Ancient Achievments

“What environmental factors gave the ancient Egyptians such a competitive edge over other civilizations of their era? Enabling them to be able to accomplish such impressive feats of engineering and architecture?”

     Well, that question can be a complex and perplexing one for some people, especially for those who still share the stereo-typical misperception that Ancient Egypt was merely an inhospitable desolate desert wasteland.

     So, while there is no absolute proof as to why the Ancient Egyptians were so advanced in regards to their building strategies, it is always interesting to ponder and speculate upon the possibilities; and to theorize about what gave them such an advantage over other civilizations of the time period.

     In my personal opinion, some of the possible factors which may have contributed to their advanced cognitive performance which enabled them to achieve such impressive feats of architecture and engineering could be:

  1. Diverse agricultural landscape.
  2. Access to an exceptional combination of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
  3. Nutritionally enhanced neurogenesis
  4. Positive hormetic responses to physical labor, periods of famine and hardship.
  5. Heat shock proteins and cold shock protein(Extreme desert heat and cold desert nights).
  6. Environmentally augmented epigenetics.

      Recently there has been a lot of discussions floating around the internet about the Great Pyramids possibly being built by aliens, extra-terrestrials, or other types of supernatural beings, but I personally think that these are misguided concepts, not based on any type of factual evidence. (Even if Joe Rogan repeats them!) I personally do not subscribe to the dea, because I have too much respect for humanities ability to do amazing things. And I believe that the human body and the human race retains their own capabilities necessary to unleash “supernatural” levels of performance; without the involvement of any extraterrestrial interventions!

Diverse Agricultural Landscape

          While it is true that more than 90 percent of Egyptian land is indeed inhospitable desert. The remainder of that land, surrounding the Nile Delta and following the Nile River, has proven to be some of the most fertile and high quality farm land around the world. Mainly due to its exceptionally potent supply of fresh water, delivered by the Nile river, which naturally contains abundant amounts of minerals, micronutrients, beneficial microbes, and organic matter, carried across thousands of miles of North African waterways.

     With an abundant supply of nutrient dense water being delivered by the River, this unique agricultural landscape has historically allowed the Ancient Egyptians to cultivate a wide variety of crops, offering a unique array of fertility benefits for many different types of agricultural cultivars.

     Through thousands of years of experience and trial and error, the ancient Egyptians eventually developed a wide array of irrigation strategies to effectively harnessing the potent waters of the Nile and spread them as far as possible throughout their croplands, giving them the unique opportunity to diversify their selection of crops to a greater extent than almost any other civilizations of the time period.

    Passing this knowledge and wisdom down from generation to generation, Egyptian farmers eventually became experts at utilizing and spreading the Niles fertility and creating an environment of agricultural diversity and prosperity.

     These ancient farmers learned and understood the weather cycles well and were prepared for the annual flooding each year when the Nile river would floods its river banks and deposits millions of tons of silt onto surrounding farmlands. This flooding provided the region with an annual boost in natural fertilizer containing all forms of the necessary macronutrients and micronutrients which crops need and thrive off.

     The ancient farmers utilized their wide range of ancient irrigation strategies (such as canals, dikes, dams, waterwheels, shadoofs, ect), in order to preserve and harness these minerals and spread them as far as possible throughout their croplands, giving them a historically unique opportunity to diversify their selection of crops to a far greater extent than the vast majority of other human communities of the time period.

   This advantageous agricultural landscape offered a wide variety of benefits for Egyptian farmers, and allowed them a major competitive advantage over some of other agriculture dependent societies of the era(most of which didn’t have the same type of fertility delivery system).

     Due to these advantages, the Egyptians have long had the unique ability to grow crops in almost every category of agricultural cultivation, far before the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza(Old kingdom). Historically the ancient Egyptians were known to cultivate a diverse range of crops which could supply almost every nutritional requirement knowm to modern man(many centuries before the Great Pyramids of Giza we built)

They grew calorically dense grains such as wheat and barley.

They grew phytonutrient dense crops such as vegetables and fruits.

Plus they grew mineral dense crops such as beans and lentils.

