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Climate change at the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt around
4200 BP: New geoarchaeological evidence
Fabian Welc
a
, Leszek Marks
b
,
c
,
*
a
Cardinal Stefan Wyszy
nski University, Institute of Archaeology, Wóycickiego 1/3, 01-938, Poland
b
University of Warsaw, Department of Climate Geology, _
Zwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland
c
Polish Geological Institute eNational Research Institute, Rakowiecka 4, 00-975 Warsaw, Poland
article info
Article history:
Available online 9 August 2013
abstract
The paper presents compilation of geological and geoarchaeological data, based on excavations at the
Saqqara necropolis, to denote climate variability in Egypt during the late Old Kingdom (around 2200 BC).
A change in climate in that time was expressed firstly by aridification and low floods of the Nile, but also
by occasional heavy rainfalls in northern Egypt. Low Nile floods were probably a consequence of
decreased summer precipitation in the Ethiopian Highlands that resulted in catastrophically low dis-
charges into the Blue Nile drainage basin. These weaker summer monsoons in Ethiopia and gradual
aridification in Egypt that started about 5000 cal BP, were coincident with a southward progressing
shifting of the summer Intertropical Convergence Zone in Africa. Simultaneous intensive rainfalls
resulted in wide-spread sheet-flood accumulations, attested by archaeological evidence in northern
Egypt. These rainfalls could be triggered by the North Atlantic Oscillation. Both these reasons caused a
rapid collapse of the Old Kingdom at about 4200 cal BP.
Ó2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
For many years, Egyptologists and historians have been seeking
reasons for an economic-social crisis in Egypt about 4200 cal BP. The
basic question arose why a well organized and prosperous country,
existing for almost 500 years, could disintegrate in only several
decades. Political, social-economic, and environmental reasons
were among the most popular explanations (cf. Bard, 1994). An
explanation involving climate change, considered at first as unim-
portant, has become recently much more significant. Rapid histor-
ical events, including collapses of civilizations and societies, are
only occasionally simple in their origin, and therefore cannot be
referred to a single reason (cf. Peiser, 2003; Butzer, 2012). Present
state of knowledge suggests that an intra-regional climate change
was a significant reason for the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt
around 4200 cal BP (Bárta and Bezd
ek, 2008; Marriner et al., 2012).
The aim of the paper is to present geological and geo-
archeological data that indicate climate changes in Egypt and
neighboring areas at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Recent
findings of the Polish-Egyptian mission (headed by Professor Karol
My
sliwiec) in the Saqqara necropolis, ca 23 km south of Cairo, have
provided particularly important new data.
2. Holocene climate changes in Egypt and northern Sudan: an
overview
Modern Egypt has a tropical dry or very dry (desert) climate,
with very warm summer from March to September and relatively
cool winter from October to February. The narrow seashore area is
influenced by the Mediterranean atmospheric circulation, whereas
the remaining part of the country is dependent on a hyperarid
tropical climate. Eventual changes of the climate in Egypt and
generally in the whole northern Africa could be influenced by
northern seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone
(ITCZ) (Said, 1993). At present, a moist area is located along the
Mediterranean coast, with an average annual precipitation of
200 mm but decreasing sharply southwards, where in many desert
locations rainfall occurs once every several years (Robaa, 2008).
Climate conditions similar to the present ones were established
in Egypt and northern Sudan about 3000 years ago (Hassan, 1996).
In the earlier part of the Holocene, starting from about 11,700 cal BP
i.e. Pleistocene/Holocene boundary, the climate has changed many
times, with successive wet and dry phases (Fig. 1). It has influenced
human habitation, both in the present area of the Western Desert in
Sahara and in the Nile Valley itself.
*Corresponding author. University of Warsaw, Department of Climate Geology,
_
Zwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland.
