Dynastic Race Theory - Modern Versions of The Theory

Modern Versions of The Theory

Following earlier proponents such as L. A. Waddell, and Walter Bryan Emery, a former Chair of Egyptology at University College London, modern scholars such as David Rohl, and Michael Rice have advanced reasons in support of a Mesopotamian origin for the ancient Dynastic Egyptians.

According to egyptologist David Rohl, "There is little evidence of kingship and its rituals very much before the beginning of the 1st Dynasty; no signs of the gradual development of metal working, art, monumental architecture and writing – the defining criteria of early civilisation. Much of what we know about the pharaohs and their complex culture seems to come into existence in a flash of inspiration." Rohl believes the catalyst for this sudden development was the influx of a Mesopotamian "foreign elite" who made their way to Egypt by sailing around the coastline of the Arabian Peninsula into the Red Sea ultimately dragging their boats across the desert to the Nile. Rohl notes numerous pre-dynastic rock carvings found in several locations from Wadi Abbad to Abydos which depict large Mesopotamian style boats with crews of up to 75, some of which appear being pulled across land. Rohl believes the most dramatic evidence to support this theory is the sudden introduction of distinctly Sumerian "niched-facade" architecture found in several pre-dynastic sites including Abydos and Sakkara. He says, "It is highly improbable that such specialized building techniques were independently invented in two widely separated regions at the same historical period without cultural transmission.

In addition to the evidence available to Petrie et al., they also points out some similarities in the names of divinities and places in the religious beliefs of the two cultures, and in depictions of regalia. For example the primeval mound of the Egyptian first creation was called the Island of Nun, and was surrounded by the Waters of Nun, while the Sumerian name for the great temple in their original city of Eridu was Nun.ki – the 'Mighty Place' – and it was built on an island in the reed swamps. Several scholars have also noted that the name Osiris is a Greek pronunciation, and that the god would have been called Asar in Egyptian, while the Sumerian god of the Eridu area was also called Asar (the Babylonian Marduk.). However, historical records states that the dynastic period of Mesopotamia was not until 2900 BCE. So Mesopotamia could not have been to any significance unto Egypt which makes this theory very questionable. It has yet to debunk Nabta Playa's similar alignment to Orion's belt with the Pyramids of Giza.