Daily LifeTransportationTransportation through the Nile was only possible in areas between the six cataracts. The cataracts are near the surface rocky heights that interrupt the flow of the river. Numerous rock drawings at Sabu (Sudan) depict groups of rowing boats being steered with, as many as 22 oars1. These drawing have been dated to, approximately, the 3rd-2nd millennia BC. Also, in Kerma, are several wall paintings of boats associated with fishing activities2. One of these painting depicts twelve men aboard a boat. One of the men holds a net waiting for a catch. Below the boat are painted twelve fishes and two crocodiles. These drawings and paintings make it certain that Nubians regularly used boats for fishing and, obviously, transportation.
Donkeys are the oldest means of transportation known in Nubia. The use of donkeys continued in Nubia even after the start of the domestication of horses. They were used for short distant travel like pulling coffins of deceased pharaohs. A relief from the temple of Amon at Sanam, depicts donkeys or perhaps mules pulling three to six wheel vehicles3. An Egyptian wall painting from the tomb of Tutankhamun at Thebes depicts a Kushite princess and her servants facing Tutankhamun and aboard an oxen-chariot. On the coffin of Sebni, an Egyptian administrator who lived during the reign of Egypt’s Sixth Dynasty, is inscribed something about a Kuhsite-"caravan" 4. Thus, both oxen and donkey-caravans were certainly used for long-distance transportation by early Kushite.
It was commonly agreed by historians that horses were introduced to Nubia sometime during the Hyksos rule of Egypt, (1720-1550 BC)5. However, an inscription from the Hatchepsut Egyptian temple at Dier El Bahr, dating to the fifteenth century BC, mentions something about a horse that had been brought to Egypt from the land of the Punt (i.e., the region encompassing Eastern Sudan and Eriteria): "These, as they wend their way towards the ships, are accompanied by natives of Punt, some carrying large logs of ebony, others leading apes, and one a giraffe. In one place where there is a great gap in the wall, the remains of the inscription show that an elephant and a horse were among the animals embarked from Punt for the gratification of Hatasu."6 Starting from the sixth century, Kushite pharaohs started to extensively domesticate horses. Horses may have been considered sacred, since Napatan pharaohs were often found buried together with their horses. However, unlike the Egyptians, the Kushites preferred to ride directly on top of horses rather than use chariots or oxen.
The Kushite pharaoh Piankhy was noted for his love for horses7. On his stele at Jebel Barkal, it is written that after he has conquered the city of Hermopolis, he headed for the royal stables to check the condition of horses there8. However Piankhy broke in rage when he saw the terrible situation the Egyptians have kept their horses under. In the fifth century BC, the Persians brought camels to Nubia. Unlike horses, camels are notorious animals for enduring the harsh desert environments and they are also capable of carrying heavy imports for long distance travels. However, the Kushites did not tame the camels as much as the Nobatians. (Nobatians are desert Nomads who conquered Kush around the third century AD.) At their royal graves, the Nobatians extensively slaughtered and buried camels with the deceased camel owners9.
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