E-mail addresses: f.welc@uksw.edu.pl (F. Welc), leszek.marks@uw.edu.pl,
leszek.marks@pgi.gov.pl (L. Marks).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Quaternary International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint
1040-6182/$ esee front matter Ó2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.035
Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133
Available multiproxies suggest a general scenario of climate
change in Egypt and northern Sudan, starting from the Late Pleis-
tocene (Nicoll, 2004). During the Late Pleistocene, most of northern
Africa was hyperarid. In the beginning of the Holocene, the climate
of Sahara and northeastern Africa was also very dry (Fig. 1). Starting
from about 9500 cal BP, it became wetter during the Green Sahara
Period (Mid-Holocene Wet Phase) until 6000 cal BP. The summer
ITCZ at that time was about 1000 km further to the north than at
present, resulting in intensive rainfalls (Bubenzer and Riemer,
2007). During the Mid-Holocene Wet Phase, several dry in-
terpluvials were distinguished at 9400e9300, 8800e8600 and
7100e6900 cal BP. Successive dry episodes at 6100e5900 and
5000e4800 cal BP indicate a persistent trend to hyperarid condi-
tions (Wendorf and Schild, 1980; Wendorf et al., 1984; Koz1owski
and Ginter, 1993; Nicoll, 2004).
Studies in the Gilf Kibir area in south-western Egypt indicated
that monsoonal summer rains prevailed at 9300e5400 cal BP.
Later, particularly from 5000 to 4500 cal BP, this wet phase was
followed by western circulation, accompanied only by occasional
winter rainfalls. These new climatic conditions indicated a
straight transition from the earlier typical African monsoonal to
the Mediterranean climate, with the rainfall pattern characterized
by lower but more regular rainfalls during winter (Kröpelin,
2005).
From about 5300 cal BP the so-called desert exodus event
occurred, connected with gradual migration of people from the
present eastern Sahara region. It coincided with univocal immi-
gration of people to the Nile Valley and development of the first
Neolithic cultures such as Fayum A and Merimda Beni Selama
(Kuper and Kröpelin, 2006). Scrub and grassy vegetation charac-
teristic for the Sahara area during the Mid-Holocene Wet Phase
gradually disappeared, with the exception of the oases and several
wadis (Ritchie et al., 1985). Starting from 5000 cal BP, vegetation
typical for areas with water shortages prevailed. A belt of savanna
moved southwards, reaching its present location about 3300 cal BP
(Olago, 2001).
Gradual drying in north-eastern Africa was synchronous with
more intensive aeolian sedimentation, deflation, and extension of
dunes (Fig. 1). In northern Sudan, desertification was initiated
slightly later, about 4700 cal BP (Pachur et al., 1990). Furthermore,
in the West Nubian Palaeolake Basin in western Sudan, total decline
of human activity has been noted since about 4000 cal BP
(Hoelzmann et al., 2001). This delay was due to slow but systematic
southward migration of ITCZ from its more northern position,
presumably similar to the present one during the middle Holocene
(Fig. 2).
All these data reveal that arid to hyperarid climatic conditions
started to prevail in Egypt and northern Sudan from 5000 to
4500 cal BP (Butzer, 1976; Wendorf, 1984; Ritchie et al., 1985;
Pachur and Kröpelin, 1989; Kröpelin, 1993; Kuper, 2002; Nicoll,
2004; Marriner et al., 2012). Rainfall has been episodic since then
(only winter rainfalls persisted) and have not influenced ground-
water resources (Haynes, 1987).
In the Nile Valley, similar climate and environmental changes
occurred, as since about 4500 cal BP extremely dry conditions have
prevailed. They resulted in desertification of the areas directly to
the west and east of the Nile. This phenomenon was connected
with a movement of people from the Libyan Desert towards the
valley itself but also southwards, following the shifting belt of
monsoonal rainfalls (Bell, 1971). Progressive drying was noted
generally in the whole of northern Africa in the 3rd millennium BC
(Kiagel and Liu, 2006) but it has been partly synchronous in other
regions of central and eastern Africa (Stager, 1988; Talbot and
Livingstone, 1989; Kiagel and Liu, 2006).
Fig. 1. Palaeoclimate changes in the Nile catchment against Egyptian chronology; the Nile discharge (not in scale) is indicated basing on data of Stanley et al. (2003).
