Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt
Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt
Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt
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themselves, our drivers uttered a brief prayer and covered the exposed part <strong>of</strong> the skeleton with more sand.<br />
We resumed our drive toward the twin peaks and parked the vehicles at the foot <strong>of</strong> a rocky slope. <strong>The</strong>n we all walked<br />
in silence, following Marai, still under the somber mood <strong>of</strong> seeing the lonely burial a few minutes before. After a trek <strong>of</strong><br />
ten minutes or so, Marai stopped and pointed to a large boulder that rested precariously halfway up the rocky slope. We<br />
recognized the boulder from the photographs that Mark Borda had sent us in December. We quickly clambered up the<br />
slope, and finally, there they were: pharaonic inscriptions carved on the south face <strong>of</strong> the boulder.<br />
After Marai and Borda, we were the first modern visitors actually to see them after some unknown ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ian<br />
scribe had crudely carved them thousands <strong>of</strong> years ago. It was a thrilling and rewarding feeling—perhaps a bit like<br />
Howard Carter must have felt when he discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. We knew from the translations that had been<br />
made by the <strong>Egypt</strong>ologists in London that the inscriptions dated from about 2000 BCE and likely belonged to an envoy<br />
sent by King Mentuhotep II to rendezvous here with people from the kingdoms <strong>of</strong> Yam and Tekhebet. It was truly<br />
exciting to see with our own eyes this extremely ancient message carved thousands <strong>of</strong> years ago. It was rather like finding<br />
a message in a bottle in a vast ocean <strong>of</strong> sand. We felt privileged and, in a curious way, humbled. We knew the difficulty<br />
<strong>of</strong> such a trip from the Nile Valley, even in our well-equipped, four-wheel-drive vehicles, and we marveled at those<br />
unknown ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians who had braved the journey on foot with their caravan <strong>of</strong> donkeys, traveling several months<br />
in such conditions.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y must have stayed here for some time, because, lower down the slope, we could see some stone rings that might<br />
be the leftover rims <strong>of</strong> habitations. How many ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians had come here? Did the intrepid Harkhuf also come<br />
here? Who were the mysterious people from Yam and Tekhebet that they had met here, and from where had they come?<br />
Had they come from the Tibesti-Ennedi highlands <strong>of</strong> Chad some 700 hundred kilometers (435 miles) farther to the<br />
southwest? More important: Did the ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ians know that they were meeting their own ancestors?<br />
Figure 5.6. <strong>The</strong> April 2008 expedition team anticipating the first showers in eight days upon seeing the tarmac road<br />
again. Left to right: Robert Bauval, Dustin Donaldson, Michele Bauval, Mahmoud Marai, Bryan Hokum, Lyra Marble,<br />
Thomas Brophy, and soldier Muhammad. Drivers Muhammad and Aziz are taking the photo.<br />
All these questions formed a tantalizing web <strong>of</strong> hints and clues in our minds, but we knew it was time to return to<br />
the Nile Valley to look more closely at the place where <strong>Egypt</strong>ologists say the ancient <strong>Egypt</strong>ian civilization supposedly<br />
began.