Travelling around the world, Before The Egyptians is an hour-long, 65-part, television series that intends to explore ancient sites and connect the migration of human civilization after the flood and prior to the rise of the Pharaohs along the Nile. Archaeologists constantly remind us the time before the Egyptians is prehistoric – a time of “cavemen” – but this is not the case, as there were civilizations across the planet that inscribed and recorded their history – our history – in stone long before, not to mention those left ignored. Each week our show’s engaging hosts will visit a new location and explain its compelling affect upon the evolution of humanity without the intervention of aliens.
We did not sit around the same campfire night after night.
Science tells us, that in the wake of a rather rapid meltdown – geologically speaking – of our most recent Ice Age about 12,800 years ago, the oceans rose several hundred feet and submerged existing coastal habitats. Catastrophically, as researchers have discovered and announced, comet debris impacted the northern hemisphere; causing devastating tsunamis, earthquakes and ice-melting volcanoes – augmented due to heat-trapping soot landing upon the glaciers.
Assuming someone lived to tell that tale, which wiped out the mammoths and sabre tooth tigers, and many other species, this event would explain – in terms of human evolution – the “list of suddenlies”, an abundant list of facts now accumulated from each scientific discipline studying the changes that took place concurrently around the world over 10,000 years ago.
Since moving out of Africa, modern humans (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) have been evolving for over 140,000 years. Yet the evidence suggests they only moved into Europe 35,000 years ago; some theorists argue that we need to look elsewhere to determine where on earth the tools and skills were developed to successfully build cities and thus civilization. The Mayan Long Count – one component of their famed Calendar – comprises names for very long time spans. For example, the Alautun references a period approximately 63 million years. Our wandering ancestors were aligning megalithic monuments, such as those located in England and Malta, at least a thousand years before the Great Pyramid was built. Moreover, fascinating “Stone Age” settlements, like the one found at Skara Brae in the Orkneys, were carefully constructed long before Khufu erected his Wonder of the World. These people talked. They knew how to utilize a right angle, measure the changing positions of the stars and planets over time, and ably cut and move multi-ton blocks of solid rock.
I think this should sufficiently stir the pot, though I do retain the right to make any changes along the way!
Graeme Boyce, Executive ProduceR
The series will examine possible routes taken by these prehistoric travellers, and look at who seems to have influenced who. Ancient potters across both the Middle and Far East were firing clay and creating ceramics for commercial distribution seven thousand years ago – indicating not only technology management but also financial administration and thus class structure was already an accepted way of life. We now know wine was stored in ceramic vessels over 8,000 years ago. Interestingly, in Japan the Jomon had kilns operating several thousand years earlier, yet a pottery factory in production over 26,000 years ago was recently discovered in Eastern Europe. Humans have obviously been exploring and exploiting for a very, very long time; passion for power and wealth has driven technological change over many millennia, but has always been tempered by art and culture – and looking good….
