posted 26 March 2005 09:02 PM            

...over and over again, in fact.

posted 26 March 2005 10:02 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by dahlak:
hier is a link "the land of punt" http://www.ethiopianhistory.com/pre-aksum/punt.html http://www.13suns.com/land%20of%20punt.htm http://www.ancientroute.com/areas/kush.htm http://www.culturalorientation.net/somali/shist.html

since when is lebanon the land of punt? I never heard of that. And the other thing is ethiopian civilization started way before any other civilization, if i am wrong correct me, i would like to know, even in eritrea they found the old ancient writing.
To the ancient world was the Red Sea and the Nile an important deporting. What have the meditranian Sea with ancient world to do? Even today people go to Mecca or to other places trough Red Sea.
do??

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Thought Writes:

Complex society on both sides of the Red Sea are traced back to ancient Kerma in Upper Nubia.

posted 27 March 2005 12:21 AM            

Punt is still a controversial topic, which early Egyptologist assumed was South of Egypt. But, there is new evidence that disputes that claim which I have presented.
For example, they brought back Cedar Wood, which only grows in Lebanon and also one horned Rhinos which are native only to Asia, not Africa. The direction of Punt was towards the East and not the South as some have assumed. Also, the only place near Egypt that can be reached by land or by sea is Israel and Lebanon.

Here is the Truth about Punt, being Phoenicia and the steps mentioned by the Egyptians are the Mountains of Lebanon.
=============================================

Israelite Identity [177]

and place: The land where Hatshepsut went,
and Imhotep came from is the land of Israel,
Canaan or Phoenicia rendered in Egyptian as
Punt or the Holy Land of God, but displaced
by Egyptology into the unexplored wilderness
of the deep south.37)
§ 13. Pyramid building started out as
public make-work projects for employing the
famine-stricken population of Egypt, who received

––––––––––––––

be called the Egyptological Auschwitz lie in analogy to the
denial of German neo-Nazis that Auschwitz ever happened.
What suits an anti-Semitic mind is the downfall of Israel as
mentioned on the Merneptah stele, being correctly dated by
Immanuel Velikovsky, Ramses II and his Time (German 1979)
pp. 210–218, to the first decades of the Babylonian Exile
(ca. 570 B. C. E.), but generally misdated more than 600 years
earlier, and believed to be the one and only mention of Israel
in Egyptian history. This absurd belief is geopolitical nonsense,
since desert-surrounded Egypt has always had Israel as its most
prominenteastern neighbor in peace and war.
37) Appropriately, this disorientation in time and place,
which amounts to mental sickness, was discovered in 1952 by
a professional psychiatrist, well-versed in ancient history: the
greatImmanuel Velikovsky, From Exodus to King Akhnaton
(N. 3) chapters 3 and 4.[b] Some fifteen years later, the German
Archaeological Institute in Cairo published a seemingly exhaustive
monograph entitled “Punt” by Rolf Herzog (1968), in which
Velikovsky’s important thesis that identifies Punt with Solomonic
Israel (Phoenicia)[b] is simply missing. Both Velikovsky and Herzog
(pp. 19 and 20) [b] rely on inscriptions clearly defining Punt as
Egypt’s neighbor to the east, which can be reached by land and
sea via Byblos or Elat, and according to Richard Lepsius quoted

[21]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[178] Ed Metzler

grain rations under a government relief program.38)
Joseph advised pharaoh Zoser to buy surplus
grain cheaply during the seven fat years, and
to sell it with a profit during the seven lean years.
After the people had spent all their money,
cattle, and land to buy food they sold themselves
into slavery, just to survive.39) In order to keep
this work-force busy, they were told to transport
stones from one place to the other, pile them up
at their destination, and make something as
useless as bigger graves for their kings. They

