Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE

Hader Sheisha; David Kaniewski; Nick Marriner; Morteza Djamali; Gamal Younes; Zhongyuan Chen; Gad El-Qady; Amr Saleem; Alain Veron; Christophe Morhange

doi:10.1073/pnas.2202530119

Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE

Hader Sheisha, David Kaniewski, Nick Marriner, Morteza Djamali, Gamal Younes, Zhongyuan Chen, Gad El-Qady, Amr Saleem, Alain Veron, Christophe Morhange

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The pyramids of Giza originally overlooked a now defunct arm of the Nile. This fluvial channel, the Khufu branch, enabled navigation to the Pyramid Harbor complex but its precise environmental history is unclear. To fill this knowledge gap, we use pollen-derived vegetation patterns to reconstruct 8,000 y of fluvial variations on the Giza floodplain. After a high-stand level concomitant with the African Humid Period, our results show that Giza's waterscapes responded to a gradual insolation-driven aridification of East Africa, with the lowest Nile levels recorded at the end of the Dynastic Period. The Khufu branch remained at a high-water level (∼40% of its Holocene maximum) during the reigns of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, facilitating the transportation of construction materials to the Giza Pyramid Complex.

Original language	English
Article number	e2202530119
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	119
Issue number	37
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202530119
State	Published - 13 Sep 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Drilling permission was obtained with the help of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG, Helwan, Egypt). This research project was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41620104004). This study received financial supports from the CEREGE laboratory (APIC Research project), the MITI-CNRS “Evenements rares” program (AQUASANMARCO project), the ARKAIA Institute (GIZA project), the MSHE-Universite de Franche-Comte (GIZAPORT project), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University, and the A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d'Avenir” programme.

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Drilling permission was obtained with the help of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG, Helwan, Egypt). This research project was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41620104004). This study received financial supports from the CEREGE laboratory (APIC Research project), the MITI-CNRS “Evénements rares” program (AQUASANMARCO project), the ARKAIA Institute (GIZA project), the MSHE-Université de Franche-Comté (GIZAPORT project), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University, and the A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d’Avenir” programme.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND)

Keywords

Giza Harbour
Great pyramid
Nile

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

Access to Document

10.1073/pnas.2202530119License: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

Sheisha, H., Kaniewski, D., Marriner, N., Djamali, M., Younes, G., Chen, Z., El-Qady, G., Saleem, A., Veron, A., & Morhange, C. (2022). Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(37), [e2202530119]. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202530119

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abstract = "The pyramids of Giza originally overlooked a now defunct arm of the Nile. This fluvial channel, the Khufu branch, enabled navigation to the Pyramid Harbor complex but its precise environmental history is unclear. To fill this knowledge gap, we use pollen-derived vegetation patterns to reconstruct 8,000 y of fluvial variations on the Giza floodplain. After a high-stand level concomitant with the African Humid Period, our results show that Giza's waterscapes responded to a gradual insolation-driven aridification of East Africa, with the lowest Nile levels recorded at the end of the Dynastic Period. The Khufu branch remained at a high-water level (∼40% of its Holocene maximum) during the reigns of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, facilitating the transportation of construction materials to the Giza Pyramid Complex.",

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note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Drilling permission was obtained with the help of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG, Helwan, Egypt). This research project was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41620104004). This study received financial supports from the CEREGE laboratory (APIC Research project), the MITI-CNRS “Evenements rares” program (AQUASANMARCO project), the ARKAIA Institute (GIZA project), the MSHE-Universite de Franche-Comte (GIZAPORT project), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University, and the A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d'Avenir” programme. Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Drilling permission was obtained with the help of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG, Helwan, Egypt). This research project was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41620104004). This study received financial supports from the CEREGE laboratory (APIC Research project), the MITI-CNRS “Ev{\'e}nements rares” program (AQUASANMARCO project), the ARKAIA Institute (GIZA project), the MSHE-Universit{\'e} de Franche-Comt{\'e} (GIZAPORT project), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University, and the A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d{\textquoteright}Avenir” programme. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND)",

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Sheisha, H, Kaniewski, D, Marriner, N, Djamali, M, Younes, G, Chen, Z, El-Qady, G, Saleem, A, Veron, A & Morhange, C 2022, 'Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 119, no. 37, e2202530119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202530119

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AU - Chen, Zhongyuan

AU - El-Qady, Gad

AU - Saleem, Amr

AU - Veron, Alain

AU - Morhange, Christophe

N1 - Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Drilling permission was obtained with the help of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG, Helwan, Egypt). This research project was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41620104004). This study received financial supports from the CEREGE laboratory (APIC Research project), the MITI-CNRS “Evenements rares” program (AQUASANMARCO project), the ARKAIA Institute (GIZA project), the MSHE-Universite de Franche-Comte (GIZAPORT project), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University, and the A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d'Avenir” programme. Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Drilling permission was obtained with the help of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG, Helwan, Egypt). This research project was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41620104004). This study received financial supports from the CEREGE laboratory (APIC Research project), the MITI-CNRS “Evénements rares” program (AQUASANMARCO project), the ARKAIA Institute (GIZA project), the MSHE-Université de Franche-Comté (GIZAPORT project), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University, and the A*MIDEX, a French “Investissements d’Avenir” programme. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND)

PY - 2022/9/13

Y1 - 2022/9/13

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AB - The pyramids of Giza originally overlooked a now defunct arm of the Nile. This fluvial channel, the Khufu branch, enabled navigation to the Pyramid Harbor complex but its precise environmental history is unclear. To fill this knowledge gap, we use pollen-derived vegetation patterns to reconstruct 8,000 y of fluvial variations on the Giza floodplain. After a high-stand level concomitant with the African Humid Period, our results show that Giza's waterscapes responded to a gradual insolation-driven aridification of East Africa, with the lowest Nile levels recorded at the end of the Dynastic Period. The Khufu branch remained at a high-water level (∼40% of its Holocene maximum) during the reigns of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, facilitating the transportation of construction materials to the Giza Pyramid Complex.

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Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE

Abstract

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Keywords

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