Nubian architecture is diverse and ancient. Permanent villages have been found in Nubia , which date from 6000 BC. These villages were roughly contemporary with the walled town of Jericho in Palestine .
61-680: The earliest Nubian architecture used perishable materials, wattle and daub , mudbricks , animal hide, and other light and supple materials. Early Nubian architecture consisted of speos, structures derived from the carving of rock, an innovation of the A-Group culture (c. 3800-3100 BCE), as seen in the Sofala Cave rock-cut temple or the rock cut barial chambers of the Kushite monarchs in El Kurru. Other examples of rock cut architecture built by
122-424: A chapel facing East, stairway facing East, and a chamber access via the stairway. El-Kurru was the first major site. It is located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south from Jebel Barkal. It was made of sandstone. It range from 10 to 30 metres (33 to 98 ft) in height. About ten pharaohs and fourteen queens were buried at El-Kurru. Nuri was another important pyramid site, 6 miles northeast of Jebel Barkal. It housed
183-515: A common building material for wall and ceiling surfaces, in which a series of nailed wooden strips are covered with plaster smoothed into a flat surface. In many regions this building method has itself been overtaken by drywall construction using plasterboard sheets. The wattle is made by weaving thin branches (either whole, or more usually split) or slats between upright stakes. The wattle may be made as loose panels, slotted between timber framing to make infill panels, or made in place to form
244-437: A complex structure. A pathway running along the diameter is laid with mud walls, supporting the above mound. The mud walls seemed to have been once decorated. The pathway goes to a chamber with a Nubian vault and a wooden door where the king is buried. The king's bed is elaborate with stone-carved legs. The vaulted chamber lies in the center of the structure. It is estimated 300 humans and 1000 cattle were probably sacrificed with
305-400: A hypostyle courtyard, and a chapel. The materials used during this period included a mixture of limestone, sandstone, and green tiles. The largest expansion occurred under Kushite ruler Piye (753-723 BCE), who gave the temple its final length of roughly 150 meters. Piye added a large farm containing more columns, and two additional pylons. Each pylon stood around 3.5 to 4 meters tall, while
366-406: A period of over 1,500 years. The temples were described for the first time by a series of European explorers beginning in the 1820s. Their drawings and descriptions, particularly those of Frédéric Cailliaud (1821), Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds (1821), and Karl Richard Lepsius (1844), record significant architectural details that have since disappeared. In 1862 five inscriptions from
427-434: A system of augered holes on one side and short chiseled grooves along the other. The holes (along with holes of square paneling) are drilled at a slight angle towards the outer face of each stud. This allows room for upright hazels to be tied to ledgers from the inside of the building. The horizontal ledgers are placed every two to three feet (0.6 to 0.9 metres) with whole hazel rods positioned upright top to bottom and lashed to
488-479: A type of crude house whose wall is built with wattle and daub in southwestern US. Closely spaced upright sticks or poles driven into the ground with small branches (wattle) interwoven between them make the structural frame of the wall. Mud or an adobe clay (daub) is covered outside. To provide additional weather protection, the wall is usually plastered. Jebel Barkal Jebel Barkal or Gebel Barkal ( Arabic : جبل بركل , romanized : Jabal Barkal )
549-706: Is 50 by 25 metres (164 by 82 ft). It is 18 metres (59 ft) tall and comprises three stories. It was surrounded by a boundary wall. Inside were chambers connected by passageways. The Eastern Deffufa lies 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the Western Deffufa. The Eastern Deffufa is shorter than the Western Deffufa, just two stories high. It is considered a funerary chapel, being surrounded by 30,000 tumuli or graves. It has two columned halls. The walls are decorated with portraiture of animal in color schemes of red, blue, yellow, and black and stone-laid floors. Exterior walls were layered with stone. The third deffufa
610-616: Is a mesa or large rock outcrop located 400 km north of Khartoum , next to Karima in Northern State in Sudan , on the Nile River , in the region that is sometimes called Nubia . The jebel is 104 m tall, has a flat top, and came to have religious significance for both ancient Kush and ancient Egyptian occupiers. In 2003, the mountain, together with the extensive archaeological site at its base (ancient Napata ), were named as
