Published: Saturday, May 18, 2020
Scientists say that a river used to run alongside the pyramids of Egypt, helping to move massive materials needed for the construction.
Scientists discovered a branch of the Nile that flowed along with more than 30 pyramids once in Egypt. This discovery could help solve the mystery as to how ancient Egyptians moved the huge stone blocks used to build these famous monuments.
According to a Thursday study, the 64-kilometer river branch that ran past the Giza Pyramid complex, among other wonders of the world, had been hidden for millennia under farmland and desert.
It is possible that the existence of a river could explain why 31 pyramids were constructed in a line along an inhospitable strip of desert in the Nile Valley, between 4,700 to 3,700 years ago.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only structure remaining from the Seven Wonders of Ancient World, is located near the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. Also nearby are the Khafre and Mykerinos Pyramids.
Archaeologists have long believed that ancient Egyptians used a nearby river to transport the massive materials used to construct the pyramids.
Eman Ghoneim, the lead author of the study at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, in the United States, told AFP that “nobody was sure of the location, shape, size, or proximity of this Mega Waterway to the actual Pyramids site”.
Researchers from around the world used radar satellite images to map the river branches, or “pyramids”, in Arabic.
Ghoneim stated that radar gave them “the unique ability to penetrate sand surfaces and produce images of hidden structures, including ancient structures and buried rivers.”
According to a study published in Communications Earth & Environment, surveys in the field confirmed the presence of a river.
Scientists suggested that the once-mighty river had become increasingly covered with sand. This could have started during a severe drought 4200 years ago.
The river, once massive and mighty, was gradually covered with sand.
The Great Pyramid Mysteries
The Giza Pyramids were located on a flat plateau about a kilometer away from the river’s banks.
Ghoneim explained that many of the pyramids featured a “ceremonial elevated walkway” that ran along the river and ended at the Valley Temples, which served as harbors.
She added that this indicates the river played a “key role in the transport of the huge building materials and workers needed for the construction of the pyramid.”
How the ancient Egyptians built such massive and long-lasting structures is one of the greatest mysteries in history.
The study’s co-author Suzanne Onstine, from the University of Memphis, in Tennessee, US, told AFP that these heavy materials, which came mainly from the South, “would have made it much easier to float along the river than transport them over land.”
She suggested that the banks of the river could have been the place where the funeral entourages for the pharaohs gathered before they were taken to “their final burial place inside the pyramid.”
The river can also tell us why pyramids were built at different locations.
She said that “the water’s volume and course changed over time so the fourth dynasty had to make different decisions than the 12th dynasty” kings.
The discovery reminded me of the intimate relationship between geography, climate and environment, as well as human behavior.
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Eman Ghoneim. The Egyptian pyramid chain built along the now-abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch. Communications Earth & Environment, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7. www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01379-7
2024 AFP
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Scientists discover that the long-lost river was used to build pyramids (2024, 18 May)
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Source: Phys.org