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The '''race of ancient Egyptians''' is a ] topic of debate aimed at identifying the ] of ]ians due to rise of ]. Although ancient ] was a cosmopolitan society, consisting of people of different ancetries, there is an effort to identify a single race to which the majority of ancient Egyptians belonged. |
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{{R with history}} |
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] is believed to have been populated either by dark-skinned or "black" people (people of sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa), or light-skinned or "white" people (people of Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, some of South Asia and portions of Central Asia).{{fact}} Many disagree on the proportions and contributions of these groups. |
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==Overview of theories== |
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Some scholars, mostly Afrocentrists, believe that the character of the Egyptian society and culture most closely resembled that of African cultures. {{fact}} They also assert that Egypt remained essentially a "black" African civilization throughout the ].{{fact}} This is based on their interpretation and understanding of archaeological evidence pointing to ], ], and older Saharan cultures whose religious and cultural practices most closely resemble Egypt's own, to serve a political aspiration.{{fact}} |
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Others, however, have focused less on cultural aspects and more on ] comparisons. In this aspect they believe that the black presence of Egypt has been substantial. |
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Some genetic studies show there is little change in ethnic distribution between ancient and ].<ref> Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., P. Menozzi, and A. Piazza. 1994. The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Compared populations from throughout the world using extensive genetic data. The North African populations studied grouped with West Eurasian (European, Middle East) populations rather than sub-Saharan Africans. </ref> <ref> Hammer, M. et al. 1997. The geographic distribution of ]. Genetics 145(3):787-805. Used seven different methods to compute population trees of world populations, using Y-chromosome data. All seven methods grouped the Egyptians with the non-African populations rather than with the sub-Saharan Africans. Egyptians' genetic profile resembles that of South Europeans more than the other regional groups in the study. </ref> <ref> Bosch, E. et al. 1997. Population history of North Africa: evidence from classical genetic markers. Human Biology. 69(3):295-311. Using classical genetic markers, calculated Egyptians to be genetically very close to Mediterranean Asians and Europeans. </ref> <ref> Kivisild T; Reidla M; Metspalu E; Rosa A; Brehm A; et al. Ethiopian mitochondrial DNA heritage: Tracking gene flow across and around the gate of tears. 2004. American Journal of Human Genetics 75 (5): 752-770 determined that there is a close genetic relationship between Ethiopians and Yemenis, as well as pointing out their genetic affinities with Egypt.</ref> |
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The disparate outcomes of such studies have done little to quell the debate about the race of modern Egyptians, andd there are those who have been reluctant to assign racial designations or make definitive claims about the skin color of its inhabitants at all. |
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==Obstacles in ascertaining race== |
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Determining the race of ancient Egyptians is rife with difficulties. Racial categories are based mostly on ] and traced through mutations; additionally they are based on ], ] and geography. It is within this framework that the discussion of the ] of ancient Egyptians is generally framed. |
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In addition, racial categories are themselves hard to define. The terms ] are widely discredited by opponents of ]. Likewise, ] and ] are not precisely defined, as skin tone varies within a single race (see below). Even a term such as "African" is considered inappropriate, and must be framed as "from sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa". |
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===Skin color=== |
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]Skin color within a single racial category can fall within a broad spectrum of shades. For historical reasons, ] and ] are particularly difficult concepts to describe definitively in Western societies. ] remnants of earlier times, such as the ] and ], still influence the racial perceptions of ] individuals. In the case of dynastic Egypt, this approach, of defining certain dark-skinned populations as non-black has extended to indigenous Africans, an approach which has drawn sharp criticism and ridicule in certain academic circles.{{fact}} |
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===Condition and availablity of remains=== |
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The remains of ancient Egyptians available for study today generally have deteriorated significantly and have been subjected to ]. While scientific testing and forensic examination provide many clues, the debate over the racial identity of dynastic Egypt continues. ] allows for broad categorizations based on ]. In the ], ] reconstructions have produced widely varying images and castings of what ] ] may have looked like, but critics charge that some of these efforts have been politically and racially motivated and have produced deliberately inaccurate representations{{fact}}. But even if researchers could determine conclusively the skin color of a single pharaoh, the questions about the skin color of the broader Egyptian population over the millennia would remain{{fact}}. Though non-royal remains have been unearthed, researchers stand little chance of unearthing a true cross-section of Egyptian society{{fact}}, but in any case, most high-profile bickering has centered around the icons of ancient Egypt -- its ] as well as their ] and ]s. |
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===Geography and linguistics=== |
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Geographical and linguistic evidence hold some clues, but the proximity of Egypt to the ] and ] resulted in a confluence of cultures and peoples, where the balance of power and influence of these disparate elements changed constantly over the millennia spanned by dynastic Egypt. |
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===Art=== |
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] |
