People of the Red Sea: Proceedings of Red Sea Project II Held in the British Museum October 2004 9781841718330, 9781407328294

Citation preview

Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 3 Series editors D. Kennet & St J. Simpson

People of the Red Sea Proceedings of Red Sea Project II Held in the British Museum October 2004 Edited by

Janet C. M. Starkey

BAR International Series 1395 2005

ISBN 9781841718330 paperback ISBN 9781407328294 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841718330 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

Contents LIST OF FIGURES, MAPS AND TABLES

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

v

INTRODUCTION. Janet C.M. Starkey

1

CONTRIBUTORS

5

PART I. PEOPLES OF THE RED SEA IN ANCIENT TIMES ANCIENT PEOPLES WEST OF THE RED SEA IN PRE-CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY. Kenneth A. Kitchen

7

MARSĀ GAWĀSĪS: A PHARAONIC COASTAL SETTLEMENT BY THE RED SEA IN EGYPT. Rodolfo Fattovich

15

SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES: A RE-EVALUATION OF HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA. Hans Barnard

23

TROGLODITES AND TROGODITES: EXPLORING INTERACTION ON THE RED SEA DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD. Roberta Tomber

41

AKSUMITE TRADE AND THE RED SEA EXCHANGE NETWORK. A VIEW FROM BIETA GIYORGIS (AKSUM). Andrea Manzo

51

SOME THOUGHTS ON EXCHANGE SYSTEMS IN THE RED SEA REGION AND INDIAN OCEAN. Gwendoline Plisson

67

PART II. PEOPLES OF THE RED SEA IN MORE RECENT TIMES TRAVELLERS ON THE RED SEA COAST BETWEEN AL-QUSAYR AND SAWĀKIN. Janet Starkey

75

CRUSADERS IN THE RED SEA: RENAUD DE CHÂTILLON’S RAIDS OF AD 1182–1183. William Facey

87

INVISIBLE PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA: THE EGYPTIAN PORT OF AL-QUSAYR AT THE TIME OF THE FRENCH EXPEDITION TO EGYPT (1799–1800). Dominique Micheline Harre

99

JIDDAH IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE ROLE OF EUROPEAN CONSULS. Sarah Searight

109

AN INTEGRATED WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SYSTEM FROM THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA. Abdulaziz H. Abuzinada

117

TRADITIONAL CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN THE RED SEA REGION OF SAUDI ARABIA. Othman Abd-arRahman Llewellyn

127

CUSHITIC AND SEMITIC PEOPLES OF THE RED SEA COASTS: A LINGUISTIC APPROACH TO THEIR PREHISTORY AND HISTORY. Andrzej Zaborski

137

A LEXICON OF THE RED SEA IN BEJA AND ARABIC. Guido Cifoletti

143

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE MAGICAL PRACTICE OF THE ZĀR ALONG THE RED SEA IN THE SUDAN. Beatrice Nicolini

157

CONFERENCE AND STUDY DAY PROGRAMMES

163

INDEX

167

i

List of Figures, Maps and Tables Figures 1:

A selection of the Eastern Desert Ware (EDW) excavated in Tabot, 19°N 00' 50˝–35°E 55' 22˝)

35

2:

A selection of the Eastern Desert Ware (EDW) excavated in Wādī Sikait (in the Mons Smaragdus area, 24°N 37' 57˝–34°E 47' 26˝)

35

3:

Trogodite ostracon reading Pet[— ] Trogodyt[—] (taken by R. Tomber)

41

4:

Adulis-style pottery found at Myos Hormos (drawn by J. Whitewright, P. Copeland and R. Tomber)

44

5:

Aksumite-style pottery in mudstone fabric from Myos Hormos (no. 1) and Berenike (nos 2–4); micaceous fabric from Berenike (no. 5) (drawn by G. Pyke, G. Reed and P. Copeland)

45

6:

Cultural sequence of the Aksum area established on the basis of the UNO-BU investigations at Bieta Giyorgis

51

7:

Mosaic glass beads from proto-Aksumite Tomb 6 at Ona Enda Aboi Zewge, Bieta Giyorgis

54

8:

A mosaic glass bead from proto-Aksumite Tomb 6 at Ona Enda Aboi Zewge, Bieta Giyorgis

54

9:

Fragmentary ceramic vessel from proto-Aksumite Tomb 10 at Ona Enda Aboi Zewge, Bieta Giyorgis, imitating features of late Hellenistic and early Roman metalware

55

10:

Fragmentary handle of a ceramic vessel from proto-Aksumite Tomb 14 at Ona Enda Aboi Zewge, Bieta Giyorgis, imitating the decoration of the handles of early Roman metalware

55

11:

Quantitative synchronic distribution of the imported ceramic and glass sherds in proto-Aksumite assemblages

56

12:

Fragmentary silver coin of Amadan Bayn, king of Saba and Himyar (ca. AD 50) from Ona Nagast, excavation unit ON IX, SU 24, obverse

57

13:

Fragmentary silver coin of Amadan Bayn, king of Saba and Himyar (ca. AD 50) from Ona Nagast, excavation unit ON IX, SU 24, reverse

57

14:

Quantitative synchronic distribution of the imported ceramic and glass sherds in Early Aksumite assemblages

58

15:

Oval cornelian Roman ring bezel decorated with the representation of Rome sitting on a panoply, dating to the late second to third century AD from Ona Nagast

58

16:

Quantitative synchronic distribution of the imported ceramic and glass sherds in classic Aksumite assemblages

59

17:

Glass lip-plugs discovered from middle and late Aksumite assemblages at Bieta Giyorgis

60

18:

Fragmentary ceramic vessel from the middle Aksumite assemblage ON IV, SU 4 at Ona Nagast, Bieta Giyorgis, imitating a Mediterranean glass dish with ledge-rim and moulded and impressed decoration

60

19:

Quantitative synchronic distribution of the imported ceramic and glass sherds in middle Aksumite assemblages

61

20:

Quantitative synchronic distribution of the imported ceramic and glass sherds in late Aksumite assemblages

61

21:

Outline of the Aksumite external relationships based on materials discovered at Bieta Giyorgis

62

22:

Diachronic quantitative presence of imported ceramic materials in Aksumite assemblages at Bieta Giyorgis

62

23:

Quantitative study of the proportions in the main different classes of imported amphorae from Aksumite assemblages at Bieta Giyorgis

63

24:

Duststorm in Musmar, Red Sea hills (taken by Janet Starkey, 1974)

76

ii

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

25:

Water skins at Muhammad Ghūl (taken by Janet Starkey, 1974)

77

26:

Portuguese stamp showing the port of Sawākin in 1540

79

27:

‘Aerial view of Suakin Island in 1930 with Condensor Island in foreground and El Gerf with its enclosing defenses behind’ (© Sudan Archive, Durham)

79

28:

‘Koseir looking over the market place’ by C.B. Klunzinger (1978: frontispiece)

80

29:

al-Qusayr from about the same direction as Figure 30 (taken by Paul Starkey, 1991)

80

c

30:

Framework of a camel utfah (taken by Janet Starkey in Musmar, 1973)

82

31:

‘Koseir on the Red Sea’ by C.B. Klunzinger (1878: opp. page 276)

84

32:

The port of al-Qusayr by D. Vivant Denon (1799)

103

33:

Merchants from Makkah by D. Vivant Denon (1799)

105

34:

The Proto-Afroasiatic dialect cluster

138

35:

Dialects and subdialects

139

Maps 1:

North East Africa: basic vegetation zones

8

2:

North East Africa: ancient polities and basic vegetation zones

9

3:

Punt: main location (north), and possible later extensions (middle and south)

12

4:

Map showing the location of places mentioned in the text

24

5:

Location map of main Aksumite find spots mentioned in the text (Drawn by P. Copeland).

44

6:

The Kingdom of Jerusalem (ca. AD 1180) and the Red Sea

88

7:

Location map of al-Qusayr

99

1:

An overview of the references to Blemmyes, Beja, Megabaroi and Trogodytes in the Fontes Historiae Nubiorum (Eide et al. 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000)

25

2:

Description of a selection of Eastern Desert Ware excavated in Tabot and Wādī Sikait

36

3:

Absolute chronology of the assemblages of different Aksumite phases at Bieta Giyorgis on the basis of imported materials, compared with the radiocarbon, and numismatic dates.

52

4:

Categories of protected areas used in Saudi Arabia

119

5:

Protected areas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

120

6:

Conservation status of some major species in Saudi Arabia

123

7:

Draft lexicon of BedawiEt maritime and associated terms recorded in Sawākin

145

Tables

iii

This volume is dedicated to Stuart Munro-Hay (1947–14 October 2004) and to Xavier Linant de Bellefonds (1946–1 May 2005) Acknowledgements Many people helped to make the second phase of the Red Sea Project a worthwhile and successful event. The event was held at the BP Lecture Theatre, Clore Education Centre, British Museum with a Conference on Friday 29 October and a British Museum Study Day on Saturday 39 October 2004. We all appreciated the considerable contribution that many of you made to make the event a success.

friendship; to Émilie Armstrong in Durham who helped to design and set up the Red Sea Project website; to Dionisius Agius, Nadia Durrani, St John Simpson, Sarah Searight and Shelagh Weir for academic expertise and advice; to Shelagh Weir, Sarah Thomas and Trevor Marchand for all the work they invested in setting up a delightful photographic exhibition on people either side of the Red Sea, from the Yemen and Ethiopia: thanks are also due to the generous support of Sky Photographic Services, London who sponsored these superb quality photographs; and to Paul Starkey for valiantly translating a paper from Arabic into English at very short notice, his proof-reading, cups of coffee and wonderful support.

We were encouraged by the support of HRH Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador in London, and scholars and diplomatic staff from Saudi Arabia who participated in Red Sea II, despite the pressures of Ramadan. We are also most grateful to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust and The Triplow Trust who have generously supported the Red Sea Project and its publications.

I was grateful for several chats with Francine Stone as Red Sea II evolved, for her supporting documentation and continuing friendship. Building on her initial database of around a hundred academics and advisors, we were able to extend the web of interest yet further through this scholarly network. Our thanks are due to all the speakers and especially to Lucy Blue who provided a fascinating talk on Adulis at very short notice.

We are indebted to the British Museum for hosting the Phase I and II of the Red Sea Project: the first in association with their ‘Queen of Sheba’ Exhibition and the second coincided with another major exhibition at the British Museum entitled ‘Sudan: Ancient Treasures’. For both Phases we combined a conference dedicated to academic debate with an associated British Museum Study Day which provided a venue for more immediately accessible papers for a wider audience. We were particularly pleased to co-operate with the British Museum Friends on both occasions. The honour of being able to host the event in such a prestigious venue cannot be overestimated.

The selection and preparation of the Proceedings of Red Sea Phase II were made in consultation with several academic readers. Thanks are also due for financial and academic support on a wide range of contributors’ research projects. These are acknowledged at the end of each relevant paper. Papers have been revised, rethought and resubmitted within a relatively short time scale. I would particularly like to thank Andrzej Zaborski, Carl Phillips, Dionisius Agius, Peter Clark, Sarah Searight and Shelagh Weir for all their hard work and appropriate comments and additionally to St John Simpson, Sarah Searight, Dorothy Middleton, Jan Picton and Paul Starkey for kindly proof-reading the penultimate version: their eye for detail is amazing!

Co-ordination and appropriate leadership was provided by the Chair of the Society for Arabian Studies, Sarah Searight whose sensible guiding hand was much appreciated; we are also grateful to St John Simpson for his continuing essential and professional support from the Department of Ancient Near East at the British Museum, and to Nick Badcott of the British Museum Education Service for his untiring professional generous support. We are particularly grateful to Ionis Thompson for her kind and attentive support as secretary of SAS who was always calmly there whenever needed and to its Treasurer, Andy Thompson; and to Rob Carter for his cheerful and successful ability to obtain supporting funds and publicise the events. Many thanks are also due to Nadia Durrani for all her hard work, enthusiasm and

All our appreciation goes to the contributors who worked so hard without complaint on the task to produce some excellent results on a wide range of topics. Our thanks go to BAR Publishing for arranging the publication of the Red Sea Projects.

v

Introduction Janet C.M. Starkey various e-mails but the idea never completely went away.

Fascinations I have been fascinated by the intellectual and physical challenges of the Red Sea for years. I first visited the Red Sea as a child growing up in war-torn Jordan, when a trip to cAqabah was a wonderful cathartic experience. I camped in Aylah fort with Stuart MunroHay (dressed, as was his habit then, as an Arab shaykh in flowing robes), Tom Holland and other colleagues from the Department of Antiquities, Amman, when I was part of the archaeological team in 1968 and 1969 excavating at Tawilan, above Wādī Mūsā near Petra, under the leadership of the great Crystal Bennett. Peter Clark, now on the Society for Arabian Studies Committee but then working at the British Council in Amman, was delegated to provide us with essential provisions.

It was therefore with great pleasure that I took on the task of organising Red Sea II that developed from the initial phase, Trade and Travel in the Red Sea, which took place at the British Museum in 2002. The initial, seminal, phase was organised by Francine Stone who began the task in February 2001 with the help of a steering committee of the Society for Arabian Studies and who provided the focus for subsequent phases of the project. Life is full of co-incidences for in 2004 Willeke’s husband, Hans Barnard, was able to present a paper at the conference. Stuart Munro-Hay (1947– 2004) had also intended to give a paper but, sadly, it was not to be as he died in October 2004 in Thailand. Themes

I began to wander around the Red Sea African littoral in 1973–1974 as part of an anthropological study of the Ammār’ăr Musayab who lived in the Atbai but also worked in Port Sudan. My family subsequently and intermittently continue to visit the Red Sea Egyptian coast between Ismācīliyya and al-Qusayr. A few years ago, I met the archaeologists Willeke Wendrich and Krzysztof Pluskota with my colleague Arita Baaijens,1 at the museum store of the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam to review a group of cAbabdah artefacts collected by members of the Berenike Expedition, some of which were subsequently used for an exhibition entitled ‘Nomads between the Nile and the Red Sea’ which ran from April 2002 to March 2003, with photographs by Zbigniew Kosc of the everyday life of cAbabdah tribes people in Egypt. Memories of the fragrance and atmosphere, the dust, the intense heat, the wilderness along the Red Sea seashore came flooding back. Over lunch we resolved to try to organise a multidisciplinary publication that could appropriately reflect a wide range of diverse perspectives on the region. The idea festered for several years while we exchanged

1

The theme for Phase II was a realistic sequel to Phase I, focusing as it did on many facets of the archaeology, history, languages, ecological environments and cultures of people on either side of the Red Sea and those who travelled on the Sea itself. Over thirty abstracts were submitted for Phase II. With the help of academic referees, the final twenty-four papers were selected. Again, the historical sequence was wideranging, from the New Kingdom peoples to current semantics. A single-stranded, multi-disciplinary exchange of views was possible which, again, involved a thoroughly international range of participants and an engaged audience. One of the features of each phase of the Project was the inclusion of an additional themed workshop organised by Francine Stone. The format which allowed for free discussion and presentation of work in progress has been one that has been developed as best practice in a series of workshops run by Dionisius Agius at the University of Leeds. We are also planning to include an additional all-day workshop on ‘Myths of the Sea’ on similar lines, to precede the 2006 event.

