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Like galaxies: Thousands of ancient galactic tombs found in Sudan

Like galaxies: Thousands of ancient galactic tombs found in Sudan 1
In this landscape one can see a "scattering" of ancient burial structures of the region. Photo by Stefano Costanzo / CC-BY 4.0.

Experts used the Neumann-Scott model to study ancient tombs. They were able to establish that they were built taking into account the same principles that underlie the structure of galaxies.

In the eastern part of Sudan, experts have found Islamic tombs with strange patterns. The burials date back to the Middle Ages. Among them there are “parental” graves, and around are “clusters” that create a pattern in the form of a galaxy.

Scientists have found over 10 thousand tombs in the city of Kassala. Satellite photography was used to identify the monuments. Later it was established that very strange materials were used for the construction of these tombs. Some of the burials have mounds.

Stefano Costanzo said that studying these shrines was extremely problematic. The hardest part was that the experts had absolutely no clues. Initially, scientists assumed that this is just a cluster of ancient burials that were built a long time ago.

“With the naked eye, it was clear that the location of the graves was determined by environmental conditions, but their spatial location could contain some hidden meaning,” – lead author Stefano Costanzo from the University of the Orient in Naples said.

Thanks to careful analysis, it turned out that there is a certain meaning behind the appearance of the burial grounds.

The authors of the work suggest that on a larger scale, the location of these burials was influenced by the environment: the convenience of the landscape and the availability of building materials. At the same time, the distribution of burials in small areas already depended on social factors.

Burial structures were usually built around older graves. Some of them may be more modern family graves, and some may be ancient graves of cultural value.

Such a research method, new to archeology, can become a useful tool that will allow researchers to more accurately determine ancient social “centers of gravity” in the area of ​​which artifacts important for science may be preserved.

The tombs were positioned exactly like galaxies in space. In addition, such a strange nature of the burials suggests that the site was used as a sacred landscape, as well as a social point for the inhabitants of eastern Sudan. But due to the fact that the region has some peculiarities, some of the tombs were moved to the place where they were originally erected.

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