D. Lower Nubia in the late Third Millennium B.C.: the Arrival of the "C-Group" and the Kingdoms of Wawat, Irtjet, and Setju.

Between about 2800 and 2400 BC, the Egyptians were able to occupy Lower Nubia, or certain key parts of it, with some success, but their control eventually deteriorated as new peoples pushed into the region, apparently from the western desert. These were groups of semi-nomadic herdsmen, who were probably organized into large tribal groups or confederacies, ruled by chiefs ("great ones," as the Egyptians called them). Egyptian texts of the period indicate that the pharaohs were forced to pull back north of the First Cataract, leaving Lower Nubia to itself again and direct communication with the far south interrupted. The presence of the newcomers in Lower Nubia is revealed everywhere there by their distinctive cemeteries of low round tombs, and by a unique sort of fine red or black, pottery decorated with incised designs filled with white pigment.

Unfortunately, these people used no writing, and our knowledge of them is derived only from brief Egyptian reports and from their own archaeological remains. Again it was George Reisner who first discovered their distinctive culture and give them the name "C-Group." (Reisner's tentative "B-Group," between his "A-" and "C-Groups" has since been proven to be non-existent). Egyptian inscriptions of the period, however, do provide other names for them

Already by about 2600 BC, the Egyptians had begun referring to the Nubians by the generic name Nehesy. Within this term, however, they recognized several different groups, each of which had its specific tribal or geographical name. By the Sixth Dynasty (ca. 2323-2150 BC), there are repeated Egyptian references to Wawat, Irtjet, and Setju (named from north to south), which seem to identify different C-Group chiefdoms or small kingdoms in Lower Nubia. Another group, called Medja, was a nomadic people dwelling in the eastern desert or ranging about the Second Cataract regions. This ancient name still seems to be preserved by the eastern Sudanese camel herding nomads, who are collectively called the Beja.

Sometime during the Sixth Dynasty, the Egyptians learned to work cooperatively with these peoples, for a rock inscription south of Aswan describes a "summit meeting" that took place nearby between the pharaoh Merenre (ca. 2255-2246 BC) and the "chiefs of Wawat, Irtjet, and Setju." The biography of the Egyptian official Uni, in his tomb at Abydos, reports that at the pharaoh's command he directed building canals around the First Cataract so that he (Uni) could visit certain Lower Nubian quarries by ship in order to cut stone for the king's pyramid. The Nubian rulers are said to have helped by supplying the wood needed to construct the barges. (Since there was no wood in Lower Nubia, they would have had to procure it from sources much farther south). At the same time the Lower Nubian rulers seem also to have profited greatly by sending their fighting men to Egypt for hire. By the end of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2150 BC), the Egyptian armies were mainly composed of Nubian mercenaries, many of whom would ultimately settle in Egypt, marry Egyptian women, and become assimilated into the Egyptian population.