Scientists believe they may have solved a mystery like 31 pyramids — Including the famous Giza complex — Build done More than 4 thousand years ago in Egypt.
A research team from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the US discovered that the pyramids were likely built along a path Old branch Lost long ago From the Nile RiverWhich is now hidden under deserts and agricultural lands.
For many years, archaeologists believed that the ancient Egyptians used Waterway Nearby for transporting materials such as stone blocks needed to build monuments.
But until now, “no one was sure of the location, shape, size or proximity of this large, navigable road to the site of the pyramids,” explains Professor Eman Ghoneim, one of the authors of the study.
📜🛰️ In a cross-continental effort, the group of researchers used satellite radar images, historical maps, geophysical surveys, and sediment drilling (a technique archaeologists use to recover evidence from specimens) to map The arm of the river – which they believe disappeared due to severe drought and sandstorms thousands of years ago.
The team was able to “penetrate the surface of the sand and produce images of hidden landmarks” using radar technology, according to the study published in the scientific journal Nature.
“He was among them”Buried rivers and ancient structuresIt is located on the slope where “the vast majority of ancient Egypt’s pyramids are located,” Ghoneim adds.
In a conversation with the BBC, Susan Onstein, one of the study's co-authors, said: “Determining the real implications [do rio] And it has the data to show it There was a waterway that could be used to transport heavier blocks“The equipment, the people, everything, really helps us explain the construction of the pyramids.”
The team discovered that this “branch” of the river was given its name Ahramat (“Pyramid”, in Arabic) – It was about 64 kilometers long and between 200 and 700 meters wide.
It is bordered by 31 pyramids, which were built between 4700 and 3700 years ago.
The discovery of this extinct “branch” of the river helps explain the high density of pyramids between Giza and Lisht (the Middle Kingdom burial site), in what is now an inhospitable region of the Sahara Desert.
The article stated that the proximity of this branch of the river to the antiquities indicates that it was “active and practical during the construction phase of these pyramids.”
The ancient Egyptians could have “used river power to move these heavy masses, instead of human labor,” Eunstein explains.
“It's simply a lot less effort,” he adds.
The Nile River was the lifeline of ancient Egypt, and remains so today.
The first bakeries fed the men who built the pyramids in Egypt
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