A. Baaijens, Desert Nomads: trekking through the Sudan (Amsterdam: Boekenwereld, 2003, in Dutch). She owns a Bisharin camel and has roamed freely across the Wesern and Eastern Deserts. Dr Krzysztof Pluskota is scheduled to give The Kirwan Memorial Lecture on Bir Nurayet: the Rock Art Gallery of the Red Sea Hills on 20 September 2005 at the British Museum and Dr Willeke Wendrich was co-director of the Berenike Project and is based at UCLA and Leiden University.

Topics of Phase II are encouraging the early submission of papers for the third and final phase of the Project which is designed to broaden the perspectives of the Project towards the Cultural Connections of the Red Sea, to be held in Autumn 2006 and in line with the initial sequence. Its theme echoes initial plans to

1

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

conclude with a session on ‘The Wider World of the Red Sea’.

The following sections outline the themes of the various papers and essays in more detail in order to appreciate the themes and locations that connect research undertaken by many authors. My text is based on, or incorporates relevant abstracts written by the individual authors.

Peoples of the Red Sea The philosophy behind the Project is one that is, no doubt, influenced by important concepts developed by Fernand Braudel from 1949 who used a macro time frame of world system history to reveal deep patterns, dynamics and transformations that shape other Braudelian time space frameworks, including the ‘everyday’ and when applied to our Project help us to understand the People of the Red Sea. He identified two important concepts, the longue durée and the interplay of three types of time: ‘geographical’ time, meaning the long geographical development of the region climatically and ecologically; ‘social time’, meaning the way a society organises its time, for example, how nomads arrange their daily and annual migrations; and ‘individual time’, that is, how an individual spends his or her time.

Part I: Peoples of the Red Sea in ancient times Kenneth Kitchen explores the location of ancient kingdoms and the people who may have inhabited them. For 3,000 years, ancient Egypt had dealings with the Eastern Desert and its peoples and polities, both within Egypt from the First Cataract northwards, and deep into Nubia from the First Cataract southwards, down to latitudes of Amaw and Punt, behind the coast; and in parallel with Wawat, Kush and Irem, along the Nubian Nile. Marsā Gawāsīs is the only recorded Pharaonic coastal site on the Red Sea yet discovered. The site is located at the mouth of Wādī Gawāsīs, twenty-five kilometres to the south of Safaga and fifty kilometres to the north of al-Qusayr, on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea. In 2001 the University of Naples, ‘L’Orientale’ (UNO), Naples, and the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (IsIAO), Rome (Italy), in collaboration with Boston University (BU), Boston (USA), began a systematic excavation of the site, under the direction of Rodolfo Fattovich (UNO/IsIAO) and Kathryn Bard (BU), in order to understand the organisation of seafaring expeditions in Pharaonic times.

This volume reflects the interplay of these various aspects of time, focusing on individual sites and individual people as much as general patterns and ecological environments. It is arranged in two main parts. Part I is dedicated to studies of people in ancient times, with discussions about sources, material evidence and associated analysis. The topics in this part range from the possible locations of ancient populations, to classical sources on ethnic identities, material and archaeological analysis on a range of sites from Wādī Sikait to Aksum.

According to Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, book V, 46, ‘Blemmyis tradantur capita abesse ore et oculis pectori adfixis’ [the Blemmyes are reported to have no heads, their mouth and eyes being attached to their chests]. This curious remark developed into the bestknown image of the Blemmyes, partly because it was utilised by the early Christian church in its efforts to demonise pagan peoples. As Hans Barnard points out in his fascinating analysis of classical texts on the Blemmyes, ethnicity is a concept that evades definition. In any study of antiquity it is therefore important also to take into account evidence that may indicate ethnic identity. Not only does Barnard provide written sources but also archaeological evidence from the Red Sea littoral.

Part II explores the ways of life of people in more recent times, from travellers and pilgrims, to Crusaders, consuls and expeditionary forces; from the relationship of people to their ecological environment, to language patterns and lexicons, and their magic. Each Part begins with papers that provide overviews that, in turn, lead to specific case studies; each Part concludes with an essay that is not so much ‘work in progress’ but rather provides ‘thoughts’ to stimulate further research, the first on patterns of exchange in the region and the second on a specific cult as practised by people in the Sudanese Red Sea region. The arrangement of the papers allows the exploration of the region from north to south and west-east along the Red Sea, many papers incorporating aspects of both the African and Arabian coasts, and range from specific papers focusing on locations such as Marsā Gawāsis, al-Qusayr, Wādī Sikait, cAydhāb, Jiddah, Sawākin and Beita Giyorgis (Aksum) to rural conservation management in Saudi Arabia, language groups and maritime lexicons.

The pastoral nomads living in the desert between the Nile and the northern part of the Red Sea have left few traces in historical or archaeological records. During the fourth to sixth centuries AD, however, a large influx of traders, miners and quarrymen provided an infrastructure enabling the nomads to settle, at least on a temporary basis. At the same time they seem to have been more aggressive towards the settled population around them. The historical sources of these events are 2

CONTRIBUTORS TO PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

ambiguous at best, but archaeological research in the region has produced a corpus of potsherds believed to be associated with the dwellers of the desert. Cups and bowls were made without the use of a potters’ wheel, having a sandy paste with few organic inclusions. Their surfaces were smoothed or polished and most vessels were decorated with impressed or incised patterns, often asymmetric and frequently enhanced with a white inlay or a partial red slip. Similar pottery has been described at sites in the Nile Valley and on the Red Sea coast, always among much larger numbers of sherds from imported vessels. The remains of the material culture of the desert dwellers are now being studied using trace-element finger-printing (by ICP-MS) and fatty acid residue analysis (by GC-MS) but also experimental and ethno-archaeology. The combination of archaeological data and historical sources provides an insight into the lifestyle of the ancient dwellers of the desert, and probably prove Pliny wrong.

valley represent two alternative and complementary ways of trading between the Mediterranean and the African continent. To conclude Part I, Gwendoline Plisson presents some thoughts on the origins and distribution of a range of spices, gemstones and resins and the extensive patterns of trade from the Baltic to India and further east, in which the Red Sea played an intermediary role. Part II. People of the Red Sea in more recent times My essay, which collects together perceptions of a range of early and later travellers on the Red Sea Egyptian and Sudanese coast aims to convey the atmosphere and quality of life for people in the region and reflects on pilgrims’ experiences of its harsh environment. It touches fleetingly on many issues developed by the authors of subsequent essays in this volume.

It is frequently considered that, at least during the late Roman period, the role of the Romans was secondary to African middlemen. Recent excavations at Roman sites on the Red Sea, including Aylah (Jordan), Berenike and Myos Hormos (Egypt), have recovered artefact types, particularly pottery, inscriptions and coins that inform on the relationship between the Roman world, East Africa and India. Of equal importance are recent publications from Aksum itself. Roberta Tomber summarises this new evidence from the Red Sea sites and India, as well as relevant published finds from Aksum, South Arabia and India.

How did these travellers describe the heat and deserts of the Red Sea Hills and the deserts of the Atbai? Why did they travel there? What were their perceptions of the people they met in coastal towns such as al-Qusayr and Sawākin? What did they discover about the customs and cultures of Beja groups such as the c Ababdah and the Bisharin? What contact did they have with pilgrims travelling to and from Makkah? Despite the harsh environment of the Red Sea coast and hinterland, the area was traversed by a fascinating range of travellers from traders in elephants in ancient times; explorers in search of gold, emeralds and ostrich feathers; pilgrims from West Africa and Abyssinia; as well as European explorers, doctors, mineralogists, colonial administrators, tourists and sailors.

Andrea Manzo focuses on the results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis of imported materials discovered in Aksumite contexts at Bieta Giyorgis, on the Tigrean Plateau near Aksum The sequence investigated at Bieta Giyorgis is interesting from this point of view as it covers many phases of Aksumite history, from the rise of the kingdom to its collapse. Moreover, the contexts where the imported materials have been discovered are firmly established on the basis of cross-dating, numismatic evidence, and more than 40 radiocarbon dates.

William Facey’s essay investigates the story of Renaud de Châtillon’s ill-fated campaign from cAqabah into the Red Sea with prefabricated ships in AD 1182–1183. His ostensible aim was to threaten the Muslim holy city of al-Madīnah, but the sparse details of the expedition show that he also wanted to disrupt the India trade of the Red Sea. In this he succeeded, if only briefly. The chief source quoted for this episode is the Rihlah of Ibn Jubayr. Other sources are also investigated, to try to clarify the events of the campaign.

This research provides fresh evidence on the network of interaction involving the Aksumite kingdom and its changes through time from the fourth century BC to the eighth century AD, allowing us to follow the rise of Aksumite political power in north eastern Africa and the southern Red Sea, and its consequences for the Red Sea trade network. Finally, the presence there of different classes of imported materials, if compared with the quantitative distribution of the same materials in other neighbouring regions, suggests the rise of a systematic exchange network involving Northern Ethiopia, the Red Sea and the Nile Valley. Evidence suggests that at various times the Red Sea and the Nile

Al-Qusayr remained active up to the 1850s, reportedly as a secondary port following the growth of Suez. The port was critical to Upper Egypt’s agricultural development. Dominique Harre explores archives and travel reports of Napoleon’s Expedition to Egypt to describe the role of the port in the early 1800s. Sarah Searight’s essay explores Jiddah’s role as the Red Sea’s principal entrepôt on the Arabian coast from ancient times, the most northerly point to which vessels sailing north from the Bb al-Mandab could navigate. It goes on 3

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

to look at visits by European travellers in the eighteenth century, inquisitive about Arabia and the hajj, and how these developed into a major European presence in the nineteenth century, especially with the advent of marine steam and the opening of the Suez Canal, with consuls appointed from the 1830s to look after European interests and report on a range of local and religious issues.

maritime lexicon of the Red Sea in Beja and Arabic, on the basis of fieldwork in Sawākin in 1984. He first presented most of his results at the Second International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Languages, Torino 1989; but its Proceedings have never been published. Part II finishes with a final ‘thought’ that reflects on the widespread presence of the zār cult in the Sudan, a very specific and detailed practice. In a conflicting relationship between zār and Islam, the behaviour of the people involved, and the different reactions by Sudanese religious leaders of the time, are noted. The editor has also added a few snippets from Klunzinger’s descriptions of zār practice in al-Qusayr, to illuminate the author’s text.

The essays continue to focus on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea and explore people’s relationship to its ecological environment and biodiversity, flora and fauna. Abdulaziz H. Abuzinada’s paper presents an overview of an integrated wildlife conservation system from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and details the conservation work of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) and the development of its Protected Areas System Plan. Othman Abd-ar-Rahman Llewellyn then explores traditional conservation practices in the Red Sea region of Saudi Arabia, as these are increasingly recognised as having a pragmatic value for the conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. Most traditional conservation practices in Saudi Arabia are grounded in the sharīcah and represent indigenous knowledge that has accumulated over centuries of adaptation to their environment. These conservation methods are moreover expressions of faith, morality and law, the roots of an environmental ethic. In recent decades, these traditional conservation practices have been overwhelmed by social, political, technological and economic change. Traditional methods should be applied creatively for the conservation of natural resources, and in partnership with local communities that are the repositories and practitioners of these traditions.

Further thoughts There is as yet no major cultural, economic and demographic study relevant to the Red Sea area. This is extraordinary given the significance of the Red Sea as a route to many other places, a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, between Arabia and Africa. In contrast, there have been several major studies of the Mediterranean, where its cities are prominent centres of power and civilisation which determined and reflected the fortunes of the Mediterranean Basin for millennia. Why were the Red Sea and its sea culture neglected by Middle Eastern historians and archaeologists for so long? By using a Braudelian approach to the study of the Red Sea we can start to ask questions such as: What links were established across the sea? Who was involved? Why did travellers travel? How crucial was the sea in establishing a Red Sea culture, if there was or is one? How did it help or hinder cultural exchange? Did Western travellers and pilgrims who visited the Red Sea disrupt or support local culture and traditional ways of life? Do the archaeologists there discover an effective image of the people of the Red Sea within the context of their research? How far does our sense of curiosity stimulate our understanding of its peoples? Hopefully the Proceedings of the Red Sea Project in all its phases will help to shed more light on the peoples of the Red Sea.

Two essays on linguistic aspects of the people of the African Red Sea region add another layer of understanding. Few traces of Cushitic peoples on the Eastern (that is, the Arabian) coast of the Red Sea have been found so far in place-names but the evidence is not yet conclusive. Andrzej Zaborski notes that a comparative study of the grammar of the Cushitic, Semitic and Egyptian branches of Afroasiatic (sometimes also called ‘Erythraic’) languages provides some insight into the prehistory of the Red Sea basin. It is probably no accident that the most archaic languages are found grouped around the Red Sea on which topic readers might usefully return to Kenneth’s Kitchen’s essay in Part I. Guido Cifoletti then provides a

University of Durham 20 June 2005

4

CONTRIBUTORS TO PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

The Contributors forthcoming book on Egyptian provincial cities (CEDEJ). She has also published Dynamics of Trade in Egypt: exploring food market evolution, 1875– 1950 (Cairo: CEDEJ, 2001). She is currently working as an independent scholar in Washington, DC.

Abdulaziz H. Abuzinada. PhD. Professor Abuzinada is the Secretary General of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (http://www. ncwcd.gov.sa/englishmain.htm) based in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is also Chair of the Arabian Plant Specialist Group. He is the author of six books and some forty scientific papers. recipient of seven international awards including the prestigious IUCN’s CNPPA Fred Packard Award for Distinguished Achievements in Wildlife Preservation and Environmental Protection, Caracas, Venezuela, 1992. Chair of the Arabian Plant Specialist Group; Chair of the IUCN West Asia Advisory Group, and a Vice Chair of the Species Survival Commission of IUCN. Chair Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals of the Bonn Convention.