––––––––––––––

by Herzog (p. 31), there is no doubt that the Phoenicians
(Latin Poeni or Punici) derive their name from Punt (Hebrew Put
or Canaan). Another name for Punt in Egyptian is T3-NTR
(To-Netzer) “God’s Land”, a literal translation of Eretz Israel
(ha-Aretz Asher ha-El, whence Asherah El and Israel), also trans-
literated into hieroglyphs as RTNW (Artzenu) “Our Land”, see
Ed Metzler, Roots of Kabbalah (N. 14) Note 37.
38) Thedaily ration of grain for a gang (Minyan) of ten
workmen was an Omer full of ten portions (Manah), distributed
by their foreman (El “Sar” or Shofet “Soped”), cf. Exodus
2, 14 (Sar we-Shofet) and 18, 21–22 (Sarey Assarot we-Shafetu);
Ed Metzler, Mosaical Metrology (N. 5) p. 16; and Rosalie David,
The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt (London 1986) p. 117.
39) As a matter of fact, the grain monopoly that led to the
centralization of the Egyptian state was created by collecting
a 20-percent food tax (Genesis 41, 34–36 and 47, 24–26), which
is, of course, the cheapest way of “buying”. In the end, Joseph
had a huge work-force at his command (Genesis 47, 14–23), that
could be used for pyramid building.

http://moziani.tripod.com/pyramids/ammm_1_5.htm

posted 27 March 2005 12:58 AM            

See the following:

Though how Teff was used was not specified, I know that botanists, in studying some of the pollen remains in Egyptian mud bricks, have found Teff straws. We know that Teff is indigenous to Ethiopia. So there?s an important linkage. In fact, to me, the most significant part in understating Ethiopian civilization lies in understanding her agricultural tradition, especially in north and central Ethiopia. And that tradition was founded, apart from other crops, on Teff culture. And yet if we go to Yemen and the Arabian peninsula, we won?t find any reference to the Teff tradition. So this goes to show the anteriority of what we call Ethiopia-Ethiopia, even though in ancient times, the Arabian peninsula was called eastern Ethiopia.

What else? They knew of kobba, Qocho, also indigenous to Ethiopia. This was actually found inscribed on clay pottery as early as the pre-dynastic period, as early as 3400 BC. If you go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, you will find pottery with kobba on it.

posted 27 March 2005 02:15 AM            

THE COASTAL CITIES OF LEBANON

The coastal area of Lebanon was inhabited by Canaanites who later came to be called Phoenicians by the Greeks. The first of these cities to step on the threshold of history was the city of Gubla (Byblos to the Greeks) where its history goes back to 3500 BC. Byblos and later the other cities of Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, and Aradus emerged under the control of Egypt about 2700 BC when they were noted exporting cedar wood, olive oil, and wines to Egypt.

Evidence of trade with Egypt goes back to pre-dynastic times and continued uninterrupted for many centuries. The mountainous land provided wood for the palaces, temples, and boats of the Pharaohs. The 60-foot [about 20-meter] funerary barge of the Pharaoh Khufu or Cheops, circa 2550 BC, which was found in 1954 hermetically sealed in a limestone crypt at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, was constructed of Lebanese cedar wood.

Canaanite pottery was found in the tombs of the First Dynasty, about 2900 BC, and rich offerings to the Temple at Gubla were made by the Pharaohs of the Second Dynasty. Egyptian pectorals and jewelry were also found at Gubla. In his history of Lebanon, Philip K. Hitti observes that at this ancient city, the Canaanite temple of Baal stood side by side with the Egyptian temple of Isis. Canaanite princes not only took pride in decorating themselves in the Egyptian style but also called themselves "sons of Ra," the chief Egyptian solar deity.

[Comment: As we know from Sitchin's work, Baal refers to Baron Marduk and Isis to Queen Ninkhursag. Once again it is unclear here whether this "Ra" refers to Amon-Ra, the equivalent of Baron Marduk, or to Aten-Ra, the hypothetical equivalent of Duke Dumuzi.]

As a nation, Phoenicia emerged about 1400 BC. Sidon first dominated her sister cities, but eventually Tyre took the lead, and by the time of the Hebrew kings, the title King of Tyre began to mean King of Phoenicia.

In the days of Hiram, the forests had yet to be denuded, and the lumber and agricultural products of Lebanon flowed out to the world through its numerous seaports. With the expulsion of the Hyksos or Amalekites by the joint forces of Ahmose and Saul, the land was divided between the three leaders.

Egypt retained a strip of land along the coast all the way to Phoenicia which gave her control of the coastal highway. Solomon took over Palestine, Syria, and to a certain extent the lands to the west. For example, he built a fortified city at Tadmor which controlled the rich trade route across the desert from Mari on the Euphrates.

The area of Lebanon, from Ugarit in the north to Philistia in the south, came under the control of Hiram, king of Tyre. Hiram also inherited the mantle of responsibility for what remained of the sacred sites of Lebanon and the city of Baalbeck.

