Who were the first people in recorded history?

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Huge thanks to Sara Mohr, Raven Todd Da Sila and Hassan Elzawy.
Written by Stefan Milosavljevich
Edited by Amanda Laws
Artwork by Ettore Mazza
Sources:
Kushim Source: Nissen, Hans-Jörg, et al. Archaic Bookkeeping Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East. University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Source for the goatherders: Green, M. W. “Animal Husbandry at Uruk in the Archaic Period.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 39, no. 1, 1980, pp. 1-35, doi.org/10.108....
Source for Gal-Sal: Visible Language: Inventions of Writing In The Middle East And Beyond, Oriental Institute Of Chicago
Source for Egypt relied heavily on Raven and Hassan but this is the Petrie book
Petrie, William Matthew. The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties, 2013, doi.org/10.101....
/ stefanmilo
Disclaimer: Use my videos as a rough guide to a topic. I am not an expert, I may get things wrong. This is why I always post my sources so you can critique my work and verify things for yourselves. Of course I aim to be as accurate as possible which is why you will only find reputable sources in my videos. Secondly, information is always subject to changes as new information is uncovered by archaeologists.
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www.stefanmilo.com
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[@StefanMilo]

If you’re struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor BetterHelp. Click betterhelp.com/stefanmilo for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy with a licensed professional specific to your needs.

[@MattDeadlifts]

476,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure Unearthed in Zambia Read this article!!!

[@willmosse3684]

As someone who struggles with anxiety, it was amazing listening to you read that cuneiform record of someone suffering chronic anxiety all those thousands of years ago. The human condition really is universal. As Stefan said - anyone struggling, with anxiety or other emotions, reach out to Better Help, or wherever you can in your community. Love

[@hive_indicator318]

If you want to pay a company that has no regard for you or the law, throw it at these horrible excuses of people who ignored that HIPAA even exists. They're scum, and I can't believe you're shilling for them. You don't have to believe me. Read the FTC report

[@siberianfastfood]

You even make the advertisement interesting. Hope they pay you double for that 😀

[@luipaardprint]

Please be aware that betterhelp sells your data.

[@KingsandGenerals]

You make one accounting mistake and 5000 years later people are still talking about. Nightmare.

[@chloepeifly]

and accusing you of fraud! preposterous!

[@StefanMilo]

He was in the barley mafia!

[@pinchevulpes]

Neolithic war collab? 😂

[@AbbeyRoadkill1]

I would feel honored if people were still talking about my accounting mistakes 5,000 years from now.

[@laxman90210]

He should have used cuneisoft excel

[@null7879]

Countless emperors and kings surely fought to their deaths attempting to immortalize their name. Kusim worked a 9-5 and is still remembered 5k years later. Lesson in there

[@joeljoel5061]

So true! You never know when you might become useful. Even if it's thousands of years later.

[@brianmell3189]

Everything started with beer.

[@TrueRetroflection]

Basically the Larry of his day (the Pokémon players will know)

[@Rion101-w7r]

No… not really

[@xshayahyawzi3666]

Gigamesh and Sargon are certainly way more famous. And Gilgamesh is likely older than kushim's time period. Also, kushim's name was just found inscribed. He is certainly not "remembered", and in all likelyhood will not be.

[@Greksallad]

What a beautiful video, I got unexpectedly emotional. Made me think of a quote: "They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time."

[@Peter-jx3ie]

@Greksallad. Being forgotten feels awful.

[@riichobamin7612]

Well, Kusim just got a revive 😂😂😂

[@Zabiru-]

Attributing quotes is always risky and hard, but a common answer to who said that is Banksy, the street artist (among other things). I do not think that is very likely. Another supposed originator of this was Ernest Hemingway “Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal.” ― Ernest Hemingway Some further argue that it ought to be attributed to Irvin D. Yalom instead. If nothing else it elaborates further on the same topic. I'll leave you to make up your own mind about the truth of things. --- "Some day soon, perhaps in forty years, there will be no one alive who has ever known me. That’s when I will be truly dead - when I exist in no one’s memory. I thought a lot about how someone very old is the last living individual to have known some person or cluster of people. When that person dies, the whole cluster dies too, vanishes from the living memory. I wonder who that person will be for me. Whose death will make me truly dead?” - Yalom, Irvin D, (1989) Love’s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy, 1st. ed ---

[@Greksallad]

@@Zabiru- Yeah, that's why I didn't attribute the quote to any specific person. I've only ever heard people crediting Banksy for it before but, while he may have come up with this specific wording, I always felt like the concept itself must be much older than him. Thanks for the interesting info about possible candidates :)

[@SkunkApe407]

​@@Zabiru- philosophy is rarely based on original ideas. Philosophy is mulling over long established ideas and concepts, finding new truths within.

[@undergroundman1993]

Nothing humanized the past for me as much as when I was attempting to translate a cuneiform tablet from the early Sargonic era. It was an inventory list and I noticed the person who wrote it abbreviated various symbols presumably because they were in a hurry. I imagined this person being like “Ugh, I’m ready to go home” while writing it.

[@frogpalpeeper4249]

Ah, translating a cuneiform tablet. A you do...

[@frogpalpeeper4249]

Oops. I meant as you do...

[@assininecomment1630]

(​psst. Psssstt..! Hit those little dots. One of them is 'Edit',@@frogpalpeeper4249. 😉)

[@johnmiller8975]

so was it sloppy? because govt is precise right to the end

[@undergroundman1993]

@@johnmiller8975 I wouldn’t say it was sloppy, it just looked like they were in a hurry

[@canchero724]

I'm loving that Kushim was no Emperor or royal but some random guy kicking about in Uruk. Imagine if he knew that we would be talking about him 5000 years later.

[@juanjuri6127]

"uhhh about the missing rations, i can explain"

[@GetRidOfCivilAssetForfeiture]

Spoilage. It was the fault of he who has no name.

[@annominous826]

An accountant, a bureaucrat. Not much unlike my family.

