The “4.2 kya climate event” (ca. 2200 - 2050 BC) and its impacts on Egypt: An integrated geological and archaeological study

Abstract

The 4.2 kya climate event (also known as the 4.2 ka BP event or the 4.2 kyr event) was a phase of severe drought of global extent. Its evidence has been attested in many regions of the world, and was reported to have played an important role in the collapse of major ancient civilizations. The current study is based on a comprehensive literature review about the 4.2 kya climate event in Egypt with regard to different proxies. Therefore, it compiles results from different disciplines by discussing the integration of geoarchaeological, archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence, in order to draw a complete picture of this event in Egypt. The thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter 1 (Introduction) includes the significance and purpose of research, research questions, aims of research, time span, research methodology, and literature review. Chapter 2 discusses the evidence of the 4.2 kya event in the Ancient World. Chapter 3 introduces current geoarchaeological evidence for the 4.2 kya event from Saqqara-Memphis, Faiyum and the Nile Delta, as well as new work at Dahshur. Chapter 4 discusses how the impacts of the 4.2 kya event were reflected in the ancient Egyptian textual and iconographic sources, and how that led to changes in settlements. The bioarchaeological information related to the 4.2 kya event in Egypt is provided in Chapter 5. The discussion (Chapter 6) focuses on three aspects: the integration of various evidence of the 4.2 kya climate event in Egypt; the role of 4.2 kya climate event in the collapse of the Old Kingdom; and how Ancient Egyptians learned from the crisis. The study ends with conclusions and bibliography. The study concludes that the full range of evidence indicates that this event had critical environmental, economic and political impacts. It led to aridification, decline in the Nile level and Nile-fed lakes, encroachment of aeolian desert sand into the Nile Valley, lower crop yields and famine across ancient Egypt. Therefore, as a compound event, it played an important role in the collapse of the Old Kingdom (at ca. 2181 BC), and continued in the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181-2055 BC) when Egypt witnessed political fragmentation, so that the response to the crisis was not up to the challenge.