In chapter 5 of our textbook “An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt”, the author/editor talks briefly about how archaeologists can tell us quite a bit about broader life and culture in Egypt (from the predynastic and dynastic periods) based on what remains of material culture. However, learning about the lives of individuals in ancient Egypt is very hard. Bioarchaeologists and physical anthropologists alike cannot answer the question of “who were the Egyptians?” Sometimes, in very rare cases, remains of food can still be found in the stomach of a mummy (telling us what they were eating before they died), but most of what we know about a particular individual comes from the items that they are buried with. It is also mentioned that physical anthropology “does not classify human remains by ‘race’ and there are no good criteria, observable or genetic, that can be used to separate all individuals of one ‘race’ from another” (Bard, 2017).
As such, anthropologists cannot determine whether the ancient Egyptians were “white”, “black”, or something else (perhaps similar to the people that inhabit Egypt or the Arabian Peninsula today?). While I was not surprised by this information, I was struck by how it seems to be ignored by/remain unknown by the general public. I have seen people on social media, as well as certain scholarly sources, argue over this issue at least a dozen different times. Sometimes, these debates get heated with people hurling racist insults and trying to justify why their interpretation is correct.
I believe that, because of the state of our society today, people are increasingly trying to polarize the past to meet their own agendas. It is highly likely that, during the time of the ancient Egyptians, they would have even differentiated between different races of people. According to Alissa Lyon, a former Michigan State University anthropology student, “race as we know it is a modern concept. Our pattern of white supremacy, which was birthed out of economic concern, only began after African slaves had been brought to the Americas” (Lyon, 2014). As such, it is plausible to believe that phenotypic race, at least as we understand it, did not matter to the ancient Egyptians. Instead, they probably favored those who shared their culture, just as the Greeks did. However, we can also assume (using context clues and knowledge about what else was going on in the world) that the people of Egypt did not come from Europe (as earlier archaeologists had argued because they did not believe that the people of the African continent were capable of complex engineering).
No matter who the ancient Egyptians were or what they looked like, the things that they accomplished were magnificent. From the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza to the Valley of the Kings, they were masters of engineering, construction, and innovation. To see this great civilization being politicized and the subject of racist claims is incredibly troublesome, especially because we have turned it into an issue that would not have existed during the time of the ancient Egyptians. While DNA research cannot prove the race of a mummy or mummies, we can infer that they were not of European descent, but we also cannot say that the Egyptians belonged to one particular race, especially given its position between the trade network of the Mediterranean Sea and the rest of the African continent. Regardless, the racist arguments need to stop and I believe that we should pay less attention to what the people of Egypt looked like and more attention to the great things that they accomplished.
Sources:
- Bard, Kathryn A. An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.
- Lyon, Alissa. “Ancient Egyptian Race Debate.” Rise of Civilization. October 09, 2014. Accessed October 09, 2018. http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp455-fs14/2014/09/18/ancient-egyptian-race-debate/.