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133 125
3. Nile discharge during Holocene: an overview
The present hydrological regime of the Nile drainage basin
developed at the beginning of the Holocene (Woodward et al.,
2007). The two main tributaries of the Nile are the White Nile
and Blue Nile, with the latter much more important for the flow of
the Nile in Egypt. Water discharge from the Blue Nile drainage
system is highly dependent on the monsoonal precipitation in the
Ethiopian Highlands (Fig. 1). During the Mid-Holocene Wet Phase,
climate in Ethiopia was moist due to increased intensity of summer
monsoons (cf. Marshall et al., 2011). The annual floods of the main
Nile were high (Said, 1993) but from 6000 cal BP they systemati-
cally dropped until a minimum at about 4200e4100 cal BP
(Williams and Adamson, 1980; Hassan, 1996). This process is
confirmed in the Fayoum Oasis by the Lake Qarun deposits that
indicate occasional inflows of the Nile waters. The so-called Qadrus
Recession (Koz1owski and Ginter, 1993), expressed by significant
drop of the lake water level at about 4500 cal BP, can be correlated
with climatic and hydrologic changes in the whole drainage basin
of the Nile. A similar drastic drop in the water level has been also
recorded in other African lakes (Bonnefille et al., 1990, 1991; Mees
et al., 1991; Lamb et al., 1995; Hassan, 1996).
Climatic-hydrological phenomena during the 3rd millennium
BC were also noted in deposits from research boreholes in the Nile
Delta (Stanley et al., 1996). In the core from Manzalla Lake, the
isotope ratio
87
Sr/
86
Sr indicated the lowest values at 4200 cal BP (cf.
Fig. 1) which reflected an increased river load from the Ethiopian
Highlands due to less intensive monsoonal activity, therefore
resulting in reduced vegetative cover in the Blue Nile headwaters
and more intensive erosion (Stanley et al., 2003; Woodward et al.,
2007). In two other boreholes near Rosetta and Tanata in the Nile
Delta, 5 cm thick silty reddish layers with iron-manganese hy-
droxides were found, indicating occasional drying at 4250e
4050 cal BP (Stanley et al., 2003). The minimum strontium isotope
ratio noted above and the iron-manganese hydroxide layers are the
first geological data that directly prove a catastrophic decline in the
Nile discharge at the end of the Old Kingdom (Stanley et al., 2003).
4. Geoarcheological data from West Saqqara archaeological
site
New data on climate change at the end of the Old Kingdom were
supplied by recent geoarcheological and palaeoclimatic in-
vestigations of the PolisheEgyptian excavations in western Saqqara
(Fig. 3; cf. Welc and Marks, 2012). The excavated site is located
directly to the west of the tomb complex of King Netjerykhet from
the Third Dynasty, dated at about 4600 cal BP (29
52
0
17.06
00
N,
31
12
0
52.30
00
E) and it constitutes a small part of an extensive burial
ground (about 70 km) in the Memphite necropolis along the
western edge of the Nile Valley. During several years of excavation
campaigns under leadership of Karol My
sliwiec (Institute of Ori-
ental and Mediterranean Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sci-
ence), numerous brick-stone mastabas tombs were discovered,
dated mostly to the terminal Old Kingdom period, i.e. about 4200e
4100 cal BP (My
sliwiec et al., 2004).
Bedrock in western Saqqara is composed of the Upper Eocene
sandy and pelitic limestones that are covered with a thick bed of
Quaternary deposits. The latter are the redeposited Pleistocene
fluvial deposits, the Edfu Gravels of the Protonile River (cf.
Youssef et al., 1984) and the late Holocene debris-sandy deposits
(Fig. 4). In the study area, a primary fragment of the rock
plateau was anthropogenically transformed during the Third
Dynasty (about 2670 cal yrs BC) into a series of rock terraces
(Fig. 3), due to exploitation during this period in what is now
known as one of the world’s oldest quarries (My
sliwiec et al.,
2010).
The rock terraces are covered by a non-disturbed sequence of
natural and anthropogenic sedimentary layers that comprise a
detailed record of local environmental changes, starting from the
Third Dynasty onwards. The thickness of these layers varies from
0.5 m at the western border of the excavations area to 3.5 m in the
east. This difference is caused by a gentle slope, dipping westwards
at an angle of about 7
. Analysis of several archeological sections
(Fig. 5) enabled reconstruction of both natural and anthropogenic
transformations during the Old Kingdom, but especially at its initial
Fig. 2. Present mean annual rainfall distribution in northern and central Africa (after Stanley et al., 20 03, modified); modern setting of the summer Intertropical Convergence Zone
and its presumable location at 4200e4100 cal BP are indicated.
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133126
(4600 cal BP) and decline (4200e4100 cal BP) phases (My
sliwiec
et al., 2010).
A most complete lithostratigraphic sequence preserved on the
lower terrace (Fig. 4) is referred to the interval 4600e4100 cal BP.
These deposits were dated by abundant pieces of ceramics that
could be referred to individual dynasties of the Old Kingdom (cf.
