• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Nile Riverbed Clues Help Explain The Mystery Of Egypt’s Pyramid Construction

August 29, 2022 by Deborah Bloomfield

The construction of Egypt’s great pyramids of Giza some 4,500 years ago is one of the world’s greatest achievements. Among the many questions and complexities surrounding the pyramids, however, is how their vast “building blocks” were hauled to the construction site. It turns out, we can thank a long-lost branch of the River Nile.

When we imagine the pyramids of Giza today, we expect to see them surrounded by a vast plain of sand with the Greater Cairo metropolis sprawling behind them. The main body of the Nile is currently some 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, which is a vast distance if you’re lugging huge quantities of stone across the sand.

Over 4,000 years ago, however, a now-defunct arm of the Nile known as the Khufu branch could be found carving just past the site of the Giza pyramid complex. It’s long been suspected that the Khufu branch was a vital vein of ancient Egpyt, aiding its workers to transport materials to the pyramids from elsewhere. However, its history has remained little understood. 

As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from France managed to gain a detailed history of this river section from pollen grains extracted from the floodplain. 

Map shows how the Khufu Branch of the River Nile In Egypt formerly reached the edges of the Great Giza pyramid complex.

Map shows how the Khufu branch of the River Nile In Egypt formerly reached the edges of the Great Giza pyramid complex. Image credit: PNAS

By tracking the growth and demise of over 61 different plants along the flood plain, they showed the rise and fall of water levels in the river’s branches over 8,000 years of ancient Egyptian history. 

Advertisement

Most notably, it showed that the waters of the Khufu branch rose significantly during the African Humid Period, which spanned from 14,800 years ago until 5,500 years ago. 

However, water levels of the Khufu branch appear to have been relatively high for some time after the African Humid Period, allowing the river to remain navigable until the Great Pyramid of Giza, dedicated to pharaoh Khufu, was constructed around 4,500 years ago.

At some point, it’s possible this lost arm of the Nile may have reached as far as the Great Sphinx of Giza, which stands proud at the front of the complex.

Advertisement

While it’s clear that the Khufu branch of the Nile could have helped transport construction materials closer to the Giza pyramid complex, many other details around the pyramids’ construction are still uncertain. 

The Great Pyramid of Giza originally stood at 146.6 meters (481 feet) tall, consisting of over 2.3 million large stone blocks weighing 6 million tonnes in total. Theories exist, but there’s currently no solid idea of how the colossal blocks were placed one on top of another in a highly complex structure featuring a warren of inner passages and tombs.

And no, it certainly wasn’t with the aid of aliens. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Tennis – Raducanu’s toughest challenge is coping with the fame game
  2. AT&T anticipates pending WarnerMedia-Discovery deal to close by mid-2022
  3. UK marketing-led group takes antitrust complaint against Google’s Privacy Sandbox to the EU
  4. Motor racing-Verstappen demands more pace after retaking F1 championship lead

Source Link: Nile Riverbed Clues Help Explain The Mystery Of Egypt's Pyramid Construction

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The Life And Death Of David Vetter, The Boy Who Lived His Whole Life In A Bubble
  • Time’s Arrow Within Glass Appears To Go Both Ways, Raising Huge Questions
  • World’s “Oldest Baby” Born From Embryo Frozen In 1994 In New World Record
  • What Can Spain’s “Tunnel Of Bones” Tell Us About The Fate Of Human Species On The Brink Of Extinction?
  • Rhino Horns Go Radioactive As Anti-Poaching Project Gets Off The Ground
  • Manta Rays Officially Get Third New Species – 15 Years After First Suspected
  • “Space Hurricanes” Are Happening At Earth’s Poles – And They Can Affect GPS Signals
  • There Is A Crucial Reason Why We Will Never See The Big Bang Directly With Our Telescopes
  • How Does An MRI Machine Work?
  • Catch A Glimpse Of One Of The World’s Rarest Sharks In Dreamy New Footage
  • A One-Shot Vaccine For HIV Might Actually Be On The Cards
  • Chikungunya Virus Is Spreading In China: As CDC Considers Travel Advisory, Here’s What To Know
  • First-Of-Its-Kind Vagus Nerve Implant Gets FDA Approval As A Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • First Time Crystal Made Of “Exotic” Giant Atoms 1,000 times Larger Than Hydrogen
  • Prehistoric Humans Began Eating Tubers 700,000 Years Before Our Teeth Evolved To Do So
  • The World’s Oldest Wild Bird “Surprised” Everyone With A Hatched Chick At 74
  • “Spectacular” New Species Of 40cm Giant Stick Insect May Be Australia’s New Heaviest Insect
  • What Is “Nobel Disease”, And Why Do So Many Prizewinners Go On To Develop It?
  • New Human “Mini-Brains” Combine Cells From The Whole Brain – Even The Blood Vessels
  • Aging NASA Spacecraft Could Intercept The Interstellar Comet On The Other Side Of The Sun, Astronomers Suggest
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version