Two recent documentaries promote a “Black Pharaohs” theme in which Kushite rulers overthrew the superior Egyptians and ruled Egypt (Twenty-Fifth Dynasty), but the Egyptians later erased their reign from history. This narrative undergirds The Rise of the Black Pharaohs produced by National Geographic and “Lost Kingdom of the Black Pharaohs” by the Science Channel. This article argues that these documentaries employ the use of presentism—the imposition of current perspectives and attitudes to depict and interpret past events. The two documentaries highlight fascinating archaeological finds in the Nile valley while also resurrecting now-discredited views on race and Egyptian–Kushite interactions arising in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The earliest Egyptologists (e.g., Petrie, Smith, Reisner) advanced the theory that dynastic Egypt emerged from the migration of a white race into the Nile valley, bringing in the elements of civilization superior to that of the indigenous blacks. While these documentaries condemn Reisner’s racist views on Kush, they largely accept this theory on Egypt’s origins and transfer this thinking onto the ancient Egyptians. These documentaries ignore the archaeological evidence showing that Egypt and Kush have shared origins and that ancient Egyptian civilization arose from a Pastoral Neolithic cattle-based culture encompassing Northern Sudan and much of ancient Northeast Africa. Craniometric studies and non-metrical studies of cranial and dental traits demonstrate a close relationship between ancient Upper Egyptian and Lower Nubian populations. They also demonstrate population continuity in Egypt from predynastic phases into the dynastic era. Presentism in the documentaries uses current racial constructs to interpret Egyptian–Kushite interactions. For example, the oppressive relationship between the colonizer and colonized that characterized European colonialism was assumed to apply to ancient Egypt during its colonization of Kush. This review article highlights archaeological findings that challenge these views of Egyptian–Kushite relationships. Examples of Kushite influences on Egyptian cosmology are presented to demonstrate millennia of cultural exchange between the two. The ancient Egyptians did not think of “race,” as presented in these documentaries. Pharaohs from earlier dynasties shared phenotypic features with Kushites, considered “Black” by current criteria.

最近的两部纪录片宣传了“黑色法老”主题，其中库什特统治者推翻了上等的埃及人并统治了埃及（二十五王朝），但埃及人后来从历史中抹去了他们的统治。这个叙述巩固了黑人法老的崛起由国家地理和科学频道制作的“失落的黑法老王国”制作。本文认为，这些纪录片使用了当下主义——强加当前的观点和态度来描绘和解释过去的事件。这两部纪录片突出了尼罗河谷引人入胜的考古发现，同时也重新唤起了人们对 19 世纪和 20 世纪初期出现的种族和埃及-库什人互动的现在已经不可信的看法。最早的埃及学家（例如，皮特里、史密斯、赖斯纳）提出了这样的理论，即王朝埃及是从白人种族迁移到尼罗河谷而产生的，带来了优于土著黑人的文明元素。虽然这些纪录片谴责了赖斯纳对库什的种族主义观点，他们在很大程度上接受了这种关于埃及起源的理论，并将这种想法转移到了古埃及人身上。这些纪录片忽略了考古证据，这些证据表明埃及和库什有共同的起源，古埃及文明起源于新石器时代以牛为基础的牧区文化，包括苏丹北部和古代东北非的大部分地区。颅骨和牙齿特征的颅骨测量研究和非测量研究表明，古上埃及人和下努比亚人之间存在密切关系。它们还展示了埃及从前王朝阶段到王朝时代的人口连续性。纪录片中的呈现主义使用当前的种族结构来解释埃及-库什特人的互动。例如，以欧洲殖民主义为特征的殖民者和被殖民者之间的压迫关系被认为适用于古埃及在库什殖民期间。这篇评论文章重点介绍了挑战这些埃及-库什人关系观点的考古发现。展示了库什特人对埃及宇宙学影响的例子，以展示两者之间数千年的文化交流。古埃及人没有想到这些纪录片中所呈现的“种族”。早期朝代的法老与库什人共享表型特征，根据当前标准被视为“黑色”。展示了库什特人对埃及宇宙学影响的例子，以展示两者之间数千年的文化交流。古埃及人没有想到这些纪录片中所呈现的“种族”。早期朝代的法老与库什人共享表型特征，根据当前标准被视为“黑色”。展示了库什特人对埃及宇宙学影响的例子，以展示两者之间数千年的文化交流。古埃及人没有想到这些纪录片中所呈现的“种族”。早期朝代的法老与库什人共享表型特征，根据当前标准被视为“黑色”。