due to nomads invading the Shang empire, the
Yin had to constantly move their capitals around until they were finally conquered
by the Zhou dynasty.
A large bronze gui or bowl, set on a square base dating to 1000 BC describes the
Zhou defeat of the mixed rulers of Shang: "King/Wu/ son of king Wen/conquered
Shang, on the morning of /the day/jiazi. Having seized the/Shang/King/King Wu/
overthrew the Shang/on the seventh day/xin wei, king/Wu/, while at Lanshi, rewarded
his minister Li with bronze. /Li/used it to make this precious vessel for/making
sacrifices to his ancestor/Tangong".

The Negritos
H. Imbert, a French scholar in 1928 in Les Negritos de Chine, observed that "In the
first epochs of Chinese history, the Negrito type peopled all the south of this
country and even the island of Hainan, as we have attempted to prove in our study
on the Negritos, or black men of the land".
There are many references to these Negritos in Chinese literature. According to T.
De Lacoperie, the Chinese first met these tribes in 2116 BC, when they advanced
eastwards of the great southern bend of the Yellow River. They are spoken of in the
Zhou Li, composed under the Zhou dynasty (1122-249 BC), as "black and oily
skinned." Tribes of the same race are also spoken of in the fabulous geography of
the Shan hai king, written a few centuries before the Christian era. Many of these
tribes were called Diaoyao or 'Dark pygmies'.
In 122 BC, Prince Liu-Nan, who died in 122 BC, speaks of references of Negritos in
China as late as the Tang dynasty. In the Lin-yi Kuo Chuan, contained in Book 197
of the Chu Tang Shu it is written that "the people living to the south of Lin-yi
have wooly hair and black skin". In addition to the above, Chinese folk-lore
mentions an empress of China, named Li (373-397 AD) who was the consort of the
Emperor Xiao Wu Wen, was a Black.
In addition to fighting the Yi, the Zhou also conquered the Negritos of southern
China. They defeated some but not all of the Negrito kingdoms especially in Yunnan.
The Chinese called the Negrito Blacks: Man, and K'un-lung . Many of these Blacks
presently live in Cochin China, and Yunnan.
The Xia people fir came in contact with these folk in 2116 BC, they are mentioned
in the Zhou Li, as living along the Yellow River. The Nam of the Yangtze River
basin area were also constantly at war with the Zhou. The Nam, were closely related
to the Tibetans of Szechwan. At this time the Man States were ruled by princes.
The Negritos occupied much of Szechwan; Yunnan from Kaehum in the southeast to
Vunchang in the southwest. Many of the Negritos, were forced into the Malay
Peninsula by the advance of various Chinese tribes toward the coast after the Zhou
defeated the Shang.
Buddhism in Ancient Egypt and Meroe – Beliefs Revealed Through Ancient Script
READ LATER PRINT
Did Buddhism exist in Upper Egypt and the Lower Meroitic Empire? The answer appears
to be yes. It was in Memphis that English Egyptologist and archaeologist W. M.
Flinders Petrie found evidence of Buddhist colony.
Portrait of Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, 1903.
Portrait of Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, 1903. ( Public Domain )
The Buddhist Colony
Flinders Petrie claimed these Buddhists dated back to the Persian period of Egypt
(circa 525-405 BC). He wrote:
"on the right side, at the top is the Tibetan Mongolian, below that the Aryan woman
of the Punjab, and at the base a seated figure in Indian attitude with the scarf
over the left shoulder. These are the first remains of Indians known on the
Mediterranean. Hitherto there have been no material evidences for that connection
which is stated to have existed, both by embassies from Egypt and Syria to India,
and by the great Buddhist mission sent by Ashoka as far west as Greece and Cyrene.
We seem now to have touched the Indian colony in Memphis, and we may hope for more
light on that connection which seems to have been so momentous for Western
thought”.

If Petrie's dating is correct this puts Buddhists in Egypt two hundred years before
Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to Egypt.
A circa 1st century BCE/CE relief from Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh (India). The
figure in the center may represent Ashoka.
A circa 1st century BCE/CE relief from Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh (India). The
figure in the center may represent Ashoka. ( CC BY-SA 3.0)
Ashoka was a king of India who worshipped Buddhism. Ashoka sent out edicts
throughout his empire encouraging people to adopt Buddhism as a way of life written
in various languages.
Ashoka Rock Inscription
Ashoka built a temple at Sarnath, which is called Lion Capital of Ashoka . In
Buddhism lions represent the bodhisattvas, the "sons of the Buddha". The
bodhisattvas are beings who have attained a high degree of spiritual development.
Ashoka lions at Sarnath, 1911.
Ashoka lions at Sarnath, 1911. ( Public Domain )
Monastery around Dhamek stupa, Sarnath.
Monastery around Dhamek stupa, Sarnath. ( CC BY 2.0 )
In Philostratus: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana it is made clear that the
Gymnosophist lived in Upper Egypt and the Meroitic Empire. The Gymnosophists were
Buddhists. The historical evidence makes it clear that there were probably two
migrations of Buddhist Gymnosophists to Egypt and the Meroitic Empire.
Ashoka was a supporter of Buddhism. Zacharias P. Thundy, in Buddha and Christ makes
it clear that the edits of Ashoka (circa 274-236 BC) indicate that this ruler sent
missionaries to Egypt to preach the Buddhist Dharma.

Ashoka's Major Rock Edict at Junagadh contains inscriptions by Ashoka (fourteen of

the Edicts of Ashoka), Rudradamanna I and Skandagupta.
Ashoka's Major Rock Edict at Junagadh contains inscriptions by Ashoka (fourteen of
the Edicts of Ashoka), Rudradamanna I and Skandagupta. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )
Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by king Ashoka, from Kandahar.
Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by king Ashoka, from Kandahar. ( Public
Domain )
Thundy maintains that archaeological evidence exist for a community of Indian sages
living in Memphis as early as 200 BC. We know that descendants of these
missionaries were still in Egypt over two hundred years later because they were
visited by Apollonius of Tyana.
Ashoka the Great: From Cruel King to Benevolent Buddhist
Nubia and the Powerful Kingdom of Kush
Ancient Tomb Reveals Cultural Entanglement between Egypt and Nubia
Ashoka used the ancient script Kharosthi to write his edicts. The Buddhist also
used this writing system to record their scriptures. This means that the
Gymnosophists would have had a long tradition of employing Kharosthi to communicate
their ideas. The Gymnosophists were probably well respected by the Meroites and
some Meroites probably had knowledge of Buddhist teachings and literacy.
The Appearance of Blemmyae
Some Meroites may have played an important role in Buddhism because Blemmyae, a
prominent group in the Meroitic Sudan are mentioned in Pali text Tipitaka.

Dr. Derrett wrote that in the early Pali text “we have a Blemmya (an African) in
front rank Buddhist texts of very respectable age. The Buddhist text where Blemmya
were mentioned are very old. The Vinaya Pitaka , is dated to the fourth century
BCE.
If Blemmya are mentioned in Buddhists text, we can be sure that Meroites (ancient
kingdom of Kush) were not ignorant of Kharosthi. This would explain why many of the
Meroitic symbols agree with Kharosthi. They agree because some Meroites were
probably already literate in Kharosthi due to the influence of Buddhism in the
Meroitic Empire.
There seems to have been a second migration of Buddhists to the Meroitic Empire
many years after Ashoka sent missionaries to Egypt. These migrants came to the
Meroitic Empire after their king was murdered.
Gymnosophists spread Buddhism in the Nile Valley
Flavius Philostratus, the writer of the Vita Apollonii , Vol.1, claimed that the
Gymnosophists of Meroe originally came from India. The fact that the Kushana had
formerly ruled India around the time that the Meroitic writing was introduced to
the Kushite civilization, led to the hypothesis that the ancestors of the
Gymnosophist may have been Kushana philosophers. The historical evidence of the
Kushana having ruled India made the Classical references to Indians, the
Gymnosophists in Meroe, an important source for the construction of alternative
theories about the possible location of the cognate language of Meroitic.
There is external evidence which supports my theory that the Gymnosophists spread
Buddhism in the Nile Valley, and the Meroites adopted Khrosthi as the model for the
Meroitic script. A theory explains observed phenomena and has predictive power. I
have theorized that due to the claims of the Classical writers that some of the
Meroites came from India. According to Philostratus the Life of Apollonius of Tyana
, the Indian Meroites were formerly led by a King Ganges, who had “repulsed the
Scythians who invaded this land [India from] across the Caucasus”. Philostratus
also made it clear that the Indians of Meroe came to this country after their king
was killed.
Hidden Beliefs Covered by the Church? Resurrection and Reincarnation in Early
Christianity
Kathmandu: How Religion and Trade Flowed into an Ancient Water-Filled Valley
What Does Alexander the Great Have to Do with Buddhist Imagery?
The presence of this tradition of an Indian King of the Indian-Meroites conquering
the Scythians predicts that the Indian literature should record this historic
episode. This prediction is supported by a Jaina text called the Kalakeharya-
Kathanaka, which reports that when the Scythians invaded Malwa, the King of Malwa,
called Vikramaditya defeated the Scythians. This king Vikramaditya may be the
Ganges mentioned in the Life of Apollonius . Confirmation of the Ganges story
supports the Classical literary evidence that there were Indianized-Meroites who
could have introduced the Tocharian trade language to the Meroites.
Wooden plate with inscriptions in the Tocharian language. Kucha, China, 5th–8th
century.
Wooden plate with inscriptions in the Tocharian language. Kucha, China, 5th–8th
century. ( Public Domain )
In addition to the classical mention of the Indians settling Meroë, and Ashoka's
edict sending missionaries to Egypt, we also have a horde of Kushana coins that
were found on the floor of a cave at the present monastery-shine at Debra Demo in
modern Ethiopia in 1940. The Kushana were Buddhists that lived in Central Asia and
India.
At Meroë, pyramids of the Kushite rulers.
At Meroë, pyramids of the Kushite rulers. ( CC BY-SA 1.0 )
If there were Gymnosophist communities in Upper Egypt and the Meroitic Sudan, there
should be evidence of Buddhist influence in the region.
Meroitic Lion-Headed God
Considerable evidence of Buddhism in ancient Meroe or Kush is in the form of
Meroitic iconography and the Meroitic script.
Much of the Buddhist influence surrounds the Meroitic God Apedemak. Apedemak was
the lion God of the Meroites, worshiped by many.
The lion-headed god Apedemak. The name of King Tantamani in Meroitic script is
written on the back. Circa 100 BCE, Sandstone.
The lion-headed god Apedemak. The name of King Tantamani in Meroitic script is
written on the back. Circa 100 BCE, Sandstone. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 fr )
Meroitic temples dedicated to Apedemek have been found at Meroe, Musawwarat es-
Sufra, and Naqa. At the temple of Naqa we see a number of examples of Buddhist
influence. Here, Apedemak was depicted as a three-headed leonine god with four
arms, and as a snake coming out of a lotus with a lion head.
Apedemak depicted as a three-headed leonine god with four arms.
Apedemak depicted as a three-headed leonine god with four arms. (Public Domain)
Apedemak depicted as a snake coming out of a lotus with a lion head.
Apedemak depicted as a snake coming out of a lotus with a lion head. (Public
Domain)
In India, the Gymnosophists used Tocharian and the Kharosthi script to write their
scriptures. This makes it clear that Tocharian and Kharosthi were important means
of communication for this Meroite population. Tocharian was therefore probably a
major language in the Meroitic Sudan.
The Tocharian language was written in Kharosthi script. This script was used to
write the Gandhararan Buddist Text. According to Glass, the Kharosthi script
appears fully developed in the Ashokan inscriptions of Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra.
These inscriptions date back to third century BC. It continued to be used in
Gandhara, Kushan and Sogdian.
Glass provides evidence that Kharosthi writing dates back to the first Brahmi
inscriptions of India. The fact the writing was used in India by Ashoka to produce
the rock edicts demonstrates that Khasrothi was in use long before the introduction
of the Meroitic script to Kush.
The Meroitic script resembles many Khaorsthi signs. Some researchers argue that the
Meroites did not adopt the writing system of the Kushana/Tocharian people which was
Kharosthi. Although this is their opinion, a comparison of the Meroitic and
Kharosthi symbols make it clear that both writing systems share many cognate signs.
Aubin did a comparison of Meroitic and Kharothi and discovered that 34 out of 42
signs, or 81 percent, matched.
Aubin (2003) Comparison of Meroitic and Kharosthi Signs
Aubin (2003) Comparison of Meroitic and Kharosthi Signs
Since Tocharian was written in Kharosthi, the cognition between Kharosthi and
Meroitic is quite interesting and shows some connection between these scripts. It
also offers additional support to the Tocharian origin of Meroitic writing given
the analogy between the signs.
Let's not forget that Welsby, in The Kingdom of Kush , notes that “only four of the
[Meroitic] letters resemble the equivalent Egyptian demotic signs.” But as you can
see from the above there are more than four Kharosthi signs that match Meroitic,
and even more of these signs match Kharosthi.
Temple exterior showing Apedemak as a snake coming out of a lotus with a lion head.
Temple exterior showing Apedemak as a snake coming out of a lotus with a lion head.
(Public Domain)
The History of a Language
Moreover, there were other Indians in Egypt in addition Gymnosophist/Buddhist
communities in Upper Egypt and Kush/Meroe. For example, at Quseir al-Qadim there
was a large Indian speaking community. These Indians were in Egypt writing messages
in their own language around the time we see a switch from Egyptian hieroglyphics
to the Meroitic writing system. All of this supported the Classical traditions of
the Meroites that speak of a knowledge of the Kushana/Indians among the Meroites.
The evidence that the Classical references to an Indian-Meroite King who conquered
the Scythians is supported by the Indian literature, provides external
corroboration of the tradition that some of the Meroites were of Indian origin.
The presence of Indian traders and settlers in Meroe (and Egypt), makes it almost
impossible to deny the possibility that Indians, familiar with the Tokharian trade
language, did not introduce this writing to the Meroites who needed a neutral
language to unify the diverse ethnic groups which made up the Meroite state. In
relation to the history of linguistic change and bilingualism, it is a mistake to
believe that linguistic transfer had to take place for the Meroites to have used
Tokharian, when it did not take place when the Meroites wrote in Egyptian
hieroglyphics.
It is obvious that Buddhism was worshipped in the Meroitic Empire or Kush. This is
supported by 1) the presence of Kushites in Africa and Asia; 2) Ashoka sent many
Buddhist missionaries to Egypt who wrote their scriptures in Kharosthi and
Tocharian; 3) a Blemmya—native to the Meroitic empire, is mentioned in numerous
Buddhist Pali texts; 4)the presence of Kushana sages in India who may have migrated
to Meroe; 5) the presence of a Buddhist colony at Memphis, Egypt, 6) Buddhist
iconography at the Naqa Temple of Apedemek, and 7) Classical references to
Buddhists in Egypt and the Meroitic Empire proves that Buddhism was practiced in
Egypt and Kush.
The historical evidence makes it clear that the Meroites were probably not
strangers to Kharosthi literacy since the Gymnosophists had been in Upper Egypt and
the Meroitic Empires for hundreds of years before the Meroites invented the
Meroitic script.
--
Top Image: Deriv; Pyramid of Cheops behind Chephren, Giza, Egypt ( CC BY 2.0 ),
inscription from Kandahar ( Public Domain ), and Buddha ( CC BY 2.0 )

Below we will first give the transliteration of the Karanog stelae and then a
translation of Meroitic into English. At the end of the translation we will provide
a vocabulary of the text.

Line 1. Woshi ne Shore yi-ne t-po m-i d.

Line 2. Tqowine s li-ne t si d e-ne te o d he.

Line 3. Lo wi-ne sl h m-ne...s-ne qo. Qo li-ne

Line 4. Terike lo wi-ne...i l pe rine si b lo.

Line 5. Tel-o wi-ne pq r ne ye mtetl...e ne ye.

Line 6. Lq-ne lo win-ne yet sn net e i ol ye e-ne.

Line 7. M ne lo wi-ne... ot p kr-ne yet ne-ne e-o wi-ne.

Line 8. Pe sto lt-ne yet m n e e-o wi-ne qo re.

Line 9. St s t lete-ne s-ne tq lo wi-ne hle mr.

Line 10. S-ne q lo-t to lo wi-ne mte h ne s-n pe.

Line 11. Sto li h wi-ne t e lo lo-a en-ne ye.

Line 12. Tb h re lo wi-ne ato mh enep si se-a.

Line 13. Te-ne ato mh enep wi h r ke te-ne h ml-o l-ne.

Line 14. P-Sin ote m-i ke te-ne Wosi ne. Shore o-i ine.

TRANSLATION

"l. Isis the Good, and Osiris the Eternal (are) commanding the measure (of) the
bequeathal. (2) Tqowine, the patron to transmit her satisfying bequeathal. She
commands the beginning of the bequeathal of the He. (3) The solitary honorable
patron (is) to behold the Ani's/He-ne's (the abstract personality of man)...to prop
up
the renewal. Act to (make) the conveyance. (4) (Its) the Fashion to dispatch Awe...
[h]i to remain to reproduce within satisfaction from a distance. (5) The solitary
object of respect to make indeed a good voyage to Mtetl...[here] to be give(n) a
good existence.(6) She is to witness solitary reverence capable of cleverly bowing
in reverence (to the gods)--give leave to the /a grand journey (Oh) Commander. (7)
Measure the good (of the )
lonely object of Honor [lying in the grave]...esteem and dignity. Adorn goodness,
give opening to honor.(8) Your nonexistent patron goes to measure goodness. Give
(its) beginning Now! The Object of Respect (Tqowine, to be) renewed indeed. (9)
Endorse the embarkation of the (good) Supporter. Set in Motion the dispatch of this
object of respect (Tqowine) to reverberate luck. (10) The patron, she is present
(in) the grave. Send the Object of Respect to unlock H-ne [the place where the H,
is kept] -the Patron begs you. (11) Protect her conveyance of the H. This honorable
woman give (her) isolated departure. The Teacher (to take) a journey. (12) Announce
in a lofty voice indeed, the dispatch of this Object of Respect (on the) path (of)
the grand bestowal (of) atonement (and ) favor. (13) Rebirth is the path to grand
bestowal of honor to the H , indeed give permission for the rebirth of the H, and
the soul to exit. (14) Much satisfaction (and) wonder (to come) measure it. The
permission (for its
bestowal ) is arranged by Isis,( and) Osiris (is) the Opener of the Way."

Ancient African Writing Systems and Knowledge

Blog discussing the ancient writing systems created by Black/African people in
ancient times throughout the world.

My photo
DR. CLYDE WINTERS
Dr. Clyde Winters, has taught in the Chicago Public Schools for 36 years. He has
taught Education and Linguistic Courses at Saint Xavier University-Chicago. As a
teacher in the Chicago Public Schools Dr. Winters wrote State Standards in the
1990's for the Chicago Public School system and Common Core State Standards for
Social Studies. He also wrote the 6th Grade World History Lesson Plans used in the
CPS in 2000.
View my complete profile
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2017
Meroitic and Berber

I do not accept Meroitic as a Afro-Asiatic language. But the Beja language which
belongs to the Cushitic family is related to Meroitic. I believe Meroitic is
genetically related to the Niger-congo Super Family of languages . Meroites used
Tocharian as a lingua franca, because of the long existence of Buddhists in Egypt
and the Meroitic empire.

Just because Blazek calls the Temehus Berbers does not make them Berbers. There are
no Berbers in Egypt and scarcely any in Tunesia. Moreover Quellec and Jelinek
visited the sites and said the Temehus were C-Group people based on cultural and
ideological feature, while Blazek just used traditional Eurocentric terminology to
identify imaginary Berbers.

As noted above the most eastern “Berber” group the Tuareg claim they originated in
the West not the East.

The contemporary Berbers or Amazigh are all in the West. Western Berbers
linguistically has borrowings from Latin, Arabic, French, Spanish, and other sub-
Saharan languages. There is generally little or no intelligibility between the
dialects.

Diop in The African Origin of Civilization noted that: “Careful search reveals that
German feminine nouns end in t and st. Should we consider that Berbers were
influenced by Germans or the referse? This hypothesis could not be rejected a
priori, for German tribes in the fifth century overran North Africa vi Spain, and
established an empire that they ruled for 400 years….Furthermore, the plural of 50
percent of Berber nouns is formed by adding en, as is the case with feminine nouns
in German, while 40 percent form their plural in a, like neuter nouns in Latin”

Diop wrote in The African Origin of Civilization :” Since we know the Vandals
conquered the country from the Romans, why should we not be more inclined to seek
explanations for the Berbers in the direction, both linguistically and in physical
appearance: blond hair, blue eyes, etc? But no! Disregarding all these facts,
historians decree that there was no Vandal influence and that it would be
impossible to attribute anything in Barbary to their occupation” (p.69). In
addition, Berber women today continue to wear traditional garments identical to
German traditional dress.

Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 12:34 PM No comments:

Meroitic and Tokharian

My decipherment of Meroitic indicates that many terms alleged to be Meroitic by
Griffith and others must be discarded. I am forced to ignore the proposed meaning
for some proposed Meroitic lexical items because they do not agree with my research
into Meroitic. But I accept some of the alleged Meroitic terms as being verified by
my decipherment both due to their Egyptian origin, or affinity to Tokharian terms.

I explain in detail how to read Meroitic in my Book Meroitic Writing and

Literature.

It must be remembered that most of the alleged Meroitic lexical items were simply
guesses by the researchers. These terms become valid only when they can be read in
all the Meroitic text and have consistent meaning. I found that some of these terms
are homonyms, while other terms "discovered " by Griffith and others were good
guesses that do not prove valid given our discovery of the cognate language of
Meroitic.
There are several recognized Meroitic words (Hintze 1979).The following words
correspond to Tokharian words:

Meroitic..................... Tokharian

Ø kadke / ktke # queen……………… Ø katak # master of the house

Ø ato # water ……………………………………… Ø ap

#Ø s # 'race'……………………………………………………… Ø sah # 'man'

Ø wide # youth ……………………………………………… Ø wir #

Ø qor # monarch ……………………………………………. Ø oroce # 'the grand king'

Ø parite # agent……………………………………………… Ø parwe # 'first'

Ø apote # 'envoy'………………………………………………..Ø ap # 'father'

It is obvious that apote and parite do not relate to Tokharian because these are
Egyptian loan words adopted by the Meroites. But around 57% of these terms show
agreement. This made it highly probable that Meroitic and Tokharian were cognate
languages.

The grammar of Meroitic determined by Hintze (1979) allowed us to also make

comparisons with Tocharian to test the Kushana hypothesis for reading Meroitic.
This comparison of grammatical structures showed cognition between this language
and Meroitic.

Hintze was sure that there were a number of Meroitic affixes including:

ye

-te

-to

-o

B.G. Trigger in his "Commentary" (Hintze 1979) mentioned several other possible
Meroitic affixes including:

-n

-te

-b
In addition , A. M. Abdalla in his "Commentary" (Hintze 1979)mentioned three
possible verbal suffixes , including:

-ñ

-t

-y

These alleged Meroitic grammatical elements encouraged me to seek out a language

that contained these typological features as the possible cognate language for
Meroitic. The Kushana language includes all of these affixes.

Researchers working on Meroitic determined several possible prefixes:

p,

-s

y.

In Tokharian we find these prefixes: p(ä), the imperfect prefix and imperative, y-
the Tokharian element joined to demonstratives, and yopsa ‘in between’.

There are other affixes that relate to the Meroitic suffixes including –te, the
demonstrative ‘this, etc.’; -o, the suffix used to change nouns into adjectives.
For example: aiśamñe ‘knowledge’, asimo ‘knowing; klyomñ ’nobility’, klyomo
‘noble’.

Other Tokharian affixes which agree with Meroitic include –te and -l. The Tokharian
locative suffix is –te. The ending particle in Tokharian is –l.

The Meroitic –t, corresponds to the –t ‘you’. In Tokharian the pronouns are placed
at the end of words: nas-a-m ‘I am’, träkä-s ‘he says’, träkä-t ‘you say’.

The –t element in Tokharian can also be used to represent the third person singular
e.g., kälpa-t ‘he found’.The p-, element used to form the imperative in Tokharian
and imperfect . This affix is used in both Tokharian A and B. For example,Tokh.A
klyos "to hear, to listen"p(a)klyos "You listen"p(a)klyossu "s/he listens"Tokh. B
klyausp(a)klyaus 'you listen"A. ta, tas, "to lay, to put"ptas 'you lay'B. tes, tas
'to put, to lay'ptes 'you put'.

The Tokharian -n-, has many uses in Tokharian. It can be used to form the
subjuntive, e.g., yam 'to do', yaman 's/he do(es). It is also used to form the
plural se 'son', pl. sewan 'sons; ri 'city', pl. rin 'cities'.The plural in
Tokharian is formed by the –ñ. For example,are ‘plough’, pl. areñ‘ploughs’ ri
‘city’ , pl. riñ ‘cities.

Recognition of analogous structural elements in relation to Kushana and Meroitic

allowed us to divide the Meroitic phonemes into words. Griffith provided us with
evidenec for selected Meroitic nouns.

Abdalla (Hintze 1979, 149) was sure that he detected several common verbs in
Meroitic including:

hr,

the,

tk,

we,

pl,

do,

mde

yi mde.

Following this lead we searched the Kushan language to determine if it possessed

any verbs that might match the proposed hypothetical verbs of Abdalla. A comparison
of Kushan and Meroitic proved to be successful. We now know that he was absolutely
right about his interpretation of possible Meroitic verbs.

Below is the interpretation of these Meroitic verbs:

hr , to have dignity

the , suggested posssible to move

tk , to set in motion, to investigate

w-e , to give escort

pl , to boast, to praise
m-de , measure the offering

y i m-de go make (full) measure of the offering

Recognition of these Meroitic terms as verbs gave us any more confirmation that
Kushana was probably the Meroitic cognate language. This discovery of Meroitic
verbs and nouns, and cognate toponomies in Central Asia and Upper-Nubia-Sudan
proved that Meroitic could be read using Kushana lexical items.

The discovery that Tokharian is cognate to Meroitic has led to the full
decipherment of the Meroitic script. We can now translate Meroitic using Tokharian.
This allows us to obtain new information about the Meroitic civilization.

My research into Kushana or Tokharian has led me to recognize that this language
was probably used as a lingua franca or trade language in Central Asia by the
diverse peoples living there in an intense bilingual environment (Winters 1996a,
1996b). C. A. Winters (1991) has illustrated how the Greek and Slavic terms in
Tokharian were loanwords, absorbed by Tokharian after the Greek conquest of
Bactria.

This borrowing pattern was consistent with the spread of the Greek language into
Bactria by a small elite group of warriors.The classical and Egyptian sources make
it clear that Upper Nubia and the Sudan was inhabited by numerous tribes. The
possible early use of Kushan\Tokharian as a trade language made it an ideal
candidate for use by the Meroitic elites who ruled an empire that was made up of
many diverse ethnic groups as the language for literate Meroites

REFERENCES

Abdalla, A.M. 1994. Personal Descriptions in Meroitic Funerary inscriptions. In

Hommages a Jean Leclant, (ed.) by C. Berger, G. Clerc & N. Grimal, (Institute
Francais d'Archeologie Orientale: Bibliotheque d' Etudes 106/2) pp.1-15.

Abdalla, A.M. 1978. The Meroitic Civilization:Its Mediterranean Contacts and

Africaness. In Afrique Noire et monde mediterranean dans L'Antiquité Colloque de
Dakar. (Dakar: Université de Senegal) 89-114.

Adams, W.Y. 1977. Nubia:Corridor to Africa. London: Penguin Ltd.

Adams, W.Y. 1975. "Meroitic North and South". Meroitica 2,Berlin:Akademie-Verlag.

Arkell, A.J. 1961. A History of the Sudan from earliest times to 1821. London:
University of London Press.

Bakr, M. 1964. Drei Meroitische opfertafeln aus Qustul, Kush,12 , 293-296.

Bakr, M. 1966. Meroitische inschriften aus der umgebung von Aniba, Kush, 14, 336-
346.

Griffith, F.Ll. 1909. Meroitic inscriptions. In Areika, (ed) by MacIver, D.R. &
Woolley, C.L. Vol.1. Philadelphia.

Griffith, F.L.1911a. Karanog. The Meroitic Inscriptions of Shablul and Karanog.

Philadelphia: Eckley B. Coxe Jr Expedition to Nubia. Vol.VI.

Griffith, F. Ll. 1911b. Meroitic Inscriptions: Part I. London: The Offices of the
Egypt Exploration Fund.

