Toponymy on the periphery: placenames of the Eastern Desert, Red Sea, and south Sinai in Egyptian documents from the Early Dynastic until the end of the New Kingdom
... Geographical names-place names-are divided into four by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), namely a) population places, such as cities and villages; b) civil/administrative divisions such as states and districts; c) construction features (built), such as roads and dams; d) areas of local significance, such as fishing areas and cultural sites [4]. Structurally, geographical names as proposed by UNGEGN [4] can have different grammatical and semantic properties [5]. Geographic names (place names) can be in the form of phrases, monomorphemic, polymorphemic, or compound forms [5]. ...
... Structurally, geographical names as proposed by UNGEGN [4] can have different grammatical and semantic properties [5]. Geographic names (place names) can be in the form of phrases, monomorphemic, polymorphemic, or compound forms [5]. Geographic names can also have special morphological structures that refer to geographical places [5] and [6]. ...
... Geographic names (place names) can be in the form of phrases, monomorphemic, polymorphemic, or compound forms [5]. Geographic names can also have special morphological structures that refer to geographical places [5] and [6]. Geographic names are separated from the general lexicon because the lexicon does not have to have a meaning but has a reference; differs from the general lexicon because the meaning contained in a geographical name does not necessarily have to match its use [5]. ...
... Afroasiatic) language Beja are spoken in this border area between Egypt and Sudan. However, archaeological artifacts, ancient documents, evidence from historical-comparative studies, and toponymy point towards the presence of other languages in the past (Cooper 2020a(Cooper , 2020b. Below, these contributions from various disciplines, in particular from historical linguistics, are discussed in order to reconstruct at least part of this dynamic past. ...
... However, archaeological evidence points towards the presence of other Northern Cushitic languages in the distant past. First, the language of the Medjay, a nomadic people living in the Eastern Desert, whose language is attested on Egyptian inscriptions from the Middle Kingdom's occupation of Lower Nubia (Liszka 2011, Rilly 2019; second, the language of the Blemmyes, which is attested on a Napatan enthronement stela dated around 2600 BP (Christides 1980); this language may have been an older stage of Beja (see Cooper 2020b). ...
... There is also historical evidence from personal names and topographical lists from the New Kingdom in the fourth millennium BP for the existence of a "Meroitic-like language" in historical Kush, with differentiated Afroasiatic languages in the Eastern Desert. The Meroitic language is assumed to have displaced a number of (other) Eastern Sudanic and Cushitic languages along the Nile (Cooper 2020a: 6; see also Cooper 2017aCooper , 2017bCooper , 2020b for additional details on the linguistic prehistory of the area). ...
Evidence from historical linguistics, philology, archaeology, and, more recently, genetics enables us to reconstruct part of the complex history of the area in southern Egypt and northern Sudan which has come to be known as Nubia. Whereas today Nubian languages and Arabic are dominant in these areas, interdisciplinary research points towards the presence of several other languages in the past, spoken by communities who interacted to different extents with each other over the past millennia, depending on such factors as climate change, technological developments, but also on ever-changing socio-political constellations.
... The Nile Valley was surrounded by regions with significant copper ore deposits, including the Eastern Desert and Sinai, and Wadi Copper-based Metallurgy (up to 332 BCE), Rademakers, Odler, and Auenmüller, UEE 2024 3 Arabah in Israel and Jordan, inhabited by local populations often hostile to Egyptians (Cooper 2020). As such, it was sometimes necessary for the Egyptians to engage in a degree of coercion and/or cooperation in order to obtain and mine the required metal ores (Morenz 2019), often in the context of large state-organized expeditions employing standardized smelting strategies on an industrial scale (e.g., Abd el-Raziq et al. 2011;Tallet 2018). ...
