The branch still had high water levels during the reigns of the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. Their data showed that the Khufu area flourished during the first half of Egypt's Old Kingdom period, from around 2700 to 2200 BC, when the building of the three main pyramids likely occurred. They also examined fossilized pollen grains from clay deposits in the Khufu area to identify vegetation-rich areas that are indicative of high water levels. Using a combination of techniques to reconstruct the ancient Nile floodplain, the research team found that Egyptian engineers could have used the Nile's now-dry Khufu branch to move construction materials to the site of the Giza pyramids.įirst, they analyzed the rock layers of cores drilled in 2019 from the Giza floodplain to estimate water levels in the Khufu branch thousands of years ago. The annual flood waters functioned like a hydraulic lift, allowing them to move massive blocks of stone to the construction site, the researchers said.īut until now, scientists have lacked a specific understanding of which landscapes were involved, according to the researchers. This explanation, known as the "fluvial-port-complex" hypothesis, posits that ancient Egyptian engineers cut a small canal across from the site of the pyramid to the Nile's Khufu branch, along the river's western edge of the river's flood plain, and dredged basins down to the river's bottom. ![]() (The Nile's current waterways have moved too far away from the pyramid sites to be of use.) Scientists have long theorized that ancient Egyptians must have exploited former parts of the Nile to move the tons of limestone and granite required to build the giant structures. The other two main pyramids belong to Khufu's son Khafre and grandson Menkaure.īuilt on the Giza plateau bordering Cairo, the structures - surrounded by temples, cemeteries and workers' quarters - are the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.ĪNCIENT ENGINEERS USED FLOODS LIKE HYDRAULIC LIFTS Comprised of 2.3 million stone blocks with a combined mass of 5.75 million tons (that's 16 times more than the Empire State Building), it's the largest of the group of pyramids at Giza. ![]() The Great Pyramid stands about 139 metres high and was commissioned by Pharaoh Khufu in the 26th century BC. Their findings show "that the former waterscapes and higher river levels around 4,500 years ago facilitated the construction of the Giza Pyramid Complex," the study said. They determined the pyramid builders likely took advantage of a "now-defunct" arm of the river to move construction materials, according a study published August 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers led by geographer Hader Sheisha at Aix-Marseille University in France used paleoecological clues to help reconstruct what Egypt's Nile river might have looked like over the past 8,000 years. New evidence about the Nile bolsters a long-standing theory of how ancient Egyptians managed to build the massive pyramids of Giza thousands of years ago.
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