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:''See also Puntland.''
The 'Land of Punt', also called "Pwenet"^[1] by the ancient Egyptians, at times synonymous with ''Ta netjer'', the 'land of the god' ^[2], was a fabled site in eastern Africa and "was the source of many exotic products, such as gold, aromatic resins, African blackwood, ebony, ivory, slaves and wild animals" including monkeys and baboons.^[3] All information about Punt has been found from ancient Egyptian records of trade missions to this region.

Contents

Egyptian expeditions to Punt

Location

Footnotes

References

Older literature

See also

External links

News reports on Wadi Gawasis excavations

Egyptian expeditions to Punt

The oldest known expedition to Punt was organized by Pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty (25th century BC) ^[4]. Around 1950 BC, in the reign of Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hannu organized one or more voyages to Punt, but it is uncertain whether he took part personally. ^[5]

The most famous Punt expedition was conducted under Queen Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC to obtain myrrh; a report of that voyage survives on a relief in Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri. Nehsi, mentioned in the inscriptions, is thought by some to have been its leader. At the time, Punt was ruled by King Parahu and Queen Ati ^[6]. Several of Hatshepsut's successors, including Thutmoses III, also organized expeditions to Punt.

Location

The precise location of the land of Punt has been a subject of much debate. Ancient Egyptian texts are consistent about connecting the location of Punt with the Red Sea, narrowing the possibilities for Punt's geographic location. These records indicate Punt's location to be found south of Nubia, but exactly what modern territory it corresponds to is disputed. Historians generally agree on eastern Africa, possibly near what is now the coast of Sudan or Eritrea (as is suggested by archaeological evidence). The general modern academic consensus places Punt in the area of northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, and southeastern Sudan/east-northeast Sudan (both referring to Southeastern Beja lands).^[7]
The Egyptians also used ebony wood which could only be obtained either through trade with Nubia or with Punt. The most likely location of Punt according to Kenneth Kitchen is northern Ethiopia/Eritrea and east-north-east Sudan. The presence of teff in 4th dynasty pyramid bricks of the Dashur Pyramid further supports this theory, as teff only grows in the Eritrean and Ethiopian highlands and not in Southern Arabia, Lebanon, or Jordan. Most modern scholars place Punt perhaps on Africa's East Coast perhaps only just south of Egypt. However, modern attempts to classify the flora and fauna from Punt suggests that Punt may have been located in southern Sudan, Eritrea and/or northern Ethiopia (Tigray) since the Egyptian reliefs of these plants correspond best to those found in this region.^[3] Myrrh trees depicted in Hatshepsut's trading expedition to Punt are shown being loaded onto Egyptian ships in the second terrace of her funerary temple at Deir El Bahari^[9] Evidence that these trees were "replanted in the temple of Deir El-Bahri" is suggested "from the surviving traces of tree-pits" found here.^[9]
Some argue Punt was as far away as Puntland, Somalia (named after Punt in the 20th century). Among most Somalis the belief is that ancient Punt probably refers to the puntland (Somalia) region of Sanaag because that is the region where frankincense and myrrh are found in abundance. In his translation of the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'', G.W.B. Huntingford went so far as to claim that the name "Punt" lay behind the name of "Opone," a coastal marketplace located south of Cape Guardafui, and identified both Punt and Opone with Hafun. In the late 1990s part of Somalia declared itself the independent republic of Somaliland. It was once thought that the frankincense and other goods the ancient Egyptians boasted of obtaining in Punt suggest a location on the southern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, but the presence of African animals rules this notion out, as well as the realisation that incense-producing trees also occur in Africa. In the past, places still farther afield have been mentioned, Bahrain and India but currently these candidates have largely been dropped in favor of ones located near by in Africa.
The ancient Egyptians called Punt also "Ta netjer" or "God's Land". This does not mean that Punt somehow was a "Holy Land" for the Egyptians. For the term referred to all the regions of the Sun God, namely the regions towards sun rise (BAR II par. 658). It was used for eastern regions that were blessed with precious products used in temples, like incense. This meant that the term was not only used as a nickname for Punt, in the SE, but also for the regions in Asia to the E and NE, notably for the area of Lebanon, which was the source of wood for temples (see BAR II, par. 451, 773, 820, 888; III par. 434).

Footnotes

1. Ian Shaw & Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, London. 1995, p.231
2. J. H. Breasted, ''Ancient Records of Egypt'', Part One, Chicago 1906, §433
3. Shaw & Nicholson, op. cit., p.231
4. J. H. Breasted, ''Ancient Records of Egypt'', Part One, Chicago 1906, §161
5. J. H. Breasted, ''Ancient Records of Egypt'', Part One, Chicago 1906, §§427-433
6. J. H. Breasted, ''Ancient Records of Egypt'', Part Two, Chicago 1906, §§246-295
7. Edward J. Keall, ''Possible connections in antiquity between the Red Sea coast of Yemen and the Horn of Africa'' in ''Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region. Proceedings of Red Sea Project I Held in the British Museum'' by the Society for Arabian Studies Monogrpahs No. 2. Oxford: England, Archaeopress, October 2002, p.53.
8. Shaw & Nicholson, op. cit., p.231
9. Shaw & Nicholson, op. cit., p.232
10. Shaw & Nicholson, op. cit., p.232

References

★ Breasted, James Henry, Ph.D., ''Ancient Records of Egypt, Historical Documents'', Vol. II, 1906

★ Kitchen, K. A. (1971), "Punt and How to Get There", ''Orientalia'' 40, 184-207

★ Kitchen, K. A. (1993), "The Land of Punt", ''The Archaeology of Africa, Food, Metals and Towns'' (Shaw,T. et al., eds), 587-608. London/New York: Routledge.

