Abstract

The arid environment and lack of modern develop-ment around Amara West has preserved distinctive and high-resolution records of changing Holocene river behaviour, both in a palaeochannel immediately adja-cent to the town, and in one 2km further north. Com-bining optically stimulated luminescence and 14C dating, alongside investigation of channel morphology and reach-scale flood inundation simulation, a chronologi-cal framework for the dynamic riverine environment in this part of the Nile Valley is reconstructed for the 2nd and 1st millenniums BC. The palaeogeographical setting of Amara West changed dramatically and rapidly after the founding of the town as channels dried out and the riparian zone contracted. Evidence from excavations in the town and cemeteries, alongside micromorphological analyses of sedimentary deposits from the settlement and bioarchaeological study of the human remains, is deployed to explore how the ancient inhabitants experienced, and sought to mitigate the effects of, these environmental challenges.