Although Dilmun is not mentioned by name in the Scriptures, there is much information on the littoral city of Lebanon. The evidence that Hiram held a special position in the religious and political affairs of the time is reflected in the Book of Ezekiel, where he is considered to be semi-divine and have special relations with the deity.

In Ezekiel 28 the prophet relates in a diatribe against the enemies of Israel that "no secret is hidden from him." Apparently Ezekiel expressed the view of his day that while Hiram had been a good friend of Solomon, his descendants failed Jerusalem in her hour of need. Ezekiel begins,

"Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am a god, sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas.' Yet you are but a man, and no god, though you consider yourself wise as a god. You are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you. By your wisdom and understanding you have gotten wealth for yourself."

Ezekiel continues his accusations and reveals Hiram's divine status and the reasons for his downfall. He is here repeating the words of the deity:

"You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. ... On the day that you were created they were prepared. With an anointed guardian cherub I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God, in the midst of the stones of fire you walked."

Ezekiel is referring to the raised platform at Baalbeck - "the holy mountain" - and the brilliant rocket exhaust - "the stones of fire." It is also the land of the garden of Eden and the guardian cherubim.

[Comment: One can take issue with Boulay's fast-and-loose use of the term "Garden of Eden" for Dilmun or Lebanon. The original "garden" at "Edin" was where the first Saurian Spaceport was located and was the site for the genetic cross-breeding experiments carried out by Saurian Chief Geneticist Queen Ninkhursag and her brother, Maritime Commander Prince Enki.]

Ezekiel continues,

"In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the Mountain of God and the guardian cherub drove you out from the midst of the stones of fire."

It is apparent that the garden of Eden is now located in the area controlled by Hiram. The cherubim who acted as the guardian of Hiram at the Mountain of God is reminiscent of the cherubim with the fiery revolving sword or the scorpion-men who guarded the cedar forest, the land of Shamash.

There is also strong evidence that the land of Punt, the fabled land which the Egyptians referred to as "god's land," "the divine land," and the "land of incense" was also the land of Lebanon. The Land of Punt was intimately associated with Egyptian history and religious tradition and, when written in hieroglyphics, does not have the symbol for foreign land, which indicates that the Egyptians considered this land to be historically part of Egypt.

Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty made a trip to this fabled land which she describes in detail on the reliefs of the walls of her temple near Thebes. The reliefs state that upon her arrival to this land by ship, she is met by the royalty of the Land of Punt who inquired whether she arrived by "the ways of heaven or by the sea." It was legendary in the Land of Punt that the gods, or those favored by the gods, could arrive to this land by either seaship or airship.

[Comment: As Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky has so brilliantly shown in Ages In Chaos, Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt was the legendary Ethiopian Queen of Sheba. The Biblical visit by the Queen of Sheba to the land of King Solomon is reflected in Egyptian "ghost history" as the visit by Queen Hatshepsut to the Land of Punt. One is referred to that book for additional details. If, however, Egypt still controlled a portion of the coastline from what is now Port Suez northward to modern Beirut, then this Land of Punt would have not been considered a foreign country to them at the time.]

LEBANON, GARDEN OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Because of its geographic location and integrated borders, Lebanon has always enjoyed a certain degree of natural protection from outside excursions. Protected by mountains on three sides and the sea in the west, it avoided much of the tribulations of invading armies from the east. Being considered as the sacred or holy land also gave it a certain modicum of protection. Its religious tradition as the land of the gods was a safeguard, but it also was the cause of her demise.

Geographically, Lebanon has four regions: the coastal plains, the coastal mountain range, the central plateau or valley, and the interior mountain range. The coastal plain is a narrow fertile area, at times just a ribbon where the mountains come down to the sea, widening to about eight miles [about 12 kilometers] at the most. It is the site of a number of principal seaports which became the Phoenician city-states.

The coastal mountain range, called the Lebanon Mountains, runs the entire length of the country, averaging about 35 miles wide [about 56 kilometers] in the north and six miles [10 kms.] in the south.

The eastern mountain range, or Anti-Lebanon Mountains, forms the eastern boundary of the country. At its southern end it is anchored by Mount Hermon, the country's highest peak at 9,055 feet [about 3,000 meters]. Its name means "sacred," and it is the site of the descent of the Nefilim before the Deluge.