[@C-Farsene_5]

@@juanjuri6127 “and no I don’t have an illegal side hustle”

[@TolstoyPlastic]

a bookkeeper :)

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

I love the little details of ancient history that makes it clear they were a lot like us. Ancient graffiti on even older ruins saying “so-and-so was here”. Cat prints in ink across an ancient text (cats also don’t change).

[@nboss968]

5000 years is not that long ago historically. Humans have been around for 200,000. And dinosaurs lived for 200 million.

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

@@nboss968 True, but a lot has changed in that 5000 years. I imagine a human from 10,000 years ago and a human from 30,000 years ago wouldn’t have massive differences. But imagine the shock a human from just 500 years ago would have if they found themselves in 2024.

[@nboss968]

@@JeantheSecond-ip7qm technology has progressed at a shocking rate. It took humans about 1 million years to develop the spear, but microchip technology was created in a generation.

[@arcticcuckpuppy3136]

@@nboss968exponentially 🤓

[@us3rG]

Our human nature has always been the same in all recorded history, our human nature is the same in all eight billion of us and we will always have the same human nature in the future. Our human nature didn't evolve from something else and our human nature will naver evolve to something else.

[@juanjuri6127]

imagine all the kings, emperors and conquerors who sought to carve their name in eternity through deeds of unimaginable cruelty, just to be forgotten by time and end up getting upstaged by some guy who rang food coupons

[@pinchevulpes]

*Lugals 💀

[@amandajones661]

Hey!!! He wrote government contracts. 😅

[@DanielKRui]

“Some guy who rang food coupons” LMAOOOOOO

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

And the most famous pharaoh is one that was pretty much forgotten. His father was a heretic, and despite the son doing his best to reverse things to how it used to be, he was still buried hastly with second hand goods.

[@drabberfrog]

Ozymandias vibes

[@chucksweet7533]

Considering that they baked the clay tablets, cooking the books was a natural thing to do

[@Mikelaxo]

"I gotta go, I left my clay tablets in the oven"

[@trishrandall5031]

Keeping 2 sets of books would be a lot more onerous.

[@siyacer]

​@@trishrandall5031tworous*

[@Broockle]

Filing clay tablets must have been a nightmare. Imagine you're looking for a document in a stack of these 😅

[@ruolz]

10/10 comment

[@Banyanab]

I’m not even close to a linguistic expert but being exposed to Arabic most of my life I think it’s so miraculous how you see words carry through long stretches of time with very little change. For example, the similarity you pointed out between the place name Uruk and Iraq. One other thing I want to point out purely speculatively, since I really can’t be sure, is the similarity between the names Kušim and Qasim. Qasim is an Arabic-language name that means a distributor or generous person. So this makes me wonder if it started as a title and became a name sort of how the name Sharif is both a title and a name.

[@jackal25301]

It is probably Qasim in arabic yep

[@sashasychov7589]

As a person who studies archaeology I am always awe struck with how ancient words spill into our modern ones. I do not speak Arabic but I studied courses. I do speak Hebrew fluently and it uses so many words that can be traced to ancient Egyptian culture and mesopotamian culture as well. It's always a very humbling yet uplifting feeling to know how our ancestors left us with so much linguistic heritage and that we carried it all the way to our moder day... I hope that in the future people will find traces of our culture in their dialects.

[@friendlyone2706]

A logical connection if Kusim was responsible for distributions. Thank you for sharing.

[@urviarora12]

Wow! That is interesting! Although not a name, it did remind me of the Urdu phrase khushamdeed. Wondering if Khush (happy) could have morphed from Khushim.

[@redtube8667]

Qasim probably originated either as a location for local food distribution or as a military supply depot

[@CollinBuckman]

While nowhere near the oldest names of all time, I find it fascinating how many names can be found in Mycenaean records that we still use today. Names like A-re-ka-sa-da-ra (Alexandra), E-ko-to (Hector), and Te-o-do-ra (Theodora)

[@farangtikitungmuang]

Great point! Thank you

[@juststardust8103]

Fascinating.

[@cripdyke]

I actually used to know someone named Nisa. It was short for something longer, but she did use it as her name. I also like Kushim, though I've never heard of it being used in recent times.

[@stargatis]

Wheel of Time series plays with older sounding names

[@Kirt44]

The first 2 names isnt convincing me that these are those names at all

[@Ayoosi]

"As you love to live and hate to die..." I find this so beautiful, so human. It's kind of mindblowing knowing that the existential crises I feel alone at night is the same human emotion people felt thousands of years ago

[@wad3y.]

We live 🌹 we love 💜 we lie 🥀

[@fukkitful]

Your not alone. It makes me feel like religion was created as a tool to help ppl accept the this. Damn it. Your comment put that thought in my head now.

[@germanyballwork5301]

​@@wad3y.Some fella born in Bethlehem breaking that cycle forever like a chad

[@WK-47]

That kinda loneliness is a special brand of feelsbad. Try remembering the phrase "there's nothing new under the sun" next time you feel that way. Helps me, might help you. All the best.

[@Ericsaidful]

We verbalize fear of death. It’s not new, hence the creation of religions. It’s a coping mechanism.

[@abelhapedras]

the lesson i learned from this video is that i better start engraving my name on every single piece of rock and clay i can get my hands on

[@toddaulner5393]

Don't use a 3D printer.

[@Ember-noir]

Make sure to add a date

[@urviarora12]

And write it in as many languages/scripts as you know/can

[@Brian-bp5pe]

Tagger

[@HogBurger]

Write a bunch in different spots across to globe to confuse future archaeologists

[@GundersenMarius]

My favorite fun fact is that writing being invented 3200 bc means that if you are 52 years old you have been alive for 1% of written history.

[@jeanettewaverly2590]

@@ConontheBinarianMe too.

[@dougcard5241]

And written history is likely 1% of modern human history

[@adamsjoberrg]

That's actually mind-blowing.

[@raccoontrashpanda1467]

@@ConontheBinarian But as time goes on, written history gets longer. The longer you live the longer written history will be.

