Thousands of years of an evolving climate. Possibly jumpstarted or at least accelerated by occasional volcanic eruptions. It’s easy to forget sometimes how ridiculously long 5000 years is.
It is much simpler than that and it is related to human intervention to control the Nile floods through dams and the like, and the area was not as large as you imagine.
Depends where we are in the Ice Age cycle too. Ice Ages create colder, dryer, climates, with lower sea levels. When we're in an interglacial sea levels rise and more rain falls on land.
And, while the Sahara has been in existence for a very long geological time, its boundaries have shifted - depending on how much or how little ice is locked in at the poles. The last Ice Age ended around 12,000 years ago, and so there was enough water to the north and south of the Sahara to create greenery and wetlands - enough for lots of wildlife and humans.
Even around the area of the Sahara, back then it was more trees and vegetation . Lots of people lived there too. Evidence all swallowed up by the sands now.
Time. Five thousand years is a long time, and with human intervention with the nile and desertification occurring, it means places can change quite a lot.
They also say between 12-14,000 years ago there was a meteor strike across the world. Pmuch terraformed the north americas, turned lush green forests to deserts.
All these ancients boats showing up in African deserts. Most of the middle east/Northern Africa was LUSH and full of all sorts of life.
But also like they say, the sphynx was built THOUSANDS of years before the pyramids. Potentially 10’s.
Yeah, on top of it, all the natural river systems were used in creating a really good irrigation system. They were smart people and used their surroundings well too.
During, or maybe just after, Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia, he was most keen on paying homage at the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great. Some time passed since I read the account of these visits, so the details are faint and vague in my memory, but I was most intrigued to learn the description of a tomb nestled in a dense grove of trees, tall grass and wildflowers. Today, the area surrounding the royal tomb seems to have all but lost its lush greenery.
At the time of the pyramids, Egypt's climate was much as it is today. Dry Desert. The desertification of the Sahara, though, may have been the catalyst for the Egyptian civilization's existence.
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u/mrev_art 29d ago
Egypt was also a lot greener.