Contest #448 – Meroë, Sudan, home of the Meroë Pyramids

Jewish tradition holds that before Moses was revealed as a Hebrew, while he was still an Egyptian prince, he commanded an army that defeated the Ethiopians at a town called Saba, which he renamed Meroë. The Ethiopian king’s daughter was apparently quite enamored with Moses, and she agreed to turn the city over to his army in exchange for marrying her. According to Josephus, he not only married her, but they produced at least one child. There’s probably a Dan Brown book coming any day about all this.

Anyway, Meroë is the home of the Meroë Pyramids. All together, there are 50 pyramids in the vicinity, more than in all of Egypt. They were constructed between about 750 BCE and 350 AD.

Meroe Westfriedhof

Meroe Südfriedhof

Those who found the site before the hint:

  • Phil Ower
  • Lighthouse
  • Eloy Cano
  • Marisa Boraas
  • Paul Voestermans
  • joe9000
  • Garfield
  • Junebug
  • Lelie
  • hhgygy
  • Chris Nason
  • Ann K.
  • Luís Filipe Miguel
  • Ashwini Agrawal
  • mehmet durmus

And after the hint:

  • Glenmorren
  • Jesus Rodriguez

Contest #447: Puquios, near Nazca, Peru

Puquios is a large aquaduct and irrigation system thought to have been constructed by a pre-Columbian civilization in Peru about 2000 years ago. The spiral holes are called “ojo” or “eyes” and were, for most of our age, thought to be only for accessing the underground aquaducts and cleaning of the water tunnels. Recently, though, Italian scientists and forumlated a theory that the shape of the hole creates an air funnel that actually helps push the water along through the tunnels.

Puquios aqueduct Nazca Peru.JPG
By Ab5602

Those who fell into the wells before the hint included:

  • hhgygy
  • Lighthouse
  • Ann K.
  • Phil Ower
  • Paul Voestermans
  • Eloy Cano
  • Junebug
  • Marisa Boraas
  • Garfield
  • Ashwini Agrawal
  • joe9000
  • Glenmorren
  • Lelie
  • Max_Power
  • Luís Filipe Miguel
  • steven simmons

After the hint:

  • Robin
  • rob de wolff
  • mehmet durmus

Contest #444: Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque, border between State of Mexico and State of Hidalgo, Mexico

Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic System
By Carmelita ThierryOwn work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21700903

A 16th century construction, this relatively intact 48 KM water transport system features the tallest arcade ever built at the time. It was named for the Franciscan friar Francisco de Tembleque.

Those who moved the water included:

  • Phil Ower
  • steven simmons
  • Junebug
  • Paul Voestermans
  • Garfield
  • Eloy Cano

And those who had to wait for pumps (after the hint):

  • Andrew Schroeder
  • Robin
  • mehmet durmus
  • Lighthouse
  • Gillian B
  • Barbie
  • rob de wolff
  • Dackelz.HP
  • hhgygy
  • Tuxedo Jones
  • Chris Nason
  • Ann K.
  • Lelie
  • JF
  • donaaronio
  • Ashwini Agrawal
  • Glenmorren