May 17, 2024 20:44:00

Evidence found of 'lost branch of the Nile' used to build pyramids

The diaries of the foreman at the time indicate that a tributary or canal of the Nile was used for the construction of the pyramids. Geologists' research has established the existence of a tributary, named the ' Aframat Branch ', that flowed near the pyramids.

Archaeology: Ancient Egyptian pyramids along the Ahramat branch of the Nile | Communications Earth & Environment | Nature Portfolio
https://www.natureasia.com/ja-jp/research/highlight/14918

The Egyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch | Communications Earth & Environment
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01379-7

Found at last: long-lost branch of the Nile that ran by the pyramids
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01449-y

Discovery may explain why Egyptian pyramids were built along long-lost Ahramat branch of the Nile

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-discovery-egyptian-pyramids-built-lost.html

Many of the pyramids are scattered on the edge of the desert on the west bank of the Nile, and historical records show that the flow of the river was used to build the pyramids. Traces of waterways have actually been found in various places.

The site director's diary recorded that the pyramids were built using the power of the Nile and large-scale civil engineering work - GIGAZINE

The study was conducted by geologist Iman Ghonim of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and his colleagues.

Ghonim, who grew up in Egypt, first spotted the tributary's remains on

multispectral satellite imagery about two years ago.

They then obtained and analyzed sediment cores on site, confirming the existence of a tributary, which they named 'Ahramat,' which means 'pyramid' in Arabic.

The map below shows the Nile basin, with the red and green circles representing the pyramids. The blue line shows the current Nile, the light blue solid line shows the confirmed Ahramat tributary, and the light blue dotted line shows the predicted course of the Ahramat tributary.

Based on the analysis of the cores by Ghonim and his colleagues, it is believed that the Aphramat tributary flowed in the same direction as shown on the map at least from the Third Dynasty (2686 BC - ), when Egypt's capital was at

Memphis , through the 13th Dynasty (up to around 1650 BC), when Egypt's capital was at Itch Tawi (around the present-day village of Risht).

It is believed that the Aframat tributary subsequently dried up due to the flow of the Nile River itself moving ever more eastward due to plate tectonics and the inflow of sand from the desert.

Below is a map created by the Egyptian Survey Bureau in 1911, showing the Bahr El-Libeini Canal and the surrounding abandoned waterways.

The canal is believed to be a surviving part of the 'Aframat Branch,' and is overlaid with satellite imagery.