Scientists may have solved mystery behind Egypt's pyramids

Scientists believe they may have solved the mystery of how 31 pyramids, including the world-famous Giza complex, were built in Egypt more than 4,000 years ago. A research team from the University of North Carolina Wilmington has discovered that the pyramids are likely to have been built along a long-lost, ancient branch of the River Nile. The team used radar satellite imagery, historical maps, geophysical surveys, and sediment coring to map the river branch, which they believe was buried by a major drought and sandstorms thousands of years ago. The river branch, named the Ahramat branch, was roughly 64km long and between 200-700m wide. It bordered 31 pyramids, which were built between 4,700 and 3,700 years ago. The discovery of this extinct river branch helps explain the high pyramid density between Giza and Lisht, in what is now an inhospitable area of the Saharan desert. The river branch's proximity to the pyramid complexes suggests that it was active and operational during the construction phase of these pyramids.