Current Research in Nubian Archaeology: Oxford Edition 9781463244552

Citation preview

Current Research in Nubian Archaeology

Regenerating Practices in Archaeology and Heritage

4

Regenerating Practices in Archaeology and Heritage is an interdisciplinary series, exploring emerging debates in Archaeology and Heritage studies. Shaping future directions for research through contemporary theory and practice, the volumes in this series are intended to build on and complement each other, developing perspectives and positions taken by other authors in the series, showing connectivity between diverse scales of discourse and between different subfields in Archaeology and Heritage. The series encompasses methodological, scientific and theoretical themes in both edited volumes and monographs and will encompass: collaborative archaeology; museum practice; digital humanities; archaeological fieldwork methodologies; and the intersection between scientific techniques and new understandings of the past. 

Current Research in Nubian Archaeology

Oxford Edition

Edited by

Samantha Tipper Siobhan Shinn Loretta Kilroe

gp 2022

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2022 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. ‫ܘ‬

1

2022

ISBN 978-1-4632-4393-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A Cataloging-in-Publication Record is available at the Library of Congress. Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................. 1 The decorative program of the palace of Amanishakhete at Wad Ben Naga .......................................................................... 5

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

The amulets of the Kerma culture in the national museum of Sudan: From the database to linked open data .................. 37

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

The contribution of bioanthropology in understanding the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Eastern Sudan .................... 59

GIUSY CAPASSO

Digging a royal city. Eight years of Ca' Foscari University of Venice research at Jebel Barkal ................................................ 77

FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN

Sieving for archaeology. The Sudan Archive’s Governor-General reports......................................................................................... 89

CHLOË WARD

Shokan: Revival of a forgotten village ..................................... 115

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

v

INTRODUCTION Sudan, now split into the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, sits in the northeast corner of Africa and is a geographically diverse region comprised of desert, rocky mountain, riverine grassland, savannah and coast. It boasts a rich cultural heritage that has in recent years become the increasing focus of an international community of archaeologists, anthropologist and historians. This growing interest in the cultural heritage of Sudan has led to an urgent need for more conferences to bring scholars and interested parties together, and allow for an interdisciplinary forum moving forward in the discipline, particularly for student and early career researchers who are often overlooked. This was the inspiration behind the formation of the Sudan Studies Annual Conference (Tipper and Tully 2019; Lemos and Tipper 2020). Its main goal is to provide a yearly forum for early career scholars as well as professionals from outside academia to present and discuss their research and to develop a network of colleagues. The Sudan Studies Annual Conference is unique primarily because it brings people with diverse backgrounds together and encourages interdisciplinary work. The Third Sudan Studies conference was held on 4th May 2019 at the Ioannou Centre for Byzantine and Classical Studies, University of Oxford. The conference was made possible through the generous financial support of the Griffith Institute, Oxford, and the Archaeology Department, Durham. We are extremely grateful for these donations, without which the conference would not have been possible. Oxford was an ideal third choice for the conference, thanks to the university’s historical links with 1

2

CURRENT RESEARCH IN NUBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY (2019)

excavations in Sudan. Francis Llewelyn Griffith, who studied at the University of Oxford and later became the first Professor of Egyptology at the university, led fieldwork at the sites of Faras, Kawa, and Sanam among others, and items from these excavations make up much of the significant Sudanese collection in both the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums. The university is also home to the Sudanese Programme at St. Anthony’s College, a neutral forum dedicated to cultural, social and political issues in modern Sudan, making Oxford a hub for the study of both ancient and modern Sudanese heritage. The day featured an international contingent of 15 postgraduate and early career podium speakers, along with multiple poster presentations, featuring a range of topics from settlement and cemetery archaeology and architecture, to scientific analysis and public engagement. The day also featured striking keynote lectures; from Dr. Julie Anderson, Assistant Keeper at the British Museum, entitled Always full of surprises: Reconstructing the ancient Kushite landscape in Dangeil, Sudan; and Dr. Claudia Naeser, Lecturer at University College London, entitled Majority Muslim communities, archaeology and the pre-Islamic past: Finding new ground for engagement, both of which were highly acclaimed by the audience. This publication features six of the speakers from the conference and explores their current research more deeply. The first paper is by Vlastimil Vrtal, entitled The decorative program of the palace of Amanishakhete at Wad Ben Naga. This important discussion presents an attempted reconstruction of the decorative scheme within the palace, using unpublished fragments from the excavation of the palace as well as recent fieldwork, providing an important approach to Meroitic iconography in temples. The second paper is by Elena D’Itria and Gilda Ferrandino and called The amulets of the Kerma culture in the national museum of Sudan: from the database to linked open data. Here the authors outline a new system of digitisation that they applied to the Kerma amulets in the National Museum, Khartoum, as part of a broader project analysing amulets from the Kerma culture. The paper aims to demonstrate the potential that such

INTRODUCTION

3

new technology holds for improving the public accessibility of disparate archaeological collections. The third paper is by Giusy Capasso, discussing The contribution of bioanthropology in understanding the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in eastern Sudan. This paper discusses the important role that the study of human remains hold in our reconstruction of changing lifestyles in eastern Sudan at the dawn of agriculture. Using the data acquired by the Italian Archaeological Expedition to eastern Sudan, the author analyses funerary traditions and how the remains inform us on lifestyles. The fourth paper is by Francesca Iannarilli and Federica Pancin, entitled Digging a royal city. Eight years of Ca' Foscari University of Venice research at Jebel Barkal. This provides an overview of recent work at the site since 2011, in particular regarding two post-doctoral projects focusing on the update of documentation of the site, and the analysis of plasters and pigments recovered from the palace of Natakamani. The fifth paper is by Chloe Ward and is called Sieving for archaeology. The Sudan Archive’s Governor-General reports. It explores the references to archaeology in the annual reports submitted to the British High Commissioner in Egypt from the Governor-General of Sudan between 1902 and 1952, which are now stored in the Sudan Archive at Durham University. These references are used to discuss archaeological work in Sudan at this time as well as the accessibility and use of archive material for archaeological research. The final paper by Liliane Mann and Ben van den Bercken, entitled Shokan. Revival of a forgotten village, presents the fieldwork at the settlement site of Shokan between 1962 and 1963 from little-known records documented in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. Their work examines objects and field notebooks in order to expound upon life in the Late Meroitic (1st c. – 4th c. BCE) settlement of Shokan (Ash-Shaukan) and to explore issues of accessibility in archival archaeological research. This publication hopes to contribute towards the growing focus on archaeology in Sudan, and to encourage collaboration among researchers working on the history of this region. All opinions cited in the articles are of the relevant author.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE PALACE OF AMANISHAKHETE AT WAD BEN NAGA VLASTIMIL VRTAL The present paper aims to present the evidence for the external and internal decorative program of the so-called Palace of Amanishakhete (WBN 100), a well-preserved structure of the Meroitic period, which was unearthed between 1958 and 1960 by the Sudanese expedition of Thabit Hassan Thabit at the site of Wad Ben Naga (Vercoutter 1962). The expedition uncovered a large number of objects, including fragments of relief wall decoration, which have remained largely unpublished, despite their potential for reconstructing parts of the internal decorative program of the palace. Since 2009, the structure has seen renewed excavations by the archaeological expedition of the National Museum, Czech Republic, aimed at answering specific archaeological problems, which provided – amongst other data – new pieces of information on the external appearance of the ancient structure. The present author would like to express his gratitude to Abdel-Rahman Ali Mohamed, Juweriya Osman Mohamed Zain, Ikhlas Abdllatief Ahmed Idris, and Pavel Onderka for the possibility to work on the artefactual material from the Palace of Amanishakhete. The article was written within the framework of the project ‘The building program of King Natakamani and Queen 5

6

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

Amanitore’ supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 18-00454S).

EXTERNAL DECORATION

In spite of the extraordinary state of preservation of the structure until the modern era, its external appearance could only be roughly reconstructed based on the evidence from the 1958–1960 excavations (see Maillot 2016: pl. II-19). A possible sandstone pilaster capital with Apedemak on a crescent excavated during the cleaning of the perimeter of the structure (Sudan National Museum = henceforth SNM 62/10/161; Vercoutter 1962: 276– 277, fig. 7) represented one of a few finds that pointed to the possible decoration of its outer walls (see Taurino 2017: figs. 2– 5). Later, vertical double torus mouldings protruding from the southern and eastern exterior walls were recorded by Hinkel (Hinkel and Sievertsen 2002: pl. IX.75, ‘Detail C, D’). However, asymmetrical disposition of the mouldings in his plan had to be corrected after re-examination in the field (Onderka et al. 2018: 141). Hinkel also noted traces of yellow paint at the base of the exterior wall; an observation that was recently confirmed (Onderka et al. 2019a: 141). The base of the exterior wall was similarly accentuated in the Natakamani Palace at Jebel Barkal (Ciampini 2019: fig. 6). New pieces of evidence exposing certain elements of the external decoration of the palace come from its re-excavation by the National Museum expedition. During the re-examination of the pair of double torus mouldings in the eastern exterior wall (Onderka et al. 2018: 141; Onderka et al. 2019b: 112–113), remains of the original plaster coating were documented that preserved traces of polychromy in red (larger torus, space between tori), yellow (smaller torus, buttress edge) and blue (buttress), both in situ and on detached bricks. Supposing that the decoration was rendered in a simple linear fashion, a hypothetical colour pattern could be reconstructed (Figure. 1).

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE

7

Figure. 1: Torus mouldings in the eastern façade of the Palace of Amanishakhete: the state of preservation of the southern moulding during re-excavation (left) and tentative re-construction of the decoration (right) (photo and drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal).

8

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

The mouldings can be linked to three sandstone blocks that were found in 2009 re-deposited in the immediate vicinity of the structure (Figure. 2). The blocks were decorated with a frieze of uraei that were plastered and painted red. The fragments likely come from a lintel that surmounted the monumental entrance in the structure’s southern façade. It may be assumed that, together with the mouldings, this formed a multiple decorative frame, consisting of a buttress, torus moulding and a pilaster crowned by several superimposed cornices (see Priese 2003: Abb. 20; Maillot 2016: figures. II-7).

Figure. 2: Fragments of lintel with the frieze of uraei (illustration: Alexander Gatzsche)

In 2017, a well-preserved destruction of the exterior wall was excavated by the north-eastern corner of the structure (Onderka et al. 2018: 141–143). Analysis of the debris allowed for the estimation of the original height of the wall (and the structure itself) in the area to nearly eight metres. The destruction was removed brick by brick, revealing the distribution of various architectural elements and polychrome patterns. At half the height, a low recess was identified, with its lining painted blue. It is impossible to ascertain whether it marked the position of a window or a decorative element. Except for the recess, the wall was flat and lacking any polychromy or reliefs until the very top.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE

9

At the height of c. seven metres, the wall was crowned with a horizontal torus moulding followed by a cavetto cornice capped with a fillet brick. Polychromy in red, blue and yellow was preserved on plaster, adorning the cornice. The concave part showed indistinct alternating patterns of red, blue and yellow, lined with red on the bottom and yellow on the projecting part and the fillet. Cavetto cornice bricks or their fragments, often preserving the same polychrome decoration, were also found near the south-western and north-western corners of the structure (Onderka et al. 2015: 98; Onderka et al. 2019b: 112). Thus, it can be suggested that a cavetto cornice crowned the palace’s exterior wall along its whole perimeter.

INTERNAL DECORATION

The most valuable evidence for approaching the character of the decorative program of the Palace of Amanishakhete comes from its interior. Altogether, seventy-three fragments of relief decoration were uncovered in the palace and accessioned in the SNM (Table 1). Information on the findspots of these fragments is lacking, which makes it difficult to ascertain their original spatial and functional context within the structure. In the preliminary report on the excavations, Vercoutter situated finds of stuccos to the surface strata, representing the debris from the building’s upper floor (Vercoutter 1962: 280–283, 285). Based on their inventory numbers (see Vrtal 2017), it is clear that some of the fragments were retrieved already during the first season (1958/1959), which was dedicated to a survey and cleaning of the perimeter of the structure. Photographic documentation from these excavations (Onderka 2016: 80, nos. 1–2, 6–8) shows that on the very top of the kom, roughly in the area of room WBN 121, the lower sections of walls of the second storey were still preserved and well defined. The photographs also indicate that minor works may have been conducted in this area in connection with the general survey. Thus, the surrounding debris is the most likely area from which the early fragments originated, and the same may apply to the rest of the corpus. Indirect evidence for localisation of some stucco fragments is also provided by the labels on object cases, including the collections of gold foil SNM

10

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

62/9/61, 63 and SNM 62/10/84, likely from wall decoration, and the rosettes SNM 62/9/62. The Arabic labels situate these four finds to (debris in the western part of) room 7. The identification of the room is problematic; room WBN 133 may nevertheless be suggested based on a comparison of excavation dates and the parallel room designation systems used. It is also worth mentioning that a small sandstone fragment of miniature torus moulding, which may come from the same context as sandstone reliefs (see below), was uncovered in the westernmost part of room WBN 128 in 2018 (Onderka et al. 2019a: 140). A note on relief fragment SNM 62/10/139 indicates that it was retrieved during the first season of excavations and thus its attribution to the Palace of Amanishakhete is uncertain, as it may come from another structure or represent a surface find. The relative size of the piece, the absence of polychromy and an interesting presence of Roman meander frieze further support its setting aside from the rest of the corpus. The preserved relief decoration was executed in three materials: sandstone (SNM 62/10/87, 90, 129–130, 139; Fig. 10), faience (SNM 62/9/55; see Vercoutter 1962: fig. 22; Vrtal 2013: fig. 6.7) and stucco (SNM 11970–11971, SNM 62/9/62, 64, SNM 62/10/81, 83, 88–89, 126–128, 131–132; Figs. 11–12); the sandstone and stucco reliefs were painted and gilded. Sandstone panelling and faience tiles were likely applied to mudbrick or fired brick walls, and they could have been displayed in closed rooms, as well as courtyards and porticos. Stucco reliefs, which form the majority of preserved fragments, were applied directly to mud plaster and must therefore come from the interior. The different materials may as well indicate requirements of other nature than resistance to erosion, such as manifestation of status for the respective room or scene. The carrier materials nevertheless divide the scenes spatially into several clusters. This assumption is further corroborated by the fact that at least five relative sizes of figures can be noted. Based on the physical and spatial fragmentation of the corpus, we cannot aspire to reconstruct the complete iconographic program; yet identification of some of its elements is possible.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 11

ELEMENTS OF THE INTERNAL DECORATIVE PROGRAM

The scenes clearly centred on a royal figure (or figures), as such figures were captured on a minimum of four examples. The figures are never directly identified, but based on stylistic grounds, Amanishakhete is the likely candidate. Fragment SNM 62/10/87 shows the queen worshipping Amun and Mut in a shrine of pr-wr-type (see Sackho-Autissier 2018); another two depict her in the act of offering a beaded necklace (SNM 62/10/90d, 130). A collar with Amun-head spacers and dropshaped pendants (SNM 62/10/90c) belongs to another royal or divine figure. From their relative proportions, several fragments of stucco decoration could be reconstructed into a larger-thanlife-size depiction of a female royal figure, the status of whom is demonstrated by a diadem with a uraeus (Figure. 3).

Figure. 3: Hypothetical reconstruction of a royal figure; based on Amanishakhete’s depiction at Begrawiya (drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal, after Chapman and Dunham 1952: pl. 16a).

12

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

Several divine figures could be identified in the corpus. The previously mentioned fragment SNM 62/10/87 shows a criocephalic Amun and his consort Mut in a shrine. Another fragment, SNM 62/10/129, captures a face of a figure, which has previously been identified as Akinidad (Vercoutter 1962: 283– 284, fig. 13) or Amanishakhete (inter alia Wildung 1996: 306, cat. no. 323; Baud 2010: 243, cat. no. 323; Sackho-Autissier 2011: 375; Onderka – Vrtal et al. 2014: 156, cat. no. 50; SackhoAutissier 2018: 567). However, the figure is clearly wearing a vulture headdress complemented with a uraeus. Such a headdress is not documented in any of the depictions of Meroitic queens; on the contrary, in Meroitic iconography it was reserved for female deities, such as Hathor, Isis or Mut. When compared with the depiction of the goddesses on the northern outer wall of the Lion Temple at Naga (Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 6b), the fragment fits perfectly (Figure. 4). Although the crown, which would clearly identify the goddess, is not preserved, given the religious context of the site and thematic context of other fragments, Mut is the most likely divine figure to be associated with the depiction on fragment SNM 62/10/129.

Figure 4: Hypothetical reconstruction of a goddess on fragment SNM 62/10/129; based on Lion Temple at Naga (drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal, after Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 6b).

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 13

Figure 5: Fragment of high relief depiction of criocephalic Amun (SNM 62/10/127g) (photo: Pavel Onderka).

One extraordinary fragment, SNM 62/10/127g, captures the criocephalic Amun in a three-dimensional form (Figure. 5). Given its small size and flat back, it may be suggested that it comes from a pendant hanging on a royal necklace (see Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 6b); the en-face rendering is unusual, however. Other possibilities, such as the presence of a shrine (?) with stucco figures in extremely high relief, find few parallels in the archaeological record; nevertheless they cannot be ruled out. Finally, four fragments (SNM 62/10/126a, 127a, 128c, 128e) showed depictions of figures in the hnw-jubilation gesture and with jackal and falcon heads, representing the Souls of Pe and Nekhen. Besides the abovementioned figures, further iconographic elements could be identified in the corpus. Among these, there were mainly various parts of necklaces, garments, bodies and wings, which could not be attributed to any specific royal or divine figures. Fragments SNM 62/10/88b, 88c, 88i capture parts of uraei; possibly, but not necessarily, from various friezes and winged sun-discs. Furthermore, several rosettes (SNM 62/9/62a, 62d, SNM 62/10/81, 83) were included, as well as an anx-sign on an outstretched hand (?) (SNM 62/10/89b), a loaf of bread (SNM 62/10/90e) and fragments of hieroglyphic inscriptions (SNM 62/10/132d). Possible wall decoration executed in faience (SNM 62/9/55a-b) shows vine branches and a bird picking grapes.

14

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

SCENE WITH THE SOULS OF PE AND NEKHEN

Based on their relative size, material and iconographic elements, several groups of fragments could be tentatively reconstructed into scenes. In two cases, attribution of the scenes to specific thematic cycles can be suggested. One of these is the scene with the Souls of Pe and Nekhen (Figure. 6). The scene is divided into two registers by a frieze and framed by two columns of identical hieroglyphic text in a symmetrical disposition. In the upper register, a minimum of four pairs of the Souls were situated, oriented towards the centre. In the lower register, a winged sun-disc can be reconstructed, likely above the main scene of some kind; only the tips of the wings were preserved, however. In both corners of the lower register, a plumed cartouche with the name Amanishakhete (amnisxete) was situated. It is possible that her figure formed an important part of the main scene represented by the lower register and that the cartouches represented captions. The same name occurs also in the columns of text framing the two registers. It is followed by what were likely epithets in Meroitic and Egyptian (?pseudo-)hieroglyphic script: amnisxete nmnes(?) nTr fr […]. The writing of some signs shows peculiar features. Most notably, signs for m and ne(?) differ from other attestations, which may have chronological significance (see Vercoutter 1962: fig. 12; and the writing of respective signs in Macadam 1949: pl. 35, no. 106; Rilly 2002: 142; Rilly 2017: 262; Zibelius 1983: 22). The presence of the Souls of Pe and Nekhen is of particular significance for the interpretation of the scene. In Nubia (see Kormysheva 2010: 208–209), they appear in connection with only a limited number of thematic cycles: the funerary cult of the sovereign, coronation rituals and Amun bark stands. The most complete evidence comes from the reliefs of Taharqo in three of his temples, on which the Souls are present on scenes related to the coronation. At Kawa, their address to the king is delivered by the Iunmutef priest, standing before the kneeling king, who is crowned by Amun (Macadam 1955: pl. 22c; see also Lohwasser 1995: 167–168; Török 2002: 115). In a similar context, they are attested at Sanam (Griffith 1922: pl. XLII.2) and in the Eastern Colonnade at Karnak (Leclant 1953: 129, fig. 4) on scenes of the king coming forth from the palace during coronation rites.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 15

Figure 6: Hypothetical reconstruction of the scene with the Souls of Pe and Nekhen (drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal).

16

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

The scenes follow models from New Kingdom Nubia, on which the Souls are present as well (see Randall-MacIver and Woolley 1911: pl. 20, no. 45; for the role of the Souls in New Kingdom Egypt in coronation rituals, the divine birth of the sovereign and his introduction to Amun see Žabkar 1968: 31–35; Schibler 1998). In three instances in Nubia, the Souls appear on Amun bark stands. The earliest known attestation for such a context is the socalled Altar of Atlanersa from Temple B700 at Jebel Barkal (Dunham 1970: pls. XXX, XXXI; Török 2002: 167; see also Vercoutter 1957; Ernst 2001). On the bark stand, the Souls accompany the king and the goddess Meret in the upper register above the smA-tAwy scene. Two almost identical depictions can be found on the bark stands from the Amun temples at Naga (Kröper et al. 2011: 43–44) and Meroe (Hofmann and Tomandl 1986: 32, Abb. 26) dated to the reign of Natakamani and Amanitore (for dating the latter see Török 1997a: 121). The compositions are in fact so similar that the latter bark stands are considered to be imperfect copies of the former. The inclusion of the Souls on the Altar of Atlanersa corresponds to its innovative iconography in general, and likely originates from their presence on Amun barks during the New Kingdom (see Priese 1984: 24, 26–27; Legrain 1929: fig. 133; Epigraphic Survey 1936: pls. 56–58; Epigraphic Survey 1940: pl. 229). It remains unclear whether their inclusion represents simply an integration of the two elements for the bark stand of Amun, or whether it might refer also to the temple’s possible connection to coronation rituals and rituals of reaffirmation of royal power (see Török 2002: 168–172). Other attestations of the Souls from Nubia are singular in nature. At Qasr Ibrim (Rose 2000) and Kawa (Macadam 1955: pl. LXXXIIIe), they were depicted on Napatan temple equipment, in the former case perhaps an actual Amun bark. A singular depiction on a coffin bench from Pyramid Beg. N8 (Dunham 1957: fig. 40) refers to their role in the royal funerary sphere. Since a funerary aspect is unlikely in the context of the Palace of Amanishakhete, it may be suggested that the scene with the Souls depicted either coronation rituals or a bark stand (or an actual bark) of Amun. The symmetrical disposition of the

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 17 reconstructed scene might speak for the latter option, with, possibly, twA-pt or smA-tAwy scenes below. There are, nevertheless, two arguments against this. Unlike on bark stands from Nubia, as well as on actual Amun barks from Egypt, the Souls on the scene do not seem to be oriented in the same direction. The possibility that the scenes adorned an actual stand and the Souls were oriented in the same direction on its opposite sides may be considered improbable on account of the material used. There are also no fragments that would point to the presence of Meret, although the still fragmentary nature of the scene may be the actual reason. Thus, it may be suggested that the scene instead captured coronation rituals.