[@KD400_]

The internet really made things so fast. So much of human history is without any technological devices and it was mostly just writing and reading

[@alhesiad]

Two female researchers with bronze age scripts tattooed in opposite forearms is comically specific.

[@semaj_5022]

I loved seeing the first researcher's cuneiform forearm tattoo, then just burst out laughing when the next interview started the same way with a hieroglyph forearm tattoo! Just perfect.

[@srhthrd]

I came to the comment section looking for this. I laughed so hard when Raven showed her hieroglyphics tattoo, the comedic timing was impeccable. On the other hand as a bronze age female researcher myself with a linear B tattoo project in the works I feel called out

[@therat1117]

@@srhthrd *Looks at own forearm with Ancient Greek on it* *Looks at copy of Xenophon's collected works* yep, we all do this haha.

[@dorothypierre754]

​@@TheRealFeechLaMannaWow dude you got the whole squad laughing. Why did you have to ruin an innocent joke by revealing your shitty political views 😐

[@johnpetrakis379]

Wasn't it Copper Age?

[@ruolz]

man that wrap up was poetic. beautiful energy from the guest experts. props all around

[@willmosse3684]

It’s amazing to think that the oldest technology - writing in stone or clay - is still the best means we have for creating durable long lasting records. Of all the information about you created in your life, your tombstone is the thing that has the best chance of surviving millennia.

[@flamethrow868]

Tomb stones nowadays aren't durable enough, and they're often not engraved. I've been seeing a lot of printed plaques. Just go for a visit on a local old cemetery, graves from a mere 100 years ago have begun to, or have faded enough that the name is unreadable. I might have my plaque 3D printed with engraving, plastic will probably stick around long enough XD

[@willmosse3684]

@@flamethrow868 it’s different in different places I think. Where I’m from in the UK they are mostly still engraved stone. And it depends on the kind of stone I think. I see some that are like 50 years old and they’re flaking off and you can barely read them. But you get others that are 300 years old and they’re crystal clear. I need to look into the difference. Also, the ones that will last are probably ones that will fall into disrepair and get buried so they’re not exposed to the elements. The ones that are out it the wind and rain and ice and chemical air pollutants etc will probably degrade

[@flamethrow868]

@@willmosse3684 That actually makes a lot of sense

[@IONATVS]

@@willmosse3684Also depends a lot on the stone. Some places have limestone or marble as the most popular headstones, because of availability or aesthetics but limestone and marble are not great at weathering the elements, some others are much better.

[@willmosse3684]

@@IONATVS yeah, I thought it would be something like that, thanks. So what’s good for lasting? Granite?

[@kanon4146]

i can't help but think about Ea-Nasir and how his name is still known today (thanks to his obsessively keeping complaint letters about him lmao) but there are kings and rulers who no doubt thought they'd be remembered forever who just....all knowledge of them is gone. Goes to show none of us knows how our lives OR deaths will end up.

[@username7735]

Yeah, I think I recall back in my college Egyptology how there are whole centuries just missing from Egyptian history. Like there could've been tremendously influential kings, wars, or events going on and we simply haven't a clue because once they eventually lost power the next dynasty decided to erase them from history.

[@John-mf6ky]

Right? It's a trip tbh

[@EmmaSpAce111]

The sheer amount of people who know his name because of the internet alone is beyond anything those kings could have imagined, and it was all because of ancient one star yelp reviews

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

We don't know why he kept those letters. Maybe they had laws mandating it, maybe he just reveled in his infamy. Or perhaps we wanted to resolve the issues, but didn'T got to it.

[@alexrogers777]

lol bro me too, I kept waiting for him to mention Ea-Nasir and he never did :(

[@benpebbles4111]

The running tattoo thing is such a fun running bit. I now want every interview to start with the review of a tattoo 🤣

[@DigItWithRaven]

All the ancient language forearm tattoos! Had a great time chatting with you, as always. The video turned out amazing 🎉

[@lazergaming5652]

You did great!

[@gretchenmeinzen9962]

This made me genuinely emotional. Thinking of these people who lived so long ago, what their lives may have been like, the people who loved them and were loved by them in turn... powerful.

[@C_In_Outlaw3817]

Yea no kidding. And all the names we’ll never know. About 10 years ago they found an 117,000 year old fossil of a 12 year old boy in a Moroccan cave. I wonder what his name was, what his dreams were, what he liked to do, what games he liked to play, if he had any siblings… It saddens me that he died so young and when I think about that I think about his parents. What were their names you know? We have these stone tablets with early names on it but there were thousands upon thousands of years of *homo sapien* history before those stone tablets that we will simply never know.

[@pinchevulpes]

All time is fleeting

[@yeattwizzyrichbitcointikok1120]

People will look back on this era and have the same thoughts about us thousands of years from now. Don’t really have a word to describe how that makes me feel

[@jonathonfrazier6622]

It was a brutal and barbaric age. I think about the people they killed. Man what a time to be alive.

[@jonathonfrazier6622]

The

[@Esstan1]

Famtastic video, Stefan. I even teared up a little bit in the end. Your videos reminded me why I studied archaeology, even though I decided to not finish my degree, I still have passion for the subject and I'm happy there is content out there like yours that keeps me informed and inspired! Thank you!

[@iFishSLO]

I just want to thank Ettore Mazza for their always amazing illustrations. I've seen their work in a number of your videos as well as a few others here on KZbin (all related to archaeology or some social science), and they've always impressed me. I love your work, Ettore Mazza! Keep it up!

[@ettore_mazza]

Ouu, you make me blush

[@shironerisilk]

I always wondered whose work was this. It's amazing, brings history to life so well.

[@C-Farsene_5]

@@ettore_mazza wait that artist was you?

[@Jyyhjyyh]

His art keeps popping up in half the history videos I watch. Man has the market cornered

[@JT_Soul]

Stefan, I've always liked your videos; but, in the past year or so, you've really taken them to the next level in so many ways. I have a huge respect for the quality of content that you create, and, as an added bonus, you also seem like a genuinely "righteous dude" (to quote Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Great stuff!

