Showing posts with label Ancient Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ancient Egypt. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 January 2019

Red-haired Mummies around the World

Most of us immediately think of Ancient Egypt when we hear the word “mummies”, but did you know that mummies have also been found in countries far removed from Egypt, such as China and Peru?  Not only that, but many of these mummies are Caucasians with blonde or red hair!

At first it was assumed that the mummies found in Egypt were the direct ancestors of the Egyptians living there today, namely Arabs.  But advances in science and technology have now revealed that many mummies of Ancient Egypt are Caucasian or white-skinned with blueish eyes and, in many cases, blonde or even reddish hair.  Even the most famous mummy, the young Pharaoh Tutankhamen, was European, according to modern DNA testing!




Many other mummies found in Egypt may not need DNA testing to prove their connection to Europeans because their red hair and Caucasian features already testify to their race.  Even the mummy of another famous Pharaoh, namely Ramesses II, whose body has been well preserved, revealed red hair pigments, according to this scientific article:
https://www.beyondsciencetv.com/2017/08/02/the-mystery-of-ancient-egypts-red-haired-mummies/


Mummy of Ramesses II
It is also of interest, however, that some experts believe that the famous enigma, the Sphinx,  has negroid features, and among the Caucasian mummies, many with African heritage have also been discovered.  
This is not really surprising when you consider that Egypt is actually part of the African continent, and that African nations from Nubia and Ethiopia merely had to travel down the Nile to reach Egypt.  Furthermore, it is worth considering how people migrated throughout history, and that like in our modern history, some nations travelled further across the world than others, establishing colonies or simply exploring uncharted lands.
A painting from the tomb of Seti I shows that Ancient Egypt had a variety of races
With this in mind, the discovery of red-haired mummies in China and Peru begins to make more sense.  The mummies of China and Peru show mummifying techniques similar to those used in Ancient Egypt, and since many of them also feature reddish hair and European features, we can assume a definite link between them.  

The red-haired mummies found in China are especially interesting because they have been well-preserved in the dry desert-like conditions of the Tarim Basin in far north-western China.  These mummies wore colourful clothes and in particular, woollen tartans – much like our modern-day Celts!   

Some books go into great detail about the mummies found in China:

The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West 
 

https://www.amazon.com/Tarim-Mummies-Ancient-Mystery-Earliest/dp/0500051011


This book, The Mummies of Urumchi, details the woollen tartan clothes of the mummies:



The enigma of red-haired people in ancient history continues, with the discovery of a tall, female Caucasian red-haired mummy in Mammoth Caves, Kentucky...
 ...and reaches even further to small islands such as the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco...
...and even as far as Easter Island where the famous statues have been restored to show the “top-knot” hairstyle made from reddish stone.  The statues’ features are also Caucasian.  When Captain Cook first visited Easter Island in the 1770s,  he recorded that he saw many people with fair skin and reddish hair living among darker, brown-skinned people. 



 There is also evidence of red-haired people among the Maori, the native people of New Zealand, according to this article:
We might never know all the historical facts exactly, but in the meantime the theories surrounding an ancient European race with reddish hair has been inspiration for my Fantasy series.  Based on the legend of Atlantis, blended with New Age themes, the main characters in the RHUNA series are white-skinned people, some with red hair.  Although Rhuna is a Polynesian woman from Easter Island, she mingles with people of many races and backgrounds as she travels the ancient world.  

The second and third books are set in Ancient Egypt, and in the third book Rhuna, The Star Child, the European and Arab races living in Ancient Egypt mix with the African nations from the south, and Rhuna interacts with the beautiful African Queen Uxbana.

Monday, 25 April 2016

Advanced Technology of Ancient Civilizations

I know, I know...you keep hearing about Ancient Aliens or Ancient Astronauts that came and built the pyramids in Egypt and all that...well, I'm not talking about that at all here - just the facts!  Well, at least to begin with.

So first of all, have a good look at these pictures:


See how exact the stones in this ancient Inca wall in Peru are placed together?  They say that you can't even put a sharp razor blade between them!  And that's without mortar or anything to bond them together!  Imagine how difficult it would be to get a hard block of stone that even, level and smooth, let alone the right angle to fit perfectly alongside another block!

And what about this:



They could also do perfectly smooth curves!  Not just in corners of rooms, but when sculpting those giant stone statues!

Some modern-day engineers have had a closer look at the remarkable workmanship of Ancient Egypt and other impressive ancient ruins, and have concluded that getting the curves, angles and symmetry so exactly right is almost impossible, even with today's technology and know-how!

One of the books detailing these things is Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs by Christopher Dunn.  Reading it will convince you that Ancient Egyptians had knowledge and skills above and beyond ours today!

When I discovered these fascinating things, I knew I had to incorporate it into my writing - and in fact, this advanced technology of the ancient world is a fundamental theme of my Rhuna Fantasy book series, and since it's Fantasy, I'm allowed to theorize all I want as to how, why, who and where (but it's not aliens!).





Sunday, 6 March 2016

Ancient Anti-Gravity?!

Ancient Anti-Gravity?!


Look at this massive stone block with smooth sides and exact angles and measurements!  This is just one of thousands of "megaliths" around the world which defy modern-day explanations.  How were they made, and how on earth were they moved?!

This is one of the subjects that has fascinated me for most of my life, and for the past 20 years I have been reading anything on the subject, slowly gaining more knowledge and forming my own opinions.

If the Ancients had the technology to cut or form massive blocks (out of granite or other stone) to exact measurements and angles, then they would also have had the advanced technology to move and lift them.

So did they perhaps have knowledge of a branch of science or physics that has been lost in the passing of time?  A technology to defy gravity, if only temporarily?  

I have used these ideas in my Historical Fantasy book series, and you can read what professionals think about it in articles such as this: 


http://www.messagetoeagle.com/ancient-knowledge-of-levitation-and-antigravity/

What do you think?

Friday, 12 February 2016

Black Magic in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt is so fascinating, isn't it?  Everyone seems to think so, whether it's the enigma of the Pyramids, the timeless beautystyle of their art and jewellery, the mystery of the mummies, or many other things.

Personally, I became intrigued and fascinated with Ancient Egypt when I was in 5th grade and we did a school project on it.   Back then, I thought the hieroglyphics were great fun - like a code!

Over the years, I learned more about Ancient Egypt as I read all kinds of books - whatever I was into at the time, but what grabbed me the most, and inspired me to include it in my Fantasy/Magical Realism novels, is Ancient Egyptian MAGIC.

People of Ancient Egypt took Magic very seriously, and many superstitions arose from it.  Apparently, a certain priest class could perform magic, which put the common people in awe of them.  Stories about their magic appear in various writings, even the Bible (the Ten Plagues of Egypt).



One of the interesting aspects of their Magic is the use of a primitive doll to represent a person, and then cause that person pain or some kind of harm by sticking pins into the doll.  Yes, like the voodoo doll, and it's also known as poppet magic.

Until I read about these dolls existing in Ancient Egypt already, I thought that kind of magic was a Voodoo thing only, but look at this:


They were performing this kind of "Sympathetic Magick" back in Ancient Egypt already! 

Needless to say, I had to include it in my latest novel, and it features in the 3rd book, "Rhuna, The Star Child".