Welc, 2011). The ash from a surface of the lower terrace was
radiocarbon dated to 4820e4670 cal BP (confidence limit of 45.8%),
what set chronology of the lowermost sequence of the analyzed
debris-sandy covers of the terrace and referred it to the Third Dy-
nasty i.e. about 4700e4600 cal BP.
The lower terrace of the Third Dynasty quarry at Saqqara (Fig. 3),
built of Eocene limestones, is mantled with poorly sorted mass
movement deposits that have been transported mostly at short
distances (Fig. 4). Sandy and sandy-debris deposits were subjected
to grain size analysis, roundness and morphoscopy of quartz grains
(method of Cailleux (1942), modified by Go
zdzik (1995), and
Mycielska-Dowgia11o (2007)), x-ray microstructural analysis and
CaCO
3
contents by Scheibler’s volumetric method. A morphoscopic
analysis of quartz grains was done with a use of optical microscope
(Delta Opticon) for the grain size 0.5e0.8 mm. Five main types of
grains, characteristic for different environments were distin-
guished: typical aeolian (rounded and mat eRM), typical fluvial
(rounded and shiny eEL), short aeolian transport (EM/RM), short
fluvial transport (EM/EL) and fresh, angular (NU).
X-ray microstructural analysis was done with a use of the
powder diffractometer X’Pert-PRO MPD (Panalytical B.V.,
Netherlands) by Bragg-Brentano method (radiation Co K-Alpha,
filter Fe, detection of the radiation: line detector PIXcel). Quartz and
calcite but also main automorphic minerals were distinguished
(albite, microcline, kaolinite, and gypsum).
This examination was supplemented with results of previous
analyses heavy mineral contents and quartz grains micromor-
phology (Mycielska-Dowgia11o et al.,1999). The examined sequence
of deposits is composed of (Fig. 4):
Series 1. Limy rubble, pebbles and flints with inserts of hori-
zontally stratified silty quartz sand, compacted with calcium
carbonate and abundant plant macrofossils. It contains
numerous pieces of mud bricks with organic matter and
Fig. 3. Location of Saqqara (A) and plan of the Saqqara necropolis. 1 ePolish-Egyptian excavations west of the Step Pyramid complex with the late Old Kingdom cemetery (B and C),
2eStep Pyramid of the King Netjerykhet (Djeser) from the Third Dynasty, 3 eAustralian excavations near Pyramid of the King Teti form the late Old Kingdom period, 4 eFrench
(IFAO) excavations at Tabbet el-Gesh, 5 ecross-section 1/2009 (cf. Fig. 4), 6 ecross-section near the shafts 94 and 95 (cf. Fig. 5).
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133 127
fragments of sponge spicules, redeposited from Eocene deposits
by episodic and intensive sheet floods (such deposits are named
dakka in Arabic). Abundant pieces of mud bricks and ceramics
indicate undoubtedly the Third Dynasty time of the early Old
Kingdom (about 4600 cal BP). Abundant EM/EL grains (Fig. 6)
indicate intensive redeposition of the Upper Eocene limestones.
During the Third Dynasty the area to the west of the Step Pyr-
amid at Saqqara was strongly transformed by the terrace quarry
(Fig. 3; cf. Welc, 2011) what favored denudation of the lime-
stones. The limestones contain up to 20% of quartz (Youssef
et al., 1984) what is also supported by SEM/EDS analyses with
a use of a scanning microscope JSM-6380LA, coupled with EDS
electronic microprobe. Redeposition of bedrock quartz grains
was caused by intensive sheet floods on a land surface. Content
of RM grains is up to 11% (Fig. 6) and this record of an aeolian
episode is correlated with the early Third Dynasty i.e. about
4600 cal BP.
Series 2. It is less cemented and is composed mainly of planar
sandy laminas with concentrations of plant and mud brick re-
mains and small pieces of local limestone chunks. Contrary to
Fig. 4. Environmental history of West Saqqara area and cross-section above the late Old Kingdom shafts 94 and 95 (cf. Fig. 5).
Fig. 5. North-western area of the Polish-Egyptian excavations in western Saqqara (cf. Fig. 3) with additional lithostratigraphic sequence and dating, view from the north (see Fig. 4,
for the cross-section in the same area). 1 eremains of the late Old Kingdom burial shafts, 2 elimestone rubble (slope deposits, so-called dakka) strongly consolidated with calcium
carbonate, 3 eaeolian sands, 4 emud-brick platform dated by pottery shreds to the New Kingdom Period, ca 3200 BP.