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The art of the ancient Egyptians is a rich cultural legacy, providing ample evidence of Egyptian daily social, political economic and religious life. Egyptian artisans were highly skilled metalsmiths, painters, carvers and sculptors. However, Egyptian aesthetics and the use of clearly symbolic, rather than realistic, colors in some instances when depicting the human form have made determinations of the racial identity of subjects problematic in some cases. Human figures have been depicted in ], a brownish ], blue, white and black. Various scholars have offered differing interpretations regarding the meaning and purpose of such depictions, and the matter of race remains unsettled. |
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The pale-white renderings of most royal women are thought to have nothing to do with their actual skin color, as these figures represent their femininity as a lighter skin tone. The association of "yellow khenet was symbolic of all that is eternal and imperishable in the Egyptian religion". |
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] |
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Likewise, the jet-black renderings of Tutankhamun are thought to have nothing to do with his actual skin color, as these figures represent his voyage through the pitch darkness of the underworld -- a significant afterlife ritual.. |
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" chamber was guarded by two black sentry-statues that represent the royal ka (soul) and symbolize the hope of rebirth -- the qualities of Osiris, who was reborn after he died.". |
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Compounding the problem of utilizing art as a clue to the ethnic identity of dynastic Egypt is the elitist nature of much of the art that has endured. Murals and artifacts in temples and crypts constructed to honor deceased royalty and the politically powerful may not accurately reflect the demographics of the majority of the Egyptian populace of the time. |
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===Politics=== |
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Beyond the scientific difficulties is the matter of politics. Different factions have attempted to cast ancient Egyptians in their own image, claiming dynastic Egypt as the creation of their ancestors. Even those who agree that Egypt was a multi-ethnic society at least at some point in history disagree over when population shifts may have occurred and extent to which ethnic diversity existed, and recriminations have been leveled by one group against another, charging ]. In ], when three, separate teams from three different nations were charged with reconstructing the face of Tutankhamun and assigning a racial and geographic point of origin, a furor and angry protests by American blacks erupted amid charges of Afrophobia on the part of Egypt's ], racism, "whitewashing" and counter charges of "reverse racism."{{citationneeded}} |
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==Genetic evidence== |
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Full scale, comparative forensic analysis and ] of mummies may help identify the race of the ancient Egyptians, but thus far only a limited number of ]. |
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===Modern Egyptians=== |
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].]] |
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Some genetic studies suggest that there is little change in ethnic distribution between ancient Egyptians and ].<ref> Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., P. Menozzi, and A. Piazza. 1994. The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Compared populations from throughout the world using extensive genetic data. The North African populations grouped with West Eurasian (European, Middle East) populations rather than sub-Saharan Africans. </ref> <ref> Hammer, M. et al. 1997. The geographic distribution of ]. Genetics 145(3):787-805. Used seven different methods to compute population trees of world populations, using Y-chromosome data. All seven methods grouped the Egyptians with the non-African populations rather than with the sub-Saharan Africans. Egyptians' genetic profile resembles that of South Europeans more than the other regional groups in the study. </ref> <ref> Bosch, E. et al. 1997. Population history of north Africa: evidence from classical genetic markers. Human Biology. 69(3):295-311. Using classical genetic markers, calculated Egyptians to be genetically very close to Mediterranean Asians and Europeans. </ref> <ref> Kivisild T; Reidla M; Metspalu E; Rosa A; Brehm A; et al. Ethiopian mitochondrial DNA heritage: Tracking gene flow across and around the gate of tears. 2004 American Journal of Human Genetics 75 (5): 752-770. Determined there is a close genetic relationship between Ethiopians (a ]n country) and Yemen, as well as pointing out genetic affinities with Egypt.</ref> |
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To further confuse matters, there is debate over how to classify the race of modern Egyptians, In general, they are classified as predominantly ]n, ], Southern European, or ]<ref> Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., P. Menozzi, and A. Piazza. 1994. The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Compared populations from throughout the world using extensive genetic data. The North African populations grouped with West Eurasian (European, Middle East) populations rather than sub-Saharan Africans. </ref> <ref> Hammer, M. et al. 1997. The geographic distribution of human Y chromosome variation. Genetics 145(3):787-805. Used seven different methods to compute population trees of world populations, using Y-chromosome data. All seven methods grouped the Egyptians with the non-African populations rather than with the sub-Saharan Africans. Egyptians' genetic profile resembles that of South Europeans more than the other regional groups in the study. </ref> <ref> Bosch, E. et al. 1997. Population history of north Africa: evidence from classical genetic markers. Human Biology. 69(3):295-311. Using classical genetic markers, calculated Egyptians to be genetically very close to Mediterranean Asians and Europeans.</ref>, |
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with evidence for gene flow from ]. |
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Numerous ] have been performed on the Egyptians in order to determine their origins. One maternal study linked Egyptians with people from Ethiopia. There was also a ] by Lucotte et al performed on Egyptians, with haplotypes V, XI, and IV being most common. ] V is common in ] and has a low frequency outside Africa. Haplotypes V and XI, and IV are all supra/] ]n haplotypes, and they are far more dominant in Egyptians than Near Eastern or European haplotypes. |
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<ref> Kivisild T; Reidla M; Metspalu E; Rosa A; Brehm A; et al. Ethiopian mitochondrial DNA heritage: Tracking gene flow across and around the gate of tears. 2004 American Journal of Human Genetics 75 (5): 752-770. Determined there is a close genetic relationship between ]ns and Yemen, as well as pointing out genetic affinities with Egypt.</ref> |
