Its amazing the amount of historical discoveries that, instead of setting the academic world on fire, are covered up because they dont fit into current thinking. Lorraine Evans begins here book with just two such incidences. Two apparently unrelated discoveries of the inter war period set Kingdom of the Ark off into uncharted territory and the conclusions will astound you.
During the excavations at Tara, the burial place of ancient Irish kings, a bronze age burial was descovered in a tomb that was otherwise Neolithic, therefore much older. One of the most important finds was of a faience bead necklace. Faience is a type of fired sand paste, which when treated with certain glazes, creates a marvellous blue or green affect. The problem was these items are common to the mediterranean but unknown to the British Isles at that time. The design and materials pointed to a probably Egyptian origin around 1300BC. The conclusion at the time is that it was traded through Europe until it found its way to Ireland.
The second incident was on the banks of the Humber where two local brothers excavated planks of wood from what seemed to be Viking ships preserved in the mud. The design, size, techniques and even the carbon dating associated with the find again pointed to a much earlier date, and an Egyptain origin. This was clearly the wrong conclusion, and even those eminant professors who were currently embracing the new scientific tecniques coming into play, decided to sweep this one under the table, as it was too difficult a find to easily explain.
One the back of these two events, Evans research uncovered the story of an Egyptians princess traveling to Britain, a story that was tracable through thousands of years of literature. Once you accept the fact the Egyptains could have made such a journey the only question is why would they. Contrary to most held opinions, Egyptain boats were a lot more seaworthy than boats that were to come later, and the only reason they didnt come this way was that there was nothing this far out that they needed.
The story revolves around Scota, not a real name but one that associates the person with the Scotti tribe of Ireland who eventually invaded Scotland, named after them.
To say much more would be to give the game away, but those who know there ancient Egypt, may not be too surprised to find the mysterious and heretical Akhenaten is at the centre. The unweaving of the story relies on some unthinking on the part of the reader, in regard to accepted history, but the joy of any book of this nature is the challenge to the established ideas, boundaries are only there to be stepped over. The archaeological and historical detective work is easy to follow and is backed up by sources and stages of research used. Some of the conclusions require a leap of faith as it were but if you cant trust a career Egyptologist to take care of you through such a journey, who can you trust.
One of the most amazing aspects of the story is the wall of dis-information and stonewalling that Evans was up against from those whose job it is to further knowledge, the libraries, museums and universities. Know one likes to see there Ivory Tower fall but surely the advancement of the facts is more important than the comfortable positions of the establishment Dons. Its almost as if they knew one day someone would try to find out this awkward little secret and they were just springing well thought out defense mechanisms.
Despite all of this Evans writes a compelling story,one that could push accepted history off the beaten track, but then isnt that how we advance our knowledge of the world we inhabit?