being. Not enough is known to say for sure how long this has
been a general African belief.
Complex early civilization, such as that of Egypt, neces-
sarily depended on rich agricultural production, but farm-
ing was not the only way to develop social complexity. In the
African Sahel, on the southern fringe of the Sahara, at about
the same time that Egyptian civilization was developing, a
way of life called pastoralism began. Pastoralism is based on
the herding of cattle and other livestock, and it has survived
through the centuries into modern times. Cattle, because they
are the key source of life, necessarily play a prominent role in
the religions of pastoralists. For example, they may be sacri-
fi ced as a ritual off ering or gift to the gods or to the ancestors.
Th ere is evidence of animal sacrifi ce from the very earliest
period of pastoralism. Early pastoralists left small stone and
earthen monuments in various locations across the Sahel and
the Sahara, some of them associated with animal bones. (In
earlier times, the Sahara was wetter and thus could support
this pastoralist way of life.) In Niger and Chad archaeologists
have discovered evidence of cattle sacrifi ces that are approxi-
mately 7,000 years old.
Not all the monuments associated with the pastoralists
of this region and time period had to do simply with cattle;
some clearly had other functions. One of the most notable
sites of African prehistory is Nabta Playa, a ceremonial center
located in southern Egypt near the border with Sudan and
Libya. Among its monuments stands a small circle of stones
that was aligned to face the north and south on one axis and
the axis traversed by the sun as it rose across the sky on the
longest day of the year, the summer solstice. Th is is said to be
one of the world’s earliest circular astronomical monuments,
predating Stonehenge by many centuries.
Burials have been found in Sudan that date from the
Neolithic period, from around 7,000 years to 4,000 years be-
fore our era. Th e dead were buried wearing adornments such
as ostrich eggshell beads, with their bodies painted with red
or yellow ocher. During their lifetimes, people from this era
also commonly had their teeth fi led, probably as a marker of
adult status or for some other ritual purpose. Th is custom
was practiced widely in North Africa and was also known to
have been practiced in Kenya.
Th e religion of the ancient Nubians of southern Egypt
and northern Sudan appears to have some association with
the religion of Sahelian peoples, as well as that of the Egyp-
tians to their north. At Karmah, the fi rst Nubian center and
the oldest urban site yet found in Africa, there are round tu-
muli with cattle sacrifi ces that appear similar to those con-
structed by the pastoralists. But the people of the kingdom
of Karmah elaborated upon these practices and took them in
their own direction. During the height of its power (ca. 1700–
1550 b.c.e.), a massive mud-brick temple with an area of some
1,700 square yards dominated the city skyline. Nearby, pow-
erful kings were buried in huge mounds. One of the largest of
these measures nearly 300 feet around. Th e king was accom-
panied in death by nearly 400 of his subjects. Th ey appear to
have been sacrifi ced and buried in the king’s grave in order to
serve him in the next world. Th ey were not simply ordinary
people, but archers interred with their bows and valuables
such as semiprecious stones, bronze mirrors, and jewelry.
At the end of Egypt’s New Kingdom (ca. 1550–ca. 1070
b.c.e.), in the fi rst millennium b.c.e., the Nubian kingdom of
Kush came to power. Its rulers would become the pharaohs
of all Egypt, forming the Twenty-fi ft h Dynasty (ca. 712–ca.
657 b.c.e.). During this time their most important shrines
were located in Upper Nubia in and around Napata, a town
situated along the Nile to the south of old Karmah. For cen-
turies Napata had been the southernmost outpost of Egyp-
tian rule, and the New Kingdom pharaoh Th utmose III had
constructed on the nearby sacred mountain of Jebel Barkal a
temple to the mystical god Amon. Th is was a crucial event in
Nubian religious history because it led to the spread of Egyp-
tian religion among the Nubian people.
Th e Nubian pharaohs of the Twenty-fi ft h Dynasty looked
to both Egypt and to their own traditions. To show their con-
nection to ancient Egypt, for example, they revived the practice
of pyramid building, but on a smaller scale and in a diff erent
style than had been seen during the Old Kingdom (ca. 2575–
ca. 2134 b.c.e.). Still, the continued loyalty of these pharaohs
to Nubia is demonstrated by the fact that all of their pyramids
and the burial sites associated with them were located in theirLimestone stela with images of the goddess Tanit (fi rst century c.e.),
from Carthage (modern-day Tunisia); such stelae were set up over
burial urns containing the cremated bodies of babies, small children,
and animals sacrifi ced to the goddess. (© Th e Trustees of the British
Museum)
834 religion and cosmology: Africa