Realizing that Liang En and his team might have something important to discuss, the engineer surnamed Feng quickly found an excuse to leave the mountain. Once this engineer from China had walked far along the path, the security personnel began to explain the reason he had specifically come to find Liang En.
"We've discovered something strange and would like you to take a look," the young Coptic man said excitedly.
"Although we can't tell what it is just yet, we are certain that it's an ancient man-made object, and it appears to be as old as the mines we work in."
As Egyptians currently managing an ancient site, many of these Copts had previous experience working on such ancient ruins.
So, even if they couldn't identify exactly what they had found, they were still capable of determining whether something was an ancient relic. They wouldn’t make a mistake on such matters.
"As old as your mines? That's truly astonishing news," Liang En muttered as he followed the security personnel down the mountain.
According to current archaeological findings, there are very few civilization sites south of the Sahara. Apart from the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, Timbuktu in West Africa, and a series of sites in Sudan influenced by ancient Egypt, there are almost no traces of civilization in sub-Saharan Africa.
This situation highlights the tragedy of a civilization without written records or history. For example, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe are a case in point.
This city was built between the 8th and 10th centuries. In the Bantu language family of Africa, "Zimbabwe" means "Stone City," with other interpretations including "Chief's Residence," "Chief's Tomb," and "Wealthy Mines."
Great Zimbabwe was significantly expanded in the 13th century and became the ruling center of a powerful African tribe by the 14th century.
Later, due to war, unrest, and other unknown reasons, Great Zimbabwe gradually declined and eventually disappeared from history until it was discovered by colonizers in the mid-19th century.
From the existing ruins of this city, it's evident that the civilization that built it was not of a low level. Yet, to this day, no one knows who exactly built this ancient city.
There have been various speculations, including that it was built by Africans, Arabs, and even connected to King Solomon. However, no one has been able to provide conclusive evidence.
The lack of written records is directly related to this situation. Without records, many things disappeared forever with the collapse of ancient kingdoms.
Another major problem for sub-Saharan Africa is the sheer number of termites. Wooden artifacts, which could represent local civilization, cannot be preserved for more than a decade.
One could even say that at least half of ancient Black Africa’s history has been lost to generations of termites, severely hindering the investigation of the region’s history.
This is why Liang En was so shocked to hear about the possibility of a very ancient civilization here, as historical records indicate that no such civilization should exist in this area.
They quickly arrived at the cliff where the discovery was made. The cliff was piled with rubble, but due to a recent explosion, a whole layer of rocks had peeled away from the cliff, revealing a cave entrance.
"Clear away the rocks at the entrance," Liang En instructed his men after inspecting the small, basin-sized entrance. "We need to at least see what this entrance looks like."
Soon, impact drills, ropes, and winches were brought up, and everyone began the excavation work. Fortunately, the earlier explosion had already cleared away most of the hidden obstacles, so it only took a few minutes of digging to reveal the entrance.
The next task was to widen the entrance. As the entrance expanded, more and more things came into view, and it was at this moment that Liang En noticed steps at the entrance.
Yes, steps. Although the steps were rough, covered with dirt and rubble, Liang En, who had worked on ruins for so many years, could clearly identify that these broken structures were steps carved into the stone.
If this were in Europe, China, or even North Africa, such steps would be normal, possibly the last remnants of some ancient building. But here, the situation was different.
Before coming here, Liang En had no idea that Angola had any ancient ruins. But from the traces on-site, this cave was at least a thousand years old.
"Call the local chiefs and kings. The scene here is too chaotic; we can’t keep this under wraps," Liang En instructed Jeanne after glancing at the locals who were peeking at them from a distance. "We should also ventilate the cave a bit before going in."
He made this judgment because he noticed that many plant roots were hanging from the top of the cave like curtains, indicating that the cave wasn’t sealed off and that they didn’t need to worry about oxidation damage.
Half an hour later, the local king and two chiefs arrived at the site under the protection of their guards. With the help of attendants, they climbed up the mountain.
"What have you found, Chief Liang?" the king asked as he looked at the dark cave in front of him. "I heard you discovered something important here."
"Yes, a very significant relic," Liang En nodded and explained the current situation before asking, "This is your ancestors' land. Do you have any knowledge or impressions of this place?"
"Um—no, I can assure you that our legends only describe this area as barren mountains," the king said seriously after discussing with the chiefs.
"In our legends, our tribe originally lived further north and only moved here about thirty generations ago. But when we arrived, this place was just a wasteland—no people, no ruins left behind."
Although Africa lacks written records, it doesn’t mean they don’t pass on their knowledge. For example, tribal chiefs and elders often transmit ancient knowledge through songs and chants.
Of course, this method of information transmission isn’t without its flaws. Some things can easily be distorted or altered through word of mouth, and the unexpected death of key figures can lead to the loss of knowledge.
In the case of Africa, the Western world’s slave trade and colonial rule caused many cultural bearers to die unnatural deaths, which thoroughly destroyed the transmission of civilization in sub-Saharan Black Africa.
From this perspective, the tribe Liang En was dealing with was lucky. Because their land was inland and desolate, few people had ventured into the interior to specifically target them in the past, allowing these histories to be preserved.
However, based on the descriptions from the king and the chiefs, they were not the builders of this site, and this place had been in a natural state for a long time before they arrived.
"A more ancient civilization site with a fairly high level of civilization? It seems the things inside this cave might be even more important than I initially thought," Liang En pondered as he looked at the entrance after gathering information from the king and the chiefs.
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