Overview
- Researchers published a study on Friday, August 7, 2026, arguing two large earth-and-rock formations beside the Red Pyramid at Dahshur were built as a two-stage hydraulic system with upstream and downstream dams, a roughly 21-acre reservoir and a diversion canal.
- The team used satellite imagery, historical aerial photos, topographic reconstruction and hydraulic modelling to identify a distinctive zigzag or triangular 'duckbill' spillway that their calculations show could discharge more than twice the water of a straight overflow of the same length.
- They estimate the basin could once have held about 61 million gallons of water and may have been larger before sand infill, which would have reduced flash-flood damage, trapped sediment and provided stored water for tasks such as moving stone, making mortar and supporting workers and animals.
- The claim remains provisional because no excavation or reliable dating has taken place and much of the area lies in a restricted military zone, so confirming engineered cores, water-laid sediments or datable construction materials is needed to prove the features' age and function.
- If confirmed, the find would join regional examples such as Sadd el-Kafara and suggest Old Kingdom builders developed deliberate spillway and retention strategies to manage seasonal runoff, and archaeologists will now need ground access and targeted digs to test the hypothesis.