Giza and the surrounding pyramids have presented fascinating puzzles for thousands of years.
How did the ancient Egyptians move blocks of limestone weighing over a ton without the use of wheels? Why do these funerary structures appear to have been built in a remote and desolate desert? Is it?
New research — published Thursday Journal “Communication Earth and Environment” – Provides new evidence and possible answers that an extinct tributary of the Nile River once weaved through the landscape in a wetter climate. Dozens of Egyptian pyramids lined the waterway in a 40-mile-long stretch, including the most famous complex at Giza, the study said.
Studies have shown that the waterway allowed workers to transport stones and other materials to build the monument. Raised causeways ran horizontally and connected the pyramids to river ports along the banks of the Nile.
It is likely that a combination of seismic activity that tilted the landscape and drought caused the river to dry up over time, eventually filling with silt and eliminating most traces.
The researchers based their conclusions on data from satellites that penetrate the Earth's surface and transmit radar waves to detect hidden features. They also relied on 1911 sediment cores and maps to reveal and trace traces of ancient waterways. Such tools can help environmental scientists map the ancient Nile River, which is now covered by desert sand and farmland.
Experts have suspected for decades that the boats carried workers and tools for the construction of the pyramids. Some past studies have proposed similar hypotheses as the new study. New discoveries solidify the theory and map a broader area.
“The map of the Nile's ancient waterway system is fragmented and isolated,” Eman Ghoneim, an author of the new study and professor of earth and ocean sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, wrote in an email. “Ancient Egyptians used waterways for transportation more often than we realize.”
The study examined 31 pyramids located between the village of Risht, south of Cairo, and Giza. It started about 4,700 years ago and took about 1,000 years to build. The pyramid complex contained the tombs of Egyptian royalty. Dignitaries were often buried nearby.
Some of the granite blocks used in construction were sourced hundreds of miles south of the site. In some cases, the blocks could be “mammoths” weighing several tons, said Peter der Manuelian, professor of Egyptology at Harvard University and director of the Harvard Museum of Ancient Oriental Science.
Manuel Lien, who was not involved in the new study, said wheels were not used to move the large blocks, which is one reason researchers have long suspected that Egyptians moved materials with water. He said that.
“It’s all sledding,” he said. “Water is very helpful.”
In the past, researchers have argued that Egyptians may have dug canals to the pyramid sites.
“Canals and waterway systems have been in our consciousness for decades,” Manuellian said. But a new theory suggests the Nile was closer to the pyramids than researchers once thought, and new tools could provide some evidence, he added.
“Archaeology is becoming more scientific, and we have ground-penetrating radar and satellite imagery,” he says.
He added that this new research will help improve maps of ancient Egypt.
The findings suggest that thousands of years ago, Egypt's climate was generally wetter and the Nile River carried more water. It split into several tributaries, one of which researchers called the Ahramat tributary, was about 60 miles long.
The authors say the locations of the pyramids included in the study coincide in time with the estimated locations of the tributaries, as water levels rose and fell over the centuries.
Additionally, several pyramid temples and causeways appear to line up horizontally with the ancient river bed. This suggests that they were connected directly to the river and were likely used to transport building materials.
This research is based on Survey from 2022used ancient evidence of pollen grains from wetland species to suggest that waterways once cut through what is now the desert.
Harder Scheixa, author of the study and currently an associate professor in the natural history department at Bergen University Museum, said the new findings add much-needed evidence to strengthen and extend the theory.
“New research consistent with ours shows that the landscape at the time the pyramids were built was different from what we see today, and how ancient Egyptians interacted with the physical world. “It shows how the environment can be used to accomplish huge projects,” Shisha said in an email.
In their study, Ghoneim and her team explain that the Ahramat tributary moved eastward over time, a process that may have been accelerated by a drought about 4,050 years ago. Then it gradually melted and was covered with silt.
She said she plans to expand the map and work to detect more buried tributaries in the Nile floodplain. Identifying the contours and shapes of ancient river tributaries can help researchers identify the remains of settlements or undiscovered sites before construction occurs in the area.
Manuellian said that currently, “housing almost extends to the edge of the Giza Plateau.” Egypt is a vast open-air museum and there is so much more to discover.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