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133128
the underlying and overlying series, these deposits indicate
slight transformation by flowing water and are poorly consoli-
dated. Lithological composition and orientation of material
indicate periodic stabilization of local climatic conditions.
Deposition seems to have occurred already after the Third Dy-
nasty that is about 4500e4300 cal BP.
Series 3. It is composed of thick debris layers that represent the
Sixth Dynasty (about 4200 cal BP). The series represents a sec-
ond generation of slope deposits of the dakka type (Figs. 4e5).
Series 4. It was deposited locally in stagnant water in seasonal
pools.
Series 5. It is composed of aeolian stratified sands that have
been derived at about 4100e4000 cal BP from a desert area in
the west. In the sediments there is an insignificant content (2.5e
3.6%) of CaCO
3
. Morphology of quartz grains indicates relatively
low aeolian RM (to 11%) and fluvial EL impact (Fig. 6). The most
common are EM/EL grains (to 70%), typical for a short fluvial
transport. They preserved presumably their primary
morphology, therefore aeolian processes have not been inten-
sive at the end of the Old Kingdom (see also Mycielska-
Dowgia11o et al., 1999).
Series 1e4 contain 30e37% of carbonates, although much less
(12%) at the bottom of the series 1. The series 5 contains similar
amount of albite and microcline whereas in series 1 and 2 there are
also similar contents of gypsum and kaolinite. Presence of minerals
non-resistant to chemical weathering that is of microcline and
albite in the analyzed sandy series should be connected with
decomposition of granites, exploited in the vicinity of Aswan and in
the eastern desert (cf. Klemm and Klemm, 2008) and used for
building purposes from the beginning of the Old Kingdom, also in
the Memphite necropolis. The series 1 and 2 contain kaolinite
which is a weathering product of feldspars. Presence of amorphic
crystals of gypsum in the series 1 is presumably due to intensive
erosion of the Eocene marly limestones of the second terrace of the
quarry (Fig. 3; cf. Welc, 2011). The limestones are interbedded with
numerous gypsum veins, to 0.5 cm thick. Similarly as albite and
microcline, gypsum is also non-resistant to chemical weathering,
therefore its occurrence in deposits of the late Old Kingdom time
indicates erosion of Eocene rocks by intensive sheet flows that
occurred frequently but episodically. The transported material was
deposited directly downslope and in a short time covered by suc-
cessive flow. Such protection from weathering by successive flows
resulted in relatively high contents of non-resistant minerals,
spicules of Eocene sponges in deluvial deposits 1e3 and their
absence in the aeolian series 5 and at the bottom of the series 1
(Fig. 6).
Summing up, all the series were deposited in varying environ-
ment and climate. The series 5 was subjected to aeolian processes
and the series 1e3 were formed mainly by sheet flows. The series 1
and 3 have considerably similar facies, although the series 1 in-
dicates more varied climatic conditions.
The presented lithological log (Fig. 4) is typical for the whole
area investigated by the Polish archaeological team at Saqqara. It
comprises a characteristic sharp boundary between the upper part
of the dakka from a decline of the Old Kingdom and the overlying
aeolian sands. The same sequence is known from other exposures,
among others from a log above the shafts 94e95 (Figs. 4e5),
delimited at the top by a platform composed of mud bricks and
dated to the Nineteenth Dynasty (3200 cal BP), which defines ter-
minus post quem for the underlying layers (My
sliwiec, 2007). A
sharp boundary between dakka and the overlying aeolian sands
indicates relatively quick climate change from dry with wet in-
terruptions to typical desert conditions.
The dakka was formed due to less or more intensive surface
flows during the whole Old Kingdom period. Two phases of more
intensive accumulation of these deposits were distinguished at
about 4600 (Third Dynasty) and 4200 cal BP (Sixth Dynasty).
Occurrence of these deposits proves that the site was occasionally
flooded with rain water, therefore most debris on slopes was
formed by redeposition of the material that has been transported
by mud-debris flows (My
sliwiec et al., 2012). A lack of high reso-
lution dating control makes estimation of the length of the recor-
ded wet episodes impossible (My
sliwiec et al., 2012). Taking into
account thickness and structure of the deluvial series, it seems
reasonable that surface flows were considerably more frequent and
lasted longer at the end than at the beginning of the Old Kingdom.
