1. Early Civilizations of Africa
Chapter 3 Section 3
Early Civilizations of Africa

2. Tracking the Evidence Record on Stone
Some records of early people have survived especially pictures on stone.
Rock Art

3. The Linton Panel

4. 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.

5. 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
Pharaohs- rulers of ancient times

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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.