1.Β The human race is of African origin.Β The oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans (orΒ homo sapiens) were excavated at sites in East Africa. Human remains were discovered at Omo in Ethiopia that were dated at 195,000 years old, the oldest known in the world.
2.Β Skeletons of pre-humans have been found in AfricaΒ that date back between 4 and 5 million years. The oldest known ancestral type of humanity is thought to have been theΒ australopithecus ramidus, who lived at least 4.4 million years ago.
3.Β Africans were the first to organise fishing expeditionsΒ 90,000 years ago. At Katanda, a region in northeastern ZaΓ―re (now Congo), was recovered a finely wrought series of harpoon points, all elaborately polished and barbed. Also uncovered was a tool, equally well crafted, believed to be a dagger. The discoveries suggested the existence of an early aquatic or fishing based culture.
4.Β Africans were the first to engage in miningΒ 43,000 years ago. In 1964 a hematite mine was found in Swaziland at Bomvu Ridge in the Ngwenya mountain range. Ultimately 300,000 artefacts were recovered including thousands of stone-made mining tools. Adrian Boshier, one of the archaeologists on the site, dated the mine to a staggering 43,200 years old.
5.Β Africans pioneered basic arithmeticΒ 25,000 years ago. The Ishango bone is a tool handle with notches carved into it found in the Ishango region of ZaΓ―re (now called Congo) near Lake Edward. The bone tool was originally thought to have been over 8,000 years old, but a more sensitive recent dating has given dates of 25,000 years old. On the tool are 3 rows of notches. Row 1 shows three notches carved next to six, four carved next to eight, ten carved next to two fives and finally a seven. The 3 and 6, 4 and 8, and 10 and 5, represent the process of doubling. Row 2 shows eleven notches carved next to twenty-one notches, and nineteen notches carved next to nine notches. This represents 10 + 1, 20 + 1, 20 - 1 and 10 - 1. Finally, Row 3 shows eleven notches, thirteen notches, seventeen notches and nineteen notches. 11, 13, 17 and 19 are the prime numbers between 10 and 20.
6.Β Africans cultivated crops 12,000 years ago, the first known advances in agriculture. Professor Fred Wendorf discovered that people in Egyptβs Western Desert cultivated crops of barley, capers, chick-peas, dates, legumes, lentils and wheat. Their ancient tools were also recovered. There were grindstones, milling stones, cutting blades, hide scrapers, engraving burins, and mortars and pestles.
7.Β Africans mummified their dead 9,000 years ago. A mummified infant was found under the Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter in south western Libya. The infant was buried in the foetal position and was mummified using a very sophisticated technique that must have taken hundreds of years to evolve. The technique predates the earliest mummies known in Ancient Egypt by at least 1,000 years. Carbon dating is controversial but the mummy may date from 7438 (Β±220) BC.
8.Β Africans carved the worldβs first colossal sculptureΒ 7,000 or more years ago. The Great Sphinx of Giza was fashioned with the head of a man combined with the body of a lion. A key and important question raised by this monument was: How old is it? In October 1991 Professor Robert Schoch, a geologist from Boston University, demonstrated that the Sphinx was sculpted between 5000 BC and 7000 BC, dates that he considered conservative.
9.Β On the 1 March 1979, theΒ New York TimesΒ carried an article on its front page also page sixteen that was entitledΒ Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In this article we were assured that: βEvidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubiaβ (i.e. the territory of the northern Sudan and the southern portion of modern Egypt.)
10.Β The ancient Egyptians had the same typeΒ of tropically adapted skeletal proportions as modern Black Africans. A 2003 paper appeared inΒ American Journal of Physical AnthropologyΒ by Dr Sonia Zakrzewski entitledΒ Variation in Ancient Egyptian Stature and Body ProportionsΒ where she states that: βThe raw values in Table 6 suggest that Egyptians had the βsuper-Negroidβ body plan described by Robins (1983). The values for the brachial and crural indices show that the distal segments of each limb are longer relative to the proximal segments than in many βAfricanβ populations.β
11.Β The ancient Egyptians had Afro combs.Β One writer tells us that the Egyptians βmanufactured a very striking range of combs in ivory: the shape of these is distinctly African and is like the combs used even today by Africans and those of African descent.β
12.Β The Funerary Complex in the ancient EgyptianΒ city of Saqqara is the oldest building that tourists regularly visit today. An outer wall, now mostly in ruins, surrounded the whole structure. Through the entrance are a series of columns, the first stone-built columns known to historians. The North House also has ornamental columns built into the walls that have papyrus-like capitals. Also inside the complex is the Ceremonial Court, made of limestone blocks that have been quarried and then shaped. In the centre of the complex is the Step Pyramid, the first of 90 Egyptian pyramids.
