A GIFT OF GEOLOGY:Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments, will give the mummyhead bad wanderlust

A GIFT OF GEOLOGY:Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments
COLIN D. READER
The American University in Cairo Press
$29.95 paperback, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: An introduction to the geology of Egypt and its influence on ancient Egyptian culture

While much is known about Egypt’s towering pyramids, mighty obelisks, and extraordinary works of art, less is known about the role played by Egypt’s geological history in the formation of pharaonic culture’s artistic and architectural legacy. The fertile soils that lined the Nile Valley meant that the people of Egypt were able to live well off the land. Yet what allowed ancient Egypt to stand apart from other early civilizations was its access to the vast range of natural resources that lay beyond the Nile floodplain.

In this engagingly written book, Colin Reader invites readers to explore the influence of geology and landscape on the development of the cultures of ancient Egypt. After describing today’s Egyptian landscape and introducing key elements of the ancient Egyptian worldview, he provides a basic geological toolkit to address issues such as geological time and major earth-forming processes. The developments that gave the geology of Egypt its distinct character are explored, including the uplifting of mountains along the Red Sea coast, the evolution of the Nile river, and the formation of the vast desert areas beyond the Nile Valley. As the story unfolds, elements of Egypt’s archaeology are introduced, together with discussions of mining and quarrying, construction in stone, and the ways in which the country’s rich geological heritage allowed the culture of ancient Egypt to evolve.

Ideal for non-specialists and specialists alike, and supported with over one hundred illustrations, A Gift of Geology takes the reader on a fascinating journey into Egypt’s geological landscape and its relationship to the marvels of pharaonic culture.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I'm not a rockhound. I'm not an Egyptologist. I am, however, really glad I read this very accessible book about how geology affected, guided, and limited the culture and economy of Egypt during its entire history.

Is this your mental image of Egypt? Or maybe this:

Fine and dandy, both are correct and accurate. Neither is the Egypt that met the very first humans who settled it:

A wholly different world that met those very first refugees from the Sahara's vast grassland, containing a Lake Chad that had a greater surface area than the entire United Kingdom, as it gradually turned into the enormous desert of today. Those humans left us some petroglyphs to know them by:

...so we have a clear picture that they were culture-having modern human beings.

Before they turned into these guys:

...the cartouche-drawing people we think of as "the Egyptians" who populate our psyches, they had to learn to survive in a world that was HUGELY different than the one they found in that top map:

...an altogether less hospitable, drier place as you see...but still, as you also see from the sites marked on map, very much a homeland and a landscape that they were in command of and at home within.

The author takes us through the life and times of ancient Egypt in as thorough, and as interesting, a way as any I've ever read. I myownself am never really sure how the relative dating by stratigraphy really works, but felt much more able to follow what the author was telling me because:

...he showed me, in the actual landscape being discussed, what the heck was going on instead of only using useful-but-limited drawn diagrams. I am sure y'all being attentive readers have noticed my four-star rating above. It is not because I think the book is in any way deficient in its execution. I don't give it a full-five rating because the entire purpose of the book is to pass along information about Egypt, its culture, and its history, and the illustrative photos are not solely aesthetically purposed. This being the gifting season, and my purpose bringing the book to your attention being to inspire you to gift this to your Egypt-obsessed giftee, I wanted it to be clear that the book wears multiple hats that might not all suit the same visual reader.

Really, though, can any book do better evoking a sense of place than this?