Nabta Playa
Lost Civilization
Andre Willers
25 Oct 2013
Synopsis :
Origin of agriculture pre-dating middle East by at least 2 000
years . Complete with megalithic ruins .
Discussion :
2.Humans moving north tended to settle in endorrheic basins
.
3.The most handy was the Nabta Playa .
Situated in the oval at mid-bottom of the map .
4.A veritable Eden .
Lush , lots of game and plants . The living was easy .
5.Which enabled experimentation with agriculture , astronomy
and building .
6.When the Sahara desertified , the inhabitants skedaddled
all over , taking their skills with them . Especially the Middle-East
7.Ruins like these can be found in most endorrheic basins in
the Sahara . (Eg Algerian monoliths)
8.Unfortunately , endorrheic basins is where oil and water
deposits are found .
Exploitation of these reserves destroyed most of the remains
(or preserved them) . The verdict is still out .
9.Irononically , the Nabta Playa is very probably the home
to some very large oil or gas reserves .
Not discovered because nobody has looked . Note naphta .
Very deserted ruins .
See Appendix A .
10.Naphta or Nepthys
The origin of the word .
“Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites[1] because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Set. “ See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys
In other words , mummification . And the naphta / bitumen
was first obtained at Nabta Playa . Look for temples .
11.Grind up the past in service to the future .
Regards
Andre
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Appendix A
Nabta Playa was once a large basin in the Nubian Desert,
located approximately 800 kilometers south of modern day Cairo[1] or about 100
kilometers west of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt,[2] 22° 32' north, 30° 42'
east.[3] Today the region is characterized by numerous archaeological sites.[2]
Nabta Playa calendar in Aswan Nubia museum
Although at present the western Egyptian desert is totally
dry, this was not the case in the past. There is good evidence that there were
several humid periods in the past (when up to 500 mm of rain would fall per
year) the most recent one during the last interglacial and early last
glaciation periods which stretched between 130,000 and 70,000 years ago. During
this time, the area was a savanna and supported numerous animals such as
extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope and gazelle.
Beginning around the 10th millennium BC, this region of the Nubian Desert began
to receive more rainfall, filling a lake.[2] Early people may have been
attracted to the region due to the source of water.
Archaeological findings may indicate human occupation in the
region dating to at least somewhere around the 10th and 8th millennia BC.[2]
Fred Wendorf the site's discoverer, and ethno-linguist Christopher Ehret have
suggested that the people who occupied this region at that time were early
pastoralists, or like the Saami practiced semi-pastoralism (although this is
disputed by other sources because the cattle remains found at Nabta have been shown
to be morphologically wild in several studies, and nearby Saharan sites such as
Uan Afada in Libya were penning wild Barbary sheep, an animal that was never
domesticated). The people of that time consumed and stored wild sorghum, and
used ceramics[2] adorned by complicated painted patterns created perhaps by
using combs made from fish bone and which belong to a general pottery tradition
strongly associated with the southern parts of the sahara (e.g., of the
Khartoum mesolithic and various contemporary sites in Chad) of that period.[2]
Analysis of human remains by Fred Wendorf and reported in "Holocene
settlement of the Egyptian and Nubian Sahara", based on osteological data
suggests a subsaharan origin for the site's inhabitants.[2] Several scholars
also support a Nilo-Saharan linguistic affinity for the Nabta people; including
Fred Wendorf Christopher Ehret and . By the 7th millennium BC, exceedingly
large and organized settlements were found in the region, relying on deep wells
for sources of water.[2] Huts were constructed in straight rows.[2] Sustenance
included fruit, legumes, millets, sorghum and tubers.[2]
Also in the late 7th millennium BC, but a little later than
the time referred to above, imported goats and sheep, apparently from Southwest
Asia [1], appear. Many large hearths also appear.[2]
High level of organization[edit]
Archaeological discoveries reveal that these prehistoric
peoples led livelihoods seemingly at a higher level of organization than their
contemporaries who lived closer to the Nile Valley.[2] The people of Nabta
Playa had:
above-ground and below-ground stone construction,
villages designed in pre-planned arrangements, and
deep wells that held water throughout the year.
Findings also indicate that the region was occupied only seasonally,
most likely only in the summer period, when the local lake filled with water
for grazing cattle.[2] Careful comparative research indicates that the indigent
inhabitants may have a significantly more advanced knowledge of astronomy and
mathematics than previously thought possible.
Religious ties to ancient Egypt[edit]
By the 6th millennium BC, evidence of a prehistoric religion
or cult appears, with a number of sacrificed cattle buried in stone-roofed
chambers lined with clay.[2] It has been suggested that the associated cattle
cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution of Ancient Egypt's
Hathor cult. For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime protector in
desert regions (see Serabit el-Khadim). To directly quote professors Wendorf
and Schild:[2]
... there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life
in the Predynastic and Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact from Saharan
cattle pastoralists...
