Resumo de Theory Of Sand And Dirt

In order to tend to the plants that form a defensive wall against the encroaching desert sand from the Sahara, some of the Bedouin have abandoned their nomadic lifestyle. It is hoped that the plants will prevent the Sahara from spreading to envelop adjacent land. It is unfortunate that this modern ecological concept of land protection was unavailable to the ancient Egyptians.The ancient Egyptians took for granted the soil that was deposited annually when the Nile overflowed its banks. So spectacular was this overflowing 2,500 years ago, that it attracted tourists, such as Herodotus, who measured the distance the water covered, approximately two days journey from each bank of the Nile. Based on information from Egyptian priests, it was known that the overflowing was less spectacular by the time of Herodotus than it had been 900 years earlier. The correlation that the land was becoming higher along the banks of the river was known. The concept that the river was actually cutting deeper into the land was not. The years during which the Nile would cover the land of Egypt with water and deposit soil upon the land were to be limited in number.According to Herodotus, during his extensive visit to Egypt, the land of Egypt was not covered by sand. He mentioned a single hill, located near Memphis, which contained sand. The size of the hill is not mentioned.

Herodotus stated that the soil of Egypt was black and crumbly. Even the land near the pyramids was covered with dirt, which Herodotus thought contained salt, since something in the soil caused damage to the pyramids.The ancient Egyptians did not allow nature to lay claim to the soil deposited by the Nile, which would have been ecologically healthy, and might have preserved the land for the future by introducing viable habitats and ecosystems for non-human forms of life, including establishing plants, within the ecosystem, with root systems designed to hold the soil in place. Most likely, the ecosystem that would have established itself would have been a system consisting of marshes and swamps. Since nature uses water to establish a foothold upon the land, as the waters dried up over the millennia, species replacement would have ensured a viable green ecosystem. Instead, the ancient Egyptians used the soil for agricultural crops, known to lack permanence through not establishing constant root systems, and to landscape the land, without the knowledge of the impact these actions would have upon the soil.A by-product of growing the same crop in the same field, year after year, as was done in ancient Egypt, is nutritional soil depletion. Eventually, it becomes difficult to grow anything, until the soil has had enough time to reverse the effect of the depletion. During the time when little grows, the soil is ripe for erosion. Since much of the soil that was once in Egypt is missing, it must be assumed that there is a very real possibility that this is what occurred.Little effort was required to grow crops in ancient Egypt, and there was no reason to anticipate the loss of the Nile?s gift. That erosion would occur and that the sand could encroach was not expected.

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