The Black Land – Part II

If we were to take a general, if cursive, survey of the current literature on the subject of the climate, flora, and fauna of the Black Land (Ancient Egypt), one would have to conclude that time stands still. As far as our scientific thinking goes, there have been no climatic changes of any note over the many millennia of the Black Land’s history. The Orthodoxy claims that Ancient Egypt and modern-day Egypt had approximately the same climate – dry and drier.  

How important is the weather? Ask those who survived the Diluvium... In ancient times, the weather determined how much abundance there would be; how much life. Modern folks believe they can live without the weather (and probably without air or water too, judging by how the waste both precious resources). They think the weather is more of an inconvenience – raining in on their picnic or cancelling the ball game. There’ll be more than one ball game cancelled if we keep this infantile mentality going for much longer...

It’s neither a trivial nor an easy matter to determine what meteorological conditions existed 4,000 or 5,000 years ago, but it’s clear that the popular imagination still clings to the “desert” versions of the Black Land that Hollywood has portrayed since the last century... Popular culture seems to be “stuck” in that same vision of a rainless, desert landscape beyond the immediate shores of the Great River (the Nile). So much easier to unleash the 10 Plagues upon Egypt when they’re already at the borderline of survivability...

There are some scientists, who do make a passing mention that there may have been more rainfall than what is the case in modern times, but that’s as far as it goes. Some mention that the Sahara was a dry savanna or something of that nature. But that’s about the extent of it. Without evidence, one way or the other, who’s to say they’re wrong?

The Western Desert Lives and Breathes in 45 Degrees...

Due west of Swenet, modern day Aswan, there’s what’s called the Western Desert, covering approx. 700,000 km² of wasteland. In remote areas of this forbidding desert, such as Wadi Sura in Gilf Kebir and Nabta Playa, to name only two of the more prominent places, there are ancient petroglyphs as well as other signs of ancient culture to be seen. Paintings of animal herds, giraffes, ostriches, etc. – giving credence to the “savanna” geography and weather we spoke about above. Precipitation in ancient times is now conceded to have been approx. 500 mm per year.

Folks, 500 mm is half a liter, and half a liter of rain a year is not a lot of rain... even if one takes into account that globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 mm (39 in) over the entire surface of the planet during the course of a year. Lots of rain falls over oceans... 500 mm of rain is an average of 1.37 mm of rain per day.

Scientists, being rather dull herd-animals are not willing to stray too far from present conditions. They’ve given the Western Desert of Egypt half a liter of rain a year 12,000 years ago... Today the precipitation of the Libyan/Sahara desert is well neigh 0 mm/day. Can’t say they’re not generous with that half liter, given that it’s nearly half the annual average globally. And, a savanna type of geography can thrive with 1 to 2 mm of rain per day (averaged annually = 365 to 730 mm of rain).

Looking at things more broadly, these gracious scientists look rather chintzy... If there was greater precipitation during the last glaciation period (during the last 100,000 years of the Pleistocene, from approx. 110,000 to 12,000 years ago), then why would not rain continue, as it has in other areas where glaciers retreated? Although scientists admit that around 10,00 B.C. more rain fell, forming a lake in Nubia, for example, they still are not willing to conceive of a subtropical climate as a possibility...  

Rain, of course, is a major part of the story, but not the whole story... While sites in the Western Desert can easily predate 10,000 B.C., there are many more that are more recent. There is probably little doubt that precipitation was far greater before 10,000 B.C. than later, but that’s not to say that weather patterns repeat, and that over the millennia, many periods of abundant rain were possible even in the Sahara. Current theories say that those living in the Western Desert at that time were “pastoralists” – isn’t that a “nice” word? Peaceful pastoralists populated the plateaus... yeah, right!

So, now we know that they were raising sheep and cattle on a large scale (and on 500 mm of rainfall a year!). The key word is “large scale.” What did I tell you? You have a complicated management problem – a complex system you need run properly? Hire a pastoralist!

Agriculture and “pastoralism” are far older than we imagine, and certainly older than currently pegged by “scientists” (in the future they will be known as herd-animals, and isn’t that a nice “pastoral” way to put it?). Hey! Scientists have to be pastoralists – the big bad wolf is watching and when they don’t agree, the poor scientist get gobbled up – ala Little Red Riding Hood!

Speaking of rain... I’m sure no one has taken account of this fact... In ancient times, no self-respecting shaman, or magician, was unable to conjure rain at a moment’s notice... So much for annual precipitation averages!

You Always Take the Weather With You...

I got news for scientists all over this planet – human beings cause the weather. Our mere feelings, thoughts, and will, collectively, create the weather you enjoy (or not). This was how things have always been, only we’ve forgotten about it...

And, it’s not just “global warming” which is caused by humans – there’s a distinction between “deeds” or “activity” on the physical plane, and human beings causing climatic conditions to change through their other six senses. With respect to global warming, it is a simple question of Physics (I know, a subject no longer taught in school or university for a reason!). Our “activity” is the destruction of the material substances of this planet (we’re supposed to change every single molecule of carbon here), and the waste produced thereby.

