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Posted on 11/12/2006 7:03:58 AM PST by Valin
TIMBUKTU, Mali (Reuters) - Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance. Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century, and local historians believe many more lie buried under the sand.
The texts were stashed under mud homes and in desert caves by proud Malian families whose successive generations feared they would be stolen by Moroccan invaders, European explorers and then French colonialists. Written in ornate calligraphy, some were used to teach astrology or mathematics, while others tell tales of social and business life in Timbuktu during its "Golden Age", when it was a seat of learning in the 16th century. "These manuscripts are about all the fields of human knowledge: law, the sciences, medicine," said Galla Dicko, director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a library housing 25,000 of the texts. "Here is a political tract," he said, pointing to a script in a glass cabinet, somewhat dog-eared and chewed by termites. "A letter on good governance, a warning to intellectuals not to be corrupted by the power of politicians."
Bookshelves on the wall behind him contain a volume on maths and a guide to Andalusian music as well as love stories and correspondence between traders plying the trans-Saharan caravan routes. Timbuktu's leading families have only recently started to give up what they see as ancestral heirlooms. They are being persuaded by local officials that the manuscripts should be part of the community's shared culture. "It is through these writings that we can really know our place in history," said Abdramane Ben Essayouti, Imam of Timbuktu's oldest mosque, Djingarei-ber, built from mud bricks and wood in 1325.
HEAT, DUST AND TERMITES
Experts believe the 150,000 texts collected so far are just a fraction of what lies hidden under centuries of dust behind the ornate wooden doors of Timbuktu's mud-brick homes. "This is just 10 percent of what we have. We think we have more than a million buried here," said Ali Ould Sidi, a government official responsible for managing the town's World Heritage Sites.
Some academics say the texts will force the West to accept Africa has an intellectual history as old as its own. Others draw comparisons with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. But as the fame of the manuscripts spreads, conservationists fear those that have survived centuries of termites and extreme heat will be sold to tourists at extortionate prices or illegally trafficked out of the country.
South Africa is spearheading "Operation Timbuktu" to protect the texts, funding a new library for the Ahmed Baba Institute, named after a Timbuktu-born contemporary of William Shakespeare. The United States and Norway are helping with the preservation of the manuscripts, which South African President Thabo Mbeki has said will "restore the self respect, the pride, honor and dignity of the people of Africa".
The people of Timbuktu, whose universities were attended by 25,000 scholars in the 16th century but whose languid pace of life has been left behind by modernity, have similar hopes. "The nations formed a single line and Timbuktu was at the head. But one day, God did an about-turn and Timbuktu found itself at the back," a local proverb goes. "Perhaps one day God will do another about-turn so that Timbuktu can retake its rightful place," it adds.
Any politically correct idea, no matter how poorly founded, will be seized upon by the PC media and broadcast as if it were true.
Any politically incorrect idea, no matter how well proven, will be suppressed by the PC media.
I think this is fantastic and wonderful news. Can there be original copies of manuscripts by Plato or Achemedies(sp?).. I hope they are able to repair and translate as many as possible. How anyone could find something neagtive to say about such a wonderful gift/find to humanity is beyond me..
It would be great to know what secrets are buried there. If they find ancient documents that chronicle the decline of their civilization, I have a feeling that the stories will be very, very familiar.
I think this is cool, I would love to see some decent scholarship translate these.
It would most likely add to the history of Islamic conquest and slave trade, and also expose the French to other than European versions of history.
Back in the late 19th and early 20th century, a lot of Greek texts were found on papyri in Egypt, including some works that had been lost, and there have been some additional discoveries since then, like the Nag Hammadi gnostic library in the 1940s...so there is always a chance of more being found.
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Ow. Dunno how I managed that — or should I say, mismanaged that?
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Pythagoras of Samos
For theft of intellectual property
and grandeur and glory of Black Africa
Subject stole geometry, various other theorums including music.
Thefts include critical defense secrets including blueprints of secret flying machines, indoor plumbing and sanitation and basic hygiene.
M*****F***** Greek came in a took all our S***
WARNING !!
Do not approach. Subject is intellectually armed and dangerous
plus the offay subject has the secret of clouding men's minds causing them to forget everything including where the car keys at.
Call the New Black Panther Party c/o U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney Generalismo Eric Holder
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