The Nile and Ancient Egypt
Changing Land- and Waterscapes, from the Neolithic to the Roman Era

The economic, political and historical story of the Nile in ancient times is unearthed through its landscape.

Judith Bunbury (Author)

9781107012158, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 June 2019

196 pages, 68 b/w illus. 13 maps
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.4 cm, 0.46 kg

The tale of human habitation of the Nile Valley is a long one and includes famine, disaster, global environmental events, and human resolve told against a background of ever-changing landscape. In this volume, Judith Bunbury examines the region over a 10,000 year period, from the Neolithic to the Roman conquest. Charting the progression of the river as it meanders through the region and over the ages, she demonstrates how ancient Egyptians attempted to harness the Nile's power as a force for good. Over the generations, they learned how to farm and build on its banks, and also found innovative solutions to cope in a constantly evolving habitat. Using the latest theories and evidence, this richly illustrated volume also provides a blueprint for the future management of the Nile.

1. Humans and climate change: how past peoples can inform our responses to landscape and climate change
2. The green deserts: lakes and playas of the Saharan wet phases
3. The climate see-saw: the balance between hunter-gathering and farming in the wadis and marshes of the Nile Valley
4. The development of Egypt's capitals: condensation of the Nile into meandering channels with inhabited levees
5. Climate change and crisis: differing views of devolution during the First Intermediate Period
6. Islands in the Nile
7. The Flood and the New Delta
8. Renewed Strength in the South: the rise of Thebes (Karnak) and management of the minor channels of the Nile
9. High tides of Empire: the New Kingdom to Roman period: development of whole Nile water management
10. Coptic-Islamic times: a well-documental movement of the Nile from Al-Fustat through Babylon
11. Modern changes to Egypt: dams and irrigation, can we ever control the Nile?
Appendix I. The principles of borehole logging.

Subject Areas: Egyptian archaeology / Egyptology [HDDG], Archaeology by period / region [HDD], Archaeology [HD], Humanities [H]