A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington has made a groundbreaking discovery. It turns out that an ancient river, long dried up and buried beneath the sands of the desert, helped the Egyptians construct over three dozen pyramids in Giza.
The scientists found evidence of a previously unknown branch of the Nile running alongside the pyramids. This supports the theory that the massive stone blocks were transported via water routes to the construction sites.
What the Researchers Learned
The question of how ancient builders managed to move enormous stone blocks over great distances has puzzled humanity for millennia. According to the most plausible and widely accepted hypotheses, construction materials were transported on rafts over water. However, the problem was that the Nile was located many kilometers away from where the pyramids were built.
The authors of the new study assert that this waterway once flowed much closer to the construction sites. Unfortunately, this branch of the Nile has long since dried up. The researchers analyzed satellite images, geophysical surveys, and sediment samples. To penetrate deeper beneath the sandy cover and capture images of the hidden terrain, the team employed NASA radar technology. This allowed them to map the ancient river branch, which they named Akhramat, meaning “pyramids” in Arabic.
According to the study, the Akhramat branch stretched approximately 64 kilometers from north to south, nearly parallel to the modern Nile, but located between 2.5 to 10.25 kilometers to the west of it. Its depth ranged from 2 to 8 meters, and its width varied from 200 to 700 meters.
“Those interested in the history of Egypt have speculated that the Egyptians likely used water routes to construct their massive monuments, such as the pyramids and temples, but no one was certain about the shape, size, or location of this waterway in relation to the pyramids,” said Egyptian-American geomorphologist Eman Ghoneim, who led the research. She also noted that her team created the first large-scale map of one of the main ancient branches of the Nile and connected this waterway to the locations of the pyramids.
So, what happened to Akhramat? Time is to blame. Over 2,000 years have passed since the last pyramid was built, as reported by New Atlas. That’s plenty of time for the constant winds to blow sand into the branch, ultimately drying it up.
This discovery, according to the researchers, will help paint a more accurate picture of life in Ancient Egypt, add context to obscure texts, and inspire scientists for new excavations.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment.