posted 21 April 2005 02:57 AM            

Friederike Jesse

Traceless migration? - The archaeological visibility of pastoral nomads in the southern Libyan Desert

Large scale survey and excavations in the southern Libyan Desert carried out since 1980 by multi-disciplinary research projects of the University of Cologne made it possible to register about 2300 sites in an hitherto nearly unknown area. The results allowed for the establishment of a 5000 year long cultural sequence beginning in the 6th millennium BC. Identification of pastoral nomadic activities was possible through the analysis of the excavated sites combined with the results of the large scale surveys. On the site level, structures like fireplaces or watering troughs for animals and of course the archaeological material (pottery, lithics and animal bones) give hints for spatial layout, camp organization and seasonality. On the regional scale, especially the mapping of different pottery design styles provides information about the extension of areas of transhumance. Combined with geoscientific evidence concerning the climatic evolution and the archaeozoological and archaeobotanical data, a rather clear picture of pastoral adaptations in the southern Libyan Desert can be traced. A pastoral way of life started at the end of the 5th millennium BC; cattle herding largely dominated. Increasing aridity then led to a diversification of the herds, small livestock, sheep and goat, were added. During the Handessi Horizon (ca. 2200-1100 BC) a very mobile way of life with large transhumance cycles can be supposed. The pottery indicates not only North-South relations but also contact with the Nubian Nile Valley. Following the symbiosis model, the groups thriving west of the Nile may have been part of the pastoral section of the state of Kerma.

http://african-archaeology.de/

F. Jesse, S. Kröpelin, M. Lange, N. Pöllath & H. Berke
On the Periphery of Kerma - The Handessi Horizon in Wadi Hariq, Northwestern Sudan

Abstract
Wadi Hariq is a complex valley system in the Northwest Sudan about 400 km west of the Nile. Stratigraphic investigations provide new data on the environmental and climatic history of the present-day hyperarid centre of the southeastern Sahara. Archaeological work there only started at the end of the 1990s, with a survey and excavations carried out as part of the multidisciplinary research project ACACIA of the University of Cologne. To date, 104 sites are known in the Wadi Hariq. Based on the pottery found at these sites, most can be attributed to the Handessi Horizon, the former Geometric Pottery Horizon, of the eastern Sahara. Geometric patterns, and also mat impressions, are characteristic of the Handessi Horizon (ca 2200 – 1100 BC). The subsistence of these prehistoric inhabitants was based on the herding of cattle and small livestock. Transhumance cycles included areas further north (Laqiya region) and south (Wadi Howar), and perhaps even the Nile Valley has to be considered. Similar decorative patterns have been found in all these areas. Evidence of an even earlier human presence in the Wadi Hariq during the Holocene is provided by several sherds decorated with Dotted Wavy Line and Laqiya-type patterns as well as some fragments of rippled-ware pottery.

posted 21 April 2005 06:52 PM            

Could the Tehenu be the Saharo-Sudanese that Briggs says brought neolithic
culture to the coastal Africans?

Something that puzzles me is that the later light complexioned Tamehu
first enter the record deep in Nehesu territory well before the
arrival of the northeast Mediteranean Sea Peoples who know doubt altered
the coastal stock and even filtered into the northern Sahara if we're
reading the rock art correctly? And there were myths about the "army of
Heracles" and other NW Meds settling the Maghreb.

posted 21 April 2005 07:21 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by alTakruri~:

What do you think about the Eastern Libyans (of the Egyptian records) and
the Maghrebi Imazighen being related by language but more loosely related
as far as geneaology?

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Thought Writes:

That seems to be the case based upon the mtDNA evidence. They share a common paternal lineage, but the Maghrebi Imazighen share in a predominantly Western European maternal gene pool.

quote:

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Originally posted by alTakruri~:

Could the Tehenu be the Saharo-Sudanese that Briggs says brought neolithic
culture to the coastal Africans?

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Thought Writes:

Most definitely. Food production and specifically the herding of domestic Caprines spread from the central Sahara to the Maghreb.

quote:

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Originally posted by alTakruri~:

Something that puzzles me is that the later light complexioned Tamehu
first enter the record deep in Nehesu territory well before the
arrival of the northeast Mediteranean Sea Peoples who know doubt altered
the coastal stock and even filtered into the northern Sahara if we're
reading the rock art correctly? And there were myths about the "army of
Heracles" and other NW Meds settling the Maghreb.