671-444: Is advocated by environmentalist as environmentally friendly and sustainable, since it makes use of pure earth without the need of timber. The conversion to Islam was a slow, gradual process, with almost 600 years of resistance. Most of the architecture of the period are mosques built of mudbricks. One of the first attempt at conquest was by Egyptian-Nubian, Ibn Abi Sarh. Ibn Abi Sarh was a Muslim leader who tried to conquer all Nubia in
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#1732766081327732-730: Is common in the architecture of traditional houses such as those of the Ashanti people . Its usage dates back at least 6,000 years. There are suggestions that construction techniques such as lath and plaster and even cob may have evolved from wattle and daub. Fragments from prehistoric wattle and daub buildings have been found in Africa, Europe, Mesoamerica and North America. Evidence for wattle and daub (or "wattle and reed") fire pits, storage bins, and buildings shows up in Egyptian archaeological sites such as Merimda and El Omari, dating back to
793-634: Is now largely destroyed. It received the sacred bark of Amun from the nearby B500 on certain cultic occasions, and may have served during the coronation of the kings of the early Napatan period, in the mid 7th century BC. The Temple was decorated by Senkamanisken , where he is shown clubbing enemies. The hieroglyphic inscription on the Temple described the role of the god Amun in selecting Sekamanisken as king: I said of you [while you were still] in your mother's womb that you were to be ruler of Kemet ["Black Land", probably meaning Egypt and Kush]. I knew you in
854-478: Is of similar structure as the Eastern Deffufa. The Kerma graves are distinct. They are circular pits covered with white or black pebbles in a circular mound. Four huge graves in the southern part of the site exist. They lie in rows surrounded by smaller graves. The diameter is 9 metres (30 ft), covered with circular mounds of white and black desert pebbles 3 metres (9.8 ft) high. Underneath exists
915-413: Is provided by straw, hair, hay or other fibrous materials, and helps to hold the mix together as well as to control shrinkage and provide flexibility. The daub may be mixed by hand, or by treading – either by humans or livestock . It is then applied to the wattle and allowed to dry, and often then whitewashed to increase its resistance to rain. Sometimes there can be more than one layer of daub. At
976-637: Is still an important construction method in many parts of the world. Many historic buildings include wattle and daub construction. The wattle and daub technique has been used since the Neolithic period. It was common for houses of Linear pottery and Rössen cultures of middle Europe, but is also found in Western Asia ( Çatalhöyük , Shillourokambos ) as well as in North America ( Mississippian culture ) and South America ( Brazil ). In Africa it
1037-497: Is to be) king. It is I who grants kingship to whomever I will. Jebel Barkal served as a royal cemetery during the Meroitic Kingdom . The earliest burials date back to the 3rd century BC. Napata’s urban remains have not yet been significantly excavated, but rubble heaps indicate that the area was probably home to major settlement in antiquity. There are no traces of a pre-Egyptian settlement, though this may change as more
1098-442: Is uncovered at the site. The earliest buildings found at Napata date from the middle of the eighteenth Dynasty . The first archaeologist to work at the site was George A. Reisner who worked there from 1916-1920 and excavated a number of buildings. His first excavation at Napata was a large Meroitic structure (Named “B 100”) that dated to the first century CE. At first, Reisner assumed this to be an “administrative building”, though it
1159-478: The C-Group culture (2400–1550 BCE). Settlements consisted of round structures with stone floors. Structural frame was achieved with wooden or pliant materials. Mudbricks became the preferred building 1094B.C.E materials as settlements became larger. Graves were circular cylindrical superstructures made of stoned wall. The pit was filled with gravel and stones, and covered with dried mud roof or hay roof. Later, during
1220-566: The Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (circa 1650 to 1550 BCE), an adobe chapel was placed to the north of the grave. Graves were from El Ghaba, Kadero , Sayala, and various other sites in northern Sudan. The C-Group culture was related to the Kerma Culture . Kerma was settled around 2400 BCE. It was a walled city containing a religious building, large circular dwelling, a palace, and well laid out roads. On
