01x02 - The Warrior Kings

[bunniefuu]

How far are we

from the rendezvous point?

Pretty close?

It is not far, yeah.

I've come to Sudan

on the trail of the

Kingdom of Kush.

A forgotten African

civilization that conquered

one of the most celebrated

empires in human history,

the ancient Egyptians.

Hey, Joe.

You guys doing okay?

Hey Albert.

Yeah, we're on our way

All right.

Meet me there.

Copy that.

There's

police everywhere, though.

But, getting out of the modern

capital of Khartoum,

is not straight forward.

I think we're

getting pulled over.

Yeah, I think

we're getting stopped.

Are we getting pulled over?

.

You're probably gonna

have to put the camera down.

Hello.

Ever since a military

coup in 2021,

Khartoum has been on high alert.

The police have checked our

papers and will stay with us

until we leave the city.

Hey guys.

How are you?

Nice to see you.

-Yeah.

-What took you?

Scanning experts,

Joe and Duncan are keen to

get on the road.

Also joining the expedition is

renowned Sudanese archeologist,

Ikhlas Alkrm.

Hi Albert.

It's so good

to meet you, finally.

Ikhlas.

Good to meet you too.

Yeah, Ikhlas.

Whoa! Is that explosions?

No, it is protest

-It's a protest?

-Yeah.

They are

sh**ting tear gas

Tear gas?

Yeah, tear gas, yeah

It's pretty close by.

Yeah, they have

some kind of protest today

It's a big one.

It looks like that

Wow.

So, we're gonna have to go

through where we're hearing

those g*nshots and explosions.

Yes, probably,

but we'll try to avoid them

There's

another one right there.

Yeah.

-Let's get out of here.

-Let's go.

I feel a little bit of a

burning in my eyes right now.

Yes.

Is that from the

tear gas right over there?

It is, yeah.

Anti-government protests

can erupt at any time,

bringing the

city to a standstill.

My daughter,

once she was with me in

one of these protests

and the gas just make her like

she couldn't be able to breathe

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

Wow.

You send

your kids to school

and you never know

what is going to happen

But we feel like

we are part of it

Mm.

You can't

just run away from it

We call

that resilience.

Do you think that

comes from the Kushites?

Definitely, yeah

So, do you

think it'll end?

I'm sure

it will end, Inshallah

Okay, guys.

I think we passed the

main conflict zone.

The police escort's gonna stop,

and we'll have to

continue on through

the desert on our own.

Ok.

Copy that.

Northeast Africa,

750 BC.

In the Kingdom of Kush,

a Warrior King leads his feared

army north into Egypt.

Laying waste to

its mighty empire

and bringing it under

Kushite control.

We are headed into

the frontier now.

Yeah.

Kushite Kings ruled

Egypt for the next 100 years.

But, when the Egyptians

regained power,

they erased almost all mention

of the Kushite conquest from

their historical record.

My mission is to find

the Kushites' lost

ancient capital, Napata.

But first, I want to understand

who these people were.

By exploring where they lived,

long before their

conquest of Egypt.

It's gotta be right

up here somewhere.

Yeah.

Oh wow, Ikhlas.

Majestic

Whooo, Kerma.

Kerma.

4,000,

maybe 4,500, years old?

Yes.

They believe

that it might be one of the

first kingdoms

in whole Africa

One of the first

kingdoms in all of Africa?

In Africa, yeah

There's different arcs,

there's different shapes.

Yes.

Those

look like pillars.

Some of them are palaces

and workshops and houses

Wow.

Look at this.

One of the earliest

mud-brick buildings in the world

Wow Ikhlas.

This is not a small

little site here.

Small settlement.

This is a city.

It is a city

Palaces,

temples, monuments.

Monuments to

their intelligence.

To their craft.

To their imagination.

This speaks of power,

of strength of complex organization.

Definitely, very

organized, very powerful

very wealthy

All the African

wealth you can imagine

This is where Kush is started

Kerma was the cradle

of the Kushite civilization,

the birthplace of a royal line

that went on to conquer

ancient Egypt.

I'm not surprised the

Egyptians wanted to erase

this defeat from their records.

What is surprising is that

even today so little is known

about the Kushites.

The problem with

the early archeologists,

who entered Sudan, they were

Egyptologists and they came

thinking that Black people

cannot produce such

sophisticated and

civilized remains

They tried to explain

it according to the

white point of view

What you're saying

is that the early lens of

archeology here

was prejudiced.

