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Chapter 3
Section 3
Early Civilizations of Africa
Tracking the Evidence
• Record on Stone
o Some records of early people have survived especially pictures on stone.
o Rock Art
The Linton Panel
The Linton Panel
• This rock painting was extricated from a shelter in
the Drakensberg Mountains and currently resides in
the South African Museum, Cape Town. Its images
of antelopes and humans have been interpreted as
evocations of Khoisan trance experiences.
Beautifully rendered in subtle tones of red and
white, this is among the most famous South African
rock paintings. Although its date of execution is not
known, it is estimated to have been painted
sometime during the eighteenth or nineteenth
centuries A.D.
Nile Valley Civilization
• Thousands of years ago the climate of the Sahara
was changing.
• Less rainfall
• Lakes and rivers dried up
• Animals migrated to other parts to look for food
• The people who hunted those animals moved too
• The earliest civilization in Africa developed in the
Nile Valley of Egypt about 7000 years ago.
• Powerful leaders had emerged and united the
villages along the Nile
o Pharaohs- rulers of ancient times
Religion and Government
Egyptians were polytheistic
Different Gods controlled the forces of nature
Chief god was Amon-Re (Ah muhn ray) sun god
Other important gods and goddesses
Osiris god of underworld and of the Nile and his wife Isis.
Life after death was a central belief
Preparation for the afterworld (huge tombs, pyramids
and filled them with food clothing jewels etc.
• To the Egyptian the pharaoh was a god descended
from Amon Re.
• Priests and nobles helped the pharaoh run the
government
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Achievements of Egyptian
Civilization
• Egyptians developed hieroglyphics, writing using
pictures and symbols.
• Egyptian priests used the knowledge of the stars
and planets to produce a calendar with a 365 day
year.
• Egyptian doctors studied human body and began
to treat spinal injuries fractured bones and surgery
Kingdom of Kush
• was an ancient African kingdom situated on the
confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River
Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan.
Kingdom of Axum
• Aksum (also spelled Axum) is the name of a
powerful, urban Iron Age Kingdom in Ethiopia
• The modern city of Aksum is located in the
northeastern portion of what is now Ethiopia, on the
horn of Africa.
• An early text shows that trade on the Red Sea coast
was active as early as 1st century BC. During the first
century AD, Aksum began a rapid rise to
prominence, trading its agricultural resources and its
gold and ivory through the port of Adulis into the
Red Sea trade network and thence to the Roman
Empire.