It’s been a very busy week on the dig, and I haven’t had so much time to write. But I can give an update on the pyramid now.

We had completed excavating the stairs a bit over a week ago, and opened up the door block that we had put in over the hole that looters cut into the stone.
I should say something about looting here since I’ve had questions about it…all the royal tombs of Nubia that have been excavated so far have been looted, often soon after the burial. Looters were after gold objects mostly, and they often leave behind many things that are of interest to archaeologists. So excavating a burial that we expect has been disturbed is still worthwhile.
The looter’s tunnel seemed to lead into an outer chamber that George Reisner had excavated, and from there, we could move into the inner chamber that may have been the actual burial chamber if there are not doorways leading further under the pyramid (Reisner seems to have thought that there are 3 chambers in all).
We had at least 3 problems…the first is the seemingly simple act of removing all the sand that had accumulated in the outer chamber since Reisner’s time. Fortunately, we have on our team an architect who has worked on tombs in Egypt, Ignacio Forcadell (everyone calls him Nacho—he’s in the red helmet in this photo), and he immediately began designing a platform to support a system of ropes, pulleys, and buckets that has more than tripled the speed at which we can move sand out of the chamber.
Our second problem was the fact that the ceiling of the inner chamber has collapsed, and that there is danger of further rockfall—this is why Reisner didn’t excavate the second chamber. Nacho is working on a plan to protect against further collapse.
Our third problem is the overpowering smell of bat guano. Really unbelievable—when we first got into the chamber, even holding our breath was not enough, and our eyes watered.

 

More on these problems soon!

10 thoughts on “Pyramid update”

  2. Wonderful project. My brother is a social anthropologist and I am an artist/foot washer/apothecary/gem enthusiast looking to find stones etc in this valley for carving. What is the best (safest) route to this city? I am a single woman traveling on her own and am currently researching Isis and Osiris. I would be happy to volunteer my time to your dig even if, but to gift the crew reflexology. Thank you for your time. Bless you, your team, and this project. PEACE

  3. Thanks…we're not so rich in stone here (lots of Nubian sandstone). We're about 400 km north of Khartoum, near the town of Karima.

  5. Awesome. Thanks. There's calcite n feldspar in the region. Sand stone from that area is also way cool. I hope the good lord leads me there soon! Just to be near the temple is a trip. 🙂

  6. I have a question, is there any plans to do restoration work to the nuri pyramid complex as well? I would love to see some of the pyramids restored for tourism, and see the tomb of taharqa, although his pyramids is utterly destroyed, but according to Reisner testimony his tomb remain intact and was very elaborate. I was wondering if any excavation being done there as well, if not now at least sometimes in the near future?

  7. Hi Brian,

    We are not doing work on the Nuri pyramids, but NCAM (the Sudanese Department of Antiquities) will be doing some new excavation there and possibly also restoration. Nuri has many more pyramids than El Kurru, so it would be a much bigger project. Taharqo's pyramid is actually quite intact, both the original inner pyramid and its later rebuilding.

  10. The pyramid of Taharqo is an interesting and unusual monument. It was built once, then rebuilt much larger so that it is by far the biggest pyramid in Sudan. You can't go into the burial chamber now–Reisner excavated it and it is now filled back in. The burial chamber is about 12 x 13 m in size. I haven't had a chance to visit the Osireion, but from the published plan it is roughly comparable in length (about 10 meters).

Comments are closed.