In the Shadow of the Pyramid

JAMES K. HOFFMEIER

Renewed excavations at the site of Nuri in northern Sudan began in 2017—before the start of Sudan’s recent conflict—under Pearce Paul Creasman, Executive Director of the American Center of Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan. As part of the project, I was involved in excavating a temple near the pyramid of Taharqa that the pioneering American archaeologist George Reisner had uncovered a century earlier. Unfortunately, Reisner did not fully document or analyze the temple’s carved reliefs, nor was he able to offer a date for its construction.

Since Reisner never discovered Taharqa’s funerary temple, we think this nearby edifice may have served that purpose. Our initial work focused on relocating and clearing the building, as it had been completely covered by sand during the past century, and we are currently studying the decorated walls. So far, no royal name has been identified in the reliefs. Dating the temple, therefore, remains a challenge. We also cannot yet confirm the temple belonged to Taharqa, although we have not ruled that out either. If this temple did, indeed, serve Taharqa’s funerary cult, it also continued to be used by subsequent kings. Unlike Egyptian funerary temples, which often include historical texts and battle reliefs, no similar documentation exists in the Cushite necropolis, meaning its walls will likely never reveal how Taharqa remembered the campaign he led against Assyria in 701 BC.