It is supported by the fact that deposits of seasonal reservoirs dated
at 4200 cal BP were noted in many places, indicating strong water
saturation of the whole area (Trzci
nski et al., 2010). They were
found in different parts of the upper dakka. These buried reservoirs
were temporary filled with rain water, in which laminated clays and
silts were deposited (Fig. 7). Number of laminas, even over 100 in a
single case (Trzci
nski et al., 2010), reflects the precipitation cycles.
Their varied thickness indicates changing intensity of rainfalls and
different length of successive sedimentary episodes. A lack of
erosive boundaries proves that depressions were gradually and
almost uninterruptedly filled in a short time, e.g. during a single
Fig. 6. Lithological log (cf. Fig. 4) with location of analysed samples (black dots) for morphoscopy of quartz grains: RM etypical aeolian, EL etypical fluvial, EM/RM eshort aeolian
transport, EM/EL eshort fluvial transport, NU efresh; indicated are also: CaCO
3
contents and presence of redeposited Eocenian spongial spicules.
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133 129
season. Most of these small pools seem to have been ephemeral
reservoirs and contained water for weeks or months at the
outmost. In the middle Holocene the winter rainfalls had sub-
stantially lower surface runoff rates than the ones of the summer
monsoonal precipitation that could occur in the same time
(Kröpelin, 2005). Such interpretation is suggested by thicknesses of
silty-clayey laminas and lack of any plant remains requiring per-
manent water.
Landscape and geology of the Saqqara Plateau played an
important role in development of intensive surface flows at the end
of the Old Kingdom. It is reflected by numerous erosive valleys
(wadi) of a local hydrologic system, at present dry but formed in
wetter conditions, probably since the Miocene (Embabi, 2004).
Such age of the valleys is supported among others by the Pleisto-
cene gravels in their bottoms (Ago et al., 2003).
Typical wadis in Saqqara are usually elongated from west east-
wards, with straight and flat bottoms and with their mouths
directly in the Nile valley. A flat and vast wadi occurs directly
westwards from the Polish-Egyptian excavations and the
mentioned deluvial deposits form a part of this extensive depres-
sion. The longest (about 8.25 km) and widest (about 400 m) wadi
occurs in southern Saqqara and is composed of the main and
several tributary channels.
Thick deluvial deposits were also found inside almost all the
tombs (more than one hundred) discovered in the western part of
Saqqara, mainly in shafts or burial chambers from the late Sixth
Dynasty. The infilling debris was composed of limestone rubble,
mixed with rock weathering waste and silty sand, including much
washed mud of the Nile as remains of the sun-dried bricks. In many
tombs there were also traces of stagnant rain water, indicated by
clayey-silty laminated deposits as well as layers and accumulations
of dry mud with typical mud cracks at the surface (Welc, 2011;
My
sliwiec et al., 2012).
Winter rainfalls were presumably common during middle and
late Holocene, but at Saqqara the most unusual were their intensity
and a relatively long wet period recorded in sedimentsat the end of
the Old Kingdom, i.e. about 4200 cal BP, sometime after the reign of
King Pepi II (Welc, 2011). This wet period comprised several sec-
ondary episodes, most probably with separate rainfall seasons
when pools with stagnant water were formed. Thickness of slope
deposits suggests that this wet period could be from several to a
dozen years long. It is not the mere fact of rainy periods, occurring
especially at the end of the Old Kingdom, but the surprisingly high
intensity of the recorded runoff events. Most of the funerary
structures excavated by the Polish mission at Saqqara bore evi-
dence of damage caused by intensive water-rubble runoff.
This rain period was probably the main reason for the decline of
the late Old Kingdom necropolis located to the west of the Step
Pyramid complex (Fig. 3;My
sliwiec et al., 2012). In this context it is
interesting to note that hunting scenes preserved in some of the
mastabas tombs dated to the Fifth Dynasty at Saqqara and Abusir
express a landscape with numerous trees and bushes growing in
the present desert area, implying intensive seasonal savanna
vegetation in the vicinity of the Memphite region (Butzer, 1976).