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<blockquote> |
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*Cavalli-Sforza et al. (1994) compared populations from throughout the world using extensive genetic data. The North African populations grouped with West Eurasian (European, Middle East) populations rather than sub-Saharan Africans. |
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*Di Rienzo et al. (1994) studied the relationship of three samples (taken from Egyptians, Sardinians, and sub-Saharan Africans), using mitochondrial DNA and simple sequence repeats. In terms of genetic distance, the Egyptian sample was closer to the Sardinian sample than to the sub-Saharan African sample. |
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*Hammer et al. (1997) used seven different methods to compute population trees of world populations, using Y-chromosome data. All seven methods grouped the Egyptians with the non-African populations rather than with the sub-Saharan Africans. Egyptians' genetic profile resembles that of South Europeans more than the other regional groups in the study. |
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*Poloni et al. (1997). Egyptians and a few other African populations (Tunisians, Algerians, and even Ethiopians) showed a stronger Y-chromosome similarity to non-African Mediterraneans than to the remainder of Africans mostly from south of the Sahara. |
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*Bosch et al. (1997), using classical genetic markers, calculated Egyptians to be genetically very close to Mediterranean Asians and Europeans.</blockquote> |
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==Other analysis of mummified remains== |
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===Melanin Dosage Test=== |
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]Afrocentrist scholar ]'s forensic tests of ] content in Egyptian mummies and of forensic reconstruction of skulls are cited as evidence that the early dynastic Egyptians were black Africans and remained so in predominant part for millennia. |
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Melanin content alone is not definitive evidence of ], but when placed in the context of the possible Nile Valley populations of the time, many consider Diop's findings interesting. Critics argue that relatively few examples of well-preserved human remains of the era exist, and that the degradation of melanin over time and in the presence of ancient embalming fluids is a phenomenon that has not been widely studied. It was also critized that Diop didn't specify, in qualitative and quantitative terms, what portions of melanin are sufficient for a man to be classified as belonging to the black race.<ref> United Nations; International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa; 1974</ref> |
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Diop stated his views on the subject in ''Origin of the Ancient Egyptians'': |
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<blockquote>Melanin (eumelanin), the chemical body responsible for skin pigmentation, is, broadly speaking, insoluble and is preserved for millions of years in the skins of fossil animals. There is thus all the more reason for it to be readily recoverable in the skins of Egyptian mummies, despite a tenacious legend that the skin of mummies, tainted by the embalming material, is no longer susceptible of any analysis. Although the epidermis is the main site of the melanin, the melanocytes penetrating the derm at the boundary between it and the epidermis, even where the latter has mostly been destroyed by the embalming materials, show a melanin level which is non-existent in the white-skinned races....</blockquote> |
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<blockquote>Either way let us simply say that the evaluation of melanin level by microscopic examination is a laboratory method which enables us to classify |
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the ancient Egyptians unquestionably among the black races.</blockquote> |
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However, Diop does not describe any tests that verify his claims that melanin is "non-existent" in mummies belong to the "white-skinned races"{{fact}} nor provide evidence supporting his assertion that the absense of melanin in the epidermis is due to embalming techniques{{fact}}. |
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===Tutankhamen=== |
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In December 2000, a team of Japanese scientists received approval to DNA test ]. However, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities reversed their decision to allow testing. In 2004, forensic testing was again planned and halted. |
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==Comparisons to neighboring peoples== |
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] |
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Some scholars cite evidence of African culture in ancient Egyptian society. According to the 1974 Encyclopaedia Britannica: |
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<blockquote>"In Libya, which is mostly desert and oasis, there is a visible Negroid element in the sedentary populations, and at the same is true of the ] of Egypt, whether Copt or Muslim. Osteological studies have shown that the Negroid element was stronger in predynastic times than at present, reflecting an early movement northward along the banks of the Nile, which were then heavily forested." ''Fellahin'', in fact, is the name Arabs traditionally gave to the indigenous peoples of the lands they conquered. The term means ''tiller'' or ''peasant''. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1974 ed. Macropedia Article, Vol 14: "Populations, Human" - page 843)</blockquote> |
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Ancient Egyptians themselves traced their origin to a land they called "]" (''pwnt''), or ''ta nṯrw'' (read "Ta Netcherew"), the "Land of the Gods". Punt is thought to have been located around the ]ese-]n border and northern ]. |
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There are closer relations with northeast African religions. The numerous ]s (especially bovine cults and panther gods) and details of ritual dresses (animal tails, masks, grass aprons, etc) probably are of African origin. The kinship in particular shows some African elements, such as the king as the head ritualist (i.e., medicine man), the limitations and renewal of the reign (jubilees, regicide), and the position of the king's mother (a matriarchal element). Some of them can be found among the Ethiopians in Napata and Meroe, others among the Prenilotic tribes (Shilluk)." |
