Ancient Kush

The Kush Civilization

The Kush civilization was on of the first civilization in African, after Egypt. The Kush civilization developed in the valley of the Nile between the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers. The ancient Kush Kingdom was established as a independence in1070 BC. Today, it is known as the Sudan. Throughout the history of the Kush civilization, it has been conquered and fought for independence from many other cultures including Greek, Egypt, and Hebrew cultures. The people of Kush were the Kushites, also referred as the Nubia or Ethiopia people. They left great artifacts from along time ago that has influence us today. If you want to learn more about the Kush civilization stick around and keep reading.

The Kush is the original settlers of north east Africa. This area stretches to Egypt. Kush was the first great original African civilization. It’s kingdom reign from 1520 BC to 350 AD. Kush had its greatest power and cultural energy between 1700 and 1500 BC. The Kush government was owned by the Egyptians. The Kushites fought for their independence through wars and won their freedom in 1070 BC. Now, they own their own civilization.

In Kush civilization, they practice there religion different then we do in the U.S. The adopted the religious practices and traditions or the Egyptians. They mummified there dead because they believe in the after life. They even adopted some of the same gods as they Egyptians worshiped. The Kush also buried their dead in massive graves called “Pan-grave”. Like the Egyptians, they started building temples dedicated to the sons of god.  This is very difference that how we practice religion and bury our love ones today in the US.

The Kush cultural was greatly influence by Egypt. The architecture and art of the Kush was much like Egypt. Archeologists go to ancient places like Kush to find proof of early civilization. They study the things they find from the Kush civilization to see how it influences our culture today. The Kush culture has few arts that show just their culture. There have been pottery bowls found and simple tools. Kush culture seemed to keep very little for it self and sold much of the precious metals such as gold to Egypt for very cheep things in return. The Kush art was simple and serve some purpose of use, just like the people.

Kush technology is what they had to survive. The only technology was rakes and water systems. They used those tools to help them get through life. The Kush created tools to help them complete their daily jobs. There is one know difference in between the Kush and Egyptian. Although they adopted many of the Egyptian culture, they invented a unique circle entrance lined with stone for the burial graves of their dead. This was another example of how everything the Kush did served a purpose.

The location of the Kush civilization influenced their culture greatly. The Kush cities were located between the two Nile Rivers, which made fishing a main source of food and jobs for the Kush people. There wasn’t a lot of rain in the area so farming was a hard. The Kush people made a way to water the land using the water from the Nile Rivers. With this invention, they were able to have a lot of farming communities. They were always farming. All the vegetation came from the east and west Nile Rivers. To spend time with each other, the Kush people would go hunting. There food supply was very hard work to survive.

The Kush civilization used the same symbols and images for writing as ancient Egyptians. Like other cultures they used their writings to document and communicate their history, government, and culture. The early discovery of Kushites writing dates back to the sixth century BC. The drawings and symbols found tell stories of the daily lives of Kushites.

The Kush culture was a full civilization. Even though, throughout their history, the Kush people were conquered by different kingdoms, they were a strong and determined to fight for their independence.  Their culture included all characteristics of a full civilization including: government, religion, arts, technology, food supply, and writing. The Kush civilization is one of the earliest civilizations in Africa. Although simple and nomadic, they left their mark on the Valley of the Nile.