[@PhenomRom]

And so handsome

[@pparr052971]

Totally agree, but bring back the spoon!

[@manzell]

I'm kind of the opposite. I kind of liked the shaggy unprofessionality of some of the older videos :)

[@cripdyke]

@@manzell Having spent most of my life in Portland, I enjoyed watching his rambles and identifying exactly where he was from the edge of a park, or from a business sign in the background, etc. I do think that was all fun, but I don't mind the increase in production values either. In particular travelling to relevant locations in the PNW is amazing when he can do that. I guess we'll just have to hold out hope that we can convince him to do bonus videos once every few months that capture that original spirit.

[@brandyjean7015]

And the current cultural references always make me smile.

[@twilights4m]

Can't remember where the quote's from, but to paraphrase - you die twice, once, when you stop breathing and your heart stops beating, and a second time, when someone says your name for the last time

[@drmachinewerke1]

That is why I say those that were / are my friends that passed

[@WillDMcQ]

Love your brand of anthropological discussion. You really bring the humanity out of the artifacts and always have amazingly keen insights. Thank you for contributing in such an accessible manner. You give the entire field an amazing public face.

[@larryparis925]

Well said, and true.

[@hhunstad2011]

Couldn't agree more!

[@nalbarabarabwaa]

Exactly! That's why I freaking love this channel.

[@gregkocher5352]

About 10.00 you mention them using straws. My 96 yo dad just told me how as kids they used the orange day lilly stalks as straws to get sips of cider or wine out of barrels. The straws let you reach below the grody junk to get clean drinks. Gotta love those connections!

[@coffeepot3123]

As humans we never really change. People 5000 years ago was just like us, worries around becoming parents, dreams of a better future, annoyance over having to clean the dirty dishes etc.

[@tankgod888]

I think they can mate easily without morale consequences. Life is great back then.

[@jackread7406]

I LOVE CLEANING DIRTY DISHES YUM YUM

[@HollieMoodie]

@@tankgod888 We mate with zero moral consequence, because we abandoned that with the invention of birth control. Sky daddy and shot gun weddings were no longer needed to keep people in check. If we have a 3 digit IQ and use protection we can avoid all the other consequences too.

[@anewdayali2538]

Exactly.. that’s what I think too. We don’t even change much we keep the same words names they just evolve in time from titles to names. We just evolve in the way we do things but we still do the same things. Like for example we have cars trains and stuff so we travel but that doesn’t mean just becusse the people in the past didn’t have those tools doesn’t mean they didn’t travel. We are humans everything we are doing now we have always been doing it’s just as time went on we just found more efficient way of doing it. Everything we do now we did in our pasts.

[@Tamara-ju3lh]

​@@tankgod888maybe for the men but imagine all the women and girls who died in childbirth or whose bodies couldn't handle pregnancies. Yeah maybe men had easy access to sex but it wasn't good for everyone.

[@TheMrBrosef]

I love seeing the tattoos of ancient languages on the people who study them. It shows such a wholesome connection.

[@Ezullof]

That's just what happens when society essentializes people to their social function. Terminal stage alienation.

[@Iz0pen]

Tattoos aren’t wholesome

[@kiwikemist]

​@@Iz0penyeah we should ban them because I don't like them!

[@williamking3301]

Tattooing is an ancient practice found in cultures and societies from all over the world for various reasons, to show status, power, and sometimes for religious or spiritual significance. Itzi the Ice Man (Bronze Age central Europe) had tattoos, the Maori warriors of New Zealand tattooed patterns on their faces, and the Yakuza crime organizations of Japan tattooed their torsos. I like looking at tattoos myself, but I don't have any. It is a personal preference. They're not going away anytime soon. Banning them would be pointless. Remember what happened during Prohibition?

[@Cedawood]

​@@Ezullof😮

[@Snipe4261]

Early Sumerian history is fascinating. First city. First writing. Fist civilization. First myth. Language isolate. Nobody knows where they came from originally. I love hearing about this kind of stuff.

[@alexandrahenderson4368]

It's a language isolate cuz we didn't know what others were speaking 💀💀💀 but many languages erupted with similarities once they developed writing and no one is to say they didn't branch from other non written languages

[@martinvanburen4578]

@@alexandrahenderson4368 I always wondered if a person travelled from one civilization to another, how do you communicate with another group without a translation guide or a literal translator. How did the Indians trade with Sumerians without knowing their language.

[@alexandrahenderson4368]

@@martinvanburen4578 sign language and interpreters someone skilled in learning other languages or raised with both like Pocahontas did...

[@jybrokenhearted]

Sumer and Egypt were the left overs from a earlier civilization

[@martinvanburen4578]

@@jybrokenhearted what is the name of that earlier civilization?

[@emmacarns8845]

Wow what a wonderful video, thank you so much! You’re a fantastic creator

[@ellen4956]

This is why I love the cave paintings and rock art all over the world! We don't know their names, but they left us pictures of what was around them, and what they observed. The pictures of people swimming where there is now a desert! The painted hands, and hand-sillhouettes made by blowing the paint around the hand! Hunting scenes, flora and fauna, fingerprints left in pottery. All are bits and pieces of the lives of those who came before us, and we don't want to forget them! We want to know their names, their stories, even now. It's fascinating, the thread that connects their lives to ours, and ours to theirs. We see the same moon in the night sky that they did.

[@missourimongoose8858]

I've got native paintings around my families land and made a video showing it if you wanna see

[@alaskabarb8089]

Same sky, different animals! Oh, to have seen a cave bear or wooly rhino…

[@alexandergrinya5725]

@@missourimongoose8858We’d like to see that.

[@cecileroy557]

Ellen - well said!

[@realfakedoors2]

I love the thought of someone finding my accounting mistakes 5,000 years from now.

[@HollieMoodie]

Imagine someone finding your nudes 5000 years from now. You know, the embarrassing ones. The ones that involve bananas.

[@TheYoutubeUser69]

Link rot will.take Care of that XD

[@sandragoodman9380]

This was very moving. Thank you, Stefan.

