idea of who did. Th is means that the history of the art of an-
cient Africa is very fragmented and incomplete.
NUBIA
Nubia is a term oft en u s ed to lu mp toge t her s e ver a l d i ff erent
cultures that occupied a region just south of ancient Egypt.
Second to Egypt, this region is where the most African art
has been found. Th e earliest sculpture dates from about
4000 b.c.e. and comes from just south of ancient Egypt. It
consists of clay fi gures, including a small, fat female fi gure,
which may be a fertility fi gure. A large clay head of a hippo-
potamus that appears to have been broken off a bigger fi g-
ure suggests that the early Nubians made large sculptures
as well as small ones. When Egypt expanded its infl uence
southward, this ancient Nubian culture moved southward,
probably to get out of the way. By 2600 b.c.e. it seems to
have been in decline, because of Egypt’s military pressure.
Aft er about 2600 b.c.e. there is a gap to about 1900 b.c.e.
in the archaeological record for Nubia; at one time this
was thought to represent a diff erent culture from the ear-
lier one, leading to the early culture’s being called A group,
the middle or missing culture B group, and a culture start-
ing in 1900 b.c.e. C group. At present these three groups
are thought to be illusions, and archaeologists believe that
from 4000 b.c.e. to about 900 b.c.e. there was one continu-
ous culture, with the supposedly missing group being one
whose ancient relics archaeologists have not yet found but
may fi nd someday.
Between 2150 and 1900 b.c.e. Nubian culture just south
of Egypt may have mixed with a culture from farther south,
forming the kingdom of Kerma, named aft er its capital city,
which was beside the Nile River. Numerous ceramic fi gures
have been found from the Kerma culture of 1900–1550 b.c.e.
Fig ures tend to be sma l l, in t he 3- to 5-inch ra nge. Th ey depict
humanlike forms with animal heads and what may be fertil-
ity goddesses with broad hips and thick thighs. Th e fi gures
are carved with patterns of lines and dashes that may repre-
sent body paint. Most fi gures have lines around their necks,
and some have dots across their chests that suggest jewelry.
Breechclouts, a strip of cloth that hangs between the legs from
a waistband, seem to be the common garb. Th ere are also de-
pictions in ceramics of animals that may have symbolized
religious ideas.
By 1650 b.c.e. Kerma had extended its dominion nearly
to the fi rst cataract (rock y outcrop) on t he Nile R iver, nor t h of
where the Aswān Dam is today. Between 1504 and 1492 b.c.e.
the pharaoh Th utmose I invaded Kerma, sacked the capital
city, and continued hundreds of miles south beyond Kerma’s
lands, seizing much of the rest of Nubia. Only in the far south
of Nubia did the Nubian culture survive. Th e Egyptians built
huge monuments, such as the temple at Abu Simbel, using en-
slaved Nubians, to remind Nubians who were their masters.
Only in 1070 b.c.e. did Egypt withdraw from Nubia.KUSH
In about 900 b.c.e. a kingdom the Egyptians called Kush
was founded in Nubia. Its capital was the city of Napata,
which was beside the Nile River in what had been the south
of the Kerma kingdom but was near the northern limits of
the new kingdom of Kush, which extended far to the south,
encompassing most of the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers.
In 712 b.c.e. Kush conquered Egypt, establishing the short-Petroglyph of animals and people at Tassili, Algeria, in North Africa (© Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Photographer: Jeanne
Tabachnick)
90 art: Africa