Copper played a central role in the material culture of ancient Egypt. Appearing in the archaeological record as early as the fourth millennium BCE, copper and copper alloys were the most widely used metals throughout pharaonic history. Significant copper ore deposits, such as those of the Eastern Desert and Sinai, were located in proximity to the Nile Valley and were usually mined through large state-organized expeditions. In addition to textual and iconographic evidence, copper alloy objects constitute a valuable source for our understanding of the procurement, use, and circulation of goods within ancient Egyptian society. With the advancement of scientific methods their analysis has become part of the wider development of archaeometallurgy, which aims to shed light on the entire production chain of metals in their historical and social contexts. Indeed, Egyptology, archaeology, and archaeometallurgy are complementary and can benefit from the same research questions.
... In 2011, Tent and Blair outlined a toponym typology developed to classify the specific elements of Australia's toponyms as well as to categorize its toponymic patterns in general (see Table 1, which presents this original typology developed in 2009) (see also Tent & Blair 2009, 2014. Since then, the system has been employed by ANPS as well as by a number of other researchers and authors around the world (Amenyedzi 2015;Awukuvi 2019;Barteaux 2016;Beconytė et al. 2019;Bölling 2013;Cooper 2020;Jenjekwa 2018;Ji et al. 2019;Klugah 2013;Laaboudi & Marouane 2018;Lâm 2016;Nash & Chuk 2012;Newton 2016;Steenkamp 2015, inter alia). Table 1 presents the original ANPS typology, showing the toponym categories which were developed under the principle of the motivation for the bestowal of toponyms. ...
A functional and systematic typology of toponyms is an essential instrument for the toponymist wishing to investigate the naming practices and patterns of a region. To this end, the Australian National Placenames Survey developed a toponym typology for Australia (Tent & Blair 2011). This was characterized as a ‘typology of motivations for naming’. Although various researchers have used this typology with seeming success, further application of the typology to the Survey’s database of toponyms has revealed the need for a re-evaluation of the naming process. This occasioned a modification of some toponym categories generating a revised typology which can be considered a ‘typology of expressions of the naming intention’.
... In 2011, Tent and Blair outlined a toponym typology developed to classify the specific elements of Australia's toponyms as well as to categorize its toponymic patterns in general (see Table 1, which presents this original typology developed in 2009) (see also Tent & Blair 2009, 2014. Since then, the system has been employed by ANPS as well as by a number of other researchers and authors around the world (Amenyedzi 2015;Awukuvi 2019;Barteaux 2016;Beconytė et al. 2019;Bölling 2013;Cooper 2020;Jenjekwa 2018;Ji et al. 2019;Klugah 2013;Laaboudi & Marouane 2018;Lâm 2016;Nash & Chuk 2012;Newton 2016;Steenkamp 2015, inter alia). Table 1 presents the original ANPS typology, showing the toponym categories which were developed under the principle of the motivation for the bestowal of toponyms. ...
In 2009 we developed a toponyms typology which we revised in 2014. Since then, we have continued to apply the typology to our description of Australian placename origins; and throughout the ongoing research process it become clear that certain refinements to the system were necessary if we were to deal most effectively with the data. We have benefited also from the work of toponymists in other regions who have applied this typology and noted possible improvements. This Technical Paper provides an explanation of the taxonomy and how it applies to (or generates) the various expressions of the place-naming intention. It also outlines the developments in the typology since the earlier version was released and explains the reasons for the changes that have been made.
The region of Sudan and Nubia has always been witness to a complicated nexus of linguistic groupings, frequently exhibiting episodes of linguistic shifts, migration, and extinction. From Nilo-Saharan languages like Meroitic, to Afroasiatic languages like Beja, the region of the Second Millennium bce Middle Nile was certainly not homogenous ethno-linguistically. Linguistic enigmas provide further confusion, like the unknown languages of Lower Nubia that correlate to A- and C-Group material horizons. This paper describes the limits of the evidence in organizing linguistic groupings of ancient Nubia and critiques the issue as to whether these linguistic blocs correlate to geographic boundaries of specific material cultures. Does homogeneity in the archaeological record demonstrate similar homogeneity in linguistic identity? How do we expect nomadic pastoralists, seasonal movements, and migrations to affect this linguistic map? With a focus on pragmatic arguments and the use of later linguistic evidence, this paper reflects on the peopling of the Middle Nile region.
