The Land of Punt is Eritrea

land of punt

To the ancient Egyptians, the land of Punt was the most exotic and mysterious of places to visit. It seems to have been considered by them a most unique haven; an emporium of goods for both king and gods.

For scholars however, Punt has been a challenging place to pinpoint. Using quotes from the leading scholars and experts on Punt, this paper will demonstrate a strong case that Punt was undoubtedly an African kingdom located in modern day Eritrea and eastern-Sudan.

The Location of Punt In this section, various scholars' opinions were included on where the ancient Kingdom of Punt would have been located at, based on the information that's provided by the ancient Egyptians. Egyptologists have long since given up on locating Punt in Arabia Felix (Yemen), or equating it with the biblical land of Ophir and its "mines of King Solomon." In fact, there was also a land route that brought the products of Punt to Egypt; the "mountain of Punt" and its auriferous pools clearly lay on the borders of Kush, in the Nile Valley of Nubia. Scholars no longer feel a need to go as far as Zanzibar or Socortra or even to Somalia in search of Punt. The land of Punt was home to various incense-bearing trees (Boswellia and commiphera, which thrive on low rainfall), Dom-palms, and species of hard, black trees called heben in Egyptian, the origin of the word "ebony." Visitors to punt had encountered panthers, cheetahs, monkeys and baboons (the latter on dry hills), as well as giraffes and rhinoceroses, animals that dwelled in the plains. Gold also came from Punt, in the middle of summer; rain fall on the mountain of Punt only in the miraculous form of veritable deluges. These details gleaned from texts enable us to locate the famous shores of punt and their vast inter land. The land called punt included a desert region and a Sahelian region between the 22nd and the 18th longitude lines parallel to the North. The south of Punt might have included the present-day province of Kassala and the north of Eritrea. To the west and the northwest, an indefinable border separated it from Kush and the land of the Medjoi (roughly Etbaya). Egyptians explorers could get to the land of Punt by land, though they had to cross vast stretches of mountains and desert. Punt could also be reached by sea, but at the cost of huge logistical efforts and a lengthy, costly journey. Even so, the land was both divine and familiar. This casts new light on a longstanding Egyptological problem, the location of the land of Punt, from which came gold, ebony, incence, and marvels. Rejecting its earlier identification with Somalia, Kitchen (1993) firmly locates Punt in northern Eritrea and adjacent areas of Sudan. The ebony (dalbergia melanoxylon) found in Pharaonic contexts occurs only in Eritrea, along with one kind of incense widely used in Bronze Age Egypt and the Levant, Eritrean Pistacia resin (serpico and White 2000). In nearly four decades of writing on the subject of Punt, he has succeeded in establishing what has today become the most widely accepted position on the location of Punt (Eritrea and Eastern Sudan). Perhaps the most contrary evidence is language, and according kitchen, "As for Parehu, the only named chief of Punt, the consonant p in his name and that of Punt itself also firmly excludes Arabia." And the mere reason is that Old South Arabian languages possess an ‘f’ but no ‘p’. Thus, Kitchen writes, "Arabia would have had a Farehu, chief of Funt!" Egyptian has both consonants, which make the transcription is reliable. Professor Pankhurst explains why the Eritrean coast would have been the best location for Punt, and pointed out that the proximity of the area to Egypt and the limitation of seasonal sailing wind as the main reasons. It may further be urged that the northernmost area, what is now the Eritrean coast, probably constituted the most frequently visited African section of Punt. The area's northerly location, and consequent relative proximity to Egypt, would have given its trade a significant edge over that of more distant areas, such as the Somali country and the Ethiopian borderlands. Time, should be emphasized, and was the essence. The Trade Winds dictated that ships from Egypt, sailing at perhaps 30 miles a day, had to travel during the three or so summer months, June to August, when the wind blew southwards, and had to complete their trading enterprise, doubtless no rapid affair, by November, when the winter winds began to blow in the opposite direction. Southbound vessels probably needed about a month to reach the northern Eritrean area, about the same time again to arrive at the coast opposite Aden, and a further month to reach Cape Guardafui (in Somalia). The southerly winds would by then be abating. It would therefore appear doubtful whether Egyptian commercial navigators could have easily sailed much further in the time permitted to them by nature. For the ancient Egyptians, Punt came to represent the point of the southernmost extent of Egyptian penetration of Africa, as reported on an obelisk from the reign of Queen Hatshepsut “my southern boundary is as far as the lands of Punt." Ancient Egyptian inscriptions seem to suggest a geographic linkage between Punt and Kush, as the following inscription taking from Solem from the time of Amenhotep III demonstrates “When I turn my face to the south....I cause the chiefs of wretched Kush to turn thee...when I turn my face to thee the countries of Punt bring all the pleasant sweet woods of their countries...." One of the most significant information that makes a very strong case that Punt was a kingdom neighboring upon Kush Kingdom (and one that disproves it being in Yemen or as distant as Somalia or Tanzania) is with the recent 2003 archeological discovery that shows Kush, along with Punt and other neighboring kingdoms joined in force to invade and successfully defeat the Ancient Egyptians and the tomb belonged to Sobeknakht, a Governor of El Kab, provincial capital during the latter part of the 17th Dynasty (about 1575-1550BC). The inscription describes a ferocious invasion of Egypt by armies from Kush and its allies from the south, including the land of Punt, on the southern coast of the Red Sea says that vast territories were affected and describes Sobeknakht’s heroic role in organizing a counter-attack. The text takes the form of an address to the living by Sobeknakht: “Listen you, who are alive upon earth . . . Kush came . . . aroused along his length, he having stirred up the tribes of Wawat . . . the land of Punt and the Medjaw. . .” It describes the decisive role played by “the might of the great one, Nekhbet”, the vulture-goddess of El Kab, as “strong of heart against the Nubians, who were burnt through fire”, while the “chief of the nomads fell through the blast of her flame”. Tomb reveals Ancient Egypt’s humiliating secret Professor Fattovich even argues that the ancient Ona Group-A sites of Eritrea (located near Asmara, the capital) may possibly be part of Punt or linked to it. The potential importance of these findings went mostly unnoticed in the archaeological world until Rodolfo Fattovich drew attention to their significance for understanding early complex societies in the Horn. Calling these sites both the "Ona Culture" and "Ona Group-A," he argues for a possible connection between Egypt and the land of Punt, and identifies the Ona culture as either located within the land of punt or as possibly linked to Punt.