    With these numerous crops being accompanied by a wide range of animal proteins such as fish, shrimp, eel, shellfish, beef, dairy, pork, goat, duck, goose, ect. As you might imagine, a pharaoh or high ranking royal family members would have access to an impressive array of dietary options.

Historically exceptional combination of phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and protein

     So given the diversity of their agricultural landscape, it is without doubt that the high status individuals tasked with commanding and organizing the construction of the great pyramids, had plentiful access to a wide range of options regarding their daily nutrition

     We know this from the frequent depictions of various pharoahs’ consumption of grapes and wine found at archeological sites, in the form of hieroglyphic carvings, pottery, and other artifacts.

     Now, while certain luxuries such as grapes or wine may not have been consistently available for all of the social classes(due to their high price), there was still a considerably wide selection of very beneficial options available for the average member of society, depending on the time of season.

   Nutrient dense crops such as onions, garlic, cabbage, pomegranates, watermelon, dates, lentils, beans, raddish, barley, ect, were all readily available to supplement the dietary needs of the average working class and boost their performance.

      Consider onions and garlic for example, which were widely consumed among all classes of society, and were believed to protect against evil spirits(retained a high level of religious value); popular for use in ceremonies and offerings to the gods.

     This family of vegetables(Allium) offer a great deal of health benefits, including  strengthened immune system, enhanced physical performance, increased memory, improved cognitive performance, cardiovascular protective properties, DNA protective properties, antiviral, antibacterial, ect. With each specific phytonutrient offering its own unique profile of powerful benefits.

     The complete mechanisms of actions behind all of these impressive benefits are not yet fully understood although scientists speculate that the flavonoids and organosulfur compounds (eg. Allicin/Quercetin) play a major role by increasing Nrf-2 signal expression, enhancing endogenous antioxidant system such as glutathione & superoxide dismutase, modulating nitrous oxide concentrations, chelating to certain toxins & binding to  oxidized lipid particles, among various other mechanisms.

       Or we can take a look at pomegranates as another example, which was also available amongst all levels of society(rich and poor). And was commonly referred to as being “the elixir of youth” among the common population. Which I feel is actually a little bit ironic due to the fact that modern pomegranate derivatives are commonly used amongst cosmetic surgeons in order to increase the speed of healing in skin wounds post-operation. But, this is no surprise due to the fact that the phytochemical compounds in pomegranate display extreme antioxidant capacity and offer a wide range of benefits ranging from antiaging, to anti-inflammatory, to neuroprotective, to DNA preserving properties. And the list of biological mechanism behind these benefits goes on extensively.

     One of the most notable mechanisms of these types of phytonutrient is the reduction of oxidation and decrease of free radical concentrations in the brain. Which is crucial in regards to mental performance, since free radicals have shown to directly interfere with neuronal activity and reduce the efficiency of communication between neurons. So when these phytonutrients (containing powerful antioxidant properties), are able to pass though the blood brain barrier and capture abundant quantities of free radicals, it reduces overall oxidation and inflammation in the brain, mitigating significant amounts of neuronal interference caused by free radicals; directly optimizing neuron functionality and overall mental performance.

     These reductions in inflammation and oxidation also allow for enhanced blood flow to the brain as well as more efficient replication of DNA, resulting in better overall implementation of functionality.

     All of these enhancements can ultimately lead to an increase in neuroplasticity and expanded proliferation of new neuronal connections as a result.

     So, with that said….Just imagine combining such a diverse array of various plant cultivars with the  wide range of animal proteins from fishing, hunting, and raising livestock; and you can ultimately formulate a rather impressive nutrient profile (especially considering the time period that they were in!).

     Personally, I like to speculate that all of these different cultivars and food categories worked together synergistically to ultimately contribute profound and powerful benefits which supported and improved overall cognitive performance, physical health, and also long term generational longevity (genetically) of the Ancient Egyptian people.(and especially for the pharaohs, leaders, architects, and engineers of the time period)

     I don’t think that it was just a coincidence as to why they were able to achieve such impressive achievements (In my humble opinion).

Nutrient Enhanced Neurogenesis

      So, as you might already know, neurogenesis is a complex process where stem cells in the hippocampal region of our brain differentiate and proliferate into new neurons and other types of resident brain cells.