Kenneth A. Kitchen is Emeritus Professor (Brunner and personal chairs) at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool. He has active expertise in both Egyptology and Semitics, pursuing these and other fields worldwide: e.g. Egypt (extensive epigraphic fieldwork); Anatolia, Syria/Lebanon and both Palestines west and east of the Jordan; Gulf states and Yemen; Brazil (museum collections) etc. He has published extensively in several disciplines: Egyptian texteditions, history, foreign relations (Near East, Africa, Aegean); early West Semitic, and systematic backgrounds to Old Testament; pre-Islamic Arabia; Egypt and Aegean area.

Hans Barnard, M.D., is a Research Associate with the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is currently involved in research projects on the archaeology of mobile people, ceramic analyis and Eastern Desert As an Ware (http://www.archbase.org). archaeological surveyor and photographer he has worked on sites in Chile, Egypt, Iceland, the Sudan and Yemen. See http://www.barnard.nl/hans1.html.

Othman Abd-ar-Rahman Llewellyn (Saudi Arabia / USA) is an environmental planner in Saudi Arabia’s National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development. His responsibilities include planning and design of protected areas, environmental restoration and habitat enhancement. He studied environmental planning and landscape architecture in the Masters Program at the University of Pennsylvania and took courses in Islamic law at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and the University of Michigan. He revised and expanded the World Conservation Union (IUCN) publication, Environmental Protection in Islam, and has written articles on a variety of subjects pertaining to conservation in Islamic law. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law.

Guido Cifoletti lectures in the Department of Glottologia and Filologia classica, University of Udine, Italy. He studied Mediterranean lingua franca, linguistic interference between Italian and Arabic dialects, and also the languages of the western coast of the Red Sea (Arabic and Beja). William Facey read classics, philosophy and art history at Oxford before becoming involved in the Arabian Peninsula in 1974. He has travelled widely there, particularly in Saudi Arabia, during the course of his work as a consultant on numerous museum projects. He is also an independent writer, editor, researcher and publisher on the Arabian countries. His books and articles cover the history, architecture and early photography of Arabia, and he has a special interest in Arab maritime history. He is chairman and director of Arabian Publishing Ltd.

Andrea Manzo is the author of Échanges et contacts le long du Nil et de la Mer Rouge dans l’époque protohistorique (1999) which focuses on the origins and development of resource exchanges between the regions bordering the Nile and the Red Sea in the proto-historic period (3rd and 2nd millennium BC). Beatrice Nicolini PhD, Assistant Professor of History and Institutions of Africa, Faculty of Political Sciences, Catholic University, Milan, Italy. She is a historian of the Gulf, Oman and Sub-Saharan East Africa who has written extensively; author of Makran, Oman and Zanzibar. Three-Terminal Cultural Corridor in the Western Ocean (1799– 1856), Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2004. She was awarded a Society for Arabian Studies Grant in 2003.

Rodolfo Fattovich. From 1993, Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission to Aksum of the University Oriental Institute, Naples, in association with the University of Boston (USA). 1988–1993, Member of the Italian Institute of Anthropology, Rome. Author of many articles and books on the region. Dominique M. Harre Rogers is a socio-economist who has recently been working with the Centre d’Études et Documention Economique, Juridique et Sociale (CEDEJ), Cairo and wrote an article on alQusayr’s modern history and cultural heritage for a

Gwendoline Plisson from the Maison René Ginouvés, Nanterre and University of Paris I. France, is a 5

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

student in Serge Cleuziou’s team; she is finishing her PhD thesis on the relationships between East Africa and Arabia and on population movements in Red Sea and Indian Ocean from the fourth millennium BC to the first millennium AD. She hopes to organise survey expeditions on the Tanzania coast and on the coast of the Hadramawt. She has worked on exchanges between North-East Africa and South-West Arabia across the Red Sea from the fifth millennium BC to the beginning of the Roman period, and has carried out a survey expedition on the pre-Islamic site of Shihr-East (Yemen).

Arabic dialect. He gave the prestigious Annual Semitic Philology Lecture on ‘The Semitic Languages in Afro-Asiatic Perspective’ in May 2005 at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge.

Sarah Searight has specialised for many years in the Middle East. She is the author of The British in the Middle East (1969), Steaming East (1991) and Yemen: Land and People which was published to coincide with the opening of the British Museum’s ‘Queen of Sheba’ exhibition in 2002. She lectures on Islamic art and architecture, is a founder member of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East and is Chair of the Society for Arabian Studies. Janet C.M. Starkey studied social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh and at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. She grew up in Jordan and has worked in the Gulf, Jordan, Egypt and the Sudan, as well as at the British Museum, and travels widely in the Middle East and Europe. Recent publications include Travellers in Egypt (1999), Desert Travellers from Herodotus to T.E. Lawrence (2000) and Unfolding the Orient (2000) and Interpreting the Orient (2000) and more recently various articles on Alexander Russell of Edinburgh and Aleppo. She currently lectures at the University of Durham on the anthropology of the Middle East, and on the Mediterranean as well as on material culture. Roberta Tomber has worked extensively on archaeological sites throughout the Roman Empire, specialising in pottery. Since 1996 she has been involved particularly in the ports of the Red Sea (Berenike, Myos Hormos and Aila/Aylah) and their role in Indian Ocean commerce. Between 2002 and 2004 she held an AHRB funded grant (with David Peacock) at the University of Southampton to continue this work on Indo-Roman trade, which included extensive fieldwork in India. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology, Southampton and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science at the British Museum. Andrzej Zaborski. Holds the Chair in Afro-Asiatic Linguistics, Institute of Oriental Philology, at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, Poland. He specialises in the comparative grammar of SemitoHamitic languages and additional Semitic languages. He has published widely including work on Egyptian 6

Ancient Peoples West of the Red Sea in Pre-Classical Antiquity K.A. Kitchen Dedicated to the memory of my former student, Stuart Munro-Hay, a bright star so soon eclipsed, with enduring respect and affection.

Introduction

(5) A ribbon of acacia semi-desert is a narrow transitionzone, along the 15º parallel, except along the Shendi reach of the Nile (Khartūm to the cAtbāra confluence) where, going eastwards, it turns northeast, to spread finally along the Red Sea coast from roughly below the Tropic of Cancer to south of Sawākin.

For three thousand years, ancient Egypt had dealings with the Eastern Desert, between the Nile and the Red Sea, and its peoples and polities, both within Egypt (from the First Cataract northwards) and deep into Nubia (from the First Cataract southwards), down to the latitudes of Shendi and Sawākin, behind the coast, and in parallel with inland Wawat, Kush and Irem and other sites along the Nubian Nile. In this study, we deal primarily with written and pictorial resources, from their beginning ca. 3000 BC, to ca. 300 BC; the material is uneven in preservation, nature and date. First, we briefly lay a foundation in terms of natural conditions and human geography; then, secondly, add a short historical perspective. A reasonably reliable assessment with clarity and utmost concision is the aim in view.

(6) From that point (south of Sawākin), the wetter Ethiopian/Eritrean highlands of mountain forest and grasslands form a large north to south wedge, cutting off the other east-west zones 8–10, from the Red Sea, and from (7) the eastern-most desertic steppes in the Horn down to Tanzania. (8–9) Westward from the Ethiopian highlands run two further long zones out towards the Atlantic: of steppe grassland, becoming (in parallel) on its south a savannah with bushy woodlands, except where the White Nile and its upper tributaries form the swamplands of the Sudd.

Geography and topography, old and new Natural resources: North East Africa and Red Sea region Here, in a word, the ecology of North East Africa can be summarised pithily as a series of north to south zones running in long, roughly parallel (if uneven) east to west strips, with a couple of north–south wedges occupying the easternmost Horn of Africa. Descriptions are based on the African vegetation map in Bartholomew 1942, plate 71, and sundry miscellaneous reports. These zones are, in order:

(10) Finally, south of all these, and westward from the Great Lakes region, extends the tropical rain-forest jungle of the Congo Basin. The relevance of various sections of this panorama which has been essentially valid in general for the last four millennia, though it was slightly wetter back to about 3000 BC, will appear presently. Topography of ancient peoples and kingdoms

(1) The narrow northern coastal strip is semi-desert and grassy, with Mediterranean conditions from roughly Tobruk to Benghazi.

With reference to Map 2, we adopt a ‘jigsaw-puzzle’ technique. The sources enable us to begin with certainties, then go to near-certainties, then to probabilities (more or less so), and, lastly, to just possibilities. The whole vast area south from Aswan, that is, Nubia and Sudan, with their peoples, the Egyptians anciently termed Ta-Nehesi, Nehesyu — the land of Nehesi, the Nehesians. This was a semantic equivalent of the Sabaean Habashat, and of standard Arabic Sūdān. Nubia was also Ta-Sti; ‘land of the bow’, perhaps.

(2–3) Inland (south) of this narrow coastal strip, runs the vast semi-desert area of the Sahara Desert westward, and the narrow Eastern Desert between Nile and Red Sea, which is here more closely our concern. Within these areas are zones of very arid desert, waterless except for (4), the green patches of the oases, and the long Nile riverine ‘oasis’, which are both north–south in alignment.

7

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

Map 1. North East Africa: basic vegetation zones

8

K.A. KITCHEN: ANCIENT PEOPLES WEST OF THE RED SEA IN PRE-CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

Map 2: North East Africa: ancient polities and basic vegetation zones

9

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA The most familiar groups and entities may be reviewed as follows:

Red Sea, all the way from middle Upper Egypt into north-easternmost Sudan, possibly to about Ra’s Shag area.6 The population was probably not one ethnic group. In the north, they were also termed ‘Aamu, ‘Asiatics’ just like the mainly West Semitic-speaking peoples of the Levant and Sinai; so some of these people penetrated at least as far as the Wādī Ḥammāmāt area just north of Thebes. From the south, broadly African / ‘Hamitic’ peoples appear in the record, as cattle-herders. These have been thought to be analogous to the Bishārīn, c Ababdah, and other groups, observed some ninety years ago, included under the general term, the Beja.7 That name goes well back in time; its relation to ‘Medja’ is possible but not certain. In the second millennium BC, the Medjaw were recruited as desert police by the Egyptians. Such units eventually became fully Egyptian, and thus Medjayu only in name.

1. Wawat In the later third millennium BC (Late Old Kingdom), the early second millennium BC (Middle Kingdom) and later second millennium BC (New Kingdom), the Egyptian texts, not least ones found in situ, enable us to fix Wawat definitively along the stretch of the Nile from the Second Cataract down to the First Cataract (bordering on Egypt at Aswan), along with much of the desert to its east.1 That desert yielded gold, as in Wādī al-cAlaqī and Wādī Gabgaba; these came under the local chiefdom of Akuyata, within Wawat’s zone, in the New Kingdom. Other local chiefdoms existed within the Wawat segment of the Nile Valley.2 In the Old Kingdom, Wawat was adjoined southward by two other Nile-bound principalities, Satju and Irtjet; their north–south order is open to dispute, and also whether they neighboured Wawat on the north or south sides of the Second Cataract. They disappear after the Old Kingdom, doubtless absorbed into Wawat and/or Kush.

4. Irem This entity existed well to the south, and was known especially in the later second millennium BC.8 It may also have been the ‘Iam’ of Old Kingdom sources (later third millennium BC), but this is not absolutely certain. A suggested link with the far later Meroitic ‘Arame’ remains rather dubious on both linguistic and geographical grounds. As for New Kingdom Irem, both Sety I (ca. 1294–1279 BC) and Ramesses II (ca. 1279– 1213 BC) warred with them over the possession of wells. The northernmost wells of note that would have been reachable from the Nile would be those of Wādī Qabqab, just to the west of the main Dongola Reach of the Nile, from south of the Third Cataract and Kerma: but these have no major hinterland to sustain great numbers of people. While Sety I captured a few hundred people, Ramesses II’s forces took over 7,400 prisoners on their campaign, a figure that bespeaks a rather larger basepopulation that either got away or lived beyond the effective reach of the Egyptian force. Hence, we need a people-sustaining area of reasonable extent, approachable via a set of wells across a more arid tract, yet close enough to Egypt’s Nubian empire to be a potential nuisance or else a notable source of captives. With David O’Connor,9 it would seem most feasible to recognise here the routes with wells across the tongue of Bayūda desert that projects eastwards between the Nile reach from Napata to beyond the Fourth Cataract and the parallel reach from Khartūm to Berber (roughly the Fifth to Sixth Cataracts), on whose south bank stand the later Shendi

2. Kush This term has double reference.3 Rather as ‘England’ is strictly the territory east of Wales and south of Scotland, but is commonly (mis)applied to Britain overall, so Kush was, more strictly, the zone along the Nile from its Second Cataract up to the Fourth (and possibly even to Abū Hamed), again with its eastern desert. But Kush could also be used to sum up the whole of both Kush and Wawat, as epitomised in the ancient New Kingdom title ‘King’s Son of Kush’, frequently rendered functionally as ‘Viceroy of (Greater) Nubia’. Under him were two deputies, of Wawat and Kush proper respectively, as if to prove the point. As with Wawat, the in situ and other textual evidence settles the matter clearly: see, for example, data in Säve-Söderbergh 1941.4 Earlier, the Middle Kingdom border, which was guarded by forts, was based around the Second Cataract, south of which was a usually very independent kingdom of Kush, down to the brink of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550 BC).5 3. Medjaw/Medjayu A term used by the Egyptians for the sparse and mobile population of the eastern deserts between the Nile and

6 1 2 3 4 5

7

See also Zibelius 1972: 101–4, for full references and discussion. See also O’Connor 1982: 912–5 with Fig. 12.22–3. Zibelius 1972: 165–9. Passim, especially New Kingdom section. For a good general account see O’Connor 1993, following on O’Connor 1991 (on states); on the material cultures, see Edwards 2004, and also Welsby and Anderson 2004.

8 9

10

See Zibelius 1972: 133–7, and also O’Connor 1982: 931. French, Bedja. See Blackman 1915: 18, citing Wakefield and other observers, with plates VI, XI, XIX, XX, XXX; also Blackman 1914, colour-plate XXXI: 1–2; Saleh (1972) 72: 245–62. See also map 7 in Kurz and Linant de Bellefonds 2000: 163 on the gold mines and Starkey 2000: 184–8 on the cAbabdah. Zibelius 1972: 84–5. 1982: 934–40.

