Where was the Lost Kingdom of Yam? | An Ancient Civilization Swallowed by the Desert
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- čas přidán 18. 01. 2024
- One of the most enduring problems in Egyptology is the location of Yam, a kingdom that the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom traded with. What specialists know about this civilization come from a handful of lines in a few Old Kingdom texts, and while it is known that a trading mission to the land of Yam took between six and eight months, it’s not at all clear where Yam was located.
For Egyptologists, Yam is literally a “lost civilization”. Theories abound as to where it could have possibly been, but the two main contenders were a location in Upper Nubia, and a location somewhere in the sands of the Western Desert.
Since the 2000s, a series of what seem like chance archaeological discoveries have been totally changing the state of knowledge, and the Lost Kingdom of Yam may have at last been found.
SOURCES:
A hieroglyphic inscription found at Jebel Uweinat mentioning Yam and Tekhebet, Clayton et al 2008
Reconsidering the Location of Yam, Cooper 2012
I heard it was overtaken by the sweet potato empire.
Ha! That’s great! I’m pinning this
When I saw the title I thought of a similar joke.
@@Prodigi50 my wife really, really wanted me to put a yam in the video, and my dog was irritating me so much during editing that I totally forgot. Needless to say she was less than thrilled and I’ve been kicking myself all day lmao
I just learned yam is from west-africa and potato as I remember is from south-america.
I was thinking more of spinach; after all, I yam what I yam.
More obscure lost civilizations please! This is my favorite topic in archeology.
More coming
@@TheFallofRome Are you planning on covering the Sao Civilization anytime soon?
It's always a sad time, but also such a joy to hear of lost civilizations, because it means there is much yet to be discovered!
I had never heard of this civilization. Thank you so much for introducing me to it.
Archeologist cannot find where it was but it was constantly mentioned in ancient Egyptian text
You’re welcome!
With the way sand drifts and forms dunes, it's very likely that it's filled in entire once lush valleys and completely buried entire cities.
Oh absolutely. I’m not aware of any, but I would be very interested in looking at an in-depth LiDAR survey of the region
You could have a 500' deep valley filled with 200' of sand, and Even Ground penetrating Radar would be useless. Lidar doesn't go below the surface. Just doing a little google earth surfing after watching this vid, all the valleys associated with all the dry lakes all over the sahara, are all filled with sand. Even trying to find the outflow if the dry lake that was discussed in the video, was impossible. you could only guess by where it was sandy and not rocky.
@@TheFallofRome
I do remember seeing imagery from orbital radar satellites that clearly show river valleys in the Western Desert. Now when water last flowed in to valleys is something else entirely.
Another valley that is likely filled up with slit is the Nile Valley in Lower Eqypt. Just how much lower was the Nile River before sea levels rose at the end of the last glacial advance. And no I'm not thinking about 12,000 year old precursor civilizations to the Egyptians. But there is likely archeological evidence of hunter gatherer cultures buried under 200 or 300 feet of silt.
To add about the Sahara not being a desert in the Bronze Age: It appears to have been a global thing with the whole world being strangely warm and wet followed by a strangely cold and dry Bronze Age Collapse corresponding to the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt, Gutian rule in Mesopotamia, and the Dark Ages in Archaic Greece
Yeh I believe the shang in china fell around the same time which might add fuel to the idea
@baswar it fell not to the ice, but to the rain that proceeded it. Chinese legends speak of monsoon rains so frequent that all of China's river valleys were lakes and there was no reliable farmland. This went on for two generations, then all records simply cease.
The warm and dry period preceded Bronze age. By the time Egypt was unified ~3000 BCE, deserts were already taking over - the drying conditions in the deserts driving people together into the Nile valley may even have been the trigger of the Egyptian statehood. This does not mean that a big lake would disappear overnight - lake Moeris in Faiyum also gradually shrank during the history of ancient Egypt, which was all pretty much as dry as nowadays.
There has to be so many sites under the Sahara sand that would totally rewrite history
I once read a documentary on this subject called "The Nameless City" by some american author of early 20th century. It had a lot of interesting insight on the topic!
Lovecraft?
...yes. Fascinating story. Was Yam his inspiration ??
I love looking at entities that have only a few mentions but otherwise are unknown, and seeing where scholars think they might have been located.
That was a great and informative video, thank you!
Just one minor observation--it's "Elephan-tiny." The final "e" there gets pronounced as a long [English 'long'] "e."
Anyway, the advancements in our knowledge and understanding of ancient civilizations in the past few decades have really made me grateful to live in the time I do, especially with so many excellent historians working to bring some of that knowledge to the hoi polloi. Your channel is one of my favourites in this regard; thank you again for all of your hard work. Maybe one day inshallah it will get the broader dissemination it deserves.
