Heavy winds blow sand across the eastern edge of the Nile Delta. A network of mudbrick fortresses guards the primary military highway to Canaan. Egyptian soldiers patrol the garrison walls at Tjaru. The air smells of drying mud and copper weapons. A massive group of escaping slaves moves away from the guarded coastal road and turns southeast into the arid wasteland.
During the Late Bronze Age around 1250 b.c., the Egyptian empire maintained tight control over this coastal route. Reliefs at the Karnak Temple show a string of heavily fortified outposts stretching for 150 miles along the Mediterranean coast. Military records on clay tablets reveal continuous chariot traffic and strict border checks. The fleeing tribes cannot fight a professional army in open combat. They alter their path toward the desolate granite mountains of the Sinai interior.
The migrating crowd hauls a massive wooden box into the heat. This heavy cedar coffin holds the mummified corpse of a long-dead tribal patriarch. Egyptian mortuary customs dictate the preservation of bodies with natron salt and linen wrappings. A fully treated mummy and its wooden casing weigh over 200 pounds. Men take turns carrying this heavy cargo as the terrain shifts from packed dirt to loose sand.
A harsh road forces men to carry their past on their shoulders.
The procession leaves the fertile floodplains behind. A towering column of ash and smoke leads the massive crowd during the day. Night falls and a towering column of fire illuminates the rocky horizon. The temperature drops rapidly in the dark desert. The people walk into an empty expanse of stone and sand. The massive Egyptian military machine prepares their war chariots miles behind them.