The Iberian Prince and His Crystal Dagger

 

A team excavating the megalithic tomb of Montelirio tholos (PP4-Montelirio Structure 10.049) in southwestern Spain found a 5000-year dagger formed from rock crystal. Experts say it is the "most technically sophisticated" ever to be uncovered in Prehistoric Iberia and would have taken enormous skill to carve. In addition to the dagger, they found arrowheads and cores for making the weapons. The tomb was the burial site of 25 persons, mostly females between the ages of 20 and 30 (likely to serve him in the next life). Grave goods included elephant tusks, jewelry, gold, clay pots, and an ostrich egg.

The exquisite dagger and other grave goods indicate that this is the burial site of a ruler whose wealth compares to that of the ruler buried at Varna. Grave 43 from the Varna cemetery contained more gold than has been found at any other archaeological site from that epoch.

Biblical populations often placed ostrich eggs in graves. Some were painted. This 7th-century BC painted ostrich egg was found on Cyprus.The ostrich egg among the grave goods indicates the hope for life after death. 

The incised ostrich eggs (shown below) were found at a 3000 BC Etruscan burial site in Vulci, Italy. They are said to be devoted to Hathor (later called Isis). This burial site dates to the same time as the elite tomb where the crystal dagger was found.

British Museum

Painted or incised ostrich eggs have been found at ancient settlements in Africa, including El-Badari, Nubia and Nekhen, especially in the graves of children. At a Naqada burial site, a decorated ostrich egg replaced the owner's missing head. That egg is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.

Evidence of hope for life after death is expressed also by the highly valued allochthonous red pigments

on the walls of the tomb. The red pigments consisted of imported cinnabar mixed with small amounts of iron oxides. Humans have been burying chiefs and other elite persons with pigments such as red ochre, a symbolic blood covering, for at least 100,000 years.

The elephant tusks and ostrich egg were brought from Africa. Clearly, people of the Levant were making and trading diverse goods across great distances during the Chacolithic period. The ruler was probably part of the Bell Beaker phenomenon, a huge multicultural trade network. It is associated with the diffusion of haplogroup R1b-L11 (and subclades) across central and western Europe and shares genetic ancestry with Prehistoric African populations. The dispersion is shown on this map.

Related reading: A Prince and His Wives; The Ancient Tumuli of Nobles; Early Resurrection Texts; "Easter Eggs" in Antiquity; Mysteries of decorated ostrich eggs in British Museum revealed

"Easter" Eggs in Antiquity

Painted ostrich egg 7th century BC
Credit: De Agostini Picture Library 

Alice C. Linsley

The first painted eggs were ostrich eggs. The painted ostrich egg in the photo above was found on Cyprus. Habiru/Hebrew priests were living there from great antiquity. Barnabas (Joses) was a Levite and a native of Cyprus according to Acts 4:36.

Painted eggs represented the hope of eternal life or immortality. This is evident from archaeological finds throughout Africa. They have been found in many graves of children in ancient Nubia. At Naqada, a decorated ostrich egg replaced the owner's missing head. This egg is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In the Oriental Museum there are examples of ostrich eggs which have been decorated over their entire surfaces. Painted or incised ostrich eggs have been found in El-Badari. 

Ostrich eggs, which are as hard as earthenware when dry, were used in prehistoric times throughout the Nile valley as perfume containers, ablution bowls, and as canteens. Archaeologists working at Nekhen, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship, found a large cache of ostrich eggshells at HK6, a pillared hall. These appear to have religious significance. Painted ostrich eggs have been found in tombs at Nekhen. 

Ostrich feathers were worn in the hair of warriors and rulers of ancient Egypt, and the Egyptian goddess Ma'at is shown with an ostrich feather in her hair. Using this feather, she weighed the hearts of the dead to determine who would enter eternal life and who would experience the second death (Rev. 2:11, 20:14).

The oldest find of decorated ostrich eggshells includes 270 engraved shell fragments, excavated in the area of Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa. These are between 65,000 and 55,000 years old.

The ostrich represents the Winter Solstice.  This explains why the ostrich is placed between the Bull (symbol of the Autumnal Equinox) and the Griffin Vulture (symbol of the Spring Equinox) in Elihu's discourse on the transcendence of the Creator in the book of Job. The Winter Solstice marks the end of the old year and the birth of a new year.

