Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
by Edward F. Malkowski
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Book Summary Information
Author: Edward F. MalkowskiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-12-20
ISBN: 1591430488
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Bear & Company
Book Reviews of Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
Book Review: Flawed Compilation of Necessary Unorthodox Science Projects about Civilization One
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is about the origins of the ancient Egyptian culture. It includes such issues as the erosion derived age of the Sphinx, the possible use of Khufu's Pyramid as a power plant, the Mediterranean valley culture theory, a Mayan origin speculation, a general stone age Mother Goddess society, the "Osiris" legend told via numerology (i.e. not really via general mysticism) and some other issues referenced. Over all, the inclusion and lack of topics appears to be quite arbitrary, resulting from the specific books the author had read rather coincidentally. As such, he focuses on these some half a dozen books, some of which are not that incredibly recent. Rarely does it become clear, wether the author/compiler actually agrees with the books he is recounting. Occasionally, he is even contradicting "himself" this way, apparently at least some times involuntarily. The very detailed start on the age of the Sphinx starts promising, actually updating that debate, not only re-narrating the respective other book, referring to the counter arguments and counter counter findings. At other times, the author failed to update his sources.
For example the 19th (!) century book on the supposed Mayan origin of Egyptian culture. He didn't even include the 1970s classic "update" They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, which is actually reversing the connection and that much more convincing. A natural reversing, as Egyptian culture gets dated ever more ancient, while Mayan culture stays as young as it is by comparison. It would have to be the preceding Olmecs to start with, but even they are too young. He puts that theory in question at the end of that chapter, yet, he is not really doing that issue a service either. Even by just referencing other books, this doesn't get clear in every instance and most certainly it doesn't excuse not correcting wrong assumptions or putting them forward himself. In this example, a Mayan queen's name, "icin", meaning "Little Sister", would have morphed into "Isis" of Egypt. The meaning doesn't make any sense in the Egyptian context to begin with, but the major flaw is that the Egyptians never called Auset/Aset/Ast etc. "Isis". That was the much later Greek rendering of her name... Referenced Thor Heyerdahl proved the crossing of the ocean(s) all right. TO America, not FROM, which is a difference in chosen re-built ancient vessels and currents. The letter "m" is supposed to derive from a Mayan version. However, in reality, it is clearly derived from the hieroglyphic Egyptian word for "sea". In other European languages the sea is still called "mare", "Meer" etc. The "m" represented the wavy seawater surface.
Yet Malkowski is doing a better and more sound job than the in some respects quite similar Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients by David Hatcher Childress. The latter is more concerned with sensationalism. Which becomes obvious, when both books extensively directly or indirectly quote the same book, The Giza Power Plant : Technologies of Ancient Egypt. Hatcher headlines (and nothing else in this matter) that an H-bomb destroyed the supposed machinery inside the pyramid, while Malkowski elaborates that by that the gas hydrogen is referred to, which supposedly was pyramid-inherently used for chemical-physical processes, potentially igniting during an earthquake. Though I have to say, as intriguing as this theory sounds in general, as quoted in both books it lacks convincing evidence, but most certainly no amount of speculation. Which is always necessary to propel us forward in eventual knowledge - knowing that some speculation on the way will turn out to have been just that. I still haven't read, what exactly was supposed to get powered by in ancient Egypt and why any other pyramid canNOT be used for this theory...
Also the Mediterranean valley culture theory is more convincingly presented in "Before the Pharaos". However, not fully. There are significant differences between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bosporus the author is carelessly equating. The former wasn't existing the last time more than 5.3 million years ago (that's more than 26 times the mount of time humans dwell on Earth). It's respective (dis)connections are a result of plate tectonics. The gap is 13 km (8 miles) at it's narrowest point and the ground level is plate edge ocean floor, between 300 and 900 meters (some 1,000 - 3,000 feet) deep. The Bosporus on the other hand didn't exist before the end of the last more severe ice age: Melting ice made a river bed deeper and wider, then the rising sea level pushed through that river from the other way. It is 30 km (some 19 miles) long, but at places only 700 m (some 2,300 feet) wide and only 36 - 124 m (118 - 407 feet) deep. It is NOT representing the boundaries of plates, as the CURRENT European-Asian borders are nothing, but political constructs. True is that the sea level was much lower and as culture(s) usually settle at ports, there are a lot of ruins under water now. (Which will be the same case scenario with our culture soon.) The scenario illustrated in this book is highly exaggerated. In reality, the already existing Mediterranean cultures stretched a bit further into what today is under water. There wasn't this much land space during human times for an entirely different culture in some sort of huge valley. Under water ruins are true for other places on Earth, such as in western India. Flood stories are true not only for the selectively depicted "Old Known World" societies in this book, but also e.g. for ancient Australia. It may have been a tsunami of any possible source (earth quake, vulcano, meteor or: melted continental ice water as in a huge sea like lake breaking into the ocean at once, such as happened via Canada). In other words: We should stay with the existing land masses for theories of ancient cultures or if not, then at least address the geological evidence such as in this paragraph to make such theories at least potentially viable.