It is, and that's

why I believe at some point

we need to go back and read

everything all over again

Written out of ancient

history and side-lined by

many western archeologists.

I'm more determined than ever

to reveal the truth about this

forgotten African civilization.

Alright, guys.

We've got a long journey here.

Trying to head south-east.

Okay, copy that.

We're in

your tire tracks Albert.

While Kerma was the

first major Kushite settlement,

by the time of

their conquest of Egypt,

a new city, Napata, had

become their seat of power.

Nobody knows exactly where

this great capital was based,

but we do know where the

Kushite Kings who ruled Egypt,

were buried.

lkhlas.

-I've never seen a

pyramid in Africa before,

but here I am.

We have the

largest number of pyramids in

the whole world

Oh, wow.

Woooo!

We are in the Valley

of the Kushite Kings.

You know, as a child, I saw

images of pyramids in photos.

These kind of images inspired

me to become an explorer.

I'm so glad you saw the

first pyramid in Africa in Sudan

So, each one of

these is a burial for a king.

King or Queen,

we have Queens also

Oh, that is inspiring.

This is

Taharqa's Pyramid.

So Taharqa is

mentioned in the Bible.

He was one of the Kushite kings

who then conquered all of Egypt.

We've got some things we

can look at from the top.

Yeah, I really want to

get a sense of the whole site.

Professor Pearce Paul Creasman

is the director of the

Nuri Archeological Expedition.

Wow. Look at this.

Where did all these

stones come from?

The beautiful

casing stones we think came

from that hill across

the river over there.

-Way over there?

-Yep.

They had to carry

these stones across the river?

-Yep.

-Wow.

So, there's some symbolic

importance to this location.

Am I right?

That's the key

question that we can't really

answer right now because we've

got 20 something kings buried

here over a 400-year period.

It was important to them.

With so many

generations of Kushite royalty

buried here, it makes sense

that their capital city

would be close by.

Joe, Duncan, do you copy?

This is Albert.

Hey Albert, go ahead.

You guys ready to

fly the first LiDAR survey

in all of Sudan?

It'll be

a privilege mate.

It'll be a privilege.

Nuri is vast.

So, to cover the most ground, we

need a two-pronged approach.

Joe and Duncan will use drone

mounted LiDAR cameras,

to create a high-definition

3D model of the entire site.

The Nile actually bends

around this like a big arc.

But that's today's Nile.

The old Nile might have been

in a different position so

anything we can do to pick up

any of those subtle changes in

the landscape and just

see what it reveals.

Yeah,

that sounds good.

Pearce Paul and I will

focus our search underground,

at the tomb of Nastasen.

Just down this way?

Yep.

The last of the

Kushite kings to be buried

here at Nuri.

So,

this is the stairwell.

2,300 years old.

The original stairs.

The burial procession

would have come down here.

The king would have been carried

down here for his last trip.

So, the tomb

is beneath the pyramid?

Yes.

Most of the pyramids in Egypt,

they build the tombs up inside

the pyramid.

The people from here cut it

into the bedrock beneath.

Wow.

Pearce Paul believes this

ancient tomb could hold clues

to the location of Napata.

But rising groundwater from

the Nile has flooded it and

made it dangerously unstable.

100 years ago,

the water was

probably about knee deep.

And now, it's at least,

at least 20 feet deep.

Wow.

The first

week we were diving here.

A 300-pound chunk of the

doorway fell off and pinned me

to the sand.

So, there is a risk.

Every time we go in.

You are a different

breed of archeologist, man.

Diving this tomb is so high

risk that we're sending an

underwater camera drone in first

to see if it's even possible.

You guys ready?

-Yeah, we're ready.

-Good to go.

I'm gonna see how

far I can get it down.

Maybe I can get it

right to the entrance.

Copy.

Here we go.

I've got video feed.

Well king Nastasen we

come with good intentions to

tell your story.

Please take care of us.

All right.

I'm swimming now.

I'll try to get you

right to the entrance.

Ok.

He's dragging it down now.

Mmhm.

Ok, it's

pretty far down there.

Yeah?

Oh, this is gnarly.

I can't see anything.

Ok, I'm gonna get

you right to the entrance

and let go. Ok?

Ok yep.

Line it up straight.

You get there?

Yeah, I think I'm in.

Oh.

Let's see how it

looks on the camera.