Abraham's Horite Hebrew people observed the Spring Equinox (March 21-22), the Summer Solstice (June 21-22), the Autumnal Equinox (Sept. 21-22), the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21-22). From the Winter Solstice, the hours of daylight lengthen, and the Sun is shown to be Sol Invictus ("the undefeated Sun"). This is symbolized by the ostrich which hides its head for a time by lying flat against the ground, and after the Winter Solstice, it begins laying its eggs. The wild ostrich, which originates in Africa, produces 90% of its eggs between January and March.

Ostrich eggs were traded by Abraham's ancestors, some of whom were rulers in Kerma, between the third and fourth cataracts on the Upper Nile. These rulers, such as Nimrod (son of Kush), established trade routes that connected the interior of Africa to Egypt, Arabia, Syria, India, and Mediterranean islands such as Cyprus. They traded exotic hardwoods, animals and their skins, ivory, ostrich eggs and ostrich feathers. "Through the wealth built up by this exchange of goods, the Nubians of Kerma became exceedingly rich...." (The Nubians by R.S. Bianchi)

Five decorated ostrich eggs were found in a tomb with dedication to Isis (the goddess based on Hathor). The eggs shown above are in the British Museum's collection. They are embellished with animals, flowers, geometric patterns, soldiers and chariots. Archaeologists usually find the eggs in the burial sites of high-status individuals. Dr. Tamar Hodos (University of Bristol) believes that these were probably "luxury" grave goods. 

In earlier civilizations it was common for the people to regard the King as a representative of his subjects. It was hoped that a righteous king would overcome death and lead his people to immortality. 

In the Eastern Orthodox churches patterned eggs are a central part of the celebration of the Pascha. After the Divine Liturgy people gently click their eggs together in greeting. For Christians, the Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe in Him will share in His eternal life as citizens of His eternal kingdom.


Related reading: The Egg in Exodus; The Ostrich in Biblical Symbolism; Paleolithic Ostrich Eggshells; Ostrich Egg Water Containers; Paleolithic "Easter" Eggs; Mysteries of decorated ostrich eggs in British Museum revealed; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection

Ostrich Eggshells: Evidence of Paleolithic Easter Eggs?

Long before human communication evolved into incessant tapping on computer keys, people scratched on eggshells.

Don't laugh -- researchers say a cache of ostrich eggshells engraved with geometric designs demonstrates the existence of a symbolic communication system around 60,000 years ago among African hunter-gatherers.

The unusually large sample of 270 engraved eggshell fragments, mostly excavated over the past several years at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa, displays two standard design patterns, according to a team led by archaeologist Pierre-Jean Texier of the University of Bordeaux 1 in Talence, France.

Each pattern enjoyed its own heyday between approximately 65,000 and 55,000 years ago, the investigators report in a paper to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

From here.  For related news go here.


Alice C. Linsley


Ostrich eggs were used in prehistoric times throughout the Nile valley as perfume containers, bowls for oblutions, and as canteens. Ostrich feathers were worn in the hair of warriors and rulers of ancient Egypt, and the Egyptian goddess Ma'at is shown with an ostrich feather in her hair. She weighed the hearts of the dead to determine who would enter eternal life.

Painted ostrich eggs have been found in tombs at Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) in Sudan. This is the oldest known site to which the Horite ruler-priests can be traced. They were devotees of Horus, son of Ra, born of Hathor-Meri who conceived when she was overshadowed by the Sun. Nekhen was a Horite shrine city dedicated to Horus whose totem was the falcon or hawk. Early dynastic Egypt adopted the Horite religion. Proto-Saharan nobles were buried with red ochre at Nekhen (4000-3500 BC).

Painted ostrich eggs clearly expressed the hope of life after death because they were place by grieving parents in the graves of children in ancient Nubia.

The ostrich represents the Winter Solstice. This explains why the ostrich is placed between the Bull (symbol of the Autumnal Equinox) and the Griffin Vulture (symbol of the Spring Equinox) in Elihu's discourse on the Transcendence of the Creator in the book of Job.


Related reading: Easter Eggs in Antiquity; Chronology of the Genesis Rulers; The Ostrich in Biblical Symbolism