Categories
Terraced / Pyramidal Structures

Our Terraced Past (Part 3A) – Namibia

View from a plane flying over Namibia 1
Figure 1: Namibia – Plane flying over remains of terraced structures

Namibia

The African country of Namibia is covered in the remains of terraced structures which are mistaken for natural or ‘geological’ features of the landscape.

We will start by looking at Namibia as a whole in Part A before looking particularly at perhaps the countrys best known feature, Fish River Canyon in Part B. It is our belief that these are remains of structures built around the river, rather than having been created by it. Water erosion cannot account for the terraced shape.

Our interest in Namibia was fuelled by the views available on Google Maps & Bing Maps which we will share below. This is often a great starting point.

The images can be clicked for more detail.

Namibia Aerial Shot 1
Figure 2: Namibia – Google Maps – Characteristic shape with terraced edges arguably not of natural origin
Namibia Aerial Shot 2
Figure 2: Namibia – Google Maps – Terraced structures seen from above
Namibia Aerial Shot 3
Figure 3: Namibia – Google Maps – Terraced structures from above
Namibia Aerial Shot 4
Figure 4: Namibia – Google Maps – Remains of structures
Namibia Aerial Shot 5
Figure 5: Namibia – Google Maps – Terraced layers are evident
Namibia Aerial Shot (6)
Figure 6: Namibia – Google Maps – This is what most of these remains look like today ie very little features left but the terracing
View from a plane flying over Namibia (2)
Figure 7: Namibia – view from above of structural remains – the more pronounced remains can be seen at the right-hand side and top
Namibia (1)
Figure 8: Namibia – Remains of terraced structures
Namibia (2)
Figure 9: Namibia – One of the few places where detail can still be made out of structural remains
Namibia (3)
Figure 10: Namibia – Note the terraced pyramid hill/mountain tops on the top right which are still visible today
Namibia (4)
Figure 11: Namibia – Remains of terraced (and possibly domed) structure
Namibia (5)
Figure 12: Namibia – These ‘cliffs’ are in fact remains of artifical structures built in a terraced style