1281-657: The Third Intermediate Period were recovered by an Egyptian officer and transported to the Cairo Museum , but not until 1916 were scientific archeological excavations performed by a joint expedition of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston under the direction of George Reisner . From the 1970s, explorations continued by a team from the University of Rome La Sapienza , under
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#17327660813271342-686: The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt sacked the region in 593 BCE, destroying all Nubian statues in B500. Nubian pyramids were constructed on three major sites: El-Kurru , Nuri , and Meroë . More pyramids were constructed and for the longest time in Nubia than in Egypt. Nubia contains 223 pyramids. They were smaller than Egyptian pyramids. Nubian pyramids were for kings and queens. The general construction of Nubian pyramids consisted of steep walls,
1403-456: The 15th century under Pharaoh Thutmose III , it was later reconstructed and modified by Kushite rulers during the 25th dynasty. In general, the architecture of most major Nubian temples was similar to the temple at Jebel Barkal. The Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal consisted of a pylon with entrance gates, courtyards, hypostyle halls , and a sanctuary, as well as storage rooms and, most likely, living quarters and kitchens. The temple, as well as
1464-541: The 1st century BC - 1st century AD, eight royal pyramid burials were built at Jebel Barkal (rather than at Meroë), for reasons that are not clear, but perhaps reflecting the prominence of one or more families from the city. After the collapse of Kush during the 4th century AD, Jebel Barkal continued to be occupied in the medieval (Christian) period of Nubia, as attested by architectural remains, burials, and burial inscriptions. The ruins around Jebel Barkal include at least 13 temples that were built, renovated, and expanded over
1525-652: The 4th century C.E., with burial practices differing in each site. The Western Cemetery was typically used for the burial of non-ruling family members and elite individuals, while the Southern Cemetery was first selected for royal burials. After there was no available space left in the Southern Cemetery, rulers' burials continued in the Northern Cemetery . Nubian pyramidal construction varies in many ways from Egyptian construction. Besides typically recognized differences such as size and age, both of which
1586-718: The 5th millennium BCE, predating the use of mud brick and continuing to be the preferred building material until about the start of the First Dynasty. It continued to flourish well into the New Kingdom and beyond. Vitruvius refers to it as being employed in Rome . A review of English architecture especially reveals that the sophistication of this craft is dependent on the various styles of timber frame housing. The wattle and plaster process has been replaced in modern architecture by brick and mortar or by lath and plaster ,
1647-583: The 8th century AD. It was almost a complete failure. A treaty called the Baqt shaped Egyptian-Nubian relations for six centuries and permitted the construction of a mosque in the Nubian capital of Old Dongola for Muslim travelers. By the middle of the 14th century, Nubia had been converted to Islam. The royal Church of Dongola was converted into a mosque. Numerous other churches were converted to mosque. Graves were simple pits, with bodies pointing to Mecca. Some of
1708-477: The Christian period is scarce. Architecture of Soba is the only one that has been excavated . The structures are of sun dried bricks, same as present day Sudan, except for an arch. One prominent feature of Nubian churches are vaults made out of mudbricks. The mudbrick structure was revived by Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy after rediscovering the technique in the Nubian village of Abu al-Riche. The technology
1769-489: The East side of the city, a funerary temple and chapel were laid out. It supported a population of 10,000 at its height in 1700 BCE. One of its most enduring structures was the deffufa, a mud-brick temple where ceremonies were performed on top. The deffufa is a unique structure in Nubian architecture. Three known deffufas exist: the Western Deffufa at Kerma, an Eastern Deffufa, and a third, little-known deffufa. The Western Deffufa
1830-476: The Egyptians. The Christianization of Nubia began in the 6th century AD. Its most representative architecture are churches. They are based on Byzantium basilicas . The structures are relatively small and made of mudbricks. The church is rectangular in shape with North and South isles. Columns are used to divide the nave . On the East side is the apse . The altar stood in front of the apse. The area between