All right.

Moving forwards.

This is such a

challenging environment

to navigate through.

We can barely see anything.

And then just glimmers.

Here we go.

Here we go.

It's opening up a little bit.

So that's a

corner of one of the chambers.

Right, real

subtle light movements now.

Look.

Right there.

Oh, what is that?

I think that's

the top of the door going into

the third chamber.

So, this is where the

king would have been buried.

We are in

the burial chamber.

All right,

look there.

That's the left

side of the slab.

Wow.

And this is

either the corner of the top

of a platform on which the

king would have been buried or

it's the top of some sort

of casing for the king.

Ah, you can barely make

it out though through the murk.

Just

a glimpse, right?

But it's good news.

Ha.

If we know we're in the third

chamber, then we know that

each of the entrance ways

to each chamber's clear.

You know it's safe.

Yeah.

So, I think we're gonna

have to get in there somehow.

This gives us

good information and lets us

know we can at least

navigate in and out.

Space inside

this fragile tomb is

extremely tight.

Prioritizing the protection

of the tomb, there's only room

for Pearce Paul and

his support diver.

If you can find any clues that

can tell us anything about

who he is or where he came from,

that's what we're looking for.

We'll go in,

we'll see what we can find and

bring out what we got.

As the scanning

team continue their

3D modeling of the site,

we get set to

search the flooded tomb.

All right, guys, good luck!

They must be entering

the third chamber now.

Hoping this is where we

find what we're looking for.

What is that his

hand right there?

Ok, he's back at the surface.

What?

Oh, that was a face.

Alright, here they come.

Wow that was incredible guys.

Let's get this back up on deck

so we can look at it properly.

Now it's time to look up close

at what came out of this tomb.

Yes, let's find out.

Come on in

take a look at what we got.

Yeah, let's see.

The dive inside the flooded tomb

has revealed a small figure,

known as a 'shabti',

carved in the image

of the deceased king.

Look at that.

Is this the name?

Yes, this is the

name of the King, Nastasen

-That says Nastasen?

-Yes.

Shabtis were believed

to come to life and guide the

king on his journey

through eternity.

Is this distinctly Kushite?

It is definitely,

you can see the

headdress clearly here

look at the shape, this shape,

they believe that it could be

representative of

their holy place,

their holy mountain,

Jebel Barkal.

Really?

Yes, if you look

from the side you will see the

shape of the mountain

It's the most important place

for the Kushite Kings

it's where you will find all the

temples of Amun all around it

Amun?

Amun the great creator god.

Yes, the Kushites

believe the home of Amun

is Jebel Barkal,

this is where he lived.

Where is this?

It is just

across the river from here

It's one of the

mountains I could see from

the top of the pyramid?

Yep, this is where they

took their power from their God

Could this

shabti lead us to the

ancient Kushite capital?

And what secrets will

our drone scans reveal?

Hey, guys.

Hey Albert.

Let's

see what you did.

Wow.

You get a real sense of an

amphitheater of the pyramids

from this view, don't you?

It's impressive.

Wow.

And all these?

So, most of

those are going to be tombs

of other royals.

So, the Kings' families.

-These are all tombs?

-Most of them.

Wow.

Having completed the very

first scan of the pyramids

here at Nuri,

now we're searching for evidence

of a large human settlement.

A city.

Let's layer on the models of

our pyramids on the different

ones you've identified.

Yeah. You ready?

-Yes.

-Wow.

Gosh, this

is great, it is amazing

It really shows

it in a different view,

much more like it would

have been 2500 years ago.

Yeah.

I just wish

they were still like this

I have been to the

site so many times,

but looking at it like this

it makes me feel

like how majestic they are

It's really amazing

I'm so glad I'm here

.

It's the first

time Ikhlas has seen this

extraordinary royal burial

site as it would have looked

during the time

of the Kushites.

But so far there's no sign that

the warrior kings and queens,

or their people,

lived around here too.

Let's see what the

aerial LiDAR says.

So initially, we

can't see too much here.

What is interesting is, you

can see, it's almost a water

channel that

surrounds the site.

-Oh, right here?

-Yeah.

Yeah, that's

pretty clear, isn't it?

Look at that.

That's a river

channel, isn't it?

Yes.

That would mean that

this entire pyramid site was

surrounded, at times,

by water.

By the Nile, yeah

Did you

guys know this?