Figure 7: Fragments SNM 62/10/90d and SNM 62/10/130 showing queen offering beaded necklace (illustration: Vlastimil Vrtal).

THE OFFERING OF A BEADED NECKLACE

With respect to the suggested interpretation of the scene with the Souls of Pe and Nekhen, the scene depicting the queen in an act

18

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

of offering (SNM 62/10/90d, 130) is notable (Figure. 7). The offering of a beaded necklace is well documented on Napatan and Meroitic reliefs. As Lohwasser (1995) demonstrated, an offering of a pectoral and beaded necklace – often accompanied by other gifts, most regularly Maat symbolising restitution of the order – functioned as an abbreviation of the coronation rituals through the principle pars pro toto (perhaps the most complete iconographic program recording the coronation rituals comes from Temple T at Kawa; see Macadam 1955; Kormysheva 1994: 198–199; Lohwasser 1995: 167–169; Török 2002: 113–118). This aspect is best manifested on the so-called Sandstone Stela from Jebel Barkal (SNM 1851; Reisner 1931: Tf. V-VI), on which the pectoral and necklace are exchanged for the Red and Kushite Cap crowns. The symbolic relevance of the depiction continued in the late Napatan and likely also the Meroitic period, although the evidence in the latter is not so striking. Despite the fact that both the pectoral and beaded necklace were regularly worn by royal and divine figures in the Meroitic period, their offering was rarely depicted. In structure MS 100 at Musawwarat es-Sufra, the offering of a pectoral before Amun and Mut bordered on a scene in which the king presents his coat as a symbol of investiture (Wenig 1993: Abb. 192; see also Lohwasser 1995: 177). Both scenes were in a symmetrical disposition to scenes of election and coronation (Wenig 1993: 110, Abb. 187; Török 2011: 197, 210–214, pls. 69, 70, 73). Notably, the scenes come from a complex interpreted by Török as the place where king’s power was confirmed by local deities, a sort of ceremonial cultic throne room (Török 2011: 213; see also Török 1992: 124; Edwards 2004: 153; Eigner 2010: 19; Maillot 2016: 91). A pectoral is also being offered by Natakamani to Apedemak and an anthropomorphic god with the hmhm-crown at Amara, yet in no specific ritual context (Wenig 1977: pls. 7, 10; for the symbolic meaning of pectoral in Egypt see Feucht-Putz 1967). In all these cases, the beaded necklace is missing. The only clear parallel for the offering of a beaded necklace from the Meroitic period is depicted on the inner wall of the Lion Temple at Naga, on which Amanitore offers it to Amun of Pnubs and Satis (Gamer-Wallert 1983: 77–78, Bl. 10a), divinities closely associated with the

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 19 coronation process (Török 2002: 169). Another fragmentary depiction of the offering was perhaps found at Meroe (Török 1997a: 186, fig. 56).

Figure 8: King Taharqo offering pectoral, beaded necklace and bread (?) to Amun; temple B300 at Jebel Barkal (photo: Vlastimil Vrtal).

Besides the beaded necklace, the queen also holds a globular object of an unclear nature in her right hand on fragment SNM 62/10/130. Two semi-globular objects, perhaps bowls with bread or porridge (cf. Robisek 1989: 28) are offered by Taharqo alongside a pectoral and beaded necklace in B305 at Jebel Barkal (Figure. 8). Bread is also offered to Amun alongside the same objects at Kawa (Macadam 1955: pl. XVIIe), or alone, for example at Amara (Wenig 1977: pl. 9). The globular object offered on fragment SNM 62/10/130 nevertheless does not seem to have any inner structure, dividing the bowl from its contents, nor can it be

20

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

identified as a nw-vessel on account of the missing neck. Furthermore, the position of the hand differs from other attestations and indicates that the object might rather have a short handle. However, the proper position of the hand for holding the necklace may have been preferred by the artist, unlike for example in the case of Taharqo at B305. If the hypothesis that the object was held by a handle is accepted, several interpretations are possible. In the chapel of Amanishkahete’s pyramid, an object of the similar shape (Chapman and Dunham 1952: pl. 16) seems to constitute part of a staff, or, as a separate object, it may represent the so-called pine cone, which is regularly present on the scenes of censing in the chapels. Both separately and accompanying a staff, it can be found also on the queen’s signet rings from the same pyramid (see Lohwasser 2001: Abb. 4, 6). In a non-funerary context, the cones appear only on reliefs of Natakamani and Amanitore, possibly as a symbol of the royal office (Gamer-Wallert 1983: 162–170). It is also possible, although less likely, that the object represents a mirror. In Ptolemaic Egypt, offering of mirrors was presented to female deities in exchange for the rule and as assurance of the cosmic order (Vassilika 1999: 110). In the Amun temple at Amara, Mut was its sole beneficiary (see Wenig 1977: pls. 9, 11). With respect to the depiction of Taharqo from B305, the objects offered by Amanishakhete likely constitute a beaded necklace and bowl with bread, despite minor iconographic differences in the position of hand and imperfections in the design of the globular object, stemming either from a copying error or a small size of the fragment. The offering of a mirror to Mut cannot be excluded, however, given several attestations of the goddess in the corpus and her affinity to Amun, who was the likely beneficiary of the beaded necklace.

BRACER OF A ROYAL FIGURE

The sizeable fragment of stucco SNM 11971 is also worth elaboration, given its notable decorative elements (Figure. 9). In two registers, it captures seated animal figures oriented on two pairs of plumed cartouches in the centre. The registers are divided by herringbone bands. Based on the decoration style and the

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 21 plastic shape, the fragment can be identified as a bracer of a royal figure. Its size roughly corresponds to the reconstructed largerthan-life-size depiction of a royal figure, likely that of Amanishakhete (Figure. 3). A similar arrangement of almost identical motifs can be observed on reliefs in the Lion Temples at Musawwarat es-Sufra (Wenig 1993: Abb. 143–146) and Naga (Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 2, 5a, 6a, 7), and in the royal offering chapels at Begrawiya (see Chapman and Dunham 1952: pls. 10c, 16), as well as on Amanishakhete’s stela REM 1293 found at Naga, and on the depiction of the same queen offering a beaded necklace discussed above (fragment SNM 62/10/130).

Figure 9: Bracer of a royal figure on fragment SNM 11971 (photo and drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal).

Despite the abundance of parallels, the identification of the deities depicted on the bracer is problematic. The features of the sitting animal, which is replicated in all quadrants of the bracer, most notably the ram horn-like curl along the jaw and elongated head, resemble depictions of criocephalic Amun. On other bracers, the god indeed appears in his Pnubs form, but only as a criosphinx on a podium with the Pnubs-tree behind (cf. Wenig 1993: 190, Abb. 143; see Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 5a: king, left forearm = henceforth KLF and similarly, 6a: QRF, KRF, 7: QRF, KLF; without the tree possibly also Chapman and Dunham 1952: pls. 16a: QLF,

22

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

16b: QRF). In this form, he is most likely depicted also on bracers on fragment SNM 62/10/130. On the other hand, the seated pose and the crown with moon-crescent (rather than sun-disc and horizontal horns, Kormysheva 2010: 244; cf. Wenig 1993: 190) correspond to depictions of Apedemak on the bracers. The curl then may be explained as an accentuated lock of the mane (see Wenig 1993: Abb. 144). It is possible that a certain level of syncretism may have played a role (see Kormysheva 2010: 244–245) as both gods clearly occur interchangeably on bracers. Furthermore, one of Amanishakhete’s rings shows a winged lion with ram horns (ÄMB 1725; Priese 1992: Abb. 39), and in the Lion Temple at Musawwarat es-Sufra, Apedemak is depicted lying on the podium under the Pnubs-tree (Hintze 1971: Tf. 84–85: 3/1/4), while on a plaquette from el-Hassa, a criocephalic Amun is adorned with the crown with moon-crescent (Kormysheva 2010: 244). It is equally likely, however, that the Meroitic artist responsible for modelling the bracer was not able to reflect the difference between both deities, as depictions of Apedemak on the bracers show him in his solar form, often accompanied by a lotus (or other flowers) and the Pnubs-tree (Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 5a: KLF, KRF, 6a: KLF, QRF, 7: KLF, KRF, QLF, QRF; Wenig 1993: Abb. 144–145), which are very similar to depictions of Amun of Pnubs. Lotuses, both buds and in bloom, may also be noted in front of the seated animal on bracer SNM 11971. Behind the seated animal in the lower left quadrant, a wing in a protective gesture may be noted. On the other side, the parallel part of the scene is not preserved. It is impossible to establish whether the wing belongs to a winged uraeus with the sun-disc crown (see Wenig 1993: Abb. 144, 146; Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 5a: KRF, QRF, 6a: KLF, QLF, 7: KRF, QLF; Hintze 1971: Tf. 89: 4/1/3) or to a winged goddess (see Török 2011: pl. 70). The seated animals or the scenes as a whole seem to be identified by captions above the bunches of lotuses. The inscription, consisting of four (?pseudo-)hieroglyphic signs arranged in a column, seems illegible, however. It is striking that the same group of signs (with minor changes in the third sign) appear also in the plumed cartouches between the animals. This is most unusual, as there are no instances of anything other than

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 23 royal names from Meroitic cartouches (see, however, early Napatan plaques with a cryptogram of the name of Amun in a plumed cartouche, Török 1997a: 159, fig. 118; and clasps with depictions of deities in plumed cartouches, Sackho-Autissier 2011). The cartouches on other depictions of bracers were left blank (Gamer-Wallert 1983: Bl. 6a, 7; Wenig 1993: Abb. 143, 145). Interestingly, only a single cartouche can be found on Amanishakhete’s bracers in her offering chapel (Chapman and Dunham 1952: pl. 16). Four possible explanations may be suggested: (1) The cartouches may capture an attempt in (?pseudo-Egyptian) hieroglyphs (see Dunham 1957: 149, pls. XLa, XLIIIi; Onderka et al. 2016: fig. 3) for a previously unattested throne name or title of Amanishakhete built on the name of the deity depicted (for a different suggestion on this name cf. Rilly 2002: 142). (2) The cartouches may also include an illegible name or title of Amanishakhete’s possible, yet unattested, male co-ruler (see Török 1997b: 456; Rilly 2017: 254) in pseudo-Egyptian, Meroitic or pseudo-Meroitic hieroglyphs built on the name of the deity depicted, provided that the bracer belonged to him. However, there is no other name than that of Amanishakhete on the scene with the Souls of Pe and Nekhen. (3) The cartouches may also simply contain the name of the deity depicted on the bracer, despite the absence of parallels for such writing of divine names in the Meroitic period, yet taking into consideration the Napatan plaques and faience clasps. (4) The cartouches and columns of text may also contain pseudo-script, resulting from erroneous copying of a text or scene that was not understood properly. The last option in fact seems most likely given the corrupted character of the signs.

CONCLUSION

The evidence for the external and internal decorative program of the Palace of Amanishakhete is rather scarce. The outer appearance of the structure was likely very formal and in accordance with the concept of the outer symmetry pertaining to Meroitic architecture. Unlike in the Natakamani Palace at Jebel Barkal, no tondi or similar decorative elements have been found along the perimeter of the building. The exterior wall was only

24

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

modestly decorated with paint at the base and on its crown, embellished by torus moulding and a cavetto cornice. Small decorative recesses or windows were possibly the only other regular features. Disrupting this apparent rigidity, the southern and eastern entrances were accentuated by complex architectural modulations that were vividly painted. The interpretation of the evidence for the internal decorative program suffers heavily from the fragmentary nature of the corpus and unverifiable spatial relation of the individual pieces. The material is the only reliable lead for clustering them into spatial units. The offering scenes seem to predominate on reliefs executed in sandstone, while elements on stuccos seem to be more complex. Judging from the discernible iconographic elements, the iconographic program closely followed patterns well-attested in Meroitic temples. This is a crucial observation as the evidence for the character of iconographic programs in palaces is scarce in Egypt and nearly non-existent in Nubia. In Egypt, the thematic cycles attested in New Kingdom palaces included – besides the scenes of royal domination – royal ceremonies and rituals that paralleled in their significance rituals in temples (O’Connor 1989: 77). In Nubia, fragmentary elements of internal decoration were found in the Napatan palace of Aspelta at Jebel Barkal (see Kendall and Wolf 2007: 84–86) and possibly in the Natakamani Palace at the same site (see Taurino 2017). In the former palace, texts on columns referred to the ceremonies of the New Year, likely linked to the renewal of royal power and possible coronation re-enactments (Kendall and Wolf 2007: 84; Török 2002: 18). Apparently, the same general thematic setting may have applied to the scenes from the Palace of Amanishakhete, although it naturally followed Meroitic models. The royal figure seems to have been the centrepoint of the scenes; the most active party performing various offerings in exchange for being granted rule over the world by gods and goddesses, and for establishment of the cosmic order. Decorative elements such as rosettes and vine branches symbolised the regenerative power guaranteed by the sovereign through her relationship with the gods. The outlined possibility that a significant part of scenes concentrated on coronation rites and related legitimisation of the queen’s claim to the throne seems not only

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 25 logical, but in the light of other evidence also plausible. The same thematic cycle decorated columns of structure MS 100 at Musawwarat es-Sufra–a building that may have been closely related to the legitimisation of royal power and the royal cult in general. It is likely that the iconographic program of the Palace of Amanishakhete formed a sacred space within the structure and reflected the actual performance of rites in its ceremonial rooms, perhaps in the presence of high administrative and religious officials. It also cannot be ruled out that the scenes come from actual smallscale sanctuaries that were incorporated into the structure. The scenes nevertheless clearly indicate that besides being an administrative centre and a royal residence, the palace also had an important ceremonial function. Previously, the ceremonial function of Meroitic palaces could only be assumed through other manifestations, such as their orientation towards temple axes (Kendall 1999: 302) and their reference in textual and iconographic descriptions of coronation rituals (see Hofmann 1971: 20–21; Kormysheva 1994). Interpreting such a fragmentary corpus, there is, nevertheless, an inherent risk of over-interpretation, which has to be taken into account. Furthermore, uncertainty prevails in determining whether the meaning of the symbols of the Napatan period was fully understood in the time of Amanishakhete. Table 1: Fragments of relief decoration uncovered in the palace and accessioned in the SNM. SNM

INV. NO.

ICONOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS

Sandstone (Interior/Semi-exterior)

HYPOTHETICAL

ELEMENT OR SCENE

SNM 62/10/87

queen, Amun, Mut, pr-wr-shrine

offering

SNM 62/10/90c

broad collar

royal/divine figure

SNM 62/10/90a SNM 62/10/90d SNM 62/10/130

SNM 62/10/90e

offering table (?), bread (?) queen, beaded necklace, bread/mirror

bread

offering (?)

offering of beaded necklace and

bread/mirror (?); coronation (?) offering

26

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

SNM 62/10/129

female goddess

female goddess

SNM 62/10/139

figure, Roman meander frieze

-

(Mut ?)

Faience (Interior/Semi-exterior) SNM 62/9/55a-b

Stucco (Interior) SNM 11970

SNM 62/10/126a

SNM 62/10/127a

(Mut ?)

vine, bird

regenerative power,

Souls of Pe and Nekhen, royal

coronation (?), royal

bracer

royal figure

name and titles, winged sun-disc

fertility; frieze

figure (?)

SNM 62/10/128a-c SNM 62/10/128e

SNM 62/10/131a SNM 11971

SNM 62/9/62a SNM 62/9/62c

rosette

SNM 62/10/81a-b SNM 62/10/83

sun-disc (?)

SNM 62/10/88b

uraei

SNM 62/10/88c

wing, frieze

uraeus

SNM 62/10/88d

wing

SNM 62/10/88f

slightly curved panelling

SNM 62/10/88g

SNM 26/10/88m SNM 62/10/88h

SNM 62/10/126c-e

fertility; decorative pattern

SNM 62/10/62b SNM 62/10/88a

regenerative power,

wDAt-eye, herringbone band head, diadem, uraeus

sun-disc crown (?)

winged goddess in a protective gesture frieze

headdress / winged sun-disc

winged goddess / winged uraeus / winged sun-disc broad collar (?)

bracer of a royal figure

royal figure

SNM 62/10/127f

SNM 62/10/131d

SNM 62/10/132a-c SNM 62/10/132f SNM 62/10/88i

uraeus

frieze (?)

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 27 SNM 62/10/88k

wing

SNM 62/10/88l

herringbone band

SNM 62/10/89a

wing

SNM 62/10/89b

anx-sign, hand

SNM 62/10/89d

wing/garment

SNM 62/10/89c SNM 62/10/89f

SNM 62/10/89g

SNM 62/10/126b

SNM 62/10/127c-d SNM 62/10/127g SNM 62/10/131c

SNM 62/10/132d

SNM 62/10/132e SNM 62/10/132f

wing/dress

star (?), herringbone (?) ledge

uraeus/headdress (?) broad collar Amun

herringbone band

inscription in Meroitic

hieroglyphs (nm), wing uraei, inscription

uraei frieze, herringbone bands

winged goddess / winged uraeus / winged sun-disc -

winged goddess / winged uraeus / winged sun-disc deity -

royal/divine figure frieze (?) -

royal/divine figure (?) royal (?) figure pendant (?)

broad collar (?)

text, winged goddess / winged uraeus / winged sun-disc frieze

bracer/garment (?)

Fragments SNM 62/9/64a-d, SNM 62/10/88e, SNM 62/10/88j, SNM 62/10/89e, SNM 62/10/89h, SNM 62/10/90b, SNM 62/10/90f, SNM 62/10/126f-i, SNM

62/10/127b, SNM 62/10/127e, SNM 62/10/128d, SNM 62/10/131b, and SNM 62/10/132g-i show no discernible iconographical elements.

Figure. 10: Sandstone relief from the palace of Amanishakhete (drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal)

28

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

Figure. 11: Stucco relief fragments from the palace of Amanishakhete (drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal)

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 29

Figure. 12 : Stucco relief fragments from the Palace of Amanishakhete (drawing: Vlastimil Vrtal).

30

BIBLIOGRAPHY

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

Baud, M. 2010. ‘La maison du roi: le palais’, in M. Baud (ed.), Méroé: un empire sur le Nil. Paris–Milan, 241–243. Chapman, S. E. and D. Dunham. 1952. Decorated chapels of the Meroitic pyramids at Meroë and Barkal. The Royal Cemeteries of Kush 3. Boston. Ciampini, E. M. 2019. ‘La città regale di Natakamani’, in E. M. Ciampini, and F. Iannarilli (eds), Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan. Roma, 47–52. Dunham, D. 1957. Royal tombs at Meroë and Barkal. The Royal Cemeteries of Kush 4. Boston. Dunham, D. 1970. The Barkal temples: Excavated by George Andrew Reisner. Boston. Edwards, D. N. 2004. The Nubian Past: An archaeology of the Sudan. London. Eigner, D. 2010. ‘Where kings met gods: The Great Enclosure at Musawwarat es Sufra‘, Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin 21, 7–22. The Epigraphic Survey. 1936. Reliefs and inscriptions at Karnak, vol. 1: Ramses III's temple within the great inclosure of Amon. Oriental Institute Publications 25, Chicago. The Epigraphic Survey. 1940. Medinet Habu, vol. 4: Festival scenes of Ramses III. Oriental Institute Publications 51, Chicago. Ernst, H. 2001. ‘Altar oder Barkenuntersatz’, Göttinger Miszellen 180, 57–66. Feucht-Putz, E. 1967. Die königlichen Pektorale: Motive, Sinngehalt und Zweck. Bamberg. Gamer-Wallert, I. 1983. Der Löwentempel von Naq'a in der Butana (Sudan) III: Die Wandreliefs. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B (Geisteswissenschaften) 48 (3), Wiesbaden. Griffith, F. Ll. 1922. ‘Oxford excavations in Nubia’, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 9, 67–124. Hinkel, F. W. and U. Sievertsen. 2002. The Archaeological Map of Sudan. Supplement IV. Die Royal City von Meroe und die repräsentative Profanarchitektur in Kusch. Berlin. Hintze, F. 1971. Musawwarat es Sufra. Band 1, 2: Der Löwentempel. Tafelband. Berlin.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 31 Hofmann, I. 1971. Studien zum meroitischen Königtum. Monographies Reine Élisabeth 2. Bruxelles. Hofmann, I. and H. Tomandl. 1986. Unbekanntes Meroe. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung, Beiheft 1. Wien. Kendall, T. 1999. ‘The Napatan Palace at Gebel Barkal: A First Look at B 1200,’ in D. A. Welsby (ed.), Recent Research in Kushite History and Archaeology, London, 302–313. Kendall, T. and P. Wolf. 2007. ‘Excavations in the palace of Aspelta at Jebel Barkal, March 2007’, Sudan & Nubia 11, 82– 88. Kormysheva, E. 1994. ‘Das Inthronisationsritual des Königs von Meroe’, in R. Gundlach and M. Rochholz (eds), Ägyptische Tempel: Struktur, Funktion und Programm. Akten der Ägyptologischen Tempeltagungen in Gosen 1990 und in Mainz 1992, 187–209. Hildesheim. Kormysheva, E. 2010. Gott in seinem Tempel: lokale Züge und ägyptische Entlehnungen in der geistigen Kultur des alten Sudan. Moskau. Kröper, K., S. Schoske and D. Wildung (eds). 2011. Königsstadt Naga: Grabungen in der Wüste des Sudan. München–Berlin. Leclant, J. 1953. ‘La colonnade éthiopienne à l'est de la grande enceinte d'Amon à Karnak’, Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale 53, 113–172. Legrain, G. 1929. Les temples de Karnak: fragment du dernier ouvrage de Georges Legrain, Directeur des travaux du Service des antiquités de l'Égypte. Edited by Jean Capart. Bruxelles. Lohwasser, A. 1995. ‘Die Darstellung der kuschitischen Krönung’, in D. Kurth (ed.), 3. Ägyptologische Tempeltagung, Hamburg, 1.-5. Juni 1994: Systeme und Programme der ägyptischen Tempeldekoration. Wiesbaden, 163–185. Lohwasser, A. 2001. ‘Amanishakheto,’ in C.-B. Arnst, I. Hafemann and A. Lohwasser (eds), Begegnungen: Antike Kulturen im Niltal. Festgabe für Erika Endesfelder, Karl-Heinz Priese, Walter Friedrich Reinecke, Steffen Wenig. Leipzig, 285–302. Macadam, M. F. L. 1949. The temples of Kawa I: The Inscriptions. Oxford. Macadam, M. F. L. 1955. The temples of Kawa. II: History and archaeology of the site. Oxford.

