10 - A Dam and Reservoir
Date of original article: May 2019.
Article last adapted October 2019.
King Djet, annual tablet 1:
Year of the planning of the underground/basement (?) of the dual plant.
See Wikipedia: King Djet
The first part of the dual installation is the Osireion. However, this construction alone is not enough because we also have to search for the source which supplied the Osirion with water. Compared with the position of the Osirion, that water had to come from a much higher location. If we consider the Nile as candidate we obviously have to go a very long distance upstream. But perhaps this problem has been resolved in a different way.
It all depends on the time when the Osirion was built and used. If we take 3,500 BC as a reference then the Abydos region was already a desert for a long time and there is no direct solution to find for the water supply of the Osirion. However, if the Osirion has been built around 10,400 BC then the solution can be found.
Around 10,400 BC the level of the Nile stood much higher but even more important is the fact that it rained a lot at the time. There must have been locations where it was possible to build a dam and a reservoir to collect all that rainwater.
For the second part of this dual installation we have to look on the valley temple of Chefren. This building has exactly the same structure as the Osirion with among other things alabaster flooring, huge granite pillars and so on. So, the valley temple is the perfect candidate for the second part of the dual installation.
The Osirion, however, has a 62 ° North-West orientation and was probably built during the reign of King Djet and can, according to this hypothesis, be dated around 10,400 BC. The orientation of the so-called "Valley Temple of Chefren" has a perfect North-South orientation and can't therefore go further back in time than about 10,000 BC. This is a difference of at least 400 years. If on the other hand this temple was built by Chefren around 2500 BC, the difference is even 7900 to 8000 years. So, this is another problem that needs to be solved.
Umm el Qa’ab, Abydos.
Picture see Wikipedia.
If we study the area around Abydos, we see high hills rising in the background in the western Sahara with pretty deep gorges in between. There must certainly have been a location that was very suitable for building a dam and a reservoir.
Google Maps – terrain – Abydos and the rocks in Western Sahara.
Experts begin to realize that the water entering the Osirion actually comes from the West, from the Sahara. Apparently, the water flows out of the Osirion again through a tunnel that runs below the inner court of Seti's temple and further east in the direction of the Nile.
More than likely, that tunnel will not end up in the Nile, but rather go to the ancient settlement of Abydos. Perhaps that tunnel will end at the place where once was a port, on the banks of a side arm of the Nile in the area where the "Abydos boats" are located.
If we place the history of Abydos around 3,500 BC then the location of that settlement was of little or no importance. However, if we date Abydos and the Osirion around 10,400 BC then things change enormously and many things suddenly become very clear.
The residents of Abydos needed water under (high) pressure, water that came from a (much) higher location and was led into the Osirion. The Abydos settlement was probably on the banks of a branch of the Nile. Probable this tributary was fed with the water that flowed downwards from the rocks in the west.
The location of Abydos has certainly not been a random choice but rather a very well-considered one. On the map above one can clearly see that Abydos is situated very close to the hills, still closer wasn't possible. The people of Abydos must have found a location there to build a dam and a reservoir.
Google Maps – 2 possible locations for a reservoir close to Abydos?
In the immediate vicinity of Abydos there are apparently two possible locations between the hills where a dam with a reservoir could have been built.
Google Maps – 2 possible locations for water levels up to 200 meters above sea level.
The Osirion is lying 77 meters above sea level. Location 1 and 2 are both good candidates to build a dam and a reservoir with a water level up to 200 meters and even more above sea level.
Google Maps – location N° 1 with the water level 200 meters above sea level.
On the picture above the possible location 1 is drawn, some of the hill tops here are more than 300 meters high. The lowest part between these hills here is about 120 meters above sea level, if the dam was 80 meters high the water level on the surface of the reservoir could reach 200 meters above sea level.
Google Maps – location N° 2 with the water level 280 meters above sea level.
The second solution would have been even closer to the Osirion. Here is the lowest point between the hills about 200 meters above sea level. With a dam, also 80 meters high, the surface of the lake would have been at about 280 meters above sea level.
Has there ever been a dam and a reservoir? So far no one has found proof for it but on the other hand nobody has searched in that direction. The water in the Osirion must come from somewhere, apparently it is coming from the western Sahara but from where exactly nobody seems to know. Hopefully someone will go searching for a tunnel between these hills and the Osirion or for the remains of a dam on both of these possible locations.
The Osirion lies at 77 meters above sea level, the water level in the reservoir could have been 200 in the first and even 280 meters above sea level in the other. The maximum water column that could have been reached with the second reservoir and would have been 280 – 80 = 200 meters. That’s a pressure of about 20 atmosphere or 20 kgf/cm² = 200 ton/m² (= 40,963 psf). Nowadays there is on average a pressure of about 4 kgf / cm² on our tap water.
These people surely could have built such a dam, they had the skills and the knowledge. Did they really build such a dam here? So far nobody knows.
But, why these people needed water under (high) pressure? For tap water in their homes? Certainly not, that water was needed for hydraulic applications. Yes, they understood the power of water under pressure and had knowledge of hydraulics.
The same principles of hydraulics (water under pressure) also can be found back in the ancient settlements of Teotihuacan, Mexico and Tiahuanaco, Bolivia. On both sites there were water basins on higher grounds and airtight (or must we say watertight) tunnels (inside the pyramid) leading to a lower point. On the lowest point the water stood under a certain pressure and, here again, used for hydraulic purposes.
There is a possibllity that the science on hydraulics may have been discovered on the American continent and has been brought to Egypt. This is one more reason we have to consider the possibility that part of the ancient American civilisation moved to Egypt and brought there a more advanced civilisation. But, most likely the knowledge about these principles of hydraulics have been perfected here on this site in Abydos, Egypt.