High-Resolution TIF Image (CMYK) (300 DPI, 4036x3918 pixels, 60.2 Mb)

High-Resolution JPG Image (300 DPI, 4036x3918 pixels, 17.2 Mb)

Low-Resolution JPG Image (300 DPI, 1024x994 pixels, 1.5 Mb)

"Nile River Festival" -- The picture shows a Byzantine-period mosaic from Sepphoris (today Zippori), for several centuries (1st century B.C. to 4th century A.D.) the capital of Galilee, in Northern Israel. It was thus created shortly before the beginning of the flood records used in this paper (i.e., one or two centuries before A.D. 622) and shows a man clambering to carve on a column ("nilometer") the highest level reached by the Nile in that year, 17 cubits ("IZ" in the digits used at that time). This mosaic seems to be the best-preserved one among several images of the Festival, a subject apparently well-known all around the Mediterranean at that time. Photographs taken and processed by Yigal Feliks (son of one of the authors), by permission from the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority.

Kondrashov, D., Y. Feliks, and M. Ghil (2005) (PDF file with GRL cover, 3.9Mb):
"Oscillatory modes of extended Nile River records (A.D. 622-1922),"
Geophys. Res. Lett.,32, L10702, doi:10.1029/2004GL022156.