This is Michael Medved.

Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Germany, once said that God offers special protection

to drunkards, lost dogs, children, and the United States of America.

We'll explore that special protection

and what it means in the American miracle.

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Howdy folks? Dominic here, with a quick epilogue to the most recent episode.

This is a part of the climate history of the late Old Kingdom

that doesn't necessarily directly connect to the fall of the royal household, but it's an interesting feature of the archaeological evidence that is coming out in recent decades.

It concerns rain, a period of frequent torrential downpours that afflicted the Nile

Valley during the fourth, fifth and sixth dynasties.

There is a widespread public interest and a lot of misunderstanding about just

how wet Old Kingdom Egypt actually was, so I've put together this short discussion to help introduce

the topic. I hope you enjoy. Archaeologists working in Northern Egypt have uncovered evidence for a period of

torrential rainstorms and frequent downpours across several generations of history.

One excavation at Giza has been working on the city of the pyramid builders at a site known commonly as Heed L.Gurab or the Wall of the Crow.

Here, there seems to be sediment evidence for flash floods bringing mud and dirt down into the settlement area.

These downpours seem to occur every four to five years.

And looking at the stratigraphy of the site,

archaeologists can observe that the city suffered major damage on quote at least three or four occasions.

In some areas sections of the site or settlement were even swept away, dislodged and cut through by water

that flowed down from the plateau. These torrential downpours seem to have begun as

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