Reinforcing the dikes along the Nile, Armant, Egypt

"Once perennial irrigation was introduced, floods became a serious problem because precious crops could be destroyed by excessively high floods. This in fact occured in 1927, 1946, and 1964. farmers lived in constant fears." [Kamil Jill, 1993: Aswan and Abu Simbel, History and Guide. The American University in Cairo Press]. During his trip to Egypt, Elisofon visited Armant and its surrounding, which was an ancient city on the W bank of the Nile, S of Thebes; site of shrine of the war god Montu; has ruins of large temple built ca. 1500 BC & reconstructed by the Ptolemies; is surrounded by burial grounds from many periods. [The J. P. Getty Fund: Art and Architecture Thesaurus]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from January 8, 1947 to end of June 1947.