32

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

Maillot, M. 2016. Palais et grandes demeures du royaume de Méroé. Paris. O’Connor, D. 1989. ‘City and palace in New Kingdom Egypt’, Cahiers de Recherches de l'Institut de Papyrologie et d'Égyptologie de Lille 11, 73–87. Onderka, P. 2016. Wad Ben Naga Report I: An Introduction to the Site. Praha. Onderka, P., V. Vrtal, M. Bárta, M. Dufková, A. Gatzsche, P. Havelková, J. Helmbold-Doyé, F. Naether, J. Novák, A. Pokorná, L. Suková and L. Varadzin, 2014. Núbie. Země na křižovatce kultur / Nubia. A Land on the Crossroads of Cultures. Wad Ben Naga 2014, Prague. Onderka, P., V. Vrtal and A. Gatzsche. 2015. ‘Preliminary Report on the Ninth Excavation Season of the Archaeological Expedition to Wad Ben Naga’, Annals of the Náprstek Museum 36/2, 93–110. Onderka, P., V. Vrtal and A. Gatzsche. 2016. ‘Preliminary Report on the Tenth Excavation Season of the Archaeological Expedition to Wad Ben Naga’, Annals of the Náprstek Museum 37/1, 2016, pp. 103–116. Onderka, P., V. Vrtal and G. Jungová. 2018. ‘Preliminary Report on the Fifteenth Excavation Season of the Archaeological Expedition to Wad Ben Naga’, Annals of the Náprstek Museum 39/2, 137–148. Onderka, P., V. Vrtal and J. Honzl. 2019a. ‘Preliminary Report on the Sixteenth Excavation Season of the Archaeological Expedition to Wad Ben Naga’, Annals of the Náprstek Museum 40/1, 135–148. Onderka, P., V. Vrtal and G. Jungová. 2019b. ‘Preliminary Report on the Seventeenth Excavation Season of the Archaeological Expedition to Wad Ben Naga’, Annals of the Náprstek Museum 40/2, 107–120. Priese, K.-H. 1984. ‘Wad Ben Naqa 1844’, Forschungen und Berichte 24, 11–29. Priese, K.-H. 1992. Das Gold von Meroe. Mainz. Priese, K.-H. 2003. ‘Bauen in Musawwarat’, Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin 14, 53–72.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 33 Randall-MacIver, D. and C. L. Woolley. 1911. Buhen. Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia 7–8. Philadelphia. Reisner, G. A. 1931. Inscribed monuments from Gebel Barkal, Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 66, 76– 100. Rilly, C. 2002. ‘"L'Obélisque" de Méroé’, Meroitic Newsletter 29, 95–190. Rilly, C. 2017. ‘Histoire du Soudan des origines à la chute du sultanat Fung’, in O. Cabon, V. Francigny, B. François, M. Maillot, Mohamed Musa Ibrahim, O. Nicoloso, C. Rilly and O. Rolin, Histoire et civilisations du Soudan de la préhistoire à nos jours. Paris, 26–445. Robisek, C. 1989. Das Bildprogramm des Mut-Tempels am Gebel Barkal. Veröffentlichungen der Institute für Afrikanistik und Ägyptologie der Universität Wien 52. Wien. Rose, P. 2000. ‘Evidence for early settlement at Qasr Ibrim’, Egyptian Archaeology 17, 3–4. Sackho-Autissier, A. 2011. ‘Ouad ben Naga inconnu: quelques objets en faïence du palais royal’, in V. Rondot, F. Alpi and F. Villeneuve (eds), La pioche et la plume: autour du Soudan, du Liban et de la Jordanie. Hommages archéologiques à Patrice Lenoble. Paris, 359–375. Sackho-Autissier, A. 2018. ‘An unusual object from the palace at Wad Ben Naga: the fragment of “tile”, Khartoum SNM 62/10/87. An essay of interpretation’, in M. Honegger (ed.), Nubian archaeology in the XXIst century: proceedings of the thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st-6th September 2014. Leuven, 565–568. Schibler, B. 1998. ‘Zur Ikonographie der Bau von Buto und Hierakonpolis,’ in A. Brodbeck (ed.), Ein ägyptisches Glasperlenspiel: ägyptologische Beiträge für Erik Hornung aus seinem Schülerkreis. Berlin, 187–197. Taurino, S. 2017. ‘Glazed terracotta decorations from the palace of Natakamani (B1500) at Napata: a typological and iconographical analysis. Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan at Jebel Barkal (Università Ca' Foscari, Venice)’, in I. Incordino, S. Mainieri, E. D’Itria, M. D. Pubblico, F. M. Rega and A. Salsano (eds),Current Research in Egyptology 2017.

34

VLASTIMIL VRTAL

Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Symposium, University of Naples, “L’Orientale” 3–6 May 2017. Oxford, 210–225. Török, L. 1992. ‘Ambulatory kingship and settlement history: a study on the contribution of archaeology to Meroitic history’, in C. Bonnet (ed.), Études nubiennes. Conférence de Genève: actes du VIIe Congrès international d'études nubiennes, 3–8 septembre 1990 1. Genève, 111–126. Török, L. 1997a. Meroe City, an ancient African capital: John Garstang's excavations in the Sudan. Egypt Exploration Society, Occasional Publications 12 (1–2). London. Török, L. 1997b. The kingdom of Kush: handbook of the NapatanMeroitic civilization. Handbuch der Orientalistik, erste Abteilung: Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten / Handbook of Oriental Studies, section 1: The Near and Middle East. Leiden. Török, L. 2002. The image of the ordered world in ancient Nubian art: the construction of the Kushite mind, 800 BC – 300 AD. Probleme der Ägyptologie 18. Leiden–Boston–Köln. Török, L. 2011. Hellenizing art in ancient Nubia 300 BC-AD 250 and its Egyptian models: a study in "acculturation". Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 53. Leiden–Boston. Vassilika, E. 1989. Ptolemaic Philae. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 34. Leuven. Vercoutter, J. 1957. ‘Stand for a sacred bark or altar? (The altar of Taharqa in the Great Temple of Amon at Gebel Barkal)’, Kush 5, 87–90. Vercoutter, J. 1962. ‘Un Palais des "Candaces", contemporain d'Auguste (Fouilles à Wad-ban-Naga 1958–1960)’, Syria 39, 263–299. Vrtal, V. 2013. ‘The Palace of Queen Amanishakheto (WBN 100)’, in P. Onderka, V. Vrtal, J. Dašková, M. Dufková, A. Gatzsche, R. John, E. Spindler and F. Vacek, Wad Ben Naga 1821–2013, Praha, 57–62. Vrtal, V. 2017. ‘Reconstructing the 1958–1960 excavations in the Palace of Amanishakheto at Wad Ben Naga’, Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin 28, 69–79.

THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE AMANISHAKHETE PALACE 35 Wenig, S. 1977. ‘Der meroitische Tempel von Amara’, in E. Endesfelder, K.-H. Priese, W. F. Reineke, S. Wenig (eds), Ägypten und Kusch: Fritz Hintze zum 60. Geburtstag, Berlin, 459–475. Wenig, S. 1993. ‘Die Darstellungen. Untersuchung zu Ikonographie, Inhalt und Komposition der Reliefs’, in F. Hintze, K.-H. Priese, S. Wenig, C. Onasch, G. BuschendorffOtto and U. Hintze, Musawwarat es Sufra. Band 1, 1: Der Löwentempel. Textband. Berlin. Wildung, D. 1996. Sudan. Antike Königreiche am Nil. München. Zibelius, K. 1983. Der Löwentempel von Naq'a in der Butana (Sudan) IV: Die Inschriften. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B (Geisteswissenschaften) 48 (4). Wiesbaden. Žabkar, L. V. 1968. A study of the Ba concept in ancient Egyptian texts. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 34. Chicago.

THE AMULETS OF THE KERMA CULTURE IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN: FROM THE DATABASE TO LINKED OPEN DATA

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO INTRODUCTION

The paper presents an outline of the potential new technology has for the collection management of the Kerma culture amulets in the National Museum of Sudan (NMS). This large collection includes the amulets excavated during the archaeological investigations conducted by the Harvard University- Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition (MFA), under the direction of G.A. Reisner between 1913 and 1916 in the site of Kerma. In the collection of the NMS are also included the amulets found during the excavations undertaken by the Swiss Mission, directed by Ch. Bonnet from 1973 at Kerma and those found in 1960 by the S.A.S. UNESCO in different sites located in Lower Nubia. Until that point, none of these amulets had been studied systematically by anyone, therefore a complete analytical record has been obtained for the first time. The main objective of this paper is to draw attention to the methods for the publication of data that can support greater accessibility to the collection of the NMS. This aim was considered to be of crucial importance for this research project in 37

38

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

order to enable a full and accurate overview of the distribution of the amulets throughout the different sites of the Kerma culture. An important goal of the digitalization of these finds has been to virtually unify all the amulets of the Kerma culture that are still scattered through different collections. The focus of the digitalization project has been on using technology to build relationships between different types of data that were previously unavailable to researchers. The technology itself is not the end-goal of research, but the vehicle of delivery that allows researchers to focus on the results (Der Manuelian 2009, p. 151). In this particular case, it can recreate a virtual collection including all the amulets of the Kerma Culture spread throughout the world. THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE KERMA AMULETS COLLECTION

The study of the amulets of the Kerma culture will be the subject of a forthcoming monograph published by Harvard Egyptological Studies (in agreement with the MFA) and granted by the Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications (https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/). The study is aimed at elaborating the first typology and distribution analysis of the Kerma culture amulets, as the available publications are largely incomplete (Reisner 1923a, pp. 89–133). An important objective of The amulets of the Kerma Culture project is the digitization of these finds (https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/people/elena-ditria). The emergence of online archives has facilitated greater access to new information, which can be disseminated much faster and in a greater quantity than in the past. The most significant contribution of computer science is arguably that it allows us to manage a huge quantity of data and information for a more detailed diachronic and synchronic analysis of cultural and environmental processes. The potential afforded by digital tools to manage archaeological finds was especially crucial in the case of the amulets stored in the NMS. Unfortunately, these objects had merely been recorded in the museum catalogues and entry books. During this project, all the amulets stored in the NMS (469 examples in total) were digitalized and examined in detail. It was possible to measure and photograph them, thus obtaining for the first time a complete analytical record. The collection, composed

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

39

of 56 accession numbers, includes different necklaces and circlets of which the amulets are often components. Of the amulets included in the collection of the NMS: 41 accession numbers were related to the finds excavated by G. Reisner in the Eastern cemetery of Kerma and dated to the Classical Period. A further 14 accession numbers include the amulets found by other missions to Nubia from various sites of the Kerma culture: • • • • •

four at the site of Saras by the S.A.S. UNESCO (NMS 18477, NMS 18480, NMS 18454, NMS 22596); three at Melik en Nasir by the S.A.S. UNESCO (NMS 20940, NMS 21491, NMS 21157); three at Ukma by the S.A.S. UNESCO (NMS 21965, NMS 21924, NMS 21952); one at the site of Abka by the Scandinavian Joint Expedition (NMS 136983); three at the site of Kumbur by the Swiss Archaeological Mission (NMS 23091; NMS 23119; NMS 23136).

Different types of amulets were identified and described in detail and distribution maps and relevant graphs were realized. In addition to carrying out a detailed investigation of the amulets, chronological issues, diachronic differences between the findspots and the potential meaning and usage of the amulets have been brought to light. The aim of the work accomplished in the storerooms of the NMS is to publish the first complete list of the amulets kept in this museum, thereby making information on this precious collection available to both the public and scholars alike. The data obtained from the study of this collection allows us to carry out a typological analysis of the amulets from the cemetery of the capital city and other sites of the Kerma culture in Lower Nubia. It should be stressed that the schematic amulet-beads, which represented 93% of all the amulets discovered in the capital city, appear largely absent from the Kerma culture tombs of sites located in Lower Nubia, e.g. Abka, Kumbur, Saras. Therefore, these specific amulets could be associated with a cult rooted in the capital that was absent in other regions, such as in Lower Nubia, where only amulets of Egyptian origin were found. Nevertheless, further investigation is required in order to fully

40

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

incorporate the amulets found at Saï, Mirgissa, and in the Kerma sites located in the Fourth cataract region with those found in the capital city and thus allow an investigation of the possible differences between the various typologies (D’Itria, forthcoming). The physical and virtual accessibility of collections is guaranteed not only through the exhibition of finds but also by ensuring that artefacts, which are not on display but are held in museum stores, can be easily examined (Mottola Molfino 1991). Unfortunately, despite the ever-increasing attention paid to museums, the storage facilities of the NMS plays a marginal role, whose potential is rarely explored and/or valued. A fundamental challenge for the NMS today is to recognize how storage facilities should be treated as importantly as exhibition spaces. They both play a dynamic and multifaceted role in conservation but also in research and development (Rémy 1999; Della Monica et al. 2004; Beaujaurd-Vallet 2011). Realising this similarity will greatly assist the NMS in preserving its role as a centre of knowledge at the service of the scientific community. It should also be considered that due to conservation (i.e. the particular fragility or perishable state of goods), safety (custodial and surveillance problems) and scientific reasons (restrictions on viewing unpublished material) not all collections in storage facilities are accessible. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN AND THE FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR PRESERVING THE COLLECTION

After the signing of the Convention on the Waters of the Nile between Egypt and Sudan in 1952, Nasser decided to build a huge dam in Aswan to control the high floods and irrigate Egypt. In 1960, UNESCO launched a salvage campaign and archaeologists had four years to scan the ancient sites and save the monuments of both Egyptian and Sudanese Nubia before this dam would create a lake that was more than 500 km. Entire temples had to be displaced, representing a huge amount of work in Egypt. In Sudan, the temples were smaller but there were no real institutions that could protect them. The place where the Museum stands today was chosen to harbour the temples of Nubia and a new building that could shelter the collections (figure 1–2). The

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

Figure 1: Monumental alley with lions of Basa, NMS Khartoum

Figure 2: Columns of the cathedral of Faras, NMS Khartoum

41

42

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

salvage of the monuments of Nubia with UNESCO support allowed a new National Museum to be built and the inauguration took place in 1971. Today, the NMS contains the largest and most important archaeological collection in Sudan (Rilly 2013, pp. 16–17). Besides participating in internal exhibitions for the promotion of ancient Sudanese civilizations and culture, the NMS participated in several international exhibitions such as ʻSudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nileʼ held in Munich in 1996 (Wildung 1997), ʻSudan’s Ancient Treasuresʼ (Welsby, Anderson 2004) at the British Museum in 2004, and the ʻMeroe, Empire on the Nileʼ exhibition at the Louvre Museum in 2010 (Baud, Sackho-Autissier 2010). These exhibitions were a major contribution to increasing the number of tourists visiting the archaeological sites in Sudan (Ahmed Husseim Abdelrhamn Adam 2017, pp. 1–6). Two guidebooks that focus on the history of Sudan and describe the museum collections have recently been published: a bilingual ArabicEnglish book by Abdel Rahman Ali Mohamed and Julie R. Anderson (Ali Mohamed, Anderson 2017) and another by the Section Française de la Direction des Antiquités du Sudan (SFDAS) in French, English, Arabic (Rilly 2013). The aim of these guidebooks is to promote the cultural heritage of the country as the museum plays a vital role in national identity, awareness and education in Sudan. The National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) is involved in a joint project with UNESCO that has led to a widespread and noticeable improvement in the museum environment in Sudan. One of the objectives of this UNESCO project is to promote increased use of digital technology in conserving, cataloguing, labelling and creating digital records of all collections. It began in 2007 with the creation of a museum site on the World Wide Web with the help of the British Museum. However, the plans yet to be completed. There is also a new collaboration with the Louvre and the storerooms of the NMS will be re-organized completely (Ahmed Husseim Abdelrhamn Adam 2017, p. 10). As argued by Rotimi-Williams Bello in 2018 museum collections require a great deal of care and protection in order to ensure their safety from external loss or damage. A further

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

43

requirement is in-depth documentation to assist in tracking the life of objects within the holding institutions. To accommodate these needs, collectors adhere to collections management and collections care standards and practices, which serve to create a safe environment for collection objects with clear and precise accompanying documentation. Museums have devised different traditional methods for preserving and conserving the collections. But these methods for conserving museum collections are faced with a lot of challenges such as theft, fire, depreciation, temperature, humidity and so on. These challenges have made it difficult for the museums to achieve its purpose, hence, the need for technology intervention in form of digital storage media and technological museum for virtual conservation of heritage resources (Rotimi-Williams Bello et al. 2018, pp. 46–47). This work appraises the impact of technology in the storage of the NMS collection in that, as argued by Rotimi-Williams Bello in 2018, for the traditional method to sustain durability, there is need for its extension to incorporate the curation of technology as most of the problems confronting traditional museum collections are not beyond what technology can handle (RotimiWilliams Bello et al. 2018, pp. 46–47). Among the notable contributions of technology in preserving and conserving museum collection are the easy record accessibility and retrieval and the protection of artefacts. In the case of the collection of the amulets at the NMS, the application of digital storage media has many advantages: spacesaving and portability; data can be located, accessed and modified quickly; easy record accessibility and retrieval; protection of artefacts against different hazards, such as temperature, humidity, fire (Rotimi-Williams Bello et al. 2018, 49). The use of technology greatly enhances the research experience because it provides an opportunity for researchers who cannot physically visit the NMS to learn about its precious collection on-line.

TRACKING DATA

The development of Web services facilitates access to information. Researchers from different disciplines use the potentiality of the World Wide Web to exchange data and extract information.

44

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

However, the Web has not been completely exploited by archaeologists. As Kansa recently stated on Web 2.0 (Kansa et al. 2011, p. 5), archaeologists do not use the Web as a primary channel of dissemination, and for this reason, most data sets and manuscripts see little circulation on the Web. Usually, the archaeological publications that are not always freely accessible concern hypothesis and theories based on archaeological data, while archaeological data are restricted to the research groups. However, the situation is slowly changing. Archaeologists endeavour to publish their data often encouraged by funding and grants which require the use of the technology. These financial awards stress in particular the openness and interoperability through the Web, with the Shelby-White and Leon Levy program (WLP) being one example of this (https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/): ʻDigital data plays an increasingly important role in scholarship and the WLP encourages applicants to consider innovative models of digital dissemination as a primary or secondary outcome of publication projects. Like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the WLP is committed to encouraging good practice with regard to the management, preservation, and access to research data. Most current publication projects involve the management of various forms of digital data (documents, data tables, digital images, GIS files, etc.). These data may represent invaluable and irreplaceable resources needing long term preservation. Similarly, these data resources may be valuable to the scholarly community for research and instructional purposesʼ (https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/whitelevy/files/wlp_data_ma nagement_plan.pdf). Indeed, an important achievement of The amulets of the Kerma culture project, which was funded by the WLP, is the digitization of all the records concerning the amulets, and alongside this the realisation of a relational database. The whole corpus of digital data and media files produced in the course of the project and the relational database will be converted to allow an online publication. The digital repository also provides persistent identifiers (URI) that ensure the content developed by our project will be present on the Web. The issue of web publication is especially interesting when considering archives and collections which are held in institutions

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

45

that for several reasons are difficult to reach. In most cases, digital items which reproduce cultural assets are often hard to access and the institutions’ websites present only a selection of their collections. In other cases, the archives and/or collections do not have any corresponding digital database. So, the only way to access the collection is to visit the museum or the institution where it is kept. Thus, researchers have to look for financial aids to support the costs of travel and have to be aware of any relevant bureaucratic procedures that allow them to access the information. Once the researcher is able to find and study data, they can be included in the process of hypothesis reconstruction, which is usually published in papers or books. Moreover, the papers and/or books are not always accessible and easy to find. In such cases, it would be necessary to read the researcher’s publication in order to have a description of the analysed objects and where they are preserved. By considering the Web as the main communication channel to look for information, a good alternative could certainly be to communicate and publish not only the studies but also the raw data, according to the philosophy of Open Science and Open Data, which also allows the relationship between the data and the institution where they are kept to be maintained. The study of the amulets of the Kerma culture began with research in various museums. Few data were accessible online, the main corpus was identified in the stores of the museum where the researcher went in order to document and analyse the amulets. We have already described the importance of digital systems to manage and store data. However, researchers can make important contributions to the publication of objects kept in museums, especially if that data is to be included in a complex study with a dataset spread across more than one museum. This is the case with the Amulets of Kerma culture project granted by the WLP (http://www.unior.it/ateneo/20524/1/the-amulets-ofthe-karma-culture.html). The study initially involved the organization of data through a relational database followed by considerations related to the need to publish data. Not only does research need to be published in papers or books but so do the

46

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

data and their relationships with the archaeological sites, collections and museums.

METHODOLOGY: THE RELATIONAL DATABASE OF THE AMULETS OF KERMA CULTURE PROJECT

In this research project digital archival methodology can be used as a tool to reassess and facilitate greater access to Reisner’s records. Kerma objects from Reisner’s excavations, as in the case of the amulets, are dispersed throughout various museum collections including in Khartoum, the Boston MFA, the British Museum, and the Harvard Peabody Museum. Due to the lack of a comprehensive concordance between the field numbers used by Reisner in his publication and the museum accession numbers, some Kerma objects have lost their precise archaeological context. Yet the key to associating the finds with the archival documents and images is Reisner’s field number, which features a prefix of year and month, followed by a running sequential number (e.g. 13–12–240) (Minor 2018, pp. 253–254).

