“The discovery may explain why pyramid fields were concentrated along
this strip
of desert near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, as they would
have been easily accessible via the river branch at the time of their
construction”.
A new branch of the Nile
discovered in Egypt - Africa, Middle East, News, Uncovering the Past, World
A
new branch of the Nile discovered in Egypt
By Sean McShee | July 10, 2024
TWH – The science journal, Communications Earth, and
Environment, published evidence of an ancient, now dried-up and silted-over
branch of the Nile. The research is from the Department of Earth and Ocean
Sciences at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington. The authors of
that study, Eman Ghoneim et al., named this branch the “Ahramat Branch.” In
Arabic, “Ahramat” means “pyramids.” The discovery may explain why pyramid
fields were concentrated along this strip of desert near the ancient Egyptian
capital of Memphis, as they would have been easily accessible via the river
branch at the time of their construction.
During the age of pyramid building, construction
supplies moved along this branch. That waterway also brought people to perform
the rituals of the Cult of the Dead Pharaoh. Ghoneim and her colleagues found
that many of the pyramids had causeways ending at the proposed riverbanks of
the Ahramat Branch, suggesting the river was used for transporting construction
materials.
The Ahramat Branch helps to explain why the
Egyptians built the pyramids where they did.
The height of the water in that branch varied over
time, as did the locations where the pyramids were built. The distance between
the banks of that branch and the pyramids also varies.
Ghoneim et al. discussed the changes in land and
water in North Africa. These changes influenced the Ahramat as well as ancient
Egypt.
The
Cult of the Pharaoh
No pyramid was merely the beautifully decorated
final resting place of a dead Pharaoh. Pyramids formed parts of ceremonial
complexes, which were key elements of the Cult of the (Dead) Pharaoh. Next to
the pyramid stood the mortuary temple, where the Pharaoh’s cult continued after
death. Egyptians built valley temples on waterways, and a causeway linked the
valley temple with the mortuary temple.
Many of these causeways ended at and ran at right
angles to the bank of the Ahramat Branch. Ghoneim et al. argued that the valley
temples functioned as river harbors.
….
“The Ahramat Branch borders a large number of
pyramids dating from the Old Kingdom to the 2nd Intermediate Period and
spanning between Dynasties 3 and 13.” via Communications Earth, and
Environment
Climate
change in ancient North Africa
As the last Ice Age ended around 10,000 B.C.E., [sic]
sea levels rose, and the area now known as the Sahara began to transform from
an arid desert to a savannah-like environment with large river systems and lake
basins. Scientists have labeled this period as the African Humid Period (12,500
to 3000 B.C.E.).
….
The Old Kingdom of Egypt began around 2700 B.C.E. [Mackey:
More like 2000 BC]
The Great
Sphinx and Pyramids of Gizeh (Giza), 17 July 1839,
by David
Roberts [public domain
The
Ahramat Branch
The Nile had a much greater water volume during the
African Humid Period, which lessened during the Old Kingdom. This period saw
the Nile frequently branching off, including the Ahramat Branch. As
northeastern Africa became more arid, the Nile and its branches carried less
water. The desert expanded, water levels dropped, and some branches dried up.
In the developed world, rivers seldom run free and
are often managed, like the Colorado River, which functions as a de facto water
management system. The developed world keeps tight control over waterways.
Before humans had such control, rivers meandered, branched off, flooded, and
changed course naturally.
The Ahramat Branch was not a small creek. Before
humans began to control rivers, their length, depth, and width varied
significantly.
Mackey: For the massive technological and infrastructural
innovations, dams and waterways, created during the time of Joseph of Egypt’s
Famine, see e.g. my article (esp. Part Two):
Imhotep Enigma, his pharaoh was not
Djoser, and proof for Egypt’s Third Dynasty Famine
(1) Imhotep Enigma, his pharaoh was not Djoser, and proof for Egypt’s
Third Dynasty Famine
Ghoneim et al. reported that the Ahramat had a depth
between 2 and 8 meters (6.6 to 26.2 feet), a length of 64 kilometers (39.8
miles), and a width between 200 to 700 meters (656.2 to 2,296.6 feet).