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<blockquote>…the Egyptians may have brought back more than goods from Punt, for it has often been suggested that their well known pygmy god, Bes, may have also been a Punt import. It would seem probably that dwarfs and pygmies were indeed imported from Punt, for an inscription in the tomb of Harkhuf, and expedition leader under Pepy II, tells of his acquisition of a dwarf for that king.</blockquote> |
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Historian ] distinguishes among Nubians, Ethiopians and Egyptians: |
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<blockquote>Strabo mentions the Nubians as a great race west of the Nile. They came originally from Kordofan, whence they emigrated two thousand years ago. They have rejected the name Nubas as it has become synonymous with slave. They call themselves Barabra, their ancient race name. Sanskrit historians call the Old Race of the Upper Nile Barabra. These Nubians have become slightly modified but are still plainly Negroid. They look like the Wawa on the Egyptian monuments. The Retu type number one was the ancient Egyptian, the Retu type number two was in feature an intermingling of the Ethiopian and Egyptian types. The Wawa were Cushites and the name occurs in the mural inscriptions five thousands years ago. Both people were much intermingled six thousand years ago. The faces of the Egyptians of the Old Monarchy are Ethiopian but as the ages went on they altered from the constant intermingling with Asiatic types. Also the intense furnace-like heat of Upper Egypt tended to change the features and darken the skin. In the inscriptions relative to the campaigns of ], ]es are represented as immediately adjoining the Egyptian frontier. This seems to perplex some authors. They had always been there. This was the Old Race of predynastic Egypt—the primitive ]. This was the aboriginal race of Abyssinia. It was symbolized by the Great Sphinx and the marvelous face of Cheops. Take any book of Egyptian history containing authentic cuts and examine the faces of the first pharaohs, they are distinctively Ethiopian. The "Agu" of the monuments represented this aboriginal race. They were the ancestors of the Nubians. and were the ruling race of Egypt. ] in ] exhibited before the ], some skulls of the ] and ], showing distinct Negroid characteristics. They were dolichocephalic or long skulled. The findings of archaeology more and more reveal that Egypt was Cushite in her beginning and that Ethiopians were not a branch of the ] in the sense that they are so represented in the average ethnological classifications of today.<ref> Drusilla Dunjee Houston ''Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Kushite Empire'' (Oklahoma City: The Universal Publishing Company, 1926)</ref></blockquote> |
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==Textual evidence== |
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Western classical writers usually described Egyptians as a mid-tone between black ]ns (i.e. Africans) and pale ]ans.{{fact}} |
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] states that "the Ethiopians stain the world and depict a race of men steeped in darkness. Less sun-burnt are the natives of ]. The land of Egypt, flooded by the Nile, darkens bodies more mildly owing to the inundation of its fields: it is a country nearer to us and its moderate climate imparts a medium tone." Professor of Classics, Frank M. Snowden Jr., Howard University, comments: |
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<blockquote>Here the term Ethiopians (= Greek "burnt face", denoting very dark skin) refers to Africans inhabiting latitudes south of Egypt. The term "Ethiopian," in that it was a broad category encompassing diverse ethnic groups of tropical Africa, was similar to a modern-day "racial" designation and roughly corresponded to what early anthropologists would have called "Negro." Yet classical writers, as exemplified by Manilius' quote above, clearly differentiated the Egyptians from "Ethiopians." Philostratus, for example, noted that a people living near the Nubian border were lighter than Ethiopians, and that Egyptians were lighter still.</blockquote> |
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====Hair==== |
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]While ] referred to the dark skin and woolly hair of the Egyptians, detailed microscopic investigations of hair samples taken from several ancient Egyptian mummies suggest that "Only a minority showed evidence of structural characteristics traditionally called "Negroid"; even in these the "Negroid" elements were weakly manifested" (Titlbachova and Titlbach, 1977) |
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<blockquote> Joann Fletcher, a consultant to the Bioanthropology Foundation in the UK, in what she calls an "absolute, thorough study of all ancient Egyptian hair samples" — relied on various techniques, such as electron microscopy and chromatography to analyze hair samples (Parks, 2000). She discovered that most of the natural hair types and those used for hairpieces were made of what she calls "Caucasian-type" hair, including even instances of blonde and red hair. Fletcher surmises that some of the lighter hair types may have been influenced by the presence of ancient Libyans and Greeks in ancient Egypt. However, this type of hair was also found to be present in much earlier times. (Parks, Lisa. 2000. Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs. Egypt Revealed Magazine (www.egyptrevealed.com), May 29) </blockquote> |
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==Linguistic evidence== |
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The ancient ] is a member of the ] ] (otherwise called "Hamito-Semitic") - a language group that covers most of ], the ], ] and ] as well as the ]. As a result, speakers of Afro-Asiatic languages are multi-ethnic and possess a wide range of skin colors. |
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Some Afrocentrist scholars point out an additional affinity of Egyptian with languages of the ] family, virtually all the speakers of which are blacks. For example, the Senegalese historian ] claims that the ancient Egyptian language has vocabulary in common with ], language spoken in Senegal, the Gambia, and Mauritania. ], who was born in Congo, links it with ], spoken by people of the northern region of the Republic of the Congo. These efforts are not supported by mainstream linguistics, which discredits conclusions based merely on similar-sounding or possibly related terms in different languages and accepts only rigorous investigation based on the methodology of ], in particular the ]. Furthermore, apart from the merits of the linguistic argument, the practice of positing racial or genetic identity based on linguistic evidence has been discredited. |
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===Kemet — "black land"=== |
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{|align="right" border="1" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" |
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|+''km'' in ]s |
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|-align="center" |
