Conversely, the famine records of the First Intermediate Period are evidently understood from their phraseology, as the result of an extreme trough in the cyclic pattern of Nile variation (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 181). Incidentally, the lower reaches of the Nile became centres of high population density and of early civilizations due to their extensive areas of rich, easily cultivated alluvium (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 13). The inundation of the Nile served as an advantage to the Egyptians as the annual floodwaters were more predictable and therefore less difficult to control (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 14). Furthermore, salination did not pose a serious problem to the Egyptian farmer as it did in Mesopotamia. Merely by modifying natural basins to retain the floodwaters for longer periods, it was possible to convert the edges of the Nile floodplain into highly productive agricultural land (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 14). However, in a book published ten years later than the above source, Trigger argues that salinization was not a major problem because the river sank below the level of the floodplain during the