Forge of Creation

The Valley of Fire deri­ves its name from red sands­tone for­ma­tions, for­med from great shif­ting sand dunes during the age of dino­saurs. Prehis­to­ric users of the Valley of Fire inc­lu­ded the Ancient Pue­blo Peo­ples, also known as the Ana­sazi who were far­mers from the nearby fer­tile Moapa Valley. The span of appro­xi­mate occu­pa­tion has been dated from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D. Their visits pro­bably invol­ved hun­ting, food gathe­ring, and reli­gious cere­mo­nies, although scar­city of water would have limi­ted the length of their stay. Fine exam­ples of rock art left by these ancient peo­ples can be found at seve­ral sites within the park.

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The Tem­ple of Hathor at Den­dera, on the Nile north of Luxor, is one of the latest Egyp­tian tem­ples. Dedi­ca­ted to the wife of the god Horus, it was built in Roman times and its deco­ra­tions inc­lude Roman empe­rors along­side Egyp­tian gods.

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The libra­ries of the Baby­lo­nians have only recently been trans­la­ted. It is no won­der the sto­ries told of deeds very simi­lar to the Hebrew bible since the Hebrews had access to these libra­ries while in “cap­ti­vity”. They desc­ribe the crea­tion of man, the coming of the gods, and the flood story in great detail.

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The many achie­ve­ments of the ancient Egyp­tians inc­lu­ded a sys­tem of mathe­ma­tics, quarr­ying, sur­ve­ying and cons­truc­tion tech­ni­ques that faci­li­ta­ted the buil­ding of monu­men­tal pyra­mids, tem­ples and obe­lisks, faience and glass tech­no­logy, a prac­ti­cal and effec­tive sys­tem of medi­cine, new forms of lite­ra­ture, irri­ga­tion sys­tems and agri­cul­tu­ral pro­duc­tion tech­ni­ques, and the ear­liest known peace treaty. Egypt left a las­ting legacy: art and archi­tec­ture were copied and anti­qui­ties para­ded around the world, and monu­men­tal ruins have ins­pi­red the ima­gi­na­tions of tou­rists and wri­ters for cen­tu­ries. A new­found res­pect for anti­qui­ties and exca­va­tions in the early modern period led to the scien­ti­fic inves­ti­ga­tion of Egyp­tian civi­li­za­tion and a grea­ter appre­cia­tion of its cul­tu­ral legacy for Egypt and the world.

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“The rock faces appear to be dres­sed stone. If this is an arti­fi­cial, man-made struc­ture then it is rea­so­na­ble to assume that it was built or car­ved not under­wa­ter but at a time when this area was above sea level. Indeed, this area has expe­rien­ced major rises in sea levels during and since the Pleis­to­cene (“Ice Age”) and based on well-established stan­dard cur­ves of sea-level rises in the region, as recently as 8,000 to 10,000 years ago the Yona­guni Monu­ment may have been above local sea level. Thus we can sug­gest with some con­fi­dence that if the Yona­guni Monu­ment is a man-made cons­truc­tion then it must be at least 8,000 years old. ”

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