Profane Landscapes, Sacred Spaces - Miroslav Bárta
Lake Khufu: On the Waterfront at Giza – Modelling Water Transport Infrastructure in Dynasty IV
Profane Landscapes, Sacred Spaces - Miroslav Bárta
Mark Lehner [+]
University of Chicago
Description
This chapter summarizes architectural and geomorphological evidence of interventions into the floodplain, perhaps as dramatic hydrologically in the low floodplain as are the pyramids architecturally on the high plateau. This infrastructure would fill the requirements of 4th Dynasty Giza as a major international Nile port, a status hinted by analysis of the material culture from settlements along the low southeastern base of the Giza Plateau, showing imported Levantine pottery 7 (combed ware) and wood (cedar, oak, pine, and olive), by the historical context of Old Kingdom Egypt and the "Byblos Run," by comparison with proven Middle and Old Kingdom ports recently discovered on the Red Sea," and by the sheer requirement for importing massive quantities of granite and Turah-limestome for building the Giza pyramid complexes.