Lost Temple In Sudan, found!

Lost Temple In Sudan

Written by Dr. Richard Lobban on 31 December 2011

Rhode Islander Joins International Team Discovery

After four years of searching for a lost temple of the Meroitic Empire (300 BC to 340 AD) in the eastern Butana desert of Sudan, an international mission of three archaeologists from Russia (Dr. Eleonora Kormysheva, Oriental Institute, Moscow), from Italy (Dr. Eugenio Fantusati, University of Rome, Rome), his wife-architect Rita Virriale and his students, and from the United States (Dr. Richard Lobban, Rhode Island College; Sudan Studies Association) have at last found the elements of this temple proving that our assumptions have been right.

The Meroitic Empire is one of the civilizations of ancient Africa. It was reported by the Greek historian Herodotus as a rival to Greek (Ptolemaic) Egypt. The remote archaeological site of Abu Erteila lies northeast of Shendi Town in eastern Butana desert of Sudan. The site is about 4 hours by car, northeast of Khartoum. The mudbrick dig house has water and electricity, but the most common visitors are shepherds and their flocks and guards for the Chinese oil pipeline that passes nearby. From the site one may also see some of the many pyramids in Sudan. Although later and smaller that the famed Egyptian pyramids there are even more pyramids in Sudan that in Egypt. The Meroitic style of the pyramids is virtually identical in slope angle to that depicted on the US one dollar bill.

The empire of Meroe ruled from this region from about 300 BC to 340 AD, a period when Egypt was conquered by the Ptolemaic Greeks and Pagan Romans but Sudan stayed free of foreign conquests. In about 340 AD Meroe was conquered by the Christian King Ezana from Axum (Ethiopia). Before Meroe, and before Napatan times, at least three Nubian/Sudanese kings are noted, by name, in the Bible. In those times, Nubian kings of Dynasty Twenty-Five ruled all of Egypt and were allied with ancient Israel against the Assyrians. Among the notable accomplishments of Meroe was a major center of iron technology for weapons and implements. Huge piles of iron slag may still be seen. As well, the people of Meroe developed a unique alphabetic writing system that has defied translation until the present. Exports from Meroe to the classical world of the Greeks and Romans included war elephants for military purposes. Also reported in the Bible is one of the earliest Sudanese converts to Christianity, a eunuch slave who served the Candace (Kandake, Kdi-Qo), or ruling warrior queen of Meroe, who perhaps led her archers and troops against the Roman who had seized Egypt from the Greeks after the death of the famed Cleopatra VII. This is a land of great history indeed.

History of the Campaign

Operating under an official excavation license from the National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) this team was told in 2008 that there might be a promising kom (hill of archaeological interest) at the site of Abu Erteila but other priorities and limited funds had prevented any substantial fieldwork campaigns until now. Aside from some surface scatter of Meroitic style and early Christian-style pottery there was little to go on with our cursory site view.

Our first excavation license was granted in January 2009 and work began to clear the site of surface debris and rubble and to initiate a survey by two Russian experts (Pavel Morozov and Sergei Merkolov) using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) at depths of 37cm 47cm and 200 cm to determine the general location of sub-surface features. This state-of-the-art approach to archaeology meant that time-consuming trenching and test pits could be reduced or eliminated and we could excavate for more significant features. That year, time was taken to clear the surface rubble so we only dug three test pits to confirm the features and immediately found mud brick walls in situ (in their original locations) as well as Meroitic pottery. In archaeology, time is money. Just checking a single date from some charcoal from the Meroitic periods costs hundreds of dollars, but this evidence allowed Beta Analytical Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory to confirm that the Meroitic strata of the site dated from 40 BC to 60 AD, perhaps during the reign of King Natakamani. With GPR evidence that the site may even have older occupation to Napatan times (7th to 4th centuries BC), we have only scratched the surface.

In 2010 we were joined with ceramist/pottery specialist. We laid out 8 squares (5m. x 5m.) and we uncovered more walls for eight rooms as well as two post-Meroitic adult skeletons, dating to early Christian times (8th-9th centuries AD), according to additional C-14 dates. These bodies were intrusive and the graves cut into Meroitic walls that had been forgotten. We also found six cooking pots, complete with charcoal, in situ and determined that the northeast side of Kom I was used for food preparation. The total area excavated was 10m x 20m to a maximum depth on the Kom I of about 50 cm.

In our fourth and most dramatic season in November and December 2011 we continued our excavation on Kom I with a new set of 8 contiguous (5m x 5m) squares or an area of 10m x 20m. This revealed more mud brick walls in situ and large numbers of fired red bricks scattered in great disarray until foundation levels. In the rooms where we found the cooking pots we found rooms with many grinders associated with food preparation and another room which had large number of butchered animal bones. In the course of the excavation we also found two more adult skeletons and one of a child also of the early Christian period. In all rooms we found diverse pottery shards ranging from painted fine ware to large (60 cm tall) utilitarian jars or amphora but as we moved from the lower rooms the amount of broken pottery decreased as the functions of the upper rooms moved away from food production.

