10 Egypt Discoveries That REWROTE History
Ancient Egypt was the world’s most advanced ancient civilization.
It transformed the world with its many inventions, some of which we use to this day,
but a lot of Ancient Egypt ended up being lost to time. In this video, we’ll be going through some
discoveries that completely changed everything we knew about Ancient Egypt, let’s begin:
10. Lost Labyrinth of Egypt
When we think of Egypt, we usually think of the pyramids as their defining monument, right? That
might be true now, but at the height of Egypt’s grandeur, the defining monument that many visitors
and foreigners described were not the pyramids, but rather this mysterious labyrinth building.
This building was described as something that even put the Great Pyramids to shame,
however, no historian or archeologist could ever figure out where this labyrinth was,
or if it ever even existed. Over time, many people started to think that this
may have been some sort of historical myth, but all that changed when in 2008,
archeologists were scanning the area alongside the Black Pyramid in Dahshur,
and they discovered a massive building underground that fit the description of this building,
proving it was more than just a myth. However, as of 2021, no excavation works have commenced.
9. Mummy Wrapped In Foreign Book
In the 19th century, a tourist from Europe had traveled to Egypt to buy a mummy (which was a
thing back then). He managed to find one in a market, which he then took home with him. He
soon started to notice something strange on the mummy, the sheets that were covering him had text
written on them. He later donated the mummy to a research facility, which later donated it to
several museums. None of them could figure out exactly what language this text was written in.
It had appeared to be sheets of paper ripped off from an entire book. As it turned out,
the text was actually written in a now-extinct language called Etruscan, which was actually
spoken in, what is now, Italy. The language was even rare back when it was actually spoken,
so historians were shocked to find it on a mummy found so far away from Italy.
8. Pyramid-Age papyri
The pyramids are some of the most iconic structures in human history,
but we know shockingly little about them, who built them, and why they were built. There were
very few documents that detailed the construction of the pyramids, and most Egyptologists thought
we’d never find something like it, until, in 2013, archeologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard
announced that they’ve discovered a 4,500-year-old port along the Red Sea, and there, they found a
piece of papyri that contains the only historical text from the pyramid’s construction era. The text
discusses the materials that need to be brought to Giza for the construction of the pyramids,
it spoke about the way King Khufu was ruling Egypt at the time, and it also revealed that
Khufu put a vizier named Ankhhaf in charge of the pyramid’s construction. This removed
any conspiracies that suggest that the pyramids are older or newer than we previously thought.
7. Pyramid Construction Methods
One of the most mysterious things about ancient Egypt is exactly how they were
able to build massive structures such as the pyramids as early as 4500 years ago.
It wasn’t until thousands of years later when the pyramids were finally surpassed in height,
and the world was still left wondering how they built such a structure.
As it turns out. It wasn’t all just manual labor, instead, the Egyptians had invented multiple
machines to help them construct the pyramids that we wouldn’t invent again for a long time.
The workers at the pyramids didn’t carry each individual stone block (that weighed 2.5 tons)
all by themselves, they actually had invented a makeshift lever crane that made it much easier for
them to carry these blocks to the higher stories of the pyramids. Along with these ancient cranes,
multiple ramps were also found around the pyramids to make transportation easier.
There were also sleds made of rollers to help workers carry the stone blocks to long distances.
6. Pyramid Workers’ Town
One of the most misunderstood aspects of ancient Egypt is how the workers building the pyramids
were treated. Most historians, as well as the media, looked back at pyramid workers as some
mistreated slaves who were forced to carry massive slabs of stones on their backs, chained up,
whipped, and were severely malnourished. However, in 1988, archeologists came across ruins of a town
near Giza that is thought to have housed the workers who built the pyramids. The town showed
that workers lived in living conditions that were even better than the average Egyptian at the time,
they all had their own rooms, kitchens, and even an accessible rooftop at their houses.
Their families lived with them in these quarters, and what’s even more interesting is that the
workers showed absolutely no signs of abuse on their bodies at all. They were extremely well-fed,
eating what was the equivalent of prime beef at the time.
5. Lost City Found In Egypt
In 2021, archeologists who were working near an excavation site near Luxor found a bit more than
what they bargained for. Instead of finding some mummies or statues, they unexpectedly came across
an entire 3000-year-old city. The team was shocked at the find, and so was the general public.
The city was called “Aten'' and is said to have been built by King Amenhotep III.
It was a large industrial center of that era and the discovery was described
as the most significant Egyptian discovery in well over a century.
With a massive city like this being discovered in an area no one even thought of before,
who knows how many other incredible discoveries might still be made in Egypt.
4. Akhenaten
Egyptologists throughout history who were studying the ancient Egyptian succession
always noticed a missing period between the reigns of Amenhotep III
and Smenkhkare. There was clearly a ruler during that period, but who was he? That was answered
in 1907, when archeologists discovered the tomb, and story, of Akhenaten. Akhenaten
was the 10th ruler of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, and this ruler was actually erased from history.
He tried to reform the Egyptian religion into a monotheistic one, but after his rule,
all of his reforms were reversed and condemned, and everything associated with him was censored.
It wasn’t until he was rediscovered that we actually got to find out anything about him.
3. Land of Punt
We usually think of Ancient Egypt as the pinnacle of ancient civilization,
and that may be true. But some ancient texts discovered from Egypt paint a different story when
it comes to the attitudes of ancient Egyptians. Instead of being amazed by their own civilization,
ancient Egyptians often described another civilization as the pinnacle of humanity.
A mysterious land called “Punt”. The land of Punt is described as something out of this world,
a place with great wealth, amazing art, craftsmanship, and something worthy of being
called heaven on earth. The only problem is, we have no idea where this “Land of Punt” is.
There are almost no indications of this land ever existing beyond the records of ancient Egyptians,
but it is thought to be located in the region between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
2. The Tomb of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut is often considered the most powerful woman in history. She was the 5th
pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty and her rule saw Egypt be ushered into a brand new era
of prosperity and stability. She was one of Egypt’s most beloved and documented rulers,
however, one thing that we weren’t able to find for a long time was her mummy. The tomb
that was intended to carry her mummy ended up not having a trace of Hatshepsut at all
when it was opened in the late 19th century. Her body was never discovered.. Until 2007,
when a box containing some of her belongings was discovered near her tomb. Among them was a tooth
that she had lost. Archeologist Zahi Hawass noted that the tooth was quite similar to the
teeth he saw on a mummy found over 100 years ago, that was thought to be Hatshepsut’s wet nurse.
After a DNA test, the wet nurse turned out to be Hatshepsut herself!
1. Rosetta Stone
We’ve already talked about some Egyptian discoveries that rewrote history,
but this may be the one Egyptian discovery that wrote history itself! The Rosetta Stone is an
inscribed slab of stone that carried a decree that described the coronation of King Ptolemy V,
and was meant to be sent to empires across the Mediterranean. The text was written in the Ancient
Egyptian language with translations of the text in the Ancient Greek language and another language.
It was discovered in the late 1700s by Napoleon’s soldiers during the French campaign in Egypt.
Up until that point, we had only known of Egyptian history through the accounts
of foreigners as the ancient Egyptian language hadn’t been deciphered yet,
but since this stone also had ancient Greek text on it, they were able to fully translate
the Egyptian text on the stone as well. All of this led to linguists working together
and finally deciphering the ancient Egyptian language. Linguists were then able to decipher all
sorts of Egyptian texts, giving us unprecedented knowledge of what Ancient Egypt was really like.
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