Figure 3: The management and digitization of the amulets in the storeroom of NMS

The entire corpus of the amulets studied in the course of the project was digitized and to manage all these finds, a relational database was produced using Microsoft Access (Figure 3). A relational database is ʻa set of formally described tables from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without the need for any reorganization. The main advantages of relational databases are that they enable users to easily categorize and store data that can later be queried and filtered to extract specific information for reportsʼ

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

47

(https://www.dbta.com/Editorial/Trends-and-Applications/BestRelational-Database-126486.aspx). The term relation is used in the mathematical sense of set theory, as in the relationship between groups of sets. In The amulets of the Kerma culture database, data were organized into three different tables according to a relationship structure. The first table describes the contexts, the second the necklaces and circlets (figure 4), of which the amulets are often components, while the third lists all the amulets (figure 5). Each table contains further data categories organized into columns, also called attributes. These attributes describe the features of the finds and the archaeological contexts where the amulets were discovered. Each table has a unique primary key which identifies the information. In our database, the primary key is the accession number which shows the relationship between the three tables (D’Itria, Ferrandino 2020).

Figure 4: String of faïence beads and amulet-beads representing baboons (6), ladders (4), Tawaret (16) and one hand, found in the Eastern cemetery of Kerma, tomb K 311 (NMS 1004). Photography Courtesy National Museum of Sudan, Khartoum.

48

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

Figure 5: Amulet-bead in faïence representing Tawaret, found in the site Eastern cemetery of Kerma, tomb K 1045 (NMS 1269). Photography Courtesy National Museum of Sudan, Khartoum.

The three related tables provide information on the typologies and distribution patterns of these objects, to understand any diachronic and synchronic differences in the distribution of the finds and, therefore, to detect any intra- and inter-site variations. Through the creation of queries, it was possible to interrogate our database by cross-referencing the data from the various tables. Having this resource greatly facilitated the archival research necessary for analysing the frequency with which the different types of amulets appeared across the various periods of the Kerma culture. In addition, the distribution of these finds across the various sites in this study was analysed. This resource confirmed the hypothesis that there are differences between the types of amulets found at the site of Kerma and those from the other sites. Exemplary are the schematic amulet-bead that appear largely absent from the Kerma culture tombs located in Lower Nubia and were also unknown in Egypt (D’Itria 2018, pp. 66–68). The database has linked the Kerma amulets housed in the MFA of Boston, the NMS of Khartoum, the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genèva (MAH) and the Harvard Peabody Museum. It also collects the amulets found at Saï and Mirgissa kept at the Institut de Papyrologie et d’Égyptologie de Lille and those found at the sites of Lower Nubia currently held at the University of

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

49

Uppsala and the Oriental Institute of Chicago. Through this application, it has been possible to virtually unify all the Kerma amulets, which are currently held in six different museums, for the first time. Thanks to our database, it was possible to relocate some amulets belonging to the Kerma culture that have been scattered throughout diverse collections for more than a century. This investigation was initially focused on the finds kept in the MFA of Boston and the NMS of Khartoum. However, it was then expanded to include the amulets excavated by the Swiss Mission, those from the island of Saï and those found in Lower Nubian sites, all of which have now been incorporated into the database. These additions were considered to be of crucial importance for this project in order to obtain a full and accurate overview of the distribution of the amulets throughout the different sites of the Kerma culture. DATA PUBLICATION

The value of any database is strictly connected with budgetary constraints and time (Kansa et al. 2011, p. 58). In order to collect a variety of published and unpublished data from different sources, Microsoft Access was considered the most suitable system solution for the realization of the database. Therefore, a conceptual structure capable of reflecting the level of enquiry relevant to the aim of the research was formalized. This structure and the archaeological, temporal, and spatial data enabled the extraction of information through distributive, diachronic and synchronic analysis. However, such a structure also has its limitations. To query the system, it is necessary to know the structure and the relationships among the tables. Thus, before querying the database, other users have to familiarize themselves with it. Furthermore, with their primary keys linked through established relationships, the tables define a very close system, which is almost impossible to expand aside from a complete overhaul to the whole structure due to its top-down approach. By starting from the general and moving to the specific, such an approach entails the a priori elaboration of a conceptual schema based on known data that users need to store. This approach presents two main problems: the formalization of knowledge and data sharing. In a database, data

50

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

can be described in different ways according to what is important. Database terminology does not conform to standard vocabularies nor are thesauri applied. The absence of a standard does not allow the integration and sharing of data, and different formats produced by proprietary software, block the interoperability. This means that such a database is only useful to a researcher and devoted to that project. Everyone, who need to use the database for studying data, has to have a detailed knowledge of the structure. Furthermore, the top-down approach is in opposition to the philosophy of the Web which favours Open Access and the continuous expansion of the network of data. All of these problems raised by our archaeological database appear to be anachronistic partly because they have already been touched upon in other disciplines, and partly because they appear to be opposed to the principles of long-term preservation, reuse, interpretation and sharing of knowledge. However, the increasing number of projects aimed at the digitalization of archaeological archives can guide us towards a different approach, one which supports access to an enormous amount of archaeological information to both researchers and the general public. Data publication entails the free availability, sharing, implementation, use and reuse of data among several users or researchers. Open data is the term that refers to the full publication of data. Access to data enables a pattern of reuse and knowledge creation that was previously impossible (Costa et al. 2013, p. 450). The sharing of open data via the Web is not a new practice. However, for the publication and the creation of our digital and open archive, we take our inspiration from existing projects, such as Europeana, a digital library and aggregator of diverse kinds of data (documents, images, videos, 3Ds) concerning European cultural heritage. Here, the data providers are European cultural institutions who decide to publish their data, making them accessible and useable. Data are published according to the standard Europeana Data Model metadata which defines how data are processed and presented.

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

51

There also exist established services such as the Archaeological Data Service (ADS) (https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/), an open-access digital repository in the UK that collects data sets within the area broadly defined as Archaeology and the Historic Environment, including the material cultural aspects of Ancient History and Classics; and Open Context, a free, open-access resource for the Web publication of primary field research from archaeology and related disciplines (https://opencontext.org/). Both ADS and Open Context repositories are based on standard metadata for describing data and they implement Linked Open Data technology (figures 6–7).

Figure 6: The workflow process for data publication

Figure 7: Mapping from the relational database to metadata standards

52

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

FROM DATABASE TO LINKED OPEN DATA (LOD)

Data publication means that data are shared on the Semantic Web, the common virtual reality where all people interact with data. According to the definition of W3C, ‘The Semantic Web is the Web of data, of dates and titles and part numbers and chemical properties and any other data one might conceive of. The collection of Semantic Web technologies (RDF, OWL, SKOS, SPARQL, etc.) provides an environment where the application can query that data, draw inferences using vocabularies, etc….’ ‘However, to make the Web of Data a reality, it is important to have the huge amount of data on the Web available in a standard format, reachable and manageable by Semantic Web tools. Furthermore, not only does the Semantic Web need access to data, but relationships among data should be made available, too, to create a Web of Data (as opposed to a sheer collection of datasets). This collection of interrelated datasets on the Web can also be referred to as Linked Data’ (https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data). Linked Data represents a technology that refers to data published on the Web in such a way that it is machine-readable, its meaning is explicitly defined, linked to other external data sets and can, in turn, be linked to from external data sets (Bizer et al. 2009, p. 2). The term Linked Data is used to describe a method of exposing, sharing and connecting data via URIs on the Web (http://linkeddata.org/home). Berners-Lee (2006) outlined a set of ‘rules’ for publishing data on the Web in a way that all published data become part of a single global data space: 1. Use Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) as names for things 2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names 3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL) 4. Include links to other URIs, so that they can discover more things (Bizer et al. 2009, p. 2).

According to the definition of LOD and the set of rules, data are identified with URIs, used to represent information about a certain domain, that work as a means to identify any entity in the Web. Giving URIs, data became Resources and have a represen-

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

53

tation in the Web. In the case of the Kerma amulets of the NMS, each one will receive a URI(s) which identifies each amulet. This number differs from the inventory number found in the description of the object, meaning that the resource could be represented as an HTML page, a printable PDF document, and so on. Data identified with URIs use the HTTP:// scheme, a protocol that provides a simple universal mechanism for retrieving resources. URIs and HTTP are associated with the Resource Description Framework (RDF) which provides a graph-based data model (figure 8). The RDF model encodes data in the form of subject, predicate and object triples with which to structure and link data that describe things in the world. Thus, it is possible to link each amulet with its URI and to the NMS webpage as well as to amulets held in other museums. Representing data in this way, one can interconnect heterogeneous resources and navigate the Semantic Web through links. Furthermore, LOD is provided by vocabularies used to describe entities in the world and their relationships. Data are also provided by metadata used to assess the quality of published data and to allow not only humans but also machines the identification of the semantic value. Thus, LOD represents an early but fundamental shift towards a digital resource culture.

Figure 8: The records of the database become resources on the web by using URI

54

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

The use of LOD in archaeology requires a change of perspective and the acquisition of new skills. From an archaeological perspective, it appears to be a new opportunity, especially if we consider the growing amount of data which is diverse in typology, format, structure and scale. The goal of our project is to integrate the interpretative work of the researcher with the network of data used by the researcher for the study. For this reason, we decided to publish our data with Open Context, ʻa free, Web-based data publishing tool providing access to primary data from multiple projects. Open Context is a common portal for browsing, simple “Google-like” searches, complex Boolean queries, data summary, data export, and tagging of several pooled data setsʼ (Kansa et al. 2011, p. 59). Open Context has a highly abstracted and generalized global schema for representing data. This general approach takes its inspiration from the data structure developed by the OCHRE project (originally called ʻArchaeoMLʼ). Thus, it emphasizes RDF and Linked Open Data to relate the data it publishes with the data curated by external sources. Open Context uses a variety of ontologies and controlled vocabularies described in OWL and SKOS (https://github.com/ekansa/oc-ontologies). Our dataset will receive a DOI and every single item in the dataset will take a unique identifier. Data will be described and linked with each other and with other resources. In the case of the Kerma amulets kept in the NMS, it will be possible to describe the physical objects according to the description given in the database. Indeed, all the information presents in the database will be converted according to the system of Open Context and using LOD.

CONCLUSION

As repositories of artefacts, museums ensure the preservation and conservation of heritage. This status presents challenges concerning the accessibility of data collections that can be deal with via the technology and the Open Data approach. Our reflections led us to consider the Web as the best communication channel and Linked Open Data the best way to reconstruct the network of data which supports the researcher’s study. With particular reference to the Kerma Culture amulets in the NMS, it

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

55

would be very easy to check out objects from anywhere of the world although held in the storage through this approach. The publication of data on the Web allows the creation of a network of amulets of the Kerma Culture which are physically held in different museums. From this point of view, the study of the amulets that are soon to be published in a forthcoming book will also assume a different value: users (such as scholars or the general public) can visualise amulets, their attributes, the information related to the archaeological sites where they were found and the archaeological missions who worked there, as well as the links with other amulets. Thus, users can reconstruct all the network of relationships which formed the basis of the Amulets of Kerma Culture research project and retrace each step that the researcher took through the course of her research. Furthermore, the digitalisation of the whole Kerma culture amulets corpus is the most effective way to ensure the sustainability of the data. The initial and main aim of The Amulets of the Kerma culture project was to catalogue all of the amulets excavated by G. Reisner, which had remained in the storerooms of various museums for over a century. The realisation of the relational database discussed here is the first complete collection of all of the available data on the Kerma amulets, including all their intrinsic (such as dimensions, materials, state of preservation) and extrinsic information (discovery site, director of the mission, present location). We believe it is important that the Web is not seen as a replacement or substitution for conventional data archiving. The creation of a personal database or the use of a spreadsheet sometimes appears the fastest way to record information, especially when one works in difficult situations without an internet connection. Nevertheless, we remain fully aware of the fact that an enormous amount of information still remains inaccessible. Therefore, publication becomes crucial for the longterm preservation of the project data. Nevertheless, as archaeologists, we are currently publishing data much more efficiently than we ever have before and are, therefore, helping to ensure a future for archaeological data in terms of sustainability.

56

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to thank Rita E. Freed and Denise Doxey of the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, Beatrice Blandin curator of the Musée d’art et d’Histoire of Geneva, Abdel Rahman Ali Mohamed of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museum of the Sudanese Government, for their generous help and advice throughout the course of this research. We are grateful to Prof. Andrea Manzo (UNIOR) for reading through the first drafts of this paper and Prof. Andrea D’Andrea (UNIOR) for his invaluable support to realize the relational database and his precious suggestions about the paper. The project has been made possible through a generous grant from ‘The Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications’ (Harvard University, The Semitic Museum, Cambridge MA, USA).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abdel Rahman Ali Mohamed, Anderson J.R. 2017. A guide book of the Sudan National Museum. Khartoum. Ahmed Husseim Abdelrhamn Adam 2017. Museum in the Sudan: history, current situation and challenges. Aus der archäeologie, MITTSAG 28, pp. 1–12. Baud M., Sackho-Autissier A. 2010. Meroe empire on the Nile. Paris. Beaujard-Vallet, S. 2011. L’évolution du role des reserves muséales: les reserves délocalisées du musée de l’Armée. La letter de l’ocim 138, pp. 11–15. Berners-Lee, T., 2006, Linked Data – Design Issues. Retrieved July 23, http://www.w3.org/designIssues/LinkedData.html. Bizer Cr., Heath T., Berners-Lee T. 2009, Linked Data-The Story so far, in International journal on Semantic Web and information systems, 5 (3), pp. 1–22 Bonnet, C. 1990, Kerma, Royaume de Nubie. L’antiquité africaine au temps des pharaons, Geneva. Bonnet, C. 2014a, Forty Years of Research on Kerma Culture, in J.R. Anderson, D.A. Welsby (eds), The Fourth Cataract and Beyond. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference for Nubian Studies, Louvain, Paris, Walpole, pp. 81–93. Bonnet, C., Valbelle, D. 2014b, La ville de Kerma. Une capitale nubienne au sud de l’Egypte, Lausanne.

KERMA AMULETS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SUDAN

57

Costa S., Beck A., Bevan A., Ogden J. 2013, Defining and advocating open data in archaeology, in Archaeology in the Digital Era: Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) University of Southampton on 26–30 March 2012, Amsterdam, pp. 449–456. Della Monica A., Deloncle J., May R., Valaison M.C. 2004. Perpignan, un projet de reserves externalisées et communes. Pour une nouvelle demarche en matière de programmation des collections et de projet de reserbes. Technè 19, pp. 48–51. Der Manuelian, Peter 2009. Eight years at the Giza Archive Project: past experiences and future plans for the Giza digital archive. In L. Marucchi, C. Orsenigo (eds.), Egyptian & Egyptological Documents, Archives, Libraries. EDAL vol. I. Milan, pp. 149–160. D’Itria E., Ferrandino G. 2020. A Digital Archive for the amulets of the Kerma Culture: a preliminary study. CISA Newsletter XX. D’Itria E., forthcoming. Kerma amulets: iconography and manufacture techniques, in V. Rondot, M. Millet, P. Tallet and F. Payraudeau (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference for Nubian Studies, Paris, September 10–15, 2018. Musée du Louvre and Sorbone Universitè. D’Itria E. 2018. Forgotten treasures: a journey (re)discovering the amulets of the Kerma Culture of the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston and in the Sudan National Museum of Khartoum, in I. Incordino, S. Mainieri, E. D’Itria et al. (eds.), Current Research in Egyptlogy 2017. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annuala Symposium, University of Naples “L’Orientale” 3–6 May 2017, Oxford, pp. 54–70. Isaksen, L., K. Martinez, N. Gibbins, G. Earl, S. Keay, 2010, Linking archaeological data, in Frischer, Bernard and Fischer, Lisa (eds.), Making History Interactive. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA). Proceedings of the 37th International Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America, March 22–26, Oxford, pp. 130–136. Kansa, E. C., Kansa, S. W., & Watrall, E. (eds.) 2011. Archaeology 2.0: new approaches to communication and collaboration (Vol. 1).

58

ELENA D’ITRIA & GILDA FERRANDINO

Kansa, E. 2012, Openness and Archaeology’s Information Ecosystem. World Archaeology, 44, pp. 498–520. Mottola Molfino, A. 1991. Il libro dei musei. Turin. Minor, E. 2018, Decolonizing Reisner: a case study of a Classic Kerma female burial for reinterpreting early Nubian archaeological collections through digital archival resources, in M. Honegger (ed.), Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies. Neuchâtel, 1st-6th September 2014, OLA 273, pp. 251–262. Reisner, G. A. 1923a, Excavations at Kerma, Parts I-III. Cambridge Mass.: Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Reisner, G. A. 1923b, Excavations at Kerma, Parts IV-V. Cambridge Mass.: Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Rémy, L. 1999. Les reserves: stockage passif ou pôle de valorization du patrimoine?. La letter de l’ocim 65, pp. 27– 35. Rilly, C. 2013. The Sudan National Museum in Khartoum An illustrated guide for visitors. SFDAS. Rotimi-Williams Bello, Firstman Noah Tobo, 2018. E-Museum of heritage resources- The Chalenges. International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Sciences, ISSN (Online): 2455–9024. Volume 3, Issue 3, pp. 109–114. Welsby D., Anderson J.R. (eds.) 2004. Sudan: Ancient Treasures: An Exibition of Recent Discoveries from the Sudan National Museum of Sudan. London. Wildung, D. (ed.) 1997. Sudan: Ancient Kingdom of the Nile. Paris.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF

BIOANTHROPOLOGY IN UNDERSTANDING THE MESOLITHICNEOLITHIC TRANSITION IN EASTERN SUDAN GIUSY CAPASSO BIOANTHROPOLOGY:

A KEY ROLE IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PAST AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH ARCHAEOLOGY

Born from the practices of New Archaeology, Bioanthropology focuses its research on the study of ancient human skeletal evidence from archaeological contexts. This represents a crucial study phase for a deeper understanding of funeral behaviors and for the reconstruction of the biocultural characteristics and adaptations of the reference ancient communities (Larsen, Walker 2010). In recent years, the relationship between archaeological and anthropological disciplines has intensified in order to ensure a more complete interpretation of the contexts investigated: it is an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates different data, encompassing archaeological, biological, ecological and historical evidences (Larsen 2006; Martin et al. 2013). For the reconstruction of the so-called ‘funeral gestures’, funeral archaeology cannot be separated from the study of human 59

60

GIUSY CAPASSO

remains – once neglected and considered a secondary and contour aspect – and from the information inferable already starting from the excavation phases (Duday 2006; Nilsson Stutz 2018): an interdisciplinary approach is emerging in which the anthropologist intervenes from the earliest stages of the archaeological excavation. Bones and teeth of the skeleton are often well preserved and offer precious information on the interactions that occurred between ancient human groups and the natural and sociocultural environment in which they lived: the biological characterisation of individuals (sex, age-at-death, stature, pathological conditions, subsistence strategies, and work activities) allow us to reconstruct “osteobiographies” and to investigate how this can be related to their funeral treatment (Larsen 1997; Larsen, Walker 2004; Buikstra, Beck 2006).

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT: THE INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ITALIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO EASTERN SUDAN

Since 1980 the IAEES (Italian Archaeological Expedition to Eastern Sudan) has aimed to reconstruct the past of this region, whose cultural sequence goes from the 6th millennium BCE to the 1st millennium CE (Manzo 2017). For Eastern Sudan the archaeological evidence dates from the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition to the 4th millennium BCE: with a fully interdisciplinary approach, ongoing bioarchaeological studies – encompassing anthropological, archaeobotanical and archeozoological data – are actively contributing in understanding the bio-cultural effects of this phenomenon. The excavation campaigns directed by Andrea Manzo from 2010 have brought to light different cemeteries, dating to the Mesolithic and the Neolithic period, yielding almost 170 tombs. The skeletal material collected from the Mesolithic site of UA50, located in the region between the Gash and the Atbara rivers, and the Neolithic site of K1 at Mahal Teglinos, near the city of Kassala, are currently the subject of comparative studies regarding funerary behaviors, life conditions, and subsistence strategies of different human groups.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

61

Figure 1: Google Earth maps showing the location of the sites Mahal Teglinos (K1) and UA50

On the basis of radiometric data and archaeological evidences, the human remains from the Mesolithic site UA50 are considered to be related to the Malawiya Group culture (5th millennium BCE), while the ones recorded from the western cemetery of the Neolithic site K1 are ascribed to the Gash Group culture (3rd millennium BCE) (Manzo 2017). Thanks to the joint contribution of archaeology and bioanthropology, significant differences were found between these two groups regarding funeral behaviors and health status, probably resulting from different life conditions and subsistence strategies. In the Mesolithic site UA50, 28 graves were found, for a total of 41 individuals, while in the western cemetery of the Neolithic site K1 the investigations led to the excavation of 107 graves, for a total of 115 skeletons.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSES: THE PRELIMINARY PALEO-

DEMOGRAPHIC AND TAPHONOMIC RECONSTRUCTIONS

The presence of anthropologists on the field during all the excavation campaigns allowed a careful taphonomic documenttation and the preliminary skeletal analysis on site. The anthropological analyses aimed to determine the sex, age-at-death, skeletal and oral pathologies of the individuals. Sex estimation was based on the observation of the morphological features of skull and pelvis (Acsádi, Nemeskéri 1970; Buikstra, Ubelaker 1994). For adults,

62

GIUSY CAPASSO

age-at-death was estimated using several indicators, including ossification degrees of cranial sutures (Meindl, Lovejoy 1985), dental wear stages (Lovejoy 1985), degenerative changes of the sternal ends of the ribs (Iscan et al. 1984), auricular surface, and pubic symphysis degeneration (Buikstra, Ubelaker 1994; Meindl, Lovejoy 1985). The age-at-death in subadults was determined by the development and eruption of deciduous and permanent teeth (Al-Qahtani 2010; Ubelaker 1989), development, fusion and dimensions of postcranial bones (Schaefer et al. 2009). Although preliminary in nature and limited by the low number of the individuals, the sex and age-at-death profiles show that all age classes, including infants, were included in access to the formal burial for both the Mesolithic and Neolithic period. At the same time, the dataset is not fully representative of the effective mortality pattern of these ancient human groups, because of the unbalanced ratio of subadults/adults and men/women.

Figure 2a: sex and age-at-death distribution model for the Mesolithic sample UA50

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

63

Figure 2b: sex and age-at-death distribution model for the Neolithic sample K1

The preliminary taphonomic analysis shows different funerary traditions between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic phases based on different position and orientation of the dead.

Figure 3: Skeletons in typical position from the Mesolithic site UA50 (on the right) and the Neolithic site K1 (on the left).

