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<< Our Photo Pages >> Meroë - Ancient Village or Settlement in Sudan

Submitted by davidmorgan on Thursday, 24 January 2013  Page Views: 7437

Multi-periodSite Name: Meroë Alternative Name: Medewi
Country: Sudan Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Shendi
Latitude: 16.936904N  Longitude: 33.711566E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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External Links:

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Creative Commons : -Dunes versus pyramids- For an ancient city and civilization that flourished for nearly a thousand years, Meroe is one of archaeology’s greatest mysteries. It is unknown where the people of Meroe originated. An even greater mystery is where these Meroitic people are today and why these unconquerable ‘Masters of Africa’ left their ancient city, and seemingly vanished. From the sixth... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Town in Sudan. Ancient capital of the Napata/Meroë Kingdom dating from 900 BCE. This culture probably developed from the Egyptian XXVth dynasty (the Kushite Empire).

Note: Very fragile ancient carving shows a stylishly plump African Princess
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Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Meroe pyramids Creative Commons Image by By Old Man of Mow (John Patrick) on Flickr (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Part of decoration of the wall in a pyramid chapel of Meroe, now British Museum, perhaps belonging to Shanakdakhetothe Creative Commons Image by Udimu (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Blick auf die Pyramiden des Südfriedhofs, im Hintergrund der Nordfriedhof Creative Commons Image by TrackHD (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Meroe: Pyramiden des Westfriedhofs - Noblengräber Creative Commons Image by TrackHD (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Doorway to the complex Creative Commons image from Flickr by Gordontour Site in Sudan

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Aerial view of the Nubian pyramids at Meroe in 2001 Creative Commons Image by B N Chagny, Francis Geius - Mission SFDAS 2001

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Creative Commones image from Flickr by Michael Dziedzic Site in Sudan

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Pyramids of Meroe in Sudan. From left to right: pyramide N6 (only chapel visible), N7, N8, N9, N11, N12 and N13. Creative Commons Image by Fabrizio Demartis

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by durhamnature : Old photo, from "Monuments of Sudan..." via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Inside the entrance to one of the Pyramids near Bagrawiyah, northern Sudan. This was the area of Meroë, the ancient capital of Kush. Creative Commons image from Flickr by Gordontour Site in Sudan

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature : Old photo of steps at the Sun temple, from "Annals of Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature : Old photo of the temple, from "Annals of Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by durhamnature : Old photo, from "Monuments of Sudan..." via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by durhamnature

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Emerging from the sands Creative Commons image from Flickr by Gordontour Site in Sudan

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature : Carved stone tablet from the Lion temple, from "Annals of Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature : Plan of part of the Sun temple, from "Annals of Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature : Old photo of a tomb at Meroe, from "Annals of Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë
Meroë submitted by durhamnature : Old plan of the temple, from "Annals of Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Sudan

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : English: Sudanese tourists at the pyramids of Meroe, Sudan. Creative Commons Image by Petr Adam Dohnálek

Meroë Pyramids
Meroë Pyramids submitted by Andy B : Plan of the pyramid field (North) of Meroe Source: D. Dunham, The royal cemeteries of Kush IV redrawn by Udimu

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 4.0km E 88° Meroë Pyramids* Pyramid / Mastaba
 9.5km SSE 154° Abu Erteila Ancient Temple
 40.2km SW 227° El Kadada Neolithic Tomb Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 136.1km NNE 12° Statue of Taharqa Carving
 195.9km SW 221° Sudan National Museum Museum
 262.5km NW 314° Nuri Pyramids* Pyramid / Mastaba
 262.7km NW 308° Zuma Tumuli Round Barrow(s)
 262.9km NW 308° El-Kurru Tumuli Round Barrow(s)
 263.2km NW 308° El-Kurru Pyramids* Pyramid / Mastaba
 264.1km NW 311° Sanam Temple Ancient Temple
 267.0km NW 312° Gebel Barkal Temple of Amon* Ancient Temple
 267.3km NW 312° Gebel Barkal Mountain and Rock Formation* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 267.7km NW 312° Gebel Barkal Temple of Mut Ancient Temple
 267.7km NW 312° Gebel Barkal Temple B700 Ancient Temple
 267.8km NW 312° Karima Pyramids* Pyramid / Mastaba
 270.3km WNW 291° Wadi Abu Dom Rock Art Rock Art
 485.9km NW 317° Sesebi* Ancient Village or Settlement
 527.0km NW 318° Soleb* Ancient Temple
 539.7km NW 319° Sedeinga* Pyramid / Mastaba
 608.4km NNW 336° Buhen Stone Fort or Dun
 620.6km ESE 120° Aksum* Ancient Village or Settlement
 638.9km NNW 340° Abu Simbel Temple of Ramses II* Ancient Temple
 639.0km NNW 340° Abu Simbel Temple of Nefertari* Ancient Temple
 640.1km ESE 117° Yeha* Ancient Village or Settlement
 649.0km SE 143° Gorgora Rock Shelter* Cave or Rock Shelter
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"Meroë" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Ancient Carving Shows Stylishly Plump African Princess by davidmorgan on Monday, 14 January 2013
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A 2,000-year-old relief carved with an image of what appears to be a, stylishly overweight, princess has been discovered in an "extremely fragile" palace in the ancient city of Meroë, in Sudan, archaeologists say.