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|''km'' biliteral |
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|''km.t'' (place) |
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|''km.t'' (people) |
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|-align="center" |
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|<hiero>km</hiero> |
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|<hiero>km:t*O49</hiero> |
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|<hiero>km:t-A1-B1-Z3</hiero> |
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|} |
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One of the many names for Egypt in Ancient Egyptian is ''km.t'' (read "Kemet"), meaning "black land". More literally, the word means "black thing": ''km'' means "black" and the ''t''-suffix indicates an abstract ] formed from an ]. The chief component of the word is usually a sign (biliteral ''km'') depicting what is either a terraced bank of the ] (the fertile black soil of the most hospitable part of Egypt), or the tail of a ]. |
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The use of ''km.t'' "black land" in terms of a place was generally in contrast to the "red land": the ] beyond the Nile valley. When used to mean people, ''km.t'' "people of Kemet", "people of the black land" is usually translated "Egyptians". The Ancient Egyptians occasionally called themselves ''kmm.w'' (read "Kememew"), "the black people", omitting the ''t''-suffix.{{fact}} |
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==Geographic evidence== |
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]. Darker shades represent darker skin color.]] |
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Opponents of Afrocentrism often argue that Egyptians belong among the ethnically ] peoples of the ], pointing to the fact that Egypt is at the extreme north eastern edge of the African continent, close to both ] and the ]. However, rather than being comprised of a singular people, Egypt also extends south into areas occupied by undeniably black-skinned people, like Sudan. |
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Previous studies suggested that the population of Egypt was, at least in later dynasties, a mixture of tropical African, Mediterranean, Semitic and European peoples. However, these very categories are disputable and indeterminate. |
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Skin color among various populations of indigenous Africans differs naturally. Today, a brown-skinned ] might be considered no less a black African than a very dark-skinned Nubian. Afrocentrists argue that the same can be said of Nubians and Egyptians. |
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Significantly, however, all aspects of the standard Africoid phenotype of coarse, curly hair; broad, flat noses and full lips do not apply to all black peoples, many of whom have relatively straight hair and narrower facial features. Afrocentrist argue, that, while these peoples possess a range of skin tones and some diverge from the classically Africoid phenotype, they are considered no less "Negro" or "black" than other autochthonous peoples of the African continent— many of the ], linguistically ] and ] speaking peoples of both ] and ] being examples.{{fact}} Among humankind, no other racial group has greater phenotypical biodiversity than do Africoid peoples.{{fact}} Afrocentrists further believe that the indigenous peoples of the Nile Valley all comprised in predominant part the ethnically diverse peoples of ancient dynastic Egypt{{fact}} and emphasized that the conflict between Egypt and Nubia was not "racial", that even those Egyptians who had a stereotypical "negro appearance" weren't called "Nehesy" (the ancient Egyptian word for Nubian) unlike the ethnic Nubians and that the pharaoh who forbade the northern migration of Nubians into Egypt was known to |
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have Nubian origins. |
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Nubians and Libyans served in Egypt’s army and upon retirement received farms as bonuses, and they likewise married Egyptian women and produced mixed children. |
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<blockquote>At least in part, such reception and free intermingling of foreign and Egyptian populations must have added to the heterogeneous nature of the Egyptian populace. Nubians as mercenaries in Egyptian armies are documented pictorially and in inscriptions from the First Intermediate period (c. 2230–2020 B.C.E.), from the Middle Kingdom (2020–1786 B.C.E.) and from the New Kingdom...When members of the royal family were descended from such foreign populations or from border areas, pharaonic sculpture and reliefs clearly display their ethnic features. For example, the XIIth Dynasty (1991–1786 B.C.E.) originated from the Aswan region. As expected, strong Nubian features and dark coloring are seen in their sculpture and relief work.</blockquote> |
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==Artistic evidence== |
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] |
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], Paris.]] |
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Artistic renderings of the human form in dynastic Egyptian art were produced using a variety of pigments, ranging from yellow through auburn to black — or even blue. In some instances, the selection of skin tones was symbolic and meant to convey vitality, strength, feminity, permanence, and even death. ] writes about Nofrîtari, who reigned conjointly with Amenôthes: |
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"Her statue in the Turin Museum represents her as having black skin. She is also painted black standing before Amenôthes (who is white) in the Deir el-Medineh tomb, now preserved in the Berlin Museum, in that of Nibnûtîrû, and hi that of Unnofir, at Sheikh Abd el-Qûrnah. Her face is painted blue in the tomb of Kasa. The representations of this queen with a black skin have caused her to be taken for a negress, the daughter of an Ethiopian Pharaoh, or at any rate the daughter of a chief of some Nubian tribe; it was thought that Ahmosis must have married her to secure the help of the negro tribes in his wars, and that it was owing to this alliance that he succeeded in expelling the Hyksôs. Later discoveries have not confirmed these hypotheses. Nofrîtari was most probably an Egyptian of unmixed race, as we have seen, and daughter of Ahhotpû I., and the black or blue colour of her skin is merely owing to her identification with the goddesses of the dead." (Gaston Maspero, History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume IV, Part A) |
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]In typical portrayals of Egyptians in their own art, from the ] onwards they appear anywhere from auburn to deeply brown-skinned, using a red ochre and black pigment; women are typically depicted as having lighter, yellow skin color. Some walking stick handles and several tomb decorations depicted conquered adversaries, representing defeated ]tic and ] enemies. Donnelly considered the murals to show that the Egyptians had a reddish hue: |
