Ngundeng Pyramid

Ngundeng Pyramid

Bi̱ɛh Ŋundɛŋ
Ngundeng Pyramid in 1901 by Dr Edward Smyth Crispin
Location	Wec Deng, Nyirol County, Jonglei State, South Sudan
Region	Nuerland
Type	Holy Site
Circumference	300 feet
Height	50–60 feet
History
Founded	1870
Abandoned	1928
Cultures	Nuer people

Ngundeng Pyramid (Thok Naath: Bi̱ɛh ŋundɛŋ or Yi̱k, Arabic: هرم نغوندنغ), also known as Pyramid of Dengkur, was a large mound shrine constructed by the Nuer people's prophet Ngundeng Bong (died 1906) at the end of the nineteenth century and added to by his son Guek Ngundeng (died 1929).^[1][2] The Ngundeng Pyramid, which was around 300 feet in circumference and 50 to 60 feet tall, cone-shaped, and encircled by a row of elephant tusks, was a symbol of the Nuer people's resistance to colonialism. The monument was dynamited on the orders of British colonial commander Percy Coriat in 1928, shortly after the first attempt to demolish it failed.^[3][4]

The construction of the Ngundeng Pyramid was believed to have begun in 1870 and was completed in four years in stages. The first phase began with the construction of huts for Ngundeng followers, who are the builders, which lasted one year; the second phase, which was the building phase, lasted two years; and the final stage, in which the Prophet Ngundeng fasted for seven days and summoned all Nuer from Nuerland to assemble in his village, lasted one year. For a four-year period, thousands of Nuer worked under the prophet's supervision building the Pyramid.^[1][5] Unlike the Nubian Pyramids in Northern Sudan, the Ngundeng Pyramid/Pyramid of Dengkur was constructed entirely of ash, animal dung, cotton soil, and clay—not a single stone or brick was used.^[1][6]