Entrance to the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt
The land that eventually supported the Karnak Temple was formed as the Nile’s channels eroded its beds to the west and east of the site. This process left behind a raised island of stable ground in what is now the east/southeast portion of the temple precinct.
A team of archaeologists has completed the most detailed geoarchaeological investigation ever carried out in the Templo de Karnakin Egypt, near Luxor, one of the largest temple complexes in the ancient world and a UNESCO World Heritage site
The investigation offers a clearer picture of when the site was first occupied and suggests a possible connection between its location and ancient Egyptian beliefs about creation.
The conclusions of , recently published in the journal Antiquitypresent new evidence about the temple ageexplore potential connections to egyptian mythology and explain how changes to the Nile landscape influenced the people who inhabited and expanded the site over approximately 3000 years.
“This new research provides unprecedented detail about the evolution of the Karnak Temple from a small island to one of the defining institutions of Ancient Egypt,” he says. Ben Penningtonresearcher at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study, cited by .
Karnak Temple is located about 500 meters east of the current Nile River, near Luxor, in what was once the religious heart of Ancient Egyptin Thebes.
The international team was led by Angus Grahamresearcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, and included several researchers from the University of Southampton.
Together, they examined 61 sediment cores collected in and around the Templar complex. To refine the chronology of their discoveries, the team also analyzed tens of thousands of ceramic fragments recovered from the site.
By combining these lines of evidence, researchers reconstructed how surrounding landscape evolved through different historical periods.
Their analysis showed that, before about 2520 BC, the area was regularly flooded by the fast-moving waters of the Nilemaking long-term occupation impractical. Consequently, the first sustained occupation at Karnak probably dates back to Old Kingdom (c. 2591-2152 BC).
Ceramic evidence supports this conclusion, with the oldest fragments dated to approximately c. 2305 and 1980 BC
“The age of the Karnak Temple has been hotly contested in archaeological circles, but our new evidence establishes a temporal constraint on its earliest occupation and construction,” he says. Kristian Strutt, researcher at the University of Southampton and co-author of the study.
According to the study, the land that ended up supporting the Karnak Temple was formed as the Nile channels erode its beds to the west and east of the site. This process left behind a high island of stable ground in what is now the east/southeast portion of the temple precinct. This elevated area provided a suitable foundation for initial occupation and construction.
As the centuries passed, the river channels on both sides of the site gradually moved away. This natural change opened up additional space, allowing the Templar complex to expand. expanded over time.
Karnak Temple has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is visited by millions of people every year
One unexpected discovery it enveloped the eastern channel. Previously, it had been considered largely theoretical, but the new data shows that it was well defined and may even have been larger than the western channel that previous studies have emphasized.
“The river channels that surrounded the site shaped how the temple could develop and where, with new construction taking place over old rivers as they silted up,” he explains. Dominic Barkeralso a researcher at U.Southampton and co-author of the study.
“We also see how the Ancient Egyptians shaped the river itself, by dumping desert sand into the channels, possibly to provide new land for construction, for example,” added the researcher.
The landscape reconstructed under Karnak closely resembles the images found in ancient Egyptian stories about creation. This similarity led researchers to suggest that religious ideas may have influenced choosing the location of the temple.
Old Kingdom texts describe the creator god emerging as a mound of raised ground rising from the “lago“.Significantly, the island upon which Karnak was established is the only known elevated area in the region which was once surrounded by water.
“It is tempting to suggest that Theban elites chose the location of Karnak as the home of a new form of the creator god, ‘Ra-Amon’because it suited the cosmogonic scene of raised ground emerging from the surrounding water,” says Pennington.
Later writings from the Middle Kingdom (c. 1980-1760 BC) expand on this theme, describing the “primordial mountain” rising from the “Waters of Chaos”. During this time, the seasonal retreat of the Nile’s floodwaters would have visually echoed this myth, with the mountain beneath Karnak appearing to rise and expand as the waters receded.