Confirmation of a Temple Site

In this same season we opened a new 5m x 5m square on Kom II. And here we had our most dramatic results to date. In Kom II we unearthed two lovely, almost-complete narrow-necked pottery amphorae for liquid storage. A dramatic cobra lined lintel for the top of a window or doors, virtually parallel to those known from other Meroitic temples such as at the kiosk of Naqa. We also found two hieroglyphic-inscribed sandstone column drums. Among the legible inscriptions is the famed reference to ‘neb-tawi’ or ‘Lord of Two Lands, reserved exclusively for royalty and nobility. Also visible is the Nile fertility god Hapy and the protective combination of nekhbet and wedjat (vulture and cobra) that is unique to Nile valley royalty. A fragment of plaster was intact with some original yellow and red paint for a royal icon headdress. While these objects appear to have been moved from its original nearby location, they confirm, at last, that we are at the site of an ancient Meroitic temple that was otherwise not known or recorded. The building structures that we now know from Kom I are also oriented (at this latitude) to 110 degrees (ESE) that is consistent with the nearby solar temples at Meroe, Awlib, Awatib, Naqa and Musawwarat es-Sufra. At this latitude, this orientation has the sun directly pouring into the temple twice a year. The Sun god Amun or Mashil was the most celebrated in their henotheistic pantheon.

The Meroitic Empire is one of the civilizations of ancient Africa. It was reported by the Greek historian Herodotus as a rival to Greek (Ptolemaic) Egypt. The remote archaeological site of Abu Erteila lies northeast of Shendi Town in eastern Butana desert of Sudan. The site is about 4 hours by car, northeast of Khartoum. The mudbrick dig house has water and electricity, but the most common visitors are shepherds and their flocks and guards for the Chinese oil pipeline that passes nearby. From the site one may also see some of the many pyramids in Sudan. Although later and smaller that the famed Egyptian pyramids there are even more pyramids in Sudan that in Egypt. The Meroitic style of the pyramids is virtually identical in slope angle to that depicted on the US one dollar bill.

The empire of Meroe ruled from this region from about 300 BC to 340 AD, a period when Egypt was conquered by the Ptolemaic Greeks and Pagan Romans but Sudan stayed free of foreign conquests. In about 340 AD Meroe was conquered by the Christian King Ezana from Axum (Ethiopia). Before Meroe, and before Napatan times, at least three Nubian/Sudanese kings are noted, by name, in the Bible. In those times, Nubian kings of Dynasty Twenty-Five ruled all of Egypt and were allied with ancient Israel against the Assyrians. Among the notable accomplishments of Meroe was a major center of iron technology for weapons and implements. Huge piles of iron slag may still be seen. As well, the people of Meroe developed a unique alphabetic writing system that has defied translation until the present. Exports from Meroe to the classical world of the Greeks and Romans included war elephants for military purposes. Also reported in the Bible is one of the earliest Sudanese converts to Christianity, a eunuch slave who served the Candace (Kandake, Kdi-Qo), or ruling warrior queen of Meroe, who perhaps led her archers and troops against the Roman who had seized Egypt from the Greeks after the death of the famed Cleopatra VII. This is a land of great history indeed.

In future seasons we hope to excavate further and deeper and find still more of the missing pieces of this ancient puzzle of the once lost, solar temple of Abu Erteila. We are already planning for our 2012 excavation season and with our findings this year we have many more leads about where to dig next.

As the 2011 season closed we found a plastered-wall in its original location and we hope that this may point the way to the rest of the ancient temple. If you would like more information or to find how you can be involved we would like to hear from you. Aside from sharing the many expenses between the three partners, I would also like to acknowledge the support from: Jonathan and Carol Buchter, David and Barbara Goodman, Tim Kerr, Diana Tittle, and Cynthia Wells. Their contributions supported the costs C-14 dating, NCAM licensing fees, and the costs of the Site Inspector. Rhode Island College Anthropology graduate Ms. Andrea Dill also joined the excavation for some of the excavation season.

Dr. Lobban was former Chair of Anthropology at Rhode Island College and was former President of the Narragansett Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA). Still working with AIA, Dr. Lobban is on the Editorial Board of DIG magazine (archaeology for children) and he leads tours of Egypt as a host for the AIA. He is the author of many books including The ABC’s of Ancient and Medieval Nubia – Scarecrow Press. He is now Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and serves as the Executive Director of the Sudan Studies Association. For those interested in contributing to this historic project reclaiming African history, tax deductible contributions can be made to the 501©3 organization (www.sudanstudies.org, ear-marked for the “Abu Erteila Project”.

Contact: [email protected] for more information and ask how you can help or be involved with this project.

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