#ancient egypt
In the stark desert south of the oasis town of Baris, doum palms, known as “l-Nakheel El-Bahari,” grow, drawing on groundwater far below the sand through roots that have sustained them for centuries, perhaps millennia. Wadi el-Doum, the “valley of doum” south of Baris, is the best-known stand of palms that grow without human cultivation. A different Wadi Doum, 56 kilometers south of Suez, marks the species’ northernmost wild range, according to a 2016 paper by Suez Canal University. The…
