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The ancient Egyptians called it the wretched land. Yet Kush, the area to the
south of Egypt, that is now Sudan, had a distinctive and sophisticated culture
for the thousand years prior to AD 200. Derek Welsby sifts through the
archaeological evidence left by this enigmatic civilisation in The Kingdom of
Kush (British Museum Press, £25, ISBN 0 7141 0986 X). But many questions
are still unanswered because no one has yet been able to decipher its Meroitic
language.