The Desertification of the Egyptian Sahara during the Holocene (the Last 10,000 years) and Its Influence on the Rise of Egyptian Civilization

Abstract

Egyptian civilization is the gift of the Nile. But it is also the result of climatic change since the last ice age (Fagan 2004). During the last 10,000 years or so, desertification, punctuated by temporary reversals, has driven people out of what was once a well-watered savannah covering vast areas of the present Sahara into smaller areas fed by rivers and near-surface groundwaters. In Egypt, the result was a relatively large population in a relatively small area, the Nile Valley (Barich 1998). This has led to ideas that this population required organization in order for it to survive and allow complex regimented societies to develop; exemplified by the early Pharaonic period with its huge public works projects—the pyramids and associated monuments (Wilkinson 2003). But did complex societies evolve during this organization or was the organization a pre-requisite for the complex societies; did it take place before the constriction of society into the Nile Valley; and did it begin in one area and then spread? A popular view is that increasing social complexity occurred during the development of agriculture, made possible by a benign climate while severe climatic change interrupted this development (Burroughs 2005). On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that social complexity developed during climatic deterioration (Brooks 2006). Such questions require objective analysis of the timing of development of different social systems related to climatic change in different parts of Egypt and adjacent areas.