13.Β The first Great Pyramid of Giza,Β the most extraordinary building in history, was a staggering 481 feet tall - the equivalent of a 40-storey building. It was made of 2.3 million blocks of limestone and granite, some weighing 100 tons.
14.Β The ancient Egyptian city of KahunΒ was the worldβs first planned city. Rectangular and walled, the city was divided into two parts. One part housed the wealthier inhabitants β the scribes, officials and foremen. The other part housed the ordinary people. The streets of the western section in particular, were straight, laid out on a grid, and crossed each other at right angles. A stone gutter, over half a metre wide, ran down the centre of every street.
15.Β Egyptian mansions were discovered in KahunΒ - each boasting 70 rooms, divided into four sections or quarters. There was a masterβs quarter, quarters for women and servants, quarters for offices and finally, quarters for granaries, each facing a central courtyard. The masterβs quarters had an open court with a stone water tank for bathing. Surrounding this was a colonnade.
16Β The Labyrinth in the Egyptian city of HawaraΒ with its massive layout, multiple courtyards, chambers and halls, was the very largest building in antiquity. Boasting three thousand rooms, 1,500 of them were above ground and the other 1,500 were underground.
17.Β Toilets and sewerage systemsΒ existed in ancient Egypt. One of the pharaohs built a city now known as Amarna. An American urban planner noted that: βGreat importance was attached to cleanliness in Amarna as in other Egyptian cities. Toilets and sewers were in use to dispose waste. Soap was made for washing the body. Perfumes and essences were popular against body odour. A solution of natron was used to keep insects from houses β¦ Amarna may have been the first planned βgarden cityβ.β
18.Β Sudan has more pyramids than any other country on earthΒ - even more than Egypt. There are at least 223 pyramids in the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal and MeroΓ«. They are generally 20 to 30 metres high and steep sided.
19. The Sudanese city of Meroë is rich in surviving monuments. Becoming the capital of the Kushite Empire between 590 BC until AD 350, there are 84 pyramids in this city alone, many built with their own miniature temple. In addition, there are ruins of a bath house sharing affinities with those of the Romans. Its central feature is a large pool approached by a flight of steps with waterspouts decorated with lion heads.
20.Β Bling culture has a long and interesting history.Β Gold was used to decorate ancient Sudanese temples. One writer reported that: βRecent excavations at Meroe and Mussawwarat es-Sufra revealed temples with walls and statues covered with gold leafβ.
21.Β In around 300 BC, the Sudanese invented a writing scriptΒ that had twenty-three letters of which four were vowels and there was also a word divider. Hundreds of ancient texts have survived that were in this script. Some are on display in the British Museum.
22.Β In central Nigeria, West Africaβs oldest civilisationΒ flourished between 1000 BC and 300 BC. Discovered in 1928, the ancient culture was called the Nok Civilisation, named after the village in which the early artefacts were discovered. Two modern scholars, declare that β[a]fter calibration, the period of Nok art spans from 1000 BC until 300 BCβ. The site itself is much older going back as early as 4580 or 4290 BC.
23.Β West Africans built in stone by 1100 BC.Β In the Tichitt-Walata region of Mauritania, archaeologists have found βlarge stone masonry villagesβ that date back to 1100 BC. The villages consisted of roughly circular compounds connected by βwell-defined streetsβ.
24.Β By 250 BC, the foundations of West Africaβs oldest cities were establishedΒ such as Old DjennΓ© in Mali.
25.Β Kumbi Saleh, the capital of Ancient Ghana,Β flourished from 300 to 1240 AD. Located in modern day Mauritania, archaeological excavations have revealed houses, almost habitable today, for want of renovation and several storeys high. They had underground rooms, staircases and connecting halls. Some had nine rooms. One part of the city alone is estimated to have housed 30,000 people.
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