Abstract: Abstract In chapter IO of volume 1 of Black Athena, Martin Bernal writes of the “social, intellectual and academic forces” that when faced with works of ‘boldness and detailed scholarship” give those works little or no response. According to Bernal, “when reacting to a fundamental challenge, disciplines first of all ignore, then dismiss peremptorily, and only finally attack the challenge.” Bernal was speaking, at one point, of the reception the scholarly community gave to the 1969 publication of Siegfried Morenz’s work Europe’s Encounter with Africa.