I love the Sahara and it's history! It would be wonderful to see more archaeology done at interesting potential sites, especially at paleolakes and paleorivers, like the Tamanrasset River in the Western Sahara.
What's amazing is that the Sahara is roughly the size of the Contiguous US. Think of how much of it is just barren and largely uninvestigated. It must be an archaeological smorgasbord.
@@briancooney9952 And untouched this entire time, nobodies been to the middle of the Sahara for a VERY long time.
I thoight I'd heard of all ancient civilizations until I watched your video on the Oxus Civilization.
Since then i get giddy anytime i see "civilization" in the thumbnail of your videos.
Indeed, the idea that there was some kingdom clinging on to the rapidly declining aquifer of some paleolake deep inside the deserts West of the Nile, is a very seductive temptress. It even conjures images up of adventurous archeology still being possible in the present time. No amount of tech or other modernity can bust away the fact that many places are simply unexplored due to lack of reason or interest to go there.
The issue isn't lack of interest, it's the fact that adventurism into less-than-stable regions of the world is generally a bad idea if you value your life. North Sudan is one such region.
Kindgom of Yam when Kingdom of Thanksgiving arrives:
Really good video. I'd never heard of this kingdom. I also like how you talk about the climate history of the Sahara. I imagine there are many other kingdoms and peoples from history we know nothing about, just as there are many, many cultures that we know existed but know so little about.
You're welcome! And yes, the history of the Earth's climate is quickly becoming a major influence in many different fields, not just Ancient Egyptian, but Rome as well, for example. I would image that as technology continues to improve we'll make more discoveries, such as the recent crop of cities discovered in the Amazon
Thanks. I had not heard of the Yam. Always learning something new here.
You’re welcome!
Your podcasts are brilliant...wish I had teachers like you!!
How interesting I only found out about Yam a few days ago from a youtube video and then you make this video. Overall very interesting how we still found out so many cool things.
I love this stuff. Thanks for another fascinating video.
Thank you for this and all your videos!
There is an archeological site in northern Israel called Atlit Yam. Atlit is the current village name. But I have no clue why the Yam part.
"Yam" (written ים and pronounced "yahm") is a Hebrew word meaning sea. Atlit-Yam is under the sea off Atlit, hence the name.
There is a tuber named Yam. I have no clue why. Thought there might be connection
@@phunkracy a yam is a big white carrot, don't know where it originates from but seems some kind of basic food all over the global south.
@@willempasterkamp862 yam crops originate in West Africa.
Yams have been in West Africa for over 60,000 years.
Egyptian herald: “Your Majesty, I present the ambassador from Yam!”
Ambassador [frowns]: “Ahem, it’s pronounced ‘Yahhhm’.”
Awesome video!
Thank you!
thanks for the vid!
Please make a Lost Civilizations Iceberg at some point.
Interesting stuff.
Thank you for the analysis
I yam what I yam.
I must admit, I’m more interested in finding the lost kingdom of ham.
The more we learn, the more we understand what we thought was impossible happened. Science is how to solve problems. Why do people fight science?
As the paleo-lake area declined towards unsustainability, the population might have gradually dwindled into nothing, _or_ the inhabitants might have taken a decision to relocate elsewhere. I wonder if there are any indications in contemporary Egyptian documents, or in archeological remains such as pottery, of such an influx, even if there are no explicit mentions of the name of Yam?
They probably went south with the receding Sahel climate, moving towards what would become Bantu lands in another 800 years.
@@Pistolita221 The people as far north as Yam certainly weren't related to Bantu as Bantus were already expanding in Cameroon(but very slowly) at that time. I have read a paper that suggest the Yam were Cushitic, specifically Oromo.
@@LibrarianSankore I said I think they moved south towards the bantu, at what point did I claim they're bantu?
The desert was hungry!
Thank you!
Good episode. O7
Hey, why did you private your series on fac sim? I was about to recommend it to a buddy
Attracting the wrong sorts of people, to be expected I suppose. If you want to recommend something to a friend, I would recommend Passmore’s “very short introduction” on the subject, and Paxton’s books as well. If they’re more interested in the Japanese side of things, Tansman is your go-to
What is fac sim?
You should do the amazonian civilizations
To me it seems pretty obvious that the Sahara was still able to support civilization even kingdoms before and ending in this period.....however almost all of them were forced to move to the north coast, or to Egypt, which could be why its population is so dense in ancient times.
