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The shifting Nile and the origins and development of ancient Karnak

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2021

Guillaume Charloux Open the ORCID record for Guillaume Charloux [Opens in a new window] ,
Mona A. Abady Mahmoud ,
Ahmed M.S. Elnasseh  and
Sylvie Marchand
Guillaume Charloux*
Affiliation:
National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée, France
Mona A. Abady Mahmoud
Affiliation:
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Karnak, Egypt
Ahmed M.S. Elnasseh
Affiliation:
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Karnak, Egypt
Sylvie Marchand
Affiliation:
French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, Cairo, Egypt
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ guillaume.charloux@cnrs.fr
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Abstract

Following two centuries of research at Karnak, our understanding of the origins and development of this famous ancient Egyptian temple complex remains limited. Recent archaeological excavation in the Ptah temple, however, has reached its earliest levels, providing a first, securely dated stratigraphic sequence. Despite flood risks, the development of the religious complex c. 2200–2000 BC was made possible by the retreating Nile riverbank. Thus, the river and the expanding Karnak temple complex played major roles in the takeover of Egypt by the Eleventh Dynasty rulers and the growth of the new capital at Thebes, a potent combination of forces—fluvial, religious and secular—encountered among other early state powers.

Keywords

First Intermediate PeriodThebesAmun templesettlementlandscape evolution
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 95 , Issue 382 , August 2021 , pp. 919 - 939
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

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