How did such a rich and complex civilization manage to grow in such a harsh desert environment?
“Egypt is the gift of the river”- Hacateaus of Miletus, Greek geographer 500 B.C.E. As Hacateaus observed life and death centered around the Nile river for the Ancient Egyptian. With the harsh desert pressing in on them from both sides it behooved the Egyptians to learn the floods and fluctuations of the river and to make the most efficient use of what water they had available. Most of what we know about early water control is derived of paintings found in temples and monuments. From these depictions we can see that Ancient Egyptians developed several different techniques and technologies to control the water that allowed their agricultural practices to flourish.
First evidence of Water control
- This is first evidence of water control! It appears on a macehead, portraying someone who has been identified as the Scorpion King dated to 3100 B.C.E. The scene depicts a pharaoh wearing the white crown of upper Egypt holding a hoe and appearing to be participating in a ceremony. It is thought that this image is conveying the construction of a dam.
Basin Irrigation
Image source: http://condor.depaul.edu/sbucking/basinirr2.gif.
From evidence seen today from reliefs of monuments preserved from the past we can see that the Egyptians practiced basin irrigation, aves see from the image abo. This means they diverted water from the Nile into a network of canals to saturate the land they intended to farm. The water rested there until it drain off leaving the land fertile during planting season.
Nilometer
The Nile flood season was unpredictable before they began taking meticulous records, so the Egyptians created something called a Nilometer. This is a type of flood gauge. One type is fashioned as a vertical column. This is submerged in the river to mark the depth of the river. The second type, as shown below, is a set of stairs leading into the river.
Image source: http://www.irrigationmuseum.org/exhibit2.aspx
Modern example that monitors the Nile river now!
Shaduf
Basin irrigation could not carry water to higher ground. A shaduf was invented to carry water from the river below to higher ground. It is constructed with a large pole balanced on a cross bar. A rope is tied at the end of the pole with bucket attached at the end to lift the water from river. The other end of the pole had a weight attached to maintain balance.
Image source: http://www.irrigationmuseum.org/photos/Shaduf.jpg .
In action! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ9gJAWvHxo
Noria- Egyptian water wheel
Another example of water control was the invention of a noria. A noria is a wheel with buckets or clay pots attached along the outer rim. These buckets fill with water, and transports it to an aqueduct, as the current from the river turns the wheel.
Image source: http://www.irrigationmuseum.org/photos/Noria.jpg.
Farming tools
Different stages of agricultural harvest in ancient Egypt. Image source http://class4.hartwellschoolblog.net/files/2013/03/primary-source.jpg .
The examples of water control were implemented to ensure a plentiful harvest. The tools used for the harvest has been told through the reliefs that the Egyptians have left behind as shown by the example above. Many tools used during the harvest have been excavated from many different sites below are examples of several of them. After the crops have readied the harvest seems to have been divided into stages. The first stage was the reaping of the crops. They used the sickles, like the one below, to cut the crops.
Wooden sickle with flint blades. This was recovered from Thebes, Egypt and dated to around 1300 B.C.E. Image source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/w/wooden_sickle_with_flint_blade.aspx
The harvested husks would be blown by a winnowing fan, a creation that separated the grain from the chaff.
- Winnowing fan. Recovered from Thebes, Egypt and dated to 1550-1069 B.C.E. Image source:
- http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/w/winnowing_fan.aspx
The next two tools were used to plough the fields before the lands were sowed. The hoe and the plough.
Ancient Egyptian ploughing the fields! Image source: http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/egypt/images/harvest.jpg
Wooden hoe. From Thebes, Egypt date to 1550-1069 B.C.E. Image source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/images/ps164847_l.jpg
Crude wooden plough that was shod in bronze. Found in Egypt and dated to 1550-1070 B.C.E.
Image source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/w/wooden_plough.aspx .
Impact on Egyptian Society
The agricultural tools and water control technologies created and adapted by the ancient Egyptians are often compared to our own modern technology. Their approaches to agriculture yielded enough grain to support a very large population, which lead to the centralization of their government and allowed their workforce to become specialized. It is here that the Ancient Egypt’s legacy that has endure to our modern time was born.
Further Reading:
Story of the Nile http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/nile_01.shtml#top
Chronology of Irrigation http://www.irrigationmuseum.org/exhibit2.aspx
Egyptian Religion and the impact it had on their daily life http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777190168/
References:
Allen R. 1997. Agriculture and the origins of the state in ancient egypt. Explorations in Economic History 34: 135-154.
Butzer K. 1976. Early hydraulic civilization in egypt: A study in cultural ecology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Bell B. 1970. The oldest records of the nile floods. The Geographical Journal 136(4): 569-573.
Related articles
- Egypt to use ancient farming techniques (worldbulletin.net)<– Modern uses of ancient techniques!
jdewey 