[Comment: The above statement is a perfect example of how once we know all the facts about this hidden history, each new detail always falls precisely into its place.]

The Bekaa plateau is sandwiched between the two mountain ranges, and it is a fertile undulating plain about 75 miles long [120 kms.], and from six to ten miles wide. It owes its fertility mostly to the Litani River which originates near Baalbeck, and flows south to empty in the Mediterranean near Sidon.

Baalbeck is also the watershed for the Orontes River which flows north and exits into the Mediterranean near ancient Antioch. In the south, the plain is separated from the Jordan Valley by a range of hills whereas in the north it opens into the Syrian plain at Homs.

The Lebanon landscape is today considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world.

[Comment: This editor has been to Beirut on numerous occasions before the horrible warfare broke out in the late 1970s. At that time Beirut was my favorite city in the world. It was - and hopefully still is to a certain extent - one of the most beautiful cities in the world in one of the truly most beautiful countries in the world.]

The land is full of sparkling gushing springs, the climate is moderate, and the lands are luxuriant. In July, normally the hottest month of the year, the daily average at Beirut if 87 degrees F [30 degrees C] while in Damascus just 50 miles [80 kms.] away to the east it is 96 degrees F [35 degrees C]. The coastal plain receives 33 inches [83 cms.] of rain a year, twice that of the corresponding coast of California.

[Comment: Beirut is situated at the same approximate north latitude as Dallas and Atlanta, and this editor can affirm that the climate of Beirut both in summer and winter is extremely mild by comparison. In the winter, one can sunbathe and swim on the beaches of Beirut in the morning and be snow-skiing in the mountains that same afternoon - a perfect vacation spot!]

In the past, Lebanon must have been a veritable paradise. Its mountains were covered with cedar and other hardwoods, and teeming with wildlife, like panthers, bears, and wolves. Its fabled city of Baalbeck overlooked a luxuriant fertile valley watered by the two rivers and numerous springs.

Its wealth was enhanced by the bustling commercial seaports on the coast. Besides lumber it exported agricultural products like wheat, olives, and incense. It was famous for its purple dye which gave the coastal area its name. The Egyptians called it the "land of incense" for it was a major source of frankincense and myrrh.

Lebanon was a natural selection by the Sumerians after the Deluge to be the site of the new Eden, the paradise of the gods. Its remoteness and protected borders also enhanced its value as a private resort and the location of the new space port.

The lands were assigned to Utu/Shamash, the chief astronaut, with the city of Baalbeck as his headquarters. Called Beth-Shemesh in the Bible, it was literally the House of Shamash. His activities in the land of Lebanon are graphically described in the myth Enki and the World Order.

"The hero, the bull who comes forth out of the cedar forest, who roars lion-like. The valiant Utu, the bull who stands secure, who proudly displays his power. The father of the great city, the place where Utu ascends, the great herald of the holy An. The judge, the decision maker of the gods, who wears a lapis lazuli beard, who comes forth from the holy heaven, Utu, the son born of Ningal, Enki placed in charge of the entire universe."

Utu or Shamash is described as being "in charge of the entire universe," and since we know he had no administrative or political function, it presumably is assumed as a metaphor of his ability to move about at will and survey the known universe from the air. It is from Baalbeck that he "roars like a lion" and "proudly displays his power," referring to the noise and commotion of the rocket launchings at the space port.

A SHORT HISTORY OF DILMUN

4000 BC - The lands resettled after the Deluge.

3500 BC - Lebanon becomes the new garden of Eden. The space city established at Baalbeck by Enki. The Chief Astronaut Shamash makes his home base here. So does Ishtar. Byblos emerges as a major port.

[Comment: Space Commander Prince Utu had his personal residence in "Hyperborea," indicating that he must have shuttled back and forth from the Baalbeck Airport and Sinai Spaceport to the docked Planet Nibiru. Air Commander Princess-Royal had her primary residence at her "Shangri-La" palace in the "Land of Indra"; she and her lover-boy Duke Dumuzi regularly shuttled back and forth between Lebanon and India.]

2900 BC - Gilgamesh makes his trip to the cedar land and the land of Shamash in pursuit of immortality. He reaches the space city and Ishtar fashions a rocket for him. He reaches Utnapishtim in the orbiting space ship.

