Although the Sudan is not as well known as its more famous neighbour Egypt, it is of considerable significance archaeologically with sites spanning the Neolithic, Dynastic, Napatan, Christian and Islamic eras. One of my early encounters with Sudanese archaeology was a trip to the Shendi area, to Begrawiya with its pyramids and Royal City of Meroe, to Musawwarat el Sufra and Nagaa. These are all now fairly accessible by 4-wheel drive vehicles. View of Begrawiya Western Cemetery
IMAGES OF BEGRAWIYA, MUSAWARRAT AND NAGA

Vivid bloodred sun peeks over the horizon
Turns the desert pink,gold, pale lemon, grey.
Flat topped massifs, pink and violet
Ranges, heaps of heat-eroded stone
Hills float on a sea of mirage.
Umbrella trees in rows and rows
Lemon-frosted grasses at their feet.
And trails of hundel, bitterest of fruits
No use except to fix the drifting sand.
Infertile desert, this? No way.

At last, dark masses, mesas, buttes
And on the edge, like rotten teeth they stand
Sand gums encroaching.
Closer now, like dunce's caps, the reconstructed.
Indestructible, for twenty centuries
Wind-eroded, man-graffitied
(Thank God for sand; to bury and protect
Our heritage, till we appreciate,
Restore and cherish it)
Truncated pyramids, if such they be.
Look at the pylons, columns, entrances
And see the traces
Etchings of the past
Look, see!
Row upon row of figures, shapes
Discernable?Soldiers,cows being led,
Proud majesties striding out
Benecklaced and betassled
Towering over forelocked princes, obese queens,
Lions, lionesses, and an ass.
And who are these, what strange entities?
Not minotaur, but Anubis with jackal head,
Cow-headed Hathor,hawk-head Horus
Serpents climbing up the jambs, lion heads
Winged uraeus,Isis, Apedemak:
Symbols or symbolic myths?
Such things bad dreams are made of.
Fill the mind with questions.
Why here, ? From whence the stone?
For what strategic purpose?
Carrying the breath of life, the key, the ankh.
Heaps of pineapples, mundane things,
Food, libations, hand-tied prisoners.
Fancy soars, imagination too
Runs riot;
Eyes close to the falling rubble.
And man:Osman Mahdi 1936
Fantini 1874,;Greek, English, curlicues
Of Arabic vie with crosses, camels and their like,
The curse of literate man.

Now sinks the sun. Colour spent,
Bleeds into the western sky
The desert now darkening, indigo.
We bounce on rutted tracks.
Meroe unbound.

A pylon at Nagaa where Amun of Meroe with a ram's head is leading a Prince.

The Meroitic Period lasted from the 10th century BC to the 4th century AD. In the N cemetery at Begrawiya there are 3 main types of pyramids, those on the top of the ridge, those in marginal positions and those on the eastern slope. The largest is N21. The pyramid of ?Queen Amanitere. It is 12.90 metres high with moulded corners. The pyramid N 21. Many of the pyramids are in poor condition but others have been reconstructed by Professor Hinkel.

Pyramids and a pylon

Musawwarat el Sofra lies in a deserted area in the shelter of a mountain. The site consists of The Great Enclosure where there is a colonnaded lion temple on a raised platform and the Temple of Arnekhamani. There has been much speculation about the purpose of this site : including accomodation for pilgrims,and a training camp for elephants because the reconstructed temple has a number of elephant carvings.
The site was constantly being rebuilt

On this wall a king is seen receiving ankhs from Apedemak

Nagaa is south of Musawwarat. There have been a lot of new discoveries in the past few years and the Meroitic rams have been put back in place. There are several different structures to be found . Near each other are the Roman Kiosk and the Lion temple. The latter has interesting carvings on th pylon. King Natakamani is striking prisoners while between his feet a lion mauls another prisoner. Likewise the obese queen, Amanitare holds prisoners and is in the act of smiting them, The corpulent queen is a typical feature of Meroitic art. Queens were depicted as being of considerable size ,whereas the goddesses retained their slim figures. Close up of the Pylon .

On the south wall the royal trio are worshipping male deities (Knum,Achedes,Amun,Horus and Apedemak).The south wall

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