1891-644: The Gizeh pyramids exceed those in Meroe, the Sudanese structures have a much steeper incline, oriented to face between the North East and South, and were constructed with different organization . For example, deposits were found under the corners of many pyramids at Meroë . These deposits contained ceramics, fragments of stones, and other precious items . The Meroitic pyramids contain burial chambers which were dug into
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1952-553: The Mitchell Site, the anterior of the house had double layers of burned daub. There were two popular choices for wattle and daub infill paneling: close-studded paneling and square paneling. Close-studding panels create a much narrower space between the timbers: anywhere from 7 to 16 inches (18 to 40 cm). For this style of panel, weaving is too difficult, so the wattles run horizontally and are known as ledgers. The ledgers are sprung into each upright timber (stud) through
2013-629: The New Kingdom and after its collapse in 1169 BC, there was little construction at Jebel Barkal. Apart from the temples, no trace of this Egyptian settlement has yet been found at the site. Jebel Barkal was the capital city of the Kingdom of Kush as it returned to power in the years after 800 BCE as the Dynasty of Napata. The Kushite kings who conquered and ruled over Egypt as the 25th Dynasty , including Kashta , Piankhy (or Piye ), and Taharqa , all built, renovated, and expanded monumental structures at
2074-561: The Nubians include the temples of Beit Wali , Gerf Hussein , Temple of Derr , Temple of Mut and temple of Amada . Ancient Egyptians made widespread use of speos during the New Kingdom of Egypt . Two types of A-Group graves exist. One was oval in shape 0.8 metres (2 ft 7 in) deep. The second was oval in shape 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) deep with a deeper second chamber. The A-Group culture vanished, followed later by
2135-695: The altar and apse was called the haikal . At the West was a tower or upper room also in the South corner and North corner. Doors were in the North and South walls. A few churches such as Faras Cathedral survived. Church painting with biblical themes were extensive but few survived. The best surviving church painting were on the Rivergate Church of Faras and the Church of Ab El Qadir. Vernacular architecture of
2196-635: The architecture of the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal had a significant Kushite influence during the 25th dynasty. The city of Napata has not been fully excavated. Some of the temples were started by various pharaohs and were added on by succeeding pharaohs, beginning with Egyptian pharaohs. Reisner excavated Jebel Barkal , labeling its monuments B for Barkal. Some are as follows: B200 (temple of Taharqa ), B300 ( Taharqa 's other temple of Mut , Hathor and Bes), B500 ( temple of Amun ), B501 (outer court), B502 ( hypostyle hall), B700 (temple), B800sub (temple of Alara of Nubia ), B1200 (palace). Psamtik II of
2257-483: The basic framework for the dating of each pyramid based on his excavation in 1923. In his analysis he considered the architecture, prominence, and decoration of each structure. The ancient Nubians established a system of geometry including early versions of sun clocks. Many are located at the sites of Meroë . During the Meroitic period in Nubian history the ancient Nubians used a trigonometric methodology similar to
2318-619: The center of a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . The Jebel Barkal area houses the Jebel Barkal Museum . The earliest occupation of Jebel Barkal was that of the Kerma culture , which was also known as Kush, but this occupation is so far known only from scattered potsherds. Around 1450 BCE, the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III conquered Barkal and built a fortified settlement (Egyptian menenu ) there as
2379-448: The column height ranged anywhere from 5 to 15 meters depending on its position in the temple. Finally, Piye added a long hypostyle hall with 50 columns made of bricks and sandstone. As time went on, Piye and other Kushite rulers made small additions to the temple such as storage areas and possibly living quarters or residential areas for the priests. Other additions to the temple by Kushite rulers included renovations of chapels, altars and
2440-439: The common use of acacias as wattle in early Australian European settlements. Daub is usually created from a mixture of ingredients from three categories: binders , aggregates and reinforcement. Binders hold the mix together and can include clay, lime , chalk dust and limestone dust. Aggregates give the mix its bulk and dimensional stability through materials such as mud, sand, crushed chalk and crushed stone. Reinforcement