2700 BC - Egypt has control over the coastal cities.

2500 BC - The Dilmun standard for gold is used by Ebla and other cities.

2300 BC - Sargon the Great boasts of subjecting the land of cedars and the coastal cities.

2225 BC - Naram-Sin invades Lebanon, destroys the space city at Baalbeck and devastates the Bekaa Valley. The lands are poisoned by radioactivity and remain unoccupied for centuries. Space city is never rebuilt.

[Comment: As we know from Sitchin's The Lost Realms, Emperor Anu and Empress Antu ordered Prince Enki to rebuild the new spaceport complex at Nazca and Machu Picchu, Peru. The trident of Enki/Poseidon is still visible on the cliffs at Nazca, on the approaches to the new spaceport.]

2085 BC - Invasion of the eastern kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Lebanon is scrupulously avoided. The alternate space complex at Mount Sinai (Jehel Halal) is destroyed by Ur-Nummu.

1447 BC - Exodus from Egypt of Hebrew tribes under Moses. End of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. Rise of the independent city states of Phoenicia.

969 BC - Hiram as King of Tyre and the Phoenicians allied with Solomon and helps build the Temple and the Palace.

586 BC - End of the domination of the Phoenician cities as Tyre is captured and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzer.

[Comment: The last three dates in the above chronology are incorrect. The Exodus is actually dated at 1587 BCE. Solomon built his Temple between the years 995-991 BCE. And Nebuchadnezzer ascended the Throne of Babylonia in 584 BCE and did not completely conquer the Levant until 566 BCE.]

posted 27 March 2005 05:46 AM            

quote:

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Punt: in ancient Egyptian and Greek geography, the southern coast of the Red Sea and adjacent coasts of the Gulf of Aden, corresponding to modern coastal Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Pwonit ("Punt")- "Egyptian" The country of the first existence/The first country (to exist)

Phoenicia: ancient maritime country of southwest Asia consisting of city-states along the eastern Mediterranean Sea in present-day Syria and Lebanon

Punic: Of or relating to ancient Carthage, its inhabitants, or their language. from Latin Punicus, earlier Poenicus "Carthaginian," originally "Phoenician"

Encyclopdia Britannica, American Heritage Dictionary, EWB

---

posted 27 March 2005 01:20 PM            

If you know of any archareological evidence please let me know.

posted 27 March 2005 01:35 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by ABAZA:
There is no physical evidence whatsoever, that has been found in Somalia, Eithiopia, or Eritrea to prove that Punt was actually located in one of these countries.

If you know of any archareological evidence please let me know.

Thanks!!

---

LOL Well there is no evidence of Punt being in the Levant either, but there is also no evidence that even connects Punt to the Levant, but the evidence does connect it with Africa!

posted 27 March 2005 02:06 PM            

quote:

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Abyssinian milliet,Teff [Eragotrs Tef Trotter], is cultivated for it's grain only on the Ethiopian High Plataeu.

Apart from the recent times,this cereal has not penetrated elsewhere. The present writer has shown that the term teff was not of Semetic origin but rather of ancient Egyptian origin. While the ancient Egyptians donot appear to have been familiar with the cultivation of Abyssinian Teff,they made use of Eragrostis pilosa in exactly the same as is done today in the valley of the Nile and North-East Africa[Barth 1858 and Kotschy 1862] Unger [1866-67] found grains of it in the pyramids of Dashur Pyramid[3359 B.C.] Fourth Dyansty and in the blocks of clay from the ancient town of Rameses [1400-1300 B.C.] built at the beggining of the New Empire. As a name ,Teff[tief] appears to come from 'provisions' food

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posted 27 March 2005 03:19 PM            

Also, the Egyptian ships were not very strong and not sea-worthy for lenghty high seas travel, so most of their travels would have been confined to shorter distances, such as the Levant.

Also, the Levant, especially the coastal areas have always been considered part of the Egyptain Empire, which the reason that when Punt was mentioned, it was not written as a Foreign or a separate country at all.

The direction of the Sunrise is East and not South.

posted 27 March 2005 03:23 PM            

DK World History Atlas Mapping the Human Journey: Revised and Updated, November 2004

posted 27 March 2005 03:31 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by ABAZA:

Also, the Egyptian ships were not very strong and not sea-worthy for lenghty high seas travel, so most of their travels would have been confined to shorter distances, such as the Levant.

