SUDAN - LAND OF PYRAMIDS

Many of the earliest objects were inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs and thus provided clues to the identity of the owners, enabling Reisner and his assistant, Dows Dunham, to establish an outline of the royal chronology. Such clues, however, were not always available, and Reisner was faced with the double problem of identifying the "owners" of the remaining unassigned pyramids, and finding out where they probably fell in the regnal sequence. This task was further complicated by the introduction, in the third century BC, of a native writing system which, Jo this day, has not been deciphered (See Aramco World, July-August 1983).

Reisner's solution was remarkable in its simplicity; he simply assumed that the most attractive and visible position in any given cemetery had been occupied first, and that the succeeding burials had been arranged farther and farther away. By combining this locational approach with a stylistic and architectural analysis of the pyramids, Reisner was able to establish a chronology which, with modifications, is still used by historians today.

The modern visitor is less apt to travel to far-away Karima, but a day trip from Khartoum to Meroe is quite easy. Reisner himself worked on the three pyramid fields of Meroe (300 BC to AD 350), and other scholars excavated the ruins of Meroe city, which the well-known British writer Basil Davidson described as one of the largest archeological sites in the world. Since the Meroe pyramids are now a prime tourist attraction, the Sudanese authorities have launched a conservation and reconstruction program to make good the deeds of Ferlini and his ilk and to develop the site for tourists - including the restoration of some of the pyramids to their original state. However, tourists are not yet flocking to Meroe in great numbers. This makes the place uniquely attractive compared with other, usually overcrowded ancient sites, and gives the visitor a chance to admire some of the most magnificent monuments of the African continent in peaceful solitude. Spending a night in the desert under the beautiful southern sky, near pyramids built centuries ago for the powerful kings of Kush, is an experience without compare.

Krzysztof Grzymski, an archeologist, is associate curator of the Egyptian Department of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

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