64

GIUSY CAPASSO

For the Mesolithic site UA50 it was not possible to detect the position of the majority of the skeletons; however, the contracted position, on the left or right side, resulted predominant; single burials were most common, while a small number of graves (9,8%) are multiple, ranging from 3 to 7 skeletons. In the Neolithic site K1, single burials predominate, except for 8 double graves, and no multiple graves have been found. The position was detectable for 96 skeletons and in the 88,5% of the cases they were laid out in extended – supine or lateral – position; in the other graves, the body was placed in a contracted position on the right or left side. The orientation of the body was highly variable, but E-W for K1 (81,7% of the cases) and W-E for UA50 seem to be most common. No association was observed between the type of deposition and the sex and age-at-death of the dead.

DENTAL ANALYSIS: MATERIAL AND METHODS

Having a Mesolithic and a Neolithic sample available from the same geographical area of Eastern Sudan was useful in order to make a comparative dental analysis to help understand how the MesolithicNeolithic transition impacted the health of human groups who lived in this area. Oral health related to the shifting in subsistence activities, in fact, is a highly explored aspect in the world wide literature. In particular, according to Cohen and Armelagos (1984) the introduction of agriculture matched by the installation of larger settlements, higher population density, new work activities, and a shift in the diet, would have resulted overall in a worsening of living conditions, with an increase in mechanical stress, infectious disease, nutritional deficiencies, and dental pathologies. One of the most frequent globally reported negative impacts of the Neolithic transition, associated with the adoption of farming, is a decline in oral health, resulting in an increase of caries, abscesses, teeth loss and periodontal disease, due to the carcinogenicity of carbohydrates (Turner 1979; Larsen 1981; 1995; Larsen et al. 1991; Lubell et al. 1994; Lukacs 1992; 1996); specifically, caries have been employed as signature evidence for dietary change or the adoption/intensification of food producing economies (Roosevelt 1984; Temple, Larsen 2007; Willis, Oxenham 2013; Da-Gloria, Larsen 2014).

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

65

Poor or unbalanced diets may also result in high rates of crown defects, such as enamel hypoplasia: comparative studies of dental samples dated before and after agricultural transitions show higher frequencies and more severe defect for the latter chronological period (Alexandersen 1988; Coppa, Palmieri 1988; Goodman et al. 1984; Littleton, Frohlich 1993; Lubell et al. 1994; Molnar, Molnar 1985; Yedynak 1989; Meiklejohn et al. 1984; Meiklejohn et al. 1988). The dental samples from the Mesolithic site UA50 and the Neolithic site K1 were analyzed to test whether the Cohen-Armelagos model mentioned above fits what happened in that region with the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. For this end, frequencies for six oral affections potentially – but not exclusively – linked to diet (caries, abscesses, ante mortem teeth loss, alveolar resorption, dental calculus and enamel hypoplasia) were investigated. The dental sample consisted of 155 teeth from 11 adults of the Mesolithic sample UA50 and 1057 teeth from 52 adults of the Neolithic sample K1.

DENTAL ANALYSIS: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

From the comparative dental analysis between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic samples two main patterns emerged:

1) females were more affected by caries than males (50% against 20,6% of cases observed for the Neolithic sample). 2) the prevalence of oral pathologies such as caries, abscesses and teeth loss – here considered together, as different steps of the same pathology – increases with the transition to Neolithic period (from 11% to 36,7%), as well periodontal disease (from 25% to 43,6%) and the consistency of calculus deposits on teeth.

Despite almost the same rate of individuals with calculus from both the samples, a difference regarding the consistency of the deposits detected was observed: low consistency depositions (Grade A) were observed in both the samples, but for the Neolithic group these were associated in 41,1% of cases with medium consistency depositions (Grade B), missing in the Mesolithic sample UA50; no extensive consistency depositions (Grade C) were observed in either sample.

66

GIUSY CAPASSO

Figure 4: Comparative distribution model of oral pathologies for the Mesolithic sample UA50 and the Neolithic K1 showing a worsening in oral health during the latter period

The preliminary results of this comparative study are in line with the paleobotanic and archaeozoological evidence of a change in subsistence strategies occurred in Eastern Sudan between the Mesolithic and Neolithic period. Archaeological investigations on Mesolithic Malawiya Group sites have recovered animal bones of different species of antelopes and shells of land snails (Manzo 2017). Only from the 4th millennium BCE, when the MesolithicNeolithic transition took place in the area, the occurrence of domesticated livestock and plant species – domesticated wheat and barley as well as morphologically wild sorghum and millet – is evident in the archaeological records of Eastern Sudan (D’Andrea, Tsubakisaka 1990; Beldados 2015). During the fully Neolithic period an agropastoral economy was adopted. The faunal evidences on Gash Group site K1 are characterized by the co-presence of wild and domesticated species such as freshwater gastropods, fish, reptiles, birds, mammalian game, and livestock, which is dominant with an apparently increasing importance of cattle (Gautier, Van Neer 2006; Geraads 1983). The archaeobotanical evidences point to a regular introduction of vegetables in the diets, with a subsequent increase

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

67

of carbohydrate consumption, one of the key factors in the onset of oral pathologies: both remains of wild and domesticated plants were collected, such as sorghum, millet, barley, wheat, and of baobab grains from the western Sahel (Beldados 2015; Costantini et al. 1983; Manzo 2014). Macro-lithic tools – especially grinding tools – recorded in Gash Group assemblages fit perfectly into this economic model (Fattovich 1991; Manzo 2017; Rega 2018). The difference in caries prevalence observed between the sexes, similar differences have been recorded in many prehistoric populations (Larsen 1985; Walker, Erlandson 1986; Lukacs 1996). To explain the phenomenon, bioarchaeologists have generally focused on the differences in diet and food consumption associated with sexual divisions of labor (Da-Gloria, Larsen 2014; Marlowe 2007), but according to clinical literature, higher caries prevalence among females can be explained by factors such as earlier eruption of teeth – and subsequent longer exposure of females' teeth to the cariogenic oral environment – and hormonal fluctuations that modify the biochemical composition of saliva and its flow rate. Saliva, in fact, recovers several functions including protection, buffering, antimicrobial action, and tissue repair (Lukacs, Largaespada 2006): its biochemical composition and flow rate are modified by hormonal fluctuations during events such as puberty, menstruation, and pregnancy. Smaller salivary glands and lower saliva flow rates, in addition to the flow retardant effects of estrogen, all negatively impact on female oral health (Percival et al. 1994; Dowd 1999; Dodds et al. 2005).

CONCLUSIONS

The interdisciplinary aspect of the IAEES research in Eastern Sudan, together with evidence from different sources, provides an integrated picture of the bio-cultural adaptations of the prehistoric human populations, defining shifts in lifestyles, subsistence strategies, and health conditions in the MesolithicNeolithic transition. Changes in funerary rituals, mainly detected by the relative proportion of single, double, and collective tombs and body depositions, were observed. In both sites, no evidence of strict exclusion from the formal burial ground by age or sex was observed. Nevertheless, adult males outnumber females and

68

GIUSY CAPASSO

subadults, possibly indicating a bias of the mortality pattern expected for ancient populations (Weiss, Wobst 1973; Bondioli, Sperduti, 2011; Sperduti et al. 2018). Moreover, the preliminary results of the comparative dental analysis show that the CohenArmelagos model mentioned above seems to fit what was observed in Eastern Sudan during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition: which was also in line with what happened in other areas of the world. This was a result of the introduction of agriculture and the subsequent increase in the consumption of agricultural-based carbohydrates such as sorghum, millet, barley and wheat, worsening in oral health – if compared to the previous periods – occurred, as showed by the increase in dental pathologies recorded in the Neolithic sample K1. It is important to note that the IAEES investigations are still ongoing and the results obtained so far remain preliminary: new archaeological excavations will increase the sample, especially regarding the Mesolithic phase, allowing a more in depth and statistically sound comparisons between sexes and age classes. Future results of archaeological and anthropological studies will provide more information in understanding how these prehistoric human groups that inhabited Eastern Sudan used to live and, in particular, how changes in subsistence strategies have impacted their health. Analyses on dental calculus inclusions and microwear dental analyses will provide more specific information on the diet of these human groups.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to express her gratitude to the Director of the IAEES Andrea Manzo and to Alessandra Sperduti (Servizio di Bioarcheologia del Museo delle Civiltà, Rome) for the support and the accurate revision. Many thanks are also due to all the members of the mission, to the NCAM (National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums) of Khartoum, to the Regional Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Kassala State and to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through whom our archaeological missions were realised.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

69

Acsádi, G. and Nemeskéri, J. 1970. History of human lifespan and mortality. Budapest Akadémai Kiadó. Alexandersen, V. 1988. Description of human dentitions from the Late-Mesolithic grave-fields at Skateholm, Southern Sweden, in L. Larsson ed. The Skateholm Project: Men and environment. Sweden; Almqvist and Wiksell International, pp. 106–163. Al-Qahtani, S. J. 2010. Brief communication: The London atlas of human tooth development and eruption. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142 (3), pp. 481–490. Backett, S. and Lovell, N. C. 1994. Dental disease evidence for agricultural intensification in the Nubian C-group. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 4, pp. 223–239. Beldados, A. 2015. Paleoethnobotanical Study of Ancient Food Crops and the Environmental Context in North-East Africa, 6000 BC-AD 200/300. Oxford, Archaeopress (Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 88, British Archaeological Reports International Series 2706). Beldados, A. and Costantini, L. 2011. Sorghum Exploitation at Kassala and Its Environs, North Eastern Sudan in the Second and First Millennia BC. Nyame Akuma 75, pp. 33–39. Beldados, A. et al. 2015. Filling the gap: new archaeobotanical evidence for 3rd-1st millennium BC agricultural economy in Sudan and Ethiopia. Supplemento Atti della Società dei Naturalisti e Matematici di Modena 146, pp. 143–145. Bondioli, L. and Sperduti, A. 2011. Comunità dei morti ed individui scheletrici: dallo studio di popolazioni alla ricostruzione della storia biologica individuale. In V. Nizzo ed., Dalla nascita alla morte: antropologia e archeologia a confronto. Atti dell’Incontro Internazionale di studi in onore di Claude Lévi-Strauss. Roma, Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico “Luigi Pigorini”, pp. 431–460. Buikstra, J. E. and Beck, L. A. 2006 Bioarchaeology: The Contextual Analysis of Human Remains. Burlington MA: Academic Press.

70

GIUSY CAPASSO

Cohen, M. N. and Armelagos, G. J. 1984. Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. M.N. Cohen and G.J. Armelagos eds. Academic Press, Orlando. Coppa, A. and Palmieri, A. 1988. Changing dietary patterns at Geili’. In I. Caneva ed., The History of a Middle Nile Environment, 7000 BC – AD 1500. Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 29. Oxford: BAR International Series. pp. 275–302. Costantini, L. et al. 1983. Gash Delta Archaeological Project: 1982 field season. Nyame Akuma 23, pp. 17–19. Da-Gloria, P. and Larsen, C. S. 2014. Oral Health of the Paleoamericans of Lagoa Santa, Central Brazil. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 154, pp. 11–26. D’Andrea, C. A. and Tsubakisaka, Y. 1990. Plant Remains Preserved in Kassala Phase Ceramics, Eastern Sudan. Nyame Akuma 33, p.16. Dodds, M. W. et al. 2005. Health benefits of saliva: a review. Journal of Dentistry 33(3), pp. 223–233. Dowd, F. J. 1999. Saliva and dental caries. Dental Clinics in North America 43(4), pp. 579–597. Duday, H. 2006. Lezioni di archeotanatologia: archeologia funeraria e antropologia di campo. Soprintendenza archeologica ed., Roma. Fattovich, R. 1991. Ricerche archeologiche italiane nel delta del Gash (Kassala), 1980–1989, un bilancio preliminare. Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 33(1989), pp. 89–130. Gautier, A. and Van Neer, W. 2006. Animal remains from Mahal Teglinos (Kassala, Sudan) and the arrival of pastoralism in the southern Atbai. Journal of African Archaeology 4(2), pp. 223–233. Geraads, D. 1983. Faunal Remains from the Gash Delta, Sudan. Nyame Akuma 23, p. 2. Goodman, A. H. et al. 1984. The chronological distribution of enamel hypoplasias from the prehistoric Dickson Mound populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 65, pp. 259–266. Hillson, S. R. 1996. Dental Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

71

Hillson, S. R. 2001. Recording dental caries in archaeological human remains. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 11(4), pp. 249–289. Hillson, S. R. 2005. Teeth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hillson, S. 2014. Tooth Development in Human Evolution and Bioarchaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hillson, S. R. and Bond, S. (1997). Relationship of Enamel Hypoplasia to the Pattern of Tooth Crown Growth: A Discussion. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 104, pp. 89–103. Irish, J. D. and Scott, J. R. 2016. A Companion to Dental Anthropology. (Wiley Blackwell Companions to Anthropology). Iscan, M. Y. et al. 1984. Age estimation from the rib by phase analysis: White males. In Journal of Forensic Sciences 29, pp. 1094–1104. Katzenberg, M. A. and Saunders, S.R. 2011. Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, Second Edition. Wiley-Liss. Larsen, C. S. 1981. Skeletal and dental adaptations to the shift to agriculture on the Georgia Coast population. Current Anthropology 22, pp. 422–423. Larsen, C. S. 1995. Biological changes in human populations with agriculture. Annual Review of Anthropology 24, pp. 185– 213. Larsen, C. S. 1997. Bioarchaeology: interpreting behavior from human skeleton. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Larsen, C. S. 2006. The Changing Face of Bioarchaeology: An Interdisciplinary Science. In J. E. Buikstra and L. A. Beck eds., Bioarchaeology: The Contextual Analysis of Human Remains. Academic Press Elsevier, pp. 359–374. Larsen, C. S. and Walker, P. L. 2004. The Ethics of Bioarchaeology. In Turner, T. ed., Ethical Issues in Biological Anthropology. Albany: State of New York press, pp. 111–119. Larsen, C. S and Walker, P. L. 2010. Bioarchaeology: Health, Lifestyle, and Society in Recent Human Evolution. In C.S. Larsen ed., A Companion to Biological Anthropology. 2010 Blackwell Publishing.

72

GIUSY CAPASSO

Larsen, C. S. et al. 1991. Dental caries evidence for dietary change: an archaeological context. In M.A. Kelly and C.S. Larsen eds., Factors influencing oral colonization of mutans streptococci in young children. Advances in dental anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss, pp. 179–202. Lubell, D. et al. 1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: isotopic and dental evidence of diet. Journal of Archaeological Science 21(2), pp. 201–216. Littleton, J. and Frohlich, B. 1993. Fish-eaters and farmers. Dental pathology in the Arabian gulf. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 92(4), pp. 427–447. Lubell, D. et al. 1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: isotopic and dental evidence of diet. Journal of Archaeological Science 21(2), pp. 201–216. Lukacs, J. R. 1988. Dental morphology and odontometrics of early agriculturalists from Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan. In D.E Russel, J.P Santoro and D. Sigogneau-Russell eds., Teeth Revisited. Memoires du Museum Nationale d’Histoire Naturelle, Serie C, Sciences de la Terre 53, pp. 285–303. Lukacs, J. R. 1989. Dental paleopathology: Methods for reconstructing dietary patterns. In M.I. Iscan and K.A.R Kennedy eds., Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton, pp. 261–286. New York: Alan R Liss, Inc. Lukacs, J. R. and Largaespada, L. L. 2006. Explaining sex differences in dental caries prevalence: saliva, hormones, and “life-history” etiologies. American Journal of Human Biology 18(4), pp. 540–555. Manzo, A. 2012. From the sea to the deserts and back: New research in Eastern Sudan. British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 18, pp. 75–106. Manzo, A. 2013. The Italian Archaeological Expedition to the Eastern Sudan of the Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’. An Overview of the 2012 field season. Newsletter di Archeologia CISA 4, pp. 253–271. Manzo, A. 2014. Preliminary Report of the 2013 Field Season of the Italian Archaeological Expedition to the Eastern Sudan of the Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’. Newsletter di Archeologia CISA 5, pp. 375–412.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

73

Manzo, A. 2017. Eastern Sudan in its Setting. The archaeology of a region far from the Nile Valley. Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 94. Oxford: Archaeopress. Marks, A. E. and Sadr, K. 1988. Holocene Environments and Occupations in the Southern Atbai, Sudan: A Preliminary Formulation. In J. Bower and D. Lubell eds., Prehistoric Cultures and Environments in the Late Quaternary of Africa, pp. 69–90. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (British Archaeological Reports International Series 405, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 26). Marlowe, F. W. 2007. Hunting and gathering: the human sexual division of foraging labor. Cross-Cultural Research 41, pp. 170–195. Martin, D. L. et al. 2013. Bioarchaeology: An Integrated Approach to Working with Human Remains. New York: Springer. Meiklejohn, C. et al. 1984. Socioeconomic change and patterns of pathology and variation in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Western Europe: some suggestions. In M.N Cohen and G.J. Armelagos eds., Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture, pp. 75–100. New York: Academic Press. Meiklejohn, C. et al. 1988. Caries as a probable dietary marker in the Western European Mesolithic. In B.V Kennedy and G.M LeMoine eds., Diet and subsistence: current archaeological perspectives, pp. 273–279. University of Calgary Archaeologic Association. Meindl, R. S. and Lovejoy, C. O. 1985. Ectocranial suture closure: A revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death based on the lateral-anterior sutures. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68 (1), pp. 57–66. Molnar, S. and Molnar. I 1985. Observations of dental diseases among prehistoric populations of Hungary. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 67(1), pp. 51–63. Nilsson Stutz, L. 2018. A Future for Archaeology: In Defense of an Intellectually Engaged, Collaborative and Confident Archaeology, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 51(1–2), pp. 48–56.

74

GIUSY CAPASSO

Percival, R. S. et al. 1994. Flow rates of resting whole and stimulated parotid saliva in relation to age and gender. Journal of Dental Research 73(8), pp. 1416–1420. Rega, F. M. 2018. Macro-lithic tools and cupules in the Gash Delta (Eastern Sudan): a preliminary study. In Incordino, I. et al. eds. Current Research in Egyptology 2017. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Symposium. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 172–184. Roosevelt, A. C. 1984: Population, health, and the evolution of subsistence: conclusion from the conference. In M.N. Cohen and G.J. Armelagos eds., Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture, Academic Press, Orlando. Schaefer, M. 2009. Juvenile Osteology: A Laboratory and Field Manual. Academic Press, Amsterdam. Scott, G R. 2018, Dental Anthropology. In C. Smith eds., Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. Scott, G. R. and Turner, C. 1988. Dental Anthropology, Annual Review of Anthropology 17, pp. 99–126. Shiner, J. L. 1971. The Prehistory and Geology of Northern Sudan. Part II. Dallas, unpublished report to the National Science Foundation, Grant GS 1192. Sperduti, A. et al. 2018. Bones, teeth, and history. In W. Scheidel ed., The science of Roman history: biology, climate and the future of the past. Princeton University Press. Temple, D. H and Larsen, C. S. 2007. Dental caries prevalence as evidence for agriculture and subsistence variation during the Yayoi period in prehistoric Japan: biocultural interpretations of an economy in transition. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 134(4), pp. 501–512. Turner, C. G. 1979. Dental anthropological indications of agriculture among the Jomon people of central Japan. X. Peopling of the Pacific. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 51(4), pp. 619–635. Ubelaker, D. H. 1989. Human Skeleton Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation (2nd Ed.). Washington, DC: Taraxacum.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF BIOANTHROPOLOGY

75

Walker, P. L. and Erlandson, J. 1986, Dental Evidence for Prehistoric Dietary Change on the Northern Channel Islands, California. American Antiquity 51(2), pp. 375–83. Weiss, K. M. and Wobst, M. (1973), Demographic Models for Anthropology, Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 27, pp. 1–186. Willis, A. and Oxenham, F. M. 2013. The Neolithic Demographic Transition and Oral Health: The Southeast Asian Experience. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 152, pp. 197– 208. Yedynak, G. 1989. Yugoslav Mesolithic dental reductions. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 78, pp. 17–36.

DIGGING A ROYAL CITY. EIGHT YEARS OF CA' FOSCARI UNIVERSITY OF VENICE RESEARCH AT JEBEL BARKAL FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN ABSTRACT

The Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan has been working at Jebel Barkal since 1973, investigating a specific area of the ancient city of Napata; here, king Natakamani (1st century AD) planned an impressive royal district, implementing the existing Napatan landscape and creating a new vast Meroitic sector. The last seasons have been particularly productive thanks to the support of the Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project (QSAP), that allowed us to conduct more extended excavations, thus inspiring also new prospects for research. In particular, a two-year postdoctoral work about the updating of Jebel Barkal documentation and bibliography is going on, preliminary to the final publication of the project. Furthermore, two postgraduate researches are currently in progress: one concerning plasters and pigments used in the decoration of the royal palace of Natakamani, and the other regarding its architectural features with a comparative approach. 77

78

FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN This paper intends to give an overview of the activities conducted in Sudan by the Italian Mission of Ca’ Foscari University since 2011, principally focusing on the latest excavation campaigns and on the results of the abovementioned lines of investigation.

POST-DOC PROJECT ‘ITALIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION IN SUDAN – JEBEL BARKAL: UPDATE OF DOCUMENTATION AND BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE EXCAVATION’ (FRANCESCA IANNARILLI)

The Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan at Jebel Barkal was founded in 1973 by Sergio Donadoni, Professor of Egyptology at Sapienza University of Rome, who arrived in Sudan after taking part in the UNESCO project for the salvage of Nubian antiquities threatened with the flooding of Lake Nasser. In 1989 Professor Donadoni retired and left the direction of the Mission, entrusting Prof. Alessandro Roccati with the task; the aegis was thus acquired by the University of Turin. In 2011 Prof. Emanuele M. Ciampini became the new director and the Italian Mission in Sudan joined the programme of international archaeological excavations of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (a comprehensive history of the Mission has been written by Alessandro Roccati in Ciampini – Iannarilli 2019, pp. 25–32). Since 2014 the Italian Mission is also part of the Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project, which has so far ensured the financing of the Mission together with the Ca’ Foscari University’s Support Fund to the Research and Internationalization Activities and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this time and with this support we have been able to work on a quite huge area – centred on the Palace of Natakamani (B1500, 1st century AD) but characterised by the presence of other structures: four of them have been the object of surveys and archaeological dig in the last five years, namely B2300 and B1800 (Ciampini 2014; Ciampini 2015; Gottardo-Iannarilli 2016; Gottardo-Iannarilli forthcoming), to date interpreted as kiosks connected to the royal palace, and B2100, B2200 and B4000, currently still under excavation and interpretation (Ciampini 2018; Ciampini 2019).

