MOGA 2015
Unearth The Pharaoh's Treasure
MOGA 2015 was the 12th annual Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure Event. Each year Geocachers come from around the country and even around the world to compete in this premier geocaching competition event. Each year MOGA puts out permanent tribute caches to represent the punches in the competition course.
The theme of MOGA 2015 is treasure hunting and adventuring in Ancient Egypt, reflecting the adventurous spirit of geocachers. MOAG 2015 has 60 permanent tribute caches, each named for an Egyptian Pharaoh.
In addition to these 60 caches, there are 16 Caches of the Gods containing clues to the location of the The Pharaoh's Treasure, the main event cache for MOGA 2015.
Merneferre Ay
Merneferre Ay (also spelled Aya or Eje) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the mid 13th Dynasty. The longest reigning pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty, he ruled a fragmented Egypt for over 23 years in the early to mid 17th century BC. A pyramidion bearing his name shows that he possibly completed a pyramid, probably located in the necropolis of Memphis.
Merneferre Ay is the last pharaoh of the 13th dynasty to be attested outside Upper Egypt and in spite of his long reign the number of artefacts attributable to him is comparatively small. This may point to problems in Egypt at the time and indeed, by the end of his reign, "the administration [of the Egyptian state] seems to have completely collapsed". It is possible that the capital of Egypt since the early Middle Kingdom, Itjtawy was abandoned during or shortly after Ay's reign. For this reason, some scholars consider Merneferre Ay to be the last pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.
This may indicate the abandonment of the old capital of the Middle Kingdom Itjtawy in favor of Thebes. Daphna Ben Tor believes that this event was triggered by the invasion of the eastern Delta and the Memphite region by Canaanite rulers and indeed some egyptologists believe that by the end of Ay's reign the 13th dynasty had lost control of Lower Egypt including the Delta region and possibly Memphis itself. For these authors, this marks the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period. This analysis is rejected by Ryholt and Baker however, who note that the stele of Seheqenre Sankhptahi, reigning toward the very end of the 13th Dynasty, strongly suggests that he reigned over Memphis. Unfortunately, the stele is of unknown provenance.
This Geocache was placed with the permission of the property owner/manager