Zuma
Sudan, XX
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 time
s 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. 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. Modern, systematic excavations began in December 2004 by a Polish-Sudanese team led by Mahmoud el-Tayeb from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw within the "Early Makuria Research Project". On the surface, 29 grave mounds (tumuli) are seen. Three grave types are distinguished, mainly based on the grave mound. Type I consists of hills, which are completely covered with stones. The grave mounds have a diameter of 25–53 metres (82–174 ft) and were 6–13.5 metres (20–44 ft) high...
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