The Fayum, a naturally formed depression, is encircled by the Sahara Desert except for in the east, where a carrier canal from the Nile River (Bahr el-Yusuf) once fed its extensive freshwater lake, Lake Moeris. Due to the presence of a stable water source for basic subsistence needs, the region emerged as a locus for human habitation beginning in the Neolithic period (ca. 5500 BCE). For millennia, anthropic activity in the form of settlements, religious centers, harbors, and quarry sites continued in the Fayum, along the very shores of Lake Moeris. However, with the changing environmental and climatic conditions starting in the Holocene epoch, fluctuations of floodwaters from the Nile caused drastic instabilities in the lake’s water level. As the water height oscillated, the Fayum inhabitants had to adapt to the constantly changing water supply. The water level oscillations of Lake Moeris and the dating of such fluctuations have been a significant source of debate for many scholars in the field, with much of the research being rather ambiguous and contradictory in nature. For this reason, this dissertation has sought to identify, map, reconstruct, and (relatively) date the ancient extent of the Fayum lake, leading to a more nuanced understanding of lake development over millennia. Three main research questions are posed by this dissertation: (1) How did Lake Moeris transform from the Neolithic to Ptolemaic Period? (2) When was there evident water advance and retreat and why? (3) How did human activity in the Fayum change as a result of this changing hydraulic landscape? Through the identification and dating of the various paleo-shorelines of the lake via novel remote sensing techniques, including the use of synthetic-aperture radar and optical satellite imagery, several phases of the lake, including the Neolithic, Middle Kingdom, and Ptolemaic have been successfully reconstructed. These reconstructed lake stages were then confirmed through on-the-ground visual verification and geophysical surveying. By integrating the remote sensing and geophysics results with archaeological and textual evidence, this dissertation reveals that as the water level of the lake fluctuated due to both climatic changes and human intervention, the ancient Fayum inhabitants adjusted their settlement locations accordingly. They often established their towns along the newly formed lake shores or reconfigured their hydraulic infrastructure to link former settlements with the lake.