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Shuttle images reveal Egypt's lost great lake
Science News ^ | Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 | Alexandra Witze

Posted on 12/03/2010 4:09:49 AM PST by SunkenCiv

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Saharan Lakefront -- At perhaps its greatest extent, the Tushka lake would have covered more than 68,000 square kilometers (shown in false color topographical image at left). At other times (right) less water would have flown into the low-lying basin from the Nile (visible on the right in both images), causing the lake to shrink. Red corresponds to an elevation of 400 meters above the basin floor.T.A. Maxwell et al/Geology 2010

Once Great Lake

1 posted on 12/03/2010 4:09:56 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Rurudyne; steelyourfaith; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; xcamel
Egyptian Sahara Lost Lake
Google

2 posted on 12/03/2010 4:10:55 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BBell; ...
 
Catastrophism
 
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3 posted on 12/03/2010 4:11:07 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

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4 posted on 12/03/2010 4:11:39 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: SunkenCiv

They should refill it.


5 posted on 12/03/2010 4:12:37 AM PST by Tax Government (Democrat: "I'm driving to Socialism at 95 mph." Republican: "Observe the speed limit.")
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To: SunkenCiv

If it’s lost. How did they get a picture of it?


6 posted on 12/03/2010 4:29:49 AM PST by BigCinBigD (Northern flags in South winds flutter...)
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To: SunkenCiv

For much of the twentieth century, Egyptologists shied away from explorations in the vast sand sea known as the Western Desert.
An expanse of desolation the size of Texas, the desert seemed too harsh, too implacable, too unforgiving a place
for an ancient civilization nurtured on the abundance of the Nile. In spring, a hot, stifling wind known as the Khamsin
roars across the Western Desert, sweeping up walls of suffocating sand and dust; in summer,
daytime heat sometimes pushes the mercury into the 130 degree–Fahrenheit range.
The animals, what few there are, tend to be unfriendly. Scorpions lurk under the rocks,
cobras bask in the early morning sun. Vipers lie buried under the sand.

Umm Mawagir, as the city is now known, flourished in the Western Desert from 1650 to 1550 BCE,
nearly a millennium after the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
This was a dark, tumultuous period of Egyptian history.

the discovery of Umm Mawagir, in concert with finds from the more westerly Dakhla Oasis, says Darnell,
reveals clearly how the Theban dynasty succeeded in extending its power and military might
more than 100 miles into the hostile desert, building an entire city, and controlling a vital crossroads of trade routes.

The growing mountain of data revealed just how much traffic once flowed along the Girga Road,
which stretched 110 miles westward from Thebes in the Nile Valley to remote Kharga Oasis in the Western Desert.

In 2005, the team found a dense litter of ceramic molds for baking bread—vestiges of a large industrial bakery—
about half a mile north of the temple.

The sheer scale of the operation, says Darnell, suggests that Umm Mawagir was producing a huge surplus of bread,
enough to feed an army of soldiers."

7 posted on 12/03/2010 4:32:31 AM PST by Diogenesis ('Freedom is the light of all sentient beings.' - Optimus Prime)
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To: SunkenCiv
LINK HERE:


"For much of the twentieth century, Egyptologists shied away from explorations in the vast sand sea known as the Western Desert. ....
The sheer scale of the operation, says Darnell, suggests that Umm Mawagir was producing a huge surplus of bread,
enough to feed an army of soldiers."

8 posted on 12/03/2010 4:34:30 AM PST by Diogenesis ('Freedom is the light of all sentient beings.' - Optimus Prime)
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To: SunkenCiv

The old fishing hole dried up.


9 posted on 12/03/2010 4:47:47 AM PST by csvset
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To: SunkenCiv

Who knew that the ancient Egyptians drove SUVs and that Halliburton’s reach stretched so far back?


10 posted on 12/03/2010 4:53:34 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Socialists are to economics what circle squarers are to math; undaunted by reason or derision.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Topless chics making bread bump.

11 posted on 12/03/2010 5:01:33 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Diogenesis

Very good. Thanks for sharing.


12 posted on 12/03/2010 5:05:49 AM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: SunkenCiv

Correct Science News link:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/66507/title/Shuttle_images_reveal_Egypts_lost_great_lake


13 posted on 12/03/2010 5:10:51 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
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To: Diogenesis
The question arises - where did the grain come from? Was it barged down the Nile at huge expense, or was there a micro-climate maintaining a nearby lake (a remnant of the old lake or an overflow from Nile flooding or Lake Tritonis, the existence of which was widely reported by the classical Greek geographers) which allowed for agriculture in the area?
14 posted on 12/03/2010 5:18:32 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
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To: csvset

Very cool discovery. Probably was nice real estate with all the sandy beach shoreline...


15 posted on 12/03/2010 5:44:16 AM PST by rusty millet
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To: SunkenCiv

“At other times (right) less water would have flown into the low-lying basin from the Nile (visible on the right in both images), causing the lake to shrink. Red corresponds to an elevation of 400 meters above the basin floor.T.A. Maxwell et al/Geology 2010” And, having flown in, it transferred at Cairo and flew on. sd


16 posted on 12/03/2010 6:51:59 AM PST by shotdog (I love my country. It's our government I'm afraid of.)
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To: central_va

I think they are making beer.


17 posted on 12/03/2010 7:14:18 AM PST by BenLurkin (This post is not a statement of fact. It is merely a personal opinion -- or humor -- or both)
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To: BenLurkin
I think they are making beer.

Topless chics making beer -even better! Those ancient Egyptians has their Shiite together.

18 posted on 12/03/2010 7:16:52 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va

Hmmm, I guess Hooters has been around for a lot longer than we thought. >B-D


19 posted on 12/03/2010 7:32:37 AM PST by Nowhere Man (General James Mattoon Scott, where are you when we need you? We need a regime change.)
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To: BigCinBigD

“Radar images taken from the space shuttle”


20 posted on 12/03/2010 11:47:38 AM PST by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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