The Egyptian Pyramids-Connection to Rain and Nile Flood Anomalies (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 3340-3366, 2013
Sediment accretion in ancient urban sites and tells records a combination of cultural and geomorphic processes. Urban geoarchaeology is focused on site accumulation, collapse, weathering and erosion, as constrained by architectural plans and structures. These may document settlement growth and decay, as well as environmental history, posing a multidisciplinary challenge of interactive and fluctuating processes. Part of aWorld Heritage site, the Lost City of the Pyramids (Heit el-Ghurab), at the desert and floodplain margins of Giza, was centered on a Workmen’s Town that channeled the roles of seasonal workmen, artisans, and administrators during construction of the Menkaure Pyramid and preparation of the funerary cult for that pharaoh (w2532e2503 BCE). Built across a normally dry wadi course, the site was badly chosen and vulnerable to a coeval high-amplitude precipitation anomaly of perhaps 120 yr, during which mudbrick meltdown, catastrophic flash floods, and mass-movements destroyed the royal complex of mudbrick galleries, workshops and bread-making kilns once every 4 years or so. In addition, thick alluvial fans advanced 1 km or more across the Nile floodplain, before dissection was initiated by downcutting channels. Despite this dynamic environmental history, the site was repeatedly rebuilt and ruined, with structural and human consequences. This Old Kingdom (Dynasty 4) paleoclimatic anomaly did not however support a significant improvement of Saharan ecology, and summer monsoonal rains never extended this far north (30N). Such a destructive period of extreme precipitation is novel for the Holocene record of the NE Sahara, and requires a synoptic explanation in the mid-latitude jet stream, rather than the tropical monsoonal circulation, to contradict current theoretical expectations. This anomaly was repeated on a subdued scale during the Early Middle Ages. Nile floods did not impinge upon the site during Old Kingdom times, but were demonstrably higher w700 BCE, and again during Early Roman or Coptic times. Residual subdisciplinary problems are identified and explicitly discussed in terms of the strategies and structure of multidisciplinary investigation.
Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE
PNAS, 2022
112. 2022, Sheisha H., Kaniewski D., Marriner N., Djamali M., Younes G., Chen Z., El-Qady G., Saleem A., Véron A., Morhange C., Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE, PNAS, 119 (37) e2202530119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202530119.
Studia Quaternaria, 2016
The work of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological Mission at Saqqara revealed a cemetery of palace officials that was in use during the late Old Kingdom. The evidence found during the exploration of the tombs indicates that the tomb builders were aware of the problems resulting from torrential rains in last years of functioning of the cemetery and that architectural solutions have been invented against these problems. The discussed phenomena seem to be directly related to the 4.2 ka event.
JNRID || ISSN 2984-8687 || © August 2024, Volume 2, Issue 8, 2024
In Egypt, the Pyramids of Dahshur are located approximately 20 km south of the Giza pyramids' plateau. The Dahshur area's geological setting conforms to standard geological formations. Research on the rocks of the pyramids holds significant scientific and practical importance, given that various environmental pollutants expose these coarse-grained rocks to weathering processes, which in turn impact people's health. The Dahshur area consists of The Bent Pyramid and The Red Pyramid. These pyramids are among the earliest and most important in Egypt's history. The current study conducts a geological and geoarchaeological in situ examination of the rocks (main chamber lining blocks) of the Dahshur Pyramids, with the aim of investigating the weathering features caused by rocks undergoing weathering processes. The current study provides a firsthand account of the rocks' behavior as experienced by the ancient Egyptian masons during their partial cutting for pyramid construction. They handled these rocks with utmost systematic and meticulous care to ascertain their future behavior, which is a crucial testament to the pharaonic civilization in Egypt, depending upon field observation as well as laboratory exams of the rock samples.
The work of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological Mission at Saqqara revealed a cemetery of palace officials that was in use during the late Old Kingdom. The evidence found during the exploration of the tombs indicates that the tomb builders were aware of the problems resulting from torrential rains in last years of functioning of the cemetery and that architectural solutions have been invented against these problems. The discussed phenomena seem to be directly re- lated to the 4.2 ka event.