Open AccessIrrigation basins and cultivated land under the Twelfth Dynasty
Author(s) -
E. P. Uphill
Publication year - 2005
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.25145/j.tde.2005.04.05
Subject(s) - nile delta , irrigation , structural basin , chapel , geography , memphis , archaeology , drainage basin , ancient history , geology , history , cartography , paleontology , ecology , biology , art history
This paper considers the extension of the irrigated land in the Nile valley. It discusses the similarity between the measurement of the riverine basin in the Sohag and Memphis area (about 10 km) and the Egyptian unit of measurement, the iteru (itrw). This could have been the basis of the ancient irrigation structure of the Nile basin. Details from the White Chapel at Karnak are presented to support this idea in relation to recorded levels of water. This set of data, according to the author, is essential in understanding the irrigation system of ancient Egypt, which had already been constructed by the Middle Kingdom and whose origins can be traced back to the early Dynasties