Griffith, F. Ll. 1912. Meroitic Inscriptions: Part II. London: The Offices of the
Egypt Exploration Fund.

Hakem,A.M.A. 1981. The civilization of Napata and Meroe. In General History of

Africa, (London: Heinemann) 278-297.

Hakem, A.M.A. 1984. "Napatan-Meroitic Continuity", Meroitica, 19, 875-883.

Hakem, A.M.A. 1988. Meroitic Architecture. Khartoum: University of Khartoum.

Haycock, B.G. 1978. "The Problem of the Meroitic Language",Occasional Papers in

Linguistics and Language Learning, no.5: 50-81.

Haynes, J.L. 1992. Nubia:Ancient Kingdoms of Africa. Boston:Museum of Fine Arts.

Hinkel, F.W. 1994. Les pyramides de méroé. Les Dossiers D'Archeologie, no. 196, 60-
63.

Hintze, F. 1959. Studien zur Meroitischen chronologie und zu den opfertafeln aus
den pyramides von Meroe. Berlin: Akadamie-Verlag.

Hintze, F. 1962. Die inschriften,des lowentempel von Mussawwarat es Sufra. Berlin:

Akademie-Verlag.

Hintze, F. 1971. Mussawwarat es Sufra. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

Hintze, F. (1974). "Some problems of Meroitic philology". In Studies in Ancient

Langugaes of the Sudan, (ed.) by A.M. Abdalla, (Khartoum: Khartoum University
Press) pp. 73-78.

Hintze,F. 1978. The Meroitic Period. In Africa in Antiquity: The Arts of Ancient
Nubia and the Sudan Vol.I. (Brooklyn, N. Y. : Brooklyn Museum) 89-105.

Hintze, F. 1979. "Beltrage zur Meroitishen Grammatik",Meroitica 3, Berlin:

Akademie-Verlag.
Hoffmann, I 1991. Steine fur die ewigkeit meroitische opferlafeln und totenstelen.
Beitrage zur Sudanforschung Beiheft, 6. Wien: Modling.

Hoffmann, I. 1981. Material fur eine Meroitische Grammatik.Veroffenthchungen der

Institute fur Afrikanistik und Agyptologie der Universitat Wien, No. 16. Wien.

Hummel, S. 1992. Die Meroitische Sprache und das protoaltaische Spachsubstrat als
Medium zu ihrer Deutung. Febri Verlag.Karanog, Wealthy Capital of a Lower Nubian
Province . 1993.Expedition, 35(2), 62-63.

Kendal, T. 1982. Kush:Lost Kingdom of the Nile. Boston,Mass :Brockton Art Museum.

Kormysheva,E. 1990. Egyptian religion in Nubia: Some considerations. Etudes

Nubiennes, Vol. II. 187-191.

Leclant,J. 1981. The Empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe. In General History of Africa
II, G. Mokhtar (Ed.), (Heinemann:University of California Press) 298-325.

Lepsius, C.R. 1897-1913. Denkmäleraus Aegypten und Aethiopien. Leipzig. 5

Volumes.Lewczuk, J. 1990. Studies on the decoration of the West walls of the
chapels at the pyramids in Meroe and Barkal. In Etudes Nubiennes ,Vol. IV, Ch.
Bonnet (ed.). (Conference de Geneve Actes der V111e Congress International.
Marquette: J. G. Ceconi) 157-158.

MacAdam,M.F.L. 1949. The Temples of Kawa I. The Inscriptions. London: Oxford

University Press.

MacAdam,M.F.L. 1950. Four Meroitic inscriptions, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology,

36, 42-46.

MacIver, D.R. and Wooley, C.L. 1909. Areika. PhiladelphiaUniversity Museum.

Philadelphia.

Millet,N.B.1969. Meroitic Nubia. Yale University, Ph.D. Dissertation.

Millet, N.B. 1974. Writing and literacy in the ancient Sudan. In Studies in ancient
Languages of the Sudan, (ed.) by A. M. Abdalla ,(Khartoum: Khartoum University
Press, 1974) pp.49-57.

Millet,N.B. 1984. Meroitic Religion, Meroitica 7,8,pp.111-121.

O'Connor, D. 1993. Ancient Nubia:Egypt's Rival in Africa. Philadelphia: The

University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.

Pope, M. 1975. The Story of Archaeological Decipherment, New York Charles Scribner
& Sons.
Reisner,A. 1922. Historical Inscriptions from Gebel Barkal, Sudan Notes and Records
, 4(2), pp.59-71.

Shinnie, P.L.1967. Meroe:A Civilization of the Sudan. London: Thames & Hudson.

Taylor,J.H. 1991. Egypt and Nubia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Torok, L. 1990. Ambulatory Kingship and settlement history: a study on the

contribution of archaeology to Meroitic history. Etudes Nubiennes, Vol.I, 11-126.

Torok, L. 1984. Meroitic Religion: Three Contributions in a Positivistic Manner",

Meroitica 7,8, pp.156-182.

Trigger, B.G. 1970. The Meroitic Funerary Inscriptions from Armina West. New Haven,
Philadelphia.

UNESCO. 1978. The peopling of ancient Egypt and the Decipherment of Meroitic
Script. Paris: Unesco.

Villard, Ugo Monneret de.1960. Incrizioni della Regione di Meroe.Kush, 8, 93-113.

__________________.1959. Testi Meroitica della Nubia Settentrionale, Kush 7, 88-

124.

Vychile, W. 1957. Le pays de kousch dans une inscription Ethiopiénne. Annales

d'Ethiopie, 2, 177-179.

Williams, B.B. 1987. Meroitic Remains from Qustul cemetery Q Ballana Cemetery B,
and A Ballana Settlement. Chicago,Il.:The Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago.

Windekens van, A.J. 1941. Lexique etymologique des dialectes.Louvain.

------------------.1979. Le Tokhrien confronte avec les autre Langues Indo-

Europeenes. 2 vols. Louvain.

Winters, Clyde . Meroitic Writing and Literature. Createspace, 2013.

____________.1984. "A note on Tokharian and Meroitic".MeroiticNewsletter, no. 23:
18-21.

____________.1988. "The Dravidian and Manding substratum in Tokharian". Central

Asiatic Journal, 32 (1-2): 131-141.

------------.1989. "Chiekh Anta Diop at le Dechiffrement de l'ecriture Meroitique",

Revue Martiniguaise de Sciences Humaines et de Litterature, no.8: 149-153.

------------.1990. "The Dravido-Harappan Colonization of Central Asia". Central

Asiatic Journal, 34 (1-2):120-144.

-----------.1991. "Linguistic Evidence for Dravidian influence on Trade and Animal

Domestication in Central and East Asia", International Journal of Dravidian
Linguistics, 20 (2): 91-102

________________1999a. The inscription of Tanyidamani. Nubica IV und Nubica V.

_____________.(nd). The Meroitic Chamber Inscription. Nubica IV und Nubica V.

____________. n.d. Meroitic Inscriptions from Karanog. forthcoming Journal of the

Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.

___________.1996a. Meroitic Decipherment.Ancient Near East Digest 3 (179). Chicago

Oriental Institute. ANE Archive. 4 June . [On Line] http://www-
oi.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/OI_ANE.html.

________.1996b. Meroitic Decipherment. Ancient Near East Journal 3 (180). Chicago

Oriental Institute. ANE Archive. 8 June.[On Line] http://www-
oi.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/OI_ANE.html.

________.1996c. Meroitic Texts. Ancient Near East Digest 3 (182). Chicago Oriental
Institute. ANE Archive. 14 June. [On Line]http://www-
i.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/OI_ANE.html.

Winters, Clyde Ahmad. (1999). The inscriptions ofTanyidamani. Nubica IV und Nubica
V., pp.355-388.

I have written a short dictionary of Meroitic terms that you can find at the
following web site: http://olmec98.net/meroitic.pdf

My most recent article discussing Meroitic history and deciphering Meroitic

documents titled theMeroitic Evidence for a Blemmy Empire in the Dodekaschoinos can
be found at the following http://olmec98.net/KALABSHA.htm

Yellin, J. 1982. The role of Anubis in Meroitic religion. In Nubian Studies, J.M.
Plumley (ed.), (Cambridge: Selwyn College), 227-234...
Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 12:30 PM No comments:
Meroitic Relationships to African Languages

The great savant Cheikh Anta Diop (1974,1981) was convinced that many West
African groups had formerly lived in the Egypto-Nubian region before they migrated
to West Africa(Diop,1974). He supported this hypothesis with a discussion of the
cognation between the names for gods in Egypt-Nubia and West Africa (Diop,1974),
Egypto-Nubian and West African ethnomyns and toponyms common to both regions
(Diop,1981)[1] and West African and Egyptian languages.

In 1984, I deciphered the Meroitic script. I discussed this in my book Meroitic

Writing and Literature . There are many relationships between Meroitic and other
African languages. For example, In Oromo/Galla, the term for queen is 'gifti'; and
both 'naaga-ta" in Somali and Wolof we find 'jigen' mean woman. These terms appear
to be related to Kdi > gti/e.

Yet even though we find cognition between some Cushitic and Nubian we can not use
these languages to completely decipher Meroitic as proven by many past researchers.
The Tocharian language on the otherhand, does allow us to read Meroitic and show
its relationship with other African languages.

A comparison of Meroitic to African langauges indicate that Meroitic is closely

related to languages spoken in West Africa. Like Meroitic, the pronoun is often a
suffix in other African languages. This suffix of the third person singular is
usually n-, in other African languages. For example:
Bambara: no p r i 'his house'
Kpelle: nyin 'his tooth'
Akan: ni dan 'his house'

The Meroitic a- third person singular affix is also found in other African
languages. For example:
Swahili: (1) a-ta kwenda 'he's going to go'
(2) a-li-kwenda 'he is here'
Manding: (1) ya zo 'he has come'
(2) ya shirya mana 'he prepared (it) for us'.

The use of -i particle to form nouns in Meroitic my correspond to the use of the
-it and -ayy suffixes to form nouns in Wolof. The Wolof abstract noun formative
suffix is -it, -itt, e.g., dog 'to cut', dogit 'sharpness'.

In Wolof abstract nouns are also formed by the addition of the suffix -ayy, and in
Dyolo -ay, e.g.,
baax 'good', baaxaay 'goodness'.

Prefixes are rarely used in Meroitic. The most common prefixes include the
prefix of reinforcement -p, the intensive prefix -a and the imperfect prefix -b.
The p-, can be either the prefix of reinforcement e.g., ŝ 'patron', p-ŝ 'the
patron' ; or the imperfect prefix e.g.,ŝiñ'satisfaction', p-ŝiñ "continuous
satisfaction'.

The Meroitic p- affix, means ‘the’. This Meroitic grammatical element

corresponds to the Egyptian demonstrative pi 'the'.

In Meroitic, the –o element is used to change a noun into an adjective. The

Meroitic –o suffix, agrees with the use affix –u, joined to a vowel, in other
African languages to form adjectives. In Swahili, many adjectives are formed by
the k- consonant plus the vowel -u : Ku. For example:
(1) imba 'sing' ; zuri 'fine'
Kuimba kuzuri 'Fine singing'
(2) -bivu 'ripe' Kuiva 'to ripen'
(3) -bovu 'rotten' Kuoza 'to rot'.

In Meroitic the plural case was made by the suffix -b, or reduplication.
Reduplication was also used as a plural effect in Meroitic, e.g., d'donations',d-d
'considerable donations'. Reduplication is also used in other African
languages to express the idea of abundance and diversity. For example,
Swahili: Chungu kikavunjika vipande vipnade.
"The cooking pot broke into pieces".

The Meroitic use of the -b suffix to make the plural number, corresponds to the use
of the -ba- affix in African languages. In the Bantu languages the plural is formed
by the ba- affix. In the Manding group of languages we see use of the -ba suffix.
In Manding, the -ba affix is joined to nouns to denote the idea of physical or
moral greatness. For example:
(1) na-folo 'good, rich'
na-folo-ba 'great fortune'
(2) so-kalo 'piece'
so-kalo-ba 'considerable quarter of a village'.

In the Meroitic inscriptions there is constant mention of the khi 'body,

spirit', the kha 'the abstract personality', the kho 'a shinning or translucent
spirit soul'; and the Ba 'soul'. In many African languages the term Ba, is used to
denote the terms 'soul or to be'. For example:
Egyptian: Ba
Mbachi : Ba
Coptic : Bai
Bambara : Be
Fang : Be.

The kha, existed within and without the human body. It would remain with the
body until its flesh decayed, then it would either leave the tomb or hunt it. The
Meroitic idea of Kha, as a spirit corresponds to Ka, in many African languages. For
example:

Egyptian : Ka
Manding : Ka
Banda : Ka.

The linguistic evidence makes it clear that some of the Meroites may have
spoken languages that belonged to the Niger-Congo-Mande family of languages. This
is supported by the linguistic evidence of shared grammatical forms and lexical
items between Meroitic and Niger-Congo-Mande discussed in this chapter.

Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 11:46 AM No comments:

EGYPTIAN INFLUENCE ON MEROITIC

The Kushites and Egyptians had a close relationship for millennia. As a result
the Egyptians had a tremendous influence on the culture of the Kushites, especially
in the area of religion[i].
As early as the 12th dynasty the Egyptians controlled Nubia. After 1674 BC,
the Kerma rulers regained control of Nubia until the raise of the New Kingdom.
Pharaohs of the New Kingdom ruled Egypt for 500 years.
Nubia gained independence after the decline of Egypt in 1085 B.C. During this
period the Kushites developed a highly developed civilization at Napata and Meroe
(880 B.C.-A. D. 350). Over time the Kushites became strong enough to conqueror
Egypt and found the 25th Dynasty.
The long association of Egypt and Nubia suggest that the Egyptians may have
influenced more than the culture of the Kushites. In this paper we will review the
affinities between the Egyptian and Meroitic languages.
Ll. Griffith during his decipherment of Meroitic (M.) found many Egyptian
(E.) terms . These terms were especially used in the political culture area e.g.,
E. p-sy-n-nsw 'son of king' >
M. pesto 'king's foothold/foundation of light' .
Now that we have more evidence about the Meroitic language we can now compare
Egyptian and Meroitic to determine if there are any other similarities between
these languages. Below are some Meroitic terms that illustrate the influence of
Egyptian on Meroitic.

Several aspects of Demotic grammar agree with Meroitic structure. This is

especially true in relation to the formation of the adjective case and the use of
pronouns.

The Meroitic funerary tablets are written in the third or second person.
Meroitic words are usually formed by the addition of post-positions or suffixes.
The Meroitic pronouns are suffixed to Meroitic words. They include, -te 'you,
thou'; -t 'her, he'; ne 'his'; -to 'your'; and the -n and a third person singular
suffixes. For example:
-n s/he, it, her, his
i "go", i-n 'he goes'
de 'bequeathal', de-n 'his bequeathal'
qe 'make' , qe-n 'he makes'
In Demotic we see use of suffixial pronouns. For example:
sdm 'hear'
sdmy 'I hear'
sdm .f 'he hear'
sdm hr-f 'he will hear'
In Meroitic the adjective is placed behind the noun. For example,
e 'complete'
ŝ on tene 'The king commence(s) the rebirth'.
ŝ on tene-e 'The king commence(s) the complete rebirth'.
Adjectives in Demotic are also placed behind the noun. For example:
rmt hm ' small man'
ŝy nfr ' good fate'
ssw sbk ' few days'
The -m suffix was used in Meroitic to denote the negative effect. The negative
particle -m, is often joined to verbs along with the pronoun. For example:
mi-n 'injure him', mi-m-n 'injure him not'.

In Meroitic tablets the negative suffix rarely appears.

The Egyptian negative particle m, agrees with Meroitic. In Demotic the
negative particle mn-, is prefixed, e.g.,
mn lh gm hw 'no fool finds profit'.
In the short review above of Egyptian and Meroitic cognates we can see the
obvious influence of Egyptian, especially Demotic on Meroitic. This influence was
shown not only in vocabulary but also grammatical features.
This linguistic material discussed above clearly suggest some Egyptian
substrata influence on Meroitic. It indicates Egyptian influence on both the
structure and vocabulary of Meroitic.
It is very interesting to note that much of the affinity between Meroitic and
Egyptian is based on Demotic examples. This may be explained by the fact that
Demotic was used by the Kushites during the 25th Dynasty, and forms the foundation
for the Meroitic writing.

[i].J.H. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press,1991
and D. O'Connor, Ancient Nubia, Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1993)
Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 11:33 AM No comments:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2017
Kumarinadu the Great Dravidian Empire in the Indian Ocean

In ancient times there was a large Island the Indian Ocean called Kumarinadu.
Kamarinadu or Kumari-Kandam formerly existed as a large Island in the India ocean
which connected India with East Africa. The name "Kumari Kandam" first appear in
Kanda Puranam, a 15th century Tamil version of the Skanda Purana, written by
Kachiappa Sivacharyara (1350-1420). Some researchers claim that Kumari Kandam is
actually a derivative of the Sanskrit words "Kumarika Khanda".

In 1903, V.G. Suryanarayana Sastri first used the term "Kumarinatu" (or "Kumari
Nadu", meaning "Kumari territory") in his work Tamil Moliyin Varalaru (History of
the Tamil language). The term Kumari Kandam ("Kumari continent") was first used to
describe Lemuria in the 1930s.

This landmass is mentioned in the Silappadikaram, which said that Kamarinadu was
made up of seven nadus or regions. The Dravdian scholars Adiyarkunallar and
Nachinaar wrote about the ancient principalities of Tamilaham, which existed on
Kamarinadu.

Kumarinadu was ruled by the Pandyans/Pandians at Madurai before it sunk

beneath the sea. The greatest king of Kumarinadu was Sengoon. According to
Dravidian scholars tha Pandyans worshipped the goddess Kumari Amman. This Aman,
probably corresponds to the ancient god Amon of the Kushites.

The Kalittokai 104, makes it clear that after the Pandyans were forced to migrate
off their Island home into South India, “to compensate for the area lost to the
great waves of the sea, King Pandia without tiresome moved to the other countries
and won them. Removing the emblems of tiger (Cholas) and bow (Cheras) he, in their
place inscribed his reputed emblem fish (Pandia’s) and valiantly made his enemies
bow to him”.

The mention of the fish emblem indicates the African origin of the Pandyans.
The Proto-Saharans claimed that their great ancestor was Ma and that they belonged
to the Ma (fish) clan. Fish tails were a common feature of the Egyptians, Elamites,
Sumerians and Dravidians.

The common god of the fish cult was the man-fish (of Eridu) in Mesopotamia
and Syria , and the ithyphallic forms of Min, a proto-type of Amon (Amman) in
Egypt, the goddess Minaaksi of Madura, Amma of the Dogon, the goddess of the fish
eyes, the Malabar fish bearer of Maana ; and the sacred fishes of the Maapilla of
the West coast of the Dekkan. At ancient Adulis, the Greeks claimed that the fish
worshippers were called Icthyophagi or Poseidon.

In fact the first kings of these people used the consonants MNS, in the term
used for king: Menes, King Aha of Egypt, Mannan of the Dravidians, and the Mansa
of the Mande speaking people. The descendants of Ma, include this name in their
ethnonyms: Mande= “the children of Ma”. And in Kannada, Tlugu and Tulu, the word
Mandi= “people”.

The Pandyans who probably spoke Malayalam, were worshippers of Posidon or

Potidan of the Greeks. Just as the Kalittokai, mentioned that the totem of Pandia
was the Fish, we find that Africans in areas ajoining the former lands associated
with Kumarinadu also worshipped the Fish. As a result in ancient times Nubia and
modern Ethiopia was called Poseidonia due to their worship of Poseidon the god of
the sea and the mountains.

The major god worshipped by the Pandyans and East Africans is Murugan, the god of
the mountains. This mountain god of the Dravidians: Murugan, has the same name
among 25 east African ethnic groups.

The Greek god Posidon of the East Africans parallels the Dravidian god Siva.
The god Siva is sometimes referred to as the “Great Fish” and represented by Fish
signs. In addition, throughout Tamilnadu, tridents are associated with temples
dedicated to the worship of Siva. The trident was also associated with Siva.

The final Dravidian speaking people to enter South India were the Tamil. The
Tamil, who were early Kings of Shang China, were forced out of China by the Zhou
dynast and other contemporary mongoloid groups, across Southeast Asia and Tibet
into India. These people defeated the Pandyans , Cholas and Cheras and became the
dominant group in South India.
 In Summary , Dravidian literature makes it clear that the Dravidian people came
to South India from the North, South and East. These people took away the South
from the Naga (ancient Ethiopians), who along with the Dravidians worshipped the
gods Amon and Murugan. Moreover, it was the Ethiopians who probably introduced
Sanskrit writing to the Indians. It is due to this history of Dravidian speaking
people that explains the close, genetic unity between the language and cultures of
the people.

Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 8:26 PM 2 comments:

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2017
21 Points Proving Blacks were in Ancient America before Mongoloids ..
21 Points Proving Blacks were in Ancient America before Mongoloids
.

1) The first Americans, the Paleoamericans were Blacks. This reality is based
on the skeletal remains of Naia and Luzia were Negroes or Black

2) Black Africans according to researchers have been in Brazil since

100,000BC. The evidence that fire existed in Brazil 65kya is an indication that man
was at the site 65,000 years ago, since researchers found charcoal, which is the
result of fire making. The New York Times, reported that humans were Brazil 100,000
years ago .

If you would see the New York Times video you would noted that Dr.Nieda Guidon
supports her dating of human population in Brazil 100,000 years ago to ancient fire
and tool making.

3. The original Maya beginning with the Ocos , as illustrated by their the
art, were Black Native Americans;
The Mayans were originally Black Native Americans. The ancestors of the original
Maya were PaleoAmericans.

In Belize , around 2500 B.C., we see evidence of agriculture. The iconography of

this period depicts Africoids. And at Izapa in 1358 B.C., astronomer-priests
invented the first American calendar. In addition numerous sculptures of blacks
dating to the 2nd millennium B.C, have been found at La Venta, Chiapas, Teotihuacan
and Tlatilco.

Chiapas Blacks

The earliest culture founded by Blacks in the Pacific coats region was the Mokaya
tradition. The Mokaya tradition was situated on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the
Soconusco region. Sedentary village life began as early as 2000BC. By 1700-1500 BC
we see many African communities in the Mazatan region. This is called the Barra
phase or Ocos complex.

During the Barra phase these Blacks built villages amd made beautiful ceramic
vessels often with three legs. They also made a large number of effigy vessels.

The figurines of the Ocos are the most significant evidence for Blacks living in
the area during this period. The female figurine from Aquiles Serdan is clearly
that of an African woman.

Ocos Female

The Blacks of the Mokaya traditions were not Olmec. The civilization of the Mokaya
traditions began 700 years before the Olmec arrived in Mexico.

Cherla

In most history text the Ocos are presented as the original founders of Mayan
civilization. As you can see from the art they do not look like native Americans
they look negro like other Africans.

The Mongoloid Mexicans do not look like the Olmecs either

4. The Black Native Americans lived from Chiapas to Belize, Guatemala and
Hondurus; Quatrefages and Rafinesque wrote about these Blacks They are called the
The Negrocostachicanos claim that they have never been slaves and are indigenous to
Guererro and Oaxaca on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The 1990 Mexican census
recorded 66,000 Negrocostachicanos. These Mexicans live in African style huts and
practice rituals which may be of African origin (Vaugh,2005a).

Most researchers believe that the Negrocostachicanos are descendants of marrons or

runaway slaves (Aguirre Beltran, 1972; Vaugh,2005a). But none of the Blacks of
Costa Chica have songs about slavery and its hardships (Baja.com.2005).The
Negrocostachicanos say “they are not they insist, the descendants of African
slaves. There was never slavery here, even in ancient times” (Baja.com,2005). Bobby
Vaugh (2005b) noted that he found “no consciousness of slavery among people in
Costa Chica” (p.5). Another researcher, noted that “Housewives in San Jose Estancia
Grande and Santiago Tapextla [in Costa Chica] say their ancestors did not come from
Africa, that their families have always lived right here” (Baja.com, 2005, p.6).

5. The Olmec came from West Africa. They spoke the Mande language. The traditions
of Mexican Indians make it clear that the founders of civilization in Mexico, came
from the East, and arrived in Mexico as a result of a shipwreck. This is
interesting because Bobby Vaugh (2005b) said that the Negrocostachicanos claim they
arrived in Mexico as a result of shipwrecks.

The Stela No.5 from Izapa makes it clear that the Olmec arrived in Mexico by boat.
The fact that Stela No.5, depicts 12 roots as part of ‘the tree of life’ support
the Mexican tradition that the Easterners who brought civilization to Mexico came
in 12 waves.
The Mexican traditions that support the spread of the Olmec from the east coast of
Mexico to the west coast make it clear that the Olmec lived in Oaxaca and Guererro,
in addition to Veracruz. The fact that the Olmec mention coming to America by boat
may explain the Negrocostachicano claim that they arrived in America as a result of
a shipwreck, and never were Spanish slaves.

5) The Olmecs spoke a Mande languages. Using the Vai language I was able to
decipher the Olmec language.
As a result The root of the Mayan language is the Mande languages The Mayan and
Mande languages share vocabulary items and culture terms.

6) The Khoisan took MtDNA haplogroups the mtDNA L3 (M,N) and y-haplogroup E to
Eurasia and the Americas
7) There are no “pure” Mexindians. Lisker noted that between 5-50% of Indian genes
are African genes. See: Suarez-Diaz,(2014) Indigenous populations in Mexico.
Medical anthropology in the Work of Ruben Lisker in the 1960’s. Studies in History
and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 47 (p.117).
This is why many Mexicans look like Africans or Negroes
Th
8) Mixe, Zenu , Wayuu and other Mexican groups with YAP+ associated A-G transition
at DYS271, is of African origin.

9) Indian y-chromosome haplogroups C and D show African admixture at locus DYS271

10) The American haplogroups A and B are part of the haplogroup N macrohaplogroup
Ch’ol and Chontal at Campeche carry R-M173, E1b1b, K and T.
11) Africans people carry mtDNA A common to mongoloid Native Americans and y-
chromosome R, so they probably passed on these genes to mongoloid Native Americans
12) The Spanish explorers mentioned Black Nations and Black tribes in the Americas,
they met, even before African slaves were landed in America

13) The Spanish said the Aztecs were Negroes.

14) Paul Gaffarel (2010) that when Balboa reached America he found "negre
veritables" or true Blacks. Balboa noted "...Indian traditions of Mexico and
Central America indicate that Negroes were among the first occupants of that
territory." This is why so many Mexicans have "African faces".

15. Vasco da Gama is said to have found information about the West Indies from
Ahmad b. Majid, whom he met along the West Coast of Africa . Bazan, R.A.G. (1967).
Latin America the Arabs and Islam,,Muslim World, pp.284-292.
16)Majid wrote a handbook of navigation on the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, the Persian
Gulf, Sea of Southern China and the waters around the West Indian Islands. Bazan,
R.A.G. (1967). Latin America the Arabs and Islam,,Muslim World, pp.284-292.

17) Africans had the boats capable of sailing to the Americas. Abubakari the King
of Mali led thousands of Africans to settle America.
18) Black Native Mayan people have left iconography in the sub-pyramids at Tikal,
San Bartolo and Xultun murals which depict the creators of these monuments as
Negroes or Blacks
The most exciting archaeological fine has to be the Xultun murals. The xultun
murals depict not only Black Mayan royalty—but also Mayan commoners and elites.

Below we see some Black atrchitects and engineers that built the Xultun pyramids.
These colorful llustrations are by Dr. by Heather Hurst. The illustrations of Dr.
Hurst, of the Xultun figures show that the Black people there dressed in bright
colors and wore various scarves and other hats to cover their hair/heads.

Below are the architects and engineers that built Xultun

The Stylized reproduction of Black Mexicans from the Bonampak Murals at Chiapas,
Mexico are also colorful.

The colorful outfits of the Latin Americans continue to be worn today.

19) Ancient Mayan Skeletons carried sickle cell.

20. There are no “pure” Mexindians.

There is a high frequency of African-Mestizo admixture ranging between 20-40% .

The admixture rate between Africans and indigenous Mexican Indians ranges between
5-50% .

Some Mestizos may hate themselves. Their light and white skins betry their origin
as the products of white French, Spanish and German men who exploited their Black
and Mongoloid grandmothers to make the Mestizo raza.

