This book tells a history of Egypt from a geographic point of view, in a wholly original way. It takes, in a sense, a Braudelian longue durée-approach, but with the crucial difference that the geography and climate discussed are revealed to be not the immovable bedrock of history, but a shifting ground to which humans need to keep constantly adapting. Bunbury could not be better qualified to write such a book. She has been involved in numerous field projects in Egypt, from the oases, the desert, the Nile Valley to the Delta, and thus years of experience and expertise flow into the book. One could argue an environmental turn has reached Egyptology, not the least due to the work of such scientists as this author. She is entirely correct when she states, referencing Butzer’s seminal 1976 study on Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt, that ‘for modern archaeological investigations… sediment logs and boreholes are considered a routine part of the work’ (p. 6). The data discussed in the book is ample and varied, and the author aims to tie it all together. The scope of the book is wider than the title (Neolithic to Roman era) suggests. It starts six million years ago, covering the Holocene and reaching to the present day.¹ The focus is, however, on the Pharaonic to Roman periods. The eleven chapters are organized basically chronologically, but often within chapters, other periods are referenced.

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书评：尼罗河和古埃及。从新石器时代到罗马时代不断变化的陆地和水景

这本书以一种完全原创的方式从地理的角度讲述了埃及的历史。从某种意义上说，这需要一种布劳德式的长期方法，但关键的区别在于，所讨论的地理和气候被揭示不是历史不可移动的基石，而是人类需要不断适应的不断变化的基础。班伯里再没有比写这样一本书更好的资格了。她参与了埃及的许多实地项目，从绿洲、沙漠、尼罗河谷到三角洲，因此多年的经验和专业知识流入这本书。有人可能会争辩说，埃及学已经出现了一种环境转向，尤其是由于像作者这样的科学家的工作。她说的是完全正确的，参考了 Butzer 1976 年的开创性研究埃及的早期水利文明，“对于现代考古调查……沉积物测井和钻孔被认为是工作的常规部分”（第 6 页）。书中讨论的数据丰富多样，作者旨在将它们联系在一起。这本书的范围比标题（新石器时代到罗马时代）所暗示的要宽。它始于六百万年前，涵盖全新世并一直延续到今天。¹然而，重点是法老到罗马时期。十一章基本上是按时间顺序组织的，但往往在章节内，引用了其他时期。