accede the deep tomb of the " forget " pyramids of Nuri would be a challenge even for Lara Croft . blot out among 20 - odd ancient Great Pyramid , like grand termite mound stick up out of the Nubian Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin of northern Sudan , is a stony 65 - step staircase that leads to a mirky puddle of water . Once you ’re up to your shoulders in water , the only way to the burying chamber is to take a plunge and swim through a serial of submerge inside chamber .
But this was n’t enough to stop theNuri Archaeological Expedition . As report byNational Geographicthis week , a team of marine archaeologists recently ventured into a submerged grave at the ancient regal interment site of Nuri , becoming the first people to coiffure optic on the pharoh ’s tomb for at least a century . Their work was supported by the National Geographic Society .
The Royal Pyramids and theNuri Royal Cemeteryare find in northern modern Sudan , along the west side of the Nile . As many as 80 pyramids were built between 650 BCE and 300 BCE , although only 20 or so now remain . The pyramids are the final resting seat of up to 60Kushite kingsand queens , the so - called “ black Pharaoh of Egypt ” of the Nubian kingdom who vied for power against their Egyptian neighbors . One of the oldest pyramids was build up as a tomb forTaharqa , the quaternary king of the twenty-fifth dynasty of ancient Egypt who reigned until 664 BCE , who flee to Nubia after he lose power .
The inhumation chamber has not always been flooded with water , although it has prove to be an excellent guard against grave robber over the past 100 year . The tombs have only become submerged in recent decades due to groundwater from the nearby Nile that has been uprise due to climate modification , agricultural intensification , and a newly constructed dam along the Nile .
To gain access to the submerged inner chambers , the excavation team had to plunk through the water with hoses that pumped O from the open . This is thought to be the first time subaqueous archeology has been extend out in Sudan .
" There are three chambers , with these beautiful bowed ceiling , about the size of a small busbar , you go in one bedchamber into the next , it ’s pitch black , you bang you ’re in a grave if your flashlights are n’t on . And it start revealing the secret that are keep within , " Pearce Paul Creasman , nautical archaeologist and Egyptologist , toldBBC Newsday .
One of the tomb that was late explored by the Nuri Archaeological Expedition is believe to have belong to Nastasen , a Pharaoh of Egypt who decree the Kush kingdom from 335 BCE to 315 BCE . Within these chambers , archaeologists discovered several gold flakes that once covered small statues and statuette .
" The gold offerings were still sitting there – these small spyglass - case statue had been leaf in gold . And while the water destroyed the glass underneath , the small gold geek was still there , " Creasman tell .
