History of Ancient Nubia

Archaeological evidence suggests that early people were in Nubia since at least the Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene (2,58 million years ago –773,000 years ago) although better archaeological evidence exists for the Middle Pleistocene (774,100–129,000 years ago). There is evidence for groups foraging and ultimately settling along the Nile River and early hominins, such as Homo erectus/Homo ergaster and Homo heidelbergensis also transiting through Nubia to West Asia. 

During the African Humid Period (so-called "Green Sahara") the climate in Nubia, as well as elsewhere in North Africa, was much wetter than it is today. This in in the Mesolithic period (ninth–fifth millennium BCE). It meant it was possible to live in what today is the Sahara desert. Pottery starts being used in the mid-ninth millennium BCE in Nubia, but groups are still hunter-gatherers and their animals and plants are not domesticated. There are many sites in Nubia in this period and distinctive decorated ceramics. There is also a large amount of fish consumption in this period. 

In the Neolithic period (sixth–fourth millennium BCE), there continues to be considerable settlement in the Nile Valley in Nubia. Domesticated plants and animals appear and one starts to find cattle bucrania in graves. The economy was probably not exclusively pastoral however, as there are signs of the cultivation of foodstuffs as well. There is unfortunately very limited evidence for habitation from this period. Most of the evidence we have comes from graves. 

The A-Group (ca. 3800–2900 BCE), was an indigenous complex society in Lower Nubia which had elaborate cemeteries and grave goods, as well as sophisticated herding practices. A key piece is the Qustul Incense burner, an undoubtedly Nubian object whose motifs show a close correspondence with contemporary objects from Predynastic Egypt pointing to the shared motifs between Nubia and region to the north.  At the same time further south in Nubia, the Pre-Kerma culture (ca. 3500–2500 BCE) in the south provides evidence for monumental architecture such as fortifications.

It is at Kerma where Nubia manifested itself into the one of the great empires of the second millennium BCE: the empire of Kerma, named for its presumed capital with its massive burial tumuli. Lower Nubia was occupied at this time by pastoralist groups known as the C-Group (2500–1500 BCE), which was dominated at times by Middle Kingdom Egypt (ca. 1938–1725 BCE), who built a series of fortresses along the Nile to reinforce their control of the region. The kingdom at Kerma expanded northwards and absorbed Lower Nubia, uniting the two regions together into a powerful kingdom that challenged Egypt for dominance of Northeast Africa. 

Kerma was ultimately defeated by a resurgent New Kingdom Egypt and Nubia began to be absorbed into the Egyptian empire (ca. 1500–1070 BCE). The levels of assimilation and control varied, but Egypt’s goal was to make Nubia part of Egypt. As such, they built temple-towns where Egyptian gods were worshipped and Egyptians immigrated and settled in Nubia, while the Nubians negotiated a new reality being under Egypt. At the end of the Twentieth Dynasty, however, Nubian rule ceased in Egypt. 

In 750 BCE, rulers based at Napata (Jebel Barkal) began to consolidate their control first over Nubia, but then in Egypt itself. The ruler Kashta took over Upper Egypt, followed by his son Piankhi who controlled all of Egypt in what became known as the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty. The Napatans controlled both Egypt and Nubia for about 100 years and also expanded into the Levant, where they came into conflict with the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Ultimately, they had to retreat from Egypt itself and by the middle of the seventh century BCE controlled Nubia only, but they continued to use the title “King of Upper and Lower Egypt” for centuries afterwards. The Napatan kingdom continued to expand its control and influence to regions southwards, ultimately leading to the move of the capital from Jebel Barkal to Meroe. 

In the third century BCE, the capital of the Napatan Empire moves southwards to Meroe, marking the beginning of the Meroitic period. Meroe ruled a vast expanse down to the Sahelian regions, some 850 miles southwards. The rulers of Meroe clashed with the Romans, remaining independent despite Rome’s best efforts to subjugate them. This is also the first period when the Nubians are writing in their own language, although they used Egyptian scripts. We do not understand a lot about the period because while they left lengthy inscriptions, we still cannot fully decipher them.   

The Meroitic period ended in the middle of the fourth century CE, when Ezana, King of the Aksumite Empire (located in modern Etihopia and Eritrea) invaded and occupied Meroe. Once the Meroitic kingdom ended, the region was divided into three regions: Nobadia (Northern Nubia), Makuria (Central Nubia), and Alodia (Southern Nubia). While there may have been political fragmentation, there continued to be powerful rulers who were based in these regions, as seen by the rich tombs filled with luxury goods (both locally produced and imported) that can be found at some sites. The other major change in this period was the beginnings of Christianity in Nubia.  

The Christian period starts in the seventh century when Makuria and Nobadia combined together to form a single kingdom. In the North, the Muslim armies had conquered Egypt, meaning that the Christian kingdoms of Nubia together with the Aksumite Empire to the south, were the only Christian kingdoms remaining in Africa. By the eleventh century, Alodia/Alwa and Makuria had unified into a single kingdom once again, known as the kingdom of Dotawo. Conflict with Egypt in the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries leads to considerable chaos in the kingdom and by the sixteenth century the Ottomans conquer the north while in Southern Egypt the Kingdom of Funj rules and Christianity disappears.