My comment about the Nile dates.

Since the Nile cycles are seasonal, records of specific water levels can be used for Sothic dating of the corresponding periods. This approach was first used by Meyer (“Aegyptische Chronologie“, 1904) to confirm the correctness of his estimates of the age of the Old Kingdom.

The parameters of the Nile cycles are known to us thanks to measurements of the maxima/minima in the 19th century (Barois, Willcocks, Lyons) and medieval data (Popper) about the 16-cubit water level. For a compilation of these sources, see Krauss (“Haben Otto Neugebauer und William Feller die Niljahre richtig gemittelt?”, 2017).

19th century sources indicate an average minimum of the Nile at the Aswan around June 1, with the greatest deviation no more than a month earlier or later. Thus, the earliest recorded minimum at Aswan was on May 5 (Lyons, measured in 1887), and the latest was on June 22 (Lyons, measured in 1882).

Obviously, the extremes will be recorded with a greater delay compared to the control point, the lower down the river we are. The time required for the extreme to cover the distance between Aswan and Memphis during the Old Kingdom was, according to various estimates, from 7 to 10 days (this value depends on the volume of flooded lands, in particular, on the volume of irrigation systems, if they already existed at that time ).

We cannot speak with confidence about the greater or lesser variability of the Nile cycles in ancient times than Egyptologists believe due to the lack of contemporary data on water levels. At the moment, only two OK Nile dates are known (to me, but I hope I didn’t miss anything) (Merer [4 Dyn.] and Weni [6 Dyn.] which I write about in the article). For comparison, only three Nile dates are known for later periods (Sobekhotep VIII [16 Dyn.]; Osorkon III [22 Dyn.]; Shebitku [25 Dyn.], see "AE Chronology", p. 372).

Although it can be assumed that the two Nile dates I analyzed took place in years of extremely early (Merer) or weak (Weni) floods, or that the parameters of the cycles in ancient times were different from modern, my proposed re-dating is based on the observation that not only the Nile dates, but both expedition dates from the Eastern Desert and seasonal feasts all show the same month-and-a-half deviation from expected seasons. As a hint: the pattern includes one of the two wAgj-dates (the second is shown to be not a wAgj-date), two of the two Nile dates, and a set of dates from the Eastern Desert.

Is this number of seasonal dates enough for confident dating? Yes, because they all show the same trend.

And finally, it should be noted that the conventional dates of the Old Kingdom are calculated on the assumption that the Herakleopolitan period lasted no more than 100-150 years. This assumption is based on the small number of archaeological traces from this period and is not supported by any strong arguments.

Alex.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2024 02:46PM by keeperzz.