At the time the relief was made, Meroë was the center of a kingdom named Kush, its borders stretching as far north as the southern edge of Egypt. It wasn't unusual for queens (sometimes referred to as "Candaces") to rule, facing down the armies of an expanding Rome.

The sandstone relief shows a woman smiling, her hair carefully dressed and an earring on her left ear. She appears to have a second chin and a bit of fat on her neck, something considered stylish, at the time, among royal women from Kush.

Team leader Krzysztof Grzymski presented the relief, among other finds from the palace at Meroë, at an Egyptology symposium held recently at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Researchers don't know the identity of the woman being depicted, but based on the artistic style the relief appears to date back around 2,000 years and show someone royal. "It's similar to other images of princesses," Grzymski told LiveScience in an interview. He said that the headdress hasn't survived and it cannot be ruled out that it actually depicts a queen. [Image Gallery: Amazing Egyptian Discoveries]

Why royal women in Kush preferred to be depicted overweight is a long-standing mystery. "There is a distinct possibility that the large size of the Candaces represented fertility and maternity," wrote the late Miriam Ma'at-Ka-Re Monges, who was a professor at California State University, Chico, and an expert on Kush, in an article published in The Encyclopedia of Black Studies (Sage Publications, 2005).

The discovery occurred in 2007 as Grzymski's team was exploring a royal palace in the city, trying to determine its date. The sandstone blocks that made up its foundation were "extremely fragile," according to Grzymski, and the team found that the palace dated to late in the life of Kush's existence. The blocks were re-used in antiquity by the palace's builders and were originally from buildings that stood in earlier times.

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http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-carving-shows-stylishly-plump-african-princess-142123559.html#

Submitted by coldrum.
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Remains of Ancient Palace Discovered at Meroë by davidmorgan on Sunday, 25 September 2011
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Hidden beneath an ancient palace in what is now central Sudan, archaeologists have discovered the oldest building in the city of Meroë, a structure that also may have housed royalty.

The capital of a vast empire that flourished around 2,000 years ago, Meroë was centered on the Nile River. At its height, the city was controlled by a dynasty of kings who ruled about 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) of territory that stretched from southern Egypt to areas south of modern-day Khartoum.

People of Meroë built palaces and small pyramids, and developed a writing system that scholars still can't fully translate today. Although Meroë has been excavated off and on for more than 150 years, archaeologists are not yet clear on how it came to be. The city seems to have emerged out of nowhere.

"In the region of central Sudan, we have an interesting research problem," said team leader Krzysztof Grzymski, a curator at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.

"We are acquainted with the prehistory cultures, from Stone Age all the way through Neolithic, let's say until about 3000 (or) 2500 B.C." But after that "we have nothing, then out of the blue in 800 B.C., we have Meroë culture," Grzymski told LiveScience.

In addition to filling this gap, the presence of such an ancient building at Meroë suggests that an earlytemple dedicated to Amun, a highly regarded Egyptian god, may have existed as well. Archaeologists have speculated on its existence but have never actually found it.

The first palace? By unearthing the oldest known building at Meroë and searching for even older examples, Grzymski is hoping to fill this gap.

"I'm looking for the origins of this Kushite, Nubian civilization," he said.

So far, the team has excavated a small section of the building, with radiocarbon dating indicating that it dates to about 900 B.C. The finds so far include a sizable mudbrick wall, pottery, and most notably, a cache of animal bones, most of which belonged to cattle.

"The most common animal kept in the Middle East now is goat and sheep," Grzymskisaid. "This makes me think if you try to envision this ancient civilization that to some extent they were seminomadic pastoralists." In other words, they relied heavily on beef and animal products in addition to agriculture.

It's difficult to say for certain what the building was used for, but Grzymskisuggests it was an early palace or administrative center.

"The very earliest Meroë, I suppose, would have been the capital of some sort of local chiefdom or kingdom," said Grzymski.

Search for an early temple: In the years leading up to World War I, John Garstang, a British archaeologist, discovered Meroë, uncovering an area filled with palaces and temples that he called the "royal city."

Many of his finds were never published, and over the past two decades, archaeologists have been going over Garstang's notes, publishing them and looking for clues as to Meroë’s origins.

"Architectural elements from what may have been an early Amun temple dating back to at least the seventh century were found during Garstang's excavations in areas later occupied by the Meroitic Royal City," writes David Edwards, of the University of Leicester, in his book "The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of Sudan" (Routledge, 2004).

Amun was an Egyptian god that the people of Meroë held in high regard.

If the temple exists, Grzymski said it would be the oldest temple in the city, a find that would offer clues to the religion of the civilization's first people. His team tried to find the structure using magnetometry, a technique that can detect archaeological remains by searching for anomalies in the magnetic field. The attempt was unsuccessful so in January 2012, they plan to launch a major dig to search for it. "The only way to search for this early Amun temple will be by excavating," said Grzy

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