Holocene landscape evolution and settlement development in the surroundings of the ancient Egyptian city of Bubastis (“Tell Basta”), southeastern Nile Delta

The evolution of the Holocene Nile Delta, a dynamic interplay of river avulsions, sedimentation, and seasonal flooding created favorable conditions for early civilization while simultaneously driving settlement instability and frequent relocation in an evolving landscape (Garbe et al., 2023). This study focuses on Bubastis in the southeastern Nile Delta (Fig. 1a) – an exceptional urban center that was continuously inhabited from its foundation around 3200 BCE until its decline around 200 CE, and the only known settlement in the Nile Delta to have sustained occupation throughout this entire period, while other contemporary cities were intermittently abandoned or relocated, or they existed for significantly shorter periods. During this time, Bubastis emerged as a considerable center of both religious and administrative importance, as evidenced by its extensive temple and palace areas (Fig. 1b). Although little is known about the site's general environmental conditions beyond a few historical texts and initial geoarchaeological studies identifying two man-made sacred canals near the Temple of Bastet (Meister et al., 2021), this investigation provides the first area‐wide geoarchaeological reconstruction of Bubastis and the development of an ancient Egyptian urban center by highlighting its strong dependence on regional environmental conditions.