Posted on 04/25/2008 6:46:51 PM PDT by blam
Mysterious church and palace from the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. discovered by Polish archaeologists in Sudan
Archaeological site in Selib
At the beginning of this year, archaeologists from Warsaw University, headed by Dr Bogdan Żurawski discovered the remains of an Early Christian church and an even older palace. "During research in the area of Selib, a village located on the right bank of the Nile, between the 4th and 3rd cataract, the remains of a building erected on the plan of a huge rectangle were found. It soon turned out that this was one of the most unique churches found in the area of ancient Nubia, that is modern Sudan" - Dr Zuzanna Wygnańska, editor of "Archewieści Centrum Archeologii Śródziemnomorskiej" (Archaeo-new from the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology) informed. Thanks to geophysical research and aerial photographs made from a kite, it was possible to establish that a circular building eight metres in diameter made from red brick was adjacent to the main building.
"This is extremely interesting, as the only known buildings in Nubia to be built on the plan of a circle are ovens for baking bread, bricks and lime. All doubts as to whether the building was a church disappeared when a stone reliquary, fragment of altar construction and oil lamps were found" - Wygnańska noted. The remains of the church in Selib According to Dr Żurawski, the church in Selib is the most mysterious church building in Nubia. It is not only surrounded by a perfect rectangle, but also stands on a two metre podium or some earlier building, the purpose of which has not yet been established.
As Dr Wygnańska emphasises, this was not the only important discovery of the season. "Work on a site located 1 km from the church in Selib brought an even greater surprise, when a 900 square metre building was discovered" - she informed. At first, archaeologists spotted the outline of walls protruding on the surface. They were not visible until a sand dune shifted. Everything suggests that this was a palace and what is more, it is one of the few known palaces from the Meroic period, i.e. a civilisation which ruled ancient Nubia between 300 B.C. and 350 A.D.
Fragments of pottery were scattered on the site's surface. "I will never forget my first impression, when I was walking on a carpet of broken pottery, under the layer of shells, it was difficult to see the sand" - Dr Żurawski relates. These were not ordinary shells, but fine, luxury vessels, which were only used in the richest homes belonging to the strict elite.
Archaeologists presume that these are specimens of the finest pottery ever to be produced in the Nile Valley. A dwelling quarter spreads outside the palace. Its size suggests that in ancient times, Selib was one of the most important administrative centres of the Meroic kingdom, the seat of a governor or local ruler. As a result, it is difficult to overestimate the value of this discovery. This is the first such find in the region, which was considered to be outside of the Meroe kings' rule.
The site of the palace in Selib
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Warsaw University Centre of Meditterranean Archaeology, tr.ajfb bsz
Meroe as related to Merovingian?
(Sorry if that’s an ignorant comment, it just occurred to me and I wondered.)
No telling the wonders the sands conceal.
cool
“Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our life.”
Don't know either. Someone will be along shortly and educate us both.
It would take some pretty imaginitive cogitation to make the connection.
Meroe: 8th century BC to 3rd Centruy AD (Nubia (N. Sudan - S. Egypt))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meroe
Merovingian: mid-5th to mid-8th century AD (Gaul (France))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian
Couldn't resist... ;-)
Merovingian Dynasty - Crystalinks
The Merovingians were a dynasty of Frankish kings who ruled a frequently fluctuating area in parts of present-day France and Germany from the 5th to the 8th ...
www.crystalinks.com/merovingian.html
Quite a distance (in both time and space) from Meroe...
You posted a neat article a few weeks ago with some remarkable overhead photos of city patterns in the desert — taken from a kite or balloon. Do you recall what that was — and who did it? Could it be these same folks with their kite photos?
Those markings look similar (in albedo, etc.) to the markings just above and right of center in the lower photo (which is not available in a larger version).
Towards the end of the Pharohic period, the end of the New Kingdom, this civilization even took over at least part of Egypt for about 100 years.
From the first line of the Wiki "Meroe" spelling, we find
Meroë (Meroitic: Medewi or Bedewi) (مرواه - Arabic: Meruwah). In the Anglicized spellings above, can be seen notable differences between that and the Meroving.
From another page we see a (supposed) linage of Merovingian kings;
with no mention in any of the literature or lore about them describing them as being dark skinned Kushites, although this linage does start some years after the end of the Meroe rule...
The reason there is still so much uncertainty surrounding the Meroians, is mostly due to the fact that their language and writing are indecipherable. No one knows for sure what their language sounded like or what their Egyptian resembling hieroglyphic writing stands for. The pictures closely resemble those of ancient Egypt, but we have thus far been unable to decode the Meroitic scripts.
It certainly doesn't appear to be unreasonable that if these later Frankish Kings were descended from African Kings only a hundred or few hundred years before their bloodline came into dominance in parts of France & Germany --- there would be some mention or clue.
As it is, it looks to be just another word similarity.
But thank you, blam, for yet another interesting archaeological/historical article brought to FR. Would have most likely missed it without your effort (as usual).
Is it the tiny thing in the lower left corner?
Another victim of the Muslim Jingaweed militia.
they should not have reported this
we can expect the islamic fundamentalists that back the current government of sudan to seek the destruction of this ancient church, lest it pollute the history of sudan
Thank you. I appreciate your reply.
Thank you, I appreciate the information.
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Note: this topic is from 4/25/2008. Don't know how it got missed. Thanks blam. |
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Another victim of the Muslim Jingaweed militia.
That is correct.
The muslim invaders like locusts have taken over...but soon in January 2011 the referendum will at least free the South from the zombies in the north
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