You see sometimes

when it floods today that

water pools in a

couple of places

Mmm hmm yeah, yeah, yep.

But

nothing like this.

Oh, wow.

An island full of pyramids,

but where is the city?

Because the scale of a site

like this would have taken a

big population.

There's not

enough room for it there.

If that's the island

-Yeah.

-The island's full.

With no room for the

city here, could the river

lead us to where Napata lies?

Our moms in Sudan,

they always say, if you

want to find something

you see with your heart

you don't look with your eyes

you need to see with your heart

Wow.

It's amazing to feel

your emotions with this.

I'm really moved.

I'm really moved

It is part of our story

it's part of every

Sudanese's story

It belongs to us

Hey guys.

Wow, what just happened in

there, when tears started

welling up in her eyes,

look it's clear this

is not just about

scans or pyramids

or even lost cities,

it's about something

much deeper.

It's about identity.

Scanning Nuri has given me new

insight into the world of the

Kushites, who ruled Egypt.

Now I need to cross the mighty

river Nile to try and discover

where they and

their subjects lived.

That's got to be

Jebel Barkal right there.

Just as Ikhlas described it.

The mountain where the sun

sets from these pyramids.

That's my next stop.

The Nile River.

The Nile River.

Do you think we can get

across with one of these boats?

This guy over here, maybe?

Yes

He's got

a bunch of goats on his boat.

Yeah.

How are you?

Wow, this is wild.

Wow, I'm a goat herder now.

.

Thank you

Thank you very much.

Ikhlas has arranged this boat,

so we can take the traditional

Kushite route down the river,

from the burial site at Nuri

to the temple site

at Jebel Barkal.

Looks like the water gets

a lot faster over here.

Keep an eye out for

rocks ahead, would you?

Yeah,

we need to be careful.

You see there is a big

one on your left side.

I got it.

I got it.

It is really challenging

to drive a boat in here

The hard thing is that

the river is so braided up,

so you've got to find your

right line through all these

different little islands.

Yeah.

It makes sense

that communities would pop up

around here because this

cataract, where the rocks are,

it feels like it

naturally slows down movement.

Mmhm, yes.

Is that

it right there?

That's it,

that's it, Jebel Barkal.

Jebel Barkal.

What a way to arrive at the

Holy Mountain of the god Amun.

Yeah.

On the

River Nile itself.

Ok you want to jump up ahead

and see if you can

grab that line?

Yes.

Wow.

So, this is what I was staring

at through my binoculars.

Yep.

It's so impressive,

this mound of rock rising

out of the sand.

I got the data processed of

that photogrammetry scan

-Mmhm.

-Of the shabti.

I can see the arc of the

mountain really does kind of

feel like the arc

of a headdress.

Yes.

Is that supposed to

be that pinnacle right there?

That part

of the mountain

it was actually a

big statue of the cobra.

That was a

statue of a cobra?

Yes, there is some

theory that it was covered

also with gold

That's incredible.

That's why this

is their holy place

the land of their God.

The Kushites believed

that the god, Amun,

lived inside the mountain

and two of their warrior

kings who ruled Egypt,

Piankhy and his son Taharqa

who's pyramid I climbed at Nuri,

built huge temples

here to worship him.

So, this is for the God

of the gods, isn't it?

Yeah.

This is the temple of Amun.

He's the main God of

the Kushite empire.

And we're walking toward the

inner sanctum where the

statue of the God was placed.

Off in the distance

Doctors Geoff Emberling

and El Hassan Mohammed

are co-directors of the site.

Together, they've worked at

Jebel Barkal for more than

three decades.

You can imagine Piankhy coming

to this very place and asking

for permission from the

God Amun for guidance before

heading north to

conquer all of Egypt.

That's right.

These temples are

evidence that this was a major

Kushite religious center.

The question is,

where did the people who

worshipped here, live?

To search for clues,

we're heading inside

the mountain itself.

In here?

You're

gonna love this.

Oh wow.

Where are we now?

What is this space?

This is a temple built

by Taharqa, the great King

-Taharqa.

-Yeah.

I'm looking at

Taharqa's face carved in stone.

Hello Taharqa.

I see you now.

And is he offering these goods

to the gods or these gods?

To the

Gods led by Amun

-That's Amun.

-Yes.

Do you see Napata

anywhere written in the glyphs?

Napata has a number

of different names and one of

them is the 'Pure Mountain'.

And so, this is Amun in the Pure

Mountain in this inscription.