[@therat1117]

On Egyptian rulers having multiple names: this was extremely common. Egyptian pharaohs of the Old Kingdom had five names, traditionally. 'Narmer' (pronounced more like 'Narmar' in Old Kingdom Egyptian) would possibly be a personal name with 'Menes' (pronounced more like 'Maniy' In Old Kingdom Egyptian) possibly being his regnal name or his 'serekh name', his name used during religious ceremonies. Or neither could be personal names, it's hard to know.

[@Flum666]

all kings, even into modern day change their name when they ascend the throne

[@shiddy.]

absolutely ... if I was a king and I got everybody to go along with calling me Fierce Catfish, of course I'd pick a few more names as well I say there's no way he only had those 2 names

[@loke6664]

We are still not really certain they are the same people though. A sources for that is some New kingdom inscriptions and a pottery shard Flinders Petri found that might have Narmer's catfish on it, but it might be something else too. Menes could just as well be Narmer's father or even some kind of weird title that got misinterpreted later. It is a good theory but it isn't a proven one, and the Narmer palette does not mention "Menes" which one would expect if he had both those names. That of course doesn't prove anything either so we can't really do more then label it as a "maybe". I do think it is pretty likely that "Narmer" was his personal name though, we do see it next to depictions of him from the time which makes that rather likely. It isn't like Charles would just had "King" written on a coin without his name after all, but he could just have "Charles" on it when he wears a crown. That is also not 100% since I am applying modern logic to something 5000 years ago though which is a bit dangerous. If they are the same person, I think the likeliest is that "Narmer" was his personal name and "Menes" his "Serekh" name but I am not convinced that is the case here. If Menes was his dad that would also explain why both names was written on that pottery if indeed Narmer was written there. I hope some new find pops up that bring some light on this (heck, if Menes was an upper Egypt king that wasn't Narmer we might stumble on his grave which would solve the entire thing, we are still missing a lot of Egyptian royal tombs after all so it is certainly plausible).

[@therat1117]

@@loke6664 We also have to bear in mind that Narmar existed in the Pre-Dynastic Period, and Seti I in the 19th Dynasty, meaning a roughly 2000 year difference between them, that Seti did not record a 'Narmar', and that in Narmar's time many of the conventions of Egyptian royalty weren't well-established yet. If 'Narmar' is a personal name, then it's written in a Serekh, which would normally be reserved for a Serekh name. Besides of which, you don't 'prove' theories, you evidence them. The evidence in this case is tentative, but the potsherd seals appear to show the names 'Narmar' and 'Manij' in conjunction with each other, indicating likely that they are the same person.

[@therat1117]

@@TheRealFeechLaManna Complicated, but based on evidence from Coptic and Demotic, as well as hieroglyphic Egyptian spelling alternations and Egyptian words written in other languages.

[@carlbeel2444]

A group of people drinking beer with a straw from a single vessel is still common in parts of Africa. While I was a teacher in Zambia in the 90s, I joined colleagues from time to time to drink millet beer with a straw from a calabash.

[@amitisshahbanu5642]

I thought you meant Miller initially

[@cvspvr]

​@@amitisshahbanu5642reminds me of how, in parts of mexico, coca cola is easier to get than drinking water

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

@@cvspvr Just like in the film _idiocracy?_

[@kemetnubiakamp]

It's the same beer originally made from millet. It's throughout Africa.

[@oregonNYC]

This is done in SẼ Asia. I’m familiar with this from the K’ho people in the central highlands of Vietnam. It’s a rice or maize ‘wine’ in a big clay jug drank communally with a long straw. Looks very similar.

[@ivyjay1521]

What a cool video!!! I'm so glad the algorithm put this on my feed! Happily subscribed and looking forward to more of your content! Thank you for this!

[@cabbagenut]

I love this format - asking a question and following multiple lines of inquiry to answer it. It gives you a lot of information that you might not get in a video with a discrete cultural focus, and draws connections between realms of knowledge.

[@iahelcathartesaura3887]

Very well said & a very enriching comment!

[@averynelson1186]

Towards the end of the video you sort of mention immortality being connected to museums - and I think I've heard about museums existing in ancient times, like in Sumer. I would love to see a video about that, museums or something like museums being made and maintained by who we consider to be ancient peoples. What was ancient to them? What did they collect and study as artifacts?

[@WK-47]

Interesting thought. Occam's razor might be they'd collect the oldest stuff they could find that was clearly of another era if not another culture. I'd imagine later Bronze Agers, so when bronze is widespread and general purpose, would for example consider pre-metal tools, etc. curious. Pottery is less regional and has a longer history, but it tends to break a lot. "The ancients of the ancients are just super ancient... duh" is a bit boring, so for me then it's how their culture might view artefacts as such or the entire concept of a museum. I mean, if Mesopotamians believed their temples were the house of their city's patron deity and acted accordingly, though it's all relative, that's pretty symbolic. We sometimes still refer to churches as houses of God, but that's not really taken literally or ritualistic. Makes you wonder what something like a museum would mean to them, how they'd see it, act towards it... a sort of home for their ancestors? and would adding new items to a collection call for some ritual? Anyway, thanks for sharing.

[@KasumiRINA]

​@@WK-47 about "House of God" not being literal anymore, it has to do with faith: Bronze Age polytheism generally considered gods to be INSIDE the idols, physically. It's a major important factor in understanding why Babylon removing people's idols was so devastating. There lies the main difference with Abrahamic monotheism: it's not only the faith in one God (hence capital G) vs many gods (as a species), but also the belief that God is everywhere, while gods were believed to exist inside stone or wooden idols. One of main roasts of pagans in the Bible goes about how a polytheist went to cut a wood, cooked food on part of it, and made another part of the same piece into what someone considers a god. Even the Jewish Holier of Holies was an empty room, which disappointed Roman temple robbers. They assumed everyone's gods are physical statues or carvings, not heavenly beings.

[@rahowherox1177]

A museum need not be of ancient artifacts.