---

Thought Posts:

http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2005/03-18/archaeologist.html

Archaeologist discovers ancient ships in Egypt

By Tim Stoddard

Kathryn Bard had “the best Christmas ever” this past December when she discovered the well-preserved timbers and riggings of pharaonic seafaring ships inside two man-made caves on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. They are the first pieces ever recovered from Egyptian seagoing vessels, and along with hieroglyphic inscriptions found near one of the caves, they promise to shed light on an elaborate network of ancient Red Sea trade.

Bard, a CAS associate professor of archaeology, and her former student Chen Sian Lim (CAS’01) had been shoveling sand for scarcely an hour on their first day of excavation on a parched bluff rising from the shore at Wadi Gawasis when a fist-sized hole appeared in the hillside. “I stuck my hand in, and that was the entrance to the first cave,” Bard says. “Things like that don’t happen very often in archaeology.”

Led by Bard and Italian archaeologist Rodolfo Fattovich, the team uncovered the rectangular entrance to a second cave, constructed with cedar beams and blocks of limestone that were former ship anchors. Inside they found a network of larger rooms and an assortment of nautical items, among them ropes, a wooden bowl, and a mesh bag. She also found two curved cedar planks that were probably the steering oars on a 70-foot-long ship from Queen Hatshepsut’s famous 15th-century b.c. naval expedition to Punt, a trade destination somewhere in the southern Red Sea region. Buried in sand outside the second cave, Bard found a piece of rope still tied in what she believes is a sailor’s knot. “It must have come from a ship,” she says. “It couldn’t have been used for anything else.” Fragments of pottery scattered near the artifacts date to Egypt’s early 18th dynasty, circa 1500 b.c., around the time Hatshepsut reigned.

She also discovered several stelae (pronounced steely), limestone slabs about the size of small modern tombstones, installed in niches outside the second cave. Most were blank, but Bard found one, face down in the sand, with the cartouche of King Amenemhat III, who ruled about 1800 b.c. The text recounts two expeditions led by government officials to Punt and Bia-Punt, whose location is uncertain. “That this stela has been preserved with very little damage for that long is really unusual,” she says, “and the preservation of organic material in the caves is truly remarkable. I’ve worked in Egypt since 1976, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Bard’s colleagues share her enthusiasm. “I think it is a very exciting discovery,” says John Baines, an Egyptologist on the faculty of oriental studies at Oxford University. “People have tended to assume that the Egyptians didn’t do a tremendous amount of long-distance travel because very few remains of these sites have been found.” Based on texts discovered over a century ago, reseachers have known that Egyptians mounted naval expeditions to Punt as far back as the Old Kingdom (2686–2125 b.c.). In Punt they acquired gold, ebony, elephant ivory, leopard skins, and exotic animals such as baboons that were kept as pets, along with the frankincense necessary for religious rituals.

The discovery is shedding light on other aspects of the Red Sea trade. “It was not known until we found this stela that King Amenemhat III had sent any expeditions to Punt,” Bard says. “That makes this an important historical text.” Her team also found fragments of pottery inside the small cave that her Italian colleagues believe originated in Yemen, which suggests the Egyptians either sailed further than had been previously thought or were part of a more complex web of trade.

Sailing to Punt required a tremendous investment of manpower. Egyptian shipbuilders harvested cedar from the mountains of Lebanon and transported it up the Nile to a shipbuilding site, where the vessels were first assembled and then disassembled into travel-ready pieces that could be carried on a 10-day journey across about 100 miles of desert to the coast. “The logistics involved were phenomenal,” Bard says. “They’d have to carry fresh water and supplies for travel.”

Trading places

During the 1990s, Bard and Fattovich had conducted a 10-year excavation near Aksum, Ethiopia, where they found evidence of a previously unknown period in African civilization. But when war broke out along the Eritrean border in 1998, they decided to relocate to the Egyptian coastline. The team went first to Wadi Gawasis in 2001 to investigate “the other end of Red Sea trade,” Bard says.

Fattovich selected Wadi Gawasis because in the 1970s an Egyptian archaeologist had identified it as the likely location of the ancient seaport of Saaw, known from texts as the departure point for expeditions to Punt. The team limits its excavation to the six weeks between semesters each winter, avoiding the extreme heat and humidity during the summer.

