Ancient Egypt’s evolution through rivers, deserts and a long-since disappeared lake were topics of discussion Monday.

John Paul Stimac, dean of the Honors College, presented “Physical Landscapes of Ancient Egypt” as part of “A Futuristic Look Through Ancient Lenses: A Symposium on Ancient Egypt” sponsored by the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences School of Technology and Booth Library.

Stimac said as little as 10,000 years ago, southern Egypt was dominated by consistent rainfall and a lake formed when the Nile River began backing up.

“It was one of the biggest lakes in the world as well as Egypt,” Stimac said.

The semi-nomadic North African population left their settlements and began migrating toward the lake, Stimac said.

“People started to follow the water,” he said. “Water is life.”

Stimac said settling in southern Egypt changed the way humans found sustenance and conducted society.

“Rain allowed for agriculture and domestic animals,” Stimac said. “It was one of the first agriculture societies to develop.”

Early aspects of what would become the Egyptian religion were also born around Egypt’s lake, including the animal-like features for gods and stone shrines, Stimac said.

Stimac said one such shrine, called the Nabta Playa, used astronomy to predict the flooding of the Nile and would even dictate the planting season for farmers.

Wafeek Samuel Wahby, a professor of technology, said that southern Egypt did not remain agriculturally viable for all its history.

“This region was once 95 percent agriculture, five percent desert,” Wahby said. “Now it is 95 percent desert and five percent agriculture.”

Stimac said the Egyptians suffered from the rapid climate change from a wet climate to dry climate.

“That transition may have occurred in as little as 200 years,” he said. “Their success was tied to availability of water.”

Stimac said the Egyptians even implemented the environment into their art. The desert winds created yardangs, rocks that are made round and smooth by the sand and wind. The Egyptians eventually decorated the yardangs and made them into the Sphinx.

“The yardang lent itself to ornamentation,” he said. “They added a face, a nose and a head dress.”

Ten thousand years later, Egyptians and their neighbors continue to manipulate the environment to best suit their needs, Stimac said.

“Modern man is trying to effect his environment by changing the natural environment,” Stimac said.

Stimac said the climate, culture and geography affect each other.

“Climate, culture and geography are all tied together,” Stimac said. “You can’t study one without studying the others.”

Andrew Crivilare can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].