The Land of Fantastic Treasures and How to Get There: Modeling Routes to Punt

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The name Punt, the fabulous land of the gods, is known since the discovery and excavation of the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. The queen undertook a commercial expedition to the land of Punt to collect precious materials to carry back to Egypt. Such resources were crucial for performing religious ceremonies and funerary rituals. Although the matter of Punt’s location is still open for debate, archaeological investigations of the last decades have suggested that part of Punt was located in Eastern Africa, including modern Eastern Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia. The information regarding the route(s) to Punt, how to get there, and the organization of expeditions to Punt are scarce and incomplete. This study presents a methodology involving remote sensing and GIS analyses to identify such long-distance trade routes based on geomorphology, information extracted from ancient texts, and nutritional studies. The identified route(s) are the most advantageous and efficient, connecting Memphis (modern Cairo, ancient capital of Egypt) and Eastern Sudan (part of Punt).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35967.0