Manfred Bietak was interested in the role played by the Nile in ancienttimes when he stumbled upon the strange truth about Piramesse. He was tryingto trace the lost river beds and waterways of the Nile in order to map outwhat the Delta would have looked like at the time of the Pharaoh.
Today, there are only two branches of the Nile in the Delta. But we knowthat in the past , the river branches have switched course many times.
Through history, the Nile would have had different branches all across theDelta. Branches that have long ago dried up and disappeared. The reason forthis is that each branch of the Nile in the Delta carries so much silt fromupstream that its river bed keeps building up until the water can no longerflow through it. At that moment, the river branch will switch course,finding a new route down to the sea and carving out a new path, sometimesfar away from the old river bed.
The only way to trace these ancient waterways is to study a contour map. Alllost rivers leave telltale signs in the contour lines on maps, signs that anexpert can trace to find the ancient path of the old dried-up river.
By studying these contour lines , Bietak finally came up with a single map,charting every ancient silted-up branch and waterway of the Nile through theeastern Delta. There were many lost channels, and each had been active atsome time in the past 5,000 years.
On this reconstruction map , with the help of the study of the contours ofthe Delta landscape, I was able to reconstruct the variety of Nile branchesin antiquity.
This one map held the truth about Piramesse, because it would reveal wherethe city should lie. The ancient texts said it lay on the Delta'seasternmost branch.So all Bietak had to do was to work out which was theeasternmost branch of the Nile at the time of Ramesses the Great. To dothat, he had to date all the ancient branches, and he did that with pottery.
In Egypt, cities and settlements were built along active branches of theNile which supplied them with drinking water, sanitation and transport. Likeall ancient settlements, Piramesse's busy streets and markets would haveleft behind tons of rubbish. Above all, potterry. |