[@DevinDTV]

​​​@@WK-47Bronze age people tended to not understand what paleolithic and neolithic stone tools were and thought they were magical artifacts or created by lightning or various other processes.

[@us3rG]

Why you think pyramid exists?

[@UncleDansVintageVinyl]

One thing that I like about these videos is how much the various experts are excited about their fields and excited about sharing the knowledge that they have gained. That's really awesome. Thanks for introducing these folks to us!

[@XDheyXD123]

i love learning about early humans. they feel so far away from us but we truly are just humans, then and now. just the world around us has changed, but we’re still the same humans dealing with the same basic feelings .. so crazy

[@aphextwink2343]

Yeah very fascinating

[@tomlxyz]

From my understanding you could even take a baby from 30000 years ago to today, raise it in a modern way and they'll act like a modern human.

[@jeremymontel6010]

They died long long ago far away from any of us, yet through technology we can see they lived lives just like ours. It's almost a magical feeling to look so far back into the past.

[@boxsterman77]

And they were every bit as smart back then. That hadn’t accumulated the knowledge base and technology that we have now-but there were Einsteins amongst them.

[@kurtoogle4576]

I really love Stefan's enthusiasm and how approachable he makes these topics. :) Roping in the experts and getting them gleefully going is a special skill as well! Thank you!

[@chuchu9649]

The illustrations are very engaging for the video

[@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache]

The line about the people being immortal because they're still remembered is very powerful. Reminds me a lot of Dr. Hiriluk's speech.

[@Darkstar-se6wc]

Reminds me of Discworld …

[@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache]

@@Darkstar-se6wc I do hear a lot of people get reminded of One Piece when reading Discworld and vice versa, and I've heard Discworld has good comedy, so it's definitely on my to-read list which means I'm gonna read it anywhere between now and 8.7e100 years later.

[@squidynk]

The one piece is real

[@jachrishalt]

The fact that Raven had a tattoo in hieroglyphics after you had Sara Mohr on with her tattoo in cuneiform was such a perfect punchline, man. I pushed air out of my nose, very funny. Good video!

[@_kuroudo]

What killed me was (He doesn't have forearm tattoos)

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

What is it with this compulsion for archeologist women to get their particularly field of study tattooed on their forearm? 🤨

[@jaffa3717]

@@SirAntoniousBlock women ☕

[@nckojita]

@@SirAntoniousBlock its a field of study that has historically been at least somewhat difficult for women to get into so any woman you see in a video like this who’s an established person in the field is probably REALLY into it and thus more likely to get a tattoo & the forearm is a good size to fit a phrase you like

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

@@nckojita I just thought it was humorously coincidental that both women had inscriptions in their fields of study in the exact same place, I don't understand the compulsion so I thought it must've been some sort of in joke.

[@llGracell]

Enjoyed this very much. Thanks for the time & dedication to putting it together! ♥

[@annikafrolander7903]

Thank you so very much for making a video I myself always thought of making since my granddad said: “Don’t stop saying my name. I won’t die until the last time my name is uttered.” You made this film with the perfect reverence!🙏🏼

[@StormofSteelWargaming]

Stefan, that was the single best video you've ever made, absolutely terrific. Humanising the past is what really gets people interested in archaeology and you've done it in spades here.

[@Aymanzendo911]

47 minutes very well spent! Thank you so much for this amazing work

[@robertopisano6582]

Of all the channels worth watching on KZbin, this is clearly one of the very best. Warm, compassionate, smart, and approachable without watering down or dramatizing the content. Hats off to Mr. Milo - - - a new standard of excellence.

[@danalasmane6191]

Precisely! I've been interested in history since I can remember myself, and for a moment during my elementary school I pondered becoming an archeologist. However, during the tumultuous 1990-s in the Baltics that seemed like a shortcut to perpetual poverty and I already had a taste of that, so I gave up on the idea. Several decades later it gives me immense joy that there are such people of Stefan who are able to speak about history with such infectious joy and enthusiasm. Not many of KZbin historians are able to be so humane and relatable like Stefan. I'm addicted.

[@bobjones8949]

Why didn't he show the true images of the ancient Egyptians. Why did he show fake images of light skinned individuals that contradict the true images and statues.

[@rgt5727]

Great video, Stefan. You have quite the knack for making an otherwise dry subject uplifting and immersive. Good stuff. Thank you.

[@keltoumreddani7682]

Discovered your channel after your collab with Milo Rossi and damn am I glad I did. Thank you for the great content mate.

[@dusk_ene]

you're so amazing, Stefan. I wish I had friends like you to just sit around and talk about this stuff with! Never stop making such informative and passionate content.

[@archbishoprichardforceginn9338]

Nice work

[@brianmell3189]

Hang out with a higher class of potheads😂

[@mistertwister2000]

I love that Kushim was basically just a minimum wage employee charged with inventory and that’s the person we talk about so many thousands of years later.

[@niggacockball7995]

"minimum wage employee" bro was a fucking bureuracrat

[@friendlyone2706]

If in charge of distributions, he may have been more like a bank president than the teller working in the bank.

[@DF-ss5ep]

@@friendlyone2706 Also, a population that knows how to read and write is a modern phenomenon, maybe 200-100 years or so, depending on the country. So individuals like these must have been rare and in high demand.

[@caramcree]

Wow, this is the coolest video! I love the topic, your interviews, the visuals, and your passion. Wonderful!

[@james_loney]

Whistful, poetic, knowledgeable, evocative .... this short history of earliest written names is just wonderful! Thank you so much!

[@kylewhite9048]

Just stumbled upon your channel and my only wish is you could make more videos! I’m almost running out of your content at night. Thanks for your hard work

[@swingshift.]

U might like north 02's videos also uncharted x has great ancient Egypt and other civilizations videos

[@shaunbarrios1979]

I really enjoyed your video! It was very authentic and acknowledged what we dont know and what we think and what we know. Most of these archeological and scientific videos talk as if everything they say is fact.

[@DanielleGlick]

I watch a lot of ancient history videos, and this was such a unique and interesting topic to see covered in such depth. I appreciated it!

