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Maltese Expert 'Discovers Hieroglyphs from Legendary Land of Yam'
A Maltese explorer claims he may have solved one of Egypt's oldest mysteries. Mark Borda and Egyptian accomplice Mahmoud Marai, an adventure holiday planner, have discovered a large rock in the Western Desert, some 450 miles west of the Nile Valley - inscribed with a king's cartouche, royal images and hieroglyphs. Ancient Egyptians are thought never to have strayed past Dakhla Oasis, located around 200 miles from the river.
and it goes on
"It turns out that the script we found states the name of the region where it was carved," Mr Borda adds, "which is none other than the fabled land of Yam, one of the most famous and mysterious nations that the Egyptians had traded with in Old Kingdom times; a source of precious tropical woods and ivory. Its location has been debated by Egyptologists for over 150 years but it was never imagined it could be 700 kilometres west of the Nile in the middle of the Sahara desert."
If true - and it's far from certain right now (read on...) - Mr Borda's could be one of Egypt's biggest recent discoveries. Not only would it push ancient Egyptian culture around 400 miles west of what many believed to be their western limit, but it would also confirm the legendary land of Yam; alluded to in several texts but never found in modern times.
The Yam of Egypt's Old Kingdom
by Jimmy Dunn
Some scholars believe that Harkhuf's donkey caravans began their journey at Memphis, to which they also returned. Given the length of the journey, these scholars therefore belive that Wawat, Setju and Irthet were located in lower, or northern Nubia and that Yam was therefore in upper, or southern Nubia. Other scholars see Elephantine as the starting and end point for each caravan, with the trade goods then being shipped between this southern city and the more northerly capital. They believe that Yam lay further south, perhaps on or near the Shendi Reach of the Nile (above the fifth cataract, near where it divides into the White and Blue Nile). This would permit Wawat to comprise all of Lower Nubia, as it in fact did in later times, and Setju and Irthet to be in Upper Nubia.
These two theories have considerable implications. According to the first, Wawat, Setju and Irthet would each be small in territory and best described as chiefdoms. At one point, Harkhuf found them to be combined under a single ruler, but even then they would represent only a fairly small kingdom. However, in the second case, each territory would have been much larger, and if combined, would represent a substantial kingdom that could be quite threatening to southern Egypt, as well as creating substantial problems with access to the desirable goods available in Yam.
The Yam Festival is usually held in the beginning of August at the end of the rainy season. A popular holiday in Ghana and Nigeria, the Yam Festival is named after the most common food in many African countries. Yams are the first crops to be harvested. People offer yams to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers. This is their way of giving thanks to the spirits above them.