Archaeologists have discovered a royal decree bearing the signature of a once-legendary African monarch - retrieved directly from a centuries-old refuse pile along the Nile's edge.
The remarkable discovery, uncovered by a Polish research team from the University of Warsaw at Old Dongola in northern Sudan, carries the name of King Qashqash - a sovereign previously regarded as mythical, comparable to Britain's King Arthur.
Specialists have determined the document dates to the late 16th or early 17th century, establishing it as the earliest tangible archaeological proof of Qashqash's genuine rule.
Instead of chronicling military conquests, the Arabic decree, written by a royal scribe named Hamad, instructs a man called Khidr to exchange textiles for livestock and deliver everything to its rightful owner, concluding with a sharp directive: "do not hesitate!"
Scholars suggest that instruction provides insight into the genuine royal authority and administration of a sparsely recorded period, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The study describes it as a "rare glimpse into Sudanic kingship during one of the least‐documented periods in Sudanese history" and, echoing a well-known expression, seeks to demonstrate "the King of Nubia at work, not at war, but in everyday management".
The page emerged within the House of the Mekk ('House of the King'), a historic complex near the Nile's eastern bank, concealed beneath layers of medieval debris.
Old Dongola was formerly the capital of the Christian kingdom of Makuria before transforming into a thriving trade centre, connecting the Ottoman Empire to the north and the Funj Sultanate to the south.
Alongside the page, archaeologists discovered various other document fragments, pieces of silk, linen, and blue-dyed fabric, alongside a gold ring, a dagger handle crafted from ivory or rhino horn, and what appear to be musket balls and a gunpowder flask.
During that period, firearms were chiefly emblems of status rather than instruments of warfare, the study noted, identifying their owners as members of an influential elite.
The finding, published in the journal Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, elevates Qashqash from an obscure figure known predominantly from subsequent biographies of holy men to a documented ruler who authorised royal affairs.
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