The fact that the Giza pyramids and other buildings all sit on a narrow, now quite inhospitable strip of land on the edge of the Sahara has long puzzled archaeologists around the world. Now a team from the University of North Carolina wants to solve this problem.
Using satellite images and sediment samples, it claims to have found evidence that as many as 31 pyramids, including that of Giza, were once built along a branch of the Nile that no longer exists. Only this made the construction of the pyramids possible almost 5,000 years ago, according to the American researchers.
The branch was half a kilometer wide
According to broadcaster CCN, scientists have managed to map a 64-kilometre-long dry arm of the river (see image below), which is buried under farmland and desert. The waterway, called Ahramat (the Arabic word for pyramids, ed.), was about half a kilometer wide and – comparable to the current Nile – at least 25 meters deep, says researcher Eman Ghoneim.
“The size and length of the Ahramat Arm, as well as its proximity to the 31 pyramids in the study area, strongly suggest that there is a functioning waterway of great importance,” Ghoneim said. He likely played a key role in transporting the enormous amount of building materials and labor the ancient Egyptians needed to build the pyramids.
A ceremonial walkway led to the shore
The study, the results of which were published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, also found that many of the pyramids in the study area have a causeway, “a ceremonial elevated walkway that runs perpendicular to the course of the Ahramat branch and directly ends on the river bank,” Ghoneim told CNN.
Over time, however, the Nile moved sideways, eastward, and its tributaries became silted and silted – why is unclear – leaving behind many ancient Egyptian sites far removed from the river’s current course, the scientists report .
For this reason, the pyramids of Giza, as well as those of Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur, are now believed to be located on the edge of the inhospitable Sahara, according to the researchers.
Source: Krone
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