Egyptian civilization developed in the context of
declining rainfall, which meant less water in the Nile and its branches. As the
Sahara grew larger, the risk of sandstorms increased, causing branches of the
Nile to silt up. Its banks grew more solid, and marshlands disappeared. The
Nile itself and its branches began to move eastward, marking the beginnings of
the Old Kingdom ….
From west to east, Egypt can be described as three
regions: the Western Desert Plateau, the Nile floodplain, and the Eastern
Desert. The Western Desert Plateau lies between the western border and the Nile
floodplain, which bisects Egypt and provides the main water source. The Eastern
Desert lies between the Nile floodplain and the Red Sea.
The Ahramat Branch flowed between the Nile and the
Western Desert Plateau. According to Ghoneim et al., the volume of water in the
Ahramat varied over time. When it carried more water, it overflowed its main
banks and covered more ground. The distance between the Ahramat and the
pyramids under construction also varied.
When the water in the Ahramat rose higher, the
Egyptians built the pyramids further west. When the water fell lower, they
built the pyramids closer to the Ahramat Branch.
There is no consensus on why the Old Kingdom
collapsed. One theory suggests that failures of the Nile to flood adequately
over several years led to famine, which in turn led to the collapse of the Old
Kingdom.
Soil cores extracted from the area around Memphis
show 3 meters (9.8 feet) of sand, likely deposited by sandstorms from the
growing desert. This sand would have pushed the Nile and its branches eastward,
potentially overwhelming the Nile’s low-lying branches.
Like political boundaries, rivers can change. In
2007, John K. Hillier et al. estimated that at Luxor in southern Egypt, the
Nile had migrated 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 1.9 miles) per 1,000 years.
Two factors drove the eastward migration of the Nile
and its branches: continued desertification of the Sahara, which increased the
amount of windblown sand, and a low volume of water in the river and its
branches, which caused more silting. When sandstorms and low water occurred
together, the process accelerated. Additionally, northern Egypt sits on a fault
line and is prone to earthquakes. Over time, fault line movements caused a
relative tilt downwards to the northeast, contributing to the drying up of the
Ahramat Branch.
The Ahramat Branch disappeared during the New
Kingdom, roughly 1550 to 1070 B.C.E. [sic].
An early
photograph of the Great Pyramid,
taken by
Frédéric Goupil-Fesquet in 1839 [public domain]
The
zone of interest
In ancient Egypt, the major cities and monuments
straddle the banks of the Nile. The ancient Egyptians built their monuments at
the margins of the Nile floodplain. As the volume of water in the Nile and its
branches changed, so did those margins.
Eman Ghoneim et al. examined a zone of interest west
of the Nile, extending from the Lisht Pyramid complex northward to the Giza
Pyramid complex. This zone contains the largest concentration of pyramids (31)
in Egypt. The Egyptians built these pyramids from the Old Kingdom to the Second
Intermediate Period, roughly from 2700 to 1650 B.C.E.[sic]. Memphis, the
capital of the Old Kingdom, is located on the Nile across from this zone. Until
now, the reason for this dense concentration had never been clear. The Ahramat
Branch would have provided transit for building those ceremonial complexes.
“Many of us who are interested in ancient Egypt are
aware that the Egyptians must have used a waterway to build their enormous
monuments, like the pyramids and valley temples, but nobody was certain of the
location, the shape, the size or proximity” to the pyramids, says lead
author Eman Ghoneim in a statement. “Our research
offers the first map of one of the main ancient branches of the Nile at such a
large scale and links it with the largest pyramid fields of Egypt.”
The Ahramat branch could have provided transport to
major pyramid sites. Those sites include the Giza, Abusir, Saqqara, Dahshur,
and Lisht pyramid complexes. That article quoted lead archaeologist Ghoneim.
She said the Nile served as a “lifeline in a largely arid landscape.” It
provided both sustenance and easy transport of goods and building materials.
She continued “For this reason … most of the key cities and monuments were in
close proximity to the banks of the Nile and its peripheral branches.”
….
