Across Egypt and Sudan , you’re able to find a vast web of stone walls run across the landscape . In a raw study , archaeologists detail how some of these ancient construction were make by humans over 3,000 years ago and serve as an ancient pattern of hydraulic engineering that harden theRiver Nile .
researcher from the University of Western Australia and the University of Manchester map out out almost 1,300 of these so - called “ river groynes ” using a variety of techniques , including satellite imagery , drone , and reason surveys .
Many of these structures have since been submerged beneath the waters of the Aswan High Dam reservoir , so they also relied on the diaries of 19th - century traveler , a 200 - year - sure-enough map , and archives of aerial photographs taken by the UK ’s Royal Air Force in 1934 .
A 20th-century river groyne in northern Sudan, with crops grown on the reclaimed land.Image credit: University of Western Australia/University of Manchester
Radiocarbon dating of the complex body part suggest that some were build up over 3,000 years ago and played an important persona in the success ofancient Egyptiancivilization .
The declamatory stone bulwark – some up to five meters wooden-headed and 200 meters long – were used to influence the riverflow of the Nileand aided gravy holder navigation through treacherous rapid .
“ This incredibly long - survive hydraulic technology play a all-important persona in enable communities to grow food and thrive in the challenging landscapes of Nubia for over 3,000 year , ” Dr Matthew Dalton , principal study author from the University of Western Australia , said in astatement .
“ These monumental river groynes help to connect the people of ancient Egypt and Nubia by facilitating the longsighted - aloofness effort of resources , armies , people , and ideas up and down the Nile , ” continued Dalton .
Not all of the paries were made in ancient times , however . The researchers found that this method of river taming is still used today and some of the groynes were built in the 20th 100 .
“ From speaking with farmers in Sudanese Nubia , we also learnt that river bulwark stay to be build as latterly as the 1970s , and that the terra firma formed by some paries is still cultivated today , ” explain Dr Dalton .
The single-valued function of the rampart foreground how much the landscape painting of Northeast Africahas changedover the past millennia . Many of the river groynes are found in expanse that are now barren desert land , indicating that lost rivers once flowed here .
In fact , the research worker suspect that some of the wall were constructed in answer to dramatically shift climate condition .
“ We bed that make of the Nile in Sudan had multiple channels originally in the Holocene and many of them dried out when river flows decreased due to climate variety , ” added study co - writer Professor Jamie Woodward of The University of Manchester .
“ The occurrence of these wall in channel that dry out thousands of year ago strongly suggests some of this technology was in response to wane flows and the penury to expand the riparian country suited for farming , ” Woodward said .
The study is published in the journalGeoarchaeology .