Many Mestizos declare viva la raza, when in reality their faces and features tell
the story of exploited indigenous Black and mongoloid women who were raped to
satisfy the sexual desire of their white fathers, who murdered the husbands and
lovers of their poor mistreated and abused indigenous grandmothers. Mestizos like
their grandfathers seek to steal the history of Black Native Americans, because
they are ashamed that their real history is the history of the criminals and sexual
deviants who made their race.

That is why when they say viva la raza, they are celebrating the rape and
exploitation of the indigenous Black and mongoloid people. To be proud of Mestizo
heritage, while denying the history of the Black indigenous Americans is just them
paying homage to the evil history of their grandfathers.

21) The Black Africans took their writings systems with them to America. The first
Africans to introduce writing to the Americas were the Olmecs. They took writing
into Mexico around 1200 BC.
The first researcher to recognize that the Olmec writing was Mande was Leo Wiener,
in Africa and the discovery of America. He recognized that the writing on the
Tuxtla statuette was written in Mande characters.
Mojarra Stela
.

Tuxtla Statuette

Many of these Blacks continued to use the Vai script to write into Mayan times.
The Vai script was also taken to America by the the Malian explorers led by
Abubakari in 1310. They left inscriptions across the United States.

Check out this article on the inscription Abubakari left in South America. See:
Sea-Farers from the Levant: Do Ancient Inscriptions Rewrite History of the
Americas? - Part 2
During the Atlantic Slave trade African slaves used traditional writing systems to
communicate with each other. For example the Djuka , who I believe speak a creole
language, with an Akan dialect substratum . The Djuka had their own writing system
in Surinam.

Herskovits also recorded some Djuka text. K. Hau did considerable research on the
Djuka script. Research done by K. Hau indicate that the script was in use in
Surinam prior to 1910.
Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 6:14 PM 1 comment:
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Ancient African Writing Systems and Knowledge

Blog discussing the ancient writing systems created by Black/African people in
ancient times throughout the world.

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About Me
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DR. CLYDE WINTERS
Dr. Clyde Winters, has taught in the Chicago Public Schools for 36 years. He has
taught Education and Linguistic Courses at Saint Xavier University-Chicago. As a
teacher in the Chicago Public Schools Dr. Winters wrote State Standards in the
1990's for the Chicago Public School system and Common Core State Standards for
Social Studies. He also wrote the 6th Grade World History Lesson Plans used in the
CPS in 2000.
View my complete profile
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016
Dr. Clyde Winters and the Origins of Afrocentrism
Afro-American scholars, people who write history have met the standards of
scholarship for almost 200 years supporting the role of Blacks in ancient history.

During this period Eurocentric researchers have attempted to whiteout , Blacks from
history.

Knowledge is cumulative. In other words we build new knowledge on the research of

the giants in our field. From your lack of knowledge about DuBois' it is clear you
have no recognition of the fact that what you guys are writing about has already
been discussed formerly, and your job should be confirming or disconfirming what
these giants wrote.

I teach educational philosophy on occasion. In this class I just don't talk about
contemporary educators I also talk about the Greek philosophers.

Many Afro-American researchers need to learn to respect your own scholars. Don't
let white supremacy continue to blind you to the truths of history.

Afrocentrism, is a mature social science that was founded by Afro-Americans almost

200 years ago.

These men and women provided scholarship based on contemporary archaeological and
historical research the African/Black origination of civilization throughout the
world. These Afro-American scholars, mostly trained at Harvard University (one of
the few Universities that admitted Blacks in the 19th Century) provide the
scientific basis the global role played by African people in civilizing the world.
Afrocentrism and the africalogical study of ancient Black civilizations was began
by Afro-Americans.

Edward Blyden

The foundation of any mature science is its articulation in an authoritive text

(Kuhn, 1996, 136). The africalogical textbooks published by Hopkins (1905), Perry
(1893) and Williams (1883) provided the vocabulary themes for further afrocentric
social science research.

The pedagogy for ancient africalogical research was well established by the end of
the 19th century by African American researchers well versed in the classical
languages and knowledge of Greek and Latin. Cornish and Russwurm (1827) in the
Freedom Journal, were the first African Americans to discuss and explain the
"Ancient Model" of history.

These afrocentric social scientists used the classics to prove that the Blacks
founded civilization in Egypt, Ethiopia, Babylon and Ninevah. Cornish and Russwurm
(1827) made it clear that archaeological research supported the classical, or
"Ancient Model" of history.

Edward Blyden (1869) also used classical sources to discuss the ancient history of
African people. In his work he not only discussed the evidence for Blacks in West
Asia and Egypt, he also discussed the role of Blacks in ancient America (Blyden,
1869, 78).

By 1883, africalogical researchers began to publish book on African American

history. G.W. Williams (1883) wrote the first textbook on African American history.
In the History of the Negro Race in America, Dr. Williams provided the schema for
all future africalogical history text.

Dr. Williams (1883) confirmed the classical traditions for Blacks founding
civilization in both Africa (Egypt, Ethiopia) and West Asia. In addition, to
confirming the "Ancient Model" of history, Dr. Williams (1883) also mentioned the
presence of Blacks in Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula. Dr. Williams was trained
at Howard.

A decade later R.L. Perry (1893) also presented evidence to confirm the classical
traditions of Blacks founding Egypt, Greece and the Mesopotamian civilization. He
also provided empirical evidence for the role of Blacks in Phoenicia, thus
increasing the scope of the ASAH paradigms.

Pauline E. Hopkins (1905) added further articulation of the ASAH paradigms of the
application of these paradigms in understanding the role of Blacks in West Asia and
Africa. Hopkins (1905) provided further confirmation of the role of Blacks in
Southeast Asia, and expanded the scope of africalogical research to China (1905).

This review of the 19th century africalogical social scientific research indicate
confirmation of the "Ancient Model" for the early history of Blacks. We also see a
movement away from self-published africalogical research, and publication of
research, and the publication of research articles on afrocentric themes, to the
publication of textbooks.

It was in these books that the paradigms associated with the "Ancient Model" and
ASAH were confirmed, and given reliability by empirical research. It was these
texts which provided the pedagogic vehicles for the perpetuation of the
africalogical normal social science.

The afrocentric textbooks of Hopkins (1905), Perry (1893) and Williams (1883)
proved the reliability and validity of the ASAH paradigms. The discussion in these
text of contemporary scientific research findings proving the existence of ancient
civilizations in Egypt, Nubia-Sudan (Kush), Mesopotamia, Palestine and North Africa
lent congruency to the classical literature which pointed to the existence of these
civilizations and these African origins ( i.e., the children of Ham= Khem =Kush?).

The authors of the africalogical textbooks reported the latest archaeological and
anthropological findings. The archaeological findings reported in these textbooks
added precision to their analysis of the classical and Old Testament literature.
This along with the discovery of artifacts on the ancient sites depicting
Black\African people proved that the classical and Old Testament literature, as
opposed to the "Aryan Model", objectively identified the Black\African role in
ancient history. And finally, these textbooks confirmed that any examination of
references in the classical literature to Blacks in Egypt, Kush, Mesopotamia and
Greece\Crete exhibited constancy to the evidence recovered from archaeological
excavations in the Middle East and the Aegean. They in turn disconfirmed the "Aryan
Model", which proved to be a falsification of the authentic history of Blacks in
early times.

The creation of africalogical textbooks provided us with a number of facts

revealing the nature of the afrocentric ancient history paradigms. They include a
discussion of:

1) the artifacts depicting Blacks found at ancient sites

recovered through archaeological excavation;

2) the confirmation of the validity of the classical and Old

Testament references to Blacks as founders of civilization in Africa and Asia;

3) the presence of isolated pockets of Blacks existing outside Africa; and

4) that the contemporary Arab people in modern Egypt are not the descendants of the
ancient Egyptians.
The early africalogical textbooks also outlined the africalogical themes research
should endeavor to study. A result, of the data collected by the africalogical
ancient history research pioneers led to the development of three facts by the end
of the 19th century, which needed to be solved by the afrocentric paradigms:

(1) What is the exact relationship of ancient Egypt, to Blacks in other parts of
Africa;

(2) How and when did Blacks settle America, Asia and Europe;

(3) What are the contributions of the Blacks to the rise, and cultural expression
ancient Black\African civilizations;

(4) Did Africans settle parts of America in ancient times.

As you can see the structure of Afrocentrism were made long before Boas and the
beginning of the 20th Century.In fact , I would not be surprised if Boas learned
what he talked about from the early Afrocentric researchers discussed in this post.

As you can see Afro-Americans have be writing about the Global history of ancient
Black civilizations for almost 200 years. It was Afro-Americans who first mentioned
the African civilizations of West Africa and the Black roots of Egypt. These Afro-
Americans made Africa a historical part of the world.

Afro-American scholars not only highlighted African history they also discussed the
African/Black civilizations developed by African people outside Africa over a
hundred years before Bernal and Boas.

Your history of what you call "negrocentric" or Black Studies is all wrong. It was
DuBois who founded Black/Negro Studies, especially Afro-American studies given his
work on the slave trade and sociological and historical studies of Afro-Americans.
He mentions in the World and Africa about the Jews and other Europeans who were
attempting to take over the field.

Hansberry
There is no one who can deny the fact that Leo Hansberry founded African studies in
the U.S., not the Jews.Hansberry was a professor at Howard University.

Moreover, Bernal did not initiate any second wave of "negro/Blackcentric" study for
ancient Egyptian civilization. Credit for this social science push is none other
than Chiek Diop, who makes it clear that he was influenced by DuBois.

DuBois
Africalogical study of ancient history
There are four philosophical schools associated with the afrocentric study of
ancient history: perennialist, essentialist, existentialist, and progressivist. The
taxonomic system we use to classify the various afrocentric philosophical positions
and related values affecting afrocentrism are modeled on philo-sophical
developments associated with education.

We can use taxonomies of educational philosophies to discuss any proposed

afrocentric curriculum because both education and philosophy are "cultural
experiences". Moreover, because afrocentrism seeks to explain and delineate the
story of African people, it clearly is a field of study which encompasses all
aspects of the culture of Black and African people (Asante, 1990, 1991; Winters,
1994).

The perennialist afrocentrists study the great works. The adherents of this school
include Martin Delaney (1978), Cornish and Russwurm (1827), Frederick Douglas
(1966), and Edward Blyden (1869). These Afrocentrists see knowledge as truth, which
is eternal.

The essentialist afrocentric school emphasize in their writing data that is well
established through scientific research. Afrocentrists of this philosophical school
include W. E. B. DuBois (1965, 1970), John Jackson (1974), C.A. Winters (1985,
1989, 1991, 1994) and Leo Hansberry (1981). They believe that as new research is
published, it should be analyzed to discover how it relates to the ancient history
of African and Black people to enrich our understanding of the past.

The existentialist afrocentrists believe that africalogical studies should thrive

to teach African people to know more about themselves so we can have a better
world. The afrocentric existentialists include J.A. Rogers, Anta Diop (1974, 1991),
G.M. James (1954), Marcus Garvey (1966) and A.A. Schomburg (1979).
Research is the foundation of good science, or knowing in general. There are four
methods of 1) Method of tenacity (one holds firmly to the truth, because "they know
it" to be true); 2) method of authority (the method of established belief, i.e.,
the Bible or the "experts" says it, it is so); 3) method of intuition (the method
where a proposition agrees with reason, but not necessarily with experience); and
4) the method of science (the method of attaining knowledge which calls for self-
correction). To explain African origin of the Egyptians, I use the scientific
method which calls for hypothesis testing, not only supported by experimentation,
but also that of alternative plausible hypotheses that, may place doubt on the
original hypothesis.

The aim of science is theory construction (F.N. Kirlinger, Foundations of behavior

research, (1986) pp.6-10; R. Braithwaite, Scientific explanation, (1955) pp.1-10).
A theory is a set of interrelated constructs, propositions and definitions, that
provide a systematic understanding of phenomena by outlining relations among a
group of variables that explain and predict phenomena.

Scientific inquiry involves issues of theory construction, control and

experimentation. Scientific knowledge must rest on testing, rather than mere
induction which can be defined as inferences of laws and generalizations, derived
from observation. This falsity of logical possibility is evident in the rejection
of the African origin of the Egyptians. These writers base their theories solely on
observation--nonscientific knowledge is not science.
Karl Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery, rejects this form of logical
validity based solely on inference and conjecture (pp. 33-65). Popper maintains
that confirmation in science, is arrived at through falsification.

Therefore to confirm a theory in science one test the theory through regorous
attempts at falsification. In falsification the researcher uses cultural,
linguistic, anthropological and historical knowledge to invalidate a proposed
theory. If a theory can not be falsified through yes of the variables associated
with the theory it is confirmed. It can only be disconfirmed when new
generalizations associated with the original theory fail to survive attempts at
falsification.

In short, science centers on conjecture and refutation. Given 200 years of research
in Afrocentrism, our job is to confirm the research into the role of Blacks in
ancient history uncovered by the giants in Afrocentric Social Sciences discussed
above.

Dr. Winters has written extensively on the ancient history of the African diaspora.
He has numerous sites on the web were explains the ancient history of African
people. His major work is Afrocentrism: Myth or Science . In Afrocentrism: Myth or
Science Dr. Winters provides a detailed discussion of how to study Afrocentrism and
provides an intimate and detailed study of the ancient Black civilizations outside
Africa in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The final afrocentric philosophical school is the progressivist. The afrocentric

school of progressivism believes that we should have knowledge of the process and
futuristic focus on afrocentric studies. The major exponent of this frame of
reference is Molefi K. Asante (1991).

In general Diop (1974, 1991) caused an africalogical social scientific revolution

because he was able to prove that Egypt was the archetypical civilization for many
West Africans. This was an important discovery because almost all of the slaves
that were sold in the United States had originally came from West Africa.
Verification of the Egyptian origin of West Africans provided African Americans
with relationship to the ancient Egyptians.
Moreover, Diop's use of linguistics, and anthropological evidence to confirm the
African origin of Egypt eliminated the need for africalogical researchers to use
the classical writers to prove the African origin of Egypt (Diop, 1977, 1978, 1981,
1986, 1987, 1988). This finding by Diop has led africalogical researchers to seek a
better understanding of African philosophy through an interpretation of Egyptian
philosophy.

Moreover, africalogical researchers like Dr.Winters, have also began the

reconstruction of the Paleo-African language used by Blacks in prehistoric times
(Anselin, 1982, 1982b, 1989; Winters, 1994) so that we will know more about the
culture and civilization of the Proto-Africans. Dr. Winters in Before Egypt: The
Maa Confederation, Africa's First Civilization, is about the Maa civilization. The
Maa civilization existed in the Saharan highlands. The people of Maa founded many
civilizations including Egypt, and Sumer.

Dr, Winters in Egyptian Language, Niger-Congo Speakers and the Mountains of the
Moon , provides the linguistic evidence that confirms the hypothesis of Cheikh Anta
Diop, L. Homburger, M. Delafosse that the Niger-Congo speakers and Egyptians had a
common origin. In this book we argue that many Egytians living in the 22 sepats of
Upper Egypt spoke Niger-Congo languages including the Bantu Fulani and Mande
languages.

Egyptian Languages , provides the genetic, linguistic and archaeological evidence

relating to the diverse Niger-Congo speakers who made up segments of the Egyptian
nation. Readers of this book will learn that the Niger-Congo speakers originated in
the Highland regions of Middle Africa: the Mountains of the Moon ; and that this
population which later settled Upper Egypt, formerly belonged to the Ounanian
culture.

-
Clyde Winters

The last major confirmation of the ASAH paradigms was made by Clyde Ahmad Winters
(1977, 1979, 1981, 1983a, 1983c, 1983d, 1984, 1985) when he expanded our
understanding of the role of Blacks\Africans in Indo-China, India and China; and
the ancient literacy of Blacks (1979, 1983d, 1985c, 1986b). Dr. Winters is a
graduate of the University of Illinois-Urbana where he earned a BA and Master's
degree. He earned his PhD at Loyola University-Chicago.

Dr. Winters has an extensive background in teaching Social Studies. In the 1990’s
Dr. Winters helped write the Social Science standards for the Chicago Public
Schools. In recent years he has been developing lesson plans for Common Core State
Standards in Social Science.

Using linguistic, anthropological and historical evidence, Dr. Winters proved that
the earliest cultures of China and Indo-China were founded by Blacks from West
Africa and modern Ethiopia (Winters, 1979, 1983d, 1985c, 1986b). In support of this
history Dr. Winters has posted over 70 videos on YouTube.
Winters also made it clear that the earliest Japanese were Blacks and that Japanese
is related to African languages (Winters, 1979, 1981, 1983a, 1983c, 1984). In
addition he was able to prove that the founders of Xia and Shang were of African
and Dravidian origin (1983c,1985c).

Using the findings of Wiener in regards to the writing of the Olmecs Winters
discovered that the Blacks from West Africa left numerous inscriptions written in
the Manding language (Winters, 1977, 1979, 1983a, 1985b) . Winters later discovered
that due to the cognition between the Mande writing and ancient scripts used by the
Minoans and Indus Valley he could read the Indus Valley Writing and the Linear A
inscriptions (1985b).

• The study of Africans in ancient America has been fruitful. Dr. Leo Wiener, in
Africa and the Discovery of America was the first to recognize that the ancient
civilizations of Mexico had been incluenced by Africans. He was especially sure
that the Mande speaking people influenced the religion and civilization of the
Aztec and Maya people; and that the writing on the Tuxtla statuette was written in
the Mande writing system.

Later Ivan van Sertima wrote an important book which highlighted the influence of
Africans in Mexico. In They Came before Columbus, van Sertima discussed the African
influence on the Olmec civilization, and the discovery of America by Abubakari, a
ruler of the Mali empire in the 1300's A.D. Dr. Winters expands the discussion of
Abubakari's voyage to America by discusing the colonies they left in North America
and Brazil in his book African Empires in Ancient America.

Dr. Clyde Winters has written extensively on the African origins of the Olmec. He
deciphered the Olmec language and since then he has published numerous websites
where he discussed the Olmec Kings and their civilization. Dr. Winters has also
written a grammar of the Olmec language.

The most important work of Dr. Winters is Atlantis in Mexico, in this book Dr.
Winters provides a detailed account of the migration of the Mande speaking people
from Africa to the Americas. He explains that they called themselves Xi (Shi) or Si
people and provides an informative discussion of the Mexican traditions regarding
the expansion of the Olmec from the Gulf Coast, to the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Atlantis in Mexico will provide any researchers with a wealth of knowledge to

understand the African origin of the Olmec. And the contributions of the Xi to the
civilizations of Mexico.

Dr. Winters has expanded knowledge about the other Blacks who established colonies
in the Americas before Europeans. In African Empires Ancient America,Dr. Winters
discussed the Axumite, Mound Builders and other ancient Black Americans.

Proficiency in a language other than English, helped africalogical researchers

conduct the normal africalogical social science. It was DuBois' (1965, 1970) and
Hansberry's knowledge of German that allowed these afrocentrists to conduct
research into the role of Blacks in Egypt and Ethiopia. J.A. Rogers mastered many
languages including French and German to prove that Blacks inhabited almost every
continent on the globe. Dr. C. A. Winters (1977,1981\1982, 1985, 1991, 1994) had to
learn Arabic, Chinese, Malinke, Portuguese, Otomi, Mayan, Swahili, Tamil and
Tokharian (Kushana) to conduct his africalogical studies of Blacks in Asia and the
Americas. Dr. Wintes used his linguistic knowled to decipher the Olmec, Meroitic
and Minoan writing systems. Dr, Winters gives a detailed explanation of his
decipherment of Meroitic writing numerous Meroitic inscriptions deciphered and in
his book: Meroitic Writing and Literature.

In the 1960's due to the rise of independence in the east African country of
Tanzania, Swahili became a language used by africalogical scientists. Swahili terms
were used to explain and define the phenomena associated with africalogy. This is
one of the reasons that the terms used in the Kwanza ceremonies practiced by blacks
are Swahili lexical items (Coleman, 1971).
Swahili is still among africalogical researchers but today Egyptian is recognized
as the classical language for africalogical research (Wimby, 1980). Diop
(1974,1991) popularized the idea that Egyptian should be used as the classical
language for the study of ancient africalogical language and historical studies. As
a result, most of the africalogical researchers today concentrate on Egypt and use
Egyptian terms to explain the culture and Proto-African language of Africa people
(Carruthers, 1977,1980).

Dr. Winters in Afrocentrism: Myth or Science , Has been able to update the
literature regarding African civilizations in Asia, Europe and the Americas. This
text provides the blueprint necessary for students to understand why the
Afrocentric model of history continues to find support from the archaeological,
linguistic and anthropological fields of study

This africalogical research by Dr. Winters (1981/1982, 1983b, 1983d, 1989a, 1991,
1994) made it clear that the first civilizations in Indo-China and China were
founded by Blacks. He has also proved the lie to Hume's (1875) claim that Blacks
have "No literacy" and "No letters". . In A Short History of Black People in
Ancient Times (Createspace, 2013) and Ancient African History Primer
( Createspace,2014)Dr. Winters provides a comprehensive discussion of the role of
African and Black people in the origin and rise of worldwide civilization.

These scholars recognized that the people of ancient Greece, Southeast Asia and
Indo-China were African people. When giants in study of Afrocentrism discussed
Blacks in Asia they were talking about people of African descent. So when anyone
claims that these civilizations should be outside the study area of Afrocentric
scholars they don't know what they're talking about.

These researchers used anthropological, archaeological historical and linguistic

evidence to support their conclusions. It is only natural that these well founded
hypotheses developed by these scholars can be supported by population genetics.

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____________.2010e. Paper Advantageous Alleles, Parallel Adaptation, Geographic

Location andSickle Cell Anemia among Africans
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Africe for 30kyhttp://olmec98.net/ContinuousEurope.pdf

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Woodson, C.G. & Wesley, C.H. (1972). The Negro in Our History. Washington, D.C.
Associated Publisher.

Get up off your knees and learn from the Afro-American scholars who began the study
of Blacks in ancient history.

In conclusion, Afrocentrism is a mature social science. A social science firmly

rooted in the scholarship of Afro-American researchers lasting almost 200 years.
Researchers like Marc Washington, Mike and I are continuing a tradition of
scholarship began 20 decades ago. All we are doing is confirming research by DuBois
and others, that has not been disconfirmed over the past 200 years.

Aluta continua.....The struggle continues.....

Posted by Dr. Clyde Winters at 4:18 AM
1 comment:
Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala said...
Thank you! How our knowledge and history continues to be negated!!!

I am using your work in PhD thesis... I love you for this. May our ancestors,
amathongo (sleep), i guess because they come to us through our dreams, see you
through more wisdom!
July 26, 2016 at 2:48 PM
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Evidence for an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions :

Phonological and Epigraphic Considerations
Penelope Aubin *
This paper will reconsider the possible relationship between Meroitic and an early,
even proto, form of Nubian. The idea of such a link has been languishing in
Meroitic circles for close to a century - proposed, rejected, revived and shelved
again for lack ofconcrete evidence.
To propose such a relationship yet again calls for a new approach. This will be to
ques- tion some ofthe accepted sound values ofMeroitic signs and to point to
possible counterparts in Old Nubian. Some striking epigraphic similarities between
Meroitic signs and those ofthe Kharosthi alphasyllabary suggest an Old Nubian
connection.
Inscriptions in the language ofMeroe, or Kush, ancient Egypt's southern neighbor,
sur- vive on several large stelae, numerous funerary monuments and ostraca. These
texts have yielded to only fragmentary decipherment. 1
Background
The first step toward reading these texts is identification of the nearest
descendant of the language in which they are written, or at least the nearest
subgroup into which that language fits. Although the present consensus among
scholars is that Meroitic probably belongs to
*
1.
Universite McGill, Montreal; email: penelope.aubin@mcgill.ca
Assessments ofthe state ofresearch on Meroitic over the past 30 years inelude :
Bruce G. Trigger, "The
ClassificationofMeroitic:GeographicalConsiderations"in;igyptenundKusch, ed.
ErikaEndesfelder...[et al.l, Schriften zur Geschichten und Kultur des A1ten Orients
13 (Berlin: Akademie, 1977), 421-435 ; Fritz Hintze, " Meroitisch und Nubisch, Eine
vergleichende Studie" in Beitrage zur Sudanfimchung 4 (Vienna, 1989), 95-106 ;
Lisz16 Torok, The Kingdom ofKush: Handbook ofthe Napatan-Meroitic
Civilization (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 49-51, 62-67, and Tormod Eide ... [et al.],
ed., Fontes Historiae Nubiorum, v. 2 (Bergen: KIassisk Institutt, Universitetet i
Bergen, 1996), 359-360.

16 MEROITICNEWSLETTERW 30
Nilo-Saharan,2 one of the four main language families in Africa, disagreement
exists on where
to situate it within that sizeable family.
The two most recent classifications for Nilo-Saharan are those of C. Ehret
(proposed in 1989,3 with a revised version in 20014 ) and M.L. Bender (1997).5
Their schemes differ sharply. Although neither sketches in the Meroitic branch on
his classification tree, both scholars' research is useful to me, particularly
Ehret's. I formulated the main lines of this paper in the fall of 2 0 0 0 , but the
subsequent publication of his latest work with its detailed tables of sound shifts
from original Proto-Nilo-Saharan phonemes has served to buttress some of my
hypotheses. Where appropriate, I have tried to insert his findings as well as
Bender's. Another recent source of useful data has been the three-part first sec-
tion of the Repertoire d'epigraphie meroi"tique (REM).6
In 1911, ELL Griffith suggested that the Meroitic language, whose script he had
just succeeded in transliterating, might somehow relate to Old Nubian,? now
classified as a member of the Nilo-Saharan family. Five years later, however, he
abandoned this line of inquiry in the belief that the" borrowing of individual
words may... have gone on freely between Nubians (Nobatae ?) and Meroites, but so
far the language ofthe Meroitic inscriptions does not appear to have been the
ancestor of the Nubian dialect. ,,8 Griffith's rejection of such a link helps
2 .
There is no unanimity on this assignment of Meroitic to the Nilo-Saharan family.
Among the other language families that have also been proposed is Altaic, as
supported by Siegbert Hummel, Die meroitische Sprache und das protoaltarsche
Sprachsubstrat als Medium zu ihrer Deutung (Ulm/Donau: Fabri, 1992). An earlier
suggestion was the Mroasiatic family: see E. Zylharz, " Das mero"itische
Sprachproblem ", Anthropos 25 (1930), 4°9-463. Some researchers have also
speculated that it may be related to such individual languages as Tokharian and
even Sumerian: see Clyde Ahmad Winters, "A Note on Tokharian and Mero'itic ",
Meroitic Newsletter 23 Oune 1984), 18-21, and j.c. Sharman, " Meroitic : its
Ancestors and Descendants - Some Relationships," Azania 9 (1974),2°7-216. G. Bohm
drew on all the above- mentioned families and languages in making a case for caste
distinctions in speech and grammar to support the hypothesis of an ancient" Indo-
nilotischen " proto language: Gerhard Bohm, Die Sprache der Aithiopen im Lande
Kusch, Veroffentlichungen der Institute filr Mrikanistik und Agyptologie der
Universitat Wien 47, Beitrage zur Mrikanistik 34 (Wien : 1988).
Christopher Ehret, "Subclassification ofNilo-Saharan : a Proposal" in M. Lionel
Bender, ed., Topics in
Nilo-Saharan Linguistics, Nilo-Saharan Linguistic Analyses and Documentation 3
(Hamburg: 1989),
35-49·
Christopher Ehret, A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction ofNilo-Saharan, SUGIA
Beiheft 12
(Koln : R. Koppe, 2001), 65-110.
M. Lionel Bender, The Nilo-Saharan Languages: A Comparative Essay, LINCOM Handbooks
in
Linguistics 06 (Milnchen : Lincom Europa, 1997).
Repertoire d'Epigraphie Meroitique , ed. Jean Leclant...[et all (Paris: Academie
des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres, 2000) . The computer-based corpus of all inscriptions in the
language contains those published over the course of the last decades in the
Meroitic Newsletter, which began in 1968. MNL 28 (November 2001) included the long-
awaited publication, by Claude Carrier, of the" Abratoye stela" discovered by Jean
Leclam in 1961 during the UNESCO campaign. This was followed closely by MNL 29 in
2002 with Claude Rilly's publication of Queen Amanishakheto's obelisk.
Francis Ll. Griffith, Karanog: The Meroitic Inscriptions ofShablul and Karanog, The
Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia IV (Philadelphia: 1911), 22.
Francis Ll. Griffith, "Meroitic Studies II ", JEA, v. 3 (1916), 123.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7· 8.

