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Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen are all possible locations of the Land of Punt.
Throughout their history the ancient Egyptians recorded making voyages to a place called the 'Land of Punt'. To the Egyptians it was a far-off source of exotic animals and valuable goods.

From there they brought back perfumes, panther skins, electrum, and, yes, live baboons to keep as pets. The voyages started as early as the Old Kingdom, ca. 4,500 years ago, and continued until just after the collapse of the New Kingdom 3,000 years ago.

Egyptologists have long argued about the location of Punt. The presence of perfumes suggests that it was located somewhere in Arabia, such as Yemen. However the depiction of a giraffe, at a temple built by Queen Hatshepsut, tells archaeologists that Punt is likely somewhere in Africa - perhaps around Ethiopia, Eritrea or Somalia.

There are even suggestions that it could be further south on the African coastline, perhaps as far as Mozambique.

The surviving Egyptian texts give only vague references to its location. An example below records a voyage sponsored by the Pharaoh Ramesses III. Author Pierre Grandet wrote:

I built great ships ... which were equipped with countless crewmen. Laden with products beyond number from Egypt ... (and then) sent to the great Sea of Muqed, they reached the mountains of Punt without any misfortune befalling them.

Finding Punt

To solve the mystery of where Punt was, a team of scientists is turning to two mummified baboons in the British Museum. They date back about 3,000 years, a time when Egyptians were voyaging to Punt and acquiring the animals as pets.

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© William WarbyPortrait of an olive baboon in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
One was found at Thebes and the other in the Valley of the Kings.

The team is conducting oxygen isotope tests on the preserved hairs of the baboons. Oxygen isotopes act as a 'signal' that can tell scientists where an animal is from.

"We have hair samples from the older mummified ones in the British Museum and depending on how the results look the curators are willing to give us bone samples," said Nathaniel Dominy of University of California Santa Cruz, who is a member of the team doing the work.

He said that bone is better for this test than hair because it grows slower and keeps its original oxygen isotope signature longer.

To aid in narrowing down the location of Punt the team is also performing oxygen isotope tests on samples of modern day baboons from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Uganda and Mozambique. If the oxygen isotope signatures of these baboons match their ancient counterparts the team will know where Punt was.

The other team members are Professor Salima Ikram, one of the foremost experts on animal mummies, and graduate student Gillian Leigh Moritz, also of Santa Cruz.