Ferdinand Guidano spent a lot of his free time collecting Egyptian artifacts. When he wasn’t doing legal work, he was likely out there trying to find fascinating little windows into the past.
In the 1850s, it was entirely possible to uncover items of incredible historical significance in antique shops. That wasn’t what was unusual about today’s excursion—it was the magnificence and detail of this particular piece that caught Guidano’s eye, and for good reason. Here’s what this stone he found in a shop in Palermo (in present-day Italy) looked like:
Guidano knew he had something good on his hands, but he had no idea this was likely the most significant finding about Ancient Egypt since the discovery of the Rosetta Stone half a century earlier.
Palermo and Stone Stories
While the Rosetta Stone unlocked the mysteries of language, the Palermo Stone began to open a window into history, unlocking an entirely new dimension of understanding about ancient Egyptian civilization. Its inscriptions presented a labyrinth of symbols and markings, and although it was no easy feat to interpret the meaning, thanks to the Rosetta Stone, scholars could now do just this.
What they discovered was nothing short of groundbreaking. The stone contained a chronological list of Pharaohs, offering unprecedented insights into the political structure of ancient Egypt. This 2400-year-old artifact wasn’t just a registry or some simple list of monarchs, though—it was a detailed account of their reigns.
It was a telescope to peer into the distant past.
History
Our limited understanding of history goes something like this: around 5000 years ago, people in a few different places around the world, including ancient Egypt, began congregating in cities. This is when writing began independently in Sumer and Egypt, and then a few centuries later in the Indus Valley, China, and then Mesoamerica.
This narrative suggests that civilizations gradually added complexity over time, but they began tentatively.
The Palermo Stone kind of destroyed this prevailing wisdom.
Far from tentatively inching their way into complexity, the ancient Egyptians already had a highly organized society, intricate religious ceremonies, and a sophisticated political structure—all within an era we might have mistakenly thought of as rudimentary.
With meticulous accounts of offerings made to gods, gifts exchanged with foreign leaders, and detailed tax records, the Stone let us know that the Egypt of five millennia ago was multifaceted and sophisticated.
The Lessons Ahead
Today, the Palermo Stone is recognized to be one of seven pieces of a larger artifact, collectively known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. Collectively, these fragments have added layers to our understanding of the intricacies of human history as a whole.
This is also a reminder that serendipity plays a role in how much we know about ourselves. Ferdinand Guidano’s lucky find is a poignant reminder that history often has hidden depths beyond what we know today.
Guidano wasn’t just lucky, though: he had a strong sense of propriety, and a genuine appreciation for how important these discoveries were. In 1866, he donated the Stone to the Palermo Archaeological Museum, where it is still on display today.
The Palermo Stone not only challenges our preconceptions about ancient civilizations but also underscores the serendipitous nature of historical discovery. It serves as a stark reminder that the past is more complex than we often assume, waiting to be unearthed by those who seek to understand it.
In light of this important discovery, which gave us insight into a complex world we had little idea existed 5000 years ago, I want to ask you: what are some unexpected historical discoveries you can think of? Without going all “Ancient Aliens”, what sorts of misconceptions about the ancient world might we have today?
I've been enjoying going even further back with Graham Hancock's work on ancient civilizations and the catastrophe of the Younger Dryas comet strike.
Africa’s oldest known boat, the Dufuna canoe was discovered in Dufuna village, Yobe state, by a Fulani Herdsman in May 1987, while he dug a well. Various radio-carbon tests were conducted in laboratories of reputable universities in Europe and America and results revealed that the canoe is over 8,000 years old, thus making it the oldest in Africa and 3rd oldest in the world. The discovery of the canoe has completely changed accepted theories of the history and sophistication of marine technology in Africa.