Byron Khun de Prorok

"Count" Byron Khun de Prorok (October 6, 1896 – November 20, 1954, born in Mexico City[1] as Francis Victor Kuhn) was a Hungarian-American amateur archaeologist, anthropologist, and author of four travelogues.

He hoped to encounter inhabitants of the Hoggar Mountains who were, he had come to believe, "a mysterious people, tall, straight and slender, who regard themselves as the greatest of all races with similarity to the Egyptians as represented on the ancient tombs of the Pharaohs.

"[7] In October 1925 the expedition arrived in Touggourt and entered the Sahara at El Kantara and "from here we began the long plunge of a thousand miles of desert to the Hoggar, in whose valleys are white people of magnificent physique and classic features, whose origin is a mystery, and on which they themselves have steadfastly refused to give any information."

"[7] Taking leads from the soldiers the expedition visited Gara Krima which was "an old stronghold of the pirates of the Sahara from whence they scanned the desert, sweeping down whenever a caravan was signalled, and raiding the country far and wide."

From here they travelled "beyond civilisation" to Tamanrasset where they received the dramatic news that they had narrowly missed "five hundred rebel raiders moving on the Hoggar from southern Morocco; the strongest armed force loose in the desert since the war.

This wall, relatively intact, rose some twenty to twenty-five feet from the base, but what was the type of the superstructure, or how much higher it carried, it is not possible to say, for the roof had at some time caved in, and the whole area was littered by a great mass of loose rocks, hewn boulders, and sand.

[7] Prorok's next 'adventures' were published in Dead Men Do Tell Tales (1933) and were sensationally detailed in Modern Mechanix Magazine in 1936 describing the author's "fifteen year search" for the fabled mines of King Solomon in Ethiopia during the period preceding the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

This book has been described as falling short of correctness in either the archaeological or ethical senses of the word[citation needed] and is a trip back into the mind of a professional freelance-archaeologist in the early 20th century.

[This quote needs a citation] Further typically dramatic exploits are revealed by Prorok who describes how "after endless formalities and diplomatic action" the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie gave his team "the first permission ever given to white men" to explore the "forbidden land" of the Blue Nile.

Never was he known to permit a European or American to visit his vast, savage realm...for three terrible days we trekked across the enormous canyons and great mountains of this legendary land.

The team hastily packed their specimens and fled down the Dabus River to "Albi Moti", hoping for a promised Ethiopian military escort awaiting there with their official passports.

This help was eventually forthcoming and Prorok dramatically relates how the previously hostile Sultan thus humbled attempts to make amends for his ignorant errors,[8] with the author concluding characteristically: He showed us many things no white man had ever seen before: his most valuable golden idols, dating back many centuries, which his slaves had dug up in the surrounding region; also a number of huge, rough diamonds.

[4] It was here that Prorok became convinced that this area between Sudan and Ethiopia was the legendary land of Ophir of Biblical fame, whence came the gold, frankincense and other treasures for Solomon’s celebrated temple in Jerusalem.