Scientist suggests Egyptian pyramids were 'ancient ports', built near a Nile branch that disappeared

A scientist has uncovered a secret river that might have helped Egyptians build the pyramids. An ancient branch of the River Nile might have been used to transport material to build the mammoth structures that have defied logical explanation. Dr Eman Ghoneim suggests in a study that the part of the Nile that once ran through Giza. This also explains why there are a bunch of pyramids in that part of Cairo.

Ghoneim relied on technology in the outer world to discover the river branch that no longer exists. He used radar satellite data from space to study the Nile Valley. The data showed an "invisible world of information beneath the surface." She detailed the research to the 13th Congress of Egyptologists earlier this year.

What solidifies the belief that Egyptians relied on this river branch to build the pyramids is the fact that it passed through 38 different pyramid sites. Dubbed the Ahramat Branch, it ran from Giza to Faiyum.

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Ghoneim says the river was by no means tiny. It was "really, really long," Ghoneim told IFL Science. "Its width was equivalent to today's Nile course width," running about half a kilometre or more, she added.

However, it is merely an assumption that the river branch was used to transport material to build the pyramids. Besides, it is hard to tell whether the river was active during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, around 4,700 years ago,

But Ghoneim says that the "pyramids were located exactly at the bank of the branch." So they had something to do with each other.

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Ghoneim has also proposed what the pyramids might have originally signified. She thinks the massive structures were "valley temples" and could have served as ports in ancient times.

Egypt remains a mystery to the world. The River Nile does not run its usual course as it did thousands of years ago. It has shifted, and with it, several towns are also believed to have vanished.

Ghoneim said, "As branches disappeared, Ancient Egyptian cities and towns also silted up and disappeared, and we have no clue actually where to find them."

What Ghoneim proposes is merely the tip of the iceberg, which might remain for a long, long time. But lately, claims have been made about underground cities lying deep under the Giza pyramids. If a river ran near them, it means some towns and cities might have also existed there, as claimed by Ghoneim. Could the underground structures recently detected under the pyramids be the same cities that vanished?