ROME, ITALY—Archaeologists have discovered a ritual altar, a sacred boat base, and a hieroglyphic inscription at Abu Erteila in Sudan, according to a report by the Italian news agency AGI. The discoveries were made during excavations in November and December 2015 by a team led by Eugenio Fantusati of Sapienza University of Rome and Eleonora Kormysheva of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The artifacts were found in the remains of a temple that was probably destroyed by fire and are thought to date to between the first century B.C. and the first century A.D., the “Golden Age” of Meroitic Nubian civilization. The cartouches of King Natakamani and Queen Amanitore, who ruled during this period, have been identified in the hieroglyphics. The base of the sacred boat would at times have been used to carry the representation of a Nubian deity on ritual processions. "The artifact is extremely important for a better understanding of the Meroitic world—which is still quite unknown—and its relations with the nearby Egyptian civilization," Fantusati told AGI. To read about another Nubian temple, go to “The Cult of Amun.”