Evidenceftr an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inseriptiom 17 explain why for

almost half a century virtually no one further investigated a connection between
Meroitic and Old Nubian. 9
In 1964, however, B. Trigger proposed a correlation between Meroitic and Nilo-
Saharan's Eastern Sudanic branch. Besides the Nubian languages, Eastern Sudanic
also includes Barea (also presently known as Nara) and six other subgroups of
languages,10 according to J. Greenberg's classification scheme for African
languages, widely accepted at that time.11 Subsequently, other researchers have
explored a possible relationship without drawing definite conclusions. 1 2
In 1977, Trigger fine-tuned his earlier suggestion: he concluded that the most
promising area for research lay with the most northerly languages of the Eastern
Sudanic branch of the Nito-
Saharanfamily,notablyBareaandthevariousdialectsofNubian,13 includingOldNubian, the
focus of the present paper.
In a 1984 paper, M. Bechhaus-Gerst noted six words ofpossible Nubian origin in
Meroitic, but she said the evidence was not sufficient to claim a family link
between Nubian and Meroitic. 14
In 1989, F. Hintze, who had earlier discounted connections between Meroitic and any
other known Mrican language, demonstrated some structural parallels between
Meroitic and Old Nubian. He concluded, however, that without more research to
reconstruct proto- languages, particularly in the Eastern Sudanic branch of Nilo-
Saharan, the seeming lexical resemblances between the two languages could be mere
coincidence and were not enough to prove a genetic relationship.15
In 1999, C. Peust briefly discussed the likelihood ofan Old Nubian-Meroitic
connection. In a work otherwise devoted to evidence of a specific dialect of
Egyptian spoken in ancient
9.
10. 11.
12.
An exception is G. Murray, who suggested a few tentative cognates in 1923: G.W.
Murray, An English- Nubian Comparative Dictionary (London: Humphrey Milford, 1923),
28, 33.
Bruce G. Trigger, "Meroitic and Eastern Sudanic : a Linguistic relationship? ",
Kush 12 (1964), 188-194.
Joseph Greenberg, Studies in Aftican Linguistic Classification (New Haven; Compass
Publishing, 1955), 75·
M.F.L. Macadam, "Queen Nawidemak ", Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 23.2 (1966),
48 ; Ecole pratique des hautes etudes, ye Section (Sciences religieuses), Annuaire
(197°-71), 180-181 (concerning N. Millet and A. Heyler) ; B.G. Haycock, rev. of
Bruce G. Trigger (with Andre Heyler), The Meroitic Funerary InscriptionsftomArminna
U7est(New Haven: The Peabody Museum ofYale University, 1970) in Journal ofthe
American Oriental Society 92.2 (1971), 307-309 ; Fritz Hintze, " Beobachtungen zur
Altnubischen Grammatik I und II ", Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-
Universitiit zu Berlin, Ges.-Schprachw. R. 20 (1971), 287 ; Werner Vycichl, "Trois
etudes sur la structure du mero'itique ", Meroitic News/etten3 (1973 :July), 58-60,
and Gerald M. Browne, Introduction to OldNubian Grammar, Meroitica 11 (Berlin;
Akademie, 1989), Vorwort des Herausgebers [by Fritz Hintze].
13· Trigger (1977), 434·
14. Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, " Sprachliche und historische Rekonstruktionen im
Bereich des Nubischen
unter besonderer Beriicksichtigung des Nilnubischen ", SUGIA 6 (1984), 94.
15. Hintze (1989), 103·

18 MEROITIC NEWSLETTER N° 30
Napata,16 Peust claimed that the Meroitic script was used to write two distinct
languages, that of the Tanyideamani and Akinidad stelae and that of the Kharamadoye
inscription. Peust suggested that further study of the sound equivalents in
apparent cognates between the two languages might reveal that Meroitic really
deserves the name of Old Nubian, while what has been called Old Nubian should
rightly be called Middle Nubian.
Thus, while some scholars have speculated about Meroitic's links to languages
ranging from Altaic to Sumerian (see note 2), others have suggested that a link
between Meroitic and Old Nubian may be found in the future. So far, however, little
concrete evidence has been produced.
If scholarship since the 1960s has been moving hesitantly in the direction of
identifying Meroitic with early Nubian, its progress now seems stalled. The problem
is that despite some good matches of individual words and morphemes, the two
languages do not appear to be relatives in the same way as are, for example,
various Germanic or Romance languages. I hope to show that this lack of resemblance
may be more apparent than real.
This paper deals with the nature of Meroitic's syllabic script. Certain assumptions
about this fundamental aspect of the language have provided a framework for
scholarly research that has been unquestioned over many decades. I will attempt to
show that some assumptions underlying the present transliteration of Meroitic may
be wrong; these false premises may have had the effect ofobscuring signs offamily
resemblances between Meroitic and the Nubian languages.
Future papers will deal with morphological, syntactical and lexical aspects ofthe
problem ofMeroitic's identity. By reinterpreting the evidence and pointing out
alternative explanations for contradictions and ambiguities, my aim is to show that
Griffith's initial hunch was close to the mark.
Ancient orthography
Scribes working in languages with syllabaries, such as Mesopotamian cuneiform or
Linear B, developed certain spelling conventions to cope with the problems
ofadapting their scripts to record configurations other than straightforward
Consonant-Vowel (CV) syllables.17 To handle words with contiguous consonants or CVC
(Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) pat- terns, Elamite scribes, for example, made use of
both CV and VC type signs. This meant they could make CVC (that is, CV-VC) type
syllables and words by simply ignoring the extra vowel in the middle.IS
16. Carsten Peust, Das Napatanische : Ein agyptischer Dialekt aus dem Nubien des
spiiten vorchristlichen ]ahrtausends: Texte, Glossar, Grammatik, Monographien zur
agyptischen Sprache 3 (Gottingen : Peust & Gutschmidt, 1999), 74-81.
17. D. Gary Miller, Ancient Scripts and Phonological Knowledge (Amsterdam: John
Benjamins, 1994), 1-2. 18. David W McAlpin, Proto-Elarno-Dravidian : The Evidence
and Its Implications, Transactions of the
American Philosophical Society v. 71, pt. 3 (Philadelphia: The Society, 1981), 64.

EvidencefOr an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 19

Since their syllabary had no VC signs, Linear B scribes devised another method.
They used a syllable with a " dummy" vowel identical to that of the preceding
syllable sign to indicate a closed syllable or consonant blends like pI or tr. 19
It is possible that the alternate spellings of Akinidd versus Akidd (probably with
an unwritten n) or such spellings as pestili and pqrili may be examples of the work
ofMeroitic scribes trained within a system with rules similar to those of the
Linear B scribes. A variation of such a rule is evident in the apparent Meroitic
convention of sometimes using e following a consonant to indicate a closed
syllable, or lack of the default vowel. 20 In this respect it resembles the Indic
devanegari script which also has a default vowel and uses a special sign to
indicate a consonant alone.
Meroitic scribes may have adopted another Linear B spelling convention, that
ofomitting the n signs when they are final or precede another consonant. (Linear B
actually omitted I, m, r, and s as well in such situations).2 Linear B was a true
syllabic script; Meroitic, however, seems to be more ofan alphasyllabary (with
signs for syllables consisting ofconsonants plus a and for initial vowels and
syllables which have vowels other than the default a). Meroitic shares this type
ofwriting system with only three other scripts: Old Persian cuneiform, Brahmi
(India) and Ethiopian Ge'ez.22
]. Justeson proposes that in the case of the Old Persian and Indic scripts this
distinctive form resulted from transmission by value recitation ofalphabetic
scripts, a process that accounts for" unusual gaps in the inventory ofsyllabic
values".23 Justeson says that whereas the defective syllabaries of Old Persian
resulted from misunderstanding the principles of the parent script (Aramaic), the
same cannot be the case with Meroitic. He attributes Meroitic's defective syllabary
to the adoption ofDemotic Egyptian" group writing" signs, mainly used for writing
foreign words and names, as originally proposed by K.-H. Priese. 24
It is not surprising that modern research has had difficulty grasping the
principles of syllabification and vowel harmonization in the Meroitic language and
its notation in the script: the scribes themselves had a variety of methods for
showing these. One example is the alternative spelling ofpsi and pisi in the"
Benediktionsatzen " of the funerary inscriptions, or the variants mdewi and medewi
in the Akinidad stela. Such spellings may indicate an only partially observed
convention that the vocalization of syllables preceding a vowel sign should match
that vowel sign. Another example ofalternative spellings is the variation in use
ofinitial
19. Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, "Evidence for Greek Dialect in the Mycenean
Archives", Journal ofHellenic Studies (1953),91, and John Chadwick, The
Decipherment ofLinear B (New York: Random House, 1958), 76.
20. Fritz Hintze, "Some Problems ofMeroitic Philology", Sudan imAltertum,
Meroitica1 (Berlin: Akademie, 1973), 323.
21. Chadwick, 75.
22. Bruce G. Trigger, "Writing Systems: A Case Study in Cultural Evolution ",
Norwegian Archaeological
Review (1998), v. 31, nO 1, 53-54.
23. John S. Justeson, "The Evolution of Syllabaries from Alphabets: Transmission,
Language Contrast,
and Script Typology", Die SpracheJ5 (1991-1993) : 1 [2-46], 38-4°.
24. Karl-Heinz Priese, "Zur Entstehung der meroitischen Schrift", Sudan in
Altertum, Meroitica 1 (Berlin:
Akademie, 1973), 273-306.

2 0 MEROITIC NEWSLETTER N° 30
a with names, both divine and noble: mnilamni, SoreyilAsoreyi, BrtoyelA~pa1"O£1<;25
(Greek). Meroitic inscriptions prior to the first century CE actually used the
spellings Amni and Asoreyi for the gods' names Amun and Osiris. This could simply
indicate that the initial a disappeared over time but could also mean it was a
vocative or honorific particle, an explanation that would also account for the
similar variation for BrtoyelA~paTo£l<;. Another explanation, however, is possible.
Research on Meroitic may have proceeded on a false premise that the signs consist
exclusively of CV type syllables (with a default a vocalization) and vowels. The
sign for m, to begin with, requires a closer look. Besides the example ofmnilamni,
this sign occurs frequently in the funerary inscriptions where the word mio is
ever-present. Yet the presumed modern Nubian cognate for mio is amei. Could this
indicate that the sign was actually a VC syllable? Since an initial m is taboo in
some Nilo-Saharan languages, such as that of the Jebel Dair region,26 these initial
vowels could simply reflect a similar convention. Furthermore, linguists are fond
of projecting" prothetic alephs" onto proto-roots that do not conform to their
expectations. Ehret reconstructs a Proto-Nilo-Saharan nasalized labial consonant
mb: it persists in non-initial position in Dongolawi (the language which he uses to
represent the Nubian branch of Nilo-Saharan) although it has merged with b in
initial positions.27
Another intriguing clue, however, points to a VC syllable: the Kharosthi script's
sign for
am, J (or a with anusvara, i.e., nasalization), is remarkably like the Meroitic m:
').28 Actually,
the Demotic, Kharosthi and Meroitic signs for m all resemble each other, and each
has alternate forms, with and without the extra hook.
Possible Kharosthi connections
According to I. Hofmann (and several other scholars starting with F. Cailliaud in
1822), similarities in art may attest to significant cultural contacts between the
Indian subcontinent and ancient Kush. 29 In addition, there are very clear
resemblances between the Egyptian numeral system, particularly the Hieratic, and
the oldest Indian forms.30 Resemblances in script strengthen the hypothesis of
contacts with the Nile Valley.
25. The notable of REM 1088 and 0321 and the stele recently published by C. Carrier
(MNL 28, Nov. 2001).
26. Murray, xxv.
27. Ehret (2001), 30.
28. S.J. Mangalam, Kharosthi Script (Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1990), 13.
29. Inge Hofmann, U7ege undMoglichkeit eines Einflusses aufdie meroitische Kultur,
Studia Instituti Anthropos,
v. 23 (St. Augustin bei Bonn: Anthropos-Institut, 1975), 13°-148. For discussion,
see Louis Zabkar, Apedemak: Lion God ofMeroe (London: Aris & Philips, 1975). Zabkar
cites Cailliaud, A.J. Arkell, J. Vercoutter, W. Vycichl, P. Shinnie, and Hofmann as
proponents of" Indian influences" on Meroitic art (p. 1-5). Zabkar himself takes
issue with this premise (p. 36-51), as does S. Wenig, "Meroitische Kunst ",
Journies internationales d'itudes miroftiques, Paris, 10-13 juillet 1973 (cited by
Zabkar, p. 145, n.89).
30. Biihler, Georg, On the Origin ofthe Indian Briima Alphabet, 2nd rev. ed.,
Indian Studies III (Strass- burg: K.J. Triibner, 1898), [115]-119.
 EvidencefOr an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 21
In an effort to approach the question of the Meroitic script with a fresh eye I
have so far avoided discussion of its relationship with Demotic and Hieratic. The
many resemblances originally were noted by Griffith31 and have been analyzed at
length by Priese.32 o. EI-Aguizy's extensive work on Demotic inscriptions and the
development of the script from Hieratic to the Demotic of the late Ptolemaic period
provides a wealth of examples of characters that resemble their Meroitic
counterparts.33 Common sense dictates that the Meroitic script is more likely to
have developed from the culturally and geographically closer Egyptian writing than
from the distant Kharosthi. This does not, however, preclude the possibility that
the Egyptian Demotic/Hieratic also influenced Kharosthi, perhaps via its influence
on Aramaic, or perhaps via direct Indic contacts, such as Hofmann suggests, with
the Meroitic-speaking (and writing) region. Any such influences, however far-flung,
are worth examining in the search for clues about the nature of Meroitic (and
particularly about those characters that show little or no resemblance to Hieratic
or Demotic). In language history, it is not uncommon for the outermost reaches of a
language's range to preserve archaic features long after the original language
(spoken and written) has undergone considerable change. Icelandic's rela- tion to
Old Norse and Old Irish's relation to early Celtic are examples.
Kharosthi, closely related to Brahmi, another ofthe rare alphasyllabaries mentioned
earlier, was a script used in western India beginning around 500 B.C.E. under the
Maurya emperor Asoka; it continued under the Kushana dynasty until the 4th century
C.E. It appears on both Persian sigloi and on Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-
Parthian coinage. 34 This script may have been a hybrid ofAramaic, which was
introduced by the Persian Achaemenid rulers who conquered Northwest India, and the
indigenous Brahmi script,35 itselfpossibly inspired
byAramaic.ItissometimesreferredtoasIndo-Aramaic.36 Justesonadvancesthewell-accepted
view that the Meroitic cursive signs developed from Demotic Egyptian as Pre-
Meroitic " group writing ". Charts like those of Griffith37 or K.-H. Priese38 and
more recently H. Longpre39 readily demonstrate this development. These signs,
however, also display many resemblances to Kharosthi. 4 0 In addition to
similarities among the individual signs, Kharosthi, Hieratic, Demotic and Meroitic
are all written from right to left, make use of connections between certain signs
(Kharosthi, Hieratic and Demotic more so than Meroitic which only connects i) and
employ diacritics on some signs.
31. 32. 33.
34. 35. 36 • 37. 38• 39.
40.
Griffith (1911), 11.
Priese (1973).
Ola EI-Aguizy, A Palaeographical Study ofDemotic Papyri in the Cairo Museum from
the Reign ofKing
Ttzharka to the End ofthe Ptolemaic Period (684-30 B.C), MIFAO 113 (Le Caire:
Institut Fran~ais d'Archeologie Orientale, 1998).
Mangalam, 8.
Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, The Achaeminids and India (New Delhi: Munshiram
Manoharlal, 1974),55. Mangalam, 4-5.
Griffith (1911), 18-19.
Priese (1973), 3°0-3°3.
Helene Longpre, "Investigation of the Ancient Meroitic Writing System", diss.,
Rhode Island College, 1999, leaves 47-54-
Since this was written I have come across an article by C. Winters that mentions
similarities between the Meroitic and Kharosthi scripts although none specifically.
While I do not support his unrelated

2 2 MEROITJC NEWSLETTER N° 30
Whereas Hieratic mainly adds diacritic dots or strokes to certain signs to
distinguish them from others similar in appearance, Kharosthi diacritic strokes
affect the quality of the syllable sign's sound, as with Ge'ez. The Kharosthi
strokes change the vocalization of the syllable signs, producing syllables with
long a, i, u, e, 0, or anusvara instead of the default vowel (short a). The short
horizontal or oblique stroke used to denote an r sound, however, seems strangely
like a similar stroke for r used as a preposition in Demotic.41 Some of the
Meroitic signs with which this paper deals resemble Kharosthi signs with these
specific diacritic strokes, although there does not appear to be any evidence for a
similar system ofvocalization using diacritics.
Meroitic seems to have retained the Hieratic/Demotic idea of diacritics. One
example is the dot on the t to distinguish it from the l. Another is the dot on the
to to distinguish it from some ofthe versions ofh(although it is also tempting to
see it as a sign ofIndic-style anusvara in this case, given the unwritten n in
pesta). Too bad the Meroitic scribes did not do the same for the m, s, and b,even
though the left-hand stroke on the q would seem to be an attempt to distinguish it
from those same signs. Curiously, the diacritic left stroke of the Demotic t that
originally was probably intended to distinguish it from the Demotic q was retained
even though the other part of the sign does not resemble other Meroitic signs.
Not all dots and vertical strokes in Demotic were used to distinguish between
similar characters. EI-Aguizy discusses the use ofverticals crossing horizontals as
possible indicators of t or d in group writing, and dots may be used to show the
presence of t, n, as mentioned above, or k.41.
The second century B.C.E. (during the reigns of the Ptolemies in Egypt) is the time
of the earliest known inscriptions in Meroitic cursive :43 this period coincides
with the same general dating for Greek ascendancy in western India, where Indo-
Greek coins with Kharosthi inscriptions have been found. 44 It is tempting to
speculate that contacts between people in different regions under Greek influence
may have led to the use of new types ofscript. Another possibility: some version
ofthe script reached India and Kush in comparable circumstances as early as the
time of the Achaemenid Persian domination of both Hindu Kush and the Nile Valley.
No examples have yet been found from this period, however.
Most ofthe Kharosthi syllable signs are for CV type syllables, but besides the VC
type of syllable just discussed (am), there are signs for almost every CV type
syllable in combination with m producing CVC syllables: kham, gam, g 'am, gham,
etc., most formed by attaching a diacritic type of stroke to indicate this m
nasalization or anusvara. In addition, Kharosthi uses a great many syllable signs
for CCV combinations, such as khva, khsa, rtha, dra, sni, etc.
4 1• 42 • 43. 44.
conclusions about Meroitic, I do agree that the two scripts have many points of
resemblance. Clyde A. Winters, " Inscriptions ofTanyidamani ", Nubica et.lEthiopica
4/5 (2000 ?), [355]-387.
EI-Aguizy (1998), 27.
EI-Aguizy (1998), 237-
Torok, 62.
A.K. Narain, The Indo-Greeks (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), 29-

EvidencefOr an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 23

This is reminiscent of the Demotic group writing signs. As later discussion will
suggest, Meroitic m is not the only sign that may possibly have a Kharosthi
connection.
The Meroitic CV equivalent ofthe mar mV or perhaps even a mba syllable could be the
b sign: JI. Considerable ambiguity surrounds these two phonemes. E. Zyhlarz has
proposed that the Egyptian toponym Mrkr, for example, might be related to both an
ancient province Markale and the Pure Mountain,45 now known in Arabic as Gebel
Barkal. It is common in other Nubian languages not to distinguish between band m or
even!and p.46
The m or am sign is only one ofseveral Meroitic signs that originally may have
represented VC syllables. The peculiar n sign, fL, could be interpreted as a
combination of the Kharosthi
e sign, 1.., and the n sign, I' 47 (reading right to left: I' ll'Ij,-), in other
words en/an. This
would explain why the other fi (or ne) sign, 5?, is never followed by a vowel since
it already includes one in CV form, although it rarely occurs initially, just like
the corresponding n sign
in Old Nubian, 'P ,which it resembles. 48 If the n sign represents en/an, it would
still conform to the Old Nubian rule that n is not allowed initially. It is curious
that both Meroitic n signs most closely resemble Hieratic and Demotic group writing
signs49 that terminate rather than begin with n. This may be another indication
that neither can represent an initial sound. Enigmatically, the Demotic sign
representing group writing for three lines ofwaves50 most likely has some sort ofn
sound, but it is identical to the right-hand side of fl, in other words,
to t (Meroitic k). The n sound that does occur initially in Old Nubian, r, may
result from a complex situation to be discussed later.
The same idea may apply to the s signs. Old Nubian also has two s signs: C, and
U} ; the latter, using the Coptic sign for the sh sound, is much less common than
the former. It is
possible that the Meroitic sor ~, which actually resembles the Kharosthi sign for
dha (zh), :3 ,51 may be a VC sign. Griffith himself remarked that the pronunciation
of the god's name
invoked in the funerary inscriptions, Soreyi, may really have been" Asoreyi ",
considering that there is a prefixed A in the earlier occurrences. 52 B.G. Haycock
suggests that the Meroitic si/so in the funerary texts and on some sherds from
Begrawwiya (Bej. N. 11 [R.CK IV; 21-3-371a-d]) where irp n kmt (" wine of Egypt ")
is translated as Qomo-s(0) in Meroitic, means" make" or " made ".53 Since the Old
Nubian root for" work or effect ", according toBrowne, is C or BtC [eis]' this too
could be seen as support for a VC pronunciation for the
45. E. Zyhlarz, « Countries ofthe Ethiopian Empire ofKash (Kush) and Egyptian Old
Ethiopia in the New Kingdom ", Kush 6 (1958), 15.
46. Murray, XXIV.
47. Mangalam, 13, 25·
48. Browne (1989), 2.2.1.
49. EI-Aguizy (1998),216 (fL)and 168 (5?).
50. Ibid., 346 [CXLIII]. No phonetic equivalent is given.
51. Mangalam, 29·
52. Griffith (1911) 33· As with mni and amni, however, Asoreyi is the older form
and may include a vocative
prefix.
53. Haycock (1971), 309·

24 MEROITIC NEWSLETTER N° 30
Meroitic ssign. On REM 1270, 1271 and 1272, as well as the recently published E3652
from Tomb 307 now in the Musee de Bruxelles,54 the form is iso, which corresponds
even better. (The 0 would correspond to the Old Nubian third singular preterite I
suffix with the n unwri nen.)
The other s sign, VII, is never followed by a vowel (presumably because like
the )?, it already includes one). It has no Kharosthi counterpart, but a similar
sign is used in Egyptian Demotic script (7th-5th century B.C.E.). 55
A convention of transliterating the Meroitic )? as ne and the VII as se (and the /
4, which will be treated later, as te) has prevailed in most of the literature
since Hintze's proposal in 1979.56 Paradoxically, this presumed convenience may
have contributed to the problems of decipherment.
Grounds also exist for suspecting that the y, III, and i, i, signs may in fact be a
Vi/Vy and a yVIiV sign respectively. Again, note the resemblance between the
Kharosthi yi sign, )<\' ifrotated,andtheMeroitici (i).57 Also,ro€!,meaning"oil",58
offersanintriguingexample of an Old Nubian word with a two-syllable vowel
combination or diphthong that could be the equivalent ofMeroitic ni, perhaps
pronounced as Ina-yi/.59 Such apparent cognates sup- port the possibility that
sometimes vowel signs may have been pronounced as separate syllables. On the other
hand, CV syllables with vowels other than the default vowel a may have been handled
by juxtaposing CV syllables and vowel syllables, with the added complication that
sometimes this may have signalled vowel harmonization in preceding syllables, as
noted earlier.
Old Nubian connections
In discussing Meroitic syllable signs, it is hard to ignore resemblances to several
Old
Nubian alphabetic signs, such as the ~ sign and for one of the signs for w, 5.60
54. Claude Carrier, "Un fragment d'amphore inscrite provenant de Meroe et conserve
aBruxelles (E 3652) ", MNL 28 (Novembre 2001), 10-11.
55. Longpre, table II.
56. Fritz Hintze, Beitriige zur meroitischen Grammatik, Meroitica 3 (Berlin:
Akademie, 1979), 15.
57· Mangalam, 35·
58. Gerald M. Browne, Old Nubian Dictionary, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum
Orientalium v. 556,
Subsidia t. 90 (Lovanii : Peeters, 1996), 202.
59. The combination" ni " occurs repeatedly with numbers in temple graffiti, which
could make sense if
these record donations ofvessels ofoil for anointing. Another plausible
explanation, however, could be
that this is related to the Old Nubian multiplicative suffix" N/~N ". See Browne
(1989) 3.8.3.
60. These two signs, which have striking Kharosthi counterparts (Mangalam, 16:
ga,and 13: u respectively), have no close Demotic matches. The nearest Demotic
characters are so-called group-writing signs for sn and nw (EI-Aguizy, 168, 177), a
peculiar situation in that the final rather than initial phonemes seem to
characterize the signs. It does not take much imagination, however, to see that
same Demotic nw in
the Kharosthi nu sign reversed (Mangalam, 25).

n r. n
.t
1 1 f
v
~
Also worth noting is the obvious similarity between the two writing systems in the
phonological rules against initial use ofI, rand fi in both languages.61 Ehret
proposes that Proto-Nilo-Saharan initial 1 became d while initial r disappeared in
Dongolawi. 62 If this sound shift holds true for Old Nubian, then the frequent
adjective Ibe that scholars believe means" great" may be a cognate of the Old
Nubian Ao.Y6 or Ao.y61, a form of the verb meaning" to be great ",63 Without
drawing any conclusions, it should be pointed out that the Kharosthi signs for d
and r are identical to the Meroitic 1sign. On the other hand, the appearance of
initial 1or r may signal that the word involved is borrowed (in which case the
borrowed word could be Coptic A62AlU2 meaning" high" or " tall "). It could also
hint that these two signs represent VC syllables.
The role of assimilation
The tendency for rand 1to assimilate in the spoken Nubian languages may come into
playas well in the written Meroitic language. C. Rilly makes a convincing case for
such an assimilation in the case of the word qor Iqurral (meaning" king") from qore
Iqurl plus fla/, with assimilation of the -I nominalizing particle. 64 Such a type
of assimilation involving fi may also explain the puzzling occurrence ofthe -yi
suffix in qoreyi in line 8 ofthe Kharamadoye stela.65 The fi of the -fiyi suffix of
the parallel constructions of the presumed " invocation" may have been assimilated
in the first case under the influence of the r of qoreyi.
Other cases ofsuch a type ofassimilation may not yet be recognized. Browne and
Hintze list dozens ofOld Nubian examples ofassimilation ofthe sonorants A, pand N,
both regressive and progressive, as well as less frequent assimilation ofr, K and
n. 66 Murray presents a tabulated alphabetical list three pages long ofall the
various assimilations possible in the modern Nubian languages. 67 Hintze points
out, however, that in Old Nubian the spoken and written versions ofwords may have
differed but both the assimilated and the" etymologische " orthographies seem to
have been acceptable.68
Another reason that Meroitic may look so different from Old Nubian is that it may
be spelled as it was pronounced before much of the assimilation occurred. Note, for
example, that Browne postulates that many ofthe Old Nubian verb forms are based on
the verbid (that is, a verbal noun, whether infinitive or participle). To this
verbid Old Nubian added affixes: -IA/6A for the present, -OA for preterite 1, -CIA
for preterite II and -AIA/(o.)pIA for the future
61. Browne (1989), 2.2.1. and Fritz Hintze, "Beobachtungen zur altnubischen
Grammatik VI ", in Nubische Studien, heraus. Martin Krause (Mainz am Rhein: Philipp
von Zabern, 1986), 288.
62. Ehret (2001), 22.
63. Browne (1996), 36.
64. Claude Rilly, "Assimilation et determination en merottique : Ie determinant
masque du mot qore 'roi ',MNL 26,79-85.
65. Nicholas Millet, "The Kharamadoye Inscription ", MNL 13 Guly 1973), pI. 2.
66. Browne (1989), 2·3 and Hintze (1986), 290-291.
67. Murray, XXVIII-XXXI.
68. Hintze (1986), 291-292.
Evidence fOr an Early Nubian Dialect ill Meroitic InscriptiOI15 25

