‘Professional sorcerers’ consulted in desert 400 years ago, Egyptian artifacts reveal

Travelers consulted “professional sorcerers” while trekking through the desert about 400 years ago, an analysis of artifacts revealed, Israeli officials said.

Sorcerers were specifically sought out by Muslim pilgrims en route to Mecca from Cairo, an overland journey of nearly 1,000 miles, according to a Sept. 11 news release from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The conjurers would have been employed to repel the “evil eye” and to cure ailments, among other things, officials said.

Archaeologists came to this conclusion after analyzing a trove of Egyptian artifacts discovered in Eilat, a city at the southern tip of Israel, in the 1990s.

Among the objects found were broken clay rattles about the size of ping pong balls. Tiny pebbles were placed inside them, so that when shaken, they made a rattling sound.

Figurines associated with priests or deities and two small incenses altar were also found, officials said.

The artifacts, which are around four centuries old, were uncovered alongside Pilgrimage Road, an ancient route connecting the Sinai Peninsula to the Arabian Peninsula.

The road, known as the Darb al-Hajj in Arabic, was built following the rise of Islam around 600 A.D. and remained in use until around 1800, officials said.

“The find-spot of these artifacts next to the camping site, and the comparison of the artifacts to those known in the Muslim world, as well as the fact that these artifacts were found together as a group, lead to the understanding that they were used in magical rituals,” researchers wrote in a study published in the Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, according to the release.

“We know that there was a demand for magical rituals among people from different strands of society,” researchers said. “Such rituals were carried out daily alongside the formal religious rituals—including in the Muslim world—and it is probable that the pilgrims making their way to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina were no exception.”

On foot, the journey between Mecca and Cairo would have taken 35 days, according to an article published in the Bulletin for the Council for British Research in the Levant. The trek would have been perilous as wells along the way were often dry, leaving travelers without water.

This story was originally published September 13, 2023 at 11:01 AM with the headline "‘Professional sorcerers’ consulted in desert 400 years ago, Egyptian artifacts reveal."