At the end of the wet period 4100e4000 cal BP there was a
relatively quick change of the climate into the extremely dry one
(Fig. 1), with occasional predominance of strong stormy winds that
transported sandy material and rubble (Trzci
nski et al., 2010). The
wind-blown layer consists mainly of pure, thinly laminated cross-
bedded medium- and coarse-grained sand and fine limestone
rubble with distinct grain size differences between individual
lamina. They indicate varying wind velocities during deposition. In
the upper part of this layer, the sand is slightly consolidated by rare
rainfalls, presumably in winter.
5. Other evidence for environmental changes during the Old
Kingdom in northern Egypt
Evidence of similar schemes of mesoclimatic conditions has
been attested at other archaeological sites in the Memphite
Fig. 7. Deposits of a seasonal water reservoir above the late Old Kingdom shaft 98. Close up B presents cracked and dried surface of sandy-pelitic laminas (after Trzci
nski et al., 2010,
modified).
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133130
necropolis. For example, at Tabbet el-Gesh in southern Saqqara, the
French archaeologists excavated a fragment of an extensive ne-
cropolis from the late Sixth Dynasty (Dobrev, 2006). Most of the
discovered tombs still bore evidence of destruction, including
rounded brick edges that leave no doubt that they are due to long-
lasting and very intensive rainfalls (Dobrev, personal communica-
tion). Team of Australian archeologists operating in northern Saq-
qara near Teti’s Pyramid discovered also similar symptoms of
climate change during the late Old Kingdom. Part of the mud-brick
superstructure of the late Old Kingdom tomb of Inumin had been
partially destroyed by intensive surface sheet floods. Water with
mud filling interior of a burial chamber deposited silty-clayey
laminas, similar to the ones recorded in many shafts explored by
the Polish mission (Sowada, 2006). There are sufficient premises to
believe that the subterranean burial chamber was flooded many
times (more than two hundred) at the very end of the Old Kingdom
(Sowada, personal communication). At Abusir, located about 2 km
to the north of Saqqara (Fig. 3), the Czech archaeological team
stated that the area has been occupied in ancient times by the so-
called Abusir Lake and was filled with colluvial (deluvial) de-
posits during the Old Kingdom time due to high-energetic surficial
flows from a more elevated desert area and destruction of many
tombs. Results of these investigations were correlated with the late
Old Kingdom wet event, attested by the Polish mission at Saqqara
(Cílek et al., 2012). Moreover, in many tombs of the early and late
Old Kingdom, excavated in a cemetery at Abusir (Fig. 3), similar well
preserved heavy muddy downwash deposits were found (Bárta,
2010). The American mission, working to the south of the Fourth
Dynasty Menkaure pyramid complex at Giza found a thick, mainly
sandy series, deposited by sheet floods caused by intensive rainfalls
that resulted in destruction of many ancient structures exposed in
the examined area (Butzer, 2001). In other areas there were
perfectly preserved intercalations of sands and marly clays,
deposited in vast depressions filled with stagnant water, indicated
by characteristic mud cracks. Although it is difficult to determine
when these flow episodes occurred, it seems possible to date them
to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC (Lehner et al., 2009).
The presented geoarchaeological investigations from Saqqara
prove that climate change in Egypt in the 3rd millennium BC has
not been as univocal as generally accepted. Gradual aridification
started about 5000e4500 cal BP but it was interrupted by
numerous wet intervals. The most intensive one occurred about
4200 cal BP. During the general, over-regional trend towards typical
hyperarid conditions, there were quasi-cyclic fluctuations and
these secondary changes must have significantly modified the local
climate in northern Egypt.
Within the project entitled Arid Climate Adaptation and Cul-
tural Innovation in Africa (ACACIA), undertaken by the University
of Cologne in the Egyptian-Libyan border area, relics of a tract
named the Abu Ballas Trail and dated to a decline of the Old
Kingdom were found to the southewest of the Dakhla Oasis
(Förster, 2007). Along this road, 350 km long, about 30 ceramic
deposits were exposed that had been used for food and water
storage. They indicated that pervasive contacts all over eastern
Sahara during the middle and late Holocene were possible,
because savannah conditions have not fully disappeared after
5000 cal BP (Kröpelin and Kuper, 2006e2007). About 60 km to the
southewest from the Dakhla Oasis there were also excavated re-
mains of an outpost that was used earlier about 4500 cal BP,
during the reign of the Kings Khufu and Radjedef (Bergmann and
Kuhlmann, 2001). Moreover, new evidence from excavations of
two small camps and several wells at Gebel el-Asr in the Western
Desert has provided interesting data concerning local climatic
conditions during the Old Kingdom. Surprisingly, in these two
locations access to water was very easy, with 1 m deep wells.
