Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

excavators found the strangely sculpted outcrops of rock and the skeletons of cows in the tumuli. If we bear in mind that
the complex structures and the tumuli are an integral part of a vast ceremonial complex that is intensely astronomical and
stellar, we may wonder if the empty tombs and cow-bone burials are part of some mysterious star ritual related to some
ancestral cult of rebirth. This provocative thought occurs because, as we will see in chapter 6, the same empty tombs
have baffled Egyptologists when the Old Kingdom pyramids were explored and found to contain no human remains.
Even more intriguingly, in some of the great pyramids of Giza only the bones of cows were found. Further, like the
ceremonial complex of Nabta Playa, these pyramid complexes were intensely stellar in their orientation and symbolism.
In chapter 6 we will return to this strange link between the empty tombs of Nabta Playa and those empty pyramids of
ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, let us examine another mysterious feature at Nabta Playa: the largest megalith, which
Wendorf called Megalith X-1.
Megalith X-1 consisted of a pair of giant stones set on an oval-shaped mound of cretaceous bedrock. 26 The larger of
the two stones measured 4 by 3.1 by 0.7 meters (13 by 10 by 2.3 feet) and was estimated to weigh some 20 tons. The
oval-shaped mound on which the two stones stood seems to have been shaped by human hands. 27 When we looked at
Megalith X-1 on the Quickbird satellite image it was immediately apparent to us that it was in the middle of a large spiral
arm feature, which was about 50 meters (164 feet) across. *30
Upon examining this area during our 2003 expedition to Nabta Playa, we were able to discern clearly this strange,
spiral-shaped mound that we had seen on the satellite image. We also found in its middle the fragmented remains of the
two giant stones of Megalith X-1. How were these massive stones moved? Why were they placed in the middle of the
spiral mound? Was the mound man-made—and if so, by whom and when? We also considered the current condition of
all the megaliths at Nabta Playa. Most of them were either toppled or broken or deliberately cut into parts. How did they
get to this pitiful state? Closer examination showed that some of the megaliths had been cleanly cut, as if intentionally—
but why? Was it, instead of the work of vandals, due to some ancient ritual or symbolic act, when the function of the
megaliths became obsolete? 28
Many of the remaining mysteries of the site involve understanding the bedrock sculptures, which are more ancient
than the playa surface megaliths and are only slightly excavated. How extensive are the bedrock sculptures at Nabta
Playa? Could there be a whole precursor ceremonial complex that is yet to be discovered? To begin to address these
questions, it may be best to use ground-penetrating imaging methods that can see through the playa sediments to the
bedrock beneath. Fortunately, launched are new synthetic aperture radar remote-sensing satellites, and there are better
ones in progress. With them we have been able to start searching the subsurface at Nabta, and as a result we have hints of
intriguing new results. 29
Though many mysteries at Nabta Playa still remain, those former mysteries that have come to be understood are
more than enough to provide us with a vision of a social and cultural complexity that was not expected for such remotely
prehistoric people. The level of skill, insight, and social organization, as well as the sophisticated astronomical
observations that are incorporated into their megalithic ceremonial complex, should leave us with little doubt that we
have in these mysterious ancient people the true precursors of the Egyptian civilization. We will look at this more closely
in chapter 6. Meanwhile, we are now going to take a closer look at other prehistoric sites in the Egyptian Sahara that
strongly indicate that such activity was not confined solely to Nabta Playa. Instead, it also seemed to extend hundreds of
kilometers into the deep desert toward the north and west.
THE SUN TEMPLE OF DJEDEFRE IN THE SAHARA
In chapter 2 we saw the important discovery of the so-called Djedefre Water Mountain (DWM) by the German desert
explorer Carlo Bergmann. We recall that on this mountain (actually a small sandstone mound that is about 30 meters—
98 feet—high), which is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Dakhla oasis, were found hieroglyphic inscriptions of
the names of the pharaohs Khufu and Djedefre alongside prehistoric petroglyphs that contained the water sign and
depictions of fauna that no longer exist in this part of the world. Naturally we might wonder, as Bergmann probably did,
whether there could be a connection between the prehistoric site of DWM and that of Nabta Playa. True, nearly 400
kilometers (249 miles) separated the two places, but Bergmann’s earlier discovery of the Abu Ballas Trail (see chapter 2)
proved that ancient people could travel in such arid and waterless desert for much longer distances by creating watering
stations along their route. At any rate, perhaps a connection between the two prehistoric sites could be established by the
DWM containing evidence of astronomical knowledge that could be directly related to that incorporated in the