24th century BCE – 16th century BCE
Lower Nubia and the eastern Sudan
The C-Group communities were Nubian populations that appeared in the Nubian Corridor around 2300 BCE and were descended directly from earlier A-Group groups. Climate change appears to have driven their settlement into the Nile valley, where they maintained livestock-centered economies, distinctive red-and-black pottery, tumulus burials, and sustained contact with Egypt. Between about 2200 and 1580 BCE, they occupied the region between Aswan and Batn el-Hagar amid varying degrees of Egyptian administration and settlement.
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The Story
Group C emerged in Lower Nubia after the decline of earlier Group A communities, although the excerpt stresses that its history remains poorly understood. Earlier scholarship imagined a gradual infiltration into the Nile Valley, whereas a newer interpretation treated Group C as the successor of Group A. Neither explanation resolves the difficult relationship that developed between these communities and Egypt.
Archaeological evidence connects Group C material culture across a wide zone. Pottery discovered near Jebel Kekan beside the Khor Baraka at Agordat in Eritrea resembles pottery found in Lower Nubia. This comparison suggests links between the Nile Valley and the eastern Sudan, but the excerpt does not establish the precise nature of those connections.
The text proposes, without certainty, that Group C communities may have abandoned Lower Nubia during the Twelfth Dynasty because of drought or the arrival of Egyptian forces. Their movement may have led from the Wadi el Allaqi Valley toward the Red Sea mountains, where Beja communities live today, while related Nubian-language populations are found in the Nuba hills south of Kordofan. The proposed result is a southward and westward migration through Sudan.
24th century BCE – 16th century BCE
Lower Nubia and the eastern Sudan
The C-Group communities were Nubian populations that appeared in the Nubian Corridor around 2300 BCE and were descended directly from earlier A-Group groups. Climate change appears to have driven their settlement into the Nile valley, where they maintained livestock-centered economies, distinctive red-and-black pottery, tumulus burials, and sustained contact with Egypt. Between about 2200 and 1580 BCE, they occupied the region between Aswan and Batn el-Hagar amid varying degrees of Egyptian administration and settlement.
Continue exploring
The Story
Group C emerged in Lower Nubia after the decline of earlier Group A communities, although the excerpt stresses that its history remains poorly understood. Earlier scholarship imagined a gradual infiltration into the Nile Valley, whereas a newer interpretation treated Group C as the successor of Group A. Neither explanation resolves the difficult relationship that developed between these communities and Egypt.
Archaeological evidence connects Group C material culture across a wide zone. Pottery discovered near Jebel Kekan beside the Khor Baraka at Agordat in Eritrea resembles pottery found in Lower Nubia. This comparison suggests links between the Nile Valley and the eastern Sudan, but the excerpt does not establish the precise nature of those connections.
The text proposes, without certainty, that Group C communities may have abandoned Lower Nubia during the Twelfth Dynasty because of drought or the arrival of Egyptian forces. Their movement may have led from the Wadi el Allaqi Valley toward the Red Sea mountains, where Beja communities live today, while related Nubian-language populations are found in the Nuba hills south of Kordofan. The proposed result is a southward and westward migration through Sudan.