      This process is known to be affected by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including a person’s diet, nutrition level, physical exercise, ect.

     There is a significant amount of scientific evidence supporting the notion that a person can literally increase their own intellectual capacity and cognitive performance through certain improvements in diet and nutrition alone.

     These dietary impacts on neurogenesis and cognitive health can range from small subtle improvements in executive function, all the way to dramatic increases in logic and reasoning, depending on how drastic the dietary improvement,  how deficient or sufficient  the individuals diet(before/after), the specific nutrients, their overall genetic potential, their age, their health status, ect.

    So there is no doubt that nutrition and cognitive performance levels go hand and hand with each other. That conclusion is irrefutable,

     There are many different dietary factors which have shown to have profound impacts on the natural rate of neurogenesis within our brains, possibly resulting in the enhancement of our own long term cognitive potential and also the cognitive potential of our future genetic descendants as well.

     Countless factors play a role; from vitamins, to minerals, to amino acids, to fattys acids, to phytochemicals, to caloric intake, to macronutrients, to micronutrients, and many more. The possible impact that diet and nutrition can have on the brain is vastly underestimated and underappreciated by the overwhelming majority of the general population, in my opinion. 

      Now if you keep this realization in mind while consider the drastic improvements made regarding  agriculture on the nile delta and in the nile valley, it would actually make complete sense as to why the intellectual abilities of Ancient Egyptian leaders might have flourished in direct response to such an abrupt increase in nutrition levels.

      Plus, I personally feel that it might have been possible that the digestive systems of ancient humans were even more efficient at absorbing and utilizing nutrients back in those times as well; more so than what we see today, simply because the availability of nutrition was so much less in that time period, so maybe their physiological processes where more fully optimized for maximum absorption back then, in order to receive the most benefit possible from the smaller amounts of nutrition that their ancestors were accustomed to receiving. (just my own personal theory/guess). So I imagine that the physiological impacts of their dietary improvements might have been even more pronounced and more impactful, back in those times, compared to what we currently observe now during our modern day clinical trials.

     But regardless of whether their digestion process was more efficient or not, I think that we can still draw a relatively definitive conclusion about the possible benefits of their historical dietary improvements, simply by observing the current scientific literature and reading the recent clinical studies. Because when all of the relevant data is considered, it becomes quiet clear that the various phytonutrients commonly found in their fruits and vegetables, such as polyphenols(like quercetin or ellagitannin), carotenoids(like lycopene or zeaxanthin), or organosulfurs(like allicin or diallyl disulfide), could have potentially offered considerable cognitive improvements to enhance the planning and problem solving skills necessary for accomplishing such complex and impressive feats of engineering.

Hormetic responses to hardship

     Now. it is important to understand that while the ancient Egyptians were indeed very advanced and prosperous regarding agriculture, in comparison to other human settlements of the time period; we should be clear in our understanding that they still did not enjoy the same type of comfort levels and stability that we currently enjoy today.

     After all, they were still at the complete mercy of mother-natures unpredictable forces for the most part. So naturally there would be periods of abundance and variety, with every man eating his fill. And then there would also be times of famine and rationings, where food might be restricted to one meal per day(OMAD).

    There would be periods of relentless hardwork, brutal physial labor, deep caloric deficits, and tough problem solving, followed by times of plentiful harvests, feasts, gluttony, rest, and recovery.

     Now, I understand that initially this sounds like a net negative when considered from a more practical perspective. Although, when you take a step back and observe the situation more deeply in an abstract manner(encompassing knowledge of the relevant scientific literature on hormesis and hormetic responses to human adversity), you might start to realize that these periods of hardship could have actually been an integral part of their long term physiological enhancement process!

     An easy way to comprehend this concept of hormesis is to consider the process of exercising or lifting weights (hypotrophy), as an example, where the key to growing stronger is by creating high levels of stress through physical exertion and pushing the limits of the body, taking it outside of the comfort zone, in order to achieve enhanced capabilities. This same concept applies all throughout the human body; in the brain, the nervous system, the immune system, and others.

   There are many scientific studies and a great deal of academic literature focused on the positive impacts of various types of hormetic responses regarding caloric restriction, prolonged fasting, intermittent fasting, and of course physical exercise(or labor).

