Sustainability and Environmental Impact
The Scorpion Macehead
Predynastic period, ca. 3325-3125 BC.This mace-head of the Scorpion King carries a depiction of a king wielding a hoe and performing a ceremonial cutting of a waterway, which he stands over. Attendants and female figures wrapped in cloth watch on as the king performs the ceremony. Egypt’s practice of seasonal irrigation from the Nile allowed the land to remain fertile for thousands of years, highlighting the sustainability of this practice.
| Allocated to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford by the Egyptian Research Account from excavations at Hierakonpolis, 1898. (AN1896-1908.E.3632). |
Bibliography
Ashmolean Museum (n.d.) The Scorpion Macehead. Available at: https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-746416 (Accessed: 11 December 2024).
The Palermo Stone
Old Kingdom, fifth dynasty, ca. 2338 BC.This fragment of an Old Kingdom stele contains Royal Annals produced during the Fifth dynasty. Among its records include the heights of the Nile river over time, highlighting that the Egyptians were aware of the necessity for tracking the changing climate, identifying flood cycles over time. This allowed for Egyptians to understand better what crops to plant when, as crops such as flax required relatively well-irrigated soil to propagate
Preserved in the Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas, Palermo.
Bibliography
Palermo Viva (n.d.) The Palermo Stone and Its Unsolved Mysteries. Available at: https://www.palermoviva.it/the-palermo-stone-and-its-unsolved-mysteries/ (Accessed: 11 December 2024).
Garden Scene, Tomb of Ipuy
New Kingdom, ca. 1295-1213 BCThis painting, copied from the Ramissed-era tomb of Ipuy, presents the use of irrigation to propagate plants in Ipuy’s garden. Here, a man operates an shaduf, a crane-like devices used to raise water and saturate dried soil. This was a relatively new invention at the time and permitted Egyptians to irrigate crops near riverbanks during the dry summer when the Nile would not flood into irrigation channels.
Painted at Deir el Medina by Norman de Garis Davies for the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1924. (30.4.115).
Bibliography
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (n.d.) Garden Scene, Tomb of Ipuy. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/557816 (Accessed: 11 December 2024).
David Roberts, ‘Nilometer, Cairo’
c. 1838-39The Nilometer is a device originating in Ancient Egypt that was used to measure the water level of the Nile. These might take the form of columns, wells, or stairways that would go down to the bed of the Nile. The technology was used well into the medieval era with this particular example being built in 861 AD. This print was made from a painting by Scottish explorer and painter David Roberts in the mid-nineteenth century. It illustrates how the technologies from Ancient Egypt promote a sustainable approach to agriculture that can confer important lessons about farming practice to this day.
Source
Bibliography
Alexandre Antique Prints, Maps & Books (n.d.) David Roberts, ‘Nilometer, Cairo’. Available at: https://www.alexandremaps.com/pages/books/P524/david-roberts/ (Accessed: 11 December 2024).