An interesting comment to “The Face of Anubis” from my egyptologist friend defends the Jackal-Head theory about the representation of Anpu/Anubis based on two observations:

• The dog breed Xolo, which I propose as the original face of Anpu, could not have been known outside America, presumably until Columbus discovered the Americas
• The full-body representation of Anpu reminds more of jackals than dogs, and the black color which is not known in any real-life jackal should be attributed to symbolism

I will have to respond on two parts, each responding to one of the observations. Let’s start by examining when Egyptians had close enough contact with America to know about the black dog breed Xolo, protector of the dead in ancient America, enough to adopt the figure as the black-faced Anubis, protector of the dead in ancient Egypt.

There’s a noteworthy book called “Visitors to Ancient America“, pages 38 and 39 of which describe the voyage of the boat Ra II, a 1970 voyage from Africa to America on a papyrus boat designed similarly to ancient Egyptian boats, which proves that Ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians had material and technical knowledge capable of carrying them across the Atlantic**.

But is there evidence of such a voyage having actually happened? Well, it seems adventurers who travel the ocean in ancient-designed boats seem to gain their confidence that it could be done from such evidence. In addition to the well-established Anubis Parallels I mentioned in The Face of Anubis that cannot be attributed to mere coincidence, traces of nicotine and cocaine* found in Ancient Egyptian mummies need explanation. I imagine the cost of tobacco would have been prohibitive to average Egyptians of the time (lucky for them), yet relatively small quantities for the most exclusive consumption seems to have existed. The Old World in general had knowledge of America before Columbus; there is evidence of Nordic countries reaching America, and China had settlements in America, but it’s not today’s topic.

So, to wrap up, contrary to the euro-centric naïvety and self-important beliefs of post-renaissance European adventurers, the Old World almost always had relations with the “New World”, Egypt had trade and possibly more relations with America. And could they have known American mythology and exchanged symbolism? Indeed.

Next part: “Anubis: Jackal, Wolf, or Trans-Atlantic Dog?” presents my findings about the jackal-head claim of nowaday’s egyptology, and will be followed by the Head/Face discussion in a following post God willing.

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* As described here, here, here, here, here and here and discussed here and here

** More can be found here, here, here and here. Also “Current Anthropology” presents a scholarly reference in Santiago Genoves’ paper Papyrus Rafts Across the Atlantic