2501-435: The daub. To insert wattles in a square panel several steps are required. First, a series of evenly spaced holes are drilled along the middle of the inner face of each upper timber. Next, a continuous groove is cut along the middle of each inner face of the lower timber in each panel. Vertical slender timbers, known as staves, are then inserted and these hold the whole panel within the timber frame. The staves are positioned into
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2562-516: The direction of Sergio Donadoni , that was joined by another team from the Boston Museum, in the 1980s, under the direction of Timothy Kendall. The larger temples, such as the Temple of Amun , are even today considered sacred to the local population. The carved wall painted chambers of the Temple of Mut are well preserved. Temple B700, built by Atlanersa and decorated by Senkamanisken ,
2623-525: The entire complex, was oriented facing East in order to signify the importance of the rising sun. The layout of the temple generally mirrored Egyptian temple design with the exception of later Nubian modifications. The original temple was constructed using talatat blocks that were made of limestone. The main entrance, pylon, and first courtyard, which contained ten columns, was constructed by Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV . Tutankhamun added an additional courtyard, while Ramses II contributed two more pylons,
2684-433: The ground, and after the owner’s death, the superstructure was constructed . This order of operations is unlike that in Egypt, where nobility often participated in the design and construction of their own pyramid and were placed in a burial chamber after death . Similarly, the deposits were not typical of Egyptian burials. In terms of construction, the remnants of cedar wood poles found in the center of stone shafts indicate
2745-409: The ground, the gaps being stopped with pug (kneaded clay and grass mixture). Another term for this construction is palisade and pug . "Mud and stud" is a similar process to wattle and daub, with a simple frame consisting only of upright studs joined by cross rails at the tops and bottoms. Thin staves of ash were attached, then daubed with a mixture of mud, straw, hair and dung. The style of building
2806-555: The holes and then sprung into the grooves. They must be placed with sufficient gaps to weave the flexible horizontal wattles. In some places or cultures, the technique of wattle and daub was used with different materials and thus has different names. In the early days of the colonisation of South Australia , in areas where substantial timber was unavailable, pioneers' cottages and other small buildings were frequently constructed with light vertical timbers, which may have been "native pine" ( Callitris or Casuarina spp. ), driven into
2867-483: The king to accompany him in the after-life. Between 1500–1085 BCE, Egyptian conquest and domination of Nubia was achieved. This conquest brought about the Napatan Phase of Nubian history, the birth of the Kingdom of Kush . Kush was immensely influenced by Egypt and eventually conquered it. During this phase we see the building of numerous pyramids and temples. Of much spiritual significance to Nubian pharaohs
2928-415: The ledgers. These hazel rods are generally tied a finger-width apart with 6–8 rods each with a 16-inch (40 cm) width. Gaps allow key formation for drying. Square panels are large, wide panels typical of some later timber-frame houses. These panels may be square in shape, or sometimes triangular to accommodate arched or decorative bracing. This style requires the wattles to be woven for better support of
2989-461: The location of approximately 200 pyramids. These three cemeteries are known as the Northern, Southern, and Western Cemetaries, based on respective location. The Western Cemetery contains over 800 graves and 80 pyramidal structures, compared to the 38 superstructures in the Northern Cemetery and 24 located in the Southern Cemetery . The construction of these pyramids spans from the 2nd century B.C.E to
3050-479: The main sanctuary. They also wanted to emphasize the connection between Jebel Barkal and Amun , so they added various different statues, symbols, hieroglyphs, and paintings depicting a range of scenes linking the Kushite Kingdom to Amun. Notable examples include the statues of Kush ruler Taharqa being found near the temple and Kushite rulers' names being incorporated in the sanctuary’s hieroglyphs. Overall,