[@cogandball]

Hello I love anthology and am hoping to go into college with that as a major do you have any channel recs. Looking for more in depth lecture-y videos. Thank you for taking time to read this

[@emilymoehrlin5371]

@@cogandballI would definitely recommend Gutsick Gibbon and Dapper Dinosaur!

[@cthuljew]

This was an amazing video, and your production is getting to a professional level.

[@rc31802]

This was recommended to me after i watched the video with you and Milo Rossi. Very timely because I've of my middle school students is writing and essay about farming in Mesopotamia. I'm sending this to him

[@Jabranalibabry]

Imagine how mad Kushim's math teacher would be if he knew of Kushim's arithmetic

[@DerGeraet205]

I wonder what they would have called it, since arithmetic comes from Greek (I think?) and they wouldn't show up for around 2000 years after Kushim

[@DerGeraet205]

@@Aiel-Necromancer I worded it badly, I meant how they would have referred to it since our word arithmetic has its roots in (old) Greek. They for sure had a concept for mathematics and numbers if they managed to keep track of numbers, quantities and even recorded their "mistakes" lol

[@B.White70]

​@@DerGeraet205they got everything from Egypt. All of the first Greek historians said this. Even this video takes away what they actually say. Things are a guess if one doesn't accept other answers. Math would absolutely begin with the trading of anything. All sales would have a receipt. Eventually all would...😂 My bad.

[@gustavoB95]

I like that you interview all those specialists, and all the energy you put into the videos. Great stuff. Greetings from Uruguay.

[@Annathroy]

Hvala ti Stefane za video

[@nickfosterxx]

I absolutely adore those tattoos. Appropriately reserved only for eligible scholars. Took ages to re-find, but if you want to refresh your memory: 4:38 'The one who knows may show the one who knows. The one who does not know may not see'. 19:00 Appeal to the Living - 'As you love to live and hate to die'. i.e remember me...

[@iahelcathartesaura3887]

Thank you!

[@amandajones661]

Not all heroes wear capes.

[@caseco4979]

Nah i think anyone could rock one of those if they wanted who really cares about someone elses tattoo

[@commanderdodo1806]

This whole video is excellent, but I found the part at the end especially profound. The idea of a father and son, living on opposite sides of the edge of history, is such a beautiful and awe inspiring idea.

[@bobjones8949]

Not true history if you continue to perpetrate a lie.

[@robzagar4275]

Wonderful work Stefan !

[@TheSweeeeeetz]

I swear you are the David Attenborough of history. They way you talk about history with the same passion and love. I feel it. I hear you and I’ll watch anything you put out because I love history too.

[@archbishoprichardforceginn9338]

Prayz The Lord

[@v_wegs]

This is my favorite video you’ve made yet, Stefan. Excellent scholarship woven with poetry.

[@richardthompson7572]

what a wonderful video, i love a deep dive. Early written history is fascinating. Cretan hieroglyphs havent been deciphered, so there are many stories out there ready to be unlocked

[@Snarge22]

Wow! You really put on a great presentation Stefan. Also, you add "heart" to your work. My sincere compliments to you and your efforts.

[@larryparis925]

Great presentation. 44:40 - beer seeps into system. 46:03 - beer kicks in. Truly, this was a fine episode. We learn a lot from you, Stefan. Many thanks.

[@ForestGirlTeresa]

A fascinating look at the earliest recorded people. But it brings to mind other considerations: in cave paintings, such as Lascaux, there are human hand prints. Were they made by multiple people and if so, was it an attempt by each person to record their identity? “I was here. I lived.” The artifacts preserved in dry climates, particularly in tombs, endure well, whereas those inscriptions exposed to wet weather, such as in northern Europe fade away. So much has been lost. Thank you for this thought-provoking journey into time.

[@semaj_5022]

This might be my favorite video you've ever done. We always talk about human history in such broad terms, on these huge scales. It seems like sometimes we forget that history has always been people, human beings, just living their lives. Seeing these names, hearing a bit about their lives, there's something so humanizing about it. It feels like we can understand these people. We can connect with them in a way, though they've been gone for thousands of years. I just love that. Thanks so much for this great video, Stefan! And thanks to everyone who contributed!

[@russellcox4832]

Fascinating. Stefan, this video is more than history. Its like reaching back and touching a real person's life. This was one of your best ever mate.

[@MossyMozart]

This was very moving.

[@VitorEmanuelOliver]

You know the researchers he talked to are passionate about the subject when they both have a tattoo with the script/hieroglyph of the people they study

[@elclaustrocl]

You are such a great guy, sharing knowledge, sharing humanity, sense of depth, and what you said about "the material of what the Earth, our planet is made", clicked something in my head, this is deep. I'm very thankful, a warn hug for you and your family, from Chile.

[@markovitorovic6379]

What a beautiful message at the end! *Commenting in the hope that my name will be forever chronicled in this videos comment section*

[@caitlinmiller359]

I love that your guests had tattoos in similar spots of the things you were interviewing them about!!

[@assininecomment1630]

Stefan, I really admire the attitude you approach these explorations with. Without being Egyptian, or directly Phoenician, you still respect the individuals identified - be they royal or commoner. It's also nice that you let us see some of your personal response to these discoveries. I imagine it's both exciting, and sobering, to learn about those people and those societies - but also to grasp just how long ago they lived. Some of these records are essentially the 'origin of species' for humankind's development of recording themselves - _ourselves._ 😮🤯 Awe-inspiring stuff, indeed! Thanks for your work, bringing it to us. 👏😌

[@fmdj]

Fascinating and really touching.

[@alexmorten9523]

Incredible video. Really moving. You can learn about these people who lived such a long time ago, but to humanise them and immortalise them is less often done. Cheers!

[@therat1117]

Another quick note: 'Iry-hor' is more of a modern designation for that sign combination that doesn't actually mean 'Horus-mouth'. In Old Kingdom Egypt the name would have been pronounced close to 'Rar-haruw' if the name meant 'Mouth-of-Horus'. 'Iry-hor' means more like 'Person-with-Horus' if we interpret the mouth sign as a preposition instead, pronounced 'Yir-haruw'.

