5,000-YEAR-OLD PETROGLYPHS FOUND IN EGYPTIAN DESERT:

 Petroglyphs and hieroglyphs
 at Wadi Amera, Egypt.

When I was an Art History student we were taught that Egyptian history basically began with the Pharaoh Narmer, who united Egypt and reigned as the first historic Pharaoh. This early Egyptian history is now being clarified by new discoveries. Carvings found at Wadi Ameyra, in the Sinai Desert, date back to over "5,000 years ago, possibly by mining expeditions sent out by early Egyptian Pharaohs, say the archaeologists who discovered them." (Jarus(A) 2016) Petroglyphs of many ships and animals have been found, as well as early hieroglyphic inscriptions. The team was led by Pierre Tallet, a professor at the University of Sorbonne.

"About 60 drawings and hieroglyphic inscriptions, dating back around 5,000 years have been discovered. - Carved in stone, they reveal new information on the early pharaohs. For instance, one inscription the researchers found tells of a queen named Neith-Hotep who ruled Egypt 5,000 years ago as regent to a young Pharaoh named Djer. Archaeologists estimate that the earliest carvings at Wadi Ameyra date back around 5,200 years, while the most recent date to the reign of a Pharaoh named Nebre, who ruled about 4,800 years ago." (Jarus(B) 2016) Wadi Ameyra is on a route in the Sinai to Egyptian copper and turquoise mines, and sometime after the rule of Nebre the route was changed bypassing this location.

Neith-Hotep's name is represented

by the image at the top of this

illustration which resembles a palm 

tree beside a building.

Egyptologists have long known of Neith-Hotep's existence, but believed that she was married to the Pharaoh Narmer. The inscriptions at Wadi Ameyra suggest, however, that she was not Narmer's wife, but ruled as a regent at the beginning of the reign of Djer. (Jarus(B) 2016)

 

A ship petroglyph at Wadi Ameyra.

Several of the petroglyphs at Wadi Ameyra show ships. "On three of these boats, the archaeologists found a "royal serekh," a pharaonic symbol that looks a bit like the facade of a palace. The serekh looks "as if it were a cabin on the boats, Tallet said. In later times, boats were buried beside Egypt's pyramids including the Giza pyramids. The design of the boats depicted at Wadi Ameyra "are really archaic, much older than those found beside the pyramids, Talley said." (Jarus(B) 2016.

There is a great deal more to be learned from rock art about the earliest history of Egypt. Art informing life, rock art as history!

NOTE: Images in this posting were retrieved from the Internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the originals at the sites listed below.

REFERENCE:

Jarus, Owen

2016(A)   5,000-Year-Old- Hieroglyphs Discovered in Sinai Desert, January 19, 2016, https://www.livescience.com/53405-wadi-ameyra-photos.html

2016(B)    Early Egyptian Queen Revealed in 5,000-Year-Old Hieroglyphs, January 19, 2016, https://www.livescience.com/53406-early-egyptian-queen-revealed-in-hieroglyphs.html