The Earliest History of Punt Land

According to Pankhurst, Punt dates back to the cradle of Egyptian civilization.The first known contacts between Egypt and Punt date back to almost to the cradle of Egyptian civilization. Pharaonic records reveal that as early as the First or Second Dynasties (3407-2888 BC) the Egyptians were in possession of myrrh,the Ethiopian borderlands. During the Fourth Egyptian dynasty (2789-2767 BC),a Punt slave is mentioned as the helping hand to the son of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid. Pankhurst further adds that the pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty dispatched the earliest naval expedition to Punt, where supplies from Punt probably first reached Egypt overland. King Sahure (2958-2946 BC) of the Fifth Dynasty, however, later dispatched a naval fleet, which returned with myrrh, gold and costly wood. King Pepy II (2738-2644 BC) of the Sixth Dynasty subsequently had noted that he had a Tenq, a slave, from Punt. Pharaonic expeditions to Punt increased after the founding of the Egyptian Red Sea port of Wadi Gasus, north of Koseir, during the reign of King Mentuhotep IV (2242-2212 BC) of the Eleventh Dynasty. Egyptian familiarity with Punt also found expression, during the Twelfth Dynasty, in a popular tale of a mariner, a kind of early Sinbad the Sailor, ship-wrecked in Punt waters.

Before the Suez Canal was built, the ancient Egyptians had already built a waterway from the Nile to the Red Sea. Ancient Egyptian contact with Punt

was subsequently facilitated by the orders from King Sesostris III (2099-2061 BC), almost four thousand years before the Suez Canal.

The New Egyptian Kingdom, founded around 1600 BC, witnessed many direct sailings from Egypt to Punt. By far the best known expedition to the latter region was dispatched by Queen Hatshepsut (1501-1470 BC), whose achievements are recorded in inscriptions and pictorials found on the walls of her famous temple of Dair El-Bahri at Thebes in southern Egypt.

