Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
A large-scale geoarchaeological study of the Temple of Karnak has just been published, revealing new insights into the foundation of the complex and its relationship with the changing movements of the Nile. The international study, published in Antiquity (October 2025), involved the extraction and analysis of 61 sediment cores from under the temple area and its surroundings, combined with the study of thousands of ceramic fragments, to provide a chronological framework.
The results reveal that, prior to 2520 BC, the area was regularly flooded and so unsuitable for permanent construction. The earliest evidence for occupation of the area dates to the Old Kingdom (c.2591-2152 BC), at which time the area was a small island surrounded by the fast- flowing eastern and western branches of the Nile. The researchers suggest the site may have been deliberately chosen as the birthplace of Ra-Amun, as the rising of the island reflects the emergence of the primordial mound. The two channels of water shaped how, and in which direction, the temple could expand as they filled with sediments through natural processes and human intervention, creating new land for construction.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / Image: B T Pennington et al., Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 6 October 2025)
