Ancient Architecture, Nubian Pyramids - (Lost Pyramids of el Kurru, Nuri, Jebel, Barkal, and Meroe in Sudan)
Nubia is a Nilotic region south of Egypt that follows the Nile Valley. The coverage of the region varies but it’s believed to have covered areas from Northern Sudan, parts of Ethiopia, to lower Nubia in South Sudan, and surrounding areas. The kingdoms of Kush are believed to be one of the great Kingdoms in the Nubia region. They ruled from around 2500 BC — 1500 BC, this was followed by an estimated 500 year period of Egyptian colonization before the Nubians reclaimed control of the kingdom in around 1070 BC. The Nubians were a great people, whose power, is evidenced through several documents referenced throughout history even mentioned in the Christian Bible (Isiah 18).
The kingdoms of Kush are believed to have first had the capital in Kerma (2500–1500 BC), then Napata (1000 BC- 300BC), and in Meroe (300 BC- 300AD). Meroe is an area to the North of modern day Khartoum, Sudan. The kingdoms of Kush were a civilization that thrived in their era, and established a well recognized economic, social and cultural civilization. It’s also a kingdom where women held powerful independent positions. A culture prevalent in other ancient African civilizations, such as that of warrior queens and the divine adoratrice, among others. The adoratrice, was a quasi-royal high priestess position that was held by women in families of high ranking political offices of the regimes. The kingdoms thrived for more than 2000 years until internal wrangling and external pressures such as that from the Noba kingdom led to their collapse. The Noba kingdom, was an ancient civilization, believed to have occupied the Horn and East of Africa from around 500BC. The kingdom of Kush however eventually fell to an invasion by the Aksum Kingdom. The Aksum kingdom is believed to have been located around the region of Ethiopia, encompassing an additional area to the east and south of the country. It was one of the four greatest empires in the world around 300 BC, alongside Rome, Persia and China.
In the Kingdom of Kush however, the area of Meroe, remnants of the ancient people exist today. The lost pyramids of el Kurru, Nuri, Jebel, Barkal, and Meroe. They pyramids, are believed to originate from the practice of speoi by the Nubians, prevalent during 3700 to 3250 BC. The practice involved cutting tombs into existing rocks and greatly influenced the practice of building pyramids. This influenced Egyptian architecture and pyramid building architecture in the larger North Eastern Africa region. The lost Nubian pyramids are among these. They are believed to have been monumental tombs for the elite in society, rulers and key figures in society such as renowned warrior queens, kings, priests and priestesses. In Napatan, the site was the burial place of 21 kings, 52 queens and other key figures. The most extensive site today however, is in Meroe.
The construction techniques of the temples was diverse with some structures being entirely cut from living rock, in others mud brick temples were constructed (deffufa) and in others, masonry temples. The Nubian pyramids were structures built from stepped courses of horizontally positioned stone blocks, ranging approximately 6–30m, rising from small foundations. This resulted in tall narrow structures with an almost 70° angle. Different in size and angles from the wider and less steep Egyptian structures. The pyramids have long been explored now by raiders and archeologists but were believed to have contained jewelry and royal artifacts of the ancient Kush kingdoms. Among them was the Italian, Giuseppe Ferlini. In the 1830’s, he is believed to be responsible for the raiding and destruction of more than 40 pyramids. Some of his findings were bought by the king Ludwig of Bavaria in Germany and are on display in the State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich and others were bought by the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. Looking forward to learning more of the architectural history from Africa