While Bard is thrilled by the recent cave discoveries, she notes that they have only begun to discover the secrets of Wadi Gawasis. “I’m sure there’s at least one other cave we haven’t excavated yet,” she says. “There may be many more. And we’ve only just cleared out the entrance to the large cave, and it’s enormous. We have years’ more work to do there.”

When she returns next December, she will be joined by a researcher who will use ground-penetrating radar to determine if there are more caves and to estimate how far back the known caves extend. An engineer will help the team support the partially collapsed ceilings in some of the caves. “It was the find of a lifetime,” Bard says, “and there’s much more to discover there.”

posted 27 March 2005 03:35 PM            

quote:

---

ABAZA:

What a lot of people, seem to forget is that the Arabian Peninnsula is part of the African Plate

---

...the East African Rift Valley, is in no doubt.

quote:

---

ABAZA:

...and they used to be one continent in the old days.

---

Hope you aren't suggesting that the landmasses were fused together during the timeframe in question.

quote:

---

ABAZA:
Also, the Egyptian ships were not very strong and not sea-worthy for lenghty high seas travel, so most of their travels would have been confined to shorter distances, such as the Levant.

---

The trade route has been explained many times now. But what valid point does a distortion artist get!

quote:

---

ABAZA:

Also, the Levant, especially the coastal areas have always been considered part of the Egyptain Empire, which the reason that when Punt was mentioned, it was not written as a Foreign or a separate country at all.

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No evidence whatsoever that Punt was actually conquered, let alone Egyptians stationing there, as is the case with the Levant. I am stilling waiting for the evidence that I requested earlier.

posted 27 March 2005 03:48 PM            

http://www.eritreaplanet.com/archaeo/DevelopmentUrbanismHorn.pdf

posted 27 March 2005 06:51 PM            

quote:

---

What a lot of people, seem to forget is that the Arabian Peninnsula is part of the African Plate and they used to be one continent in the old days.

---

Yes, before modern anatomical human beings existed

quote:

---

Also, the Egyptian ships were not very strong and not sea-worthy for lenghty high seas travel, so most of their travels would have been confined to shorter distances, such as the Levant.

---

You don't need strong ships to cross the Red Sea port of Quesir. The Red Sea route is still used by Upper Egyptians to make Hajji to Mecca.

quote:

---

Also, the Levant, especially the coastal areas have always been considered part of the Egyptain Empire, which the reason that when Punt was mentioned, it was not written as a Foreign or a separate country at all.

---

If you mean Byblos then you are correct.

quote:

---

The direction of the Sunrise is East and not South.

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Ancient Egyptians didn't have the same conotation of cardial directions modern people have. The land arising from the sunrise could mean around the first catract around Swenne[Aswan]

Two direct key points that you dodged was the findings of Teff in bricks of Sahure pyramid around the 5th dyansty;and the fact Egyptians brought back pgymies from the land of Punt. No where in the Levantine area does pgymies exist.

posted 27 March 2005 08:34 PM            

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Originally posted by dahlak:
TEFF growes only in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Like i said the Ethiopian civilization started way before any civilization. The Aksum empire were the greatest and richest back then. The ancient Egyptain even enjoyed the dancing of the punt people (east africa). I gave you the web site, why don`t you read it???? Both were connected.
I don`t know why you keep saying the punt were not in east Africa. Back then Egypt, Nubians, Aksum and even India were real close. The Nile and the Red Sea was important to them. Today you see the ancient times traditions in east africa, steel exist. Even in India. Do you watch hindi movies??? The clothing, the Jewelry steel exiest in east africa.

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YOU got it wrong,I have to correct you,when the ancients talk about ethiopia it was nubia or kush they were talking about that is where the first civilization was started not axum,but nubia.

The nubian(kushite or ethiopian) empire was the richest and greater than any ancient african empire.

SO PLEASE be careful to not confused the two ethiopia's one is modern and the other is ancient.just like the two ghana's.

posted 28 March 2005 09:18 AM            

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Originally posted by kenndo:
YOU got it wrong,I have to correct you,when the ancients talk about ethiopia it was nubia or kush they were talking about that is where the first civilization was started not axum,but nubia.

The nubian(kushite or ethiopian) empire was the richest and greater than any ancient african empire.

SO PLEASE be careful to not confused the two ethiopia's one is modern and the other is ancient.just like the two ghana's.

[This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 27 March 2005).]

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