Because the Nile has moved. As simple as that. Details from Scientific American:
By analyzing batches of satellite images and sediment samples collected from deep beneath the desert’s surface, she and her research team located a long-lost ancient branch of the Nile that once ran through the foothills just beside the Giza pyramid field. It’s likely that this channel, which the study team named the Ahramat (“pyramid” in Arabic), is how builders transported materials to the pyramid construction grounds, Ghoneim says. Knowing its course can help archeologists search for potential sites of ancient human settlements that may be buried beneath vast, dusty plain. The researchers detailed their discovery in a study published on Thursday in Communications Earth & Environment.
See the adjacent post on meanders. (pending)
Q: Why are the pyramids in Egypt ?
ReplyDeleteA: Because they were too heavy to move to the British Museum in London.
True that. Or the Lo(ot)uvre.
DeleteThe recent discovery of Bethsaida, the fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, has been long in coming because of a very similar phenomenon to the Nile moving. The levels of the Sea of Galilee have shifted up and down over the years so that Bethsaida was right on the lakeshore in the first century, but submerged at times during centuries later.
ReplyDeleteEven now the archaeology team must time their digging for the driest part of the year, and some particularly wet years they simply can't do anything because their site turns into a muddy puddle or even a swimming pool. So they give up all together until the next year.
https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/09/11/biblical-sites-is-el-araj-bethsaida/