Summary: How did ancient Egyptians transport the massive stone blocks used to construct the pyramids? Science may have solved the mystery.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”– Genesis 41:41 (ESV)
Ancient Extinct Nile Branch
Scientists believe they may have solved the mystery of how the massive stones belonging to 31 of Egypt’s pyramids were transported more than 4,000 years ago. These ancient monuments would have been seen by Abraham and later by the Israelites when they lived there. A research team from the University of North Carolina Wilmington discovered that the pyramids were built along a long-lost, ancient branch of the Nile River, now hidden under desert and farmland.
For centuries, scholars have puzzled over how the colossal pyramid blocks were moved during construction. It was thought that ancient Egyptians must have used a nearby waterway, but up until now “nobody was certain of the location, the shape, the size, or proximity of this mega waterway to the actual pyramids’ site,” said Prof. Eman Ghoneim, one of the study’s authors.
Details of the groundbreaking findings by Prof. Ghoneim and her colleagues were published in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment on May 16.
This hidden branch of the Nile also provides a good lesson when considering many aspects of Biblical geography. Much has changed over thousands of years, and things can look very different today compared to what they were in times of the Bible. This applies to things like the existence of water courses, or cities, and even the amount and kind of vegetation in an area where a small difference in climate can have a significant impact on foliage both wild and cultivated. There is an immense amount of evidence that may pertain to the Biblical accounts just waiting to be discovered beneath the surface in many areas.
Mapping out the Hidden River
With the help of satellite imagery, historical maps, geophysical surveys, and sediment analysis, researchers were able to map the former Nile River branch, which they believe was buried by a major drought and sandstorms thousands of years ago.
The team used radar technology to “penetrate the sand surface and produce images of hidden features” such as “buried rivers and ancient structures” running at the foothills of where the “vast majority of the ancient Egyptian pyramids lie,” said Ghoneim.
The discovery of this ancient river branch helps explain the many pyramids located between the Giza complex and the Middle Kingdom site of Lisht, in what is now an inhospitable area of the Saharan desert.
“Locating the actual branch and having the data that shows there was a waterway that could be used for the transportation of heavier blocks, equipment, people, everything, really helps us explain pyramid construction,” said Dr. Suzanne Onstine, one of the study’s co-authors.
Segments of the extinct channel, named the Ahramat Branch after the Arabic word for pyramids, were discovered along the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau. The river branch was measured between 650 – 2,300 feet wide and roughly 39 miles long, ending at the Valley Temples.
The Royal Pyramids
The ancient pyramids were not isolated monuments. They were joined with several other structures to form complexes including a mortuary temple next to the pyramid, a valley temple farther away from the pyramid on the edge of a waterbody, and a long sloping causeway that connected the two temples.
“A causeway is a ceremonial raised walkway, which provides access to the pyramid site and was part of the religious aspects of the pyramid itself,” according to the study article. Many of the pyramid causeways were found to run perpendicular to the course of the Ahramat Branch and stop directly on its riverbank.
In Egyptian pyramid complexes, the valley temples at the end of causeways acted as river harbors, serving as entry points for visitors and ceremonial roads to the pyramid itself. According to the article, countless valley temples have not yet been found and may still be buried beneath the agricultural fields and desert sands along the riverbank of the Ahramat Branch.
Only five of these valley temples, all dated to the Old Kingdom, have survived and were part of the study. “These temples include the valley temples of the Bent Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure from Dynasty 4, the valley temple of the Pyramid of Sahure from Dynasty 5, and the valley temple of the Pyramid of Pepi II from Dynasty 6,” according to the study.
The enormity of the river branch plus its proximity to the pyramid complexes suggest that the waterway was “active and operational during the construction phase of these pyramids,” which were built over a 1,000-year period, starting around 4,700 years ago. Ancient Egyptians could “use the river’s energy to carry these heavy blocks, rather than human labor,” said Onstine. “It’s just a lot less effort.”
It is interesting to note that the building of pyramids made of huge limestone blocks was a hallmark of the Old Kingdom period (dynasties 3-6). In the Middle Kingdom (dynasties 11-13), the main building material for pyramids was mud bricks, and there were no large pyramids constructed in the New Kingdom (dynasties 18-20). Might this be another clue for where to place the Biblical account of Israelite slavery, which emphasizes the production of mud bricks?
Mysterious Underground Structure
Another recent find of a mysterious hidden structure near the Giza Pyramids was reported on May 5th by researchers from Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, as well as Japan’s Higashi Nippon International University and Tohoku University. The report was published in Archaeological Prospection.
In the cemetery next to the Great Pyramid of Khufu, archaeologists found an anomalous, “blank area” underground by scanning the surface with ground-penetrating technology. The area is L-shaped and measures roughly 33 x 49 feet.
Using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), researchers mapped the area and have hypothesized that there is an upper structure where there “could be vertical walls of limestone or shafts.” Then below that, there is another space between 15 to 30 feet underground.
The area on the surface is mostly flat ground covered with sand and no visible structures. “There are no significant remains above ground in this area, but is there really nothing below the ground?” the team asked in their report. “No underground investigations have previously been carried out.”
The archeologists believe there could be a tomb below, although they stress that a “more detailed survey would be required in order to confirm this possibility.” Further research will need to be done to find the true significance of the anomalous space.
Egypt in the Bible
Egypt has an important place in the Bible and is mentioned over 600 times. Joseph, a great grandson of Abraham, was sold to Egypt as a slave. There he rose to a prominent position and helped save his entire family including the eleven other sons of his father Jacob.
Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. – Genesis 39:1-2
Later, after growing into a huge group of people the Israelites were forced into slavery. Moses was saved as a baby, out of the Nile River, and called to bring the people out of Egypt.
Then the Lord said [to Moses], “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey … Come, I will send you [Moses] to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” – Exodus 3:7-8,10
The prophets spoke much about Egypt, including speaking judgments against it and chastising Israel for relying on Egypt rather than God.
Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.– Isaiah 36:6
In the New Testament, Jesus even lived in Egypt for a period of his younger years.
Now when [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” – Matthew 2:13-15
Conclusion
Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country in the world and its secrets are still being uncovered today. Even centuries after the building of the first pyramids of Egypt, the discoveries from those working at the excavation sites just keep coming.
“The finding of the Ahramat Branch is not only crucial to our understanding of why the pyramids were built in these specific geographical areas, but also for understanding how the pyramids were accessed and constructed by the ancient population,” said the study authors.
The discovery reiterates the importance of the Nile River as a highway and lifeline for ancient Egyptians. The study also highlights how human society has been affected by environmental change in the past. These issues, in turn, can impact the way we think about multiple Biblical matters.
Archaeological excavations are being prioritized to find more extinct Nile channels and further research will be done to see what is hidden below the ground in the Giza complex, all in an effort to learn more and help protect Egyptian cultural heritage.
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TOP PHOTO: Pyramids at Giza. (credit: Walkerssk, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