This paper deals with the correct lexicographic identification of the word Hsmn, which was in Egyptology usually translated as "(tin) bronze", if denoting metal. The departure point is the discussion and arguments presented in 1961 by John R. Harris in his monumental work Lexicographical Studies in Ancient Egyptian Minerals. Previous work on the subject and Harris' arguments are revisited. The weak points are detected as the identification of the colour of the metal and quite peculiar categories of material culture denoted by Hsmn. Moreover, Hsmn appears to be originally an adjective of the semantically broader word bjA denoting copper, iron, and other phenomena. "smn can be translated as tin bronze and/or arsenical copper, although bjA can be used for the same metals throughout the Egyptian Bronze Age. In other words, we cannot expect modern scientific precision in naming alloys from the ancient languages.
Odler, Martin. 2024. ‘What Type of Bronze Was Ancient Egyptian Hsmn?’ In International Conference “Minerals in Ancient Egypt, from Naqada to Alexandria,” Brussels, 3–4 October, 2022, edited by Thierry de Putter and Christina Karlshausen, 143–73. Brussels: Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen / Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer.
Not much is known about the forces of the Hyksos, 15th Dynasty rulers of the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt. This was a time when Egypt and Nubia were divided between several competing royal houses and corresponding dynasties, e.g., the 14th and 15th Dynasty in Lower Egypt, 16th and 17th Dynasty in Upper Egypt, as well as the Kushite kingdom in Nubia. Loyalty to any of these polities was not based on ethnic identity. Forces of different ethnicities could pledge loyalty to any of the competitors. Bearing in mind the multi-ethnic population on the territory under the Hyksos rule, this article discusses the reality behind ideologically colored Theban representations of the Hyksos forces as consisting solely of foreigners. Starting from the premise that royal artistic production is deeply entangled with power in ancient Egypt, this article analyzes the ways private and royal inscriptions as well as literary and visual representations were employed to construct the cultural memory of the Second Intermediate Period which privileged the experience of Theban victors and degraded the experience of their rivals.
Para el relato bíblico de la torre de Babel (Gn 11,1-9), en lugar del Enūma eliš mesopotámico, se proponen otros paralelos bíblicos, egipcios y cuneiformes con características materiales determinadas, que no remiten a la diferenciación de lenguas, sino al tópico universal del lenguaje. El punto de convergencia se encuentra en la emergencia ritual, eficaz y performativa de la escritura en un contexto liminal de periferia que concluye con el tema literario de los pobres y marginados. Se trata de un ejemplo de análisis comparativo que pone en foco el discurso integrado y la ontología relacional de las sociedades antiguas con su significancia para la cultura occidental contemporánea a partir de la creación de las letras.
In this article I examine the presence of the toponym Yaʿqobʾel within its geographical context in the topographical lists of Thutmose III , Ramesses II , and Ramesses III . Historically, Yaʿqobʾel and the toponyms clustered with it are located by scholars in Syria. However, it is possible that Yaʿqobʾel within Thutmose III ’s list is found to the south of Moab. The topographical lists of Ramesses II and Ramesses III mention place names that might be linked to Yaʿqobʾel, and should be located in southern Transjordan, where the Edomite deity Qaus was worshiped.
The land of Wetenet is one of the most enduring Red Sea placenames mentioned in Egyptian literature. Its place in the Egyptian conceptual map of the Red Sea has been largely ignored due to it being eclipsed by the much more ubiquitous toponym, Punt. Unlike Punt and its aromatics, Wetenet was visited primarily to secure ebony, with these voyages also providing the stimulus or “field notes” for the elucidating the Eastern Souls, the solar baboons of cosmographic literature. A study of the etymology and geography of this land provides a framework for Wetenet’s possible location, namely in the coastal regions of Sudan or Eritrea.
