Climate resilience in the desert areas of Egypt

Today the Saharan region is known as a hyper-arid environment with minimal human activity outside the few oases. However, archaeological evidence suggests that, in the past, the landscape was more accessible and that settlements sprang up around springs and wells that were linked by well-used routes. Our studies suggest that this activity was concentrated into historical periods when fresh water was available, particularly the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom and the Graeco-Roman Period. Comparison with records of global temperature proxies in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project show that these periods of activity were also times of high global temperatures, leading to the conclusion times of global warming produce increased rainfall in the Saharan region that supports ecosystems and activity in the desert.