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<blockquote>"The ancient Egyptians were red men. They recognized four races of men--the red, yellow, black, and white men. They themselves belonged to the "Rot," or red men; the yellow men they called "Namu"--it included the Asiatic races; the black men were called "Nahsu," and the white men "Tamhu." (Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis, the Antediluvian World, 1882, p. 195)</blockquote> |
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]]]Egyptian art contains numerous images of people with dolichocephalic heads. In some cases, the heads are extremely elongated. Some scholars have characterized the dolichocephalism of certain Egyptian royalty in the Tutmosid line as "family traits," rather than racial characteristics. Ray Johnson, director of the University of Chicago's research center at Luxor, describes the oddly shaped, quartzite head of an egyptian princess, thought to be that of ], the daughter of Akhenaten, as "most likely a family trait exaggerated by the artistic style of the period" and that it "It simply falls within the normal range of human variation." |
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Babacar M'Bow, Exhibit Service Coordinator of the ] Libraries Division, takes another view: |
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<blockquote>Another argument is the "overbite" or protruding teeth of King Tut and other members of the 18th dynasty. Here too, we see the falsification presented as science: overbite or maxillary prognathism-that is the protruding of the dental lining is a closely associated feature to "Negroid",particularly in East Africa. It is widely present in the Sudanese, Kenyan<nowiki></nowiki>, and particularly the Somali<nowiki></nowiki>.</blockquote> |
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There has been debate, however, over whether the exaggeratedly dolichocephalic heads of Amarna artists are a stylistic affectation meant to accentuate a normal cranial feature, or accurate representations of actual deformity, either natural or induced. Some scientists suggest that external "molding" devices were used to intentionally alter the heads into a more "desirable" cranial shape. According to Timothy R. Littlefield, Director of Research and Development for Cranial Technologies, "the methods used typically consisted of devices applied to the rapidly growing head of infants during the first several months of life. In Egypt, young nobles would have their head bound to produce a tall, turricephalic head shape that distinguished them as nobility." This is seconded by the Department of Neurosurgery of the University of Maryland: |
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<blockquote>"Evidence of artificial cranial remodeling is evident as early as 2000 BC in Egyptian sculptures showing elongated skulls of royal family designating their noble birth. African tribes, tribes North and South American Indians as well as Greek aristocracy have practiced head shape deformation for centuries to symbolize high society ranking. ("Remolding Used For Positional Deformity", University of Maryland School of Medicine) </Blockquote> |
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], ] period (fresco)]] Scholars like Arnold and Aldred attribute the egg-shaped heads to "traditional Egyptian theology and the new Aten religion, in which the egg symbolizes the divine creation of the universe and the divine origin of life."</blockquote> |
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In the case of the dolichocephalism of King Tutankhamen, however, the suggestion of genetic deformity in the Tutmosid line, as well as the head binding theory have been discredited by recent scholarship. As a result of CT scans conducted of King Tutankhamun's skull in 1995, it was found that, although "Tutankhamun had a very elongated (dolichocephalic) skull," "The cranial sutures are not prematurely fused...." In fact, with the king's age estimated between 18 and 20 years, "All of the cranial sutures <nowiki></nowiki> still at least partly open." Head binding affects the way in which cranial sutures fuse and would have been detected by the CT scan. The conclusion by medical experts was that Tut's dolichocephalism was "most likely due to normal anthropological variation…."<br> |
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<br> |
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===The Great Sphinx of Giza=== |
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The ], thought to be a likeness of the Pharaoh ], is in considerable disrepair after over four thousand years of erosion and vandalism. In ], the nose was pried off by an ], a Sufi named Sa'im al-dahr, as reported by Muhammad al-Husayni Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (died AD 1442) |
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Over the centuries, numerous writers and scholars have recorded their impressions and reactions upon seeing the Giza sphinx, and some have claimed to see Africoid features and a pronounced facial ] in what remains. French scholar ] visited Egypt between ] and ] and expressed astonishment upon seeing what he recognized to be a "Negro" face of the Great Sphinx: |
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]<blockquote>"...<nowiki></nowiki> all have a bloated face, puffed up eyes, flat nose, thick lips; in a word, the true face of the ]. I was tempted to attribute it to the climate, but when I visited the Sphinx, its appearance gave me the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically negro in all its features, I remembered the remarkable passage where ] says: 'As for me, I judge the ] to be a colony of the Egyptians because, like them, they are black with woolly hair. ...'" In other words, the ancient Egyptians were true ]es of the same type as all native-born Africans. That being so, we can see how their blood, mixed for several centuries with that of the ]s and ], must have lost the intensity of its original color, while retaining nonetheless the imprint of its original mold. We can even state as a general principle that the face is a kind of monument able, in many cases, to attest or shed light on historical evidence on the origins of peoples.</blockquote> |
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Upon visiting Egypt in 1849, French author ] echoed de Volney's observations. In his travelog chronicling his trip, he wrote: |
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<blockquote>We stop before a Sphinx; it fixes us with a terrifying stare. Its eyes still seem full of life; the left side is stained white by bird-droppings (the tip of the Pyramid of Khephren has the same long white stains); it exactly faces the rising sun, its head is grey, ears very large and protruding like a negro’s, its neck is eroded; from the front it is seen in its entirety thanks to great hollow dug in the sand; the fact that the nose is missing increases the flat, negroid effect. Besides, it was certainly Ethiopian; the lips are thick….</blockquote> |
