35 Ancient Pyramids Found In Sudanese Ruins

Thirty-five ancient pyramids have been discovered at an archaeological site called Sedinga in Sudan. The pyramids, which like the famous Egyptian ones were tombs, are clustered extremely close together, making this a very peculiar scientific find.

According to LiveScience, the pyramids, more than 2,000 years old from the ancient kingdom of Kush, were discovered from 2009 through 2012. The Kush pyramids were highly influenced by the burial practices of nearby Egypt.

What makes these small pyramids so special? In large part, it’s their close proximity to each other that fascinates lead researcher Vincent Francigny. In 2011 alone, Francigny and his team discovered 11 pyramids crammed into about 500 square meters. That’s about the size of a standard NBA basketball court, only filled with centuries-old pyramids and graves.

According to researchers, the pyramid building lasted for centuries and contributed to the extremely high density.

"The density of the pyramids is huge," 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."

Eventually, Francigny says, the residents of Sedeinga simply ran out of room for more pyramids.

"They reached a point where it was so filled with people and graves that they had to reuse the oldest one," Francigny said.

Sedeinga is located on the Nile River in Sudan. According to Francigny, “The site was initially known for the remains of the Temple of Queen Tiye, great royal wife of Amenophis III. This romantic ruin with its unique miraculously standing column is unfortunately too fragile to enable excavations to take place without an expensive restoration of the pulverulent blocks of sandstone.”

Francigny plans to continue his work at Sedeinga throughout 2013 as a part of a four-year research plan.