35 Pyramids Found on Banks of Nile River in Sudan
Researchers are excited after uncovering a plethora of new pyramids and other artifacts in the desert of Sudan.
Reports indicate that more than 30 pyramids were discovered in close proximity to one another during excavation of a site, along with graves, have been discovered grouped closely together in Sedeinga a site that is north of Soleb, just off the western shores of the Nile River.
Archeologist uncovered the ancient ruins starting in 2009 and continued to unearth artifacts through 2012. One aspect that makes this site so unique is the fact that many of the pyramids are densely packed together, given that these pyramids are considerably smaller than ones widely known around the world. One of the larger pyramids measured just 22 feet in diameter.
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Researchers had previously discovered that a group of 13 pyramids were organized in a tight formation occupying a space about the size of a hockey rink.
"The density of the pyramids is huge," Vincent Francigny, a research associate with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, told LiveScience.
"Because it lasted for hundreds of years they built more, more, more pyramids and after centuries they started to fill all the spaces that were still available in the necropolis."
Francigny revealed that the structures were created more than 2,000 years ago during the rule of the Kush kingdom that was thought to have been largely influenced by the Egyptians and their architecture.
The pyramids were used for rituals as well as for grave sites, but were restricted for unknown reasons to the surrounding area.
"They reached a point where it was so filled with people and graves that they had to reuse the oldest one," Francigny added.
Francigny, along with excavation leader Claude Rilly, published their work in the most recent edition of the journal Sudan and Nubia for work that was completed in 2011.
