General Introduction

The Land of Punt is known as the land from which the Egyptians frankincense and myrrh, and gold, but still many other imported goods from many ancient Egyptian sources. The various Egyptian documents - some written, some iconographic - do not allow for definitive localization of the country, archaeologically, there are in Egypt himself no legacies that are directly in contact with Punt (possibly forms the Nubian pottery in Mersa Gawasis an exception?). The problem Punt is always hotly debated, below you will find the most important opinions and their arguments summarized.

Possible localizations of Punt

Brugsch, 1857: One of the earliest assumptions was that Punt located on the Arabian Peninsula, which had been adopted at the time, without question. It seemed clear that this could only be the land of perfumes and precious raw materials, the written sources, was to the east of Egypt.
Mariette Only (1875) contradicted this assumption, because in his discovery of Toponymlisten Thutmose III. at Karnak appeared punt on a list of countries in southern Egypt. Above all, the reliefs of the Hatschesputtempels at Deir el-Bahri were punts think through the representation of the flora and fauna of a country in Africa. Where exactly, however, was not yet clear.
duke (1968) was based on this very detailed representations of the country and localized Punt in the Upper Nile and Atbara River between the confluence of the Blue and the White Nile. The expeditions to Punt were therefore partly on land and partly on the Nile by equipping gone. But this contradicts the Hatschepsutdarstellungen, because this show marine life in the water under the ships. A new position finally took a Kitchen in 1971, pointing to the height of today's Port Sudan, extending Punt localized between the Red Sea and the Nile.

Location (jpeg, 97KB)

In Article 1971, two more in 1993 and 1999 that underpinned its position, so that many, such as Degas, 1995 and 1983 O'Connor joined.
Kitchen graduated from the marine animals depicted in Hatshepsut Temple, that Punt should be located by the sea, and that it must have been reached both on land and on water. Since this opinion was considered as a fact, as of Leclant 1978 (p. 69 - 73) or Poznań 1977 (p. 341).

Important representations of Punt, its inhabitants and export goods

The Puntdarstellungen in the Temple of Hatshepsut
's mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut in (18th dynasty, around 1450 BC) at Deir el-Bahri (on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes / Luxor) are detailed pictures of Punt, the only Egyptian representation of a country outside Egypt at all. Hatshepsut had fixed these reliefs during an expedition to Punt.

Hatshepsut Punt fleet (jpeg, 899KB)

Queen Hatshepsut let the ships that undertook an expedition for they represent in their mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. The bottom register shows the ships that empty depart from Egypt, about the middle register you can see how the ships are loaded with goods from Punt. The trees that are visible on the front ship, and are myrrh trees were planted in the temple of Hatshepsut's temple, where today their stumps are visible. At the top are the Puntiten who brought the goods represented (those in proskynesis bow to the name of Hatshepsut). The ring-shaped objects are gold rings, monkeys are also brought a panther and goods in bags. The Puntiten distinguished by their specific costume and their wigs, their appearance differs significantly from that depicted Africans from elsewhere, which is why their African ancestry has been questioned (Meeks, 2003).

Land of Punt (jpeg, 120KB)

Representations of Punt in the Temple of Hatshepsut. To special celebrity came mainly the presentation of the so-called Queen of Punt, characterized by its particularly plump body shapes (lowest and second-lowest register). She stands behind her husband at the head of a procession in front of the Egyptian ambassador. Stilt houses are shown in the lowest register, which is not, as is usually tacitly assumed here must act residences. The upper two registers can again be seen bringing myrrh trees.

The traces were destroyed part of a giraffe and a rhinoceros to see who would show significantly to Africa. Meeks (p. 55) raises here, however, that these animals may have come as a gift to Punt, whom he believes that it is located in Arabia.

Representation of a delegation of Puntiten the grave of Rekhmire
tribute-making delegations from different countries are represented in the grave of the high officials Rekhmire at Thebes (TT 100), among them Puntiten, bring the gold in particular (again, in ring form). They differ significantly in their physiognomy of the other African nations, so they are understood by Meeks as non-African (p. 61).

Grave of Puiemre
Also in the grave Puiemre (time Thutmose III., 18th dynasty, about 1400 BC) found in Thebes representations of Puntiten ( Luise Werlen ).

* The grave Mr. controlled deliveries from Punt: Image (jpeg, 181KB)

* Puntiten bring tribute of Punt: Image (jpeg, 159KB)

Bibliography

Kitchen 1993 Louant 2000, Meek 2003 (see here for more bibliographical information).