Shift away from Nile incision at Luxor ~4,000 years ago impacted ancient Egyptian landscapes

Abstract

Although the Nile is one of the largest rivers in the world and played a central role in ancient Egyptian life, little is known about its response to climatic change during the Holocene. Here we present a framework for the evolution of the Egyptian Nile, demonstrating how climatic and environmental changes have shaped the landscape of the Egyptian Nile Valley over the past 11,500 years, including the civilization of ancient Egypt (~5,000 to 2,000 years ago). Using data from over 80 sediment cores drilled in a transect spanning the Nile Valley near Luxor, pinned in time by 48 optically stimulated luminescence ages, we reconstruct the dynamics of the Nile River during the Holocene in the vicinity of UNESCO World Heritage sites such as Karnak and Luxor temples. According to our reconstruction, valley incision occurred from the start of the record until approximately 4,000 years ago and then rapidly shifted to massive floodplain aggradation. We argue that this relatively abrupt change in the riverine landscape near Luxor from the Middle to Late Holocene was linked to a shift towards a drier regional hydroclimate around this time. Such a dramatic change in river sediment dynamics could have had local agro-economic consequences.