Is there any chance that the ancient land of Punt and the Kingdom of Yam could be 2 different names for the same place?
I don't think so, Punt was coastal and Yam was not.
Punt is believed to be located in what we would consider northern Somali today.
Thanks
I'm confident there's something like this in the Arabian Desert, too. IDK what, or where but there's been civilization in that area for SO LONG.
You know, there's a chance that at one point the Kingdom of Yam might have been spread from Shendi-Butna to the Third Cataract of the Nile and maybe even some of those Desert Oases. It was at the very least a multi-polis (multiple large cities). Now the reach could have changed in time depending on the circumstances but that's another issue.
They could have had multiple large cities on the lake.
Excellent work! Being an archaeologist and researcher into lost civilisations, my interest in Minoans and pre-dynastic Egypt (Robert Schock's views on the Sphinx, for instance), have been put on hold.
I will now do some digging into the Yam culture.
The 6 to 8 months round trip suggests that it was located much further from Egypt than Nubia.
What about sea travel ?
Set forbids all sea travel over the desert as a blasphemy. Instead try the Red Sea where Nu rules, she might be of a different mind.
In Robert bauval’s book black genuses he claimed he found yam. Is he mistaken?
Probably, yes. The location of the country-if is indeed a country and not just a city or very large town-is an enduring problem in Egyptology. What I presented in this video is just an idea that some specialists have, but it’s not one hundred percent confirmed
Further Research needed for more definitive results!🤔
Yam is the power that be
👍
It sounds delicious!
The kingdom must have been eaten up by its rivals for obvious reasons.
Most likely. It was only mention in the old kingdom
because it was made of Yam?.
I wonder if it's a coincidence but there's an Arab tribe in Southern Saudi Arabia close to the borders of north Yemen called "Yam" their descendants call themselves Al-Yami "of Yam"
It is possible since we know historically that Africans crossed the Red Sea into Southern Arabia/ Yemen to establish a strong presence there.
There's also an Oromo group that medieval Egyptians called Yamyam. The Earlier Africans that made it to Yemen are certainly Cushitic speakers as are the Oromo. What if Yam was like a later part of Cushitic dispersal?.
Na. Likely in Ethiopia next to "Punt".
It's not it's somewhere in western Sudan
@@NubiansNapata na. Western Sudan isn't a thing.
@@menelikjegna western Sahara in Sudan. Why are Ethiopians and Somali always trying to put themselves into sudanese historym
Kingdom of Yam refers to Jerusalem only (of ancient geography) ... it refers to seat of god hades / yama / jama / jam
The Sweet Potato Empire fell at the same time, as the rise of the Kumara Kingdom of Polynesia. 😊
Coincidence, or did aliens help the Polynesians erect the colossal statues made of sweet yams on their islands ?
😊
Aliens did it
🗿👍
Deserts of Kharak
3:27 African Dwarves? like litterally?
Apparently, yeah. It’s one of the “products”, if we can call it that, listed in Old Kingdom sources
@@TheFallofRomeProbably the pygmies of Congo
I'm no expert but dwarfs if that's still politically correct to use,are from my understanding jungle people(west/central africa,,,,but lake Chad used to be the biggest lake in the world,and the first pastoralist's of Libya used ancient lush extinct river's,,,maybe they exploited the delicate systems with animals,and could no longer exploited (black)slaves no more
First!!!
Sand found them yammy😂
isnt yam the god of the sea
Hyper clickbait thumbnail
The name is similar to bushmen root names,San,sam and yam maybe ( :.
Is that where Yammy Swamies from?
Use of the letter Y is at 8% fully literate after the middle kingdom spike of the Khufu period, and just before the bronze age collapse.
So they finally found Ozymandias' place!
No climate change protesters in those days. 'Stop Cow Farts'.
Yeah it's almost like climate change has accelerated and gotten worse or something.
Yep, The Little Ice Age was a bad, cold moment . Luckily it has gotten a bit warmer the last 150 years.
No man-made climate change back then. No political system that allows the people to voice their opinions. Protesting is a GOOD thing
Cow farts contain large amounts of methane gas and contribute heavily to the problem since we have so many cows. It's a serious problem.
You can learn a lot about the world when you stop listening to right wing propaganda.
it was right next to sweet potato
If it was possible for an acient civilization to be swallowed by desert, would that make a civilization drowned by the sea a possibility.
# Atlantis is real wink wink
It is possible, but Atlantis was just a saga. Instead try Rungholt.
@@rursus8354 Or Doggerland(kinda)
Its possible but like, Atlantis still doesn't match. If this desert story was like situated in central europe it won't be believable and Atlantis has a similar issue.