Nevertheless, though the religious practices of the region
involving cattle suggest ties to Ancient Egypt,[2] Egyptologist Mark Lehner[1]
cautions:
It makes sense, but not in a facile, direct way. You can't
go straight from these megaliths to the pyramid of Djoser.
Circular stone structure at Nabta
Other subterranean complexes are also found in Nabta Playa,
one of which included evidence of perhaps an early Nubian attempt at
sculpture.[2]
One of the world's earliest known examples of
archeoastronomy[edit]
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By the 5th millennium BC these peoples had fashioned one of
the world's earliest known archeoastronomical devices (roughly contemporary to
the Goseck circle in Germany and the Mnajdra megalithic temple complex in
Malta). Research suggests that it may have been a prehistoric
"calendar" marking the summer solstice.[3]
Claims for early alignments and star maps[edit]
Astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests the hypothesis that
the southerly line of three stones inside the calendar circle represented the
three stars of Orion’s Belt and the other three stones inside the calendar
circle represented the shoulders and head stars of Orion as they appeared in
the sky. These correspondences were for two dates—circa 4,800 BC and at
precessional opposition—representing how the sky "moves" long term.
Brophy proposes that the circle was constructed and used circa the later date,
and the dual date representation was a conceptual representation of the motion
of the sky over a precession cycle.
Near the calendar circle, which is made of smaller stones,
there are alignments of large megalithic stones. The southerly lines of these
megaliths, Brophy shows, aligned to the same stars as represented in the
calendar circle, all at the same epoch, circa 6270 BC. The calendar circle
correlation with Orion's belt occurred between 6400 BC and 4900 BC, matching
the radio-carbon dating of campfires around the circle.[4]
Recent research[edit]
A 2007 article by a team of University of Colorado
archaeoastronomers and archaeologists (three members had been involved in the
original discovery of the site and its astronomical alignment)[5] has responded
to the work of Brophy and Rosen, in particular their claims for an alignment
with Sirius in 6088 and other alignments which they dated to 6270, saying that
these dates were about 1500 years earlier than the estimated dates. The Sirius
alignment in question was originally proposed by Wendorf and Malville,[6] for one
of the most prominent alignments of megaliths labelled the "C-line",
which they said aligned to the rising of Sirius circa 4820 BC. Brophy and Rosen
showed in 2005 that megalith orientations and star positions reported by
Wendorf and Malville were in error, noting that "Given these corrected
data, we see that Sirius actually aligned with the C line circa 6000 BC. We
estimate that 6088 BC Sirius had a declination of -36.51 deg, for a rising
azimuth exactly on the C-line average".[4] Malville acknowledged the
corrections made by Brophy and Rosen, but concluded the C-line of megaliths
"may not represent an original set of aligned stele; we refrain from
interpreting that alignment."[7]
They also criticised suggestions made by Brophy in his book
The Origin Map that there was a representation of the Milky Way as it was in
17,500 BC and maps of Orion at 16500 BC, saying "These extremely early
dates as well as the proposition that the nomads had contact with extra
galactic aliens are inconsistent with the archaeological record. Inference in
archaeoastronomy must always be guided and informed by archaeology, especially
when substantial field work has been performed in the region.[7]
They propose that the area was first used as what they call
a 'regional ceremonial centre' around 6100 to 5600 BC with people coming from
various locations to gather on the dunes surrounding the playa where there is
archaeological evidence for gatherings which involved large numbers of cattle
bones, as cattle were normally only killed on important occasions. Around 5500
BC a new, more organised group began to use the site, burying cattle in
clay-lined chambers and building other tumuli. Around 4800 BC a stone circle
was constructed, with narrow slabs approximately aligned with the summer solstice,
near the beginning of the rainy season.
More complex structures followed during a megalith period
the researchers dated to between about 4500 BC to 3600 BC. Using their original
measurements and measurements by satellite and GPS measurements by Brophy and
Rosen they confirmed possible alignments with Sirius, Arcturus, Alpha Centauri
and the Belt of Orion. They suggest that there are three pieces of evidence
suggesting astronomical observations by the herdsmen using the site, which may
have functioned as a necropolis. "The repetitive orientation of megaliths,
stele, human burials and cattle burials reveals a very early symbolic
connection to the north." Secondly, there is the orientation of the
cromlech mentioned above. The third piece of evidence is the fifth millennium
alignments of stele to bright stars.[7]
They conclude their report by writing that "The
symbolism embedded in the archaeological record of Nabta Playa in the Fifth
Millennium BC is very basic, focussed on issues of major practical importance
to the nomads: cattle, water, death, earth, sun and stars."[7]
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