★ BAR stands for: J.H. Breasted, "Ancient Records of Egypt", 5 vols.,1906-7

★ Bradbury, Louise. 1988. "Reflections on Travelling to 'God's Land' and Punt in the Middle Kingdom." ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'' 25:127–156.

★ Fattovich, Rodolfo. 1991. "The Problem of Punt in the Light of the Recent Field Work in the Eastern Sudan". In ''Akten des vierten internationalen Ägyptologen Kongresses, München 1985'', edited by Sylvia Schoske. Vol. 4 of 4 vols. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 257–272

★ ———. 1993. "Punt: The Archaeological Perspective". In ''Sesto congresso internazionale de egittologia: Atti'', edited by Gian Maria Zaccone, and Tomaso Ricardi di Netro. Vol. 2 of 2 vols. Torino: Italgas. 399–405

★ Herzog, Rolf. 1968. ''Punt''. Abhandlungen des Deutsches Archäologischen Instituts Kairo, Ägyptische Reihe 6. Glückstadt: Verlag J. J. Augustin

★ Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. 1971. "Punt and How to Get There." ''Orientalia'' 40 (new series):184–207.

★ ———. 1993. "The Land of Punt". In ''The Archaeology of Africa: Foods, Metals, Towns'', edited by Thurston Shaw, Paul Sinclair, Bassey Andah, and Alex Okpoko. One World Archaeology 20. London and New York: Routledge. 587–608

★ Meeks, Dimitri. 2003. "Locating Punt". In ''Mysterious Lands'', edited by David B. O'Connor, and Stephen G. J. Quirke. Encounters with ancient Egypt 5. London: Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and University College London Press. 53–80. ISBN 1-84472-004-7

★ Paice, Patricia. 1992. "The Punt Relief, the Pithom Stela, and the Periplus of the Erythean Sea". In ''Contacts Between Cultures: Selected Papers from the 33rd International Congress of Asian and North African Studies, Toronto, August 15–25, 1990.'' Volume 1: ''West Asia and North Africa'', edited by Amir Harrak. Lewiston, Queenston, and Lampeter: The Edwin Mellon Press. 227–235

★ Emmet Sweeney: ''Empire of Thebes'', New York 2006, ISBN 978-0-87586-479-2

Older literature

★ Johannes Dumichen: ''Die Flotte einer ägyptischen Königin'', Leipzig, 1868

★ Wilhelm Max Müller: ''Asien und Europa nach altägyptischen Denkmälern'', Leipzig, 1893

★ Adolf Erman: ''Life in Ancient Egypt'', London, 1894

★ Édouard Naville: "Deir-el-Bahri" in ''Egypt Exploration Fund, Memoirs XII, XIII, XIV, and XIX'', London, 1894 et seq

★ J. H. Breasted: ''A History of the Ancient Egyptians'', New York, 1908

See also

★ Ophir

External links

★ The Wonderful Land of Punt

★ The Land of Punt with quotes from Breasted (1906) and Petrie (1939)

★ Queen Hatasu, and Her Expedition to the Land of Punt by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1891).

★ Deir el-Bahri: Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

★ Hall of Punt at Deir el-Bahri; and Where was Punt? discussion by Dr. Karl H. Leser

★ Queen of Punt syndrome

News reports on Wadi Gawasis excavations

★ Archaeologists discover ancient ships in Egypt (Boston University Bridge, 18 March 2005). Excavations at Wadi Gawasis, possibly the ancient Egyptian port Saaw.

★ Remains of ancient Egyptian seafaring ships discovered (New Scientist, 23 March 2005).

★ Egyptian sea vessel artifacts discovered at pharaonic port of Mersa Gawasis along Red Sea coast (EurekAlert, 21 April 2005).

★ University professor finds ancient shipwreck (Boston University Daily Free Press, 27 April 2005).

★ Ancient Mariners: Caves harbor view of early Egyptian sailors (Science News Online, 7 May 2005).

★ Sailing to distant lands (Al Ahram, 2 June 2005).

★ Ancient ship remains are unearthed (Deutsche Press Agentur, 26 Jan 2006).

★ Archeologists find ancient ship remains (Associated Press, 27 Jan 2006).

★ 4,000-year-old shipyard unearthed in Egypt (MSNBC, 6 March 2006)