The history of Northeast Africa is dominated by a "Nile Narrative", a common story that places the urban and riverine cultures of Egypt and Nubia at its centre. While the various iterations of Egyptian and Nubian (Kushite) territorial states shaped the macro-history of the region, this enduring narrative often homogenizes and reduces a much more complex world which consisted of a milieu of nomadic peoples. Indigenous to the vast deserts east and west of the river, these nomads are a vital element in the macro-history of the Nile basin, constantly interacting with their urban neighbours, forming diasporas, conducting trade, and preventing exploitation of their homelands. While these patterns endured for millennia, pronounced episodes of conflict, subjugation, and even state formation abound in the record. This analysis takes a macro-historical view to nomads in Nilotic history, proposing a new model for nomadic polities and Nile states in ancient Northeast Africa.
The Medjay were a group of desert nomads inhabiting the region between the Nile and the Red Sea contemporaneous to the Bronze Age of Ancient Egypt (c. 3100-1050 bce ). Well-known from textual sources from Pharaonic Egypt and Kushite Nubia, it has proven difficult to produce basic societal descriptions of the Medjay and their political status, especially in their desert heartland. Most studies dedicated to the Medjay evaluate their presence as a nomadic diaspora and emigres on the Nile or focus on their interaction with the Ancient Egyptian state. These approaches place little emphasis on their indigenous geography and nomadic heritage in the Red Sea Hills. This study takes a very different tact and attempts to reconstruct some basic information on their political geography in their indigenous homeland. Although the sources, both textual and archaeological, are currently scarce regarding a Second Millennium bce desert occupation, they do demonstrate complex arrangements between Medjay political actors and nearby states. Particularly notable was the ability of individual tribes to enact varying policies of entente, détente, and aggression towards their Nile neighbours as well as exercise de facto sovereignty over a wealthy desert consistently threatened by Egyptian and Kushite imperialism.
Au cours de l'âge du bronze récent, l'utilisation du nom Édom était plus fréquente qu'on ne le pense ; en fait, deux endroits appelés Édom sont connus dans cette période, un situé dans le sud du Levant et autre dans le nord de Canaan.
This article argues that historians will have a new understanding of northeast and east Africa if they recall the medieval meaning of the terms Zanj and Ahabish , or Habasha . Before the fifteenth century the term Zanj included the diverse populations of northeast Africa, so should not be exclusive of the populations of coastal east Africa. Likewise, Habasha or Ahabish was not confined to the peoples of the northern Horn but included the diverse peoples of coastal east Africa. Uncovering older meanings of Zanj and Ahabish helps to identify elusive groups of ancient northeast Africans referred to as northern Zanj, Zanj-Ahabish, Ahabish , and Damadim . For identification, this article presents three types of historical data overlooked in the sources. The first consists of the interchangeable names northern Zanj , Damadim, Ahabish, Zanj-Ahabish , and Zanj ed-Damadim to recast the term Zanj and identify the Damadim or Yamyam. The second is the broadly inclusive meaning before the fifteenth century of the term Habasha . The third is the reported eloquence in their Buttaa ceremony of the northern Zanj , and the institutional setting of the Buttaa within the Oromo Gadaa system.
The so-called pan-graves occur in the archaeological record of the Egyptian Nile Valley during the Second Intermediate Period (13th–17th Dynasties, 1950–1550 BCE). Because of their uncharacteristic layout and contents they are usually interpreted as associated with a foreign group coming into the region from the south or southeast. Only a single text, comprising six Egyptian hieroglyphs painted on the skull of a bovid, can be connected with certainty to these graves and the people who constructed them. Since its excavation and analysis in the 1930s, this inscription has been interpreted as the personal name or title Open image in new window, ‘master of the horn.’ Our new examination of the original materials questions this reading and suggests some new etymological possibilities. The text likely transcribes an ancient East African language such as Beja and is of insufficient length to be translated with certainty.
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