26 - MEROITlC NEWSLETTER N° 30
plus personal endings for the subjunctive or plus personal endings and a
predicative ~ for the indicative.69 In the written forms ofOld Nubian that survive,
all these suffixes have undergone assimilation, in every case dropping the A ofthe
verbid or transmuting it to p. Ifone examines the original unassimilated forms,
which include the original A ofthe verbid, these verb suffixes appear as IAI, lAO,
IAN, IA~N (present), OAI, OAO, OAN, OA~N (preterite 1), CIAI, CIAO, ClAN, CIA~N
(preterite II) and AlAI, AIAO, AlAN, AIA~N (future).
If such is the case, some of the many Meroitic forms with -Ii, -Iw, -sl, -sli, and
-slw, which commonly have been taken to be nominal forms or nouns with
postpositions, should be re-examined as possible verbal forms. Many such examples
exist in the Meroitic stelae. Such forms might answer the question ofwhy the stelae
do not seem to be written in the first person as are so many of their Egyptian
counterparts. Perhaps we simply have mistaken some first person suffixes for
nominal suffixes or postpositions. In the Akinidad stele, for example, there are
abundant potential first person endings such as Ii and sli.
To the failure to differentiate band m in some Nubian languages already mentioned,
add the lack of distinction between band p orf in Old Nubian. (Both are written as
n ; with the exception of a few loan words, there are almost no occurrences of b
except in personal and place names in the Old Nubian gospels),7o On the other hand,
the Demotic sign closest to the Meroitic p is a group writing sign representing bn
(EI-Aguizy CCLXXXlV). In the modern Nubian languages p is totally absent (as in
Berber) except in Midob (also known as Tidn-Aal),71 Hofmann has already noted some
seeming labial alternations, possibly dialectal, in Meroitic : for example, bisi
and pisi, in the funerary inscriptions, or ameioloke and beloloke,72
In searching for possible counterparts ofMeroitic words containing b, then, Old
Nubian words with n as well as H should also come under consideration.
Dentals
Most perplexing ofthe Meroitic cursive signs are those for t syllables: a generous
total of three appears to exist, all ofwhich bear resemblance to Demotic signs (EI-
Aguizy XXXVII, LXVI, CLXXXV). The Kharosthi script may again provide clues. Notice
the clearer similarity between
the Meroitic ~ and Kharosthi L;, which also signifies ta,73 than between the
Meroitic and the Demotic: the former is more angular and less curved in virtually
all cases. The Meroitic te sign, /4, on the other hand, looks more like Kharosthi
di, I..H., or di, 44,74 although there are also equally good matches with some
Demotic t characters,75 Probable Old Nubian cognates
69. Gerald M. Browne, OldNubian Grammar, Languages ofthe World/Materials 330
(Muenchen : Lincom Europa, 2002), 49-51.
70. Murray, XXIV.
71. Murray, xxv.
72• loge Hofmann, Meroitische Grammatik (Wien : Mro-Pub, 1981), 33-34.
73. Mangalam, 26.
74. Mangalam,26.
75· For example, EI-Aguizy (1998), 303 : i4-

the me i1es xes UI,

w, tId leo rst ne
Ie,
Id
Ie
:d
le
n 'I
11
f
would seem to indicate that the Meroitic te or /4 may more likely represent a d
syllable, for
example.1.6(OldNubian,"and":Meroiticte?)orAep,sofrequentinOldNubiancompounds (to
apply, reckon: Meroitic ter ?).76
Many scholars have commented on the Meroitic d phoneme. The Egyptians and Greeks
seem to have heard it as r, for example, in Mrw.t and Meroe for the Meroitic
Medewi, MdeH'i, Mdewe, Bedewi or Bedewe (note again the ambiguous nature of the
labial m/b) ; or as in Greek Primis for Meroitic Pedeme. In some African languages,
a trilled sound that almost seems a combination dr or tr is common. Ehret's
reconstructions ofProto-Nilo-Saharan non- initial consonants demonstrates a marked
tendency for non-initial Proto-Nilo-Saharan *d to become r in daughter languages.77
Kharosthi once again yields clues to the enigma of what sort of sounds the Meroitic
r and d may actually represent. First, the signs for da and ra seem barely
distinguishable in
Kharosthi, ~ and " respectively, while dra, lJ_, as well as tra, resemble Meroitic
r, w.78
Secondly, a great many signs exist for combinations of t, th, d, dh, with r both
before and after in the Kharosthi syllabary. Thirdly, the Kharosthi ra sign looks
very much like the dangling part of the Meroitic te sign (/4, proposed here as
representing a d sound), which seems to have been left off some of the Kalabsha
examples of this sign. 79 Lastly, most of the t and d signs in Kharosthi have
distinct horizontal cross bars like the Meroitic signs for both te and to.
One of the Egyptian hieroglyphic signs used for te in the Meroitic hieroglyphic
script is the outstretched arm determinative (which is the sign given on Priese's
Tabelle80 rather than the spiral type ofsign II] given in standard usage). It
meant" to offer or present" and seems to have had an original /di/ or /rdi/
pronunciation.81 C. Kuentz, however, points out that dental occlusives in Semitic
languages seem to have undergone mutations in Egyptian similar to the Germanic and
Armenian consonant shifts.82 The end result was that d and t came to be pronounced
the same, probably as t if Coptic is any indication. One cannot be certain which
pronunciation was in use at the time that Meroitic scribes were adapting the
Egyptian hieroglyphs for their own purposes. By the time that scribes were using
the Old Nubian alphabet, however, the pronunciation may have become /d/ in line
with the shift of Proto- Nilo-Saharan initial *t to Nubian d that Ehret
describes.83 Incidentally, almost all variations of the Kharosthi th syllable signs
have a dangling stroke reminiscent of the Meroitic te sign.
76. 77. 78.
79.
80.
81. 82.
83.
Browne (1989), 3-10 and (1996), 43, 46.
Ehret (2001), 30.
Mangalam, 28, 36. The Meroitie sign is closer to the Kharosthi than to the single
Demotic etymon that resembles it (EI-Aguizy 1998, [LXXIII: g3]).
Priese, 302.
Ibid., 303.
Alan Gardiner, Egyptien Grammar, 3rd ed. (London: Oxford University Press,
1957),32, 579,602. Charles Kuentz, "Les deux mutations consonantiques de l'egyptien
", in Atti del III Congresso interna- tionale dei linguisti (Roma 19-26 Septembre
1933), eds. B. Migliorini, V. Pisani (Firenze : 1935), 193-199. Ehret (2001), 21.
EvidencefOr an Early Nubian Dialect in !vleraitlc Inscriptions 27

28 MEROITIC NEWSLETTERW 30
The third of the supposed t signs in Meroitic cursive, ~,has been transcribed as
to. It also had another form ~. EI-Aguizy remarks that the Demotic form appears
both with and without the dot and notes that W Spiegelberg suggests that since the
same sign was used for both d and t, the dot may have indicated when a d was
intended.84 There is a single Demotic exampleofthissignrepresentingq,w.85
TheMeroiticsigndoesnothaveastrongresemblance to its Kharosthi counterpart.
Lexical evidence hints that it may have been closer to a Its/ sound. Adding weight
to this suggestion is the fact that the Old Nubian word for" water" (presumably ato
in Meroitic) appears both as 6TTW and b..CC6. On old maps such as.those
accompanying Burckhardt's
Travels in Nubia,86 the Atbara river appears as the Astaboras, with the asta
component presumably meaning water since other rivers in the area also have this
same prefix. This would appear to be a typical case of metathesis if the to were
actually pronounced ts. A similar conso- nant alternation seems to have
characterized the shift from Proto Afro-Asiatic to Pre-Egyptian, according to
Ehret. In his numbered sound shift rules, numbers 4 and 5 reflect similar chan-
ges:" #4. P M *t'> pre-Ego *ts'. #5. PAA *c> pre-Ego *ts... "87 In Ehret's Nilo-
Saharan recons- tructions the picture becomes exceedingly complicated: he has
proposed no less than nine proto-consonants for different types of t which have
become all sorts of phonemes in the daughter languages, including those under
discussion. 88
Hintze and Hofmann suggest that the to sign may have been used with an optative or
imperative sense ;89 this would square with the Old Nubian imperative particle
_CW.90
The problem ofse +1
Although ample evidence exists of forward and backward assimilation in the Nubian
languages, there seems to be no Nubian precedent for a mutation along the lines of
a sound- change law whereby Meroitic se plus l becomes te or se plus lo becomes to.
91 This apparent sound shift or assimilation in Meroitic has been widely accepted
by scholars; Hintze, for one, in some of his transliterations reconstructs se-l and
se-lo wherever te and to occur in the Meroitic texts.92
84· EI-Aguizy (1998), 40.
85· EI-Aguizy (1998), 343 [CXXX1V: gl].
nd
86. John lewis Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia, 2
87· C. Ehret, Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic, (Berkeley: University o f
California Press, 1995), 529.
88. Ehret (2001), 21, 31-
89· Hintze (1979), 76, and Hofmann (1981), 205-208.
90. Browne (1989), 3.9.17 ; and Gerald M. Browne, Old Nubian Dictionary Appendices,
Corpus Scriptorum
Christianorum Orientalium, v. 562, Subsidia t. 92 (Lovanii : Peeters, 1997), 38-43.
91• This phenomenon was first recognized by Griffith, "Meroitic Studies II",
Journal ofEgyptian Archeology 3 (1916), 124- It came to be referred to as "
Hestermannsches Lautgesetz" because of an article on the subject by F. Hestermann,
" Ein Lautgesetz in den meroitischen Inschriften ", Folia Ethnoglossica 1 (1925),
11-13. It has also been noted by N. Millet, " A Possible Phonetic Alternation in
Meroitic ",
Meroitica 1 (1973),314, and by 1. Hofmann, Meroitische Grammatik (Wien : Afro-Pub,
1981), 36-37.
92• For example, F. Hintze, " Die Struktur der ' Deskriptionssatze ' in den
meroitischen Totentexten ",
ed., (London: Murray, 1822), [1].

or
"Ie
ce
IS
:)
,
S
It d )-
1,
,-
e e
r
While Browne mentions no Old Nubian assimilation of this sort, Murray does mention
an assimilation ofst becoming tt.93 Given that t and d interchange frequently in
the Nilo- Saharan languages, one could perhaps think of that tt also as dd.
Considering that Ehret proposes a sound shift of initial *1 to d in Nubian (as
represented by Dongolawi),94 the following shift becomes conceivable: sl > sd then
sd > dd, which in Meroitie would look like the te sign (geminates were only written
once). To add another interesting dimension to Ehret's proposed Proto-Nilo-Saharan
*1 =Nubian d equation, the Kharosthi d sign (as noted above) appears to be
identical to the Meroitic I sign.95
Another explanation for the interchange of sl with dlte may lie in two Old Nubian
near synonyms: CU8 meaning" every(one) "96 and A18, meaning" many ".97 Neither of
these necessarily requires a plural noun and may also be used more like a partitive
genitive in some cases. Commonly in Meroitic, adjectives can attach to the nouns
they follow, as we see in the numerous instances of lb. In many cases, then, the
apparent -sl and -te suffixes could well be two different adjectives or partitive
genitives (with the standard Old Nubian rectumlregens order).
Yet another explanation for the supposed sl>te assimilation could result from
Browne's proposed original verb forms. Ifte indeed represents an Old Nubian A, such
suffixes as AlAI, A8AN (>A8N), and AIAy might be comparable to -teli, -te (with
unwritten n) or -telw. The supposed assimilation might thus simply represent
different tenses of the same verbs with the -sl suffixes representing the Old
Nubian preterite II forms and the -te suffixes representing the future forms.
What does the proposed revision of te (/4) as dar th mean for the Meroitic sign
which
has been labelled d C5U) ?Again, the Kharosthi script may point to the answer:
Kharosthi g 'a,
-e,orj 'a, 't, looks much like the Meroitic 5U sign, which can also have the
form ,..?-.98 As
well, some Old Nubian words proposed here as possible cognates for Meroitic ones
have aj or 9sound. Examples: Meroitic dh as in adhite in Akinidad 8 (and Old Nubian
6D-.y, " to
proclaim" ?), Meroitic d as in the Old Nubian direct object marker represented by
the sign b (or6
inBrowne'sgrammaranddictionary).99ThedominantsoundintheEgyptianwordfor
the eye of Horus or the watch I wej-t hieroglyph ~, the same hieroglyph which
Meroitic scribes used before the development of the cursive, was tch or ej or g, as
Y. Zawadowski1 0 0 and Griffith101 point out.
Mitteilungen des Instituts fUr Orientforschungen der Deutschen Akademie der
Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Bd.
IX, Heft 1 (1963), 3.
93. Murray, xxx.
94. Ehret (2001), 22.
95. Mangalam, 28.
96. Browne (1996), 158.
97. Ibid., 45·
98. Mangalam, 17, 20.
99. Browne (1989), 3·9·5b.
100. Yuri Zawadowski, "Some Considerations on Meroitic Phonology", MNL 10 Guly,
1972), 27.
101. Griffith (1916), 117·
Evidencefor an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 29

3°
MEROITfC NEWSLETTER W 30
Ehret's reconstructed Proto-Nilo-Saharan initial *d became} in Dongolawi. Other
types of *d, however, remained as d while both initial and non-initial *g also
became} in Dongo- lawi ; to further complicate the picture, initial *t and non-
initial *t and *th shifted to d.l02 Such shifts have produced a situation in which
possible cognates between Meroitic and Old Nubian as well as the other Nubian
languages seem to keep multiplying.
Possible evidence for a} sound for the Meroitic d is the word Med}ay, the Egyptian
term for an ethnic group from the desert region of Nubia whose members often served
as police or servants in Egypt. In Demotic sources they are called Brhm while in
classical sources they are the Blemmyes, ancestors of the modern Beja.103 Scholars
have speculated that these are the Mdd people who are cited in the Irike-Amanote
and Harsiotef stelae. l 0 4 One might also wonder whether they could be ancestors
of the Amag or Hama}, who are cited in later docu- ments from Funj history and by
early Arab and European travellers. lO S Their name could also reflect an
association with the area referred to as Amod (probably the region now known as
QustulbetweenGebelAddaandFaras)inMeroiticintheblll:Jrorinscriptions.106 TheMeroitic
word mdes in the opening lines of the Kharamadoye stela may well refer to the
king's domi- nion over this land or people. Browne in his Old Nubian dictionary
cites the Meroitic word mde as possibly meaning" servant" under the Old Nubian
entry for H 6 A 6 o y . l 0 7
The Meroitic q sign or I<> may have been pronounced more like a hard k, while the k
sign or 'Z.. may have sounded more like a softer k or kh. Although the closest
Demotic match in appearance for the k sign is the one that represents the triple-
wave group writing sign, El- Aguizy gives no phonetic equivalent for this etymon. l
0 8 Strangely, the other Demotic sign that resembles the Meroitic k is the group
writing sign for bk. Neither the q nor the k has a Kharosthi equivalent.
The Coptic evidence also supports the pronunciation as k of the Egyptian goose
biliteral hieroglyph used by Meroitic scribes (~), while the Greek transcription
seems to have been kh. This sign originally represented gb in Egyptian, as in the
earth god Geb, but probably was pronouncedkasinCopticKH6T,
orkhasintheGreekversionofthesamegod'sname,xnl3, by the time the Meroitic scribes
adopted Egyptian signs to write their own language, according to A. Dembska.109
A look at a likely Old Nubian cognate reinforces the idea of a /k/ pronunciation
for the Meroitic q. It is generally agreed that Meroitic qo was probably an
honorific with the conno-
102. 103· 104. 105. 106.
107.
108. 109.
Ehret (2001) 20-21, 30-31.
Torok (1997), 39·
For example, Eide, ed., v. 2, 4°7,448-449.
Jay Spaulding, "The Fate of Alodia ", MNL 15 (October 1974),12,16.
Eide, ed., v. 2, 675-676. The Old Nubian word H6A60Y meaning" servant" may reflect
the fact that members of this ethnic group often wound up as prisoners.
Ibid., 114.
EI-Aguizy (1998), 346 [emIl].
Albertyna Dembska, "A Note on the Sound Shift in the Egyptian Language and the
Phonetic Value of the Meroitic [k] Sign ", Rocznik-Orientalistyczyny (1987), 45 :2,
73-75, and Kuentz (1935), 193-199.

types ngo-
tation of" noble person", comparable to Old Nubian KO meaning" master".llO The
Meroitic word for king or sovereign, qore, might be a contraction of ko and the
Dongola and Kenuz word for" chief" or " king", ur or uru in Nobiin, oypoy in Old
Nubian, oypo in Coptic.
Bechhaus-Gerst, on the other hand, suggests that the Old Nubian cognate for qore is
rap or rOA, which would equate Meroitic q with Old Nubian r (pronounced as a
prenasalized g or Ingl rather than the unvoiced k). Browne and Murray both say this
means" Lord" with an upper-case L . l l I The modern Nubian (Nobiin) cognate nor
can mean" master" or "owner"
aswellas"god";itsresemblancetoCopticI~OYT6meaning"god"ll2 seemsstrongerthanto qore.
Perhaps a better cognate for rOA would be Meroitic note as in the god's name Mnote,
or Lord Amon (for example in the Kharamadoye stela, lines 9 and 12) ; this could
also be the equivalent ofEgyptian lmn-njwtj or" Amon-of-Thebes", literally, "Amon-
of-the-city".ll3
IfOld Nubian r is indeed the equivalent ofMeroitic /<)' both signs may hark back to
an earlier NiIo-Saharan phoneme not present in the Egyptian language. Proto-Nilo-
Saharan, according to Ehret, had four nasals: Iml, Inl, Inyl and IfJ/.ll4 The last,
while lost in present- day Dongolawi through the strong influence ofMro-Asiatic
languages in the area, may still have been in use as an initial during Old Nubian
times. As Bechhaus-Gerst suggests, it could be a vestige of Meroitic q. U5
Scoring Meroitic and Kharosthi
In an honors thesis written for Rhode Island College in 1999, Longpre presents a
useful method of tabulating ancient scripts from various regions of the Middle East
and North Mrica.u6 She assigns a score to each sign according to how closely it
resembles its Meroitic counterpart and then gives each writing system a total
score. The highest scoring systems (that is, those which most resembled Meroitic)
were what she calls" Enchorial Egyptian",117 Demotic Egyptian (7th-5th c. B.C.E.)
and Nabatean Aramaic with 28 out of a possible 38, 25 out of 34 and 19 out of 36
points respectively if each sign receives a 2 for strong resemblance, 1 for some
resemblance or 0 for no resemblance. The second figure for each pair varies because
some of
110. Browne (1996), 95.
L. Reinisch gives another definition of the word ko in the modern Nubian language
Nobiin. In his glossary of the Barea language, he says that the Barea word ku,
meaning" man ", is a cognate of Nubian ko which he says means" person" or" self".
[Leo Reinisch, Die Barea-Sprache: Grammatik, Text und
Worterbuch nach den handschriftlichen Materialen von werner Munzinger Pascha,
Sprachen von Nord- Ost-Mrika 1. Bd. (Wien : W. Braumiiller, 1874), 138]. Murray, on
the other hand, gives the modern Nubian meaning as" alone". [Murray, 101].
111. Browne (1996), 201 ; Murray, 134.
112. Lambdin, 251.
113. C. Rilly, personal communication.
114. Ehret (2001), 6.
115. Bechhaus-Gerst (1984), 94·
116. Longpre, 47-54.
117. "Enchorial" represents the Demotic of the Rosetta stone in the Ptolemaic
period (332-3° B.C.E.).
i.
10
Old
erm °e or , are
the
lIsa
'cu- lIsa 1 as ItIc TII- nd
~k
ch
:1-
~n
a
al
n LS I, g
2
EvidencefOr an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 31

32 MEROITfC NEWSLETTER N° 30
the scripts lack signs for certain sounds. Converting these scores to percentages
gives results of th~
74%,73% and 53%. th
"h
It should be pointed out, however, that Longpre seems to make no allowances for the
fact that some of the Demotic signs, while not matching the specific Meroitic sign
cited in
each column, do bear a likeness to other related signs. For example, the Demotic
signs for t do
not resemble the Meroitic t but rather the Meroitic teo As well, the Meroitic se
resembles not
an Enchorial se but rather s. If she had had access to EI-Aguizy's thorough
examination of Demotic papyri, some of her scores might be different. ot
Because such omissions might have affected the outcome, I scored the same three
scripts myself. The results were: Enchorial, 31 out of 40, or 77%, Demotic, 21 out
of 38, or 55%, and Nabatean Aramaic, 17 out of 40, or 43%·
Repeating Longpre's exercise by matching Meroitic signs with the Kharosthi script
produces a slightly higher score, 34 out of a possible 42, or 81%. For some signs
like r, d, t and w, closer matches occur in Kharosthi than in the other languages
mentioned.
In the following table, I have chosen representative examples in each script. Many
varia- tions of each sign exist according to individual scribes and time period.
a e i 0 y b d t! nk 1 m n np q r s S t te to w umjkbr-m-npydr dts11
as
M
ac
gr
T
o e I s
~.(~+/11/II>V~ vf,~5~>?z... /<)wVII~") /4~ U '-
Mer.
Khar.
score 2 2 2 1 0 2 2 1 2 0 2 2 2 0 2 0 2 1
~
1 "I.-
'-.J "]/\ -e
'2
s7 Jb
V
"
44
,..,
L
-~+ u_ ~
C. J. r"".. ~
Strictly from the point of view of resemblance, then, Kharosthi would seem to have
a roughly equal claim to Enchorial/Demotic as far as some kind of relationship with
Meroitic goes. As mentioned earlier, from a strictly geographical viewpoint,
influence on the Meroitic script by the Enchorial/Demotic script appears far more
likely than by Kharosthi. What the results of the above comparison may signal is
that Meroitic and Kharosthi owe their mutual resemblance to the fact that they are
both greatly indebted to the Egyptian. A different direc- tion of influence,
however, even that of Meroitic to both Demotic and Kharosthi, cannot be ruled out
entirely.
Another tabulation helpful in approaching the Meroitic cursive script is Rilly's
recent " Comparaison paleographique ".118 That article's grid has revealed a
curious phenomenon.
ThesyllablesignsthatmayprovetobeoftheVCtype(It., 5,~,and u)allhaveacomponent
u8. Claude Rilly, " Approche comparative de la paleographie et de la chronologie
royale de Meroe ", MNL 28 (Paris: Groupe d'etudes mero"itiques de Paris, 2001), 85·
/II
,..,
L
2
12

sof
the Iin do lot of
pts nd
pt ld
a-
that resembles the right-hand part ofthe a syllable sign ('2). This sign
itselfuncannily resembles the Old Nubian, Coptic and Kharosthi signs for h as well
as a reversed "hamza" ofArabic script. Possibly this element ofthe ~2. produced the
quality of Vokalanlaut, as Priese refers to ir.1l9
In sum, this experiment ofscoring scripts, for all its limitations, does emphasize
that the Meroitic cursive script resembles Kharosthi about as much as it does
DemoticlEnchorial. In addition, a few of the Kharosthi signs like r seem closer
matches than the Demotic ones while others, such as w, ii and n, have matches whose
phonetic counterparts in Demotic seem to be group wflnng.
The possible consequences of the change of scripts
This article would be incomplete ifit did not suggest a possible historical
explanation for why the relationship between Meroitic and Nubian became obscured.
Our knowledge ofOld Nubian comes from inscriptions and manuscripts from the time of
the Christian Nubian kingdoms; these realms occupied more or less the same area as
the earlier kingdom of Kush. In the late 8th and i h centuries B.C.E., Kushite
pharaohs ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty; when forced back to Kush by an Assyrian
invasion, the Meroitic- speaking Kushite society continued to flourish with its
center at Meroe until it disintegrated in the early 5th century C.E. The Christian
kingdoms rose soon after.
Bechhaus-Gerst, in 1984, used glottochronological methods to hypothesize a history
of the Nubian languages.12o In a 1989 paper, she speaks of the" Pre-Nobiin ", the
ancestors of Old Nubian speakers and modern Nobiin speakers. Citing cultural
vocabulary, she proposes that it is " highly probable the migration of pre-Nobiin
speakers into the Nile Valley took place no later than 1400 B.C. "121 She does not
give an earliest possible date.
Vague though it is, this time frame is useful. It provides a general era for the
emergence ofearly Nubian in the region and, although Bechhaus-Gerst does not
suggest it, would appear to put these early Nubian speakers in the right place at
roughly the right time to have been Kushites, and as such, Meroitic speakers.
119. Priese (1973), 284-285.
120. Bechhaus-Gerst (1984), 18. Her work was based in part on the research of Peter
Behrens, " Ggroup-
Sprache-Nubisch-Tu Bedawiye: ein sprachliches SequenzmodeII und seine
geschichtlichen Implikatio- nen ", Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 3 (1981), 17-
49, and on lexico-statistics assembled by Robin ThelwalI, "Lexico-statistical
relations between Nubian, Daju and Dinka ", in Etudes Nubiennes, Collo- que de
Chantilly, 2-6]uillet 1915 (Cairo: 1978), 265-286.
121. Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, " Nile-Nubian Reconsidered ", Topics in Nilo-Saharan
Linguistics, ed. M. Lionel Bender, Nilo-Saharan 3 (Hamburg: Buske, 1989), 92.
a
c
Evidencefor an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptiom 33

34 MEROITIC NEWSLETTER N° 30
Archaeologists and anthropologists suggest that the peoples of the area have been
of langl virtually the same stock for the last 5,000 years.122 This increases the
likelihood that the eqUl' Nubian speakers of the Christian kingdoms were the
descendants of Kushites. If so, how has misunderstanding arisen about their
language? Perhaps the source ofconfusion can be found
in the writing change that accompanied the advent of Christianity in Nubia.
The following scenario might have occurred. Ancient scribes and possibly even the
Church fathers (who first attempted to render the Bible into the language of the
inhabitants of the former Meroitic empire) may have had considerable difficulty in
converting the Meroitic cursive syllabic script to the Greek-based alphabets used
in Coptic and Old Nubian. In continuing the written tradition of Kush and Meroe in
an alphabetic form, these scribes may have made some decisions that seem peculiar
now.
wore syml
COF
Nul oftl syll: OWl
Some of their changes in orthography might reflect changes in pronunciation due to
Ehl sound shifts. Almost a thousand years separate the most recent examples of
Meroitic cursive haF script from the earliest surviving examples of Old Nubian. We
need only look at the to) development of Old Anglo-Saxon into Shakespearean English
(over a shorter period) to appreciate how much a language can change in such an
amount of time.
SOl
In adapting the new Greek/Coptic script to the needs of the language of the former
Meroitic empire, the scribes faced the challenge ofhow to cope with all the nasals
that appear
to characterize not just Meroitic (in which so many seem to have been unwritten)
but also as numerous Nilo-Saharan languages, as a glance at Ehret's proto phonemes
indicates.123 In be converting from syllabary to alphabet, the scribes would have
had to choose between considering alt unwritten syllable-final nasals as letters in
their own right or as pre-nasalization of the initial th consonant of the following
syllable. For example, where Meroitic speakers had written pesta
but pronounced !pesante!, the new written form could have been written p-e-s-a-n-t-
(e) or p-e-s-a-nt-(e).
Ehret identifies these prenasalized medial consonants as distinct phonemes in proto
Nilo- Saharan, but for nt, nd, nk, and ng the scribes may have opted to write these
blends as two separate letters, using the simple N, the equivalent of the Meroitic
Vn syllable. It is even possible that the dot on the Meroitic .~ sign may indicate
nasalization as such a dot indicates anusvara in the Brahmi, Sanskrit and Hindi
alphabets. Priese's table has examples of the sign both with and without the
dot.124
sc Sf
d
p
f( n c t
a As speculated earlier, the Meroitic ~ may have been closer to ts in
pronunciation. ]
When the scribes began to use the Coptic/Greek alphabet to transcribe the Old
Nubian
122. William Y. Adams, Nubia: Corridor to Africa (London: Allen Lane, 1977), 667 ;
Peter Shinnie, Meroe: A Civilization o fthe Sudan (London: Thames and Hudson,
1967), 155; Bruce Trigger, "Nubian, Negro, Black, Nilotic ?" in Africa in
Antiquity, v. 1 : The Arts ofNubia and the Sudan (New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1978),
27-35, and Torok (1997), 43-44.
123. Ehret (2001), 20, 32.
124. Priese, 303.