K.A. KITCHEN: ANCIENT PEOPLES WEST OF THE RED SEA IN PRE-CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY and Meroe, and from which the Butana plain offers a broad reach of the Nile Valley and is a region able to sustain a fair-sized pastoral population. A proposal to locate Irem in Kush, between the Third and Fourth Cataracts, fails to allow for the different histories of Kush and Irem, and for the feature that has been identified as significant for the location of Irem of an approach through at least semi-arid terrain via a series of wells. Hence, while not as absolutely fixed as Wawat, Kush and Medjaw, we may consider the Butana as a highly likely location for Irem. Egypt intermittently defeated Irem, and at times levied tribute, as in the case of Tuthmose III (ca. 1479–1425 BC), but it has never been proved that Egypt incorporated it fully into its empire as it did with Wawat or Kush.

situation would be bizarre for an Arabian location. Gold of Amaw13 was sold by the Puntites to the Egyptians, hence Amaw was not inside the Egyptian empire. But a man of Egyptian name, Userhat of Amau, visited Sabu near the Third Cataract, right inside Egyptian territory, where he left a visiting graffito. There is no way this humble individual would have any reason to journey either 1,500 or 2000 miles from any such wildly-removed locations as Arabia, Somalia or Kenya! Hence, Amaw was somewhere between Punt and Egypt’s Nubian domain, and separate from both. Gold mined in the Red Sea mountains behind the stretch from opposite Ra’s Shagara to Port Sudan, would be near a Punt that could be located just to the south of Amaw, and next to, but safely outside Egypt’s Nubian, Nile-based imperium. The collocation of gold, aromatics, ivory (which of course means the existence of elephants), and so on, fits well with a general location along the Red Sea coast from just north of Port Sudan down to cAqīq or beyond, and extending inland and west-south-west along the terraces on the Sudanese–Eritrean/Ethiopian borders, with their large stands of aromatics including dalbergia. The cattlekeeping of the Puntites would, in turn, be appropriate on the adjoining plains from the south end of the Red Sea Hills to the river cAtbāra. A text from the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (ca. 664–525 BC) has a reference to rain falling on the mountains of Punt, plus a good inundation of the Nile. That link is both natural and inevitable if the mountains of Punt are, indeed, the Ethiopian highlands, draining directly into the cAtbāra, and thence into the Nile, as they do. They cannot do this from either Arabia (across from Arabia by sea!), or Somalia (through the Dire Dawa depression!), or from Kenya (uphill and downhill, or via the mountain-less swampy Sudd!)

5. Punt (*Pawane(t))10 In view of my previous re-examination in 200411 of the question of the location of Punt with appropriate references, we must stick to essentials here. The basic evidence is as follows. In the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC), official expeditions had prefabricated boats built at Koptos and then, after the relatively short transit via Wādī Ḥammāmāt, had the boats reassembled at their Red Sea port of Sawaw, now Mārsā Gawāsīs,12 whence such expeditions sailed the Red Sea south to Punt: a stela from near Sawaw mentions the safe return of expeditionary ships from Punt. This custom of collapsible boats went back, in all likelihood, to the Old Kingdom (ca. 2686–2181 BC), as the records note one expeditionleader was murdered by local desert tribesmen, while assembling his boat for Punt, and his body had to be brought back to Egypt proper, by a colleague. Later, in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC), the ships dispatched by Queen Hatshepsut (ca. 1479–1458 BC) sailed a sea wherein almost all the identifiable fish are Red Sea or Indian Ocean species. Along with gold, aromatics were a feature of the goods obtained. Hence, regions in East Africa or South Arabia were, indubitably, the only likely locations for Punt. It is now possible to decide quite clearly which. Punt featured giraffes and rhinoceroses amid its fauna, and the ‘ebony’ hewn would have been dalbergia melanoxylon, a species of wood attested as belonging to the woodlands of east Sudan, north Ethiopia and north Eritrea, and actually used as ‘ebony’ by the Egyptians. Its named chief wore rings up his lower legs in clearly recognised ‘African’ fashion. Punt and twenty-nine locations therein are included squarely amidst his African lists, by Tuthmose III (ca. 1479–1425 BC); of which fifteen locations have an initial ‘p’, only one with an ‘f’. Both chief Parehu and Punt itself are spelt with ‘P’, not ‘F’. Yet no ancient or modern Arabian language uses ‘p’, only ‘b’ and ‘f’! This 10 11 12

Finally, we now have a ruler of Kush assembling (ca. 1600 BC) a joint force in order to raid Egypt, via Aswan, and northward beyond al-Kāb. He drew upon his neighbours for allies: Wawat just to his north, Medjaw from the neighbouring Eastern Desert, men of Khent-hennufer in his own backyard — and from Punt! From a Punt that reached, in small chiefdoms, from the Red Sea to the c Atbāra’s confluence with the Blue Nile, such Puntite adventurers from its extreme west would need to travel not much more than 150 miles to enter the extreme south east of Kush, and not more than 1,500 or 2000 miles if drawn (bizarrely!) from Arabia, Somalia or Kenya. In the third or second millennia BC, any such distant solutions should be seen for what they are: fantasies. So, the basic area of Punt is best set in the broad stretch across southeast Sudan from the Red Sea to the cAtbāra, bordering into northern Eritrea and Ethiopia, as has become increasingly evident amongst scholars during the last thirty-five years. As for later periods, it is quite possible that the term ‘Punt’ was extended southwards to cover other East African areas that the Egyptians scoured for

Also known as Pun or Pwāne and as God’s-land (TaNetjer), see Dixon 2004: 33. Kitchen 2004. See also Fattovich 2005, this volume.

13

11

See below and given on Map 3 as ‘Amau’.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

Map 3: Punt: main location (north), and possible later extensions (middle and south)

Punt, whose people could sell Amaw gold to visiting Egyptian expeditions. Hence, as Punt could readily let troops go to Kush to share in forces invading Egypt, Amaw was located between Egypt and Punt, with Punt south from Amaw — and not accessed by any Egyptian army.15 In Hatshepsut’s records, we find chiefs of Punt, Irem and Nemyu — but curiously, not Amaw! — offering gold:16 and Nemyu is otherwise totally unknown.

the same products,14 eventually extending to the incense terraces of Somalia, see Map 3. This would be analogous with the growth of use of the term ‘Asia’ from its origin as a small Roman province in what is now Turkey (Asia Minor) to embrace everything from Troy to Tokyo (Asia Major). 6. Amaw

15

Seen above, under ‘Punt’, as a gold-bearing land adjacent both to Egyptian-controlled Nubia (but not in it) and to 14

16

See also Dixon 2004.

12

Zibelius 1972: 99. For gold-mining regions in eastern Nubia and/or Sudan, see treatments and maps of Vercoutter 1959 (map, 129), Fattovich 1991 (with map, Abb. 1, 264) and Klemm et al. 2002 (with maps, 222–5).

K.A. KITCHEN: ANCIENT PEOPLES WEST OF THE RED SEA IN PRE-CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY Hence, with Zibelius,17 we should treat ‘*Nemyu’ as a scribal error for cAmaw (cAmayu), with ‘n’ mistranscribed for the hieratic ‘c’. It would seem that there never was a land of *Nemyu.

expeditions scoured the Eastern Desert for semi-precious stones in the Thirteenth Dynasty (ca. 1795–after 1650 BC). Then, ca. 1600 BC, the kingdom of Kush with its allies regained power enough to invade a weakened Egypt, carrying off spoils of war.

7. Kenset

In the later second millennium BC, imperial New Kingdom Egypt conquered Wawat and Kush; and also intermittently subdued Irem as a more loosely-attached external vassal. It was explicitly to cut out middlemen in southern Nubian trade, via the Nile, that Queen Hatshepsut sent her famed naval expedition via the Red Sea to Punt. Under her successors, the Puntites themselves recognised the merits of direct trade, sailing north to al-Qusayr or Sawaw, and dealing with Theban officials via Wādī Ḥammāmāt. This trade then became so habitual that kings ceased to boast of it, making only passing allusions, down to the testament of Ramesses III (ca. 1184–1153 BC) who provided the last allusions for propaganda purposes. The Genebtyu19 also briefly joined in the Red Sea trade to Egypt; their identity is uncertain. Were they neighbours of Punt, or South Arabians — or even Somalians?

This remains a shadowy entity.18 It may cover the region west of the Nile in northern Sudan, between the river and the oases (from al-Khārgah, south to Laqiyya and on to Kobbei in Dār Fūr); otherwise, it is thought to run from Aswan into the desert east of the Nile, an idea that is somewhat dubious. Now, let us combine our human geography with our natural conditions map (see Map 2). Here, the Wawat/Kush realms are Nile Valley-based, with adjoining desert regions: Punt corresponds to an area that includes savannah plains, with upland woodlands for aromatics, and on to the sea coast; Amaw is largely semidesert with gold in its hills; Irem strikingly fits into the Butana, linked by Bayūda desert routes and wells to the Nile Valley, which was under Egyptian control in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC); Medjaw’s wanderers occupy the deserts and semi-deserts along the Red Sea up into Egypt, between it and the Nile. A chain of oases all the way down from Sīwah to Laqiyya formed a western, north–south route, a line that ran parallel both to the Nile down the centre, and to the Red Sea in the east.

In later times, the Egyptians continued to explore the desert hinterlands of the Red Sea for desirable minerals, such as galena, as under Ramesses VII (ca. 1136–1129 20 21 BC) and IX (ca. 1126–1108 BC). But the long-distance trade with Punt lapsed in the early first millennium BC. Possible reasons may include:

Concluding historical glimpses

(i) Climatic changes in East Africa; (ii) Demographic changes there: possibly the Puntites were replaced by others? (iii) Egyptian inability to fund state expeditions; (iv) Egyptian ‘degradation’ of the original Puntite natural resources, forcing the Egyptians to go further south;22 (v) Success of the rival ‘old’ South Arabian trade in aromatics, and so on, as from the eleventh to the tenth century BC onwards. By the seventh to sixth century BC it is possible that the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (ca. 664–525 BC) — blocked off in the Nilotic south by the kingdom of Napata, the successor to Kush, and briefly rulers of Egypt for fifty years as the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, ca. 747–656 BC) — tried to reopen the sea route, possibly with Greek help, reaching even to later Azania/Panchaea.23 This would have extended the range of the term ‘Punt’ as noted

During the third millennium BC, the Egyptians had lively relationships with their southern neighbours up the Nile, in association with both trade and war. Between the First and Second Cataracts, local chiefdoms in Wawat, Irtjet and Satju were intermediaries in trade with peoples further south. The Egyptians tried to short-circuit these middlemen, to gain better access to exotica from lands still further south. To the west, they had to deal with the precursors of Kush, to reach Iam and back, through the Western Oasis route. To the east, they then resorted to official shipping-expeditions by the Sixth Dynasty (ca. 2345–2181 BC), to reach Punt, but the Medjaw tribesfolk could make this dangerous: not all were simple cattle-keepers or hunters. In the early second millennium BC, Middle Kingdom rulers (Eleventh–Twelfth Dynasties, ca. 2055–1795 BC) resumed seaborne expeditions down the Red Sea, especially as their own Nile boundary was held at the Second Cataract by the now-powerful Nubian kingdom of Kush, based at nearby Kerma, that controlled the Nile southwards, and any trade thereby. Land-based

19

20 21 22

17 18

23

1972: 99. See also Zibelius 1972: 161–2.

13

Possibly the Gebbanitae of Pliny, Historia Naturalis, XII: 63–9, 88 (but not Qataban), on whom see Beeston 1972, and less critically, Saleh 1972. Koenig 1979, 1983. Helck 1967. See also Dixon 2004. Egyptian pottery, 7th/6th centuries BC, coastal sites in Tanzania; see Chami 2004: 98–9.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA above. But after this, the Persian empire ran its own enterprises, including completing the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty canal via Wādī Tumīlāt from the Nile to the Red Sea, and using Wādī Ḥammāmāt as a transit route and source of minerals. With the Ptolemies and the Romans in the north, who introduced a sea route to India in the wake of the vast Persian dominion, and Meroe (replacing Kush/Napata) and Diamat, Proto-Aksum and Aksum further south, we enter a different era.

———. 1983. Livraisons d’or et de galène du trésor du temple d’Amon sous la XXe dynastie: document A, partie inférieure. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale 83: 249–55, and 3 pls. Kurz, M. and Linant de Bellefonds, P. 2000. À la découverte des mines d’or du desert nubien: L.M.A. Linant de Bellefonds en Étbaye: 1831–1832. 153–82 in J.C.M. Starkey and O. El Daly (eds), Desert Travellers: from Herodotus to T.E. Lawrence. Durham: ASTENE.

References

Lunde, P. and Porter, A. (eds). 2004. Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region, Proceedings of Red Sea Project I (Society for Arabian Studies, Monographs 2), BAR International Series 1269. Oxford: BAR Publishing.

Bartholomew, J. 1942. The Comparative Atlas of Physical and Political Geography. London: Meiklejohn, 31st edn.

O’Connor, D. 1982. Egypt, 1552–664 BC. 830–940 in vol. 1 of J.D. Clark (ed.). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Beeston, A.F. 1972. Pliny’s Gebbanitae. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 2: 2–4. Blackman, A.M. 1914, 1915. The Rock Tombs of Meir, I, II (Archaeological Survey of Egypt XXII, XXIII), London: Egypt Exploration Fund [now, Society].

———. 1991. Early States along the Nubian Nile. 145– 65 in W.V. Davies (ed.). Egypt and Africa, Nubia from Prehistory to Islam. London: British Museum Press.

Chami, F. 2004. The Egypto-Graeco-Romans and Panchaea/Azania: sailing in the Erythraean Sea. 93– 103 in P. Lunde and A. Porter (eds). Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region, Proceedings of Red Sea Project I (Society for Arabian Studies, Monographs 2), BAR International Series 1269. Oxford: BAR Publishing.

———. 1993. Ancient Nubia, Egypt’s Rival in Africa. Philadelphia: University Museum, University of Pennsylvania. Saleh, A.-A. 1972. The Gnbtyw of Tuthmosis III’s Annals and the South Arabian Geb(b)anitae of the Classical Writers. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale 72: 245–62.