That says Amun

of the 'Pure Mountain'?

Yep.

Which probably

refers to a city.

A capital city?

A capital

city of ancient Kush.

Then the Kushite

kingdom and their capital

must have been centered

around this mountain.

It has to be, yeah

We've known about the

temples here for a long time.

And we're just starting to get

some hints that there could be

more settlement around it.

All right, well let's,

let's call in the whole team.

Let's find the

capital of Kush.

I feel like we've

been led by the clues

and all the dots are connecting.

The picture is

starting to show itself.

Hey, guys.

-Hey.

-How are you going?

Can I help

you launch this?

Yeah, let's go.

Alright, taking off.

You see that spire?

Let's try to scan a little bit

of that too because there's

supposed to be some

remains of glyphs.

Yeah.

This is amazing.

We're using Geoff

and El Hassan's dig site

as our anchor point

Enta, Jambu.

Jambu, Jambu.

And flying drone

mounted LiDAR technology to

gather the data

that might reveal

how big this settlement is.

But scanning for clues in such

a flat landscape is not easy.

So usually

when you're looking for an

ancient settlement, what

you find is a big mound

but there's nothing

like that here.

That's why, I think,

nobody has really

identified this as a city.

So maybe what we

have to do is call in the

ground penetrating radar team.

Yeah, I think we need to

look under as well, don't we?

Let's see

beneath the surface.

Hey, Burkhart.

This is Albert, do you copy?

Hey, Albert. Hello.

Meet us over

at the temple of Amun.

Ok I think

we will find you.

Burkhart Ullrich and

his team of geo-physicists

from Germany are experts at

using Ground Penetrating Radar

in desert conditions.

So, we're looking for roads,

mud brick walls.

Maybe we just start making our

way in successive grid patterns.

Okay.

And then anything that

comes up we'll go in tight

with a single antenna

Okay, okay.

Good idea.

Perfect.

GPR sends electro-magnetic

waves down into the ground

to detect subtle changes

in its composition.

The team are focusing

on the area

immediately around the temples.

For a wider perspective,

I want to figure out

how this mountain

is connected to

the landscape around it.

Look at all the boulders here.

I'm gonna have to

find another way around.

This way might be

a better way up.

It's getting steeper now.

Oh, wow.

The top of the holy mountain.

The roof of the

home of the gods.

Ahh.

From this vantage point, I can

see the pyramids of Nuri

just on the other

side of the Nile.

And on this side

the temple to Amun,

the place of homage to the gods.

And then the river Nile

splitting the land in two.

The ancient city Napata,

it must be between

these three worlds.

The dead, the living and the

river that runs through it.

If my theory's right,

Napata could be far bigger

than anyone imagined.

It's gonna be a

cold one tonight.

Starting to get chilly.

I mean, as soon as that sun hits

the horizon and dips below,

the temperature

just suddenly plummets.

We're talking a 40,

50, degree shift.

It was 95 degrees

Fahrenheit today.

I don't know, it might get

down to the low 40s at night.

I mean that's a huge

temperature shift, right?

We can use that

to our advantage.

Hey, Joe, Duncan,

do you guys copy?

Are you guys down there?

Yeah

Albert, we're down here,

Duncan here.

Hey, guys,

I got an idea.

Let's put the thermal

camera on the drone.

Let's try to image

this whole site

for the temperature shifts.

Yeah, I like

your thinking, Albert.

Even down here,

it's cooler already.

I think it should

work quite well.

I'll swap

the payload over.

Yeah,

let's give it a try.

Can you direct us?

Where do you think

we should start?

So, let's

start at the temple and move our

way towards the river and

towards the modern city.

Yeah,

that sounds good.

We'll get cracking.

Using thermal

imaging is another first for

archeology in Sudan.

While it's dark to us, the

camera on that drone can see

the heat coming out of the

ground and different materials

like a mud-brick wall or a

compacted ancient road,

that might hold the heat

differently than the

surrounding sand.

And as the temperature cools

all around us, the subtle

differences will get

picked up by this scan.

That's what we're looking for.

It might give us a map of what's

just beneath the surface.

Look how

well the temple shows.

That's incredible.

Good job, guys.

Check in in the morning.

I wonder

what kind of dreams

I'm going to have tonight.

On top of a mountain.

Under a starry sky.

Wow.

What a place to sleep.

I wonder what we found.

Hey team.