    These types of hormetic stressors have shown to offer a wide variety of beneficial physiological impacts; such as inducing autophagy, increasing BDNF(brain derive neurotrophic factors), increasing HGH(human growth hormone), increasing stemcells production, enhancing neurogenesis, improving insulin sensitivy, amongst other mechanisms.

     For example, one very interesting study actually shows that the hunger hormone Acly-Grehlin, can directly enhance general cognition and improve memory performance, when administered intravenously prior to assessment in clinic research settings.

     Another study shows that prolonged caloric restrictions can potentially enhance cognitive performance, enhances neurogenesis, and decrease overall risk for for age related mental pathologies later in life,

      Various other studies have displayed the effects of prolonged fasting on brain growth and cognitive function. Also autophagy allows for the disposal of damaged and rebuilding of

     Intermittent fasting and OMAD also displayed profound effects on human growth horman, insulin sensitibity, stem cell, ect

     In regards to the performance benefits of physical exercise, well that subject has mountains of data and studies supporting the notion that physical activity is crucial for all aspects of health including cognitive functionality. The information pool regarding this subject is vast and expansive!

 

    So, there is clearly a great deal of evidence supporting the fact that difficult lifestyles can often result in stronger individuals. This is fully supported by both the anecdotal subject evidence and the objective scientific evidence alike. 

Heat shock proteins and cold shock proteins

     Separate from diet or exercise, have you ever considered why saunas are so highly regarded as beneficial and healthy?  

      Or have you ever considered why athletes use ice baths after intense training and apply ice packs to their injuries in order to heal faster?

     Well the reason why I’m mentioning these is because it turns out that there is a great deal of legitimate scientific evidence backing up the claimed benefits of these temperature shock treatments, and the Ancient Egyptians regularly had to deal with exposure to extreme temperature through-out  certain periods of the year. 

    So I feel like these exposures to scolding hot temperatures during the summers and occasionally freezing temperatures during the winter, might have possibly given them somewhat  of a boost in the right direction toward greatness(among other factors of course)

     For example, the Sinai Peninsula, is among the very earliest known regions of human inhabitance in Egypt and is well known for its extreme temperature fluctuations. At certain times of the year, the max temperature can peak above 110F (-43°C) during the summers months and then plummet all the way down as low as 30F (-1°C) during the winter months.

     These fluctuations are partially due to the dryness of the surrounding desert environment. Since there is little moisture to contain the heat, during the day, the sun shines down on the desert and rapidly heats up the dry landscape, then that heat quickly rebounds back up into the atmosphere again, resulting in abrupt increases in temperature. Also, the reverse is true at night as well, once the sun sets, the dry desert atmosphere quickly loses that heat and begins to cool rapidly, shortly after the sun is set.

     Due to these harsh climatic conditions, I believe that the ancient Egyptians could have potentially received a great deal of physiological benefits from their frequent exposure to temperature shocks. Both high temperature for heat shock protein benefits, and also low temperature for cold shock protein benefits. Each of which offering their own profile of long term physiological benefits, through unique mechanisms of action. 

     For example, both heat shock proteins and cold shock proteins have proven to enhance neurogenesis and increase the production of BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor). Plus, both heat shock & cold shock proteins have shown to impact genetic expression, protect DNA, increase stem cell production and increase total blood plasma volumes in the body as well. 

     But I dont think that I need to explain why healthier genetics, enhanced brain growth, increased blood volume, and higher levels of stem cell production could have been beneficial to overall performance capabilities!

     These benefits occur because both heat shock & cold shock protein work to assist in the proper folding  process of various proteins, ensuring that the process is completed properly and additionally they also work to mitigate issues with any previously denatured proteins, through either directly refolding and correcting them, or by marking them with signal for removal by the ubiquitin-proteasome system.

     These type of heat-shock-protein corrections occur in everything from DNA transcriptions, to digestive enzyme, to various intracellular communication mechanisms throughout the body(such as amyloid proteins in the brain, for example).