Dixon, D.M. 2004. Pharaonic Egypt and the Red Sea Arms Trade. 33–42 in P. Lunde and A. Porter (eds). 2004. Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region, Proceedings of Red Sea Project I (Society for Arabian Studies, Monographs 2), BAR International Series 1269. Oxford: BAR Publishing.

Säve-Söderbergh, T. 1941. Ägypten und Nubien. Lund: H. Ohlsons Boktryckeri. Starkey, J.C.M. 2000. Gold, Emeralds and the Unknown Ababda. 183–204 in J Starkey and O. El Daly (eds). Desert Travellers: from Herodotus to T.E. Lawrence. Durham: ASTENE.

Edwards, D.N. 2004. The Nubian Past: an archaeology of the Sudan. London: Routledge.

Vercoutter, J. 1959. The Gold of Kush. Kush 7: 120–53.

Fattovich, R. 1991a. The Problem of Punt in the Light of Recent Fieldwork in the Eastern Sudan. 257–72 in vol. 4 of S. von Schoske (ed.). 1988–. Akten des vierten Internationalen Ägyptologen — Kongresses München 1985. Fourth International Congress of Egyptology. Hamburg: Buske Verlag.

Welsby, D.A. and Anderson, J.R. 2004. Sudan, Ancient Treasures, an Exhibition of Recent Discoveries from the Sudan National Museum. London: British Museum Press. Zibelius, K. 1972. Afrikanische Orts- und Völkernamen in hieroglyphischen und hieratischen texten (Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B, Nr. 1). Wiesbaden: Reichert.

Helck, H.W. 1967. Eine Briefsammlung aus der Verwaltung des Amuntempels. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 6: 135–51. Kitchen, K.A. 2004. The Elusive Land of Punt Revisited. 25–32 in P. Lunde and A. Porter (eds). Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region, Proceedings of Red Sea Project I (Society for Arabian Studies, Monographs 2), BAR International Series 1269. Oxford: BAR Publishing. Klemm, D.D., Klemm, R., and Murr, A. 2002. Ancient Gold Mining in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the Nubian Desert of Sudan. 215–31 in R. Friedman (ed.). Egypt and Nubia, Gifts of the Desert. London: British Museum Press. Koenig, Y. 1979. Livraisons d’or et de galène du trésor du temple d’Amon sous la XXe dynastie. 185–220 and 8 pls in vol. 1 of Hommages Sauneron. Cairo: IFAO.

14

Marsā Gawāsīs: A Pharaonic Coastal Settlement by the Red Sea in Egypt Rodolfo Fattovich Ptolemaic times (ca. 332–30 BC) the ancient sea route was resumed, and some ports were established along the African coast of the Red Sea.9 Finally, in Roman times (ca. 30 BC– AD 325), a regular and intense maritime trade was practiced along the Red Sea, as far as the Indian Ocean.10

Introduction The ancient Egyptians included the Red Sea in their area of economic and commercial activities from Pre-Dynastic times (ca. 4400–4000 BC),1 as shown by the personal ornaments made of sea shells and tortoise-shell from the Red Sea and/or Indian Ocean found in graves at alBadāri. Also rock pictures of the Pre-Dynastic Naqada II Period (ca. 3500–3100 BC) oared boats in the Eastern Desert may record seafaring expeditions in the mid-fourth millennium BC.2

In Pharaonic times, seafaring expeditions in the Red Sea were a complex enterprise, directly associated with the exploitation of the mineral resources in the Eastern Desert.11 Most likely, the Egyptians were navigating with ships up to 60 m long and 20 m wide in the period between July/August and January/February in order to exploit the summer dominant winds and surface currents southwards and their winter flow northwards.12

The occurrence of sea shells, as well as obsidian, gold and ebony from the northern Horn of Africa, in royal tombs of the First and Second Dynasties, as well as the Pteroceras shells carved on the colossal statues of the god Min from Koptos, possibly dating to Early Dynastic times, may point to some maritime trade along the Red Sea in Early Dynastic times (ca. 3000–2686 BC).3 So far, however, a few fragments of ceramics dating to the very end of the Pre-Dynastic (ca. 3200–3000 BC) or the Early Dynastic Period from a cave along the Wādī Sodmein, near al-Qusayr, are the only direct evidence of an Egyptian presence in the Red Sea coastal plain in the late fourth to early third millennia BC.4

Archaeological evidence of Egyptian maritime activity in the Red Sea in Pharaonic times is still scarce. At present, Marsā Gawāsīs, on the coast between al-Qusayr and Safāga is the only site with firm archaeological and epigraphic evidence of any Egyptian maritime activity, mainly during the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 c 13 BC). Another possible harbour was located at Ayn Soukhna, along the western coast of the Gulf of Suez, where inscriptions dating to different periods from the Old Kingdom (ca. 2686–2181 BC) to Roman times (30 BC–AD 395) and anchors similar to those from Marsā Gawāsīs were found.14 A New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC) coastal site has been recorded at al-Markha in Sinai, as well.15

Textual and iconographic evidence strongly suggests that at the beginning of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2686̣–2181 BC) maritime routes were established in the Red Sea, most likely in order to reach Sinai and Punt.5 These routes were consolidated in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055– 1650 BC) and New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC), when products from Punt in the southern Red Sea6 were quite regularly imported to Egypt.7 Egyptian navigation in the Red Sea apparently declined in the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–664 BC), but some attempts to resume it were made in the Late Period (ca. 664–332 BC).8 In 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Marsā Gawāsīs16 History of research The site of Marsā Gawāsīs was discovered in the mid1970s by cAbdel Monem A.H. Sayed of the University of Alexandria, on a coral terrace to the north of the mouth of

The absolute chronology is based on Shaw 2000. See Krzyzaniak 1977; Zarins 1996; for a different interpretation of these pictures, see Wilkinson 2003. See Petrie 1896: pl. III, IV; Lucas and Harris 1989: 434–6; Zarins 1996; Wilkinson 1999: 170. Prickett 1979: 290–1. See Kitchen 1971, 1982; Fattovich 1991a, 1996; Phillips 1997; Manzo 1999; Mumford and Parcak 2003. For the location of Punt, see Kitchen 1982, 1993, 2002, and 2005 in this volume; Fattovich 1996; Meeks 2003. See Säve-Söderbergh 1946: 8–30; Kitchen 1971, 1982, 1993; Manzo 1999. Lloyd 1977; Desanges 1978: 227–9; De Romanis 1996: 71–95.

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

15

See Desanges 1978: 242–305; Sidebotham 1996; Salles 1996. Desanges 1978: 305–66; De Romanis 1996; Sidebotham 1986, 1996. See Bradbury 1988; Sayed 2003. Ward 2000; Bradbury 1988: 128–30, fig. 1. See Sayed 1978; Bradbury 1988. c Abd el-Raziq, Castel, Tallet and Ghica 2002; Tallet: personal communication. See Mumford and Parcak 2003. Known in some archaeological sources as Mersa Gawasis (correctly transliterated as Marsā Gawāsīs), previously Sawaw (Saw [S3ww]).

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA Wādī Gawāsīs, to the south of Safāga. At this site cAbdel Monem Sayed found inscribed stelae, potsherds with painted (hieratic) inscriptions, well preserved wood, possibly from an ancient boat, limestone anchors, and some structures associated with stelae that he interpreted as small votive shrines. On this evidence, Sayed identified the site with the Twelfth Dynasty (ca. 1985– 1773 BC) port of Saw [S3ww].17

suggests fresh water, which could be contemporary with the site. At present the region is much less arid than expected: at the end of the wadi is a pool of permanent water ca. 2 m below the surface, and there is also extensive evidence of a playa from a recent (1999) flash flood. Spatial organisation The archaeological evidence indicates that both the top and the base of the coral terrace were occupied. The following structures have been identified so far: temporary shelters; ceremonial monuments; functional areas including ovens and/or kilns for metalworking and possibly the manufacture of pottery; workshops for the manufacture of limestone anchors and lithic tools.

After Sayed’s excavations Alessandra Nibbi and Honor Frost visited Marsā Gawāsīs in the late 1970s and in 1991, respectively. A. Nibbi rejected the identification of the site as a port,18 while H. Frost supported Sayed’s interpretation.19 In 1994 Cheryl Ward conducted an underwater survey of Marsā Gawāsīs without recording any ancient evidence.20 In 2001 the University of Naples, ‘L’Orientale’ (UNO), Naples, and the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (IsIAO), Rome, in collaboration with Boston University (BU), Boston USA, began a systematic investigation of the site, under the direction of Rodolfo Fattovich (UNO/IsIAO) and Kathryn Bard (BU), in order to improve our understanding of the organisation of seafaring expeditions in Pharaonic times.21 Fieldwork between 2001 and 2004 recorded finding a ceremonial area with votive shrines close to the seashore; a settlement area with small semi-subterranean huts in the western sector of the site; and an industrial area, with kilns for copper-working along the western slope of the terrace, dating to the Middle Kingdom. Potsherds and obsidian flakes from the southern Red Sea, as well as fragments of Nubian pottery, were collected. The project is conducted with grants from UNO, IsIAO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Rome) and a generous private donation by Mr. Wallace Sellars, New York City (USA).

Shelters Shelters include what could be small circular huts, light structures, storerooms and/or rock-shelters. Small circular structures, ca. 2.0–2.5 m in diameter, are scattered on the top of the terrace, with two main clusters in the central and northern sectors of the site. These structures were framed on the surface with a circle of small pebbles. Some of them were associated with post-holes and hearths. Fragments of Middle Kingdom pottery (ca. 2055–1650 BC) were found outside these structures whose use is uncertain but most likely they were small huts. Similar features are visible in the area of the Roman stations along the Wādī Gāsūs.22 Other similar structures were excavated in the hinterland of al-Qusayr al-Qadīm [Quseir al-Qadim], but were not associated with any artefacts.23 Light structures, most likely shelters, were located on the top of the terrace, to the west of the modern railway line. They consisted of a concentration of thin post-holes, ca. 5–6 cm in diameter, sometimes with a wooden pole inside, and associated with Middle Kingdom pottery (ca. 2055–1650 BC).24 A wall made of coral blocks, at least 10–15 m long, had also been erected along the southern edge of the top of the terrace in the south-western sector of the site.

Site location About four to six metres above sea level, Marsā Gawāsīs is located on a coral terrace at the northern end of the Wādī Gawāsīs, about twenty-five kilometres south of Safagah and fifty kilometres north of al-Qusayr. The site occupies a surface of ca. 550 m by 250 m, with an area of about 14 ha and is delimited by the seashore to the east, the valley of Wādī Gawāsīs to the south, and a playa to the west. Patches of snow-white calcareous vesicular to spongy-like sediments underlined by poorly sorted fluvial yellowish brown sand are visible close to the site. This 17 18 19 20 21

A possible storeroom was excavated in the mid-1970s by Sayed on the top of the slope along the south-western side of the terrace facing Wādī Gawāsīs, and provided a large amount of Middle Kingdom pottery.25 The discarded pottery from this excavation found on the wall, at the base of the south-western edge of the terrace, consisted of big fragments of jars and bread moulds,

Sayed 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1980, 1983, 1999; see also Frost 1979. Nibbi 1981. Frost 1996. Ward 1996. Bard and Fattovich 2003–2004; Bard, Fattovich, Koch, Mahmud, Manzo and Perlingieri 2001; Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2002; Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri, Pirelli and Zazzaro 2003; Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004.

22 23 24 25

16

See Bard, Fattovich, Koch, Mahmud, Manzo and Perlingieri 2001. See Prickett 1979. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2002. Sayed 1982.

RODOLFO FATTOVICH: MARSĀ GAWĀSĪS sometimes with short hieratic inscriptions or engraved pot-marks. The remains of another possible storeroom and/or shelter were found on the top of the slope along the western edge of the terrace.26 At least three phases of occupation were identified dating to the Late Middle Kingdom, Early Middle Kingdom, and possibly First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181–2055 BC) or Late Old Kingdom (ca. 2686–2181 BC), respectively. The last phase consisted of a living floor with evidence of a grinding stone, potsherds, hearth, and badly preserved mud-brick or clay structures, as well as an upper part covered with a heap of leaves, ca. 0.6–0.8 m thick, which had been stored next to the coral wall under a projecting shelter of the terrace.27 The Early Middle Kingdom phase of occupation, beneath the later one, consisted of at least three post-holes and clay or mud-brick structures, as well as a living area with a concentration of pieces of wood and rope fragments, and with a granite anchor separating the lower part of the heap of leaves from the living floor. The earlier occupation phase consisted of a stratum of compact clay, ca. 0.15 m thick, covered with leaves and associated with some potsherds and tuyères.28

A roughly oval enclosure with an inner small horseshoeshaped stone structure, later than the enclosure, and a main east-west axis ca. 10–12 m long was located close to the seashore. Both the enclosure and the stone structure opened to the east. Several post-holes were found inside the enclosure. The occurrence of limestone fragments, most likely from an anchor, in a hole near the entry to the enclosure, suggests that the structure was related to some type of maritime activity. Only a few potsherds, dating to the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC), were collected in this structure.32 This structure can be compared to the Middle Kingdom shrine of Hathor in the miners’ village at Jabal al-Zayt [el-Zeit], which consisted of an oval enclosure with a small chamber located in the western part.33 The two small shrines close to the seashore (Feature 6 and Feature 8), though similar in plan, were constructed in a different way. Both structures consisted of two small chambers built with vertical slabs of conglomerate stone, which were covered by a cairn made with pieces of coral and conglomerate stone (F6) or gravel and pieces of coral (F8). In both structures the cairn included fragments of limestone, shells, potsherds, and other materials. In Feature 6 Pteroceras shells, fragments of wood and limestone, and a few potsherds were mixed with the pieces of coral. In Feature 8 shells, limestone chips and potsherds were mixed with the cairn gravel.34

Some evidence of an area with hearths, small coral blocks, wood poles, charcoal and pottery was also found at the base of the slope along the south-western side of the terrace. This may have been a temporary shelter with a linear arrangement of wood poles and small collapsed planks to protect a roughly circular hearth with charcoal, ash, wood pieces and pottery. Two smaller hearths and a well preserved living area were also found in this area.29

The tumuli that were investigated were located along the western edge of the terrace. The first tumulus, partly excavated by Sayed, consisted of a circular mound of coral blocks mixed with soft sand, 4–5 m in diameter and 0.7–0.8 m high, and a possible alignment of coral and other stones with a southwest-northeast orientation immediately to the east of the structure. Fragments of textiles, cordage and branches were found inside the structure, and a great amount of Middle Kingdom ware was collected around it.35 The second one was originally a roughly circular tumulus made with coral blocks and sand, 8 m to 9 m in diameter. This monument was partially excavated by Sayed, who found an inscribed stele of Antefoker (Twelfth Dynasty).36 An elongated pit, ca. 3.0 m x 1.5 m in size,37 and four small very shallow, circular pits, ca. 0.4 m to 1.0 m in diameter, were also visible in the central-southern sector of the structure.38

Ceremonial structures and tumuli At least sixteen ceremonial structures were recorded and excavated by Sayed in the mid-1970s.30 They were located along the eastern edge of the coral terrace, close to the seashore, and the south-western and western edges of the terrace, close to the wadi and the playa. Most of these structures were associated with Middle Kingdom small inscribed stelae, and sometimes with arrangements of limestone anchors. These structures were interpreted as ceremonial monuments related to Red Sea maritime expeditions during the Twelfth Dynasty.31 They are now being re-investigated by the UNO/IsIAO and BU expedition in order to understand their typology and function. A stone circular structure, two small shrines, and three possible tumuli have been investigated so far.

