Archaeological culture · 4th millennium BCE – c. 2900 BCE

A-Group culture

The first powerful society of Nubia, between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. A-Group people farmed, herded and traded with Predynastic Egypt, bartering incense, ebony, ivory, carnelian and gold for Egyptian craft products and goods from the Mediterranean.

Rich graves at Qustul and Sayala show they had rulers. The culture peaked around 3100 BCE and declined about 200 years later, perhaps after Egyptian campaigns.

See A-Group culture on the map in 3800 BCE →

On the map

3800–2900 BCE