Lost in the Sand

The old saying goes, "You don't know what you don't know..." And when it comes to the ancient Kush of the Southern Nile river valley, what you don't know is quite a bit. I've scoured numerous sources, other blogs, newspaper articles, books, you name it, and I've found that the common theme with their take on this once powerful political force, is how much is left to be discovered.  Here's a video that helped me gain a better understanding of this than getting lost in the text of dozens of written articles. (At least for me, an example of an advantage of oral communication over written forms)

Politics of the Kush (and not the kind from a Dr. Dre song)

If you're like me, you might not be terribly familiar with the Kush people of Africa, so here's a bit of background... the Kush civilization was a group located in the South of the Nile River valley, mostly in what is the modern day country of Sudan. For most of it's history it was the generally accepted belief that the Kushite culture was a result of the expansion of Egyptian rule into that area, but more recent discoveries in the latter half of the 20th century showed strong evidence that a thriving culture culture existed here prior to the First Egyptian Dynasty, and might have been a very influential force in the development of the Kemites. The Kush Civilization had rich architectural achievements, flourishing trade, a strong belief in divine kingship, and even matriarchy. They were under Egyptian rule for several centuries, but at their high point the Kingdom of Kush, based in Meroe, took control of Kemet and had a very prosperous dynasty of Kushite Pharaohs. But what made political landscape of the Kush kingdom unique?