WorldWide Drilling Resource

Solving the Mysteries of the Pyramids Compiled by Caleb Whitaker, Associate Editor WorldWide Drilling Resource ® The pyramid complex in Giza, Egypt, includes the Great Pyramid, two smaller pyramids, the Sphinx, and other structures. During Egypt’s 4th Dynasty around 4500 years ago, the pyramids were built in part by usings large quantities of heavy stone quarried from hundreds of miles away, across the Nile River. In ancient times, the Nile was closer to the pyramids than it is today. For this reason, researchers have thought water transport might have been a way to get stones closer to the pyramid. Mark Lehner, director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA), has gone a step further with the research by excavating and taking core samples, providing a better understanding of the ancient landscape. According to Lehner, engineers made harbors and canals which were deep enough for small boats year-round, and for heavy cargo boats during floods. Boundaries for canals and harbors were set by 4th Dynasty structures revealed during excavations. These structures also served as benchmarks for floodplain and riverbank levels. Sediment cores pulled from deep in the floodplain provide sections of solid silt and clay, which filled abandoned water courses, as well as sand and gravel from a riverbank where 4th Dynasty people built their settlements. In the late 1980s, an American-British consortium (AMBRIC) drilled 72 boreholes before installing a sewage system east of the Giza Plateau. With great accuracy, each drill core was mapped and logged for different sediments, including their depth below surface and elevation. By using the AMBRIC cores, along with others taken by AERA teams, researchers were able to assess possible an- cient Nile channels and landscape features near Giza. The AMBRIC cores had the expected composition of an aban- doned river channel. The depth of the silt and clay layers allowed Lehner to locate the bottom of the old channel. Two boreholes nearly 66 feet deep, just east of the pyramids, reached the bottom of clay on sand and gravel, which Lehner took to be the riverbed. The AMBRIC cores taken within a hypothetical enclosure area showed very deep, solid clay and silt. As with the river channel, Lehner took the bottom of the clay and silt in the AMBRIC cores as the guide for setting the depth of this harbor. Numerous other cores were analyzed to help Lehner create his model of the ancient landscape and engineering around the site of the pyramids. Additional research revealed a terraced basin at the site near the Sphinx. The terraces would provide various levels to unload cargo, based on the level of the Nile. Evidence has also been found of ramps in the basin’s corners. Lehner is certain some sort of great enclosure, defined by stonewalls or dikes, stretched 1600 feet east of the Khufu Valley Temple. Wall segments and the Khufu Valley Temple pavement provided benchmarks which normal Nile floodwater did not rise above. Clear evidence also points to a long, broad, and very deep channel leading straight toward the Sphinx and Khafre Valley Temple, with two settle- ments flanking its access on the east. Even though these pieces of the puz- zle are firmly within hand, a major piece remains out of reach - the specifics of the Nile during the Old Kingdom. Researchers do not know the ancient river ’s exact course or size. They are also unaware of whether the main trunk or a subsidiary channel flowed closest to Giza. In addition, there is a lack of drill core data and other information, which could complete thewater- front at the foot of the Giza Plateau. While the model does not perfectly cap- ture the 4th Dynasty waterfront, this exploratory process has offered insights into how the builders of the Giza pyra- mid complex may have turned the area into a major port on the Nile. 54 FEBRUARY 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® An illustration during Nile River flooding in ancient Egypt, courtesy of Ancient Egypt Research Associates. An illustration during low water in ancient Egypt, courtesy of Ancient Egypt Research Associates. ENV