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TEXT 11. Racial Identity of Tutankhamun
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| · The racial identity of Tutankhamun is a question that is debated among those who believe that ancient persons belong to modern racial identities. During the early period of modern archaeology, European scholarship believed that humans could be objectively divided into taxonomic races on the basis of phenotypes, leading early archaeologists and anthropologists to debate the race to which Egyptians belonged. Modern scholarship now largely rejects racialist thinking as a modern construction which would be anachronistic when applied to ancient persons, thus Tutankhamun is not assigned a race by modern Egyptology. Some dissenters continue to place Tutankhamun in various races on the basis of attempts to determine his phenotype, as that phenotype would be understood according to various theories on what constitutes race. |
In 2005, three teams of scientists (Egyptian, French, and American) developed a new facial likeness of Tutankhamun. All three teams created silicone busts of their interpretation of what the young monarch looked like.
Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, however, rejects the claims of Afrocentrists that Tutankhamun was black. Biological anthropologist Susan Anton, the leader of the American team on the Tut reconstruction project, said that the race of the Tutankhamun skull was "hard to call". She stated that the shape of the cranial cavity indicated an African, while the nose opening suggested narrow nostrils, which is usually considered to be a European characteristic. The skull was thus tentatively concluded to be that of a North African.
Cheikh Anta Diop is one of the foremost proponents of an African identity for the Ancient Egyptians. Diop assumes as a scientific hypothesis that humanity originated in Africa and that the "Out of Africa" position best explains the peopling of planet Earth. Diop also posits that warm blooded mammals, such as humans, living in Africa's very warm climate would have necessarily been brown or black skinned. Furthermore, Diop argues that the Egyptian civilization was indigenous to Africa and mostly Black from its origin.
Since many Ancient Greek historians noted that Egyptians and Ethiopians were black, or dark skinned, scholars, such as Diop, believe that it follows logically that Tutankhamun, an Egyptian, was black, or dark skinned. Herodotus affirms in numerous passages that the Egyptians were Black.
In contrast to other viewpoints, Diop believes that it is possible to scientifically ascertain the skin color of an Ancient Egyptian through microscopic analysis of skin samples from their mummy. Diop posits that melanin can be found in the mummy's epidermis and melanocytes of the derm and analysis of the melanin present can yield definitive racial identification of a given mummy. Although modern technology can reconstruct Tutankhamun's facial structure with a high degree of accuracy, correctly determining his skin tone and eye color today remains impossible. Although there is no scientific consensus on Tutankhamun's skin tone, contemporary paintings of him all portray him as having dark reddish brown skin and dark eyes.
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Scientific examination of the remains of Tutankhamun have revealed that the boy king was: 1) significantly dolichocephalic, or long-headed; 2) had enlarged incisors; and 3) had a pronounced alveolar prognathism, resulting in an overbite and a concomitant receding chin. Although various experts have pointed out that skull shapes etc., are not a reliable indication of ancestry, in the fields of forensic criminology and forensic anthropology these characteristics are believed by some to indicate a Negroid person.
(Source: Viola Richardson. Racial Identity of Tutankhamun: International Journal of Conservation Science (2011), vol.2, 117-126)
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| 5. Find the main idea in each part of the text. 6. Express the main idea of each part in one sentence. 7. Find supporting details in each part of the text. 8. Compress the text excluding the supporting details. 9. Express the main idea of the text in one sentence. 10. Write an annotation/a summary of the text using words and word combinations from your active vocabulary and sample summaries. TEXT 12. Arab–Israeli Conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict refers to political tensions and open hostilities between the Arab and Jewish peoples of the Middle East. The roots of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict lie in the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century. The conflict between Palestinian Jews and Arabs emerged in the early 20th century, expanding to all Arab League countries with the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948. Territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historical homeland is also regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically and presently belonging to the Palestinian Arabs, and in the Pan-Islamic context, in territory regarded as Muslim lands. The conflict, which started as a political and nationalist conflict over competing territorial ambitions following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, has shifted over the years from the large scale regional Arab–Israeli conflict to a more local Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Peace agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, and Israel and Jordan in 1994. Nevertheless, the Arab world and Israel generally remain at odds with each other over specific territory. |
Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups invoke religious arguments for their uncompromising positions. Contemporary history of the Arab–Israeli conflict is very much affected by Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious beliefs and their interpretations of the idea of the chosen people in their policies with regard to the "Promised Land" and the "Chosen City" of Jerusalem.
The Land of Canaan or Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) was, according to the Torah promised by God to the Children of Israel. According to biblical studies and archaeological evidence, the Israelites ruled that land from the 13th or 14th century BCE to the 1st century BCE (with short periods of foreign rule), remaining an ethnic majority of the population in the area until the 7th century CE.
In his 1896 manifesto, The Jewish State, Theodor Herzl repeatedly refers to the Biblical Promised land concept. The Likud is currently the most prominent Israeli political party to include the Biblical claim to the Land of Israel in its platform.
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Muslims also claim rights to that land in accordance with the Quran. Contrary to the Jewish claim that this land was promised only to the descendants of Abraham's younger son Isaac, they argue that the Land of Canaan was promised to all descendants of Abraham, including his elder son Ishmael, from whom Arabs claim descent. Additionally, Muslims also revere many sites holy for Biblical Israelites, such as The Cave of the Patriarchs and the Temple Mount, and in the past 1,400 years have constructed Islamic landmarks on these ancient Israelite sites, such as the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Muslims also believe that Muhammad passed through Jerusalem on his first journey to heaven. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, claims that all of the land of Palestine (the current Israel and Palestinian territories) must be governed by Muslims.
Christian Zionists support Israel because they recognize an ancestral right of Jews to this land, as suggested, for instance, by Paul in Romans 11. Some also believe that the return of Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Christ.
(Source: Kristoffer Ganzing. The History of Arab-Israeli Conflict (2010). Diversity. Vol. 3, 111-121.)
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Pick up the key words.
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