32 33

26 27 28 29 30 31

Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. The plants look very similar to halfa. Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri, Pirelli and Zazzaro 2003. Sayed 1978. Sayed 1977, 1978, 1979, 1983.

34

35 36 37 38

17

Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Castel, Gout and Soukassian 1984–1985; Castel and Soukassian 1989. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri, Pirelli and Zazzaro 2003; Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2002. Sayed 1977. The origin of this pit is uncertain; most likely it was a test excavation made by Sayed. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2002.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA The third tumulus consisted of a circular and regular concentration of small coral blocks, ca. 3 m in diameter, mixed with sand, dark pebbles, pottery and some big shells, and many Middle Kingdom potsherds and lithics at the top of the feature. A shallow hole, ca. 0.1 m deep, was visible in the centre of the feature.39

both phases when the metal-working area was used date to the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC).44 Possible workshops for the manufacture of lithic tools were recorded in the northern and central sectors on the top of the terrace.45 Finally, some evidence of unfinished limestone anchors was found by Sayed at the base of the south-western terrace.46

A shrine built with anchors and associated with an inscription of cAnkhow (Twelfth Dynasty) recording an expedition to Punt was excavated in 1976 by Sayed in the central sector of the site.40 Unfortunately, the evidence of this monument has been completely destroyed by the construction of the railway in the 1980s. It is possible, however, that other shrines like those close to the seashore were located in this sector of the site, as a much eroded, inscribed stele was found in the rubble along the railway.41

Chronology The inscriptions from Marsā Gawāsīs clearly indicate that the site was mainly used in the Twelfth Dynasty (ca. 1985–1773 BC).47 The ceramics, however, suggest that the site was used from the Late Old Kingdom (ca. 2686– 2181 BC) and/or First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181–2055 BC) to the Late Middle Kingdom/Thirteenth Dynasty. A decorated potsherd from the shelter along the western slope of the coral terrace may also suggest that the site was frequented at the beginning of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550 BC).

Functional areas Structures associated with tuyères, pottery and copper slag have been recorded at the base of the western edge of the terrace on the side of the internal playa.42 A small undisturbed oven and the remains of another oven were discovered on the top of a prepared floor on the western slope of the coral terrace. The undisturbed oven, which was rectangular in shape (54 cm long, 45 cm wide, and 27 cm high), was constructed with three reddish-brown ceramic slabs with rounded tops in which a central groove (2 cm deep and 2.5–3.0 cm wide) had been made. This oven opened on the west side and was plastered with clay. Clay was also used to fill in the corners and slab joints. The oven had been filled and covered with leaves to preserve it after it was abandoned. Several fragments of wood and tree branches, maybe collected for fuel, were found between and around the two ovens. The ceramics suggest a Middle Kingdom date (ca. 2055–1650 BC) for the ovens.43

About forty fragments of ‘Nubian’ pottery, similar to Middle Nubian samples from domestic C-Group and Kerma assemblages dating to ca. 2100–1400 BC, were also collected. A few fragments might be earlier as they are similar to Nubian ceramics in assemblages of the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2185–2050 BC) at Elephantine.48 Some fragments are decorated with geometric motifs filled with incised lines, and incised horizontal lines and notches on the top of the rim. They are similar to CGroup domestic ware dating to the end of the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1650 BC) and Early New Kingdom (ca. 1550 BC).49 In particular, some fragments later than the Middle Kingdom from a large hearth at the base of the south-western terrace have not been directly associated with any Egyptian ware and can point to a presence of ‘Nubian’ people at the site in the mid-second millennium 50 BC.

A possible area for metal working was found at the base of the western slope of the coral terrace. Two possible phases of occupation and use of this area were identified. The evidence of the later phase included at least three post-holes, three aligned hearths, and mud-brick or clay structures. The evidence of the earlier phase included two contemporary living areas with many potsherds and fragments of tuyères. Based on the associated ceramics,

Finally, a fragment of thick rim from a jar (compact red ware), similar to Early Dynastic specimens,51 from the bottom of the stratigraphic pit at the base of the south-

44 45 39 40 41 42

43

46

Ibid. Sayed 1977. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2002. Bard, Fattovich, Koch, Mahmud, Manzo and Perlingieri 2001; Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004.

47 48 49 50 51

18

Ibid. Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2002. Sayed 1982. Sayed 1977, 1983. See Bietak 1979; Gratien 1985, Gratien and Olive 1984; Säve-Söderbergh 1989; Smith 1997; Raue 1999. See Gratien 1985: figs 11, 12, 151, 182, 183, 258. Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. See, for example, Bourriau 1981, no. 81, 50.

RODOLFO FATTOVICH: MARSĀ GAWĀSĪS western terrace may point to a use of the site at this time.52

Sesostris I (Senusret I, 1965–1920 BC) at al-Lisht, where they were interpreted as containers for grain from the Memphis–Fayyūm area.61

Function of the site The great number of tuyères, sometimes associated with copper ore and slag, and from all strata dating to the Twelfth Dynasty, indicates that the site was used for metal working. The furnaces were located along the shore of the wadi and the western playa, most likely with a main concentration at the base of the western slope of the coral terrace.

Archaeological and epigraphic evidence from Marsā Gawāsīs indisputably documents a maritime function of the site in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC). Anchors were associated with most ceremonial structures (shrines and tumuli) or were re-used in the magazines. The occurrence of unfinished anchors indicates that they were manufactured at the site.53 In particular, the anchors were placed in front of the entry of the shrines, and broken anchors were buried inside them, most likely as a votive deposit, suggesting that the shrines and possibly some tumuli were memorials of naval expeditions, which were recorded in the small stelae usually associated with these structures. 54 Most of these stelae were recorded by Sayed in the 1970s, and are in the archaeological museum of the University of Alexandria, Egypt.55 Most likely, the roughly oval structure associated with anchors on the eastern edge of the coral terrace was used by workers and sailors as a cult place, similar to the Hathor shrine at Jabal al-Zayt.

The clay ovens on the western slope of the terrace were possibly used to make bread in what are possibly moulds, as an oven with a similar profile is represented in the Theban tomb of Antefoker (ca. 1956–1911 BC) with a pile of bread moulds inside.62 Actually, some fragments of bread moulds from the settlement area suggest that bread was also made at the site. Trade On the basis of the inscriptions on some stelae and ostraca,63 Sayed identified the site at Marsā Gawāsīs as the Pharaonic port of S3ww from where seafaring expeditions were sent to Punt. In particular, the stele of Antefoker (from the reign of Senusret I, 1965–1920 BC) found by Sayed, records 3,756 men who were sent to this port for an expedition to Punt.64

Many fragments of timber were collected at the site and were identified as cedar, imported from Lebanon and used to build ships.56 They included fragments with a ‘spliced scarf joint’, which were most likely parts of boats or ships.57 Fragments of mortised timber from boats were also collected by Sayed in the 1970s.58

Direct archaeological evidence of the use of Marsā Gawāsīs for the long-distance trade in the Red Sea is still very scarce. At present, imported materials from this site include two fragments of bowls similar to the Maclayba ware from the coastal regions of southern Arabia,65 a fragment of an open black bowl with a criss-cross stickburnished decoration on the inside, similar to samples from the region of Kassala (eastern Sudan) and the Yemeni Tihāmah,66 and a few obsidian flakes, most likely from sources in Eritrea or Yemen.67 The ‘Nubian’ ceramics are apparently later than Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC), and suggest that local people frequented the site in Middle Kingdom and Early New Kingdom times (ca. 1550 BC), rather than being engaged in exchanges with Nubian people.

Storerooms were used to stock the cargo of the boats and/or raw materials to equip the ships, such as halfa leaves to make ropes.59 Storage containers were mainly big flat-bottomed jars with a thick rim,60 which could be easily loaded as cargo on a ship. These jars are usually rare in Middle Kingdom sites. Great numbers of them were found in a miners’ village to the west of Tūshka (Toshka, Toski), in lower Nubia, and near the Pyramid of 52 53 54

55 56 57 58 59

60

Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri, Pirelli and Zazzaro 2003. Sayed 1977, 1980; Frost 1979; Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Sayed 1977; Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri, Pirelli and Zazzaro 2003; Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Sayed 1978. A.M. Mahmud, personal communication. See Killen 2000: figs. 15.26, 15.42, 15.48. Sayed 1980. See Teeter 1987. Possibly the halfa grasses were Desmostachya bipinnata or Imperata cylindrica, commonly used as foundation bundle material for coiled baskets. These grasses were also twisted into cordage (Ed.). Fattovich, Mahmud, Manzo, Perlingieri, Pirelli and Zazzaro 2003.

61 62 63 64 65 66 67

19

See Shaw and Bloxam 1999: 17; Arnold 1988: 113. See de Garis Davies 1920: pl. XIb. Greek ostrakon, pl. ostraka. Sayed 1977, 1978, 1983. See Buffa 2000. See Fattovich 1991b. For the location of the sources of obsidian in Egyptian sites see Zarins 1989, 1990, 1996.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA • A complicated mixture of aeolian, colluvial and alluvial deposits is visible at the site, and most likely playa lakes providing fresh water formed in the wadi in historical times.72

General remarks The archaeological investigations of the UNO/IsIAO and BU expedition at Marsā Gawāsīs support the statement by cAbdel Monem Sayed that this site was a Middle Kingdom harbour (ca. 2055–1650 BC), and suggest a more frequent use of the harbour in this period than was previously supposed.

• Different kinds of raw materials occurred close to the site: hard rocks, such as granite, basalt and chert, are found in the area; mud from the playa and clay deposits at a short distance (up to about two kilometres) from the site along the Wādī Gawāsīs could have been used to make pottery and mudbricks; mangroves could have provided wood for shelters and fuel for the furnaces to smelt copper;73 halfa plants from pools along the wadi could have been used to make ropes.74

The ceramics also suggest that the site was probably used in the Late Old Kingdom (ca. 2686–2181 BC) and/or First Intermediate Period (ca. 2181–2055 BC), and was frequented by people with Middle Nubian pottery during the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650 BC) and after its abandonment in Late Middle Kingdom times. A possible Early Dynastic potsherd (ca. 3100–2686 BC) might suggest that the site was frequented at this time, but the evidence is much too scarce to be significant. No firm evidence of a New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 BC) use of the site has been found so far. The occurrence of fragments of pottery similar to the Maclayba one and obsidian flakes may suggest that products from the southern Red Sea arrived in Marsā Gawāsīs in the Middle Kingdom, and thus support a role for this harbour in the long-distance trade with Punt. In turn, the evidence of metal-working may point to contacts with Sinai, although copper from the Eastern Desert could also have been worked at this site.68

References c

Arnold, D. 1988. The Pyramid of Senwosret I: the south cemeteries of Lisht. Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 22. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bard, K.A., and Fattovich, R. 2003–2004. Mersa Gawasis: a Pharaonic coastal site on the Red Sea. Bulletin of the American Research Center in Egypt 184: 30–1. Bard, K.A., Fattovich, R., Koch, M., Mahmud, M.A., Manzo, A. and Perlingieri, C. 2001. The Wadi Gawasis/Wadi Gasus, Egypt: a preliminary assessment. On-line, .

Finally, a more detailed investigation of the geographical setting of the site suggests that the location of the Middle Kingdom harbour at Marsā Gawāsīs most likely depended on the following factors:69

Bard, K.A., Fattovich, R., Arpin, T., Childs, S.T., Mahmoud, A.M., Manzo, A., Perlingieri, C., and Zazzaro, C. 2004. Mersa Gawasis (Red Sea – Egypt): UNO/IsIAO and BU 2003–2004 Field Season. Online, .

• The marina was easily accessible from the sea through a channel cut through the coral reef to the coast,70 although the location of the ancient shoreline in relation to the site is still unclear, and will be better investigated in future field seasons. Moreover, the bay provides a better shelter for boats than other larger bays such as Marsā Gāsūs.

Bietak, M. 1979. Ceramics of the C-Group Culture. Meroitica 5: 107–27. Bourriau, J. 1981. Umm el-Ga’ab: pottery from the Nile Valley before the Arab conquest: exhibition organised by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 6 October to 11 December 1981. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Wādī Gāsūs, at about one kilometre to the north, could provide a direct route to the Nile Valley across the Red Sea Hills.71 68

69

70

71

Abd el-Raziq, M., Castel, G., Tallet, P., and Ghica, V. 2002. Les Inscriptions d’Ayn Soukhna. Cairo: MIFAO 122.

Bradbury, L. 1988. Reflections on Traveling to ‘God’s Land’ and Punt in the Middle Kingdom. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 25: 127–56.

Deposits of minerals, such as lead, copper and gold, occur a short distance from the site (about thirty-five kilometres along the Wādī Gāsūs); A.M. Mahmud, personal communication. Bard, Fattovich, Koch, Mahmud, Manzo and Perlingieri 2001; Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Today the coral reef is only ca. 0.8 m below water during high tide, but in 4000 years it might have increased as much as 10 m in height, A. Russo, personal communication. See also Bradbury 1988. Marsā Gawāsīs can be reached in 15 minutes from Wādī Gāsūs, walking along a small wadi draining from the northwest into the Wādī Gawāsīs.

