Holocene Aridity-Induced Interruptions of Human Activity along a Fluvial Channel in Egypt’s Northern Delta

Jean-Daniel Stanley,Eva Lange-Athinodorou,Tobias Ullmann

doi:10.3390/quat4040039

Abstract

Geoarchaeological information presented here pertains to a subsidiary Nile channel that once flowed west of the main Sebennitic distributary and discharged its water and sediments at Egypt’s then north-central deltaic coast. Periodical paleoclimatic episodes during the later Middle and Upper Holocene included decreased rainfall and increased aridity that reduced the Nile’s flow levels and thus likely disrupted nautical transport and anthropogenic activity along this channel. Such changes in this deltaic sector, positioned adjacent to the Levantine Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean, can be attributed to climatic shifts triggered as far as the North Atlantic to the west, and African highland source areas of the Egyptian Nile to the south. Of special interest in a study core recovered along the channel are several sediment sequences without anthropogenic material that are interbedded between strata comprising numerous potsherds. The former are interpreted here as markers of increased regional aridity and reduced Nile flow which could have periodically disrupted the regional distribution of goods and nautical activities. Such times occurred ~5000 years B.P., ~4200–4000 years B.P., ~3200–2800 years B.P., ~2300–2200 years B.P., and more recently. Periods comparable to these are also identified by altered proportions of pollen, isotopic and compositional components in different radiocarbon-dated Holocene cores recovered elsewhere in the Nile delta, the Levantine region to the east and north of Egypt, and in the Faiyum depression south of the delta.

Highlights

Herodotus, in his “Histories” [1], compiled in the mid-5th century B.C., identified five active river branches that reached the Nile delta coast at the time of his visit to Egypt, several of which are extinct
The present study explores a different aspect, focusing primarily on the possible origin and significance of interbedded Holocene sediment strata in core S-44 that are withorigin and significance of interbedded Holocene sediment strata in core S-44 that are out human-introduced material
Holocene sedimentary sequences without anthropogenic materials that are interbedded between archaeologically dated potsherd-rich layers in northern delta channel deposits

Summary

Introduction

In his “Histories” [1], compiled in the mid-5th century B.C., identified five active river branches that reached the Nile delta coast at the time of his visit to Egypt, several of which are extinct. He recognized the Sebennitic as one of these, and referring to its still active channel noted (Book 2, Chapter 17.4): “This is by no means where the least share of [the Nile’s] water flows, nor is it [the Sebennitic] the least famous.”. Identified as S-44, it was positioned along a subsequent, somewhat younger channel to the west of the major Sebennitic distributary which flowed northward to the coast along what is presently the eastern margin of Burullus lagoon (Figure 1)

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Discussion

Conclusion