Today’s herd-animal has no inkling that to every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction... Burning coal, like farting, has a “negative” and opposite reaction (read about these marvels in a Physics book, preferably one written in the 19^th or early, early 20^th Century, and convince yourself by trying it at home!). Btw, thank your tax dollars going to private education for that little bit of wisdom being lost, which explains why we have so many “deniers” around these days... especially in the press and on the tele...

I’d like to shove down the throat of one of these “denier” girlie-men a plateful of jalapeños, followed by another plate of refried beans (yeah, they can have a beer chaser, I’m not a waterboarder!). Then, after a few moments to let things “coalesce,” I’ll demonstrate, with the simple use of a lighter, what “global warming” looks like. When they fart, which they invariably will, the flame spewing out of their assholes usually does the trick. And, they have a hole in their trousers as a souvenir... Something to try on our politicians on national TV, me thinks... that’ll shut up all the hot air coming out of the other end of their asses!

I happen to think that the climatic conditions, as well as the geographical ones, in the Black Land, especially around 4,000 years ago, and before that time, were considerably different than what they are today. As we consider this question further, we have to take into account the fact that what remains behind as “relics” of a civilization for us to find are really only those things that were made when a civilization was “late” in its “life-cycle,” when it was already in decline (usually, a sharp curve downwards). Egyptologists believe that during the period of time when Khufu’s pyramid, the first of the great pyramids to be built (ca. 2580 B.C. to 2560 B.C.; i.e., some 4,596 years ago), was erected, the Black Land was already a vast desert like it is today.

Perhaps, since a civilization in decadence is one that has turned its environment into a desert.

At the juncture of the pyramids of Giza and the desert landscape which surrounds them, two riddles confront us. One is the age of the pyramids themselves, and the other is what geography and climate permitted the building of these monuments.

Before we get into the conundrum of the age of the pyramids, one would have to ask, what climate was conducive to their being built. Naturally, this brings into question many a priori judgments that have long been made about the Ancient Egyptians – the bad guys and anti-Semites of the ancient world par excellence. If one is inclined towards the modern view, then there’s a certain pathos in the evil pharaohs forcing the Jews to build the pyramids under the whip and under the blistering sun. But since no such fairy tale actually took place, the question remains... what climatic conditions would favor the building of the pyramids?

Since I don’t have a political ax to grind, my choice would be to deviate from the “convenient fable,” and the crass misreading of the Bible, and opt for mild, temperate weather, if not wet conditions (since water helps to alleviate not only thirst and replenishes fatigue, but also overcomes friction). And, since the Black People were not “slave drivers” how would it benefit them to kill their own people to build these monuments? (Esp. if one considers that these structures may have been built in thanksgiving for something!).

Naturally, this train of thought – that the Ancient Egyptians were not evil by nature – is anathema to the current crowd of herd-animals who support the historical lies current today, and which, of course, recommend it as the more likely scenario.

Today, the plateau of Giza is approx. 8 km. from the shores of the Great River. If geographic and weather conditions were exactly the same then as they are today, one would have to wonder why one would choose the Giza site to begin with. We know that many of the underlying sandstone was quarried locally, but a great deal of granite and limestone came from Swenet (Aswan) and that’s nearly 700 km. away. But it’s the last 8,000 meters, from the boat to the construction site, that’ll kill you (an analogy can be made with the telephone system in the last century, wherein the wiring of copper from the box to the home was the hardest and most time consuming to install).

Would it not have been better to build the pyramids closer to the Nile? Even if during the Inundation, water covered their base, the pyramids would not have been worst for the wear... The Ancient Egyptians certainly had no prejudice against building monuments within the flood area of the Great River – the great statues of Amunhotep III on the west bank of Waset (Thebes) attest to that. So why so far from the Nile?

In my opinion, it must have been because the Giza plateau must have been the riparian boundary of the Nile, at least during the Season of Inundation, which is when the actual work was done on the project – be it in 2580 B.C., as the orthodox Egyptologists are paid to believe, or much, much earlier, as most intelligent people surmise. Which brings us to how much more water volume must have been flowing through the Nile in order to make its main channel wider than it is today... It either rained a lot more in Equatorial Africa, or it also rained all along the Great River’s long length so that the watershed accumulated far more water than in recent memory (and I mean memory before the building of the Aswan High Dam and the filling of Lake Nasser, which killed the river by ending its perennial flooding).

A wider river channel would also increase fertile land, extending the “green belt” of the Great River into what otherwise is believed to be an arid, inhospitable desert. This green belt most likely consisted of several square kilometers of forested areas (not only shade, but fuel was needed to sharpen chisels, and forge tools). There were many “tree planting” pharaohs, such as Senusret III (Middle Kingdom), that have been mentioned in the record, and it’s likely that a “policy” of reforestation was always in place (as if Black People had to think twice about doing what’s needed!).

We may not be able to imagine a tree lined, forested expanse on both sides of the Nile, but it most certainly was there 5,000 years ago. How did that “green belt” affect the weather? That would certainly be a “human activity” that would have cooled matters on the ground... In any case, there’s a lot more to this subject of changing climate and geography, which we’ll have to take up in the near future, since there’s a lot more here than meets the eyes...