Meroë North Cemetery — Pyramid Beg. N.19 (King Nasakhma)
Meroitic, early, c.300–250 BCE·Kushite (Meroitic)·🇸🇩 River Nile State, Bayuda, Meroë North, Sudan
William Sink Parker · Public domain
About
About Meroë North Cemetery — Pyramid Beg. N.19 (King Nasakhma)
North Cemetery pyramid Beg. N.19 for King Nasakhma (c.300–250 BCE), elderly ruler, 16.8 m base, steep sandstone pyramid. Reisner Harvard-Boston 1921 cleared chapel with offering table looted. Steep angle 70° and narrow chapel typical of Early Meroitic experimentation.
Why it mattersEarly Meroitic royal sequence; Pre-Beg N.9 ancestor.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Nasakhma age at death and reign length
Theories
- 01Transitional Napatan→Meroitic form
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.300–250 BCE
- Period
- Meroitic, early, c.300–250 BCE
- Culture
- Kushite (Meroitic)
- Builders
- Kushite (Meroë)
- Purpose
- Royal tomb — Nasakhma
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.300–250 BCE
Initial construction / foundation
c.500 CE
Major refurbishment / enlargement phase
c.1100 CE
Abandonment or conversion
1890–1930
Modern rediscovery and first scientific survey
On the ground
Structures & features
Gallery