The Nubian Egg

Adam Hennessy
4 min readNov 21, 2021
Photo by Leonardo Ramos on Unsplash

We are heading back to Egypt (sort of) we are actually looking at what used to be known as Nubia.

From around the first cataract of the Nile down. Today it would be Northern Sudan.

What is it?

It is a carved ostrich egg which was discovered in 1907 by British archaeologist Mallaby Cecil Firth in tomb from the Nagada I culture. The egg was found in tomb 96 of cemetery 102. It is currently located in the Museum of Nubia in South Egypt (Aswan).

How old is it?

The tomb (which from what I can ascertain) was undisturbed at the time of unearthing was dated to around 4400B.C which makes the egg around 6500 years old.

Why do we care?

Well — an egg has survived 6500 years, this unto itself is remarkable. However, this is not what we are talking about here. It is the carvings that were present on the egg that bring us here today.

On opposite ‘sides’ of the egg there is a depiction of three triangles with horizontal lines running across them, beside which sits a thin snake like etching on one side and a large globule etching on the other.

Image from https://twitter.com/brianroemmele/status/1422328383132770331?lang=ar-x-fm

The triangles look very much like pyramids, like those three dominant pyramids located on the Gaza plateau. The Pyramid of Menkaure, the Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Pyramid of Khufu. With the snake like etching and the larger representing the Nile.

Image from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/501869952228734561/

The location of the find, lower Egypt (Nubia) gives this at least geographical potential.

The problem however is that based on modern belief the pyramids in question are about 4,600 years old.

So how then does a 6500 year old egg have etchings of structures yet built?

Theories

The triangles are simply rudimentary depictions of mountains.

I have an issue with this, while not discounting it, the symmetry of the depiction and especially the horizontal lines in the depiction tend to move my mind away from natural occurring mountain ranges.

The pyramids are actually a great deal older than we know.

Photo by Steffen Gundermann on Unsplash

Carbon-14 dating methods are not able to be used as they are stone constructions, they are very light on hieroglyphics, even so this would do little to date the structures as they could be added some time later in history when they wee repurposed by the ancient Egyptians. As a result, current history is guessing at a true date of the pyramids construction.

Also, while the scale is not perfect in relation to the three aforementioned pyramids, the horizontal lines I keep referencing is very accurate when one looks up from the base of the structures, their stepped nature (as opposed to the actual Step Pyramid) gives a lines illusion.

A question is held floating on this theory.

Why are they pyramids depicted twice on the egg?

I would theorise that this is a seasonal/global convention showing the pyramids and the Nile in the dry season and in the wet season. Hence the difference in the shape and fullness of the Nile and their opposite locations on the egg. It is showing the year as represented by the Nile with the Pyramids as the largest geographical marker for reference.

Another theory is that they depict the Nubian pyramids, which do look a great deal more like the etchings than the pyramids of Egypt. This however has more dire historical consequences as the Nubian pyramids were said to have been constructed over a period of several hundred years from 751B.C and based on the Egyptian pyramids.

Let’s get weird!

Also on the egg around the top are several concentric circles at least two around a small opening in the top. Some theorists are reminded of the work of Plato’s Critias (360B.C)

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash

He wrote of Atlantis and gave a brief description:

making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another; there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centre.

(classics.mit.edu/Plato/critias.html)

The theory goes that this is some sort of artifact depicting the greatest civilisations at the time both Egypt and Atlantis.

There are many, many holes in this contention. If there is any geographical correlation then Atlantis and Egypt are very close. The description in Plato’s Critias is about a Poseidon carving this land through his love. We can see and touch the egg and the Pyramids; we are yet to (with confirmation — there are several theories) see and touch Atlantis.

But let your mind run free and keep hunting!

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