A group of researchers has finally found a long-buried 64-kilometre-long river branch of the Nile River. It was hidden under desert and farmland for millennia, according to a study by the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
The study added the river branch used to flow alongside the 31 pyramids in Egypt. It also stated that the river was used to transport giant stone blocks. The latest discovery, in a way, has also explained the reason behind the construction of pyramids in a chain between 4,700 and 3,700 years ago.
Radar satellite imagery was used by researchers to map the river branch. Eman Ghoneim, the University of North Carolina Wilmington earth and ocean sciences professor, told the news agency AFP that the radar gave them the “unique ability to penetrate the sand surface and produce images of hidden features including buried rivers and ancient structures.”
As per the statement released by the university, the team also “found many of the pyramids had causeways that ended at the proposed riverbanks of the Ahramat branch, which they suggest is evidence the river was used for transporting construction materials.”
In the study, Eman Ghoneim said, “Many of us who are interested in ancient Egypt are aware that the Egyptians must have used a waterway to build their enormous monuments, like the pyramids and valley temples, but nobody was certain of the location, the shape, the size, or proximity of this mega waterway to the actual pyramids site. Our research offers the first map of one of the main ancient branches of the Nile at such a large scale and links it with the largest pyramid fields of Egypt.”
The findings were published in the research journal Communications Earth & Environment.