Source of Ancient Egyptians Gold Found

via Livescience, a new archaeological site in the northern area of Sudan has been discovered that leads the scholars there to believe that much of the famed gold of Egypt came from this area, the ancient land of Kush. However, it has not been noted how geographically extensive Kush was in ancient times, however. The new site is over 200 miles from the ancient Kushite capital of Kerma, with the implication that Kush was regionally quite powerful and had a strong centralized ruling class. The Egyptians traded extensively with the Kushite kingdom for their gold.

"The archaeologists think non-Egyptians called Kushites, who ruled the region, gathered gold at the site from about 2000 B.C. to 1500 B.C. and used it to trade with Egypt. “Based on what we’ve found, the kingdom of Kush was significantly larger and more powerful than anyone thought,” said Geoff Emberling, an archaeologist at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute and co-leader of the expedition. Emberling explained most other clues of the Kushite’s reach have been inferred from written Egyptian records."

Unfortunately for the scientific team, this is likely the last chance they will have to examine the site. A dam is being built further downstream which will flood the area as soon as next year, and it is believed almost 2,500 potential sites might be in the flooded region.