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In his work ''The Negro'', W.E.B. Du Bois distinguished between ancient Egyptians, later Egypt of mixed population, and "full-blooded Negroes". He seconds Gustave Flaubert's description of the black features of the Sphinx, but explains them with "black men" from the south invading Egypt: |
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<blockquote>Egyptian civilization seems to have been African in its beginnings and in its main line of development, despite strong influences from all parts of Asia. Of what race, then, were the Egyptians? They certainly were not white in any sense of the modern use of that word--neither in color nor physical measurement, in hair nor countenance, in language nor social customs. They stood in relationship nearest the Negro race in earliest times, and then gradually through the infiltration of Mediterranean and Semitic elements became what would be described in America as a light mulatto stock of Octoroons or Quadroons. This stock was varied continually: now by new infiltration of Negro blood from the south, now by Negroid and Semitic blood from the east, now by Berber types from the north and west....It is quite possible that an incursion of conquering black men from the south poured over the land in these years and dotted Egypt in the next centuries with monuments on which the full-blooded Negro type is strongly and triumphantly impressed. The great Sphinx at Gizeh, so familiar to all the world, the Sphinxes of Tanis, the statue from the Fayum, the statue of the Esquiline at Rome, and the Colossi of Bubastis all represent black, full-blooded Negroes and are described by Petrie as "having high cheek bones, flat checks, both in one plane, a massive nose, firm projecting lips, and thick hair, with an austere and almost savage expression of power."<ref>William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, ''The Negro'' (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1915)</ref></blockquote> |
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According to controversial ] professor of geology Robert Schoch, the core portions of the Giza sphinx predate Khafre by millenia and further possesses a ""a distinctive 'African,' 'Nubian,' or 'Negroid' aspect...." lacking in the face of Khafre. Shoch also believes the earth was populated by extraterrestrials thousands of years ago{{fact}}. |
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The ''New York Times'' subsequently published a letter from ] Sheldon Peck expressing his concurrence with Domingo's findings: |
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<blockquote>From the right lateral tracing of the statue's worn profile a pattern of bimaxilliary prognathism is clearly detectable. This is an anatomical condition of forward development in both jaws, more frequently found in people of African ancestry than in those from Asian or Indo-European stock. </blockquote> |
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===Ethnographic murals=== |
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] |
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As can be seen from the adjacent painting, ancient Egyptians usually portrayed themselves differently from both the Nubians and the ethnically Semitic Middle-Easterners/North African Bedouins. The groups depicted in the painting are the Libyans, Nubians, Semites, and Egyptians, respectively from left to right. |
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There are numerous images in which Egyptians are contrasted with non-Egyptian peoples. Like other peoples throughout history, the Egyptians seem to have identified themselves as an ideal or norm of sorts among other populations. Further, there is evidence the ancient Egyptians thought in terms of national identity and ethnicity; the modern Western concept of "race" was alien to them. During the ], Egyptian ] extended to the north as far as the ] empire and into Nubia to the south. At this time, Egyptian sacred literature and imagery commented systematically on differences based on these two criteria. This is evident in ]'s "]", in which it is said that the peoples of the world are differented by ]: "Their tongues are separate in speech/And their natures as well;/ |
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Their skins are distinguished./The countries of ] and Nubia, the land of Egypt,/ |
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You set every man in his place." |
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This differentiation of peoples is later refined in the ], a sacred text that describes the passage of the ] though the underworld. This contains a description of the distinct peoples known to the Egyptians: Egyptians themselves, plus Asiatics, Nubians and ]ns. These peoples are illustrated in several tomb decorations, in which they are differentiated by skin-color and clothing. These depict Egyptians ("Ret," or "men," often used as "ret na romé," meaning "we men above mankind"); Asiatics/Semites ("AAMW" or "Namu,": "travelers" or "wanderers," often used as "namu sho," or "people who travel the sands," meaning the nomads or Bedu/Bedouin); Nubians ("Nahasu," or "strangers"); and, finally, Libyans, ("TMHHW", or Tamhu," a term for which several etymologies have been proposed). In all but one case, the Egyptians and Nubians are depicted differently. |
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==Cranial analysis and forensic reconstruction== |
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A 1993 study by the anthropologist C. Loring Brace suggested that the population of Predynastic Upper Egypt (based on 24 cranial measurements) fell roughly in between Northeastern Africa (Somalia, Nubia) and Neolithic Europe, whereas the population of Late Dynastic Lower Egypt was firmly in the Northern African/Neolithic European range (Brace, C. L. et al. 1993. Clines and Clusters Versus "Race": A Test in Ancient Egypt and the Case of a Death on the Nile. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36:1-31). Both were significantly different from the cranial measurements typically found in Sub-Saharan African populations and were more related to each other. This means that Dynastic Egypt seems to have been biracial, judging by the skeletal remains, with its northern half being overwhelmingly Caucasoid, and its south having a closely related population that also had affinities with other northeastern African ethnicities, such as Somalians and Nubians. To a significant degree this remains the case to this day. |
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===Difficulties of cranial analysis=== |
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:''See ]'' |