"As beautiful in execution as they are important in content" they constitute veritable archives in stone, and provide by far the most detailed source for the study of Punt foreign trade ever produced. This expedition was, however, far from unique. The modern Swedish historian Saveo Soderberg observes that 'many, or ever perhaps most' of the Pharaohs dispatched fleets to Punt, though almost every ruler tried to claim that was the first to do so." Queen Hatshepsut, after completing her expedition to Punt stated that “I have given to thee all lands and all countries, wherein thy heart is glad. I have given to thee all Punt as far as the lands of God's Land .... I have led thy army on water and on land to explore the waters of inaccessible channels, and I have reached the myrrh-terraces (Punt). It is a glorious region of God's land; it is indeed my place of delight." Upon Hatshepsut's arrival to Punt, her Egyptian troops and commander were greeted by the chief of Punt called Parehu, along beside him was his wife, Aty, their two sons and daughter. Behind them is their town; the houses are built on piles and entered by ladders, while palms growing beside them overshadow them. Aty's Obesity has been much speculated upon; as their daughter shows much the same tendency. With the arrival of Queen Hatshepsut troops, the chief and his wife, quoted on Hatshepsut's mortuary temple, stated: “How have you arrived at this land unknown to the men of Egypt? Have you come down from the roads of the Heavens? Or have you navigated the sea of Ta-nuter? You must have followed the path of the sun. As for the King of Egypt, there is no road which is inaccessible to His Majesty; we live by the breath he grants to us." The people of Punt were also Sea loving people. Within half a century of Hapshetsut's great expedition, the people of Punt themselves were undertaking commercial voyages to Egypt as painted in Egyptian officials' tombs in Thebes. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the relief, however, is the representation of two small Punt sailing vessels. Their presence, as the archaeologist N. de Garis Davies has argued, reveals for the first time that the people of Punt were themselves making long sea journeys. Discussing these voyages he comments that the commerce revealed in Hatshepsut's inscriptions seems to have been continued, in part at least, by Punt vessels which brought their flight to an Egyptian port, probably near Koseir, where the Egyptians met them and bartered their manufactures for such produce as the Punt had been able to transport. The Precise character of the Punt vessels unfortunately cannot be established from the relief. Their hulls, Davies remarks, are depicted as "bolster-like shapes, rounded at both ends, and, like the background, colored pink. Their shape, color and absence of the marking seem to conclude that it constitutes a heavy wooden structure, which seems to protect the vessels, not only from the storms and defy coral reefs, but also to hold firm the high mast and steering gear of such a vessel. Though the Egyptian inscriptions are almost exclusively concerned with Pharaonic activities there are indications that the Punts, within half a century of Hapshepsut's great expedition, were themselves undertaking commercial voyages to Egypt. Testimony of this is found in an Egyptian official's tomb at Thebes, dating from the reign of King Amenhotep II (1447-1420 BC). It contains a relief depicting the arrival of two chiefs of Punt, bringing supplies from their country, including gold, incense, ebony, branches of trees, ostrich feathers and eggs, skins, antelopes and oxen. There are also pictures of two Punt vessels, which are smaller than those of the Pharaohs, were evidently seaworthy. Another tomb of the period depicts the arrival of other goods from Punt, among them fragrant gum, skins of various animals, and two wild animals. One of the last recorded Pharaonic expeditions to punt was dispatched by Ramses III (1998-1167 BC) of the Twentieth Dynasty. An inscription of his reign describes “Egyptian vessels returning with Punt products, among them many 'strange goods', 'plentiful myrrh', and a number of Punts." The Appearance of Punts Punts like all people of ancient kingdoms had a wide ranging looks and appearances. We can clearly see what appears to be a Punt woman walking out of her home, who's dressed in a long red dress with a dark skinned man and an animal that looks like a dog in many of the pictorials in Egypt and Punt. Rare images of Punts like this makes a strong case that the Punts were undoubtedly African, as the following quotes will illustrate: “Numerous representations of Nubians, Punts and Libyans occur in Egyptian art, but only in the Nubian case can they be cross-checked against an indigenous archaeology. Such representations become standardized and stereotypical, and it is never certain when they represent contemporary reality. However, significant changes in representation are introduced over time and, at least initially, they might be thought to have been based on direct and from Egyptians-in skin color, treatment of the hair (and sometimes beard), and reddish skins, and costume and ornamentation. Punts and Egyptian males are assigned similarly reddish skins, but Nubians typically have darker ones, and Libyans at most periods have light colored, yellowish skin. Initially, Nubians and Punts may have been shown as fairly similar in appearance and dress (short linen kilts), but by ca. 1400 BC they are distinctly different." By 2000 BC Nubians wore cloths of leather loin, sometimes decorated with beadwork patterns attested in contemporary Nubian graves as well.In the New Kingdom (1593-1075 BC) many continued to dress similarly, but others wore linen kilts or even fully representative Egyptian dresses; in both cases, skin colors and hair treatment remain distinctively Nubian. During those periods, Punts display hairstyles different from the Nubian: most were long hair, with a head band and fillet; other Punt hair style is cap-like and perhaps a mark of elite status. Short linen kilts appear typical, and some possibly elite, wore shirts as well. The kilt-like dressing style of the people of Punt is also seen in some of Eritrea's modern ethnic group's traditional hair wear. Land of Punt housing The unusual form of housing applied in the land of Punt was clearly the source of much interest to the ancient Egyptian artists who decorated the southern wall of the second portico of the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut: no less than seven individual dwellings, of essentially the same type, are shown. These houses, so far as we can tell, seem to have been rounded huts covered with an undulating pointed thatched roof and (their most interesting feature) raised on stilts or piles above ground level, so that they could be entered only by climbing the ladders depicted learning against them, although no figures are seen in that activity. The logical, and indeed general, explanation is that the inhabitants lived on the 'upper floor' above ground level, the piles protecting them from marauding wild animals or other natural phenomena." Ancient Egyptian artifacts in Eritrea According to professor Kjetil Tronvoll, most of present day Eritrea was comprised of the ancient Kingdom of Punt, whose rulers dominated the area for a thousand years until about 1,000 BC. In this respect, this particular area one of Sub-Saharan Africa's oldest traditions of state-formations can be found.But was there any evidence of ancient Egyptian artifacts located in Eritrea? Despite the fact that Eritrea has yet to be properly excavated, there are indeed many locations demonstrating ancient Egyptian artifacts, proving the Eritrean region was indeed in contact with them. At Agordat in the middle Barka valley (Eritrea), an Egyptian-style, ceramic ear-plug and some stones which imitate bronze prototypes of the 17th-18th Dynasties have been excavated in sites dating to the mid-second millennium BC. On the Eritrean coast at Adulis, two fragments of glass vessels typical of the New Kingdom have been found in a level dating to the late second millennium BC.”