Ancient Nile Gold-Making Factory Found

Traces of a gold factory along the banks of the river Nile are shedding a glittering new light on the kingdom of Kush, one of the great forgotten civilizations of Africa, U.S. archaeologists announced on Tuesday.

The first recorded kingdom in sub-Saharan Africa, little-known Kush flourished from about 2400 B.C. until the 2nd century A.D. It might have controlled a territory as much as 750 miles in length across what is now northern Sudan.

"Our excavation suggests that the kingdom was more vast, powerful and rich than previously thought. Kush was a rival to Egypt by 2000 B.C. and threatened to conquer this country at the height of Kushite power from 1650-1550 B.C.," archaeologist Geoff Emberling of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, told Discovery News.

Emberling's team dug around a region called the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. This is one of the six cataracts, or shallow stretches of the river where rapids and rocky terrain make it unnavigable.

In the fall of 2008, the Merowe Dam will create a 100-mile-long lake south of the Fourth Cataract, displacing some 50,000 people and flooding undiscovered archaeological records.

Right there, at the desolate site of Hosh el Geruf, about 225 miles north of Khartoum, Emberling's team rescued from the rising Nile the concrete evidence of a gold-processing center — 55 grinding stones made of a granite-like rock called gneiss.

The stones were once used to crush and grind ore and recover flakes of gold. The ground ore was likely washed with water nearby to separate the gold flakes, according to the archaeologists.

"It was a surprise to find remains of gold processing from the Kingdom of Kush...we now are able to suggest that organized extraction of gold was of importance for the economy," Emberling said.

Nearby, at a site called Al-Widay, the team found an ancient burial ground with the remains of about 90 people.

Made from about 1900 B.C. to 1500 B.C. — the 400 years the gold-processing center was in operation — the graves feature the characteristic Kushite funerary practice, appearing as closely packed circular shafts lined with stone.

Among the artifacts found in the burial grounds were pottery vessels and objects that appear to have been made in the center of the kingdom, a city called Kerma, some 225 miles downstream.

Apart from one tiny gold bead, there was no trace of gold objects in the burials, suggesting that the precious metal was not used locally. The residents simply shipped their gold to Kerma, according to Emberling.

"In exchange, they received a few high-status, symbolic gifts such as fine ceramic vessels and faience (earthenwater) scarab seals. It appears to have been a system of unequal exchange of precious objects, rather than extensive payments in subsistence goods, that connected these areas," Emberling said.

The discovery is giving Kush some prominence outside the shadow of Egypt, according to Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute in Chicago.

"Until now, virtually all that we have known about Kush came from the historical records of their Egyptian neighbors, and from limited explorations of monumental architecture at the Kushite capital city Kerma," Stein said in a statement. "The excavations at Hosh el-Geruf will allow scholars to understand the rural sources of the riches of Kush."

Special Thanks to theDiscovery Channel