1 of
thehttp://olmec98.net/parker1.png
has lnd
rch the
itic In lay
to lve he to
er ar 50 [n Ig al o )r
! ~-
J
1
S
language, they may have arbitrarily opted for the C for both sand ts since the ts
had no equivalent sign in those alphabets.
The Greek alphabet also had no way ofindicating the nV sign with its constraints
against word-initial use. The scribes therefore may have continued to employ the
existing Meroitic symbol, ~,slightly tipped, where necessary.
However, for words that contained the laryngeals band b, neither ofwhich occurs in
the Coptic/Greek/Old Nubian alphabet, problems would have arisen. There is only a
single Old Nubian word, other than loan words, with an initial h (2) : the word for
heaven, 2~pH. Many of these Meroitic laryngeals occur in conjunction with unwritten
final nasals in the preceding syllable. For example, a bilingual rendering (in
Egyptian and Meroitic) of the name of the owner ofPyramid no. 5at Meroe shows that
Irknhrl = AriktJror.125 The b(probably close to Ehret's proto Nilo-Saharan *h)
appears to have dropped out of the spoken language (as happened across the board in
most of the Nilo-Saharan languages, according to Ehret126 ) or to have been
assimilated in most words containing it.
For words in which the bfollowed an unwritten nasal, however, the loss of the
bthrough sound change would have meant that the nasal, doubtless altered in some
way, would have become the initial phoneme ofthe following syllable. This could
explain why the scribes may have re-interpreted the Meroitic bsign, v ' which had
come to represent a nonexistent sound, as the symbol for the syllable-initial
nsound that had resulted. Since the Greek/Coptic alpha- bet had no letter for such
a sound, they could have continued to make use ofthe Meroitic sign although it now
stood for a different sound than it had originally. This v or r sign rather than l'
may have come into use for all initial N sounds in Old Nubian.
With words that had unwritten syllable-final nasals before b, the proto *kh type of
sound had probably shifted to k by the time of the Old Nubian writers so they could
have spelled out NK using the Greek/Coptic alphabet. Millet suggests that the
Meroitic word blo is the number word" seven ", cognate with Nobiin kolod and Old
Nubian KOAOT ; this would produce an equivalence of Old Nubian K for Meroitic b,127
as corroborated by Ehret's research.128 Peust supports this contention and has
added Meroitic bara, possibly meaning north, as a cognate for Old Nubian K~AOor
K~AA8.129 Still, these cognates are by no means certain. Neither Ehret nor Bender
shows any interchange ofmedial I and r (as would have had to have taken place
between bara and K~AO) from proto Nilo-Saharan to the present,130 although such an
alternation was common for Egyptian (which had no sign for I) and Meroitic.
In addition, Millet bases his hypothesis on the Meroitic combination yereblo (with
the yere
125. Macadam, 53.
126. Ehret (2001), 15-16, [22].
127. N.B. Millet, " Some Possible Meroitic Number Words" in Steffen Wenig, ed.,
Studien zum antiken
Sudan: Aktum der 7· Internationalen lagungfUr meroitische Forschungen vom 14. Bis
19. September in
Gosen/bei Berlin, Meroitica 15 (Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 1999), 616-621. 128.
Ehret (2001), 21.
129. Peust, 79-80.
130. Bender (1997), 68 and Ehret (2001), 33.
Evidencefor an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 35

36 MEROITIC NEWSLETTER W 30
supposedly meaning" ten "), which he suggests means" seventeen" since it appears
both with
and without the written numeral 17. This, he proposes, may be a case ofdittography.
However,
the same group of signs, yereblo, appears many times in graffiti at Kawa with all
sorts of spelli numbers other than seventeen.l31 It may simply be the first or
second person plural form ofa keepi
verb and does not seem to be proof that blo means" seven ". The weakness of the
cases for these cognates, however, does not necessarily invalidate the idea that
Meroitic bcould be the equivalent of Old Nubian K.
There is also some evidence that the Meroitic sign for b, or v ' originally may
have been a labialized laryngeal hw sound, perhaps similar to *'w, the glottalic
glide that Ehret hypothesizes for proto Nilo-Saharan.132 When the laryngeal
component disappeared, it may have left behind a residual w sound that came to be
written as y or " oy " in Old Nubian. Several Old Nubian words appear to be cognate
with some of Ehret's reconstructions for initial *'W : Oy8, to say (Browne b996},
204) and *'we, to say or tell (Ehret {2001}, #1424) ; oyoy, to shout (Browne b996},
130) and *'wi, to cry out (Ehret {20m}, #1438) ; oyp, burning (Browne b996}, 139)
and *'wir, to shine (Ehret {2001}, #1441); o.\.p/O.\..h..8, night (Browne {1996},
122) and *a'wa : d, night (Ehret {20m}, #1465).
i mayl
lates evid(
were unde Cop vow exar lllSC
Nul " po
nas; Another explanation may be that diphthongs created by the loss of a consonant
tend to Olc
become pronounced with a medial w when the second component is a back vowel, or
with a medial y when the second component is a front vowel. The very fact that w
came to be written as a diphthong ou or oy in the Old Nubian alphabet may indicate
that its original sign was for a VC syllable, similar to the alternate s, m and n
signs examined earlier. Its CV counterpart in this case would have to be the
Meroitic " 0 " sign (t), which some scholars would prefer to transliterate as
U133and which resembles nothing so much as the Semitic waw or vav.
per
un. Th ane O[c
The apparent confusion by Old Nubian writers about how to handle the W sound may
in itself testify to the possible existence of both VC and CV syllables in
Meroitic. The Greek ne alphabet of the time had no true sign for w (since the old
digamma was no longer in use). As cit a result, Coptic scribes had resorted to
using an oy combination to represent this sound. an While Old Nubian scribes used
this technique also, they seem to have found it insufficient, to perhaps because
ofthe existence two types ofsyllable (CV and VC) in Meroitic; they therefore
may have adopted an additional sign, the Meroitic w: 5. This sign is similar to the
Demotic group writing sign for nw,134 another example of a Meroitic sign that
represents the final
rather than the initial phoneme of an Egyptian sign. Coincidentally, it also
resembles the Kharosthi nu, reversed, although it is closer to the u. It shows no
resemblance to the Demotic signs for the hieroglyphic that Meroitic scribes used
for w. Browne's dictionary lists only eight
pi th tv v(
sc
a
tc a I,
entries under this sign, all of them followed by the vowels ~ or 8 131• M.F.L.
Macadam, The Temples ofKawa (London: 1949), V. 1,96-99.
(there are no I, 81, 0
or oy).
132 • 133·
Ehret (2001), 14-15.
Yuri Zawadowski, " Some Considerations on Meroitic Phonology", Meroitic Newsletter
10 (July 1972), 20-21.
134-
EI-Aguizy (1998) [CXCVI].

rith
ver,
of )fa
for he
en :es 1d
o a n r 1 )
Some of the y semi-vowel signs also might have become written as diphthongs. Ye and
yi mayhavebecome81 and~I,asinOldNubian,):t",meaning"I"or8!p meaning"you".These
spellings in themselves may indicate the presence ofVC signs. Such spellings would
be in keeping with sound shift rule 4 for Dongolawi (as representative ofNubian)
that Ehret postu- lates :135 PSN *Y>zero. Such a rule would also be consistent with
the change from ye- to e-, evidenced by a comparison of the Akinidad stela with
that ofTanyideamani.
The sound shifts that apparently occurred as the Egyptian language evolved into
Coptic were not confined to the consonants studied by Dembska and Kuentz. The
language also underwent the effects of vowel precession : front vowels became back
vowels so that many Coptic words have 0 or 0'1" or 0 0 or even 0'1"0 and 0'1"081
where the hieroglyphs showed no vowels. There is reason to think that Meroitic also
experienced such vowel precession. For example, the Meroitic wte- (in the formulaic
opening lines of the so-called " epistolary " inscriptions such as REM1096) may
have become 0'1"8111.. (meaning" to be distant ", in Old Nubian). As well, tke, as
in line 3 of the Kharamadoye stele, may have become T 0 8 K (meaning " power ") .
In addition, frequent gemination that had been unwritten became written. Syllable-
final nasals hitherto unwritten also became written. Thus Meroitic ye sometimes may
have become Old Nubian 81l'l, which is both a demonstrative and an equivalent of
the verb" to be" used in periphrastics that serve as substitutes for relative
clauses.
The scribes also may have seen fit to break up clauses and phrases that were
formerly undivided by the two- or three-dot separators in Meroitic and to write
them as discrete words. Thus prefixed subject-, direct object- and possessive-
pronouns like tr, eqe- or tk- or t[an]- and a[n] may have come to be written
separately though still maintaining the SOY word order shared by Meroitic and Old
Nubian syntax conventions.
When switching from Egyptian to Meroitic for monumental inscriptions several centu-
ries before, scribes had already experienced the adjustment problems that some
scholars have cited as responsible for the peculiar Egyptian grammar of the
inscriptions of the Harsiyotef and Nastasen stelae.136 These anomalies may have
been the result ofa change from Egyptian to Meroitic word order but could also have
resulted from a tendency to treat the entire verb phrase, including pronouns, as a
whole. Such a tendency in some other languages has led to the development of
conjugations with the subject pronouns becoming inseparable affixes. Meroitic seems
to have included object pronouns in these agglutinated verb phrases, a con- vention
that the scribes may have discontinued in switching to the Old Nubian alphabetic
scnpt.
The net effect was to produce a written language with frequent long strings of
vowels and doubled consonants that looked quite different from present-day
transliterations ofMeroitic texts. And, to be sure, the disappearance and
transformation oflaryngeals, the diphthongization and the conversion of semi-vowels
to vowels all contributed to the written language's new look.
135. Ehret (2001), 27· 136. Eide, ed., v. 2, 494.
Evidence fOr an Early Nubian Dialect in Meroitic Inscriptions 37

38 MEROITJC NEWSLETTER N° 30 Conclusion

We may obtain new insights into Meroitic by approaching the syllabary with a fresh
eye.
First, we should be open to the possibility of ev; ve, and even eev or vee types of
syllables.
Second, we should question the accepted equivalencies for certain other syllable
signs and be ready to revise some. These revised transliterations could include
te>d, to>ts and d>j.
Third, we must concede that many of the Meroitic cursive signs resemble not only
Demotic signs but also forms with similar phonetic values found in the Kharosthi
script. We must ask what this means in terms of ancient relations between
Kush/Meroe and the Middle East/Indian subcontinent and be alert to any linguistic
clues from that area that might prove to be vestiges of ancient Meroitic contact.
Finally and most important, we must recognize that the phonological and epigraphic
evidence points more and more to some early version of Old Nubian as a daughter
language of Meroitic.
Some ofthese suggestions fly in the face ofGriffith's transliterations and might
call into question some of the revised ones used in compiling the Repertoire
dEpigraphie Meroitique (REM). On the other hand, the father of Meroitic and Old
Nubian studies might be amused if the hunch he had almost a century ago should
prove to be true.
*

1 eye. )es of
SIgns
d>j.
only
We
idle
roVe
>hie age
1to
7ue
;ed
Standard Suggested Meroitic sign translit. revision
initial a V-
e
i yV
0oru Vwor0oru I
y V y 11/
Old Nubian
,\.
e
I
ooroy el
oy
nVorHV n
VH VN
"P
p (r'
A or A
y or zero
c (s)
OJ
r/K K/r ororA Aorp Torc 6orA
w wV
b bV or rnV
p pV or vp 2...
rn Vrn
n Vn
norne nV >(
r rV/Vr/trV/drV w
I IV or VI ~
D h or hw v bk~K/r
sorse sV VII
S (sh) or s
k
q
t tV 'l te d 14 to ts l;> d j or d :sv
Vs
g/k or Vg/Vk i. g/k + w /¢
Evidence fOr an Early Nubian Dialect in /..leroitic Inscriptions 39
Phonetic Correspondences between Meroitic and Old Nubian
~2. ~ +
5
II
~
Ii.
~
LJ

[edit] Background
[edit] Education

His listed[2][3] academic credentials include:

1973 - B.A., Sociology/History (University of Illinois)

1973 - M.A., Social Science (University of Illinois)
1994 - M.S., Education (Chicago State University)
2000 - Ph.D., Educational Psychology (Loyola University)

None have anything to do with genetics or deciphering ancient scripts which he

claims to be an expert in.
[edit] Uthman dan Fodio Institute

Winters says he is "Professor of Education, Anthropology and Linguistics, Uthman

dan Fodio Institute (UdFI)", as well as a "Faculty Member, Archaeogenetics", an
"Associate Professor" and "Director" at the same institute.[4] The problem is this
institution with an archaeogenetics department does not exist. Records show the
UdFI is a private home school in Chicago, which only has a history of enrolling and
teaching African-American students of the 8th grade (13 - 14 year olds).[5] UdFI's
staff or faculty members all seem to be one person: Clyde Winters. The private
school also appears to be his own house.

The Ancient Celts and Vikings were Black People

The Sumerians were Black
The Black Greeks
The Blacks of China's First Civilization: The Xia
Ancient African Kings of India
All ancient peoples and civilizations were black people from Africa (including the
Sumerians, Celts, Vikings, Romans, Greeks, Samurai, Olmec, and so on...) and that
white people and light skinned Northeast Asians are recent albinos or "mutants"
from caves with no ancient history:

A small number of Sub-Saharan African migrants in these civilizations through trade

contact etc.

Winters claims to have deciphered:

Indus (Harappan) script
Meroitic language
Sumerian
Olmec script

Sumerian, the Olmec and Indus Valley scripts can be understood with reference to
something called the Vai writing system, which he takes to use identical syllable-
sound pairings to these other tongues [...]

Black Africans were the inhabitants of Atlantis, which was in modern Libya, and
spread its culture and people around the world, bequeathing Black civilization to
all the other continents. This is why he feels all the ancient world languages are
merely versions of Black Atlantean language."[8]

Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Wayne State

University has debated Winters online the Afrocentric forum Egyptsearch regarding
the ancient Mesoamerican languages. He points out that: "The person in this forum
who is the biggest liar, misquoter, and provider of false or missing references is
YOU- Clyde".[9] Winters is known to distort data and misquote sources; when he is
shown to be a liar he spams the forum so no one can read what was posted.[10]

Winters has said that the Fuente Magna Bowl, a stone bowl that surfaced in the
1950s from South America is a genuine "proto-Sumerian" text. However, archaeologist
Carl Feagans noted that the bowl is dismissed as a hoax by scholars and described
Winters as "a pseudo-historian".[11]
[edit] Publications
[edit] Books

Winters publishes, and sells his books on Amazon Kindle, or self-prints copies from
Uthman dan Fodio Institute his home:

African Empires in Ancient America (2013)

The Ancient Black Civilizations of Asia (2013)
Atlantis in Mexico: The Mande Discovery of America (2013)
Meroitic Writing and Literature (2013)

Reviewed by a customer who wasted their money:

Total Afrocentric trash from a pseudo-academic. Made-up linguistics. The ancient
Meroitic language has not been translated.[12]

Dravidian (Tamil) is the language of the Indus Valley Writing (2014)

We Are Not JUST Africans: The Black Native Americans (2015)

[edit] Peer-review controversy

Winters has published letters and comments in response to peer-reviewed articles in

academic journals. However his responses while appearing in journals are not peer-
reviewed, despite him claiming the contrary. B. Ortiz de Montellano points out:
"articles you [Clyde Winters] claim in journals like PNAS are your letters
commenting on a legitimate article. These letters are NOT reviewed and just
published-- i.e. like the vanity press Current research Journal of Social Sciences
which has no review and published your article full of typos so it was not even
proofread. Similarly, the talk that is mentioned at the start of this thread, is
NOT peer reviewed. Talks at regional meetings, particularly those that not part of
organized sessions on a particular topic are NOT reviewed or given academic
approval."[13]

Most of the peer-reviewed work Winters has actually had published are confined to
fringe and pseudo-journals, examples include the Journal of African
Civilizations[14] and the Mankind Quarterly.
[edit] See also

David MacRitchie - crank 19th century folklorist who Winters often quotes from
Paul Marc Washington
Ancient Egyptian race controversy
Realhistoryww

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Clyde_Winters
Posts: 496 | From: Greenland | Registered: Mar 2011 | IP: Logged | Report this
post to a Moderator
Clyde Winters
Avatar Image
Member
Member # 10129

Rate Member Icon 1 posted 23 June, 2017 10:53 PM Profile for Clyde Winters
Author's Homepage Send New Private Message Edit/Delete Post Reply With
Quote
This is my response to the rationalWiki page.

Dr. Clyde Winters is an Educator and Anthropologist. He taught Education over 11

years at Governors State University-University Park, Illinois; and Liguistics at
Saint Xavier University-Chicago.. Over the past 13 years he has taught Bilingual
Education (courses: Educational Linguistic and Bilingual Language Assessment) and
Educational Administration (courses: Educational Psychology, Curriculum, School
Law, Leadership and Educational Research). He has contributed to the development of
the revised editions of Allan A. Glatthorn, Floyd Boschee, Bruce M. Whitehead,
Curriculum leadership: strategies for development and implementation
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1412967813/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i3?
pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-
1&pf_rd_r=0J8HEWHCA4335TFD71PD&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=207947 5242&pf_rd_i=desktop
and ; R. G. Owens and T.C. Valesky , Organizational Behavior in Education:
Leadership and School Reform (10th Edition) http://www.amazon.com/Organizational-
Behavior-Education-Leadership-School/dp/0137017464/ref=sr_1_2?
ie=UTF8&qid=1438478829&sr=8-2&keywords=Organizational+Behavior+in+Education%3A+Le
adership+and+School+Reform (See: Prefaces).
[edit]Education
His listed[1][2] academic credentials include:
 1973 - B.A., Sociology/History (University of Illinois)
 1973 - M.A., Social Science, Minors: Linguistics and Anthropology (University
of Illinois)
 1994 - M.S., Special Education Education (Chicago State University)
 2000 - Ph.D., Educational Psychology (Loyola University)

Dr. Winters has a Masters degree in Anthropology and Linguistics. This gives him
the background to decipher ancient languages and write on population genetics.

[edit]Uthman dan Fodio Institute

Uthman dan Fodio Institute is a private research institute founded by Dr. Clyde
Winters. It began as a home school to teach students in Elementary and High School.
http://olmec98.net/UdFI.htm

Stephen Howe, Professor of History and Cultures of Colonialism, University of

Bristol has noted:
The tendency to claim or imply grand-sounding academic careers and affiliations
seems to be quite widespread among Afrocentrists.

He refers to Clyde Winters as an example.[3] Wim van Binsbergen (*1947), Amsterdam-

trained anthropologist, proto-historian, and intercultural philosopher (various
professorial chairs in Europe and Africa, Professor of Intercultural Philosophy,
Erasmus University Rotterdam and Editor of Quest: An African Journal of
Philosophy / Revue Africaine de Philosophie), commenting on Howe's work, in Black
Athena Comes of Age, page 277, wrote: "Scholarly reputations are also readily
sacrificed on the altar of Howe's indignation vis-a-vis Afrocentrism and the more
readily so, the less Howe knows of their specialist field. The synthetic
programmatic overview of Afrocentrism by Clyde Ahmad Winters is sarcastically
dismissed (67), but no attention is paid to the same writers intriguing linguistic
work published in authoritative international journals, tracing parallels between
West African languages, Asian and native American contexts, and suggesting an
unexpected Asian demension to African presence, thus challenging all accepted geo
political wisdom".[36]

van Binsbergen observes that Dr. Winters is the "leading Afrocentrist"

http://www.shikanda.net/topicalities/martin.htm.

[edit]Race discrimination case

Winters filed a race discrimination action against Iowa State University in 1991.
He was employed as Director of the Black Cultural Center at Iowa State University
from August 1974 to May 1975.
The case was dismissed because he failed to file his case in a timely fashion..[4]

[edit]Peer-review controversy
The author of this article claims Winters has published letters and comments in
response to peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. However his responses
while appearing in journals are not peer-reviewed, despite him claiming the
contrary. B. O. de Montellano points out: "the articles you [Clyde Winters] claim
in journals like PNAS are your letters commenting on a legitimate article. These
letters are NOT reviewed and just published-- i.e. like the vanity press Current
research Journal of Social Sciences which has no review and published your article
full of typos so it was not even proofread. Similarly, the talk that is mentioned
at the start of this thread, is NOT peer reviewed. Talks at regional meetings,
particularly those that not part of organized sessions on a particular topic are
NOT reviewed or given academic approval."[5]
This is false. You can not make a presentation at a Conference if it has not been
reviewed and found acceptable for the Conference by experts in the field.

I have made presentation at international and national anthropological meetings,

before my "peers" including AAA. For example Linda Schele attended my 1997 Olmec
presentation.

-
-

Friday, April 16th

... in Highland Chiapas. 9:30. Clyde Winters (Loyola U - Chicago) Olmec Symbolism
in the Mayan Writing. 9:50. Nestor Quiroa (U Illinois ...
www.aaanet.org/csas/mtg99/program/pfri.html - 47k - Cached - Similar pages

Saturday, April 17th

... 11:15. Samuel Cooper (Bar Ilan U) The Classification of Biblical Sacrifice.
11:35. Clyde Winters (Loyola U - Chicago) Harappan Origins of Yogi. 11:55. ...
www.aaanet.org/csas/mtg99/program/psat.html - 50k - Cached - Similar pages

preliminary program csas98

... Mexican Villages. 4:10 Clyde A. Winters (Uthman dan Fodio I) Jaguar Kings:
Olmec Royalty and Religious Leaders in the First Person. 4:30 ...
www.aaanet.org/csas/mtg98/Prelimp5.htm - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

Thursday April, 3 - Early Afternoon

... Russia [1413]. 2:30 pm - Clyde A. Winters (Uthman dan Fodio Institute) - The
Decipherment of Olmec Writing [1414]. 2:50 pm - James ...
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The author claims that :Most of the peer-reviewed work Winters has actually had
published are confined to fringe and pseudo-journals, examples include the Journal
of African Civilizations[9] and the Mankind Quarterly.

The author writes: Dr. Winters' work is only published in fringe publications this
is false. Dr. Winters' articles in the Journal of African Civilization and Mankind
Quarterly, were published 30 years ago. He has published over a hundred articles
since then.

It is normal science for scholars to write responses to published research letters.

Dr. Winters is only doing what other scientist do.

Dr. Winters has published many peer reviewed articles and they are not in "fringe"
journals. For example, Dr. Winters has three articles recognized by the NCBI. The
is the United States agency that only list peer reviewed science articles. These
articles are

1. A comparison of Fulani and Nadar HLA, by Clyde Winters, Indian J Hum Genet. 2012
Jan-Apr; 18(1): 137–138. doi: 10.4103/0971-6866.96686 PMCID: PMC3385173.[10]

2. The Fulani are not from the Middle East, by Clyde Winters, Proc Natl Acad Sci U
S A. 2010 August 24; 107(34): E132. Published online 2010 August 3. doi:
10.1073/pnas.1008007107. PMCID: PMC2930572.[11]
3. Can parallel mutation and neutral genome selection explain Eastern African M1
consensus HVS-I motifs in Indian M haplogroups, by Clyde Winters Indian J Hum
Genet. 2007 Sep-Dec; 13(3): 93–96. doi: 10.4103/0971-6866.38982 .PMCID:
PMC3168144[12]

]b]As you can see many of the comments in this article are unfounded. Given the
bias and lies published in this Wiki, it should be unlocked so that it can show a
more balanced view. Power98 (talk) 11:41, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

[edit]Afrocentric historical revisionism

The author claims that this is historical revisionism. This is false Leo Wiener, in
Africa and the Discovery of America, was the first researcher to write that the
olmecs were Black.[13]. Africa and the Discovery of America is 3 volumes. Writing
that Blacks founded the Olmec and Sumerian civilizations is Afrocentric
Revisionism, the Afro-American historian trained at Harvard University, Dr. E.B.
DuBois has been writing about this fact since publication of the Negro in 1915
[14]; he also discussed this historical reality in The World and Africa [15]. How
is this historical revisionism when Afro-Americans have been stating these
historical truths since 1915.
Power98 (talk) 12:37, 2 August 2015 (UTC)
[edit]Decipherment

This Wiki page claims that Dr. Winters decipherments are wrong because of an
article by Jason Colavito and comments attacking Dr. Winters by Bernard Ortiz de
Montellano in a discussion group. This section is biased because Calavito and
Montellano are not linguists—but Dr. Winters is a linguist who has a Master’s
Degree in Social Science with Minors in Anthropology and Linguistics.

It also fails to acknowledge that Dr. Winters taught linguistics at Saint Xavier
University—Chicago.

People claim they have deciphered dead languages everyday—just because people
disagree does not mean the decipherment should be ridiculed.

The author of this page failed to acknowledge that Dr. Winters has published
authoritative articles and books on his decipherments.

Dr. Winters has published significant articles on his decipherments

2009. Literacy Existed in the Indus Valley .Science Magazine. E-Letter. (2June
2009) http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/324/5931/1165

2011. Olmec (Mande) Loan Words in the Mayan, Mixe-Zoque and Taino Languages .
Current Research Journal of Social Science Year: 2011 Vol: 3 Issue: 3 Pages/record
No.: 152-179. http://maxwellsci.com/print/crjss/v3-152-179.pdf

2012. Dravidian is the language of the Indus writing

http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/103/10/1220.pdf

(1999). The inscriptions of Tanyidamani. Nubica et Ethiopica IV \ V, 355-388.

Having published articles on his decipherments in Current Research Journal of

Social Science, Nubica, Science and Current Science, illustrates that although Dr.
Winters’ decipherments are controversial they are public knowledge.

It also fails to acknowledge that Dr, Winters has also published books on his
decipherment: Olmec Language and Literature, [19] Dravidian (Tamil) is the language
of the Indus Valley Writing: A study of the most ancient Tamil Language [20] In
addition, Dr. Winters has published 10 articles on his decipherment of the Indus
Valley Writing that can be found at his webpage on Academia Edu [21]

- - -

- -

As you can see the section on decipherment is not neutral and fails to look at the
issue without bias
Power98 (talk) 12:19, 2 August 2015 (UTC) Power98 (talk) 12:45, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

[edit]Publications
Books The Publication section is full of lies. Author claims that “Winters
publishes, and sells his books on Amazon Kindle, or self-prints copies from Uthman
dan Fodio Institute his home”. This is false, Dr. Winters’ books are published by
Amazon’s Createspace, not the Uthman dan Fodio Institute. The author makes it
appear that there are no good reviews for Dr. Winters’ books. This is false.
African Empires in Ancient America (2013) KNOWLEDGE2POWER.By TClark on February 23,
2013. Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. “Excellent book to gain an even
clearer, accurate & proper portrayal of just some of the many achievements of
African people in the America's long before Christopher Columbus' erroneous claim
to have discovered a land that was already occuppied & thriving!
TRUTH2KNOWLEDGE2POWER”. [22] Before Egypt (2013) very good research. By Rathael G.
Fambro on April 22, 2013, Format: Paperback Verified Purchase“there is very little
research on what came before kemet/egypt. this is an excellent source that utilizes
diopian methods of linguistics, culture, history, religion, etc., to get to the
true origins. niger-kordfanian language family, is the language of all
"adams".”[23]
The Ancient Black Civilizations of Asia (2013) Great book on Black Asian by Clyde
Winters.By Mena on June 7, 2013. Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. “The
Ancient Black Civilisations of Asia is a great book on the black Asian by Clyde
Winters.The Author tell us in the old model of history the Graeco Roman historian
tell us 1) that the Egyptian were black 2) The Kushite founded civilisation in
Africa and Eurasia 3) the first inhabitant of Greece and Rome were black from
Africa.”[24]
Atlantis in Mexico: The Mande Discovery of America (2013) africans before slavery
and the slave trade.By Rathael G. Fambro on May 14, 2013. Format: Paperback
Verified Purchase’ “very good information on the african presence in the america's
before slavery and the slave trade. main stream and academia, have ignored,
misinformed, distorted, and lied, about africans for too long. very good scholarly
work”.[25]
{b]Ancient African History Primer{/b} (2014) Good. By Rathael G. Fambro on June 5,
2014.Format: Paperback Verified Purchase.winters always does a good job, but he
comes off as cocky and arrogant in person. having said that, his research is sound.
I have learned a lot from him”.[26] [edit]

↑ Curriculum Vitae
1. ↑ ResearchGate
2. ↑ Howe, Stephen. (1998). Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes.
London: Verso. p. 261.
3. ↑ Winters v. Iowa State University, 768 F. Supp. 231 (N.D. Ill. 1991)
4. ↑ Dr. Clyde Winters: The Decipherment of the Olmec Writing System (archive)
5. ↑ [www.aaanet.org/csas/mtg99/program/pfri.html]
6. ↑ [www.aaanet.org/csas/mtg99/program/psat.html]
7. ↑ [www.aaanet.org/csas/mtg98/Prelimp5.htm]
8. ↑ "Journal of African Civilizations [...] consistently promote a racialist
and hegemonic view of the role allegedly played by 'black peoples' in the formation
of civilizations throughout the world." (Haslip-Viera, G., de Montellano, B. O.,
Barbour, W. [1997]. "Robbing Native American Cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity
and the Olmecs". Current Anthropology. 38(3): 419-441.)
9. ↑ [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=clyde+Winters}
10. ↑ [1]
11. ↑ [2]
12. ↑ [ http://www.amazon.com/Africa-Discovery-America-Leo-Wiener/dp/1617590029]
13. ↑ [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Negro-W-E-Bois/dp/1602068143]
14. ↑ [ http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Africa-W-Bois/dp/0717802213]
15. ↑ [3]
16. ↑ [4]
17. ↑ [5]
18. ↑ [ http://www.amazon.com/Olmec-Language-Literature-Clyde-
Winters/dp/1507587244/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438517071&sr=1-
6&refinements=p_27%3ADr.+Clyde+Winters]
19. ↑ [ http://www.amazon.com/Dravidian-Tamil-language-Valley-
Writing/dp/1503117200/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438517071&sr=1-
11&refinements=p_27%3ADr.+Clyde+Winters]
20. ↑ [ https://olmec98.academia.edu/CWinters]
21. ↑ [6]
22. ↑ [7]
23. ↑ [8]
24. ↑ [9]

--------------------
C. A. Winters
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-

The Wikirational page was written by a former poster styled Cass/Krom/Mr.Burton you
suffer from extreme racism. You are sick and need professional help.

