Country Profile: Egypt
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
Except for the Nile valley, Egypt is desert and semi-desert. The most rugged parts are in the Sinai peninsula, where Mount Catherine reaches 2,637 metres (8,650 feet). The western desert, mostly plateau, falls to altitudes below sea level, as in the Qattara Depression, towards the Mediterranean.
Imagine that you are relaxing in your room on a Saturday afternoon reading about Ancient Egyptians when you come across a picture of a mural with interesting writing on it.
You move closer to the page to get a better look at the mural when all of a sudden...
KaBLOOM!
You are immediately transported back into time! It is the year 1250 B.C. and you are in Ancient Egypt!
During this dynasty Egyptian culture advanced rapidly. The beginning is dusky with
more than one candidate to be the founder. The table of Nabil Swelim below
is based on the opinion that the complex of Djoser was a cultural peak
that had developed for a period of about 60-80 years of the dynasty.
There is no general agreement among scholars on this table.
Khaba and Sa are usually put at the end of the dynasty
topped by Sanakht followed by his brother Djoser.
This era is famous for a new type of tomb
which gave Egypt fame through
of all times - the great
Pyramids.
Excavations on Cairo's westernmost outskirts have revealed what archaeologist Mark Lehner calls a "royal production center," at lower right, that fed and equipped pyramid workers at Giza. To the left lies a cemetery dug into a cliff containing some of the builders' tombs.
Archaeologists believe Egypt's large pyramids are the work of the Old Kingdom society that rose to prominence in the Nile Valley after 3000 B.C. Historical analysis tells us that the Egyptians built the Giza Pyramids in a span of 85 years between 2589 and 2504 BC.
Interest in Egyptian chronology is widespread in both popular and scholarly circles. We wanted to use science to test the accepted historical dates of several Old Kingdom monuments.