Grades 5–12 | Aurora Homeschool Academy · BleuLearn Curriculum
This volume documents: The documented evidence for Africa as the origin point of humanity — the Lomekwi tools (3.3 million years ago), the Blombos Cave engravings (approximately 75,000 years ago), the Kingdom of Kush, and the Victory Stele of Piye. These are not myths. They are documented artifacts in public archives.
Background context: Piye was the Kushite king who conquered Egypt around 728 BCE, reunifying it under Nubian rule and establishing the 25th Dynasty. He was not an outsider — Kush and Egypt had been in close relationship for over a thousand years. The Victory Stele is carved stone documenting his campaign in his own words, found in the temple at Gebel Barkal (modern Sudan), now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
The Primary Source
The Document Says
Victory Stele of Piye, approximately 728 BCE
Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Translation available at JSTOR and Louvre digital collections (louvre.fr).
"I seized [Memphis] like a cloudburst. I slew many of his men and his horses. Amen made me victorious... I am the beloved of Amen."
Apply the Four Questions
The Four Questions: (1) Who wrote it? (2) When? (3) What does it say? (4) Why does it matter? Use specific words from the document in every answer.
Q1 — Who wrote it? Who was Piye? What kingdom did he lead? What was his documented relationship to Egypt? Why does it matter that this stele was carved in stone by the king himself?
Q2 — When? What was documented as happening between Kush and Egypt around 728 BCE? Why does the date of this document matter to claims about who built and ruled ancient Egypt?
Q3 — What does it say? What does Piye claim in this excerpt? What does the document reveal about his authority over Egypt? What does "Amen made me victorious" tell you about the religious relationship between Kush and Egypt?
Q4 — Why does it matter? Why is a Kushite king conquering Egypt and sitting on its throne documented evidence about who built and ruled ancient Egypt? What does this tell you about what is left out of standard textbook history?
Claim–Evidence–Warrant
Write one paragraph: Make a claim about African origins in history. Cite the Victory Stele as evidence. Explain the connection (warrant).
BleuLearn Pause
What does this primary source document that a textbook's description of the same event would not?
Archive Assignment
Access the Louvre digital collections (louvre.fr) or JSTOR. Find one additional sentence from the Victory Stele not in the excerpt above. Write it here and apply Question 3 to it:
Additional Evidence: Africa as Origin
Lomekwi 3 tools: Documented stone tools found in Kenya in 2015, dated to 3.3 million years ago — the oldest documented evidence of toolmaking by any species. Published in Nature, 2015. (Harmand et al., nature.com)
Blombos Cave: Geometric ochre engravings found in South Africa, dated to approximately 75,000 years ago — the oldest documented evidence of symbolic human thought. Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History (humanorigins.si.edu).