In my work I have never attacked another race. The definition of racism is:"
prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different
race based on the belief that one's own race is superior'.

My research concerns only the history of Black/African people. I have never stated
in any of my papers that Blacka are superior to whites. I only state the historical
facts.

If relaying the facts indicate the Olmecs and Sumerians were Black--that is not
racism. The observation that these people were Black was first claimed by whites:
Leo Wiener the former and Col. Rawlinson the later.

It is racism when you attack my research when it was whites like you who first
acknowledged the Olmecs, and Sumerians were Black

Cass is delusional. Cass it appears that it is alright if whites claim a particular

ancient group was Black--but racist if the same information is stated by a
Black/African.

Whereas I have never disparaged a member of another race, You spend your time
attacking Black people and their history.You had already admitted that you have
trolled me for 8 years. This is evidence of someone being .sick

Cass’ racism has made you sick and you need help!

[list]
 Extreme racism indicates psychopathology

Yes

It can be a delusional symptom of psychotic disorders

Alvin F Poussaint, Professor of psychiatry1

The American Psychiatric Association has never officially recognized extreme racism
(as opposed to ordinary prejudice) as a mental health problem, although the issue
was raised more than 30 years ago. After several racist killings in the civil
rights era, a group of black psychiatrists sought to have extreme bigotry
classified as a mental disorder. The association's officials rejected the
recommendation, arguing that because so many Americans are racist, even extreme
racism in this country is normative—a cultural problem rather than an indication of
psychopathology.

The psychiatric profession's primary index for diagnosing psychiatric symptoms, the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), does not include
racism, prejudice, or bigotry in its text or index.1 Therefore, there is currently
no support for including extreme racism under any diagnostic category. This leads
psychiatrists to think that it cannot and should not be treated in their patients.

To continue perceiving extreme racism as normative and not pathologic is to lend it

legitimacy. Clearly, anyone who scapegoats a whole group of people and seeks to
eliminate them to resolve his or her internal conflicts meets criteria for a
delusional disorder, a major psychiatric illness.

Extreme racists' violence should be considered in the context of behavior described

by Allport in The Nature of Prejudice.2 Allport's 5-point scale categorizes
increasingly dangerous acts.[b] It begins with verbal expression of antagonism,
progresses to avoidance of members of disliked groups, then to active
discrimination against them,[b] to physical attack, and finally to extermination
(lynchings, massacres, genocide). That fifth point on the scale, the acting out of
extermination fantasies, is readily classifiable as delusional behavior.

More recently, Sullaway and Dunbar used a prejudice rating scale to assess and
describe levels of prejudice.3 They found associations between highly prejudiced
people and other indicators of psychopathology. The subtype at the extreme end of
their scale is a paranoid/delusional prejudice disorder.

Using the DSM's structure of diagnostic criteria for delusional disorder,4(p329) I

suggest the following subtype:
Prejudice type: A delusion whose theme is that a group of individuals, who share a
defining characteristic, in one's environment have a particular and unusual
significance. These delusions are usually of a negative or pejorative nature, but
also may be grandiose in content. When these delusions are extreme, the person may
act out by attempting to harm, and even murder, members of the despised group(s).

Extreme racist delusions can also occur as a major symptom in other psychotic
disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Persons suffering delusions
usually have serious social dysfunction that impairs their ability to work with
others and maintain employment.

[b]As a clinical psychiatrist, I have treated several patients who projected their
own unacceptable behavior and fears onto ethnic minorities, scapegoating them for
society's problems. Their strong racist feelings, which were tied to fixed belief
systems impervious to reality checks, were symptoms of serious mental dysfunction.
When these patients became more aware of their own problems, they grew less
paranoid—and less prejudiced.]/b]

It is time for the American Psychiatric Association to designate extreme racism as

a mental health problem by recognizing it as a delusional psychotic symptom.
Persons afflicted with such psychopathology represent an immediate danger to
themselves and others. Clinicians need guidelines for recognizing delusional racism
in all its forms so that they can provide appropriate treatment. Otherwise, extreme
delusional racists will continue to fall through the cracks of the mental health
system, and we can expect more of them to explode and act out their deadly
delusions.

Figure 1 : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/figure/fig1/

References
1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders. 4th edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 2000.

2. Allport G. The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley; 1954.

3. Sullaway M, Dunbar E. Clinical manifestations of prejudice in psychotherapy:

toward a strategy of assessment and treatment. Clin Psychol Sci Pract 1996;3: 296-
309.

4. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic criteria for 297.1 delusional

disorder. In: DSM-IV-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 2000.

See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071634/

--------------------
C. A. Winters
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The rationalwiki page implies that the research claiming the Sumerians, Palesgian
(Greeks), and Olmecs were Black is racist. These are not racist ideas.

It was the Greeks who first claimed Pelasgians were not white Greeks.

Homer wrote that the Greek heroes were Black.

Col. Rawlinson said the Sumerians were Kushites after his research into the origin
of the Sumerians.

Finally, the Olmec called themselves: Xi, which means Black, and Olmecs mention
their migration tradition in Stela #5.

It was Leo Wiener who illustrated that the Olmec artifact the Tuxtla statuette was
written in the Vai script, and the Malinke-Bambara language is a substratum
language of Aztec and the Mayan languages.

As a result, it was Rawlinson who proved the Sumerians (Akkadians and Elamites)
were Kushites. Leo Wiener was the first to claim the Olmecs were Black--not me.
This along with the Greeco-Romans claiming the first Greeks were Black, make it
clear these paradigms were created by whites not Afrocentrist.

If the paradigms that the original Greeks were Black, the Olmecs were Black and the
Sumerians were Black, blame these paradigm on the Greeco-Romans, Rawlinson and
Wiener--not me and Afrocentrism. These paradigms were made by whites like you. They
are all part of the Ancient Model of History developed by the Greeco-Romans.

The rationalwiki page is racist. You attack me because white scholars like the
Greeco-Romans, Rawlinson and Wiener told the truth about the ancient history of
Blacks. Its racist like you and lioness who attempt to deny the Ancient model of
History, which maintained that Blacks have an ancient history.

Real scholars know my research is founded on the works of Rawlinson and Wiener. As
a result, to prove me wrong they have to prove these scholars were also wrong, so
they remain silent becaudse if they dare to attack me I will respond and show them
to be fools. The only people who attempt to attack my work are trolls like you and
Montellano.

Montellano published numerous articles attacking Afrocentrists, like van Sertima.

He trolled me for twenty years trying to attack my work on-line--but he was unable
to publish one article, I repeat one article debunking any of my research in either
a peer reviewed journal, or magazine on ancient history.During this same period, my
papers have been published in ancient history magazines and peer reviewed journals.

Rationalwiki is Evil and a racist. If Cass were not an editor at Wiki, he would
never have been able to write that racist and false rationalwiki page about me. No
one would have published the rationalwiki page, because he wrote the attack on me
without any supporting references to anyone attacking my work except Montellano,
who has never published one paper debunking my work. If Cass hadn't been a Wiki
editor they would never have published the rationalwiki page.
[b]
The rationalwiki page he wrote is full of lies. It is only a matter of time before
he will be discovered to be a liar and racist and the illegitimate rationalwiki
page is removed once the Wiki people learn you have been trolling me for at least 8
years.

White people lie about the Greeks.The Original Greeks were Black African people.
 -

Aeschylus describes Epaphos as "swarthy of hue" or dark skinned and that he

originally lived in Africa.

There are many light skinned Africans who have never mixed with Europeans. Apollo
is chrysaeros 'bearing a golden sword'

Artemis is eustephanos which has no relation to fair

Neptune is kyanochaites 'bluish or Blackish like dark deep waves of the ocean

Achilles is xanthos 'brown'

] -

Xanthos means red-yellow which equals brown: a group of colors between red and
yellow in hue that are medium to low in lightness and low to moderate in saturation

• The Mycenaeans were not white. Homer claimed that Mycenae was ruled by
Agamemnon. In the Iliad Agamemnon is decribed as xanthos, which means brown in
Greek, not white.Agamemnon is in direct descent from Epaphos, the Black ancestor of
the Pelasgic house. Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound, describes Epaphos as "swarthy of
hue" and that he originally lived in Africa. The Pelasgians were the first settlers
of Greecian region.

• The first migrants to Crete were Garamantes according to Classics. The

Garamantes were recognized as a Black tribe. They were known to the Greeks and
Romans as dark skinned. In Ptolemy (I.8.5.,p.31) a Garamante slave was described as
having a body the color of pitch or wholly black. The Garamante lived in the
Fezzan/Libya, not Turkey.
The first AMH in Europe carried hg M, not R1b. The whites did not enter Greece
until after 800BC from Asia minor.

Linguistic

• The Pelasgians did not speak Greek they spoke Achaioi or Achaean. West Greek
was spoken by the Dorian the Ionians spoke a dialect of East Greek called Aeolic.
Dr.Anna M. Davies,says "less than 40% of the words which have an Indo-European
etymology".Davies, said 52.2 % Greek terms in Chantraine's Dictionnaire
Etymologique de la langue Grecque have unknown etymology. This is due to the
African origin of Greece.

J.A. Rogers in Sex and Race, Parker, Diop, Winters and DuBois have reviewed the
writings of the classical authors, the anthropological, linguistic and historical
evidence to reach the conclusion that the ancient Greeks were blacks and that the
European Greeks learned the liberal arts and sciences from their "black ancestors"
who first settled Greece and the Egyptians.

-
For example, Parker used anthropological, archaeological, historical and classical
sources to prove that blacks once lived in the Aegean. Parker used the Greek
classics to prove that the Pelasgians were of African origin. He also discussed the
origin stories about the Pelasgic founders of selected Grecian cities and proved
that these men were blacks and not Indo-Europeans. Parker also observed that "the
great Grecian epics are epics of an African people and Helen, the cause of the
Trojan war, must henceforth be conceived as a beautiful brown skin girl" . These
Africans sailed to the Greece from North Africa.

Using archaeological evidence and the classical literature I explained how the
African/Black founders of Grecian civilization originally came from the ancient
Sahara. I made it clear that these Blacks came to the Aegean in two waves 1) the
Garamantes a Malinke speaking people that now live along the Niger river, but
formerly lived in the Fezzan region of Libya; and 2) the Egyptians, Phoenicians and
East Africans who were recorded in Greece's history as the Pelasgians See:
http://clyde.winters.tripod.com/chapter6.html
.
The Pelasgian civilization has been discussed in detail by Parker .

Blacks introduced arts, sciences, architecture and etc.

Homer was Xanthos: a Black Man. The leading characters in his books were
Negro/Black men and women.

Aeschylus describes Epaphos as "swarthy of hue" or dark skinned and that he

originally lived in Africa.

There are many light skinned Africans who have never mixed with Europeans. Apollo
is chrysaeros 'bearing a golden sword'

Artemis is eustephanos which has no relation to fair

Neptune is kyanochaites 'bluish or Blackish like dark deep waves of the ocean

Achilles is xanthos 'brown'

[b] This rationalwiki page was written by a racist Euroloon.

--------------------
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Kushites of Sumer and Akkad

Controversy surrounding the Kushite/African/Black origins of the Elamites,

Sumerians, Akkadians and “Assyrians” is simple and yet complicated. It involves
both the racism exhibited toward the African slaves in the Western Hemisphere and
Africans generally which led to the idea that Africans had no history ; and the
need of Julius Oppert to make Semites white, to accommodate the “white” ancestry of
European Jews.

To understand this dichotomy we have to look at the history of scholarship

surrounding the rise of Sumero-Akkadian studies. The study of the Sumerians,
Akkadians. Assyrians and Elamites began with the decipherment of the cuneiform
script by Henry Rawlinson. Henry Rawlinson had spent most of his career in the
Orient. This appears to have gave him an open mind in regards to history. He
recognized the Ancient Model of History, the idea that civilization was founded by
the Kushite or Hamitic people of the Bible.

As result, Rawlinson was surprised during his research to discover that the
founders of the Mesopotamian civilization were of Kushite origin. He made it clear
that the Semitic speakers of Akkad and the non-Semitic speakers of Sumer were both
Black or Negro people who called themselves sag-gig-ga “Black Heads”. In
Rawlinson’s day the Sumerian people were recognized as Akkadian or Chaldean, while
the Semitic speaking blacks were called Assyrians.

Rawlinson identified these Akkadians as Turanian or Scythic people. But he made it

clear that these ancient Scythic or Turanian speaking people were Kushites or
Blacks.

A major supporter of Rawlinson was Edward Hincks. Hincks continued Rawlinson’s work
and identified the ancient group as Chaldeans, and also called them Turanian
speakers. Hincks, though, never dicussed their ethnic origin.

A late comer to the study of the Sumerians and the Akkadians was Julius Oppert.
Oppert was a German born of Jewish parents. He made it clear that the Chaldean and
Akkadian people spoke different languages. He noted that the original founders of
Mesopotamia civilization called themselves Ki-en-gi “land of the true lords”. It
was the Semitic speakers who called themselves Akkadians.

Assyrians called the Ki-en-gi people Sumiritu “the sacred language”. Oppert
popularized the Assyrian name Sumer, for the original founders of the civilization.
Thus we have today the Akkadians and Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia.

Oppert began to popularize the idea that the Sumerians were related to the
contemporary Altaic and Turanian speaking people, e.g., Turks and Magyar
(Hungarian) speaking people. He made it clear that the Akkadians were Semites like
himself . To support this idea Oppert pointed out that typological features between
Sumerian and Altaic languages existed. This feature was agglutination.

The problem with identifying the Sumerians as descendants from contemporary

Turanian speakers resulted from the fact that Sumerian and the Turkish languages
are not genetically related. As a result Oppert began to criticize the work of
Hincks (who was dead at the time) in relation to the identification of the Sumerian
people as Turanian following the research of Rawlinson.

Oppert knew Rawlinson had used African languages to decipher cuneiform writing. But
he did not compare the Sumerian to African languages, probably, due to the fact
that he knew they were related given Rawlinson's earlier research.

It is strange to some observers that Oppert,never criticized Rawlinson who had

proposed the Turanian origin of the Ki-en-gi (Sumerians). But this was not strange
at all. Oppert did not attack Rawlinson who was still alive at the time because he
knew that Rawlinson said the Sumerians were the original Scythic and Turanian
people he called Kushites. Moreover, Rawlinson made it clear that both the
Akkadians and Sumerians were Blacks. For Oppert to have debated this issue with
Rawlinson, who deciphered the cuneiform script, would have meant that he would have
had to accept the fact that Semites were Black. There was no way Oppert would have
wanted to acknowledge his African heritage, given the Anti-Semitism experienced by
Jews living in Europe.

Although Oppert successfully hid the recognition that the Akkadians and the
Sumerians both refered to themselves as sag-gig-ga “black heads”, some researchers
were unable to follow the status quo and ignore this reality. For example, Francois
Lenormant, made it clear, following the research of Rawlinson, that the Elamite and
Sumerians spoke genetically related languages. This idea was hard to reconcile with
the depiction of people on the monuments of Iran, especially the Behistun monument,
which depicted Negroes (with curly hair and beards) representing the Assyrians,
Jews and Elamites who ruled the area. As a result, Oppert began the myth that the
Sumerian languages was isolated from other languages spoken in the world evethough
it shared typological features with the Altaic languages. Oppert taught Akkadian-
Sumerian in many of the leading Universities in France and Germany. Many of his
students soon began to dominate the Academe, or held chairs in Sumerian and
Akkadian studies these researchers continued to perpetuate the myth that the
Elamite and Sumerian languages were not related.

There was no way to keep from researchers who read the original Sumerian, Akkadian
and Assyrian text that these people recognized that they were ethnically Blacks.
This fact was made clear by Albert Terrien de LaCouperie. Born in France, de
LaCouperie was a well known linguist and China expert. Although native of France
most of his writings are in English. In the journal he published called the
Babylonian and Oriental Record, he outlined many aspects of ancient history. In
these pages he made it clear that the Sumerians, Akkadians and even the Assyrians
who called themselves şalmat kakkadi ‘black headed people”, were all Blacks of
Kushite origin. Eventhough de LaCouperie taught at the University of London, the
prestige of Oppert, and the fact that the main centers for Sumero-Akkadian studies
in France and Germany were founded by Oppert and or his students led to researchers
ignoring the evidence that the Sumerians , Akkadians and Assyrians were Black.

In summary, the cuneiform evidence makes it clear that the Sumerians, Akkadians and
Assyrians recognized themselves as Negroes: “black heads”. This fact was supported
by the statues of Gudea, the Akkadians and Assyrians. Plus the Behistun monument
made it clear that the Elamites were also Blacks.

The textual evidence also makes it clear that Oppert began the discussion of a
typological relationship between Sumerian and Turkic languages. He also
manufactured the idea that the Semites of Mesopotamia and Iran, the Assyrians and
Akkadians were “whites”, like himself. Due to this brain washing, and whitening out
of Blacks in history, many people today can look at depictions of Assyrians,
Achamenians, and Akkadians and fail to see the Negro origin of these people.
To make the Sumerians “white” textbooks print pictures of artifacts dating to the
Gutian rule of Lagash, to pass them off as the true originators of Sumerian
civilization. No Gutian rulers of Lagash are recognized in the Sumerian King List.

-
Gutian .... Sumerian..

William Leo Hansberry gives a great discussion of the evidence of African Kushites
ruling in Asia and Africa. Some ancient scholars noted that the first rulers of
Elam were of Kushite ( Kerma ? ) origin.

Founder of Elamite civilization came from Kush in Africa. According to Strabo, the
first Elamite colony at Susa was founded by Tithnus, a King of Kush. Strabo in Book
15, Chapter 3728 wrote that in fact it is claimed that Susa was founded by Tithonus
Memnon's father, and his citadel bore the name Memnonium. The Susians are also
called Cissians. Aeschylus, calls Memnon's mother Cissia.

William Leo Hansberry, African History Notebook, (1981) Volume 2 noted that:

In Persia the old Negroid element seems indeed to have been sufficiently powerful
to maintain the overlord of the land. For the Negritic strain is clearly evident in
statuary depicting members of the royal family ruling in the second millenium B.C.

Hundreds of years later, when Xerxes invaded Greece, the type was well represented
in the Persian army. In the remote mountain regions bordering on Persia and
Baluchistan, there is to be found at the present time a Negroid element which bears
a remarkable resemblance to the type represented on the ancient mounments. Hence
the Negritic or Ethiopian type has proved persistent in this area, and in ancient
times it seems to have constituted numerically and socially an important factor in
the population" (p.52) .

. Here is Cyrus

Check out my videos on the Asian Kushites: Click this Picture

.
-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfzjgJ88Vr8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-2xjWIIxK8
Enjoy

--------------------
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While I might disagree with some of your conclusions and theories, you damn well
earned the right to be called Dr, for me you are never simply Clyde or Winters, but
Dr Winters.
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Clyde's a doctor of Educational Psychology
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10 myths about psychology: debunked | Ben Ambridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce31WjiVcY0
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quote:
Originally posted by Brada-Anansi:
While I might disagree with some of your conclusions and theories, you damn well
earned the right to be called Dr, for me you are never simply Clyde or Winters, but
Dr Winters.
Thanks for the kind words.

--------------------
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quote:

Stephen Howe, Professor of History and Cultures of Colonialism, University of

Bristol has noted:
The tendency to claim or imply grand-sounding academic careers and affiliations
seems to be quite widespread among Afrocentrists.
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quote:
Originally posted by R.Havoc:
quote:

Stephen Howe, Professor of History and Cultures of Colonialism, University of

Bristol has noted:
The tendency to claim or imply grand-sounding academic careers and affiliations
seems to be quite widespread among Afrocentrists.
LOL. Euronut you don't know what you're talking about. I have two Masters Degrees,
and a PhD.

Wim van Binsbergen (*1947), Amsterdam-trained anthropologist, proto-historian, and

intercultural philosopher (various professorial chairs in Europe and Africa,
Professor of Intercultural Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Editor of
Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy / Revue Africaine de Philosophie),
commenting on Howe's statement , in Black Athena Comes of Age, page 277, wrote:
"Scholarly reputations are also readily sacrificed on the altar of Howe's
indignation vis-a-vis Afrocentrism and the more readily so, the less Howe knows of
their specialist field. The synthetic programmatic overview of Afrocentrism by
Clyde Ahmad Winters is sarcastically dismissed (67), but no attention is paid to
the same writers intriguing linguistic work published in authoritative
international journals, tracing parallels between West African languages, Asian and
native American contexts, and suggesting an unexpected Asian demension to African
presence, thus challenging all accepted geo political wisdom". web page

--------------------
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-
Wim van Binsbergen is a traditional healer in Botswana,
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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
-
Wim van Binsbergen is a traditional healer in Botswana,
quote:

Wim van Binsbergen

Wim van Binsbergen is an anthropologist. He is presently working on the theory and

method of research on cultural globalisation especially in connection with
virtuality, Information and Communication Technology, ethnicity and religion.
Another of his projects, on 'Africa’s Contribution to Global Systems of Knowledge:
An Epistemology for African Studies in the Twenty-First Century', provides a link
between his research at the ASC and his chair in Foundations of Intercultural
Philosophy at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, where he gave his inaugural address in
1999. Wim van Binsbergen retired in 2012. He is still doing research and remains
affiliated to the African Studies Centre.

http://www.ascleiden.nl/organization/people/wim-van-binsbergen

--------------------
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quote:
Originally posted by Clyde Winters:
quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
-
Wim van Binsbergen is a traditional healer in Botswana,
quote:

Wim van Binsbergen

Wim van Binsbergen is an anthropologist. He is presently working on the theory and

method of research on cultural globalisation especially in connection with
virtuality, Information and Communication Technology, ethnicity and religion.
Another of his projects, on 'Africa’s Contribution to Global Systems of Knowledge:
An Epistemology for African Studies in the Twenty-First Century', provides a link
between his research at the ASC and his chair in Foundations of Intercultural
Philosophy at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, where he gave his inaugural address in
1999. Wim van Binsbergen retired in 2012. He is still doing research and remains
affiliated to the African Studies Centre.

http://www.ascleiden.nl/organization/people/wim-van-binsbergen

As usually we could witness the lioness trolling around white supremacy ideology..
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Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
You knew Dr. van Binsbergen is a full professor but you attempted to ridicule him.
It hurts you to see a white scholar show me respect for my research. It is white
supremacist when you attempt to lie about a great scholar to satisfy your desire to
promote white supremacist ideas manufactured by other Eurocentrists like Howe.

--------------------
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quote:
Originally posted by Clyde Winters:
quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
You knew Dr. van Binsbergen is a full professor but you attempted to ridicule him.
It hurts you to see a white scholar show me respect for my research. It is white
supremacist when you attempt to lie about a great scholar to satisfy your desire to
promote white supremacist ideas manufactured by other Eurocentrists like Howe.
He was a professor of philosophy in Rotterdam
He is also a traditional healer in Botswana. It is quite remarkable

quote:

http://www.quest-journal.net/shikanda/african_religion/diviner.htm

In addition to his scholarly and literary work, Wim van Binsbergen has been, since
1990, a certified spirit medium/ diviner/ priest in the sangoma tradition of
Southern Africa. This page sets out the background, accesses Wim van Binsbergen's
credentials as a sangoma, and enables you to initiate a private consultation with
him

http://www.quest-journal.net/shikanda/african_religion/standard.htm

SANGOMA CONSULTATION REQUEST FORM

Wim van Binsbergen / Johannes Sibanda+
version October 2012

___________________________________________

https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/9675

2005

Chapter 15.
‘We are in this for the money’:

Commodification and the sangoma cult of Southern Africa by Wim van Binsbergen

.
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Clyde,

Pot meet kettle. You are as racist as they come and a liar to boot. You do & have
attacked Whites right here on this forum. You have claimed Whites aren't human, how
is that not racist and how is that not saying Whites are inferior to Blacks? You
have stated Whites have no history, no heritage, no identity, how is that not
racist & saying Whites are inferior also don't lie and say you didn't say all the
above as I can pull up a video where you say just that. You claim Whites have
built/achieved nothing in history and thus have nothing to be proud of as Whites
how is that not racist & claiming Whites are inferior? You claim Whites have no
homeland thus belong nowhere on earth how is that not racist? With all of that yes
you have disparaged Whites & attacked our history. Take a good look in the mirror
Clyde, you will see an Anti-White, Black supremacist,Black racist staring back at
you.
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Quote
quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
quote:
Originally posted by Clyde Winters:
quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
You knew Dr. van Binsbergen is a full professor but you attempted to ridicule him.
It hurts you to see a white scholar show me respect for my research. It is white
supremacist when you attempt to lie about a great scholar to satisfy your desire to
promote white supremacist ideas manufactured by other Eurocentrists like Howe.
He was a professor of philosophy in Rotterdam
He is also a traditional healer in Botswana. It is quite remarkable

quote:

http://www.quest-journal.net/shikanda/african_religion/diviner.htm

In addition to his scholarly and literary work, Wim van Binsbergen has been, since
1990, a certified spirit medium/ diviner/ priest in the sangoma tradition of
Southern Africa. This page sets out the background, accesses Wim van Binsbergen's
credentials as a sangoma, and enables you to initiate a private consultation with
him

http://www.quest-journal.net/shikanda/african_religion/standard.htm

SANGOMA CONSULTATION REQUEST FORM

Wim van Binsbergen / Johannes Sibanda+
version October 2012

___________________________________________

https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/9675

2005

Chapter 15.
‘We are in this for the money’:

Commodification and the sangoma cult of Southern Africa by Wim van Binsbergen

.
Introduction to Commodification and the sangoma cult of Southern Africa by Wim van
Binsbergen
.

quote:

My argument on commodification, conceived along the lines set out in my

Introduction to
the present collection, will concentrate on what at first would appear to be a
clear-cut case
of the old in the new: the sangoma mediumistic healing cult, which offers major
first-line
traditional diagnosis and therapy in the context of what in all respects must be
one of the
most commodified places in Africa, notably the rapidly growing town of Francistown
in
the Northeast District of Botswana.1 The argument situates itself at the very
boundary
between the domestic and the market domain evoked above. The paper’s title derives
from
the apodictive pronouncement of two senior members of the cult: ‘We are in this for
the
money’ – as if it is only the promise of a lucrative undertaking that attracts
adepts (all of
the prospective cult leaders, because of the chain-reaction or snowball-like
recruitment
dynamics of these cults of affliction, started out as novice adepts). However, the
situation
of the sangoma cult will prove to be far more complex than merely one of cultic
commodification.
Admittedly, the cult can be read as a celebration of commodity exchange
and even as an encoded historical precipitation of patterns of regional exchange
that have
existed in the region for centuries. In this respect it shows an urban,
cosmopolitan, commodified
version of a cultic complex that, although relatively alien and a recent
introduction
in the (Kalanga and Tswana orientated) Francistown area proper, has constituted an
intimate ‘home’ tradition of centuries among the Nguni-speaking peoples of Southern
Africa (Ndebele, Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa). But on the other hand, in its sanctification
of place
and person, and its construction of an intimate community which is effectively
therapeutic
and identitary, the cult – whilst quietly affirming commodification as a fact.....

