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Ancient Egyptians may have built a massive dam near the Red Pyramid

Taylor Mitchell Brown — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:04:36 +0000

The Red Pyramid in Dahshur, Egypt

Reinhard Dirscherl / Alamy

Two large structures near the Red Pyramid in Egypt may be the remnants of an ancient dam, which would be one of the oldest major dams ever built. The work suggests a level of technical sophistication and control over water resources that wasn’t previously expected of the engineers of the earliest pyramids.

The Red Pyramid was the second major pyramidal tomb project under the rule of the 4th-dynasty pharaoh Snefru, which lasted from around 2613 to 2589 BC. It is considered the first “true” pyramid with a consistent, smooth slope on all sides, setting the stage for its more famous counterparts that would later be built in Giza.

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In 1843, researchers identified two large structures across the Wadi Dahshur valley, just 40 meters from the Red Pyramid. Since 1947, researchers have believed these structures were construction ramps or roads used to transport large limestone blocks from quarries to the pyramids. But emerging research about Egypt’s wetter past has led some scholars to question this longstanding hypothesis.

To further investigate the structures, Xavier Landreau at , a private research institute in France, and his colleagues used satellite imagery, historical maps, topographical modelling and watershed analysis. Their results clearly outlined the features and how they fit the surrounding landscape, showing they each measured around 600 to 700 metres long, 15 to 30 m wide and 6 or 7 m tall, and are separated by about 200 m. Their arrangement within the downward sloping valley seems to suggest they are remnants of a large and ancient dam.

“They would probably not have looked like modern concrete dams,” says Landreau. “They were more likely very broad embankments made of earth, marl, rubble and stone, possibly with stone protection on surfaces exposed to flowing water.”

The strongest piece of evidence is a “zigzagging” feature at the centre of the structures, says Landreau, which would serve no purpose in a transport ramp or road, but, as a structure to relieve flood waters, makes perfect sense. Together, the features suggest they might be the earliest known duckbill weir-style dam ever built, which is a type of dam with an ability to manage floods.

“By engineering a massive, two-stage dam system, they successfully tamed flash floods, stored millions of gallons of water and redirected it directly to the construction site,” says team member at Cairo University in Egypt. “This strongly suggests that the ancient Egyptians used water as a primary power source and transport mechanism to move multi-tonne blocks, fundamentally altering the historical narrative of how the pyramids were built.”

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Snefru’s reign was associated other early hydrological projects, including the Sadd el-Kafara dam further north, which collapsed after a large flood. The new work suggests the putative dam near the Red Pyramid could have withstood powerful flooding from the Nile, indicating Snefru and his architects learned from their past mistakes.

“If confirmed through excavation, this research could significantly transform our understanding of 4th-dynasty construction logistics,” says at Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Journal reference:

npj Heritage Science

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