Are You Familiar with Story of Oldest Egyptian Human Being?

By: Ali Abu Dashish

CAIRO, Dec. 3 (SEE)- Some archaeological missions started to discover monuments that belonged to prehistoric age on the Nile’s banks and Egyptian deserts. When the work at the high dam started, it was feared that Nubia’s monuments would sink beneath the dam’s water.

The most important mission, amongst these, was the prehistoric age’s joint mission, presided over by the American professor Fred Wonderf.

Egyptian archaeologist Hussein Abdel Basir commented that one of Wonderf’s most important discoveries was a skeleton’s remains that date to 18.000 years, encountered at Al Kubania Valley, near Aswan. The mission also discovered the first mass grave with the remains of 59 skeletons that date to 13.000 years, near Jebel Sahaba in Nubia.

Afterwards, a mission from Belgium University of KU Leuven, presided over by Professor Biir Firmersh, started its studies at the zone form Qena to Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt.

In 1970, at Nazlt Kahter in Sohag Governorate, a skeleton in bad conditions, another one in better conditions, were found in a burial near the area’s quarries. The skeleton belonged to a young man whose spine suffered distortions. Probably the reason is that since he was young, he was working at quarries, so he always had to bend for long time at narrow tunnels. Nearby the skeleton, a stone slab, like the ones at the quarries, was found.

Until nowadays, this skeleton is the oldest one discovered in Egypt. It shows how human breeds developed on Egyptian soil.

Discovering the skeleton was very important for two reasons: Firstly, the Upper Paleolithic age’s monuments found in Egypt are rare. Secondly, this age witnessed the appearance of modern human, known as Homo sapiens, who was identified as “Nazlt Khater” that dates to 37,000 years. The human of Nazlt Kahtr was the first Egyptian that Egyptian soil preserved his remains.

In 1980, the KU Leuven’s mission carried the skeleton to Belgium for restoration and scientific studies. Afterwards Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities recovered. Most probably, it will be displayed at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization located in Fustat. The museum’s area is 130 thousand SQM, and it contains 50 thousand archaeological pieces from different ages.

This is the story of the oldest Egyptian human being whose remains were preserved by Egyptian soil.

Translator: Maydaa Abo El-Nadar