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The 4.2 ka BP Climate Event in Egypt: Integration of Archaeological, Geoarchaeological, and Bioarchaeological Evidence

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Abstract

The 4.2 ka BP climate event was a phase of severe global drought. Its evidence has been attested in many regions of the world and was reported to have played an important role in the collapse of major ancient civilizations. This article provides a comprehensive literature review using several proxies on the 4.2 ka BP climate event in Ancient Egypt. It applies a multidisciplinary approach that integrates archaeological, geoarchaeological, and bioarchaeological evidence. The conclusion is that the event had critical environmental, economic, and political impacts. It led to aridification, a decline in the Nile level and Nile-fed lakes, encroachment of aeolian desert sand into the Nile Valley, lower crop yields, and famine across ancient Egypt. Therefore, as a compound event, it played an important role in the collapse of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2181 BC), and its effect continued in the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181–2055 BC) when Egypt witnessed political fragmentation.

Résumé

L’événement climatique de 4,2 ka BP était une phase de sécheresse sévère d’étendue mondiale. Ses preuves ont été attestées dans de nombreuses régions du monde et auraient joué un rôle important dans l’effondrement des grandes civilisations anciennes. Cet article fournit une revue complète de la littérature sur l’événement climatique de 4,2 ka BP en Égypte en ce qui concerne plusieurs proxys. Il applique une approche multidisciplinaire qui intègre des preuves archéologiques, géoarchéologiques et bioarchéologiques de cet événement en Égypte. Dans l’ensemble, ces preuves indiquent que l’événement a eu des impacts critiques sur l’environnement, l’économie et la politique de la région. Cela a conduit à l’aridification, à la baisse du niveau du Nil et des lacs alimentés par le Nil, à l’empiètement du sable du désert éolien dans la vallée du Nil, à la baisse des rendements des cultures et à la famine dans l’Égypte ancienne. Par conséquent, en tant qu’événement composé, il a joué un rôle important dans l’effondrement de l’Ancien Empire (vers 2181 av. J.-C.) et s’est poursuivi pendant la Première Période Intermédiaire (vers 2181–2055 av. J.-C.), lorsque l’Égypte a connu une fragmentation politique.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Fekri Hassan and Prof. Mohamed Hamdan for their permission to reproduce the data of the geoarchaeological work at Dahshur. We greatly thank Prof. Olaf Bubenzer for his constructive comments on an early version of this paper. We appreciate Dr. Rudolph Kuper’s continued support for our research. We thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for supporting the joint Master’s program “Environmental Archaeology” between Cairo University and Cologne University.

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  1. Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, 1 El-Gamaa Str. El-Orman, Giza, 12613, Egypt

    Mohamed A. Younes & Aboualhassan Bakry

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  1. Mohamed A. Younes
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  2. Aboualhassan Bakry
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Correspondence to Aboualhassan Bakry.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The subtitle "Geoarchaeological Work at Dahshur" should read "Geoarchaeological Work at Dahshur (by Fekri Hassan and Mohamed Hamdan)".

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Younes, M.A., Bakry, A. The 4.2 ka BP Climate Event in Egypt: Integration of Archaeological, Geoarchaeological, and Bioarchaeological Evidence. Afr Archaeol Rev 39, 315–344 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-022-09487-5

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