If the model is confirmed, it will solve the puzzle of construction logistics that has been under 4,500 years and withdraw the date of the first large -scale industrial hydraulics use by nearly two thousand years.
The authors of the article published in August 2024 in Plos One prove that two enigmatic objects of the Western Sakkara – a stone enclave of GISR EL -Mudir and the so -called Dry moat – formed an integrated retention, treatment and distribution system. Analysis of satellite photos and altitude models showed that the GISR EL -MUDIR walls served as a settlement dam, and a cascade of rock pools in the moat worked like a treatment plant, providing clear water to a vertical shaft in the center of the pyramid. The pressure of the water column could push the stone blocks upwards with volcanic movement, which is great It shortened the need to build external ramps.
The hypothesis is supported by the topography of the area. Wadi Abusir – today the dried trough of the seasonal stream – lies exactly on the axis of the dam and according to researchers in the era of the old state supplyed a temporary lake. This reservoir acted like a potential energy storage, and the controlled drop of water directed the stream to the moat and further to the shaft.
Details of the system – from the sequence of settlers to the retention “dams” – remind us of solutions used in modern hydroelectric power plants and pumping stations. This suggests an impressive knowledge of hydrodynamics by ancient engineers.
A big discovery for scientists
The importance of discovery goes beyond the history of Egyptology. First of all, it moves the border of our technological calendar: so far such complex hydraulic systems have been dated at least to the Hellenistic period. Secondly, changes the estimates of work expenditure – The water lift could limit the need to use tens of thousands of porters and sani, which in turn means lower food and logistics costs when erecting a building.
Thirdly, it shows Deep connection of water management with the policy of an early Egyptian statein which investment in flood infrastructure also enabled the implementation of the great architecture program.
Economic consequences are equally intriguing today. The narrative about water powered by water immediately strengthens the tourist brand of Egypt, opening the way to new popularization and sponsored expeditions, as well as to commercial implementation of modern terrain imaging tools and flow modeling.
For the hydrotechnical sector, it is also a historic precedent confirming that integrated retention and transport systems They can also serve engineering, municipal and symbolic purposes.
Geo -Freensic methodology
From a scientific point of view, the work of Landreau and co -authors opens a new direction of research: the use of a geo -rerensic methodology – combining hydrology, geotechnics, archeology and remote measurements – for modeling old megaprojekt.
If similar hydraulic signatures are detected at the pyramids in Meidum, Dahszur or Giza, We will be forced to write again the history of engineering history.
Of course, it remains the need to verify the canals and remains of the installation inside the pyramid. For now, researchers mainly have geophysical data. However, even if part of the hypothesis is modified, the discovery today reminds of the strength of the interdisciplinary approach and the fact that sometimes it is not camels, but water was the most important engine of civilization over the Nile.
