The mythical country of Punt was an important trading partner of the Egyptians for at least 1,100 years. It was a prominent source of luxury goods, including frankincense, gold, leopard skins, and live baboons. Located somewhere in the southern Red Sea region of Africa or Arabia, its geographic location has been debated by scholars for more than 150 years.
A study tracing the geographic origins of Egyptian mummified baboons found that they came from an area that includes modern-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen, providing new insight into the location of Punt.
In the study, published in eLife , the great development of navigation by the Egyptians is also demonstrated. A Dartmouth College-led team of researchers, including primatologists, Egyptologists, geographers and geochemists, worked together to analyze the isotopic composition of baboons discovered in ancient Egyptian temples and tombs, and of modern baboons from across East Africa and southern Arabia.
Long-distance shipping between Egypt and Punt, two sovereign entities, was an important milestone in human history because it drove the evolution of maritime technology. The trade in exotic luxury goods, including baboons, was the engine of early nautical innovations explains lead author Nathaniel J. Dominy, the Charles Hansen Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College.
Trade between Egypt and Punt is considered by many scholars to be the first long sea passage in a trade network known as the Spice Route, which will continue to shape geopolitical fortunes for millennia. Other scholars put it more simply, describing the relationship between Egypt and Punt as the beginning of economic globalization he added.
The baboons were central to this trade, so pinpointing the location of Punt is important. For years Punt has been a geographical mystery. Our review is the first to show how mummified baboons can be used to resolve this long-standing debate. .
Ancient Egyptians revered baboons throughout their history, with the earliest evidence dating back to 3000 BC. Baboons were even deified, entering the pantheon of gods as manifestations of Thoth, a god associated with the moon and wisdom.
One species, Papio hamadryas (the sacred baboon), was often depicted in wall paintings and other works as a male in a seated position with his tail curled to the right of his body. The species was among the types of baboons that were mummified in this very position with the cloths carefully wrapped around their limbs and tail.
Another species, Papio anubis (the olive baboon), was also mummified but was typically wrapped in a large cocoon in a way that reflected much less care. However, baboons have never existed naturally in the Egyptian landscape and were a product of foreign trade from the region.
The study focused on mummified baboons from the New Kingdom period (1550-1069 BC) available at the British Museum and specimens from the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BC) available at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London.
In addition, the authors examined tissues from 155 baboons from 77 sites in East Africa and southern Arabia, spanning all hypothetical locations in Punt. The team measured the isotopic compositions of oxygen and strontium and used a method called isotope mapping to estimate the geographic origins of specimens recovered from New Kingdom and Ptolemaic sites in Egypt.
Strontium is a chemical element found in bedrock, which is specific to a geographic location. As strontium erodes, its composition is absorbed by soil and water and enters the food web. As animals drink the water and eat the plants, their teeth, hair, and bones gain a geographic signature that reflects where they have lived in the past and most recently, respectively.
Baboons drink water every day out of necessity. Their bodies reflect the amount of oxygen in the water in the landscape. An animal's adult tooth enamel reflects the unique strontium composition of its environment when the teeth formed early in life. In contrast, hair and bone have isotopic signatures that reflect the preceding months (hair) or years (bone) of feeding behavior. Like strontium, the oxygen compositions (specifically, isotopes) of water can also vary by geographic location, but the researchers found that the data from specimens in this category was inconclusive, reflecting only values specific to Egypt. .
The results demonstrate that the two mummified baboons of P. hamadryas of the New Kingdom period were born outside of Egypt. They most likely came from somewhere in Eritrea, Ethiopia, or Somalia, narrowing down the location of Punt.
The data suggest that a baboon P. hamadryas he must have died within a day or months after arriving in Egypt, as the results indicate that his enamel and hair did not have enough time to absorb the local oxygen signature of the drinking water.
Five species of P. anubis Mummified baboons from the Ptolemaic period reflected levels of strontium that are consistent with an Egyptian origin, providing tantalizing hints of a captive breeding program for baboons at this time, probably at Memphis, the ancient capital of Lower Egypt, northwest of the Red Sea. .
As the researchers explain in the study, their estimated location of Punt is still tentative, but the role baboons played in the Red Sea trade network and their geographic distribution is critical to understanding the historical origins of international maritime trade.