Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

Figure 2.2. King Herri of Unwainat photographed by Ahmed Hassanein, 1923. Courtesy of
SaharaSafaris.org/hassaneinbey.
Hassanein turned down an offer by Herri to show him more of these rock carvings. He felt that it was not wise to
linger too long in these uncertain circumstances. Hassanein did realize, nonetheless, the great importance of his
discovery, for he later wrote: “[I]t was in Uwainat that I made the most interesting find of my 2,200-mile journey. I had
heard rumors of the existence of certain pictographs on rocks . . . on the evening of our arrival I set out to find them.” 9
As we will see, what Hassanein had discovered, although he himself never knew this, was the first irrefutable evidence of
a prehistoric presence of humans in this remote part of Egypt. Many decades later, scholars would begin to see in them
the origins of the pharaohs and, quite possibly indeed, of civilization as we know it.
Upon his return to Cairo several months later, Hassanein was received with honors and given the title of pasha (akin
to “lord”) by King Fouad I, as well as being hailed as a hero by the World Press. The Royal Geographical Society of
England gave him the highly coveted gold medal, and he also received a knighthood. Hassanein deserved this admiration
and honor. He was now also fully vindicated, and any doubts and misconceptions about his ability as a deep desert
explorer were now removed. Rosita, however, was unrepentant. She still managed to cause further embarrassment at the
Royal Geographical Society, where she claimed that she had been the second European, after Gerhard Rohlfs, to reach the
oasis of Kufra—implying, of course, that Hassanein, being an Egyptian, did not really count. Many of the members of the
Society took offense, and the usually restrained and friendly Gertrude Bell could not help remarking of Rosita: “[I]n
matter[s] of trumpet-blowing she is unique. . . . I am sick of Rosita Forbes! And the thing that makes me sickest is that
she scarcely ever alludes to that capital boy, Hassanein, who was with her, an Egyptian, without whom she couldn’t have
done anything. . . !” 10
THE DESERT PRINCE AND THE ENGLISH PATIENT
Another Egyptian of similar impeccable breeding immediately followed in the footsteps of Hassanein. This was the heir
to the throne of Egypt, Prince Kemal El Din Ibn Hussein. Prince Kemal, who had received his education in Austria,
refused the throne in order to pursue a career as a desert explorer and cartographer. Inspired by the recent exploits of
Hassanein, Prince Kemal set about organizing and financing his own expeditions into the Egyptian Sahara—but this time
not by camel caravan, as Hassanein had done, but with automobiles for off-road travel that were specially designed for
him by Citroen and Ford. With these vehicles, Prince Kemal set out in 1926 from Cairo to Dakhla, and from there into
the deep desert southwest toward Jebel Uwainat. Some 400 kilometers (249 miles) beyond Dakhla (and still 200
kilometes—124 miles—from Jebel Uwainat), Prince Kemal discovered an immense mountain range, which he christened
Gilf Kebir. Amazingly, back in 1923 Hassanein had missed seeing it because he had traveled south from Kufra to Jebel
Uwainat and was thus 100 kilometers west of Gilf Kebir.
The mountain range of Gilf Kebir is 300 kilometers (186 miles) long and some 80 kilometers wide. It is almost the
size of Switzerland and, when approached from the west, seems to jut out of the flat desert like a monstrous tsunami in
stone. Prince Kemal had much better scientific equipment at his disposal than Hassanein, and he was able to fix firmly all
these new locations, including the peaks of Jebel Uwainat, on the ordinance map of Egypt. He missed seeing, however,
the extensive prehistoric rock art that is found on the west side of Gilf Kebir. This was discovered later by another
explorer whom Prince Kemal would actually sponsor: none other than the enigmatic and colorful Count Lazlo Almasy, a
Hungarian aristocrat who, among many other things, is said to have been a secret agent for the Germans in World War II.