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By continuing to use this site, you consent to the use of cookies. We value your privacy. Download citation. Download full-text PDF. Francois Molle. Edwin Rap. Doaa Ezzat El-agha. Show more authors. The Nile Delta has geologically formed the northern coastal plain as a large submarine fan. The River Nile and tributaries shifted and meandered over time and annually deposited layers of sediment, whilst coastal erosion also affected the low-lying northern delta Stanley and Warne, In the Ptloematic and the Roman periods wastelands to the north of the delta were cultivated, whilst coastal lakes were bordered by wilderness.
British Engineer Sir William Willcocks states that the presence of pharaonic summer canals and dikes suggests that these lands were once covered with vineyards and enormous basins planted with wheat, maintaining a dense population.
It is also not unreasonable to assume that basin irrigation in these coastal areas was combined with a rudimentary form of aquaculture. Figure 1 left shows the extension of Lake Burullus in as well as the vast seasonally flooded area that almost reaches Daqalt, meaning that most of the MYC area was at the time under semi-flooded conditions the kom are also appearing on this map.
Irrigation by submersion in basins, using the natural flood of the Nile, was for millennia the dominant irrigation method in Egypt. With the introduction around of cotton and sugarcane, perennial irrigation was established and, from onwards, under the rule of Mohammed Ali, Egypt developed a system of deep canals for the irrigation of Lower Egypt.