DIGGING A ROYAL CITY

79

Together with the fieldwork, several collateral activities have been carried out, between them: a post-doctoral project that aims to the reorganisation of documentation and bibliography of the site and a post-graduate project concerning an analysis of plasters and pigments of the Palace of Natakamani. My post-doctoral project, titled “Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan– Jebel Barkal: Update of documentation and bibliography for the publication of the excavation”, had a threefold purpose: 1. updating of the data collected during the excavation campaigns of the last six years; 2. recovering of the documentation related to the excavations conducted at Jebel Barkal before the direction of Ca' Foscari; 3. collecting the bibliography related to the site and its history, that is the necessary material for the overall publication of the activities carried out to date. The work conducted during the two years of grant have allowed the development of the documentation relating mainly to the materials collected in the last years on the site of Jebel Barkal. The last six excavation campaigns were, in fact, marked by an increasingly rigorous approach concerning both the field work and the cataloguing and management of finds. As part of a university student training project of the Department of Archaeology of Dongola University, it was also possible to organize didactic activity on the field, in Sudan, with classes focused on the excavation process, drawing and archaeological relief techniques. Included in this activity was also the scientific coordination of the exhibition ‘The Lion and the Mountain. Italian Excavations in Sudan’, inaugurated in Rome, at the Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco, on October 3, 2019, and later in Venice, at Ca’ Foscari University on February 6, 2020. This exhibition brought to Italy a selection of objects from Jebel Barkal, many of which left Sudan for the first time. These materials – also thanks to a selection of descriptive texts, photos and graphic reconstructions produced by the archaeologists of the Mission – provided a comprehensive and updated picture of the ceremonial area dating to the Meroitic era which flourished in the ancient center of Napata around the 1st century AD.

80

FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN

The exhibition gathered a series of materials preserved in the storerooms and made available to the Mission by the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) of Sudan. The exhibition event was also an opportunity to reaffirm a synergy between Sapienza University of Rome, whose museum hosts some materials from the past excavations by Sergio Donadoni, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. This has resulted not only in a reconstruction of the royal city built by the Meroitic king Natakamani, but also in the presentation of an evolution in the processing of the excavation data during the years. Examination and updating of the bibliography related to the site, its historical and cultural context, and the history of research conducted mainly – but not exclusively – in the last years of archaeological research at Jebel Barkal finally resulted in the publication of the catalogue of the exhibition “Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan” (Ciampini – Iannarilli eds. 2019), a volume collecting the archaeological and historical contributions of past and present members of the Italian Mission at Jebel Barkal, together with the analytical descriptions of all the objects on display. The last months of my project were devoted also to a specific topic, i.e. the stone architecture in the district of Natakamani at Jebel Barkal, with the idea to produce a comprehensive catalogue of the stone architectural elements found in the palatial area during more than 40 years of excavations. Either way, this is still a work in progress, currently waiting for a new financial support to maintain its schedule and take a significant path.

POST-GRAD PROJECT ‘A COLOURFUL PALACE. AN ANALYSIS OF PLASTERS AND PIGMENTS IN THE PALACE OF NATAKAMANI (B1500) AT JEBEL BARKAL, SUDAN’ (FEDERICA PANCIN)

During fieldwork season 2017, a new study on plasters and pigments from Building B1500 at Jebel Barkal was undertaken, then resulting in a thesis discussed at the Post-graduate School in Archaeological Heritage of Trieste, Udine, and Venice in 2018 (Pancin 2018, unpublished). As these material categories

DIGGING A ROYAL CITY

81

continue to be dug up by the work of the Italian Mission at Jebel Barkal, this research is still ongoing, and now encompassing a wider area of observation – focusing mainly on Palace B1500, but considering also other Meroitic buildings. The promising results invite for a deepening of the subject, so we decided to present some highlights of the study, together with some perspectives for further research. The work undertaken on plasters and pigments from Palace B1500 took into account both contextualised materials – even in situ plaster remains – and record of known or uncertain provenance kept in the Mission’s storeroom in Karima. An amount of 1388 samples was studied, 311 inventories in total. The record included a heterogeneous assemblage of materials pertaining to at least two macro-phases of use of the building (pre-palatial and palatial), and to a third more ephemeral period of sporadic activities occurring after the abandonment of the site (postpalatial phase). Among these finds there were mostly plaster sherds and mortar fragments, but, to have a wider picture of Meroitic plastering activities at Napata, we considered also pigment lumps, glazed terracotta tiles with traces of mortar and plaster, plastered architectural elements – such as red-bricks, mudbricks, and even stone fragments – plaster and paint containers, and grindstones used for powdering pigments. The recording of plaster and mortar sherds was carried out in order to have a rough comprehension of their original position in the general plan of the palace. For this purpose, the study of shapes, thicknesses, and fabrics was essential, and it was possible to distinguish at least between external coating (or render) specimens and proper plaster for interiors; few instances belong with any certainty to internal areas – arguably some in situ remains and some finer examples, with a very refined texture – but for some sherds an identification as part of pavements or walls was proposed. The overall layout of the palace façades was reconstructed: blind whitewashed perimeter walls regularly interrupted by polychrome lesenes, either parallelepipedal in shape or composite (a parallelepipedal element plus three juxtaposed rounded tori), whose only raison d’être was to liven up a dull flat surface. If large

82

FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN

sections of plastered wall make white the most represented colour in the assemblage – as in other palatial sites such as Wad Ben Naga (Vercoutter 1962, pp. 272–283) or Muweis (Maillot 2016, p. 179) – several other different hues were nonetheless recognised, including yellow, light blue and red. They are all consistent with Meroitic records from other sites, such as Meroe (Wolf and Onasch 2017, pp. 1–15), Naga (Hesse 2006, pp. 333–334), Dangeil (Anderson and Ahmed 2006, pp. 1–6; Sweek et al. 2012, p. 11), El-Hassa (Bouchar 2010, p. 56; Rondot 2012, p. 170), Abu Erteila (Fantusati et al. 2015, pp. 133–146; Di Cosola 2016, pp. 21, 34, unpublished), and Wad Ben Naga (Vercoutter, op. cit.). Pigments were found either as lumps to be grinded, or as paint solution. Traces of paint are still preserved inside pottery containers – mainly classical Meroitic unslipped or red slipped bowls – and all the colours of the Meroitic palette are attested. Since paint was observed both inside the vessels and on the outer surfaces, we could deduce that paint containers were piled, probably to save space in the storeroom; moreover, we concluded that there was no habit of rinsing the bowls once the workday was over and that they were replaced immediately after painting activities. Painted plaster fragments are mostly monochromatic, but some decorated instances were found. Many show bichrome vertical patterns, ensuring a belonging to the lesene tori. Interestingly, repainting is a well attested practice. Two up to four layers of paint have been observed macroscopically. Usually the same colour is retouched or repainted, but there are also cases of new colours covering older surfaces. Such a variegated assemblage can lead to a likewise various series of matters; if the study highlighted some significant facts concerning style and technique, some questions on functional and ideological issues remain open. The ongoing project aims at further exploring these main topics. Technique and function. As far as technique is concerned, we could state that surface rendering varies according to space, i.e. where the plaster was meant to be applied on the wall. Functional distinctions were observed concerning the quality and destination of different mortars and renderings. Analyses showed that three

DIGGING A ROYAL CITY

83

different textures – coarse, with medium inclusions, and fine – were used for specific mortar fabrics; in fact, mechanical properties would change a lot according to inclusions. We noticed, in particular, that coating for special redbricks – i.e. moulded angular elements and rounded tori – was mainly laid on coarse binders, also made with crushed fired bricks aggregate to increase grip. Some fluted details of the concavity of the lesene were also modelled exploiting the plasticity of mortar. The same consistence differentiation could be noticed on surface plasters: some treatments were sloppier than others, while some, instead, showed a masterly care. The execution techniques similarly changed according to destination: if for the lesenes finger application of both plaster and paint was customary, given the massive size of the architectural element, for more delicate details, such as some wavy lines of the internal walls’ decoration, a brush was preferred. Future research will investigate on workmanship, whose expertise could have determined the choice of brush over fingers. B1500 material is mostly ascribable to Meroitic production features: the adoption of both the innovative lime-based mortar and the ‘a fresco’ painting technique constitutes a valid chronological marker, thus fitting well in the main palatial phase of the building. A remark is due on the re-plastering practice: renewal of the coating probably took place in concomitance with the periodical moving of the court; retouching the decoration could have been an occasional activity, not strictly bound to the presence of the king – we could call it ‘routine maintenance’ – but grand re-plastering works, even with different choices in colour, were possibly institutionalised (Pancin 2019). Practice and administration. Many pottery containers with traces of plaster and paint were found in the western wing of the palace, which is allegedly where the administrative area was located – for the presence, here, of dumps of several sealings and tokens (Vincentelli 1992, 1993, 2001, 2019). We assume that plastering and painting activities, above all the storage of the material, could be under control of palatial administration. It seems plausible that the palace had to look its best during the

84

FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN

periodic ceremonies performed at the site and that this task was organised from above. Style. B1500 palatial art underwent a productive process of ‘international styling’, originating from the openness of the local Kushite culture and embracing contemporary ecumenic influences from the north. Natakamani’s court was keen in absorbing Hellenistic features, above all in architecture (Callegher 2019). Decoration is also permeated by Hellenistic motifs, as in the glazed tiles assemblage (Taurino 2018, 2019), and the scanty evidence of figurative plasters could point in this direction. Wall paintings show a marked Meroitic character: the choice of the colours and the use of both adobe and red-brick as a support are clear hints for that. Even if the material (lime) and execution techniques (‘a fresco’) belong to an international know-how, the final result can still be considerably recognised as Kushite. Colour and ideology. The widespread use of white in palatial decoration is worth attention. Lime white was of course cheaper for plastering – especially on grand façades such as those of palace B1500 – but one must not disregard the general visual appearance of an outstanding whitewashed building in the desert sun, highlighted here and there by thought out colour details. Our guess is that not only merely functional or stylistic purposes were involved – light colours being more suitable for torrid latitudes and artistic traditions playing a considerable role. We assume that symbolism could be an important part of this picture, white walls being a traditional pharaonic marker of the southern kingship. This particular line of investigation seems worth further exploration. Much work has still to be done on B1500 plasters and pigments, and future research will have to deepen our understanding of Meroitic building and decorating techniques. The emerging picture being far from exhaustive, more focused sampling and laboratory analyses could answer the remaining questions.

DIGGING A ROYAL CITY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

85

Anderson, J. R. and S. M. Ahmed, “Painted Plaster: A Glimpse into the Decorative Programme Used in the Amun Temple at Dangeil, Sudan”, Studies in Honor of Nicholas Millet (Part II). Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 32 (2006), pp. 1–15. Bouchar, M., “Petrographical study of Meroitic mortars from an Amun temple (el-Hassa)”, in J. J. Hughes, J. Válek, C. J. W. P. Groot (eds.), 2nd Historic Mortars Conference HMC 2010 and RILEM TC 203–RHM Final Workshop. 22–24 September 2010, Prague, Czech Republic, (Rilem Publications, Bagneux – France 2010, pp. 55–64. Callegher, S., “Architettura palaziale e tecniche costruttive”, in E. M. Ciampini – F. Iannarilli (eds.) Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan (Gangemi Editore, Roma 2019), pp. 20–23. Ciampini, E. M., The Royal District of Natakamani at Napata. Report of the Season 2014–2015 (Khartoum 2014). Ciampini, E. M., The Royal District of Natakamani at Napata. Report of the Season 2015–2016 (Khartoum 2015). Ciampini, E. M., and the team of the Mission, The Royal District of Natakamani at Napata. Report of the Season 2018–2019 (Karima 2018). Ciampini, E. M. (with contribution of Francesca Iannarilli and Piero Castellucci), The Royal District of Natakamani at Napata. Report of the Season 2019 (Khartoum 2019). Ciampini, E. M. and F. Iannarilli (eds.) Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan (Gangemi Editore, Roma 2019). Di Cosola Iolanda, Studio diagnostico sui frammenti di intonaco colorato provenienti dal sito meroitico di Abu Erteila in Sudan (Università di Roma Tre, 2016 unpublished). Fantusati, E., M. Baldi, F. Bellatreccia, A. Sodo, A. Casanova Municchia, “Seventh excavation season at Abu Erteila: preliminary report”, Journal of Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Archaeology 2 (2015), pp. 133–146. Gottardo, M., F. Iannarilli, “The excavations of B1800” in The Royal District of Natakamani at Napata. Report of the Season 2016–2017 (Karima 2016), pp. 6–7.

86

FRANCESCA IANNARILLI & FEDERICA PANCIN

Gottardo, M., F. Iannarilli, “More than a Palace: New Research Perspectives in the Natakamani’s Royal Area at Jebel Barkal” in Proceedings of the 12th International Conference for Meroitic Studies, National Museum, Prague, September 05–09, 2016 (forthcoming). Hesse, A., “Wall Painting Fragments from the Amun Temple in the Ancient City of Naga in Sudan”, in D. Saunders, J. H. Townsend, S. Woodcock (eds.), The Object in Context: Crossing Conservation Boundaries: Contributions to the Munich Congress 28 August – 1 September 2006, (International Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, London 2006), pp. 333–334. Maillot, M., “The Palace of Muweis and the Early Meroitic Levels: The Contribution of Technological Analysis to the Architectural Study”, Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies 3 (2016), pp. 179–200. Pancin, F., A Colourful Palace. An analysis of plasters and pigments in the Palace of Natakamani (B1500) at Jebel Barkal, Sudan (University of Venice, Udine, and Trieste, 2018 unpublished). Pancin, F., “Gli intonaci del Palazzo B1500”, in E. M. Ciampini – F. Iannarilli (eds.) Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan (Gangemi Editore, Roma 2019), pp. 72–73. Rondot, V., “El-Hassa: un temple à Amon dans l’ Île de Méroé au Ier siècle de notre ère”, Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions 156 (2012), pp. 167–182. Sweek, T., J. R. Anderson, S. Tanimoto, “Architectural Conservation of an Amun Temple in Sudan”, Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies 10 (2012), pp.8–16. Taurino, S., “Glazed terracotta decorations from the palace of Natakamani (B1500) at Napata: a typological and iconographical analysis. Italian Archaeological Mission in Sudan at Jebel Barkal (Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice)”, in I. Incordino, S. Mainieri, E. D’Itria, M. Diletta Pubblico, F. M. Rega, A. Salsano (eds.) Current Research in Egyptology 2017. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Symposium. University of Naples, “L’Orientale” 3–6 May 2017 (Archaeopress, Oxford 2018), pp. 210–225.

DIGGING A ROYAL CITY

87

Taurino, S., “Le terrecotte architettoniche smaltate dal palazzo di Natakamani”, in E. M. Ciampini – F. Iannarilli (eds.) Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan (Gangemi Editore, Roma 2019), pp. 62–67. Vercoutter, J., “Un Palais des "Candaces", contemporain d'Auguste (Fouilles à Wad-ban-Naga 1958–1960)”, Syria 39 (1962), pp. 263–299. Vincentelli, I., “A Group of Figurated Clay Sealings from Jebel Barkal (Sudan)”, Orientalia 61 (1992), pp. 106–121. Vincentelli, I., “A discharge of clay sealings from the Natakamani palace”, Kush 16 (1993), pp. 116–141. Vincentelli, I., “Clay sealings from Jebel Barkal (Sudan)”, Societés urbaines en Égypte et au Soudan, CRIPEL 22 (2001), pp. 71– 76. Vincentelli, I., “Le cretule del Palazzo di Natakamani”, in E. M. Ciampini – F. Iannarilli (eds.) Il Leone e la Montagna. Scavi Italiani in Sudan (Gangemi Editore, Roma 2019), pp. 81–86. Wolf, S., Onasch H.-U., A new protective shelter for the Royal Baths at Meroë (Sudan), (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin 2017).

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY. THE SUDAN ARCHIVE’S GOVERNORGENERAL REPORTS CHLOË WARD ABSTRACT

As well as personal photographs, letters, and diaries, Durham University’s Sudan Archive contains a number of official reports on the finances, administration and condition of the Sudan. These reports were submitted on a nearly yearly basis (between 1902 and 1952) by the Governor-General of the Sudan to the British High Commissioner in Egypt. They deal with many aspects of life and administration in the Sudan and often include separate reports submitted by governors of provinces and heads of departments. From an archaeological perspective, the reports submitted by the Education Department are particularly relevant. These normally include information on archaeological research conducted in the Sudan in any given year, and in some cases, lists of objects obtained by museums or collections. This paper will explore the archaeological information in these reports, as well as the Governor-General reports more widely. This will focus on the variability of the reports and the type of archaeological research discussed in them over time, as well as what the reports can reveal about 89

90

CHLOË WARD archaeological material uncovered in the Sudan during the early 20th century. The accessibility of the information will also be considered; as well as the use of the material in archaeological research.

INTRODUCTION

This paper is based on a conference presentation given at the 3rd Sudan Studies Postgraduate Conference in Oxford in 2019. The paper introduces and explores the references to archaeology present in the Governor-General Reports from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan (1898–1955), published between (1902– 1952). Digital versions of these Governor-General Reports are available on the website of Durham University’s Sudan Archive.1 The Sudan Archive is an extensive collection2 of mostly official material, related to the Condominium government in the Sudan, this includes references to some of the archaeological research and fieldwork conducted at the time which can be found throughout several of the collections in the Archive.3 In addition, most of the official GovernorGeneral Reports contain more or less extensive references to archaeological research, administration, and fieldwork conducted at the time of submission, and provide an invaluable perspective on some of the administration of archaeology across the period. The following will begin by introducing the reports, before discussing in more detail the references to archaeological research in them, and how these references change and shift over time. The paper will conclude with a short discussion and conclusion for further research with these Governor-General Reports for archaeological, and related, research.

https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/sudan/gov-genl_reports/. The Sudan Archive online catalogue can be found at https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/sudan/ 3 Corey and Forbes, 1983, ‘Resources for Sudan Studies: The Sudan Archive of the University of Durham’; Forbes, 1980, ‘The Sudan Archive at the University of Durham’; Ward, 2016, ‘Durham University Sudan Archive – An overlooked resource in current archaeological research?’; Ward, 2019, ‘Archaeology in Durham University’s Sudan Archive. 1 2

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL REPORTS

91

The so-called Governor-General Reports are Reports on the finances, administration and condition of the Sudan, were sent each year by the British Governor-General of the Sudan to the British Consul-General, later High Commissioner, in Egypt which was then forwarded on to the UK. 40 of these reports covering 1902 to 1952 are available in the Sudan Archive and they provide information on a range of aspects from the administration of the Sudan during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. The only gap in the yearly sequence is between 1915 and 1920 (inclusive), it is unclear if these were not submitted at the time or whether they have not survived as part of the Sudan Archive’s collections. Some of the later reports cover several years and those for 1939–1941, 1942–1944, 1950–1951, and 1951–1952, are each presented in the same volume. The reports vary slightly over time which may be primarily based on the Governor-General at the time (Figure 1). The ones submitted during the time Sir Reginald Wingate was Governor-General are particular extensive, as directly reflected in the length of the reports (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Governors-General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

Figure 2. Length of the Governor-General Reports.

92

CHLOË WARD

DECONSTRUCTING THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL REPORTS

Looking at the 1907 Governor-General Report in more detail gives an idea of the types and presentation of information in the reports provided by the Governor-General. The 1907 report is 911 pages long and is actually composed of several individual reports written or compiled by different people4. The first part of the report is written by Sir Eldon Gorst, who was at the time Consul-General in Egypt. This is essentially a summary of the next part of the report, which was written by Wingate, which itself is based on a number of shorter more specific reports by the governors of each of the Sudanese provinces and the directors of each of the government’s departments. Therefore, much of the information is repeated in the different parts of the Governor-General Reports, in more or less detail, with the earlier parts offering a summary or overview of some of the factors raised. This is useful in that it can reveal which information was considered important or worth raising by both the Governor-General and the Consul-General. The different government departments providing reports give an idea of the range and variety of information included in the Governor-General Reports (Table 1). The organisation of the Governor-General Reports means that they are not always straightforward to use, and it is important to be familiar with their structure and layout to understand how the information is presented. For example, information relating to a particular event may be available in different parts of the report, presented by different people and in more or less detail. Unfortunately, the layout is not consistent in each of the reports and the presentation of the information varies. This includes fundamental differences such as the numbering of the pages. In some cases, such as the 1907 report, the first part written by Gorst is numbered separately from the rest of the report, in other cases each of the different parts are numbered individually. This issue is further exacerbated when using the online versions of the reports, as the scan numbers rarely correspond to the page numbers. The following table gives an idea of the construction of the 1907 Governor-General Report and the different parts and authors included (Table 1). 4

Governor-General Report, 1907.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

PART

Report by His Majesty’s Agent and ConsulGeneral on the Finances, Administration, and Condition of the Sudan in 1907

SUB-PART n/a

3–9

II. Economics

9 – 12

III. Finance

13 – 15

IV. Communications

15 – 18

V. Public Works

19 – 20

VII. Administration

20 – 22

VIII. Public Health

22 – 23

IX. Justice X. Education

XI. Provincial Administration

23

Sir Eldon Gorst (ConsulGeneral)

24 – 25 25 – 32

XII. Military Matters

32 – 33

XIII. Science and Art

33 – 34 34

I. General

1 – 16

II. Economics

16 – 40

III. Finance

41 – 50

IV. Communications

51 – 65

V. Public Works

65 – 73

VI. Administration

73 – 80

VII. Public Health

80 – 85

VIII. Justice

85 – 88

IX. Education

89 – 92

X. Provincial Administration

AUTHOR (POSITION)

18

VI. Irrigation

XIV. Conclusion

Memorandum by H.E. the GovernorGeneral

PAGES

93

92 – 140

XI. Science and Art

140 – 142

XII. Military Matters

142 – 153

XIII. Conclusion

153 – 155

Sir Reginald Wingate (GovernorGeneral)

94

CHLOË WARD PART

Province Reports

SUB-PART Bahr-el-Ghazal Province

161 – 186

Berber Province

187 – 216

Blue Nile Province

217 – 231

Dongola Province

233 – 249

Halfa Province

251 – 268

Kassala Province

269 –286

Khartoum Province

287 – 314

Kordofan Province

315 – 331

Mongolla Province

333 – 347

Red Sea Province

349 – 366

Red Sea Province, Marine Biologist’s Annual Report Sennar Province Upper Nile Province

White Nile Province Agriculture and Lands Department Customs Department Departmental Reports

PAGES

Education Department Finance Department

369 – 380 381 – 398 399 – 410 411 – 432 435 – 484 485 – 559 561 – 610

AUTHOR (POSITION) H. Hodgson (Acting Governor) F. Burger (Acting Governor) E. A. Dickinson (Governor) H. W. Jackson (Governor) H. H. S. Morant (Governor) E. B. Wilkinson (Governor) E. A. Stanton (Governor) W. Lloyd (Governor) Angus Cameron (Governor) C. J. Hawker (Governor) Cyril Crossland (Marine Biologist) C. E. Wilson (Governor) G. E. Matthews (Governor) J. Butler (Governor) E. M. Bonus (Director) W. HayesSadler (Director) J. Currie (Director)

Note that printed separately

Game Preservation Department

611 – 623

Legal Department

625 – 650

A. L. Butler (Superintende nt) n/a

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY PART

SUB-PART

PAGES

Sudan Medical Department

651 – 670

Intermediate Annual Report on Civil Hospitals, etc.

