Prije faraona: Tajanstvena pretpovijest Egipta

In the late nineteenth century, French explorer Augustus Le Plongeon, after years of exploring the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, concluded that the Maya and Egyptian civilizations were connected—the remains of a once-greater and more sophisticated culture. Discoveries by modern researchers over the past two decades now support this once-disdained speculation with evidence showing that the Sphinx is thousands of years older than Egyptologists had claimed, that the Great Pyramid was not a tomb but a geomechanical powerhouse, and that the megaliths of Nabta Playa reveal complex astronomical star maps that existed 4,000 years before conventional historians consider such knowledge possible.

Much of the early evidence for prehistoric civilization relied on esoteric traditions and mythology. Using clear scientific evidence from archaeology, genetics, engineering, and geology, as well as sacred and religious texts, Malkowski shows that these mythical stories were based on real events, and that a highly sophisticated civilization did indeed exist before the Egyptians and Sumerians. By linking its cataclysmic demise to the mysterious disappearance of the Cro-Magnon culture, "Before the Pharaohs" offers a powerful new perspective on the human past.

Key theses:

• The Great Sphinx was built around 10,500 BC (based on Robert Schoch's geological work on rain erosion, which suggests a wetter climate before 7000–5000 BC);
• The pyramids at Giza are not tombs, but energy devices (precise orientation, piezoelectric quartz in granite, underground channels);
• the ancient Egyptians themselves claimed that their gods and knowledge came from "Zep Tepi" (the First Time) and predecessors called "Netjeru";
• there was a global prehistoric civilization (Malkowski links it to Göbekli Tepe, pre-dynastic Nabta Playa and underwater structures off Japan).

The book brings evidence from geology, astronomy (the orientation of Giza at 10,500 BC), ancient texts (the Edwin Papyri, the Turin King List) and comparisons with other cultures. Although it challenges mainstream Egyptology, it remains one of the most influential contemporary books on the "lost" prehistory of Egypt.