page_title: Nubian architecture
section_title: Early Period
hierarchical_section_title: Nubian architecture / Early Period
caption_attribution_description: Gebel Barkal in Nubia (Sudan)
context_page_description: Nubian architecture is diverse and ancient. Permanent villages have been found in Nubia, which date from 6000 BC. These villages were roughly contemporary with the walled town of Jericho in Palestine.
context_section_description: The earliest Nubian architecture used perishable materials, wattle and daub, mudbricks, animal hide and other light and supple materials. Early Nubian architecture consisted of speos, structures derived from carving of rock, an innovation of the A-Group culture (c. 3800-3100 BCE), as seen in the Sofala Cave rock-cut temple. Ancient Egyptians made widespread use of speos during the New Kingdom of Egypt.
  Two types of A-Group graves exist. One was oval in shape 0.8 metres (2 ft 7 in) deep. The second was oval in shape 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) deep with a deeper second chamber.
  The A-Group culture vanished, followed later by the C-Group culture (2400–1550 BCE). Settlements consisted of round structures with stone floors. Structural frame was achieved with wooden or pliant materials. Mudbricks became the preferred building materials as settlements became larger. Graves were circular cylindrical superstructures made of stoned wall. The pit was filled with gravel and stones, and covered with dried mud roof or hay roof. Later, during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (circa 1650 to 1550 BCE), an adobe chapel was placed to the north of the grave. Graves were from El Ghaba, Kadero, Sayala, and various other sites in northern Sudan.
caption: Jebel Barkal
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