So in simple terms, they function almost like quality control managers; monitoring and assisting the protein folding process and disposing of any misfolded proteins that they discover. Which is crucial to long term health since having properly folded DNA transcriptions is extremely important for healthy genetic expression and functionality. And the same can be said for the importance of having properly folded enzyme proteins and intracellular communication proteins (especially in the brain)!

      Because if gone unchecked, certain types misfolded proteins can ultimately accumulate to form harmful denatured protein aggregate plaques in the body which have shown to create a wide variety of problems.

     These plaque accumulations are famous for their contributions to the development of several diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, as well as some forms of cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. This is because once these protein aggregates accumulate to high enough concentrations in the body, they have the ability to damage cells, destroy tissue, disrupt cellular processes, trigger inflammation, trigger unwanted immune system responses, ect.

     And it is important to keep in mind that this phenomenon of misfolded proteins is also relevant for otherwise healthy individuals within the normal populations as well. With even small concentrations of protein plaque showing to have correlations with decreased cognitive performance in healthy test subjects (not displaying any pathological health condition).

     So for these reasons, heat shock proteins are very important in regards to minimizing the concentrations of these types of harmful aggregates in the brain and the body,

**** Additionally, I would like to mention as an important side note, that high intensity physical exercise is another way to induce the production of certain types of heat-shock proteins as well. So even if you don’t have access to a sauna or scolding hot desert, you can always activate some of those heat shock benefits in the gym! ****

Environmentally Improved Epigenetics

     Now, to be clear here, I want emphasize that epigenetic changes are considered to be chemical changes to DNA which impact its  genetic expression and alter its functions in certain biological processes.  

   These types of epigenetic alterations can either be positive or negative changes, potentially triggered by a wide variety of external factors such as lifestyle, dietary choice, exercise, toxin exposure, extreme temperatures, ultraviolent radiation, ect. 

     These chemically induced modifications of DNA expression can be inherited and passed down intergenerationally and potentially even be amplified to a higher degree from one generation to the next; ultimately impacting the long term genetic health of subsequent bloodlines and altering the overall genetic potential of all of its successors.

            One extreme example of this type of epigenetic alteration being cancer from exposure to harmful chemicals.  Where certain types of chemicals might create enough oxidation to damage cytosine nucleotides and disrupt the methylation process, creating confusion in the DNA sequence transcription, resulting in uncontrolled cellular replication. Which is why doctors and nutritionist emphasize so heavily on consuming adequate amounts of antioxidants through the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Since they understand the importance of protecting our DNA from oxidation in order to optimize the efficiency of the genetic activity in our biological processes.

     This is part of the reason many antioxidant supplements are promoted as anti-aging remedies, because, when the methylation process of DNA is improved, a chain reaction of enhancements in the overall functionality of various biological processes can be observed as a direct result. And similar epigenetic improvements have also been observed to be inherited intergenerationally, as a result of histone group modifications or micro-RNA alterations as well.

     Some examples of the more positive lifestyle induced epigenetic changes to DNA have proven to have beneficial impacts on learning abilities, food preferences, metabolic health, emotional stability, ect. And these types of positive changes have also proven to be inheritable between father and son and can be continually passed down to additional subsequent bloodlines as well. And all of these positive example have extremely profound and far reaching implications to be considered as well!

     So since the consistent consumption of adequate amounts of various nutrients have shown to offer positive epigenetic impacts on long term DNA functionality and overall gene expression , it only makes sense that these type of improvements would have occurred within the Egyptian royal blood lines; which were responsible for constructing the various famous monuments such as the Pyramids. Because there is no doubt that they had sufficient diets to support their epigenetic health!  

    But, this area of intergenerational epigenetic research is still relatively young and developing, with a large number of new studies currently underway. So, there has been a fair amount of push back within the scientific community from traditionalist Darwin theory advocates who prefer to attribute all genetic advancements to survival of the fittest and random mutations alone. Although, I on the other hands, have always had my doubts about these concepts of “random” evolution and “random mutation” and the “Chaos Theory”… Because I personally tend to maintain hope about sappy ideals such as “purpose” and “meaning” and the like! But that’s just me! So I am a little bit relieved that this new frontier of research and debate is immerging. And I greatly look forward to learning about the results of all of the upcoming research when the time comes!