You should be ashamed of yourself lioness. Here you are trying to attack the
character of Dr. van Binsbergen by only citing the title of one of his articles
without explaining what the title meant.

As Ish said you are trying to maintain white supremacy. You are using deception to
attack the character of a researcher who has tried over the years to investigate
aspects of African societies. Deception is a major tactic of white supremacist.

.
-

--------------------
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There is nothing to expose I put up all the links so anybody can read the article
or get a $70 spiritual reading

Current procedure is that, after the a prospective client's SANGOMA CONSULTATION

REQUEST FORM reaches me,

I mail back to the client to ask for specific confirmation of the consultation
request (the Internet remains an unsafe place where anyone may illegally adopt the
client's identity and play tricks)
The client then explicitly confirms the consultation request by payment of US$70
into my PayPal account, in response to the invoice sent to the client:
After receiving payment, I ritually prepare myself, the shrine, the oracle, and the
necessary offerings and sacrifices
I conduct the consultation,
I write out the results (i.e. the report on my reading, usually a document of 10 to
14 or more pages), and
I send the protocol to the client by e-mail;
the client is expected to acknowledge receipt of the protocol by returning
(e-)mail, and is entitled to ask, within two weeks after receiving the
consultqation report, a few additional questions to clarify the report.
The fees are partly used to buy sacrifices (in the form of animal sacrifices and
alcoholic libations) for the shrine, and partly forwarded to the sangoma cult's
headquarters in Southern Africa; and partly for maintaining this worldwide sangoma
consultation service. What little remains may be retained by the sangoma for
personal use.

client is requested to acknowledge receipt of the protocol by return mail

Clyde you should get into this.

Also please also post some of van Binsbergen's writings we need

some examples of his scholarship. Which of his books do you own?

You could start a Wim van Binsbergen thread

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.
.
quote:

There is the theoretical possibility that the overall direction of historical

indebtedness is not east-west but west-east, with African models penetrating South
East Asia -- but (contrary to the Afrocentrist Clyde Winters) I consider this
implausible, especially in the face of Madagascar cultural history, where the Sunda
element is overwhelming and testifies of a massive east-west movement; also see the
recent work by Dick-Read 2005.

-- Wim van Binsbergen

Supervision fieldwork trip to Bandung, Indonesia, 1-14 August 2007

___________________

Afrocentrist educationalist and linguist Clyde Winters (1980a, 1980b, 1980c, 1981,
1983a, 1983b, 1984, 1985, 1988) has repeatedly stated the claim of extensive pre-
and protohistorical West African influence on South and East Asia, and – not
surprisingly, considering both the world politics of knowledge and the obscurity of
his publicational venues – has attracted less mainstream attention than he
deserves. However, as far as the Early-Modern Asian distribution of mankala is
concerned, the extensive Islamic influence throughout South, South East and East
Asia is probably a more likely explanation for mankala distribution than direct
African influence can be. (Incidentally, the connections which Winters (1984, 1985)
claims to exist Sumerian, Manding, Elamite and Dravidian remind us of the close
links which also the prominent linguists Igor Diakonoff, and Paul Rivet (1929), saw
between Sumerian and Austric, and on which I recently hit (in press (a) when
finding a plausible Austric etymology for the name of the Sumerian’s paradisiacal
island Dilmun; apparently neither Winters’ claim of affinities, nor the ‘Sunda’
trajectory in Fig. 15, are totally chimaerical – Winters’affinities, spanning the
huge range from West Africa, West Asia to South Asia, could be explained as traces
of Sunda / Austric influence.)

-- -- Wim van Binsbergen

The pre- and protohistory of mankala board-games and geomantic divination in
transcontinental perspective
A fresh look at my 1997 analysis by Wim M.J. van Binsbergen
2012

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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
You don't speak for me. So no, I don't think everything is white supremacy. But
when it is white supremacy I tell it like it is.
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Clyde, van Binsbergen also says he is a Bronze-Age Mediterraneanist

what does that mean?

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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
lioness please define "white supremacy" for us

--------------------
Questions expose liars
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quote:
Originally posted by the questioner:
quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
lioness please define "white supremacy" for us
the belief that white people are superior to non-whites and should therefore
dominate society.
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quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
quote:
Originally posted by the questioner:
quote:
Originally posted by the lioness,:
Ish Gebor thinks everything is white supremacy
lioness please define "white supremacy" for us
the belief that white people are superior to non-whites and should therefore
dominate society.
A clear pattern can be traced.

Definition of domination
1: supremacy or preeminence over another
2: exercise of mastery or ruling power
3: exercise of preponderant, governing, or controlling influence

31. The essential elements that gave to Protestant Ascendancy after 1689 in Ireland
and white supremacy in continental Anglo-America the character of racial oppression
were those that first destroyed the original forms of social identity among the
subject population, and then excluded the members of that population from
admittance into the forms of social identity normal to the colonizing power. The
codifications of this basic organizing principle in the Penal Laws of the
Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland and the slave codes of white supremacy in
continental Anglo-America present four common defining characteristics of those two
regimes: 1) declassing legislation, directed at property-holding members of the
oppressed group; 2) the deprivation of civil rights; 3) the illegalization of
literacy; and 4) displacement of family rights and authorities.46

Origin of white supremacy

1865-70, Americanism

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/white-supremacy
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BACK
Ancient Writing In Middle Africa
In this paper we review the ancient writing systems used by people in Middle
Africa, and the cognate writing systems they spread to Asia . Special emphasis will
be on pottery writing, Egyptian writing, Libyco-Berber writing, and the writing
systems of ancient Nubia.
By Clyde Winters
ABSTRACT
In this paper we review the archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence that
indicates that Africans have a long tradition of literacy from ancient to modern
times using their own writing systems. Examples of the African inscriptions will be
discussed, and their possible contemporary use by members of African secret
societies will be explained.
Ancient Writing Systems
Since the rise of worldwide Western European supremacy it has been argued that
Africans, due to a strong oral tradition, failed to invent writing. As a result,
opposition to Afrocentrism has been the unfounded belief that only Egypt had
writing in Africa (Appiah 1983).
Although it is alleged that Africans were always illiterate, archaeological,
historical, and epigraphic evidence indicate that Africans invented many writing
systems. And that these writing systems were used from ancient times all the way up
to the present (Bekerie 1994).
We will show in this paper that archaeological evidence indicates that African
literacy began in the Sahara over 5000 years ago (Winters 1971, 1981a,1983). This
earliest form of writing was a syllabic system that included hundreds of phonetic
signs, which over time was shorten to between 22 and 30 key signs, and used as an
alphabet by the Egyptians, Meroites, Phonesians and Ethiopians.
The original inhabitants of the Sahara where the Egyptian or Kemitic civilization
originated were not Berbers or Indo- Europeans (Winters 1985b). This was the
ancient homeland of the Dravidians, Egyptians, Sumerians, Niger-Kordofanian- Mande
and Elamite speakers is called the Fertile African Crescent (Anselin 1989, p.16,
1992; Winters 1981,1985b,1989, 1991,1994). The inhabitants of this area lived in
the highland regions of the Fezzan in modern Libya and Hoggar until after 4000 B.C.
We call these people the Proto-Saharans (Winters 1985b, 1991). The generic term for
this group is Kushite.
The Proto-Saharans were called Ta-Seti and Tehunu by the Egyptians. In the
archaeological literature they were called A- Group and C-Group respectively. Farid
(1985, p.82) noted that:
We can notice that at the beginning of the neolithic stage in Egypt on the edge of
the Western Desert corresponds with expansion of the Saharian Neolithic culture and
the growth of its population .
The Fertile Saharan Crescent is an arc shaped series of highland regions in the
Saharan zone of Africa. The Saharan zone is bounded on the north by 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 in Africa, the Middle East, China and Indus Valley
developed their highly organized and technological societies (Winters 1983a,
1985b).

The discovery of Intercultural style vessels from Susa (in Iran),Sumerian,

Egyptian and Indus Valley sites suggest a shared ideological identity among these
people (Kohl 1978). In fact the appearance of shared iconographic symbols and
beliefs within diverse areas suggest cultural and ethnic unity among the people
practicing these cultures. The common naturalistic motifs shared by the major
civilizations include, writing (symbols), combatant
snakes , the scorpion, bull and etc. This evidence of cultural unity is explained
by the origin of these people in the Proto- Sahara (Winters 1985a, 1989).
The Proto-Saharans or Kushites used similar terms for writing. In general the term
for writing was formed by the labial stops /p/ and /b/. For example:
Dravidian par 'write'
Manding bo, bu 'make a stroke', sebe 'write'
Elamite tipu 'to write'
Galla tafa 'to write'
There are also other corresponding terms for 'mark', or 'draw' that begin with
velar stops:

Dravidian kiri, kuri 'write, draw, mark'

Egyptian hti 'carve'
Manding kiri, kiti 'mark'
In Egyptian we have several terms for write 0 ss #, 0 zs # , and 0 ssw #.
During the Old Kingdom writing was referred to as 0 iht # .
The Egyptian term for writing 0 ssw # is analogous to the Mande terms 0 sewe # or 0
sebe # 'writing, trace, design'. In Dravidian among other terms we have rasu
'write', and shu 'writing' in Sumerian. The Egyptian term 0 zs # is also closely
related to Sumerian 0 shu #.
Writing systems among African people were mainly devised for two purposes. Firstly,
to help merchants keep records on the business venture they made. Secondly, the
Proto-Saharan script was also used to preserve religious doctrines or write
obituaries.
The scarcity of documents, written for historical preservation among ancient
African groups resulted from the fact that the keeping of history, was usually left
in the hands of traditional (oral) historians. These historians memorized the
histories of their nation and people for future recitation before members of their
respective communities. This oral history was often accompanied by music or
delivered in poetic verse and remains the premier source for the history of most
African nations even today.

It is obvious that the first inscriptions were engraved in stone by the Proto-
Saharans , or a stylus was used to engrave wet clay (Winters 1985b). The use of the
stylus or stick to engrave clay is most evident in the pottery marks found on the
pottery excavated at many ancient sites which possess similar symbols impressed on
the pottery.
This view is supported by the fact that the term for writing in Dravidian and
Egyptian include the consonants /l/, /r/ or /d/.
A "u", is usually attached to the initial consonants (Winters 1985b). For example:
Sumerian ru, shu
Elamite talu
Dravidian carru
Egyptian drf
These terms agree with the Manding terms for excavate or hollow out 0 du #, 0
do #, 0 kulu #, 0 tura #, etc. The Sumerian term for writing was 0 du #. This show
that the Proto-Saharan term for writing denoted the creation of impressions on wet
clay and hard rock.
The origin of writing among the Proto-Saharans as an activity involving the
engraving of stone is most evident in the Egyptian language. This hypothesis is
supported by the Egyptian words 0 m(w)dt #. The term 0 md t # means both
'(sculptor's) chisel' and 'papyrus-roll, book'. The multiple meanings of 0 md t #
makes it clear that the Egyptian, and probably other descendants of the Proto-
Saharans saw a relationship between engraving stone and the creation of books.
Other Egyptian lexical items also support the important role Proto-Saharans saw in
engraving rocks, and writing. In addition to md t we have, 0 hti # 'carve,
sculpture' and 0 iht # 'writing'. The fact that iht is an Old Kingdom term for
writing, almost identical to hti, is further evidence that writing involved the
engraving of stone.
POTTERY INSCRIPTIONS
The Proto-Saharan writing was first used to write characters on pottery (Winters
1980), to give the ceramics a talismanic quality . Similar signs appear on Chinese,
Harappan, South Indian Megalithic, Libyan and Cretan pottery (see figure 1). These
signs were invented by the Proto-Saharans for purposes of communication. These
pottery signs agree with the so-called linear Egyptian signs mentioned by Petrie
(1921, p.83). They frequently appear on Egyptian pottery .

The Egyptian pot marks in Upper and Lower Egypt. Petrie (1900) was the first to
record the Egyptian potmarks. These potmarks are found on pottery dated to
Dynasties O to I (van den Brink 1992). These Thinite potmarks published by van den
Brink (1992) agree almost totally with the Oued Mertoutek, Gebel Sheikh Suleiman,
Harappan, Proto-Elamite and Proto- Sumerian (see figure 3).
SYLLABIC WRITING
It is clear that a common system of record keeping was used by people in the 4th
and 3rd millennium B.C. from Saharan Africa, to Iran, China and the Indus Valley.
Although the Elamites and Sumerians abandoned the Proto-Elamite writing and

the Uruk script respectively, in favor f cuneiform writing, the Dravidians, Minoans
(EteoCretans) and Manding continued to use the Proto-Saharan script (see figure 2)
(Winters 1985c).
The pottery signs were symbols from the Proto-Saharan syllabic writing. David
(1955) was sure that the Dravidian and Cretan writings were analogous to the
Egyptian pottery script.
Moreover Dr. J.T. Cornelius (1956-57) used epigraphic evidence to show that the
graffiti marks on the South Indian Megalithic pottery has affinity to other ancient
scripts including the Libyan, Egyptian and Cretan signs.
The languages of the Dravidians, Elamites, Sumerians and Manding are genetically
related (Winters 1985d, 1989b, 1994). N. Lahovary (1957) noted structural and
grammatical analogies of Dravidian, Sumerian and Elamites. K.L. Muttarayan (1975)
provides hundreds of lexical correspondences and other linguistic data supporting
the family relationship between Sumerian and Dravidian. C. A. Winters (1980, 1985d,
1989b, 1994) and L. Homburger (1951) have provided evidence of a genetic
relationship between the Dravidian languages and the Manding Superset of languages.
Dr. Homburger has also proven that the Manding and Coptic languages are closely
related.
The oldest Proto-Saharan inscriptions come from Oued Mertoutek and Gebel Sheikh
Suleiman. These inscriptions are over 5000 years old (Wulsin 1941; Winters 1983a ).
The Oued Mertoutek inscription was found in the Western Sahara (see figure 4). This
inscription was found on the lower level of Oued Mertoutek and dated to 3000 B.C.
by Wulsin (1941). The Oued Mertoutek inscription like other Libyco-Berber writing
is in the Manding (Malinke- Bambara) languages.
In ancient time a major Manding group was the Garamantes, they lived in the Fezzan.
Graves (1980) claimed that the Garamantes who primarily lived in the Fezzan region
of Libya, founded Attica, and worked the mines at Laureuim and Trace in Asia Minor.
The Oued Mertoutek inscription is of a ram with syllabic characters written above
the ram, and within the outline of the ram's body (see figure 4). This inscription
written in an aspect of Manding was deciphered in 1981 (Winters 1983a).

We were able to decipher the Oued Mertoutek inscription, and the Minoan Linear A,
Harappan writing and the Olmec script because of the Vai script (Winters
1984a,1984b,1984c). Winters (1977,1979) discovered that the Vai syllabary of 200
characters matched all the signs in the syllabaries of Crete, Olmec America, Oracle
Bone writing of China and the Harappan script (Winters 1979,1983b,1983c). And that
due to the genetic linguistic unity of the people who made these signs, when you
gave the signs in these diverse areas, the phonetic values of the Vai signs, but
read them in the Dravidian or Manding language you could read the ancient
literature of Crete and the Indus Valley (Winters 1985b). Thus the syllables which
retain constant phonetic values can be used by different groups to write their own
languages.
Many would-be decipherers have assumed that it is almost impossible to prove a
genetic linguistic relationship using data of comparatively recent time-depth. But
this view of archaeological decipherment is untenable. In fact, in the well known
decipherments of Egyptian and Cuneiform, linguistic data of a comparatively recent
time-depth was used to interpret the inscriptions. For example, Jean Champollion
used Coptic to read the ancient Egyptian writing. And Sir Henry Rawlinson, the
decipherer of the cuneiform script used Galla (a Cushitic language spoken in
Africa) and Mahra ( a south Semitic language) to interpret the cuneiform writing.
This meant that we could read the Proto-Saharan writing using recent Manding and
Dravidian linguistic data.
This view is supported by the use of cuneiform writing by different groups in West
Asia and Asia Minor. The cuneiform script was used to write many distinct languages
including Akkadian, Elamite, Hurrian, Hittite and Sumerian. The key to deciphering
the world of cuneiform writing was the fact that each sign had only one value.
As a result, to read a particular cuneiform script took only the discovery of the
language written in the cuneiform script. Therefore the decipherment of the Persian
cuneiform script provided the key to the cuneiform cognate scripts. The
decipherment of the ancient Manding inscriptions using the Vai sounds, was the key
to the decipherment of the Proto- Saharan scripts: Linear A, the Oracle Bone
writing, the Olmec and the Harappan writing (Winters 1979, 1983b,1984).
The second oldest inscription in the Proto-Saharan script comes from Gebel Sheikh
Suleiman in Nubia. The Gebel Sheikh

Suleiman relief has been discussed by many scholars such as Williams (1987) and
Trigger (1980).
The Gebel Sheikh Suleiman inscription is found near Buhen, Nubia. It is carved on a
sandstone rock (see figure 5). This inscription was probably written by the A-Group
people
who helped found ancient Egypt. The ancestors of the Egyptians or Kemites
originally lived in Nubia. The Nubian origin of Egyptian civilization is supported
by the discovery of artifacts by archaeologists from the University of Chicago's
Oriental Institute, at Qustul (William 1987; Winters 1994).
On a stone incense burner found at Qustul we find a palace facade, a crowned King
sitting on a throne in a boat, with a royal standard placed before the King and
hovering above him, the falcon god Horus. The white crown on this Qustul king was
later worn by the rulers of Upper Egypt.
Many Egyptologists were shocked to learn in 1979, that the A-Group of Nubia at
Qustul used Egyptian type writing two hundred years before the Egyptians (Williams
1987). This fact had already been recognized much earlier by Anta Diop
(1974) when he wrote that it was in Nubia "where we find the animals and plants
represented in hieroglyphic writing".
The Qustul site was situated in a country called Ta-Seti. The name Ta-Seti means
"Land of the Bow". Ta-Seti was the name given to Nubia by the Egyptians.
The Qustul incense burner indicates that the unification of Nubia preceded that of
Egypt. The Ta-Seti had a rich culture at Qustul. Qustul Cemetery L had tombs that
equaled or exceeded Kemite tombs of the First Dynasty of Egypt. The A-Group people
were called Steu 'bowmen'. This shows that the Steu people used symbols that later
became Egyptian writing.
The Steu had the same funeral customs, pottery, musical instruments and related
artifacts of the Egyptians. Williams (1987, p.173,182) believes that the Qustul
Pharaohs are the Egyptian Rulers referred to as the Red Crown rulers in ancient
Egyptian documents.
Dr. Williams (1987) gave six reasons why he believes that the Steu of Qustul
founded Egyptian or Kemite civilization:
1. Direct progression of royal complex designs from
Qustul to Hierakonpolis to Abydos.
2. Egyptian objects in Naqada III a-b tombs
3. No royal tombs in Lower and Upper Egypt.
4. Pharoanic monuments that refer to conflict in Upper Egypt.
5. Inscriptions of the ruler Pe-Hor, are older than Iry-Hor of Abydos.
6. The ten rulers of Qustul, one at Hierakonpolis and three at Abydos corresponds
to the "historical" kings of late Naqada period.
The findings of Williams (1987), support the findings of Diop (1991,p.108) that "we
also understand better now why the Egyptian term designating royalty etymologically
means: (the man) who comes from the South= nsw< n y swt = who belongs to the South=
who is a native of the South= the King of Lower Egypt, and has never meant just
King, in other words king of Lower and Upper Egypt, King of all Egypt".
Williams (1987) and Trigger (1980) have failed to discuss the entire inscription on
the Gebel Sheikh Suleiman relief. These scholars ignore the Proto-Saharan
inscription, and describe only, the relief from left to right as follows: a serekh
topped by a falcon looking over a victorious battlefield, sacred bark and a bound
prisoner (see figure 5).

But in reality we find more than these figures on the Gebel Sheikh Suleiman
inscription which appears to date back to the A- Group period of Nubia over 5000
years ago. This is obvious when we examine the photograph of the Gebel Sheikh
Suleiman relief.
From left to right on this relief we see a falcon on a serekh sign surmounting a
house/ palace. In front of this village/ palace scene we see a prisoner bound by
Stj bow ( the sign for the Steu). Facing the prisoner bound by Stj bow ( the sign
for the Steu). Facing the prisoner bound by the stj sign we see a bird over a
circle with the letter X inside. Besides this scene we have another bird setting a
top the letter X within the circle sign facing a victorious battle scene which
includes a man bound to a sacred bark.
Over the sacred bark we find 21 Proto-Saharan signs. These signs agree with the
Egyptian pottery symbols (see figure 3). The Gebel Sheikh Suleiman inscription is
an obituary written about a king called Fe .
As noted above Homburger found that the Manding languages are closely related to
the Coptic language. Using the Manding language we can read the Gebel Sheikh
Suleiman inscription. Reading from right to left we read:
1. i gba lu
2. fe kye nde
2 1/2. ka i lu
3. fe fe tu
4. be yu su (su su) tu
5. su se lu gbe
6. po gbe tu
Below is the translation of the Gebel Sheikh Suleiman inscription:
"1. Thou family habitation, hold (it) upright. 2. Fe's estate (is on) the shore (of
the watercourse). 2 1/2. Cut thou (sepulchre) habitation for the family (here). 3.
Fe preferred to be obedient to the order. 4. Lay low the (celebrity) in the large
hemisphere tomb (and) offer up libations that merit upright virtue.6. Pure
righteousness (is) King (Fe)."
This King Fe, of Gebel Sheikh Suleiman, may relate to Pharoah Pe-Hor (Throne of
Horus) since in African languages /f/ and /p/ are often interchangeable. It is
interesting to note that there is an inscription on a storage jar from Cemetery L
of Qustul, Nubia that reads Pe-Hor (Williams 1987, p. 164). This Pe-Hor may be the
Fe, of the Gebel Sheikh Suleiman inscription. EGYPTIAN WRITING
The Egyptians invented three scripts: hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic. These
scripts were used by the Egyptians for thousands of years.
The Egyptian hieroglyphic script was confined mainly to monuments. The hieratic
writing was a simplified form of the hieroglyphics, used for day-to-day business
for almost three millennia.
The Egyptian scripts were borrowed by other people in the Middle East, especially
in the Sinai. The Protosinaitic script, was derived from Egyptian prototypes. It
was this writing which was used by the Phoenicians and Greeks to form the alphabet
we presently used.
Many Egyptian pottery signs agree with the Demotic script (see figure 6). The
demotic script is the only Egyptian script that

was used by just about every Egyptian. This writing was confined to ostraca and
papyri.
The demotic script was used from the Seventh century B.C. to the Fifth century A.D.
The demotic records were used by commercial, legal and administrative sectors of
the Egyptian society.
Demotic signs were borrowed by other scripts. Six of the Coptic signs were derived
from demotic, and many of the Meroitic signs are of demotic origin.
THE MEROITIC SCRIPT
The people of Meroe, the Kushites had their own alphabet of 23 signs.For many years
we could read Meroitic phonetically but we could not read the words.
In 1974, Anta Diop at the UNESCO Symposium on the Decipherment of the Meroitic
script proposed a methodological procedure based on the comparative method of
linguistics and the Ancient Model to decipher the Meroitic script.The Ancient
Model, simply means that the Greeks and Romans were right when they claimed that
Civilization began in Africa/Egypt and that the ancient scholars knew much about
African history scholars.
The ancient scholars believed that some of the people of Meroe came from India. One
of the groups to formerly rule India were the Kushana people the language of the
Kushana is called Tokharian today.
Using the comparative methods outlined by Diop, Clyde Ahmad Winters compared
Tokharian (which has as its substratum languages Manding and Dravidian), to the
Meroitic language as outlined by I. Hoffman and F. Hintze, in their grammars of
Meroitic. This comparison showed that Kushana or Tokharian and Meroitic shared many
affixes and words.
This comparison of Kushana and Meroitic suffixes led to the assumption that we
could read the Meroitic script using the Kushana language. The fact that Kushana
and the Dravidian and Manding languages are cognate meant the we might also be able
to use terms from the these languages to help read Meroitic. This discovery proved
valid and supported the methodological techniques outlined by Diop in 1974.
Meroitic is basically a suffixing language. The funerary tablets are written in the
third person.
We have already deciphered many funerary tablets (Winters 1984b,1989b). The
Meroitic inscriptions have the following order:
1) Invocation to Isis (Wosi) and Osiris (Sere) the gods of the dead;
2) Name of the deceased person; and
3) the obituary.
In the early Meroitic script the deceased requested passage to a revitalized
Napata. In the later inscriptions the deceased asked to be sent to Khenel, Khenepi
and or Bane, the
place(s) where the spirits dwell.
It appears that Woshi, was responsible for giving the dead person's Kha , the right
to leave for paradise. Sere , was the god who guides the deceased person's Kha , to
the afterworld(s).
There is also mention of Amon. Amon was recognized as the Supreme god of many
people of the Meroitic Sudan (Winters

1995a, 1995b, n.d.). In figure 7, we see a stelae from Karanog (Winters, n.d.).
The funerary stelae from Karanog (fig.7) published by MacIver and Wooley , provides
us with a good picture of the Meroitic religion and style of writing. On the front
of the funerary stelae of Karanog we find the depiction of a woman with her hair
tied in a top-knot, necklace around her neck and bangles on her arms. Above the
head of this female figure we find wings. This stelae has fourteen (14) lines. The
stelae is dedicated to a woman named Tqewine/ Tqowine.
Below we will first give the transliteration of the Karanog stelae and then a
translation of Meroitic into English. At the end of the translation we will provide
a vocabulary of the text.
Line 1. Woshi ne Shore yi-ne t-po m-i d.
Line 2. Tqowine s li-ne t si d e-ne te o d he.
Line 3. Lo wi-ne sl h m-ne...s-ne qo. Qo li-ne
Line 4. Terike lo wi-ne...i l pe rine si b lo.
Line 5. Tel-o wi-ne pq r ne ye mtetl...e ne ye.
Line 6. Lq-ne lo win-ne yet sn net e i ol ye e-ne.
Line 7. M ne lo wi-ne... ot p kr-ne yet ne-ne e-o wi-ne. Line 8. Pe sto lt-ne yet m
n e e-o wi-ne qo re.
Line 9. St s t lete-ne s-ne tq lo wi-ne hle mr.
Line 10. S-ne q lo-t to lo wi-ne mte h ne s-n pe.
Line 11. Sto li h wi-ne t e lo lo-a en-ne ye.
Line 12. Tb h re lo wi-ne ato mh enep si se-a.
Line 13. Te-ne ato mh enep wi h r ke te-ne h ml-o l-ne.
Line 14. P-Sin ote m-i ke te-ne Wosi ne. Shore o-i ine. TRANSLATION
"l. Isis the Good, and Osiris the Eternal (are) commanding the measure (of) the
bequeathal. (2) Tqowine, the patron to transmit

her satisfying bequeathal. She commands the beginning of the bequeathal of the He.
(3) The solitary honorable patron (is) to behold the He-ne's (the abstract
personality of man)...to prop up the renewal. Act to (make) the conveyance. (4)
(Its) the Fashion to dispatch Awe...[h]i to remain to reproduce within satisfaction
from a distance. (5) The solitary object of respect to make
indeed a good voyage to Mtetl...[here] to be give(n) a good existence.(6) She is to
witness solitary reverence capable of cleverly bowing in reverence (to the gods)--
give leave to the /a grand journey (Oh) Commander. (7) Measure the good (of the )
lonely object of Honor [lying in the grave]...esteem and dignity. Adorn (her with)
goodness, give opening to honor.(8) Your nonexistent patron goes to measure
goodness. Give (its) beginning Now! The Object of Respect (Tqowine, to be) renewed
indeed. (9) Endorse the embarkation of the (good) Supporter. Set in Motion the
dispatch of this object of respect (Tqowine) to reverberate luck. (10) The patron,
she is present (in) the grave. Send the Object of Respect to unlock H-ne [the place
where the H, is kept] --the Patron begs you. (11) Protect her conveyance of the H.
This honorable woman give (her) isolated departure. The Teacher (to take) a
journey. (12) Announce in a lofty voice indeed, the dispatch of this Object of
Respect (on the) path (of) the grand bestowal (of) atonement (and ) favor. (13)
Rebirth is the path to grand bestowal of honor to the H , indeed give permission
for the rebirth of the H, and the soul to exit. (14) Much satisfaction
(and) wonder (to come) measure it. The permission (for its bestowal ) is arranged
by Isis,( and) Osiris (is) the Opener of the Way."
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