By the way, there are ancient(-derived) maps in existance which must have been (originally) made during the very ancient times this book is talking about. So yes, those very ancients were much more sophisticated than their descendents. Those maps indeed depict a lower sea level - one that is consistent with what would have to be expected, i.e. no wild exaggerations. Read and see Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age.
There are books by specialists on special issues. They know, what they are talking about and the progressive ones undertake career killer science projects themselves with an open mind to gain ever more knowledge. And yes, once in a while, it is necessary for someone to put all those books in a holistic picture. This book is neither by such a specialist, nor a researcher other than researching books and neither really succeeding in synthesizing the latter. Which becomes clear at several points when the author of 2006 uses outdated sources with NO updates. For example, he is writing about the Venus of Dolní Vìstonice. Supposedly in Czechoslovakia. But that is only true from the time his source book was written. That country doesn't exist anymore. Today, it's Czechia and the town's new name is Okres Bøeclav. Yet, when the Venus was found, the country was Moravia. This may not really matter, however, the following does: The author entangles himself helplessly with the Homo sapiens issue. According to his respective source books he is correct in some chapters, but not in others. There must have been an old source, apparently still addressing a supposed "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis". Today, we know that the Neanderthals are a bit further related to us. But the confusion in this book arises, when the author avers e.g. that Homo sapiens first appeared in Europa, later in Africa. The Neanderthals (by the way stretching into geological Africa, i.e. today's "Middle East") really appeared in Europe, however, they were a variation only of Homo erectus, first appearing in Africa. Today's humans (Homo sapiens sapiens, sometimes abbreviated by dropping one "sapiens") appeared first in Africa and moved into Europe much later as well. The reader has to know all this and more in order not to jump to terribly wrong conclusions by reading this book. Sometimes the author may have phrased his sentences sloppy enough only to involuntarily insinuate a quite Eurocentrist (and wrong) picture, as in other chapters he is less confusing about this.
Speaking of which, occasionally, Malkowski enters the racist path. Describing some facial features as delicate, some skeletal structures as graceful. As in opposition to "robust and archaic" (we all know that this is still a certain euphemism), or the "more primitive human type". Guess, who is meant respectively! He is talking about races, uses the N-word and indeed combines that into the "N****** race". (In reality, there aren't any races and skull measurements should be handled with care.) That gives food for thought for a potential, maybe involuntary bias influencing his theories.
The bottom line is: Theories, even speculations are important, yet they should be worked through better than in this book, amount to more than a few circumstantial evidence scenarios and be void of folk etymology. Neither is the book well structured nor consistently up to date for 2006. The most important map provided does show hardly any locality described, which would have been especially helpfull as these are sites not easily found elsewhere. Yet, some parts were interesting to read and incite further research.
For an essential overstanding in the ancient ancients being more sophisticated than the later ancients, one doesn't have to search for cultures as of yet unknown and entirely buried beneath sea level, but look into the issue of cyclical/spiralling history (instead of linear in terms of progress, with a catastrophe). For that read Lost Star of Myth And Time.
Summary of Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
Presents conclusive evidence that ancient Egypt was originally the remnant of an earlier, highly sophisticated civilization
? Supports earlier speculations based on myth and esoteric sources with scientific proof from the fields of genetics, engineering, and geology
? Provides further proof of the connection between the Mayans and ancient Egyptians
? Links the mystery of Cro-Magnon man to the rise and fall of this ancient civilization
In the late nineteenth century, French explorer Augustus Le Plongeon, after years of research in Mexico?s Yucat?Peninsula, concluded that the Mayan and Egyptian civilizations were related--as remnants of a once greater and highly sophisticated culture. The discoveries of modern researchers over the last two decades now support this once derided speculation with evidence revealing that the Sphinx is thousands of years older than Egyptologists have claimed, that the pyramids were not tombs but geomechanical power plants, and that the megaliths of the Nabta Playa reveal complex astronomical star maps that existed 4,000 years before conventional historians deemed such knowledge possible.
Much of the past support for prehistoric civilization has relied on esoteric traditions and mythic narrative. Using hard scientific evidence from the fields of archaeology, genetics, engineering, and geology, as well as sacred and religious texts, Malkowski shows that these mythic narratives are based on actual events and that a highly sophisticated civilization did once exist prior to those of Egypt and Sumer. Tying its cataclysmic fall to the mysterious disappearance of Cro-Magnon culture, Before the Pharaohs offers a compelling new view of humanity?s past.
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