Sandhills, sandbanks, waterways, canals and sacred lakes at Sais in the Nile Delta

Wilson, Penelope; Ghazala, Hosni

doi:10.5194/egqsj-70-129-2021

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In the past, 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) was commonly applied to delineate sedimentological differences of the subsurface without soil disturbance (e.g., [14][15][16][17][18]). In particular, the combination of geoelectrical resistivity mapping (i.e., vertical electrical soundings, ERT) and drilling has been applied successfully in the Nile Delta and Nile Valley in related studies aiming to identify and localize buried channels (e.g., [19][20][21][22][23]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sacred Waterscape of the Temple of Bastet at Ancient Bubastis, Nile Delta (Egypt)

et al. 2021

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Sacred water canals or lakes, which provided water for all kinds of purification rites and other activities, were very speciﬁc and important features of temples in ancient Egypt. In addition to the longer-known textual record, preliminary geoarchaeological surveys have recently provided evidence of a sacred canal at the Temple of Bastet at Bubastis. In order to further explore the location, shape, and course of this canal and to find evidence of the existence of a second waterway, also described by Herodotus, 34 drillings and five 2D geoelectrical measurements were carried out in 2019 and 2020 near the temple. The drillings and 2D ERT surveying revealed loamy to clayey deposits with a thickness of up to five meters, most likely deposited in a very low energy fluvial system (i.e., a canal), allowing the reconstruction of two separate sacred canals both north and south of the Temple of Bastet. In addition to the course of the canals, the width of about 30 m fits Herodotus' description of the sacred waterways. The presence of numerous artefacts proved the anthropogenic use of the ancient canals, which were presumably connected to the Nile via a tributary or canal located west or northwest of Bubastis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sacred Waterscape of the Temple of Bastet at Ancient Bubastis, Nile Delta (Egypt)

et al. 2021

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“…The paper of Wilson and Ghazala (2021) investigates the embedding of the ancient city of Sais (Sa el-Hagar) within the surrounding natural landscape of the western-central Nile Delta and explores the possibility that certain features of the landscape influenced the choice of the settlement location. By combining geological, geophysical, remote sensing, and archaeological data, this study aims to describe and reconstruct the deltaic environs and hydro-geography of Sais.…”

Section: The Contributions To This Volumementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years further geoarchaeological ventures evolved in the Nile Delta. To name two, the "Delta Survey" of the Egypt Exploration Society has created a database available online of all visited tells throughout the delta, which is continually updated (Wilson and Grigoropoulos, 2009;Spencer, 2016), and it is also worth mentioning that there is the ongoing geoarchaeological exploration of the sacred landscape of Bubastis being carried out by the University of Würzburg (Lange- Ullmann et al, 2019Ullmann et al, , 2020.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preface: Special issue “Geoarchaeology of the Nile Delta”

Meister¹,

Lange-Athinodorou²,

Ullmann³

2021

E&G Quaternary Sci. J.

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“…Accurate knowledge about the palaeotopography and palaeolandscape of the Nile Delta plays a central role in redrawing and mapping the locations of buried archaeological sites (Ginau et al, 2019; Wilson & Ghazala, 2021). Ancient settlements were strongly linked to the presence and dynamics of the ancient river network of the delta; larger administrative cities were often found in the immediate vicinity of larger Nile branches to control river traffic and trade and manage agricultural and other economic and ideo‐political activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revealing the paleolandscape features around the archaeological sites in the northern Nile Delta of Egypt using radar satellite imagery and GEE platform

Elfadaly

Shams

Elbehery

et al. 2022

Archaeological Prospection

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Egyptian civilization has long flourished along the banks of the Nile, in the south (e.g. Luxor and Aswan), the Middle (e.g. Giza ‘Great Pyramids’) and North (e.g. San El‐Hagar and Buto), as well as the less populated areas of the Sinai Peninsula, the Western Desert and the Red Sea coast. There are archaeological sites date back to the Palaeolithic period and cover the Pre‐dynastic, Pharaonic, Hellenistic‐Roman, Coptic and Muslim periods. Across the Nile Delta, many of these archaeological sites have disappeared beneath Nile alluvium from the annual inundation or through intensive agricultural use, climate changes and other anthropogenic activities. This study aims to detect the long‐term changes in the landscape of the archaeological area of Burullus on the Mediterranean shoreline in the North Delta of Egypt. By combining data from historic topographic maps with Radar Sentinel‐1 (High‐resolution Level‐1 GRD) and SRTM data, topographic signatures in satellite imagery can be compared with the historic record of archaeological sites, many of which are now lost. Image layering, enhancement and analysis using ENVI 5.1, ArcMap 10.4.1 and Snap 8.0 software as well as Google Earth Pro facilitated the imagery identification and acquisition. The results of this study provide a means of quantifying the significant loss of cultural heritage sites due to anthropogenic and natural changes in the landscape. This analysis has also identified two—previously unknown—potential archaeological sites. Finally, the reconstruction of the paleolandscape of the study area shows the changing relationships of ancient and historic settlements with natural and man‐made waterways over time. Integrating remote sensing data and historic maps offers a method for evaluating paleolandscapes and locating disappeared archaeological sites that can be applied in other areas of Egypt and the world.

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Sandhills, sandbanks, waterways, canals and sacred lakes at Sais in the Nile Delta

Cited by 5 publications

References 11 publications

The Sacred Waterscape of the Temple of Bastet at Ancient Bubastis, Nile Delta (Egypt)

The Sacred Waterscape of the Temple of Bastet at Ancient Bubastis, Nile Delta (Egypt)

Preface: Special issue “Geoarchaeology of the Nile Delta”

Revealing the paleolandscape features around the archaeological sites in the northern Nile Delta of Egypt using radar satellite imagery and GEE platform

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