Buffa, V. 2000. Maclayba: una comunità di agricoltori dell’Età del Bronzo del II millennio a. Cr. 71–3 in A. 72

73 74

20

Bard, Fattovich, Arpin, Childs, Mahmoud, Manzo, Perlingieri and Zazzaro 2004. Actually, the playa next to the site could provide fresh water for at least four to six months of the year. Mangroves are still visible about ten kilometres to the north of Wādī Gawāsīs. Halfa-plants can be still found in a pool near the marina.

RODOLFO FATTOVICH: MARSĀ GAWĀSĪS de Maigret and A. Avanzini (eds), Yemen: nel paese della Regina di Saba. Milan. Also available in French as Maigret, S.A. de et al. 1997. Yémen: au pays de la reine de Saba. Paris: L’Œil.

Gratien, B. 1985. Le Village fortifié du groupe C à Ouadi es-Séboua Est, typologie de la céramique. CRIPEL 7: 39–56. Gratien, B. and Olive, M. 1984. Fouilles à Saï: 1977– 1979. CRIPEL 6: 69–169.

Castel, G., Gout, J.-F. and Soukassian, G. 1984– 1985. Fouilles de Gebel Zeit (Mer Rouge): première et deuxième campagnes (1982–83). Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 70: 99–105.

Killen, G. 2000. Woodworking Techniques. 355–69 in P.T. Nicholson and I. Shaw (eds), Ancient Egyptian Material and Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Castel, G. and Soukassian, G. 1989. Les Mines de Galena du Gebel Zeit. 161–70 in vol. 2 of S. von Schoske (ed.). 1988–. Akten des vierten Internationalen Ägyptologen-Kongresses, München 1985. Fourth International Congress of Egyptology. Hamburg: Buske Verlag.

Kitchen, K.A. 1971. Punt and How to Get There. Orientalia 40: 184–207. ———. 1982. Punt, in Lexikon der Ägyptologie 32 (IV, 8): 1198–201. ———. 1993. The Land of Punt. 587–608 in T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah and A. Okpoko (eds), The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals and towns. London: Routledge.

Davies, N. de G. and Gardiner, A.H. (eds). 1920. The Tomb of Antefoker. London: Egypt Exploration Society. De Romanis, F. 1996. Cassia, cinnamomo, ossidiana: uomini e merci tra Oceano indiano e Mediterraneo. Rome: ‘L’Erma’ di Bretschneider.

———. 2002. Egypt, Middle Nile, Red Sea and Arabia. 383–401 in S. Cleuziou, M. Tosi and J. Zarins (eds), Essays on the Late Prehistory of the Arabian Peninsula. Rome: Instituto italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.

Desanges, J. 1978. Recherches sur l’activité des méditerranéens aux confins de l’Afrique, VIe siècle avant J.-C.–IVe siècle après J.-C. Thèse principale présentée à l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne pour le doctorat d’État. Rome: École française de Rome.

Krzyzaniak, L. 1977. Early Farming Cultures on the Lower Nile: the Predynastic period in Egypt. Travaux du Centre d’archéologie méditerranée de L’Académie polonaise des sciences 21. Varsovie [Poland]: Editions scientifiques de Pologne.

Fattovich, R. 1991a. The Problem of Punt in the Light of Recent Fieldwork in the Eastern Sudan. 257–72 in vol. 4 of Sylvia von Schoske (ed.). 1988–. Akten des vierten Internationalen Ägyptologen-Kongresses, München 1985. Fourth International Congress of Egyptology. Hamburg: Buske Verlag.

Lloyd, A.B. 1977. Necho and the Red Sea: some considerations. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 63: 142–55. Lucas, A. and Harris J.R. 1989. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. London: Histories and Mysteries of Man.

———. 1991b. At the Periphery of the Empire: the Gash Delta (Eastern Sudan). 40–8 in W.V. Davies (ed.), Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistory to Islam. London: British Museum Press, repr. 1993.

Manzo, A. 1999. Échanges et contacts le long du Nil et de la Mer Rouge dans l’époque protohistorique (IIIe et IIe millénaires avant J.-C.): une synthèse préliminaire. Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 48. BAR International Series 782. Oxford: BAR Publishing.

———. 1996. Punt: the archaeological perspective. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 6: 15–29. Fattovich, R., Mahmoud, A.M., Manzo, A., Perlingieri, C. and Zazzaro, C. 2002. Archaeological Investigations at the Wadi Gawasis, Egypt, 2001– 2002: a preliminary report. On-line, .

Meeks, D. 2003. Locating Punt. 53–80 in D. O’Connor and S. Quirke (eds), Mysterious Lands. London: University College London. Mumford, G.D. and Parcak, S. 2003. Pharaonic Ventures into South Sinai: El-Markha Plain site 346. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 89: 83–116.

Fattovich, R., Mahmud, A.M., Manzo, A., Perlingieri, C., Pirelli, R. and Zazzaro, C. 2003. Archaeological Investigation at Wadi Gawasis (Red Sea – Egypt) of the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (Rome) and ‘L’Orientale’ (Naples): December 2002–January 2003 field season. On-line, .

Nibbi, A. 1981. Some Remarks on the Two Monuments from Mersa Gawasis. ASAE 64: 69–74. Petrie, W.M.F. 1896. Koptos. London: B. Quaritch. Phillips, J. 1997. Punt and Aksum: Egypt and the Horn of Africa. Journal of African History 38: 423–57.

Frost, H. 1979. Egypt and Stone Anchors: some recent discoveries. The Mariner’s Mirror 65(2): 137–61.

Prickett, M. 1979. Quseir Regional Survey. 255–350 in D. Whitcomb and J. Johnson, Quseir al-Qadim, 1978: a preliminary report. Cairo: American Research Center in Egypt.

———. 1996. Ports, Cairns and Anchors: a Pharaonic outlet on the Red Sea. Topoi 6(2): 869–90.

21

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA ———. 1996. Roman Interests in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. 287–8 in J. Reade (ed.), The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul International in association with the British Museum.

Raue, D. 1999. Ägyptische und Nubische Keramik der 1.–4. Dynastie. ZÄS 55: 174–89. Salles, J.-F. 1996. Achaemenid and Hellenistic Trade in the Indian Ocean. 251–67 in J. Reade (ed.), The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul International in association with the British Museum.

Smith, S.T. 1995. Askut in Nubia: the economics and ideology of Egyptian imperialism in the second millennium BC. London; New York: Kegan Paul International.

Säve-Söderbergh, T. 1946. The Navy of the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala: Lundequistska bokhandeln; Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz.

Teeter, E. 1987. Techniques and Terminology of RopeMaking in ancient Egypt. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 73: 71–7.

——— (ed.). 1989. Middle Nubian Sites. Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia 4. Partille: Åstrom.

Ward, C.A. 1996. Archaeology in the Red Sea, the 1994 Red Sea Survey Report. Topoi 6(2): 853–68.

Sayed, A.M. A.H. 1977. Discovery of the site of the 12th Dynasty port at Wadi Gawasis on the Red Sea shore. Revue d’Égyptologie 29: 140–78.

———. 2000. Sacred and Secular: ancient Egyptian ships and boats, Philadelphia: published for the Archaeological Institute of America by the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania; Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.

———. 1978. The Discovery of the Twelfth Dynasty Port in the Region of the Wādī Gawasis on the Red Sea Coast. Alexandria (in Arabic).

Wilkinson, T.A.H. 1999. Early Dynastic Egypt. London: Routledge.

th

———. 1979. Discovery of the Site of the 12 Dynasty Port at Wadi Gawasis on the Red Sea Shore. 569–78 in W.F. Reineke (ed.). Acts = Actes = Akten: First International Congress of Egyptology ... Cairo ... October 2–10, 1976. Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 14. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

———. 2003. Genesis of the Pharaohs. London: Thames and Hudson. Zarins, J. 1989. Ancient Egypt and the Red Sea Trade: the case for obsidian in the Pre-Dynastic and Archaic Periods. 339–68 in A. Leonard, Jr. and B.B. Williams (eds). Essays in Ancient Civilization presented to Helene J. Kantor. Chicago, Ill.: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

———. 1980. Observations on Recent Discoveries at Wadi Gawasis. JEA 66: 154–7. ———. 1982. New Light on the Recently Discovered Port on the Red Sea Shore. Abstract of paper presented at the Second International Congress of Egyptology. Grenoble, 1982. L’Egyptologie en 1979: axes prioritaires de recherches. Colloques internationaux du Centre national de la recherche scientifique 595. Paris : Éditions du Centre national de la Recherche scientifique.

———. 1990. Obsidian and the Red Sea Trade Prehistoric Aspects. 507–41 in M. Taddei and P. Gawen (eds). South Asian Archaeology 1987 (Naples), I. ———. 1996. Obsidian in the Larger Context of Predynastic/Archaic Egyptian Red Sea Trade. 89–106 in J. Reade (ed.), The Indian Ocean in Antiquity. London: Kegan Paul International in association with the British Museum.

———. 1983. New light on the recently discovered port on the Red Sea shore. Chronique d’Égypte 58: 23–37. ———. 1999. Wadi Gasus. 866–8 in K.A. Bard (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. London: Routledge. ———. 2003. The Land of Punt: problems of the archaeology of the Red Sea and the Southern Delta. 432–9 in vol. 1 of Z. Hawass (ed.). Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century. Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Shaw, I. (ed.). 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shaw, I. and Bloxam, E. 1999. Survey and Excavation at the Ancient Pharaonic Gneiss Quarrying site of Gebel al-Asr, lower Nubia. Sudan & Nubia 3: 13–20. Sidebotham, S.E. 1986. Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa, 30 BC – AD 217. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

22

Sire, il n’y a pas de Blemmyes. A Re-Evaluation of Historical and Archaeological Data Hans Barnard themselves to be used for pursuing political objectives, as also shown by the recent events in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.5 This may not have been different in the more distant past.6 In the study of antiquity it is therefore important to also take into account evidence that may provide information towards the ethnicity of the peoples studied.

In 1912 the Belgium politician Jules Destrée wrote in a letter to King Albert I ‘Sire, (...) il n’y a pas de Belges’ (Sire, there are no Belgians). This remark aimed to end the confusion started two millennia earlier by Julius Caesar when he wrote ‘Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae…’ (Of these [the Gauls] the Belgians are the bravest...).1 It is unclear on what information Caesar based this remark, but later he writes ‘...plerusque Belgas esse ortos a Germanis Rhenumque antiquitus traductos...’ (...most Belgians are descended from the Germans and came down the Rhine some time ago...).2 The latter is a considerably less firm statement. No date is given for when the Belgians are supposed to have arrived in the area, nor is it indicated where the others identified as Belgians may have come from. It is, furthermore, remarkable that most are said to have travelled down the Rhine. This river is at the edge of the region in which Caesar locates the Belgians, rather than flowing through its centre like the Escaut (Schelde) or the Meuse (Maas). The name coined by Caesar appears again on Renaissance maps and helped to form the basis for the decision of the Congress of Vienna to create a Belgian state after the Napoleonic wars. Subsequently, it fuelled its struggle for independence from the Netherlands, which ended successfully in 1830. This was the final step to make a term put forward by Caesar, possibly as a convenient way to talk about various indigenous groups in north-western Europe, into an ethnic reality. Something similar may have happened at the opposite frontier of the Roman empire, in the south-eastern part of Aegyptus (Map 4), where the Blemmyes are said to have lived.

The written sources Until recently the study of this region, with the obvious exception of the Nile Valley, as well as the Blemmyes, limited itself almost exclusively to historical sources, sometimes complemented with cursory visits to the area.7 The most relevant texts have now been collected in the Fontes Historiae Nubiorum.8 The publication of several indices, in the fourth and final volume,9 made this compilation readily accessible, while current efforts to place the complete work on the Internet will make it even easier to use. According to the indexes there are sixty-eight texts in the Fontes that somehow refer to the Blemmyes (Table 1). The earliest (no. 34 in the Fontes) is the seventh century BC enthronement stele, written in hieroglyphic Egyptian, of the Kushitic king, Anlamani (ca. 620–600 BC ), in the temple of Amun in Kawa (near Kerma, Sudan). The latest (nos 331–43) are the so-called Blemmyan documents that are believed to originate from an island in the Nile near al-Gabalīn [Gebelein], just south of Luxor. Nine of these are in Greek, four in a mix of Greek and Coptic. They were written by three different scribes, most likely in the sixth century AD. In between these boundaries are fiftyfour texts of which four more are bilingual: numbers 259 (hieroglyphic Egyptian/Meroitic), 305 (Latin/Coptic), 306 (hieroglyphic Egyptian/Demotic) and 307 (Greek/Latin). Of the fifty remaining texts two are in Meroitic, three in Coptic, seven in Demotic, twelve in Latin and twenty-six in Greek.

Ethnicity is a concept that evades definition.3 This is perhaps best illustrated by the difficulties encountered in Nazi Germany to define who was Jewish and who was not. Not until months after the Nazi Congress of 1935, where no consensus could be reached, a decision was made which was characterised by Joseph Goebbels as ‘a compromise, but the best possible one’.4 In the following ten years, however, it became painfully clear that everybody not only has an intuitive knowledge of his ethnicity, and that of others, but that these feelings can be a very powerful force in motivating and altering human behaviour. Ethnic differences, real or invented, thus lend

5 1 2 3 4

6

Hanford. 1951. De Bello Gallico book I: 1, 2. Ibid. book II: 4, 2. Ratcliffe 1994, Yinger 1994. Kershaw 1998.

7 8 9

23

Smith, forthcoming. Hutchinson and Smith 1996. Krall 1900, Meredith 1958, Updegraff 1988. Eide et al. 1994, 1996 and 1998, hereafter ‘the Fontes’. Eide et al. 2000.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA

Map 4: Map showing the location of places mentioned in the text

24

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES

Table 1: An overview of the references to Blemmyes, Beja, Megabaroi and Trogodytes in the Fontes Historiae Nubiorum (Eide et al. 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000) The table is presented here in three parts, the first (Table 1A) giving the provenance, date, title and language of the texts; the second (Table 1B) giving the author, a relevant quotation and the perspective of the author; and the third (Table 1C) giving the mentioned geographical and personal names. No.