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Although their methodologies are objective, ] agree that attempts to apply criteria from ] sometimes can yield seemingly counterintuitive results, depending upon the weight given to each feature. For example, their application can result in finding some East and South Indians to have "Negroid" skulls and others to have "Caucasoid" skulls, for example, while Ethiopians, Somalis, and some Zulus have "Caucasoid" skulls, and the Khoisan of southwestern Africa have skulls distinct from other black Africans. |
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These seeming contradictions, however, are related to the vagaries of racial classification, particularly of ethnically diverse or miscegenated populations, as exist in Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Cranial analysis is still used by some forensic scientists to determine the identity and geographic ethnic origin of human remains, even though the accuracy of ethnicity-related conclusions drawn from cranial analysis is not absolute -- particularly when treating populations possessing varying degrees of "racial", or ethnic, admixture. Approximately one-third of so-called "white" Americans have detectable African DNA markers or craniofacial traits that would forensically categorize them as "Negroid."<ref>Heather E. Collins-Schramm and others, "Markers that Discriminate Between European and African Ancestry Show Limited Variation Within Africa," ''Human Genetics'' 111 (2002): 566-9; Mark D. Shriver and others, "Skin Pigmentation, Biogeographical Ancestry, and Admixture Mapping," ''Human Genetics'' 112 (2003): 387-99.</ref> And about five percent of so-called "Black" Americans have no detectable "Negroid" traits at all, neither craniofacial nor in their DNA.<ref>E.J. Parra and others, "Ancestral Proportions and Admixture Dynamics in Geographically Defined African Americans Living in South Carolina," ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'' 114 (2001): 18-29, Figure 1.</ref> In short, given three Americans, one who self-identifies and is socially accepted as U.S. White, another one who self-identifies and is socially accepted as U.S. Black, and one who self-identifies and is socially accepted as U.S. Hispanic, and given that they have precisely the same Afro-European mix of ancestries (one "mulatto" grandparent), there is no objective test that will identify their U.S. endogamous group membership without an interview.<ref>Carol Channing, ''Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002); Gregory Howard Williams, ''Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy who Discovered he was Black'' (New York: Dutton, 1995)</ref> In practice, the application of such forensic criteria ultimately comes down to whether the skull appears "Negroid," "Caucasoid," or "Mongoloid" in the eyes of the forensic practitioner. |
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===Reconstruction of King Tutankhamun likeness=== |
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], ].]] ]1500 years after the founding of the first dynasty, ] and others of the 18th dynasty show facio-cranial characteristics which are in conformity with an Africoid phenotype(see image of Queen Tiye above). Documentaries in ] and ] aired on the ] in the ] provided images of both Tutankhamun and ] based on ] reconstruction of ] remains. |
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In the most recent attempt to put a face on the long-dead monarch, three separate teams of Egyptian, ] and ]n investigators each produced a reconstruction of what they determined to be an accurate likeness of King Tutankhamun. The Egyptian and French teams knew the identity of the subject whose face they were reconstructing, the Egyptians working from ] of the skull itself, the French and American teams working from identical plastic reproductions. The American team, however, did not know the identity of the specimen. |
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According to a widely publicized press release dated ], ], ] of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), announced that "Based on this skull, the American and French teams both concluded that the subject was ] (the type of human typically found, for example, in ], ] and the ])." |
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In a telephone interview with ], Susan Antón, a member of the American team, described the specimen as "somewhat equivocal" and, contrary to Hawass' pronouncement, did not use the term "Caucasoid", or any other racial term, to describe the skull of ] Tutankhamun. An image of the American reconstruction is available here . |
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<blockquote> "The decidedly masculine jaw was the giveaway, she said, although the rounded forehead, the sharp brow and the prominent eyes suggested a woman. Age was easy, she said. The third molars were in the process of coming in, something that happens between the ages of 18 and 20. Race was "the hardest call." The shape of the cranial cavity indicated an African, while the nose opening suggested narrow nostrils — a European characteristic. The skull was a North African." </blockquote> |
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The French team's reconstruction has sparked considerable criticism. Afrocentrists criticize the French team's claim that they selected the skin tone by taking a color from the middle of the range of skin tones found in the population of Egypt today. They claim that these features do not reflect the prevalent eye or skin color of either ] or present-day Egyptians {{fact}}. They further argue that many representations of Tut portray him with red-brown to dark brown skin and dark eyes,] and that the teams should have used these as references in assigning eye and skin color. |
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==In popular culture== |
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With the excavation of the tomb of ] ] of the ] in ], a wave of what has been called "]" swept the Western world, triggering renderings of ancient Egyptians in consumer goods, decorative arts and in film. While some of these images were more ] or ] in appearance, the vast majority portrayed Egyptians as ] and ]. In the ], ] actors predominated in roles portraying ancient Egyptians and their pharaohs, and when ] actors were cast, they usually appeared as servants or ] slaves. |
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==References== |
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<references/> |
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==Bibliography== |
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*Noguera, Anthony (1976). ''How African Was Egypt?: A Comparative Study of Ancient Egyptian and Black African Cultures''. Illustrations by Joelle Noguera. New York: Vantage Press. |
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==External links== |
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==See also== |
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