652 – 680

Sudan Government Museum

681 – 684

Posts and Telegraphs Department

685 – 712

Prisons and Police Section

713 – 741

Public Works Department

743 – 760

Railways Department Steamers and Boats Department

761 – 790 791 – 808

Stores Section

809 – 819

Survey Department

821 – 836

Veterinary Department

837 – 845

Woods and Forest

847 – 866

95 AUTHOR (POSITION) J. B. Christopherson (Director) G. Douglas Hunter (Principal Medical Officer) Hilda M. Broun (Honorary Secretary) Andrew Balfour (Director) E. V. Turner (Director) M. Coutts (Assistant Secretary) H. Cecil Potter (Assistant Director) E. C. Midwinter (Director) E. E. Bond (Director) Malcom Coutts (Assistant Secretary) Hugh D. Pearson (Director) A. Oliver (Principal Veterinary Officer) A. F. Broun (Director)

Table 1. Main parts of the 1907 ‘Governor-General Report’.

Therefore, despite the amount of information available in the reports, locating all of the relevant information available on a particular topic or event from a particular year is not always straightforward and can be spread out across the different parts of each of these reports.

96

CHLOË WARD

REFERENCES TO ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE GOVERNORGENERAL REPORTS

References to archaeology are similarly spread out across the different parts of the Governor-General Reports. Again, this can be effectively illustrated by the 1907 example, where there is a very brief mention of archaeology in Gorst’s ‘Arts and Science’ section of the report. This is based on information provided in Wingate’s part of the report which gives a slightly more detailed summary of the archaeological research conducted in that year. However, the most comprehensive overview of the archaeological research can be found in one of the appendices of the Report of the Education Department which includes an account written by the Antiquities Service. This account was written by John Crowfoot, who was the assistant Director of the Education Department at the time. In addition to this role, Crowfoot was the Acting Conservator of Antiquities for the Sudan until 1908. As seen in the images, Crowfoot’s account is significantly more detailed than both Wingate’s and Gorst’s. In fact, Gorst’s references to archaeology are summed up in a short paragraph: “The last year,” Mr. Crowfoot writes, “has not been less fruitful than its predecessors in extending our knowledge of the ancient history of the Sudan.” Dr. Breasted, of the University of Chicago, has been able to make accurate and lasting records of the monuments in the southern districts of the Dongola Province. Another distinguished archaeologist, Mr. Hogarth, also visited the Sudan last March. Dr. Budge’s valuable and important contribution to the history of the Sudan was published in 1907.’5

This rather cursory summary seems to be directly based on Wingate’s references to archaeology in the report (note nearidentical phrasing and sentences in bold): Mr. Crowfoot, of the Gordon College, who, in addition to his ordinary duties, also acts as Conservator of Antiquities, has submitted an exceptionally interesting report, dealing with the 5

Gorst, 1907 Governor-General Report.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY discoveries and archaeological work of the past year. I take this opportunity of recording my deep personal regret, as also that of the Sudan Government, at the impending return of this able and capable official to Egypt, where he has accepted an important position under the Ministry of Public Instruction. “The last year,” Mr. Crowfoot writes, “has not been less fruitful than its predecessors in extending our knowledge of the ancient history of the Sudan. Little by little gaps are being filled, each increase is a promise of more to come and I see every reason to hope that in the future we shall be able to trace, in comparative detail, the ordered evolution of Ethiopian culture from the time of the Ptolemies to the downfall of Christian Dongola” It is very satisfactory to note that Dr. Breasted, of the University of Chicago, has now been able to make records, with the best modern appliances, of the monuments in the southern districts of the Dongola Province, which have been hitherto only partially known through the hand drawings of earlier travellers, and has thus secured, for the ultimate decipherers of Ethiopian script, information which can now never be lost. Another distinguished archaeologist, Mr. Hogarth, also visited the Sudan in March the result of his investigations has led him to deprecate any haste in excavating amongst the ruins to be found in the “Island of Meroe,” until a wider survey of the whole country has been completed, and a Museum built for the reception of finds. This merely confirms the police already adopted by the Sudan Government. Dr. Budge’s very reliable and important contribution to the “History of the Sudan” was published in 1907. The contents of these fine volumes will be of incalculable service to future students. The detailed description of the excavations conducted by the author himself have been long awaited with keen expectation by all interested in the subject of Sudan archaeology. In his report Mr. Crowfoot gives a very interesting description of his own investigations in “The Island of Meroe,’ but his account merits full perusal in his own words. His conclusions points to the fact that “we have in these places evidence of a single, homogeneous, and well articulated system of trade and

97

98

CHLOË WARD land development which seems to have reached its highest pitch in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.” Another journey, carried out in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea coast – principally in the vicinity of Arik – leads Mr. Crowfoot to identify this site with Ptolemais Epitheras. He also visited the Islands of Bahdur and Airi with their rock-cut cisterns, pyramidal tombs, and Kufic funerary inscriptions. “It is clear,” he writes, “that a closer investigation of these sites should throw light upon a succession of peoples who, in their influence upon the Central Sudan, were hardly, if at all, less important than the Egyptians.”6

The report of the Antiquities Service provided by Crowfoot on page 606 of the 1907 Governor-General Report is much more extensive (Figure 3). But clear similarities in the writing can again be identified and Wingate’s part is clearly a summary of this account, and in some cases, Wingate directly quotes Crowfoot. Therefore, although distinct in the report, each of the three parts referencing archaeology provide similar information on the archaeological activity which gets increasingly detailed and is based on Crowfoot’s Antiquity report. However, the 1907 report is by no means a typical layout for all of the references to archaeology across the Governor-General Reports. Some years contain no references to archaeology in the Consul-General’s part of the report, those after 1921 no longer contain the more detailed report by the Antiquities Service, and others also include description of archaeology in the individual province reports. The following table provides a list of the identified references to archaeology across the Governor-General Reports in the Sudan Archive, although there may be more (Table 2). This effectively demonstrates the inconsistencies in the location of archaeological references in the different parts of the reports, which in part may be based on personal preference. For example, both the Consuls-General and Governors-General often discuss archaeology in a dedicated ‘Science and Art’ section rather than in their ‘Education Department’ section, despite the Antiquities Service being run by the Education Department and 6

Wingate, 1907 Governor-General Report.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

99

Figure 3. Part of the Antiquities Service account included in the 1907 Governor-General Report. YEAR

1903

1904

1905

PART

Report by His Majesty’s Agent and ConsulGeneral Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate

SUB-PART/SECTION

Archaeology

Archaeology and Museum

PAGES

27

39

Departmen- Sudan Government tal Reports Museum

92

Report by His Majesty’s

55

Science and Art

AUTHOR (POSITION)

Sir Evelyn Baring, Lord Cromer (ConsulGeneral)

Sir Reginald Wingate (GovernorGeneral) Hilda Broun (Honorary Secretary), in part quoting John Crowfoot Sir Evelyn Baring, Lord Cromer

100 YEAR

CHLOË WARD PART

Agent and ConsulGeneral Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate

SUB-PART/SECTION

Archaeology and Museum

Departmen- Sudan Government tal Reports Museum

1906

1907

Report by His Majesty’s Agent and ConsulGeneral Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate Report by His Majesty’s Agent and ConsulGeneral Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate

Science and Art

Science and Art

Science and Art

Science and Art

PAGES

60

65

51

AUTHOR (POSITION) (ConsulGeneral) Sir Reginald Wingate (GovernorGeneral) Hilda Broun (Honorary Secretary), in part quoting John Crowfoot Sir Evelyn Baring, Lord Cromer (ConsulGeneral)

Sir Reginald Wingate 124–25 (GovernorGeneral) 33

Sir Eldon Gorst (ConsulGeneral)

Sir Reginald Wingate 141–42 (GovernorGeneral)

Departmen- Education Antiquities John 606–10 tal Reports Department Service Crowfoot

1908

Report by His Majesty’s Agent and ConsulGeneral Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate

Science and Art

Science and Art

36

Sir Eldon Gorst (ConsulGeneral)

Sir Reginald Wingate 204–5 (GovernorGeneral)

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY YEAR

PART

SUB-PART/SECTION

DepartmenEducation Department tal Reports Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate

Science and Art Education Department

1909

Departmental Reports Education Department Province Reports Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate Province Reports

1910

1911

101

PAGES 157–60 25 287–88

AUTHOR (POSITION)

James Currie (Director) Sir Reginald Wingate (GovernorGeneral)

James Currie (Director)

Antiquities Peter Service 354–59 Drummond Report E. B. Berber Antiquities 619 Wilkinson (Governor) J. R. Bassett Historical Halfa 669 (Acting Note Governor) Sir Reginald Wingate Science and Art 34 (GovernorGeneral) C. H. Berber Antiquities 194 Townsend (Governor) Education Department

565–66

James Currie (Director)

Peter Drummond (Acting ConDepartmenservator of tal Reports Education Appendix Antiquities), 574–85 Department D including extracts from excavation director reports MemoranSir Reginald dum by Sir Wingate Science and Art 106 (GovernorReginald Wingate General) Peter Drummond Departmen- Education Antiquities 449–58 (Acting Contal Reports Department Service servator of Antiquities),

102 YEAR

CHLOË WARD PART

Province Reports

SUB-PART/SECTION

Berber

Antiquities 33–34

Halfa

Historical Notes

Red Sea

1912

Memorandum by Sir Reginald Wingate

Provincial Administration

Departmen- Education tal Reports Department

1913

Memorandum by Sir

Berber Dongola

AUTHOR (POSITION) including extracts from excavation director reports John Garstang

G. E. Iles (Acting 81–82 Governor + quotes from letters) Graham C. Kerr Antiquities 217 (Governor + quotes from Seligman) Sir Reginald Wingate 41. Berber 100 (GovernorGeneral) 49. Red Sea

Science and Art

Province Reports

PAGES

111 118–19

Peter Drummond (Acting Conservator of Antiquities Antiquities), 301–15 Service including extracts from excavation director reports A. J. C. Huddleston Antiquities 36 (Acting Governor) Historical Notes

Science and Art

71–75 F. Ll. Griffith 84–85

Sir Reginald Wingate

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY YEAR

PART

Reginald Wingate

SUB-PART/SECTION

Departmen- Education tal Reports Department

103

PAGES

Appendix D ‘Anti265–73 quities Section’ 68 (§57)

1914

n/a

Science and Art

1921

n/a

Chapter X. Education

35

1922

n/a

Chapter X. Education

46 (§126)

1923

n/a

Chapter X. Education

41–42 (§159)

1924

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

44 (§144)

1925

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

48 (§172)

1926

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

1927

n/a

Chapter XII. Education

83 (§362)

1928

n/a

Chapter XII. Education

97 (§459)

1929

n/a

Chapter XII. Education

94 (§434– 35)

1930

n/a

Chapter XII. Education

1931

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

75 (§285– 87)

98–99 (§457– 58) 80 (§356– 57)

AUTHOR (POSITION) (GovernorGeneral) Peter Drummond (Acting Conservator of Antiquities) Sir Reginald Wingate (GovernorGeneral) H. W. Jackson (Acting GovernorGeneral) Lee Stack (GovernorGeneral) Lee Stack (GovernorGeneral) Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral J. L. Maffey (GovernorGeneral) J. L. Maffey (GovernorGeneral) B. H. Bell (Acting GovernorGeneral) J. L. Maffey (GovernorGeneral) J. L. Maffey (GovernorGeneral)

104 YEAR

CHLOË WARD PART

SUB-PART/SECTION

PAGES

1932

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

84 (§366)

1933

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

75–76 (§313)

1934

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

75 (§297)

1935

n/a

Chapter XI. Education

79–80 (§306)

1936

n/a

Chapter XIV. Education

90 (§365)

1937

n/a

Chapter XIV. Education

83 (§328)

1938

n/a

Chapter XIV. Education

87–88 (§315)

1939– n/a 41

Chapter XIV. Education

1942– n/a 44

Chapter XV. Education

1945

n/a

Chapter XV. Education

1946

n/a

Chapter XV. Education

1947

n/a

Chapter XV. Education

1948

n/a

Chapter XV. Education

1949

n/a

Chapter XV. Education

142 (§407)

1950/ n/a 1951

Chapter XV. Education

102–3

122 (§266– 67) 125 (§287)

126–27 (§351– 53) 132–33 (§431– 34) 142–43 (§435– 40) 152–53 (§453– 55)

AUTHOR (POSITION) J. L. Maffey (GovernorGeneral) Submitted by the GovernorGeneral G. S. Symes (GovernorGeneral) G. S. Symes (GovernorGeneral) Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral Submitted by the GovernorGeneral

Table 2. Identified references to archaeology across the GovernorGeneral Reports in the Sudan Archive.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

105

Figure 4. Part of the 1913 Report for Berber Province which includes archaeology in an ‘Antiquities’ section.

106

CHLOË WARD

Figure 5. Part of the 1913 Report for Dongola Province which includes archaeology in a ‘Historical Notes’ section.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

107

being discussed in detail in the individual report submitted by the Education Department. Similarly, references to archaeology in some of the province reports can be found in different sections, with some governors opting to discuss it in an ‘Antiquities’ section and others in ‘Historical Notes’ (Figures 4–5).

DISCUSSION

Despite the variability in the location and the amount of information on archaeological research presented across them, the Governor-General Reports provide an invaluable perspective on some of the research that was carried out during the Condominium. Crucially, this includes not just how and where archaeology was conducted, but also how this was administered by the Condominium government, as well as how this was perceived and presented by different government officials at the time. Although, as is clear from table 2, there are significant variabilities in the presentation of archaeological research across the reports, these follow roughly chronological differences. Before 1907

Before 1907 there are few references to archaeology in the Governor-General Reports, the references which are included are cursory and provided by either the Governor-General or ConsulGeneral. These early summaries of archaeology do not discuss excavations, but rather the lack of possible fieldwork, and place greater emphasis on either exploration or the collection of antiquities for, in 1904, only a potential archaeological museum. As previously stated, the resources of the Sudan Government do not admit of much being done as yet in the way of archaeological research. Mr. Crowfoot, in addition to his onerous duties as Assistant to the Director of Education, applies as much of his spare time as possible to a consideration of objects of archaeological interest in the Sudan. Accompanied by him I visited the interesting ruins at Masawarat and Naga, and at the latter place a well is now being dug which will I hope make the locality more accessible to visitors than it is at present.

108

CHLOË WARD Dr. Budge, the Curator of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, has devoted some time to the examination of the pyramids at Meröe near Shendi, and is shortly returning to prosecute more research in compony with Mr. Crowfoot. He is at present engaged with him in the Dongola district with a view to removing some of the more important objects of archaeological interest before the line from Halfa to Kerma is finally closed down. It is hoped that a suitable site for an archaeological museum will be set apart in Khartoum, but at present the funds for the construction of such an edifice are not forthcoming. For the moment such objects of interest are deposited in a room in the Gordon College, and the year’s addition include fragments of pottery sent by Mr. Crowfoot, and early Christian bricks and pottery bowls sent by Captain McEwen from Geteina.7

The only other references to archaeology in these early GovernorGeneral Reports are in the report of the Sudan Government Museum, provided in the department reports and which relate to a number of collections (e.g. ethnographic, natural history, economic) but also have brief references to acquisitions of objects for an archaeological collection. Interestingly the Sudan Government Museum reports appear to be the only parts of the Governor-General Reports written by a woman, Hilda Broun, who was the Honorary Secretary to the Museum Board. 1907 – 1914

The references to archaeology increase from 1907, this is likely due to more archaeological fieldwork taking place and the 1905 Antiquities Ordinance, after which a more official Archaeological/Antiquities Section is established which is administered by the Education Department8. This makes the information relating to archaeology slightly more consistent in this period and all of the Governor-General reports include at least some reference to research conducted in the relevant year. This includes the accounts by the Antiquities Service which contain 7 8

Wingate, 1904, Governor-General Report. Addison, 1953, ‘Early Days’; Wingate, 1905, Governor-General Report.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

109

the most detailed information, although as discussed above, summaries of work on some of the specific sites are in the reports from the relevant provinces. Nevertheless, the accounts of the Antiquities Service are normally relatively detailed and are available for all years between 1907 and 1914, except for the 1908 Governor-General Report. A typical account includes a summary of the state of the Museum, any fieldwork conducted, and more detailed reports of some of the more significant excavation seasons from that year. These often have quotes from the excavation directors, if not sections actually written or submitted by them. Most of the Antiquities Service accounts also discuss the conservation and preservation status of some of the sites and monuments, and any potential damage caused over the course of the year – whether due to natural or human causes. The measures taken to either remedy or prevent further damage to the archaeology are also sometimes discussed. The last part of these accounts provides lists of objects acquired by the Museum, typically from ongoing excavations (Figure 6). Therefore, these accounts are a valuable source of information which are presented relatively consistently each year. Some of them also reference concessions which were not granted which provides an interesting insight into the running of the Antiquities Service, for example, a rejection of a licence to excavate at Soba submitted by Griffith. There is also a blank copy of the licenses which were issued to excavation teams which includes some of the official conditions and regulations placed on archaeologists working in Sudan at the time (Figure 7). Interestingly, they include travel benefits for archaeologists and Egyptian workmen.

110

CHLOË WARD

Figure 6. Part of a list of material acquired by the Museum included in the appendices of the Antiquities Service account in the 1910 GovernorGeneral Report.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

111

Figure 7. Example of the excavation licences used included in the appendices of the Antiquities Service account in the 1910 GovernorGeneral Report.

112

CHLOË WARD

Up to 1908 these Antiquities Service accounts are written by Crowfoot, after which time he leaves the Sudan. This put the Condominium government in a slightly awkward situation as they did not know who to replace him with. This is vocalised quite forcefully by James Currie, the Director of the Education Department in 1908 in response to a clear refusal for additional funding to hire an Acting Conservator9. The 1908 GovernorGeneral Report implies that Currie was hoping to be able to appoint an external archaeologist as Conservator rather than giving the duties to someone from within the Education Department who had no suitable training. However, despite Currie’s pleas that this would create an embarrassing situation this is rejected by the government, despite, as referenced by Currie, regulations set out in the Antiquities Ordinance. The situation seems to have come at a particularly unfortunate time as the excavations at Buhen were due to start in 1909 and seem to have been considered some of the most extensive excavations led in the Sudan up to then. This discussion which is seen through the different parts of the 1908 Governor-General Report, is also raised by Wingate but not in Gorst’s part of the report. As a result, Peter Drummond, at the time Professor of Mathematics in Gordon College, is temporarily appointed as Acting Conservator by Currie, until a more suitable person can be found. However, Drummond stays in the post for 13 years and he continues to write detailed reports on the Antiquities Service and oversees the establishment of a standing committee of archaeology to deal with some of the more complex issues. After 1921

After 1921, the reports decrease quite significantly in length, with most of them only containing the Governor-General’s part of the report and no longer having the introductory summary by the Consul-General or High Commissioner of Egypt nor the individual reports by province Governors and department Directors. Crucially, from an archaeological perspective the accounts of the 9

Currie, 1908 Governor-General Report.

SIEVING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY

113

Antiquities Service are no longer included. Archaeology is still mentioned in most of the Governor-General Reports but only in a short summary written by the Governor-General at the time, likely based on external reports which are not included. Interestingly, most of these summaries tend to shift slightly in tone and subject in comparison to the earlier references to archaeology. The focus is now much more on preservation, tourism to an extent, and on the administration of archaeological research. This includes the transfer of the Antiquities Department to the Sudan at the end of the Condominium. For example, from 1945 the first Sudanese antiquities officer is appointed according to the 1946 Governor-General report; although he is not named in the report this is most likely a reference to Thabit Hassan Thabit’s appointment.10 The Archaeological and Museum Board met three times. The excavation by the antiquities service of an early occupation site in Khartoum continued until the end of February, and, after that, much of the Commissioner’s time was occupied with study of the finds and preparation of a report. Towards the end of the year a Sudanese [man/individual/scholar, etc] was found for appointment to a post connected with the inspection of ancient monuments. In November, the ancient sites in Dongola – Wadi Halfa area were toured by the Commissioner. On the whole, conditions were not unsatisfactory, but part of the water-stair of the Middle Kingdom fort at Semna West has collapsed. Antiquities notices were erected at four more sites. Repairs to protective works at Buhen temple and Abdel Gahir church were carried out by the Public Works Department. Cultivation at the Borgeig pump scheme has come right up to the western deffufa at Kerma, and inquiries were made about the possibility of obtaining barbed wire fencing for the protection of the site.11

10 11

Hakem, 1978, ‘A History of Archaeological Research in the Sudan’. Governor-General Report, 1946.

