rukiya's review

Go to review page

4.0

It's all in the details

This book is full of a vast amount of detailed information. It wasn't a quick read but it kept my interest. I truly appreciate the search for truth especially in a field of study where many have gone out of their way to remove Egypt from the rest of Africa...especially in a society that has actively denied & attempts to hide the contributions of Black Africans to civilization.

sumayyah_t's review against another edition

Go to review page

Such heavy reading. I will re-read when I able able to devote full brainpower to understanding this book.

elizafiedler's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

NOT actually a book for laypeople, like it claims in the intro. On the plus side, you can zone out or dissociate during the mathematical explanations and not miss much. I don't know enough about astronomy or archaeology to judge how sound the findings in this book are, but I get the impression that the authors are, if anything, downplaying the eurocentrism of traditional archaeology.

andrewfontenelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Some years ago I watched an episode of the Africa series by Basil Davidson. This particular episode showed rock paintings of people living in the Sahara region at a time when it was much wetter and greener than it is today. The people depicted in the drawings, wore dress very reminiscent of that worn by the people of ancient Egypt. The 'art' suggested that we were looking at the lives of a very sophisticated people. As the climate changed and the Sahara dried up they migrated to other parts of Africa including the Nile Valley.

In the book “Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt” the authors, Robert Bauval and Thomas Brophy, present evidence that Pharaonic Egypt was established by communities coming in from the Sahara as the climate changed. Focusing on discoveries found at sites in the Egyptian Sahara, they show that these ancient people (domesticated cattle and) had a sophisticated knowledge of Astronomy which emerges later in the Nile Valley civilization. The authors also describe their own visits to and surveys of the archaeological sites.

I enjoyed reading the book and was very surprised at the amount of related information that could be found on the subject. Another interesting topic covered in the book were the various explorations into the Egyptian Sahara during the 19th and 20th Century and the discoveries which were made. Definitely a must read for anyone interested in the origins of ancient Egypt and the history of Africa.
More...