Zuma, Sudan
Zuma (el-Zuma) is an archaeological site including a village and burial ground about 25 miles (40 km) downstream from Jebel Barkal in what is now Sudan. It lies about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of El-Kurru, in the Napatan Region, on the right side of the Nile. The cemetery was visited several times by researchers in the last two hundred years, but there were only brief descriptions written, and no excavations. The tumuli field at el-Zuma has been known, erroneously, as the “El-Zuma Pyramids” since the first half of the 20th century.[1] A plan was drawn up during the expedition of Karl Richard Lepsius. UNESCO inscribed Zuma's 20 hectares as a world cultural heritage site in 2003.[2]
Modern, systematic excavations began in December 2004 by a Polish-Sudanese team led by Mahmoud el-Tayeb from the
The differences between the three types of graves point to the different social standing of the people buried in them rather than to a different chronology. The eight largest tumuli probably belonged to the representatives of the elite. The most spectacular are Tumuli 6 and 7 where the tunnels are divided by a row of pillars. These two graves are located in the highest part of the site.[3]
References
- El-Tayeb, Mahmoud: "Early Makuria Research Project. Excavations at el-Zuma, 2017. Preliminary report". In: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 26 (2017), 339–354
- El-Tayeb, Mahmoud: "Early Maukrua Research Project, Excavations at El-Zuma, Preliminart Report". In: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, XVI (2004), pp. 389–399
- Obluski, Artur: "Remarks on a Survey of the Tumuli Field at El-Zuma", appendix to El-Tayeb, Mahmoud: "Early Maukrua Research Project, Excavations at El-Zuma, Preliminart Report". In: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, XVI (2004), pp. 400–403
- Osypinska, Marta: "Animal Bones from the Excavations at Ez-Zuma". In: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean XVI (2004), pp. 404–408
Footnotes
- S2CID 240373368.
- ^ "Gebel Barkal and the Sites of the Napatan Region". UNESCO. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ^ a b "El-Zuma". pcma.uw.edu.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-02-19.
- ^ a b Obluski, Artur: "Remarks on a Survey of the Tumuli Field at El-Zuma", appendix to El-Tayeb, Mahmoud: "Early Maukrua Research Project, Excavations at El-Zuma, Preliminart Report". In: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, XVI (2004), pp. 400–403
- ISSN 1234-5415.