Ghoneim says the Ahramat Branch must have been an important waterway during the Old Kingdom until about 2200 B.C; knowing more about its route will help archaeologists target and protect important cultural sites.

Importantly, the river branch would have allowed boats to ferry construction materials for the many pyramids built at that time. “The ancient Egyptians needed a major waterway to transport very heavy building materials and workers to the pyramid sites,” Ghoneim says. “So they used this branch like a highway.”

In some cases, the Ahramat branch ran only a few hundred feet from the pyramids themselves. Many pyramids were connected by causeways to temples on the ancient riverbank that may have served as harbors.

The vast size of the Ahramat branch, revealed during months of geophysical surveys and soil samples at selected spots, surprised the researchers.

It was typically more than a quarter of a mile across, and their study suggests it widened at the northern end to form an inlet near Giza.

“It’s a big branch, similar to the width of the current Nile,” Ghoneim says. “And its proximity to the pyramid sites implies a functional waterway of great importance during ancient Egypt.”

National Geographic, Scientists find evidence of ancient waterway beside Egypt’s pyramids, 2024