Meroitic Pyramids Clustered on Sudan Desert : Africa: Bedouins are the only people who regularly see the royal burial site. The government lacks funds to promote tourism, or to cover excavation and restoration costs.

The 32 pyramids cluster majestically atop a black sandstone hill in the Sudanese desert, visible for miles.

But the only people who see them are the Bedouins--who take them for granted, just as their forefathers have for thousands of years--and an occasional foreigner.

It is a royal burial site from the ancient Meroitic civilization, which rivaled the Pharaonic empire of ancient Egypt to the north. But a lack of resources and Sudan’s isolation mean relics dating back 2,500 years exist in near oblivion, unknown to most of the world.

The pyramids and other ruins in Meroe are a four-hour drive from the capital, Khartoum, mostly on unpaved desert tracks requiring four-wheel-drive vehicles.

“We have palaces, temples, tombs and pyramids,” said Hassan Hussein, head of the National Authority for Antiquities and Museums. “But our resources are limited, and Sudan is huge and only a newcomer to the world of antiquities.”

Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries. The authority has an annual budget of only $90,000, which does not begin to cover excavation and restoration costs.

The pyramids stand about 25 to 30 feet tall, far smaller than the huge Giza pyramids in Egypt. But they are an impressive sight gathered on the hilltop in the empty desert. Intriguing engravings of kings, queens and gods stand out clearly.

Each year, about 20 foreign teams carry out excavations and record data on sites ranging from the Stone Age through Pharaonic times and into the Christian and Islamic eras.

Little restoration can be done. Ruins that are found usually are reburied in the sand for preservation.

The rule of Egypt’s ancient Pharaohs sometimes extended up the Nile into Sudan, depending on the power of the ruler. But the Meroitic civilization developed independently in Sudan around the 6th Century BC, known first as the kingdom of Napata.

Meroe--pronounced Mero-a--was noted for a sophisticated irrigation system and a queen mother who had a role in naming the next king or queen. In the 4th Century BC, Meroe was sacked by Axumites from what is now Ethiopia and it never recovered.

Archeologists like Charles Bonnet of the University of Geneva, who has been excavating in Sudan for 30 years, believe Meroitic culture had a unique personality, although it absorbed some beliefs and customs from Egypt.

Some of the differences are clear. Although drawings and carvings on the tombs and temples are similar to those in ancient Egyptian buildings, the skin tones are darker and the queens have curly hair and the facial features of blacks.

There are some drawings of Egyptian gods like Horus and Amon, but the Meroites had their own god, Apedamack, with a lion’s head, human hands and the body of a snake.

The modern discovery of the Meroitic ruins came in 1838, by an Italian-led archeological and treasure-hunting team that found the pyramids 100 miles north of Khartoum.

Looking for gold and unable to find entrances to pyramids partly submerged in sand, the team blasted off the tops. The jewels of Queen Amanysheiti were carted off and sold.

Today, most of the pyramids are shorn of about six feet of their tops. Nearby are the ruins of the royal city of Meroe.

Tantalizing evidence of the civilization remains, including a slab of intricate geometrical design in black and white stone that once was a palace corridor.

The bath looks like a modern indoor pool. Steps lead down to the bathing area, which was filled by piped-in water. To one side is a round bath that queens used to soak in skin-softening ointments.

An hour’s drive to the south in Musawarat are the remains of a citadel with strangely angled corridors. Faint engravings depict elephants, lions, giraffes and other beasts.

Because of the inaccessibility of the sites, only a few foreigners have visited them. Sudan’s unstable politics means it gets almost no tourists, and those who come find no brochures on the Meroitic relics.

The government is building a road to make the sites easier to reach, but the ruins’ decay from erosion is a more pressing problem.

“So much of the remains will disappear before they are known,” said Bonnet, the Swiss archeologist. “It would need thousands of workers to excavate.”