A river in 'drought'? : environment and cultural ramifications of Old Kingdom climate change

Author / Creator

Burn, John W., author

Available as

Online

Summary

While the idea of a catastrophic drought ending the Old Kingdom has been shown to be too simple an explanation, current research suggests that some climatic change was occurring at this time. Incre...

While the idea of a catastrophic drought ending the Old Kingdom has been shown to be too simple an explanation, current research suggests that some climatic change was occurring at this time. Increasing aridity, developing since the third Dynasty, was punctuated with times of unseasonal rain. Both these events would have had some impact upon the environmental circumstances present in the river at that time. This book presents ecological analyses of the riverine habitat as it may have developed in times of excess nutrient load within the river. The environmental consequences of these changes are proposed, and the author traces changes in the tomb decoration repertoire to investigate the possibility of a developing environmental narrative that indicates a potential cultural response to the climatic changes occurring at that time.

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