114

CHLOË WARD

CONCLUSION

Despite the various presentation and amount of archaeological information available in the Governor-General Reports from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan, these provide a useful resource and perspective on archaeological research in the Sudan. On the whole this presents an official governmental perspective on archaeology at the time, its administration, and to an extent its perception. Much of the information provided in the GovernorGeneral Reports, can be cross-referenced to other sources in the Sudan Archive, for example references to object acquisitions or donations which also appear in some of the correspondence. The information provided before 1918 is particularly valuable as this dates to before publications such as Sudan Notes and Records which provide many of the governmental reports on research during the Condominium.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Addison, F. 1953. ‘Early Days, 1903–1931’, Kush 1, 56–59. Corey, E. S. B. and L. E. Forbes 1983. ‘Resources for Sudan Studies: The Sudan Archive of the University of Durham’, African Research and Documentation 31, pp. 1–11. Governor-General Reports, all available on Durham University’s Sudan Archive Website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/sudan/gov-genl_reports/ Forbes, L. 1980. ‘The Sudan Archive at the University of Durham’, in B. C. Bloomfield (ed.), Middle East Studies and Libraries. London, pp. 49–57. Hakem, A. M. A. ‘A History of Archaeological Research in the Sudan’ in Hochfield and Riefstahl (eds) Africa in Antiquity: the Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan, New York, pp. 36–45 Ward, C. 2019. ‘Archaeology in Durham University’s Sudan Archive’ Sudan & Nubia 23, pp. 188–197. Ward, C. 2016. ‘Durham University Sudan Archive – An overlooked resource in current archaeological research?’ Sudan & Nubia 20, pp. 170–178.

SHOKAN:

REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN INTRODUCTION

The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) in Leiden has been active for 46 years in Saqqara where spectacular discoveries have been made. Before the RMO excavated in Saqqara – in cooperation with the Egypt Exploration Society – the museum was already active in Abu Roasch and in Nubia. During the winters of 1962 and 1963 a team from the RMO and the University of Leiden, led by the then director of the museum, Prof. Dr. Adolf Klasens, excavated the Meroitic village of Ash-Shaukan – in short Shokan – and the Christian village of Abdallah Nirqi, a bit more to the north. In Shokan, situated 2.5 kilometres north of Abu Simbel, the team excavated circa thirty late-Meroitic house structures. Documentation of this excavation was stored in the archives of the museum some fifty-four years ago, and has neither been studied, nor, except for a single article, published. With the building of new dams in the Nile, it is time to save Shokan from being forgotten (see Figure 1).

115

116

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

Figure 1: Map of Nubia after Mitteilungen der Sudan-archäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin 5, 2014, 6.

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

117

RESCUE EXCAVATIONS IN NUBIA IN THE 1960S

The construction of the Great Aswan Dam in the 1960s meant that many monuments in Lower-Nubia would disappear under the rising waters. Faced with these problems, the governments of both the United Arab Republic of Egypt and of Sudan requested the assistance of UNESCO in an appeal for international action to protect the endangered monuments that threatened to be submerged as a result of the dam’s construction. This appeal formed the base for the World Heritage Convention (1972), out of which, among others, the World Heritage List originated. More than fifty countries participated in the UNESCO campaign, which also led to the relocation of the temples of Abu Simbel and the relocation of the temple from the northern plain of Taffeh, which is now in the RMO in Leiden.

THE DUTCH EXPEDITION

In 1907, Egyptologist Arthur Weigall discovered the remains of a Meroitic village (Weigall 1907, 124). During a survey of the same location carried out within the framework of the UNESCO rescue project in the 1960s, Harry S. Smith dug some test pits on the site which he called ‘site B’. He noted the following: The purpose of the Survey was to explore, map, and record all sites of archaeological importance for the history of Nubia from the beginning of the ancient Egyptian dynasties onwards, that were to be found in those areas of Egyptian Nubia below River Level 180, which had not been previously surveyed and had not yet been conceded to other expeditions contributing to the campaign to save the monuments of Nubia. (Smith 1962, 2).

Based on the pottery and sherds found, he believed that the village could be dated in the Meroitic Period (270 BC–370 AD) (Smith 1962, 41). About one kilometre north of Shokan, Weigall also discovered the remains of a Christian village (Weigall 1907, 124). Smith called this village ‘site A’ and recommended it together with ‘site B’ in one concession (Smith 1962, 41). Smith indicated in his report that site B did not look very promising because of its denuded condition, but, as he wrote, ‘it requires further investigation’ (Smith 1962, 41). The village was named AshShaukan (Shokan) during the excavation by the Dutch team,

118

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

originally the name of an abandoned contemporary village near the site (Schneider 1963, 11 November). The Christian site became known as Abdallah Nirqi where the Dutch team excavated a Christian church with a number of well-preserved murals. The murals have largely been saved and are now in the Coptic Museum in Cairo and the Nubian Museum in Aswan. The excavation of the church of Abdallah Nirqi is published under the title: The Central Church of Abdallah Nirqi (Van Moorsel et al. 1975). Adolf Klasens, the then director of the RMO, played an important role in the UNESCO rescue campaign. He was a member of the Executive Committee of UNESCO, and became the field director during the Dutch excavations that were carried out as part of the UNESCO rescue operation in Shokan and Abdallah Nirqi. Klasens started a tradition of Dutch fieldwork in Egypt that continues to this day. His tutor was one of the most prominent archaeologists of his time: the English Egyptologist Walter Emery. In the 1930s Emery had already established that there were settlements in the vicinity of Abu Simbel. With this knowledge, the experience gained in a former excavation period in Abu Roasch and the financial support of the Dutch Organization for Pure Scientific Research (ZWO), Klasens started the excavation of Shokan (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Map of the village of Shokan by Prof. A. Klasens (1962–1963, from the RMO archive).

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

119

His team consisted of the American Egyptologist and ceramist Helen Jacquet-Gordon, the Swiss architect-archaeologist Jean Jacquet, the photographer of the RMO Frits van Veen, and the students Dick van de Kooij (first season), Servaas Wildschut (second season) and Hans Schneider (first and second season). After the second excavation season, the team did not return. A mission of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under the direction of Prof. Dr. Lászlo Castiglione continued the excavation in Abdallah Nirqi in the summer of 1964 under pressure from the rising waters. Klasens wrote two short reports about the excavation of Shokan (Klasens 1963 and 1964). Articles by Jean and Helen Jacquet appeared on the architecture of the settlement (Jacquet 1971) and the discovered ostraca (Jacquet-Gordon 2000). In his book about the temple of Taffeh (Schneider 1979), Hans Schneider included a chapter on Shokan. Schneider also wrote an article about Shokan on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the museum (Schneider 2018, 406–411). Other projects, such as the arrival and reconstruction of the Taffeh temple in the museum and the later excavations in Saqqara, kept the RMO staff occupied in such a way that a closer examination of Shokan's findings disappeared to the background. Most of the excavation finds ended up in the museum's depot. However, a few objects found their way to the exhibition rooms. Some of them can be admired in the renewed presentation of the Egyptian collection that opened in 2016.

EXCAVATION ARCHIVES

Several documents about Shokan are stored in the archives of the RMO. Among others, the archives contain the floor plans, object registers, excavation photographs and notes from the excavators. These documents give an idea of how the excavators worked during the excavation of Shokan. Klasens only made a map of the site at the end of the first excavation season and therefore it is not complete. There must have been a later, more accurate map. However, since it is not in the excavation archives, it must have been, together with other excavation documentation, in the car of the Jacquets, which was

120

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

stolen somewhere in the final years of the 1960s. The map which is stored in the archives, shows the different types of structures. However, it must be kept in mind that on this map no distinction has been made between the different levels of occupation found in Shokan.

FINDINGS

The archives contain a lot of information about the pottery that accounts for about eighty percent of the excavated objects. The excavators have recorded in which rooms or other locations the largest part of the pottery was found. The vertical position of the objects, however, was not noted. The photographs taken during the excavation can play an important role in determining a more precise location of the objects, as some of them have been photographed in situ. This makes them possible valuable chronological markers for the dating of structures and other objects on the site. Among the pottery sherds found were fragments of the wellknown Meroitic eggshell ware (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Selection of Meroitic eggshell ware found at Shokan.

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

121

Loom weights, spindle whorls and shuttles form another and very large category of objects. It is striking that more than a third of these objects were found in the central part of the houses. In addition to all the material remains, three human skeletons were found in Shokan, one of which was found in house complex 5 (Figure 4). It is not yet clear from which period these human remains originate precisely, and above all what the story of these individuals was.

Figure 4: Human skeleton found in B5 room 11.

THE ARCHITECTURE

Shokan was a difficult and complex site to excavate. As mentioned before, different levels of occupation were found, crisscrossing each other. The excavators eventually distinguished three different occupation phases that they, in accordance with Harry Smith’s findings, dated to the 2nd–4th Centuries AD. The

122

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

drawings of the house plans in the archives show details of the housing units, but also later renovations such as bricked-up doors, reinforcement of foundations, and walls that offered protection against the advancing desert sands. For example, photos of different excavation stages of house B1 show how a door was bricked up at a later time (Figure 5). The buildings in Shokan ranged from simple buildings with narrow mudbrick walls to buildings with a thick-walled paring, often situated in the centre. This last category is recognizable by walls of about 60 centimetres thick, barrel vaults, stone doorposts and door sills. Barrel vaults are typical of the Nubian architecture and can still be found today in Nubian houses. However, the presence of these vaults offers no certainty about the presence of an upper floor.

Figure 5: Bricked up doorway in B1.

In the excavated areas, in addition to small objects, larger objects such as grinding stones, large storage pots and ovens were found. These objects provide information about the use of the space in question, but also about daily life. For example, following the

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

123

discovery of large pots used as ovens, it is clear that the cooking places were often located outside the central part of the house. To understand more about the function of the structures, we investigated two of the structures in Shokan, B7 and B19.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON TWO OF THE STRUCTURES Structure B7

On Sunday 10 November 1963, the first day back on the site during the second excavation season, the Kufti workmen started with the excavation of structure B7. B7 was situated at the most north-western side of the village, near the western bank of the Nile and was initially seen as a residence, according to the written report in the field diary of student Hans Schneider (Schneider 1963, 10 November 1963). The floorplan of the building to be excavated was almost square, measuring 8 x 8.75 meters and consisting of three separate spaces or rooms. The first space, rectangular in shape and located at the southern side of the building, had an entrance at the east side with a threshold made out of stone. The rectangular room measured 6.20 x 3.00 meters, based on the measurements of architectarchaeologist Jean Jacquet’s drawings (Jacquet, Archives Shokan 1963, RMO). The floor of the room was made of stamped earth. Furthermore, the room was enclosed on the north-west side by a wall of circa 150 centimetres. Following the above mentioned findings, Jacquet was of the opinion that the room must have had a flat roof (Jacquet 1971, 128). On the north side of the house two symmetrical spaces were located, both without any doors. The so-called room number 2 measured 3 x 3.65 meters, whilst number 3 measured 3.05 x 3.65 meters (Jacquet, Archives Shokan, 1963, RMO). Once stripped of the desert sand, the excavators discovered in those enclosed rooms, floors made out of large, flat and irregular sandstone slabs that together created a tight fitting floor (Figure 6). According to professor Shoukry Roweis (University of Toronto), who visited the site during the 1960s and studied architecture in Cairo in the past, this is a Roman flooring technique (Roweis 2019, personal communication). Moreover, in those two smaller rooms the remnants of two barrel vaulted roofs were found, the onset of which

124

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

is still visible in the photos taken on site at the time of the excavation (Figure 6). The walls of all three rooms were plastered with mortar and white washed with lime (Jacquet 1971, 138). The lack of doors in rooms 2 and 3 raises questions about the use of these rooms and how to enter them. This is discussed later in this article.

Figure 6: Sandstone floor in B7 room 3, with the onset of the vaulted roof between rooms 2 and 3 visible on the left.

After the Dutch team removed the stone slabs of the floor of the two smaller rooms, they found sherds at a depth of 15 centimetres on a following floor level. On this second floor they encountered a separate square structure of mudbricks of about 50 x 50 centimetres. It was unclear what this would have been used for. Under the second floor, at a depth of 60 centimetres, a third floor was found (Figure 7). Under the third floor, however, the team only found groundwater, at a depth of about 40 centimetres. Roweis argues that the floors are just part of the foundation and not vestiges of previous occupation levels, as had been the case at some of the other structures in Shokan, where groundwater had been discovered at a depth of 115 centimetres. Roweis based his

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

125

ideas on a number of articles about the Nile floods (Roweis, personal communication, Hebrawi, 1950, 69 and 77, Willcocks 1904, 24 and 46).

Figure 7: Schematic overview of the situation under the first floor of room 2, based on the diary entries of Hans Schneider (drawing L.Y. Mann, digitization R. Geerts).

The missing doors in the two smaller rooms could indicate the use of these rooms as a storage place. Klasens suggested the possibility that the building would have served to store the valuables of the population to protect them from enemy attacks (Klasens 1964, 148). Marc Maillot, however, calls the building a granary, which, according to him, the other buildings of the village had been built around (Maillot 2016, 23). Elinor Husselman, a Copticist and papyrologist, combined her interests in editing Greek and Coptic papyri with her work on the archaeology of Graeco-Roman sites in Egypt. In her article about the granaries of Karanis, she argues that in Karanis the grain storerooms were located in spaces with a barrel vault, on both

126

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

sides of a corridor (Husselman 1952, 59 and 62). The grain was poured into the rooms via a trapdoor in the roof. This trapdoor was reached using a ladder or a staircase. All of the storage facilities in Karanis, however, also had a door on the ground floor where the required grain could be retrieved. No such doors were found in Shokan. Something the excavators did find in both enclosed rooms was notches in the partition wall between those rooms and room 1. Moreover, under these notches the remnants of piles of mudbricks were observed (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Cross section of B7 by Jean Jacquet 1963–1964 (after Jacquet 1971, 128).

The excavators at the time thought that these notches and the mudbrick piles were used as a kind of ladder to climb on top of the partition wall. However, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to stand on the partition wall between the enclosed rooms and room 1, as the enclosed rooms would have supported a vaulted roof, suggested by the excavation of the dividing wall. Furthermore, the notches were placed right above each other, which would have made them difficult to be used as a ladder. In room 1 the Dutch team encountered another pile of mudbricks on the floor against the wall on the Nile side of the room, suggesting the possible remnants of a staircase, as the team originally thought at the time (Schneider 1963, 11 November 1963). A staircase would have made it possible to reach the top of the partition wall between room 1 and both door-less rooms. The wall between room 1 and the two smaller rooms may not have been

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

127

much higher than the 150 centimetres that was measured when the excavators discovered the room. Room 1, however, with its width of 3 meters, is too small to place a staircase in; the stairs would have been too steep. Using the data of the original excavators, Roweis made a model of a few of the excavated house complexes in the village. One of the buildings brought to life by Roweis’ scale model is B7. This scale model shows a one-storey building with two vaulted roofs and one flat roof (Figure 9), similar to the description given by Jacquet in his article about the site (Jacquet 1971, 128–129). An opening in the roof is seen, accessible by an outside ladder, to dump the grain in the store rooms through a hatch in the roof. Whilst the facts seem to indicate a storage space, what does this suggest about the notches and the mudbrick piles, and how goods were to be extracted from the two enclosed rooms? Although the excavators sieved material during the excavation, no mention was made about the discovery of leftover cereal grains.

Figure 9: Scale model of B7 by Prof. Dr. Shoukry Roweis.

128

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

Not many objects have been found in B7. In room 1 the excavators encountered a flat rubbing stone, in the second room a quartzite mortar stone with a red ochre mark in the centre and a granite rubbing stone. In the third room the excavators found a fragment of worked stone. In addition to this, some sherds were found. In room 3 two sherds were found under the stone floor, both of which are currently in the collection of the RMO (inventory numbers F1964/10.79 and F1964/10.80). One sherd of a Meroitic amphora, the bottom of a bowl on a ring foot and the bottom of a cup of very thin ware, are also kept in the museum (all under the same inventory number F1964/10.243), as well as a fragment of thin grey-brown ware (F1965/6.99). Two other sherds, found between B7 and the neighbouring structure B8, came to the museum as well (F1964/10.262 and F1964/10.259). Everything else stayed in Shokan, among which some fragments of eggshell pottery, some fragments of jars and some polychrome sherds. Structure B19

The second case-study involves structure B19 in the south western part of the village (Figure 2). The study resulted in several observations supporting but also complementing the viewpoints of the excavators on the chronology of the site (Klasens 1963, 61– 63). Based on the floor levels of house B10 the excavators distinguished three phases (Figure 10). The latest and third phase was probably the remnant of a primitive habitation layer with flimsy walls built on top of the roofs of the second phase, which was well-built and well-preserved (Schneider 1965, 20 and Schneider 1963, 1 December 1963). The oldest and first phase was found in trenches reaching a depth of four meters below the surface. These three phases roughly date from the 1st century AD to ca. 350 AD (Schneider 1965, 20).

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

129

Figure 10: The excavators based the general stratigraphy of the site on B10. This sketch by the excavators illustrates the three main phases (RMO archives: plans of the buildings).

House B19 has a central part or ‘core’ with carefully-built thicker walls (see also Edwards 1996, 64). The core included at least one vaulted room, a stairway leading up, and two smaller rooms of which one was plastered white. Most rooms had multiple small wall niches. The organisation of the surrounding walls and rooms is more complicated. Using images, documentation and Harris matrices, it was possible to better understand two out of three conglomerations of rooms around the core building. Looking at the bonding of the walls bordering the core building, it can be deduced that the core itself is one of the oldest elements, it might even have been used in multiple phases. At a certain point in time the entrance to the core coexisted with a wall (creating an alley, see Figure 11) and with room 15 which has food preparation installations.

130

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

Figure 11: small alley(?) between the main building (left) and wall 7 (right) of B19. On the right of wall 7 is the perimeter wall of B19 which has collapsed inwards.

On the west side of the core three main phases and several subphases can be distinguished in the architecture. The foundation of wall number 20 is one of the oldest elements which by orientation and stratigraphy is completely different from the surrounding architecture (Figure 12). It cannot be said with certainty that it precedes the core building, but it fits the description of the excavators as ‘dismantled to its foundations and overbuilt by the second phase’ (Klasens 1963, 61–63). The complex series of walls on the west side of the core can be grouped in the second main occupation phase (and consists of several sub-phases in this second main phase) except for two groups of walls that are clearly later in time: wall numbers 29– 31, 32 and 9. These are built on top of the other walls (Klasens 1963, 61). The results seem to confirm the excavators general three-phase system, but are also an indication that reorganisation of rooms took place in the second occupation phase (e.g. wall numbers 15, 18, 26 and 27).

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

131

Figure 12: Wall 20 on the west side of the core building of B19. It is the only wall not parallel with most of the other walls.

Besides the remaining structure a number of objects were found between and around the walls of B19. Information about these objects can be found in the RMO archives. Whilst the concentration of objects found throughout the building do not necessarily tell us something about the use of the rooms, they do show some interesting patterns. For example, the rooms of the core building (rooms 1–5) have the largest diversity in object categories and also contain the most special categories (e.g. jewellery, glass, gaming pieces and sealings). Does this mean that these rooms were more important, multifunctional or simply used for a longer time? The core also has by far the largest amount of pottery (33%); and the largest amount of weaving implements (37%, together with room 14 even 60%). Also room 8, whose

132

LILIANE MANN & BEN VAN DEN BERCKEN

space was used in multiple phases, yielded by far the largest amount of food preparation material (29%). Another result of the preliminary analysis is that it showed that only 11% of the excavated material (109 of circa 990 objects found in B19) actually went to the museum in Leiden. This contrary to the idea that all the excavated material was gifted to the Netherlands. As we combine the architectural remains and the objects, the varied use of the building starts to take shape: the core building used for activities like weaving and perhaps storage in controllable (closable) rooms (room number 5) and a more accessible area with installations and objects related to food preparation (room number 8).

NEXT STEPS

We are currently examining all the objects brought from Shokan by the excavation team in the 1960s. In the meantime, we have made an inventory of the textile implements and have started looking at the pottery in the short-term. By studying the objects in context with the different structures in which they were found, we hope to get a clearer picture of the society that once lived here.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, W. Y. 1962. An introductory classification of Christian Nubian pottery. In: Kush X, 245–288. Edwards, D. N., 1996. The Archaeology of the Meroitic State. New Perspectives on its social and political organisation. BAR 640, Oxford. Hebrawi, M. F. A. 1950. Geographic aspects of Lower Nubia (The Reservoir Area of Egypt), Phd Dissertation, Worcester Massachusetts: Clark University. Husselman, E. M. 1952. The Granaries of Karanis. In: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 83. Boston: Johns Hopkins University Press, 56–73. Jacquet, J. 1971. Remarques sur l’architecture domestique à l’époque Méroitique Documents recuellis sur les fouilles d’Ash-Shaukan. In: Beitrage zur Ägyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde Heft 12, 121–131.

SHOKAN: REVIVAL OF A FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

133

Jacquet-Gordon, H. 2000. Les ostraca Meroïtiques de Shokan. In: Meroitic Newsletter 27, 31–75. Klasens, A. 1964. De Nederlandse opgravingen in Nubië. Tweede seizoen: 1963–1964. In: Phoenix X, No. 2, 147–150. Klasens, A. 1963. De Nederlandse opgravingen in Nubië. Eerste seizoen: 1962–1963. In: Phoenix IX, No.2, 57–66. Maillot, M. 2016. Palais et grandes demeures du royaume de Méroé, Paris: PU-Paris-Sorbonne. Moorsel, P. van, J. Jacquet, H. Schneider. 1975. The central church of Abdallah Nirqi. Leiden: Brill. Schneider, H. 2018. Een dorp en een kerk gered. Belangrijke vondsten in een door een stuwdam bedreigd deel van Egyptisch Nubië. In: Ter Keurs, P., W. Wirtz. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Leiden. Een geschiedenis van 200 jaar. Zwolle: Waanders, 406–411. Schneider, H. 1979. Taffeh: rond de wederopbouw van een Nubische temple. ’s-Gravenhage: Staatsuitgeverij. Schneider, H. 1965. Het aardewerk van de Meroïtische nederzetting te Shokan bij Abu Simbel, Leiden (unpublished thesis). Schneider, H. 1963. Personal Field diary 1963–1964, n.p. Shokan Archives. 1962–1964. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Archiefkamer 1: C 134: 8.2.2b/15a-15f; C 135: folder without name, 8.2.2/16c, 8.2.216h, 8.2.2/16j; C 136: 8.2.2/17d-f, 8.2.2/18, 8.2.2/19; C 136a: 8.2.2/g-h; BNR 1:1740–1748; site plan by Adolf Klasens and architectural drawings by Jean Jacquet. Smith, H. S. 1962. Preliminary Reports of the Egypt Exploration Society’s Nubian Survey. UNESCO’s International Campaign to save the Monuments of Nubia. General Organisation for Government Printing Offices, Cairo. Weigall, A. E. P. B., 1907. A Report on the Antiquities of Lower Nubia (the first Cataract to the Sudan frontier) and their condition in 1906–7. Oxford: University Press. Willcocks, W. 1904. The Nile in 1904. London: E & F. N. Spon.