This is a guest blogpost by Amr El Beleidy, one of Nature Middle East‘s freelancers based in Egypt.
The Bent Pyramid in the Dahshur necropolis.{credit}Michael Hoefner/Wikipedia{/credit}
New research on the necropolis of Dahshur in Egypt has shown that the area’s landscape has been directly altered by ancient Egyptians. In a paper published in Quaternary International, researchers analyzed fractals in the region to analyse the topography of the area to reach their conclusions.
Fractals are complex patterns repeating with magnification. Previous studies have shown that a river drainage system, such as the Nile Delta where Dahshour is located, would naturally order itself into a fractal pattern as this would minimise energy expenditure in the whole basin. The drainage channels would then imprint a fractal pattern on the topography that could be later identified.
If the human activity in the area had only altered or advanced the natural processes, fractal patterns would still emerge. However if human activity had a direct influence then there would be a low correlation between the fractal patterns of a channel network and the observed landscape.
The researchers used a digital elevation model derived from topographical maps to analyse the area. Areas around the edges of the necropolis showed a natural fractal pattern. However, the necropolis itself showed no fractals patterns which indicates direct human interaction.
While the reason for the direct alternation of landscape remains speculative, there are some clues as to why it might have been undertaken. Arne Ramisch from Freie Universitat Berlin, explains “We found a wealth of archaeological asset within the identified human influenced land forms during field trips. Examples include quarries, construction material and even an harbor occupying large areas of an potential artificial valley. Although not explicitly stated we referred to the literature and conclude: ‘Quarrying and intentional landscape architecture are major possibilities'”
The research speculate that this region could have been a training ground where ancient Egyptians practiced building pyramids. Pharaoh Sneferu may have used this area to perfect pyramid building techniques to build the nearby Bent Pyramid. This pyramid represents the transition from step pyramids to smooth-sided pyramids, the first of which was the Red Pyramid, also built by Sneferu. This might have paved the way for Sneferu’s son, Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid of Giza.
“Without further research this assumption would remain speculative,” says Ramisch . “Nevertheless, the intention of [our paper] was to establish the method rather than giving an explanation of the anthropogenic fingerprint. This remains subject for our future work.”
Ramisch, A. et al. Fractals in topography: Application to geoarchaeological studies in the surroundings of the necropolis of Dahshur, Egypt. Quaternary International, doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2012.02.045 (2012)