The Temple of Sanam, located in northern Sudan, was built in the 7th Century BCE by the Kushite king Taharqo. Taharqo, a native Nubian who also ruled over Egypt, constructed the temple in an Egyptian style and dedicated it to the god Amun; nevertheless, many traces of the king’s distinctive Kushite culture are still to be found at the site. The project, initiated in 2018 and marking the first excavations at this important site in over a century, is investigating not only how the temple was used by Kushite kings but what this monument might have meant to the local Nubian population living around it. Current areas of investigation include the only known faience production areas of the Napatan period of Nubian history, and a monumental mud brick building of the early first millennium BC.
Technical skills utilized: GIS; photogrammetry/3D modelling; kite aerial photography; materials analysis; ceramic drawing and analysis; digital recording; conservation
Contact: Kathryn Howley, Director (keh408@nyu.edu)