[@FactThis]

A preposition would be more like 'Regarding horus' or 'According to Horus', and in the case of this sign wouldn't typically be seen in a name, but rather at the beginning of a sentence. Also, I'm not sure how you're translating 'person (with)' from this. Could you perhaps explain that?

[@therat1117]

@@FactThis I was trying to create something that sounds more like a name in English. 'Regarding Horus' doesn't sound like much of a name, but researchers seemed to be using the pronunciation that connoted the prepositional r rather than the noun r. I realised later that they meant that they thought the name might be *jrj* hr and not r hr, which would mean 'Belonging to Horus', a fine Egyptian name.

[@FactThis]

@@therat1117 I think based on the hieroglyphs and it being a name, a prepositional r or jr is unlikely. But with the Egyptians regularly dropping weak consonants it's a guessing game anyway, particularly with Archaic Egyptian and Old Egyptian.

[@ms.communication8464]

I found this SOOOOO interesting! Thank you.

[@repeat_defender]

Stefan always gets me in the feels. I love this guy's videos.

[@YimYimYimYimYim]

Superb vid Milo. Love your human approach of your work - it's valued.

[@StefanR33]

I love your passion, great video. You’re a great storyteller

[@calinradu1378]

That was really fascinating Stefan! The wife of king Ka, the predecessor and likely father of Narmer is believed to have been called Ha, yet that is just a possibility. The Scorpion I of the Uj tomb was likely something of a century behind Iry-Hor in time, with one Lion and another Double Falcon perhaps in between and others too. There are some primitive hieroglyphs from Upper Egypt that may depict even earlier local rulers like Oryx Standard, Bull, Elephant, Canid, Finger Snail etc. but they may represent something else. It's a pity we don't have the same archaeological record from Iraq as we do from Egypt, because of the far greater political instability. The name Iraq, which is Persian,, may have initially derived from the name Uruk🙂

[@fleetskipper1810]

I think that the city of Uruk was located in southern modern-day Iraq.

[@aquariusnymph]

@@fleetskipper1810yes it is located near the modern city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. Last year, I was fortunate enough to visit Iraq and see ancient cities of Uruk and Ur. I stood atop the Ziggarut of Ur

[@naranara1690]

Imagine being Finger Snail ☝️🐌

[@r4v4g3r]

@@naranara1690 lmao, I actually went and tried to google for an Egyptian named finger snail after reading that

[@NickyDusse]

Solid idea - there's such a deep repository of interesting ideas in pre-history, and it's up to you to think of them Stefan! Keep up the good work!

[@sircharlesmormont9300]

Speaking as a librarian, I love the last point you made about how increasingly ephemeral our written records are becoming. It is even more striking when you consider that the majority of archival institutions are so poorly staffed and funded that the bulk of materials accepted into archives remain unprocessed, languishing in the to-do pile. Meanwhile, libraries and similar institutions are under active political and financial threat - and this is in addition to the growing threat of climate change. This is why we must make every possible effort to maintain our libraries, archives, and museums. If we want tomorrow's scholars to be able to learn about our society from today's Kasim and his barley invoice, then we absolutely must fund not only the maintenance of our flimsy paper and digital records, but continually update them as newer technologies emerge and older ones become obsolete.

[@therob4371]

Thank you so much. I literally gasped with joy when I saw the new link. I love your videos.

[@rebeccas_language]

I just found this channel!!! Thank you for all of your hard work on creating this content!!! I'm absolutely in love with ancient history, thanks for helping me understand our past!!

[@Xix1326]

Fascinating video, and a pretty unique way to delve into ancient texts/writing. Thanks much, and it's time for me to see what else your channel explores.

[@ningning2023]

this is insane. my name is pronounced as nisa with different spelling. im a bit awestruck, it is unbelievable to think a name has possibly been around for so long.

[@justnotokay]

imagine if you lived other lives :)

[@sportspokerguy3506]

The biblical names like John Mark and Alexander have been around quite a long time as well

[@liammurphy2725]

5000 years later and Nisa is the name of my local store.

[@monicarenee7949]

@@sportspokerguy3506 except that wasn’t the original pronunciation of those names. Those are anglicized pronunciations

[@sportspokerguy3506]

@@monicarenee7949 in the case of Alexander specifically, alexandros is pretty close as it has a Greek origin - I understand Ancient Greek is different than greek but in a similar way to the differences between old English and English - the pronunciations are different, but alexandros specifically would be recognizable even with the ancient spelling - and the question in the video had certain criteria like a contemporary work with the person’s name existing. I tend to think Kushim is most likely a name - but we aren’t 100% sure, we are 100% sure about Alexander (or alexandros if you prefer)

[@Reformed_Metaphor1796]

On a fun note, my mom did her archaeology bachelor in Iraq. There she learned Cuneiform!

[@toddaulner5393]

Did she end up doing that for a living?

[@Northcountry1926]

Wow !

[@jeremyday9056]

I love videos like this so much and I am eternally grateful for this content. Thanks Stefan. Bringing a name and a face to our ancient ancestors goes such a long way in understanding and relating to the past.

[@Malenassaura]

I love your videos. You always make us remember we're taking about our ancestors, people who loved, ate, slept, etc just like us. It makes everything even more interesting.

[@chrispfeifer7628]

The most original historical channel I've ever watched. Including anything cable TV has. Very humanizing way to view any of our history on this planet. It's fascinating but also very attainable almost, like we can grasp these human qualities. Whether it's ancient Egypt or the neanderthal in Europe. Thank you again for doing these. Peace ✌️

[@telebubba5527]

I gave up on cable TV long ago. It's expensive and not really necessary. There is so much stuff freely available and often far better on the internet. On KZbin alone there are some really good and interesting programs to see. So why would I pay for a lot of boring babble and ad's?

[@harryskinner6124]

Really good video. Excellent topic.