A closer look
When Giuseppe Ferlini arrived in Sudan in 1834, he decided that the best tool for delicate archaeological excavation was high-yield explosives. The ancient Kushite capital of Meroë boasted over 200 breathtaking, steep-angled pyramids. Convinced that they contained unimaginable gold, Ferlini completely blew the tops off of more than forty structures. He did actually find a spectacular cache of gold jewelry in one of them, which only encouraged him to detonate the rest of the necropolis, turning irreplaceable ancient history into a pile of smoking rubble for a quick payday.