3111-551: The semen, while you were in the egg, that you were to be lord. I made you receive the Great Crown, which Re caused to appear on the first good occasion. [Inasmuch as] a father makes his son excellent, it is I who decreed kingship to you. [So] who shall share it with you? For I am the Lord of Heaven. As I give to Re, [so] he gives to his children, from gods to men. It is I who gives you the royal charter.... No other [can] decree (who
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#17327660813273172-410: The site of Nuri , 9 km to the northeast of Jebel Barkal. In 270 BCE, the location of Kushite royal burials was moved to Meroë, inaugurating the Meroitic period of the Kingdom of Kush . Jebel Barkal continued to be an important city of Kush during the Meroitic period. A sequence of palaces were built, most notably by King Natakamani , new temples were built and older temples were renovated. During
3233-530: The site. After the Kushites were driven out by the Assyrian conquest of Egypt in the mid-7th century BC, they continued to rule Kush with Jebel Barkal and the city of Meroë as the most important urban centers of Kush. Jebel Barkal's palaces and temples continued to be renovated from the 7th-early 3rd centuries BC. Most of the royal pyramid burials of the kings and queens of Kush during this time were built at
3294-403: The southern limit of the Egyptian empire. The city and region around it came to be called Napata , and the Egyptian occupation of Jebel Barkal extended through most of the New Kingdom of Egypt . The Egyptians built a complex of temples at the site, centered on a temple to Amun of Napata—a local, ram-headed form of the main god of the Egyptian capital city of Thebes, Egypt . In the last years of
3355-425: The tombs of twenty pharaohs and fifty four queens. The pharaoh's pyramids range from 39.5 to 65 metres (130 to 213 ft) in height. The queen's pyramids are 9 to 17 metres (30 to 56 ft). The tombs were cut out of bedrock. The pharaoh's chamber contained three interconnecting chambers. The queen's contain two interconnecting chambers. The third Nubian Pyramid site, Meroë , consists of three cemeteries which are
3416-433: The type of brick molded with the same materials and used as infilling between posts. Columbage refers to the timber-framed construction with diagonal bracing of the framework. Pierratage or bousillage is the material filled into the structural timbers. Bajarreque is a wall constructed with the technique of wattle and daub. The wattle here is made of bagasse , and the daub is the mix of clay and straw. Jacal can refer to
3477-480: The unique structures were the gubbas, graves reserved for Muslim saints. They were whitewashed domes made of adobe bricks. Wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called " wattle " is "daubed" with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years and
3538-552: The use of shaduf to lift each block . It is therefore believed that the construction timeline often did not take more than a year to complete, even for the largest pyramids. There has been some difficulty in determining the member of nobility who was buried at each pyramidal location. This is due to many factors, such as the lack of written records associated with the cites, poor preservation of inscriptions, difficulty with stratigraphic dating, and chronological gaps in nobility . George Andrew Reisner , an American archeologist, created
3599-525: The whole of a wall. In different regions, the material of wattle can be different. For example, at the Mitchell Site on the northern outskirts of the city of Mitchell, South Dakota, willow has been found as the wattle material of the walls of the house. Reeds and vines can also be used as wattle material. The origin of the term wattle describing a group of acacias in Australia, is derived from
3660-443: Was Jebel Barkal . Nubian pharaohs received legitimacy from the site. They held pharaonic coronation and consulted its oracle. It was thought to be the dwelling place of the deity Amun . Temples for Mut , Hathor , and Bes are also present. Thirteen temples and three palaces have been excavated. The Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal was arguably the most significant of the temples built in ancient Nubia. Originally constructed in
3721-705: Was once common in Lincolnshire . Pierrotage is the infilling material used in French Vernacular architecture of the Southern United States to infill between half-timbering with diagonal braces, which is similar to daub. It is usually made of lime mortar clay mixed with small stones. It is also called bousillage or bouzillage, especially in French Vernacular architecture of Louisiana of the early 1700s. The materials of bousillage are Spanish moss or clay and grass. Bousillage also refers to
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