SUDAN HAS
MORE PYRAMIDS THAN EGYPT
BY
ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.
It is
contentious and highly debatable but The News office Desk of the E.N.M.Paedia
Express Multimedia Group of Lagos ,Nigeria has learnt that Sudan actually have
more Pyramids than there next door and famous neighbors Egypt.
Checks
recently via an impeccable source said that poor marketing for its tourist
potentials has robbed Sudan of the benefits or the glory of the Nubian Desert
Pyramids.
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AS PICKED UP BY NEWS OFFICE VIA GOOGLE,WIKIPAEDIA
Nubian pyramids are pyramids that were built by the rulers of
the ancient Kushite kingdoms. The area of the Nile valley
known as Nubia, which lies within the north of present
day Sudan, was home to three Kushite kingdoms
during antiquity. The first had its capital at Kerma (2500–1500 BC). The second was
centered on Napata (1000–300 BC). Finally, the last
kingdom was centered on Meroë (300 BC–AD 300).
They are built of granite and sandstone. The pyramids were partially demolished
by Italian treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferliniin the 1830s.[1]
Deeply influenced by the Egyptians, Nubian
kings built their own pyramids a thousand years after Egyptian burial methods
had changed.[2] In Nubia, pyramids were built
for the first time at El Kurru in 751 B.C.[3] The Nubian style pyramids
emulated a form of Egyptian private elite family pyramid that was common during
the New kingdom.[4] There are twice as many Nubian
pyramids still standing today as there are Egyptian ones.[2] The Nubian pyramids are
recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.[5]
Pyramids[edit]
So
far, more than 35 pyramids[6] grouped
in five sites were discovered in Sudan. They were constructed in Nubia over a
period of a few hundred years to serve as tombs for the kings and queens and
wealthy citizens of Napata and Meroë.
The
first three sites are located around Napata in Lower Nubia, near the modern
town of Karima.
The
first of these was built at the site of el-Kurru, including the tombs of
King Kashtaand
his son Piye,
together with Piye's successors Shabaka, Shabataka,
and Tanwetamani.
Fourteen pyramids were constructed for their queens, several of whom were
renowned warrior queens. This can be compared to approximately 120 much larger
pyramids that were constructed in Ancient Egypt over
a period of 3000 years.
Later
Napatan pyramids were sited at Nuri,
10 km north on the opposite bank of the Nile. This necropolis was the
burial place of 21 kings and 52 queens and princes including Anlami and
Aspelta. The bodies of these kings were placed in huge granite sarcophagi.
Aspelta's weighed 15.5 tons, and its lid weighed four tons.[7] The
oldest and largest pyramid at Nuri is that of the Napatan king and Twenty-fifth
Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa.
Another small group of 9 pyramids is located next to Jebel Barkal itself.
The most extensive Nubian pyramid site is at Meroë, which is
located between the fifth and sixth cataracts of the Nile, approximately 240
kilometres (150 mi) north of Khartoum.
During the Meroitic period, over forty queens and kings were buried there.
Between 2009 and 2012 the new group of pyramids was discovered
near the village Sedeinga.
The physical proportions of Nubian pyramids differ markedly from
the Egyptian edifices: they are built of
stepped courses of horizontally positioned stone blocks and range approximately
6–30 metres (20–98 ft) in height, but rise from fairly small foundation
footprints, resulting in tall, narrow structures inclined at approximately 70°.
Most also have offering temple structures abutting their base with unique
Kushite characteristics. By comparison, Egyptian pyramids of similar height
generally had foundation footprints that were at least five times larger and
were inclined at angles between 40–50°.
.jpg)
Pyramids of the pyramids of Meroe in 1821
The tombs inside the pyramids of Nubia were plundered in ancient
times. Wall reliefs preserved
in the tomb chapels reveal that their royal occupants were mummified, covered with
jewellery and laid to rest in wooden mummy cases. At the time of their
exploration by archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries, some pyramids
were found to contain the remains of bows, quivers of arrows, archers' thumb rings,
horse harnesses, wooden boxes, furniture, pottery, colored glass, metal
vessels, and many other artefacts attesting to extensive Meroitic trade with
Egypt and the Hellenistic world.
A pyramid excavated at Meroë included hundreds of heavy items
such as large blocks decorated with rock art and 390 stones that comprised the
pyramid. A cow buried complete with eye ointment was also unearthed in the area
to be flooded by the Meroë Dam, as were ringing rocks that
were tapped to create a melodic sound.[8]
Destructions
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srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/A_great_pyramid_at_Meroe_in_1821.jpg/234px-A_great_pyramid_at_Meroe_in_1821.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/A_great_pyramid_at_Meroe_in_1821.jpg/312px-A_great_pyramid_at_Meroe_in_1821.jpg 2x"
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Great pyramid N6 of the Pyramids of Meroë, belonging to Queen Amanishakheto,
before and after its destruction by the treasure-hunter Giuseppe Ferlini in
the 1830s
In the 1830s Giuseppe Ferlini came
to Meroe seeking treasure and raided and demolished a number of pyramids which
had been found “in good conditions” by Frédéric Cailliaud just a few years
earlier.[9] At Wad ban Naqa,
he leveled the pyramid N6 of the kandake Amanishakheto starting
from the top, and finally found her treasure composed of dozens of gold and
silver jewelry pieces. Overall, he is considered responsible for the
destruction of over 40 pyramids.[9][10]
Ferlini raided the Meroe pyramids in 1834.
Having found the treasure he was looking for, in 1836 Ferlini
returned home.[11] A
year later he wrote a report of his expedition containing a catalog of his
findings, which was translated in French and republished in 1838.[note 1][12] He
tried to sell the treasure, but at this time nobody believed that such high
quality jewellery could be made in Black Africa.
His finds were finally sold in Germany: part of these were purchased by
king Ludwig I of Bavaria and are now in
the State Museum of Egyptian Art of
Munich, while the remaining – under suggestions of Karl Richard Lepsius and of Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen –
was bought by the Egyptian Museum of Berlin where it
still is.[9]
George Reisner, a Harvard archaeologist,
investigated the pyramids at Nuri and mapped more than 80 royal Kushite burials
in 1916-1919.[13] Reisner
started to explore burial chambers but he found they were flooded caused by
rising water table. He abandoned further excavation because he thought it was
too dangerous, probably because a collapse of a staircase had killed five of
his workers.[13] Some
of his findings were published in 1955.[14]
National Geographic funded explorations from 2015-2019 using
underwater scuba diving equipment[15] and
remote controlled robots
Pyramids and cemeteries[edit]
·
The royal cemetery
at el-Kurru. Kashta, Piye, Tantamani, Shabaka and
several queens are buried in pyramids at El-Kurru.
·
Pyramids of Gebel Barkal
·
Royal cemetery
at Nuri.
Kings Taharqa, Atlanersa and other royals from the kingdom of Napata are
buried at Nuri.
·
Pyramids of Meroe (Begarawiyah). Dating to
the Meroitic period. Pyramids date from ca. 720–300 BC at the South Cemetery
and ca. 300 BC to about 350 AD at the North Cemetery.
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