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Thought Writes:

There may have been a prehistoric connection between NW Africa and SW Europe as BB claims. Yet the window for such a diffusion is between ~10 KY (TMRCA of H1 mtDNA lineage) and ~ 6 KY (earliest settled agricultural and megalithic culture in SW Europe). After ~6 KY the two regions have VERY different cultural characteristics.

posted 22 April 2005 02:57 AM            

alTakruri,check out the following link about the Labu. The archaeological record seems to indicate an intrusive element that displaced the earlier populations.

http://www.courses.psu.edu/cams/cams400w_aek11/www/labu.htm

posted 22 April 2005 01:11 PM            

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Originally posted by ausar:

Try a book called the Eastern Libyans by Oric Bates. I believe there are some more books written by Egyptologist on this subject.

alTakruri,check out the following link about the Labu. The archaeological record seems to indicate an intrusive element that displaced the earlier populations.

http://www.courses.psu.edu/cams/cams400w_aek11/www/labu.htm

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It's pretty much a given that the original coastal population was augumented
by seafarers from across the Mediterranean. The funny thing is that they
seemed to have lost their culture and adapted to that of the North
Africans.

You know, when I look at those paintings of the Tamahu in the Gate of
Teka Hra vignettes (and there are several from different tombs)I don't
see blue eyes or blonde hair. Is it just me or are there authenicated
wall paintings with unmistakeable blondes and blues?

No doubt though, some of those Tamahu hardly resemble other African peoples
in as far as their facial profiles. But their locks, head feathers,
cicatrices or henna tattooings, and leather clothing does match African
sensibilities some of which still found today.

posted 22 April 2005 01:42 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Djehuti:
I've seen many Egyptian depictions of Tamahou ('white' Libyans) but non of the Tehenu. Does anyone know of any sites or books that have depictions of the Tehenu people?

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THHNW show up as early as the Vth Dynasty on the reliefs of Neuserre and Sahure
who defeated them.

As Ausar wrote, there are line drawings of Tehenu in Bates. I don't have
a flatbed scanner and so cannot post them, sorry. Try interlibrary loan.

posted 22 April 2005 01:50 PM            

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According to the ancients, the portion of Africa to the west of Egypt was called Libya but according to the Moudu ro en Kemet, the region to the west of Kemet would be called Khasut Amenti ("foreign territories in the west"), and like "Nubia" to the south, it was only referred to vis-a-vis the tribes or peoples in that region. Here is the chronology of Kemetian names for what the ancients referred to as "Libya" :

1) predynastic;early dynastic period (2920-2575bc);also in the Book of the Dead, one of the oldest Kemetian texts.
Tehenu: ("The 'blue' people")
Note: their name was often written with the ideogram for "sparkle, shine, coruscate, lightning, blue-glazed faience. (EWB)
These people were portrayed by the Kemetian as being very similar to themselves, and probably were closely related.
Tehen: dazzling;sparkling; to dye something blue; faience or a glazed blue earthenware that was often used for amulets and some vessels.

In my opinion, these were the ancestors of the present day Taureg people, who even today some of them are referred to as the blue people because some wear fabrics dyed by a process which involves pounding indigo powder into the cloth with a stone. So, if you were to use the Kemetian language to describe these Taureg people you would call them Tehenu...

2) 12th Dynasty onwards...
While the Tehenu were still present and also used, we had an addition:
Tamhu: "The Red people"
This was an ethnic term based upon Kemetian ethnographic classifications (IE, *"the mural of the races") to indicate a white race of people. These were the blue-eyed 'Berbers' and were to become the favorites of modern Egyptology, as their presence allowed the creation of an erroneous association with the civilization of Kemet, even though their existence was only acknowledge during the 12th Kemetian dynasty...

3) 20th Dynasty
M'shawaasha: (?; "meshwesh") This was a Libyan people who appear to be self-named, as there doesn't appear to be a Kemetian correspondence (at least I couldn't find any). We do have the name of one of their kings; M'shaken.

4) Indeterminate
Rebu/Lebu:
I couldn't find any direct correspondence with "Reb" or "Leb" but we can perhaps find help from Diop on this one; Diop informs us that there are a people living in Senegal called the Lebou and whose name means "fishermen or people who live by the sea." So what do we have in Kemetian?
"r" or "l" is a preposition meaning for example - to;against;at
"bo" in Kemetian and in Coptic means "canal" or "stream"
"l_bo" means "at the stream"
"l_bou" means "those at the stream"
Thus it is accurate to state that Lebou in the Kemetian language would mean and be consistent with "people who live by the sea (water)."
Would the Lebu then be tribes living along the coast of northern Africa? I think so...

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posted 22 April 2005 02:01 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Wally:
My own personal observation on this subject from Dec 2004...

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Good stuff! You got RN NTR meanings for any of these "Libyan" tribals?

Esbet

Beken

Kehek

Hes

Imukehek

Shai

Seped

Ekbet

Keykesh