River Nile's Old Branch

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Context (IE): A new study suggests that the River Nile played a crucial role in making pyramid construction possible.

About the findings

Most of Egypt’s pyramids are located in a 50 km stretch between Giza and the village of Lisht.
While it was suspected that the river might have been closer to the pyramids in ancient times, conclusive evidence was lacking until now.
A study published in Communications Earth and Environment identified segments of an extinct branch of the Nile near the pyramids. This branch, i.e. Ahramat, was very close to the pyramids in ancient times.
Locating this ancient river branch provides evidence that it could have been used to transport heavy materials for pyramid construction.
Researchers suggest that the river’s energy was used to transport heavy blocks. This also explains why there’s a high density of pyramids between Giza and Lisht in the Sahara desert.

nile branch egypt

Credit: Nature

It is the longest river in the world.
It rises south of the Equator and drains into the Mediterranean Sea.
Its basin includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the cultivated part of Egypt.
Two main branches
- Blue Nile coming from the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands (Source of 85% of total flow).
- White Nile, coming from the Great Lakes region.
The White Nile meets the Blue Nile at Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.
The Blue Nile originates from Lake Tana in Ethiopia.