An Arabic text found on a centuries-old rubbish heap has confirmed the historical existence of an African King whose mythical status mirrors Britain’s King Arthur.
The document issued within the name of the Nubian King Qashqash turns him from a semi-legendary figure only mentioned in later literature right into a historically verifiable monarch.
It’s the earliest contemporary archaeological evidence that he exercised authority during a formative period within the pre-colonial history of Sudan.
Old Dongola borders River Nile in Northern Sudan and was once the capital of the Christian kingdom of Makuria.
The country entered a poorly documented transitional era after the 14th century.
This era, often described by historians as certainly one of fragmentation and gradual Islamisation, saw Arabic increasingly replace earlier written traditions.
But a scarcity of surviving documents has obscured who ruled town and the way power was exercised.
Like Britain’s Arthur, the one evidence of Qashqash’s existence were later accounts indicating he was thought to be an ancestor of later rulers.
Nonetheless the fragment of Arabic text helps make clear a figure mentioned only in that context so far.
The document was found amongst rubbish heaps. Archaeologists have dated it to the seventeenth Century by matching it to records within the Sudanese text the Ṭabaqāt which records the lives of Sudanese holy men and students.
‘Although the king’s order lacks a date, external evidence allows us to estimate its approximate writing time,’ the research team, led by Tomasz Branski of the University of Warsaw, write.
‘In response to the Ṭabaqāt, King Ḥasan, son of Kashkash, married his daughter to the famous religious leader Muḥammad b. ʿĪsa Suwār al-Dhahab. The latter was energetic in Old Dongola no later than the early to mid-seventeenth century.’
The order in query reads, ‘From King Qashqash to Khiḍr son of ŠHDT/ŠHB(T?). As soon as Muḥammad al-ʿArab involves you, take from him three ʾRDWYĀT and provides him a ewe and her offspring and collect, from ʿAbd al-Jābīr, the ewe and her offspring; and provides them to their master at once. Don’t hesitate! That is my letter/reply to you. His scribe Ḥamad wrote it. Greetings.
‘And also you, Khiḍr, give to ʿAbd al-Jābīr three cotton cloths and a head (or three cotton headwear) and collect the ewe and her offspring for his or her master.’
Intriguingly the text just isn’t written in perfect classical Arabic but a colloquial version – which could also be a legacy of the cultural change happening in the world on the time.
Baranski and his team imagine Qashqash’s rule could have began as early because the late sixteenth century, which might make him a up to date of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth I.
‘Thus, King Qashqash, the daddy of King Ḥasan, seems to have held power at the newest by the early to mid-seventeenth century,’ the researchers write.
‘His rule can have begun as early because the second half of the sixteenth century, if it was prolonged. Nonetheless, the deposition of the king’s order amongst rubbish heaps in Room U128 occurred later, through the mid- to late seventeenth century or at the same time as late because the 18th century.’
The document was found amid a rubbish layer in a constructing inside Dongola’s citadel, a structure known locally because the House of the Mekk – a term referring to a minor king.
Excavations carried out as a part of the UMMA project found that the constructing differed markedly from surrounding houses.
Among the many other discoveries were silk and superb cotton textiles, leather footwear, a dagger handle carved from ivory or rhino horn, a gold ring and even musket balls. Archaeologists say the concentration of such objects points strongly to elite occupation.
Along with the written order bearing Qashqash’s name, the finds provide a crucial breakthrough into understanding late medieval Nubia and certainly one of its founding Kings.
The research was published within the journal Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa.
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