SUDAN - LAND OF PYRAMIDS

During this first year in the field, the work concentrated on excavation of the Egyptian temple at Jabal Barkal and the pyramids located nearby. In the following campaigns, Reisner conducted a systematic investigation of the Napatan pyramids. The oldest, as we now know, were the pyramids of al-Kurru, followed by the cemetery of Nuri, while the two groups at Jabal Barkal were of much later date, contemporary with those of Meroe.

A common feature of all the pyramid fields was their location on high ground, as if to make up for their deficiency in size when compared to the Egyptian counterparts. They were built of sandstone blocks and gave no appearance of having interior burial chambers. These, as it turned out, were cut into the bedrock beneath the pyramid and were reached by a long stairway that began some distance in front of the pyramid and outside the wall that surrounded it. Above the stairway, abutting the pyramid itself, was erected an offering chapel, profusely decorated with reliefs depicting various religious scenes. The reliefs in the chapels and the painted decoration of the burial chambers were largely Egyptian in style, although some elements were more African in character.

While many of the pyramids were robbed in ancient and, as in Ferlini's case, in more recent times, there was still plenty to be discovered, as Reisner quickly learned. Thousands of small funerary statuettes called shawabtis, small gold objects, wooden coffins, inscribed stelae, hundreds of pots and many other objects came to light during Reisner's excavations and are now proudly displayed in the museums in Boston and Khartoum. They all bear witness to the high degree of artistic and economic development of this lost kingdom on the Nile.