Researchers have explored how the River Nile evolved over the past 11,500 years and how changes in its geography could have helped shape the fortunes of ancient Egyptian civilization. Research reveals a major shift in the Nile around four thousand years ago, after which the floodplain in the Nile Valley around Luxor greatly expanded.
Researchers have explored how the River Nile evolved over the past 11,500 years and how changes in its geography could have helped shape the fortunes of ancient Egyptian civilisation.reveals a major shift in the Nile around four thousand years ago, after which the floodplain in the Nile Valley around Luxor greatly expanded.
"While no specific causal links can be inferred between this shift and any contemporaneous social developments, the changes in the landscape are nonetheless an important factor that need to be considered when discussing the trajectory of Ancient Egyptian culture." Dominic Barker, another co-author also from the University of Southampton, explained how the work was achieved:"We drilled 81 boreholes, many by hand, across the whole Nile Valley near Luxor -- a genuine first for Egypt. Using geological information contained within the cores, and dating the sediments using a technique called Optically Stimulated Luminescence we were able to piece together the evolution of the riverine landscape.
"The Egyptian Nile we see today looks very different from how it would have been throughout much of the last 11,500 years," says Dr Pennington."For most of this time, the Nile was made up of a network of interwoven channels that frequently changed their course." The researchers say the major shift in the Nile's behaviour was likely caused by a reduction in the volume of water flowing through the river and an increase in fine sediment supply. This was driven by the aridification of the Nile basin, with the 'Green Sahara' of the African Humid Period transforming into the present-day hyper-arid Sahara Desert. This shift in regional climate may have further combined with changing human impacts on the land to make the soil more prone to erosion.
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