(ORDO NEWS) — French scientists have found traces of an ancient branch of the Nile River, passing in close proximity to the Great Pyramids.
According to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), this natural channel had a sufficient water level to be used to transport stones for the construction of the Cheops pyramid on the Giza plateau.
Specialists have reconstructed changes in the course and floodplain of the Nile over the course of eight thousand years, with particular attention to the dynastic period and the Old Kingdom, when the Great Pyramids were built.
To do this, they analyzed rock samples recovered near the pyramid of Cheops, which contained the remains of pollen grains belonging to 61 plant species.
Thus, pollen of sedge plants (for example, papyrus) was found growing near the banks of the Nile, pollen of tropical plants brought by the river from other regions of Africa, as well as pollen of helophytes, marsh plants, indicating the existence of long-term reservoirs.
It is generally accepted that during the reign of the Fourth Dynasty (circa 2613-2467 BC) there was a now dry branch of the Nile, flowing along the western edge of the river floodplain – the branch of Khufu.
The results of the study show that during the African humid period (AHP), which began about 14 thousand years ago and ended five thousand years ago, the water level in the Khufu arm was at its highest and peaked about three thousand years before ours. era.
The authors of the paper believe that after the end of the AHP, when the water level in the branch began to fall, the western floodplain, enriched with fertile river silt, became ecologically attractive for settlers.
In the first half of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (2686-2440 BC), the water level in the Khufu arm was 40 percent of its previous levels, but it was relatively constant.
From the third to fifth dynasties, Khufu’s arm favored pyramid builders, who used it to transport stone and materials on riverboats.
As a consequence, during this period, especially during the Fourth Dynasty, the number of archaeological sites increased on the Giza Plateau.
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