Good to see you.

Oh, feels like this

is the big moment.

Yes.

You guys get a lot

of the processing done

on the GPR.

We have the data.

Yes, exactly.

Well, let's combine it

all and throw it on the

projector and see what we find.

Here we go.

Loading it now.

This is

the base layer?

Wow.

Yeah, so this is the

LiDAR and the photogrammetry

together so that you've got

a complete textured surface

model of the whole area.

What can we do to

heighten any elevation change?

We can load in

the GPR data Albert.

All right,

let's do that.

Whoa.

-Wow.

-It's so clear.

What is

this right here?

Yeah, that's a

building right there.

So, there's definitely

residential structures?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It's all buildings.

You can even kind of see

maybe streets between them.

But that's,

that's a neighborhood.

And you didn't

know about these before?

Yeah.

No, this is all new.

Wow.

And if you start looking

for circles in here, you know,

sort of more traditional

Kushite architectural forms,

there's all kinds of circular

structures in here.

It is the same

designs we saw in Kerma

The traditional

African houses

It looks just

like it, doesn't it?

So, yeah.

El Hassan, when you

look at this, what do you see?

I see amazing things

that never have seen before

The building to

the right of the temple.

It is a mudbrick building for

the priests of Amun presumably.

-The priests of Amun?

-Yeah.

So, they would

have lived here maybe?

Yeah

What else can

we add in here?

So, from the GPR interpretations,

we've extracted

the 3D footprint.

Yes!

The city is coming to life!

Yes, gosh.

Wow.

Geoff is this it?

Is this, what we're

looking at right now, Napata?

I'm gonna say it's

the beginning of Napata.

-The lost city.

-Yeah.

How do you feel

when you see this?

I'm trying to

imagine people living in it

going to worship in the temples

doing their daily work.

It was like, full of life.

We just found the

heart of Napata

Geoff, I can only

imagine how does this change

your work plan now?

We are literally

starting to dig tomorrow,

literally, where we're

seeing buildings on this plan.

Ahhh haha.

So, this is this is

guiding our research you know.

Our scans, for

the first time, reveal a

remarkable concentration

of residential buildings

clustered around

the Kushite temples.

But if this is the

heart of Napata,

just how far does

the city extend?

We've got one last

layer to bring in.

We've got the

thermal data to load.

We're looking for difference

in temperature of like,

one or two degrees.

See that square feature there,

that's looking like

something to me.

Yeah. That's a

long way from anything.

Shall we

highlight the features?

Yeah.

Wow.

This is

super interesting.

That means that the

city would extend possibly

all the way into the city that

we're standing in right now.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

It gets bigger and

bigger and bigger.

Well, you've got a

lot of work cut out for you.

Yeah, haha yeah, yeah.

Actually,

that reminds me.

Did you scan the very

top of the serpent head?

Yes, we did.

This is just the

tip of that pinnacle.

El Hassan,

what does it say?

To the right

is the name of Taharqa

To the left is for Nastasen

All covered with

a sheet of gold

Wow!

The name

of our greatest Kings

And you can see

them from far away

on your way to the city

And you will feel blessed

by them, protected by them

Every Sudanese

should know about this

should know about the great city

and the great history they have

I think it can unite us

On behalf of my team,

I feel honored to be a part of

this story that was

erased in history,

but now shines in the sun

like the beacon at

the top of Jebel Barkal.

Shukran everybody.

This is a real step

forward in our understanding

of Kush as an

ancient civilization.

Because it shows such a wide

area all of a sudden opens up

this new perspective that

actually Napata was a huge city.

For the rest of

my life, I will remember this

every time I put my foot

on one of these sites

I always feel like

we didn't get our chance to

promote our civilization

so I think this can be the

first step toward that goal

I set out in

search of the lost city

of a forgotten people.

What I discovered is the capital

of a great African civilization,

built beneath

the home of the gods

and stretching across

the desert sands.

The beating heart of

a unique kingdom,

ruled by mighty warriors.

For 100 years Napata was the

seat of power for the Kushite

empire that conquered

the ancient Egyptians.

But their remarkable

story does not end there.

After losing control of Egypt,

the Kingdom of Kush

continued to flourish

here in their heartland

for another 1,000 years.

The city may be gone,

but despite the challenges

facing modern Sudan,

in the hearts of

people like Ikhlas,

I believe the spirit and

identity of the Kushites

lives on.