Excavated water installations indicated much wetter seasons,
distinctly different from the present ones (Bloxam, 2007).
A stratigraphic boundary between slope and aeolian deposits at
Saqqara indicates a relatively rapid transformation about 4100e
4000 cal BP of a temperate dry climate (with wet alternate in-
tervals) to the extremely dry, similar to the present one. At several
archaeological sites such as Abusir, Giza and Abu Roash, similar
aeolian deposits, locally considerably thick, were found. As at
Saqqara, they are underlain commonly by natural and anthropo-
genic layers from the second half of the Old Kingdom time (Lehner
et al., 2009). Deposition of slope and aeolian deposits at Saqqara
occurred in the same time as catastrophic low floods of the Nile and
it can be deduced from several inscriptions that numerous cata-
strophically low floods occurred in 2200-1950 cal yrs BC (Vandier,
1936; Bell, 1970, 1971; Butzer, 1976).
6. Mid-Holocene climate change in Africa and North Atlantic
region
Recent progress in palaeoclimatic investigations enables a
wider, regional or even global context of the past local climate
changes. A progressive shift of climate towards drier conditions has
been recognized not only in eastern Africa but also in the African
tropics and in eastern and central Mediterranean (Berakhi et al.,
1998). In southern Italy there was a distinct forest clearance,
starting already about 4500 cal BP that has been interpreted lately
as the effect of aridification (Sadori et al., 2008). In central Medi-
terranean drier conditions were distinguished for the interval
4100e3950 cal BP, preceded and followed by wetter phases (Magny
et al., 2009; Giraudi et al., 2011). In a global scale, there were
distinct links of similar climatic changes between eastern Medi-
terranean and the Indian monsoon system (Jones and Roberts,
2008). The aridification resulted also in a decline of the Harappa
in India, Akkadian society in Mesopotamia and Levant (cf. Gibbons,
1993; Weiss et al., 1993; Bar-Matthews et al.,1997; Kerr, 1998; Issar,
2003; Staubwasser et al., 2003; Drysdale et al., 2005; Arz et al.,
2006; Davis and Thompson, 2006).
In the North Atlantic region there was a synchronous cooling
(1e2C
), connected with Bond Event 3 (Mercuri et al., 2011) and
expressed by changing North Atlantic Oscillation when the south-
ern Mediterranean was presumably subjected to intensive rainfalls.
This synchronous world-wide climate change could reflect weaker
summer monsoons in Ethiopia, coincident with a southward shift
of the Intertropical Convergence Zone in Africa (cf. Fig. 2), and
simultaneous intensive rainfalls in northern Egypt dependent on
variation of the North Atlantic Oscillation.
7. Conclusions
Recorded climatic events in the Saqqara necropolis are signifi-
cant for understanding some aspects of the mid-late Holocene
climate variability. The presented compilation of geological and
geoarchaeological investigations proved that climate change in
Egypt in the 3rd millennium BC has been expressed not only by
aridification and low floods of the Nile but also by heavy rainfall
periods. All these reasons resulted presumably in the rapid collapse
of the Old Kingdom at about 4200e4100 cal BP.
Low floods of the Nile must have been firstly a consequence of
decreased summer precipitation in the Ethiopian Highlands and
the resulting low discharges in the Blue Nile drainage basin. The
Blue Nile is the main contributor to the Nile. However, during the
low season flow and severe drought in Ethiopia flow of the main
Nile as a perennial river has been maintained by the White Nile.
Weaker summer monsoons in Ethiopia and gradual aridification in
northern Egypt, starting from about 5000 cal BP were coincident
F. Welc, L. Marks / Quaternary International 324 (2014) 124e133 131
certainly with progressive southward shift of the summer Inter-
tropical Convergence Zone in Africa.
Intensive and repeated rainfalls at the same time resulted in
wide-spread sheet-flood accumulations in northern Egypt. They
were presumably triggered by variation of the North Atlantic
Oscillation. However, the global connection of these two mega-
regional climatic factors (ITCZ and NAO) is still to be investigated.
Acknowledgements
The valuable comments of two anonymous reviewers were of
great help in improving the manuscript. Special thanks are given to
Dr. Karin Sowada (Sydney University) for valuable comments and
the linguistic correction.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.035.
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