Before the Egyptians: Who Left Their Mark on the Sands?

| Mysterious
October 15, 2024

WHO WAS THERE BEFORE THE EGYPTIANS?

When looking at Egyptian history, it becomes clear that their civilization did not start completely “from scratch.” Some of the greatest masterpieces of Egyptian civilization were created when the people were just at the beginning of their development. Therefore, it is quite evident that the “early Egyptians” relied on the technology of someone who lived in the same geographical area as them.

According to the reconstruction of history carried out by Egyptologists, the “Step Pyramid of Djoser” is a kind of “touchstone” for all pyramids found in Egypt. It is the first pyramid for which we know with reasonable certainty the builder, the client and the construction period. It was built by order of Pharaoh Djoser, based on the design of his famous officer Imhotep, around 2630 BC. So, on this pyramid, everyone is in pretty much agreement.

We can deduce from this that any pyramid that, hypothetically, was on Egyptian soil but turned out to be “previous” to the “Step Pyramid of Djoser”, built around 2,630 BC, could not be considered “Egyptian” in the sense that we give to that term today. It would have been built by someone before the pharaohs. The pharaohs, therefore, would have limited themselves to “taking” possession of it, making it appear as “their thing”. Was this the case? Let us give some examples based on the latest discoveries of science.

In a study using the “Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL)” method, conducted by the Department of Archaeometry at the University of the Aegean, Greece, it was discovered that the limestone rock of the Qasr-el-Sagha temple can be dated back to 5550 BC (mean dating: 4700 ± 850 BC). This temple could be up to 3,000 years older than the Pyramid of Djoser.

Using the same dating method, the red granite used to cover the base of the facade of the Small Pyramid (Pyramid of Menkaure), examined with this modern dating system, was found to have an earliest date of 4,400 BC (mean date 3,450 ± 950 BC). That rock may have been placed up to 2,000 years before the construction of the Pyramid of Djoser. And we are talking about the outer shell of the pyramid, which may have been restored later. Its “heart” may be much older.

Who built these and other buildings that we commonly call “Egyptian”? Certainly not the “Egyptians” we know…

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