Pages

Provenance

Date

Title / Medium

34

I: 216–28

Amun temple at Kawa al-Hiba (Hibe, elHibeh, ancient: Teudjoi, Ankyronpolis) Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies

seventh

Language

Enthronement stela

Hieroglyphic

513 BC

PRylands IX, 5/2–5

Demotic

450–430 BC third century BC/ first century AD Third century BC 220–219 BC 180 BC first century AD Third century AD

Herodotus 2.29–31 Strabo 17.1.2

Greek Greek

century

BC

50*

I: 296–98

56 109

I: 302–12 II: 557–61

116 123* 136* 190 259

II: 569–70 II: 579–80 II: 612–4 III: 828–35 III: 997–1000

260 261 272 276 278

III: 1000–10 III: 1010–6 III: 1041–3 III: 1049–50 III: 1052–5

Mediaeval copies ? Philae? Mediaeval copies Meroe (modern: Begrawīya) Philae temple Philae temple Philae temple Philae temple Mediaeval copies

279

III: 1055–7

Discovered in 1433

AD

291

280

III: 1057–9

Discovered in 1433

AD

291

281

III: 1059–60

?

253 253 273 Third century AD? AD 400 AD AD AD

Twelfth

century

Theocritus 7.111–114 PHauswaldt VI PDodgson Strabo 17.1.53–54 Mortuary inscription Graffito Graffito Graffito Graffito Carmina Minora 25.69– 82 Panegyrici Latini 11.17.4 Panegyrici Latini 8.5.1– 3 Epitome Historiam 12.31

Greek Demotic Demotic Greek Hieroglyphic and Meroitic Demotic Demotic Demotic Meroitic Latin Latin Latin Greek

AD

Fourth–fifth century AD? Fourth–fifth century AD? Fourth–fifth century AD? Fourth–fifth century AD? AD 321 AD 336 AD 311 AD 337–338

Tyranni Triginta 22.6–8

Latin

Quad. Tyr. 3.1–3

Latin

Aurelianus 33.4–5

Latin

Probus 17

Latin

SB I 4223:II Vita Constantini 4.7 Hist. Eccl. 2.1.13 P. Abinn. 1. CPL 265

Greek Greek Greek Latin

Vita Prima Graeca 85 Paralipomena 9

Greek Greek

Kalābsha temple Sohāg Philae temple Mediaeval copies

390 Fourth–fifth century AD fifth century AD fifth century AD AD 373 fourth century AD

Mediaeval copies

fourth century AD

282

III: 1060–3

Isaac Casaubon

283*

III: 1063–5

Isaac Casaubon

Idem

Idem

Isaac Casaubon

284

III: 1065–6

Isaac Casaubon

292 293* 294 295*

III: 1076–9 III: 1079–81 III: 1081–3 III: 1083–7

296 Idem

III: 1087–92 Idem

Aswan or Luxor Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies Dionysias (modern: Qasr Qārūn) Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies

300 301 302 303

III: 1103–7 III: 1107–9 III: 1110–2 III: 1112–4

304

III: 1114–5

AD

25

Inscription Vita Senutii Graffito Ammianus 22.15.2 Ammianus 22.15.21–24

Marc.

Meroitic Coptic (Bohairic) Demotic Latin

Marc.

Latin

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA No.

Pages

Provenance

Date

Title / Medium

Language

305 306

III: 1115–21 III: 1121–3

Mediaeval copies Philae temple

AD AD

394 394

De XII gemmis Graffito

395 400

Hist. Monachorum 1.2 Carmina Minora 28.15– 23 Olympiodorus 1.37 Graffito

Coptic and Latin Demotic and Hieroglyphic Greek and Latin Latin

307 308

III: 1123–5 III: 1125–6

Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies

AD AD

309* 310

III: 1126–8 III: 1128–31

Mediaeval copies Kalābsha temple

AD

311

III: 1131–2

Kalābsha temple

fifth–sixth century

423 fifth–sixth century

Greek Greek

AD

Graffito

Greek

fourth century AD

Inscription

Greek

fifth century AD 425–450 434 fifth century AD Before AD 450 fifth century AD

Inscription PLeiden Z.SB XX 14060 Inscription Inscription Inscription Priscus 21

Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek

450 450 450 Sixth century AD 535–537 AD third–fifth century

Letter of Phonen Coptic Museum 76/50A Coptic Museum 76/50B Historia Nova 1.71.1 Five graffiti PBerol 5003

AD

312

III: 1132–4

313 314 315 Idem 317 318*

III: 1134–8 III: 1138–41 III: 1141–4 Idem III: 1147–53 III: 1153–8

319* 320 321 323 324 326

III: 1158–65 III: 1165–71 III: 1171–2 III: 1175–6 III: 1177–81 III: 1182–5

Tāfa temple (ancient Taphis) Kalābsha temple Philae? Philae temple Philae temple Kalābsha temple 10th century AD excerpt Qasr Ibrīm Qasr Ibrīm Qasr Ibrīm Mediaeval copies Philae temple Luxor

327 328 329 331 332 333 334 335 336* 337 338 339* 340 341 342 343

III: 1185–8 III: 1188–93 III: 1193–4 III: 1203–5 III: 1205–6 III: 1206–7 III: 1207–8 III: 1208–9 III: 1209–10 III: 1210–1 III: 1211–2 III: 1212–4 III: 1214 III: 1215 III: 1215–6 III: 1216

Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn? al-Gabalīn?

AD AD

AD AD AD

Greek Coptic (Sahidic) Coptic Greek Greek Greek

AD

Additional references to ‘Beja’ No. Pages Provenance 71 109

II: 425 II: 561

Temple T at Kawa Mediaeval copies

234

III: 953

Christian Topography

285

III: 1068

Meroe

298* 299* 331–343

III: 1096–7 III: 1102 III: 1199

Aksum Aksum al-Gabalīn?

after AD 529 545 551 Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD? Sixth century AD?

Anecdota Graeca 5 De Bellis 1.19.27–37 Romana 333 Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document Blemmyan document

Date

Title / Medium

fifth century BC third century BC/ first century AD Second–third century AD/AD 550 third–fourth century AD fourth century AD fourth century AD Sixth century AD

Inscription/graffito Strabo 17.1.2

AD AD

26

Greek Greek Latin Coptic and Greek Coptic and Greek Coptic and Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Coptic and Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Language Hieroglyphic Greek

Andulitana II (see 285)

Greek

Inscription (see 234)

Greek

Inscription Inscription Blemmyan documents

Greek Greek Coptic and Greek

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES

Additional references to ‘Megabaroi’ No. Pages Provenance

Date

Title / Medium

189 198

first century AD first century AD

Strabo 16.4.8–17 Naturalis Hist. 6.189– 190

fifth–sixth century

Inscription

III: 826 III: 859

Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies

Additional references to ‘Trogodytes’ Comments I: 283 Elephantine

Language Greek Latin

Hieroglyphic

BC

57 66 147

I: 313 I: 331 II: 659–60

Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies Mediaeval copies

450–430 BC 450–430 BC Second century

171 189 202 218 224

II: 714 III: 826 III: 869 III: 917–8 III: 932–5

Philae temple Mediaeval copies

first century BC first century AD

Mediaeval copies ?

233

III: 947–8

274

III: 1046–8

Seventh-century abstract Mediaeval copies

AD 110–115 first–second century AD Second–fourth century AD AD 350–375

Herodotus 3.97.2–3 Herodotus 4.183.4 Diodorus 3.33.2

Greek Greek Greek

Epigram Strabo 16.4.8–17 Naturalis Hist. 6.172 Life of Anthony 27.3–5 P della raccolta Milanese

Greek Greek

BC

Greek Greek

Rav. Ano. Cos. 5.28.3

Latin

Aethiopica 8.16.4

Greek

Table 1B: Author, relevant part and perspective of the author from the references to Blemmyes, Beja, Megabaroi and Trogodytes in the Fontes Historiae Nubiorum (Eide et al. 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000). Could the authors have had first-hand knowledge of the subject matter and are these authors presented as party in the text or mentioned as enemies, exotic or simply in a geographical or ethnological list? No.

Author

Relevant Quotation / Abstract

34

King Anlamani

50*

Petriese

56

Herodotus

109

Eratosthenes/Strabo

116 123*

Theocritus Anonymous official

136*

Anonymous official

190

Strabo

259 260

King Teqorideamani Pasan

261 272 276 278

Tami Teos (Djedhor) King Yesebokheamani Claudius Claudianus

279 280

Anonymous Anonymous

... caused his army to invade the foreign country Bulahau. ... came down and summoned Wahibremer, a Blemmyan. ... there is a great lake around which nomad Aithiopians live. ... toward the Red Sea the Megabaroi and the Blemmyes. ... beneath the rock of the Blemmyes, ... Marriage contract between a Blemmyan/Megabari and an Egyptian woman. ... drinking with the Blemmyes, saying herdsman, night has come ... ... Blemmyes (...) these are nomads and neither many nor warlike ... Evidence for reign. ... the prayers which I made to you [Isis] in the desert ... Tami describes his career and prays to Isis. Teos describes his career and prays to Isis. Not fully translated. ... who once was ordered to watch over Meroe and the Nile. ... Blemmyes (...) against the Aithiopians ... ... Nile trophies under which the Aithiopian and the Indian ...

27

Firsthand? Yes

Perspective

Yes

Party

No

List

No

List

Literary Yes

Exotic Party

Yes

Party

Yes

List

Yes Yes

Party Party

Yes Yes Yes Literary

Enemies Enemies Party Exotic

Yes Yes

Exotic Exotic

Enemies

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA No.

Author

Relevant Quotation / Abstract

281

Ioannes Zonaras

282 283*

Anonymous Anonymous

Idem

Anonymous

284

Anonymous

292

Anonymous official

293*

Eusebius

294 295*

Eusebius Flavius Abinnaeus

296 Idem

Anonymous Anonymous

300

King Kharamadoye

301

Besa

302

Petesenufe

303

Ammianus Marcellinus

304

Ammianus Marcellinus

305

Epiphanius

306 307

Esmetakhom Anonymous monk

308 309* 310 311 312

Claudius Claudianus Olympiodorus (see 326) King Tamal King Isemne (see 300) Kola (Tesemaeikhem?)

313

Presidents of three cults

314

Appion

315

Pasnous

Idem 317

Pamet King Silko

318*

Priscus

319*

King Phonen

320

Viventius

321 323

Yahatek Zosimus

324

Anonymous

... was marching through Egypt against the Aithiopians ... ... he drove back the barbarian peoples ... ... he also maintained close relations with the Blemmyes ... ... there were Blemmyes (...) Indians (...) each with their gifts ... ... Coptos and Ptolemais had been liberated from the Blemmyes ... The Roman army has restored peace in the region. ... both the Blemmyan and the Indian races and the Aithiopians ... ... from the land of the Aithiopians ... ... to bring refugees from the Blemmyan people ... ... the barbarians were waging war ... When he had done so, the Blemmyes released him. Isemne (see 311), Kharamadoye (not fully translated). ... it happened one day that the Blemmyes came north ... ... the Blemmyes had gone against the Akhbewe (Nubians/Hibis?) ... ... Elephantine and Meroe, cities of the Aithiopians ... ... have been driven to migrate to the land of the Blemmyes. ... Kalābsha, which is now held by the Blemmyes ... ... Madulis, lord of Pure Island, the great god ... ... the Aithiopians (...) Aswan (...) laid waste its surroundings ... ... winds through Meroe and fierce Blemmyes ... ... the barbarians around Aswan, the Blemmyes ... I, King Tamal ... I, King Isemne ... Silbanikhem (...) agent of the cult society Amati, built it. ... Altik[...] Pison president of the cult society of Abene ... ... the Blemmyes (...) we suffer many attacks from them ... ... I, Pasnous, son of Pachoumios, priest of Ptireus ... ... I, Pamet, son of Bereos, priest of Ptireus ... ... I fought with the Blemmyes and God (Mandulis?) gave me victory ... The Blemmyes and the Noubades, having been defeated ... The most distinguished Phonen, king of the Blemmyes ... ... to Tantani, the tribal chief of the nation of the Anouba ... ... to the Lord Tantani, the lord of the Nouba ... ... Probus overcame both it and the Blemmyes, who were its allies ... Praise be to Apa Theodorus.

28

Firsthand? No

Perspective

? ?

Enemies Party

?

List

?

Enemies

Yes

Enemies

Yes

Party

Yes Yes

Exotic Party

Yes Yes

Enemies Enemies

Yes

?

Yes

Enemies

Yes

Enemies

Yes

List

Yes

Exotic

No

Exotic

Yes Yes

Party Enemies

Literary Yes

Exotic Party

Yes Yes Yes

Party Party Party

Yes

Party

Yes

Enemies

Yes

Party

Yes Yes

Party Enemies

Yes

Party

Yes

Party

Yes

Party

Yes No

Party Enemies

Yes

Enemies

Enemies

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES No.

Author

Relevant Quotation / Abstract

326 327

Olympiodorus? (see 309) Anonymous

328

Procopius

329

Jordanus

331

Sansnos

332

Sansnos?

333 334

Sansnos Agathon

335 336*

Agathon Sansnos

337 338 339*

Dioskorus Sansnos Agathon

340 341 342 343

Sansnos Sansnos? Sansnos Sansnos?

... the Blemmyes (...) the men whom he could catch he killed. ... a huge army, (...) the so-called Blemmyes and Noubades ... ... drive off the Blemmyes and the other barbarians ... ... he checked the Noubades and the Blemmyes ... Transfer of ownership of a slave and the freeing of her children. A loan, secured by a piece of land, to be used for ransom. A loan secured by a tavern. Pokatimne entrusts the island Temsir/Tanare to Poae. A loan secured by two slaves. The king entrusts the island Tanare to his children. Receipt of Noubadian coins. Receipt of Noubadian coins. Royal order to Sophia to stay in some unclear place or status. Acknowledgement of debt. Acknowledgement of debt. Acknowledgement of debt. Acknowledgement of debt.

Additional references to ‘Beja’ No. Author 71

King Irike-Amannote

109

Eratosthenes/Strabo

234

Cosmas Indicopleustes

285 298*

Anonymous king King Aeizanas

299* 331–43

King Azanas Three notary scribes

Additional references to ‘Megabaroi’ 189 Strabo 198

Pliny the Elder

Additional references to ‘Trogodytes’ Comments King Necho II 57

Herodotus

66

Herodotus

147

Diodorus/Agatharchides

171 189

Iunius Sabinus Strabo

Firsthand? Literary

Perspective

No

Party

No

Enemies

No

List

Yes

Party

Yes

Party

Yes Yes

Party Party

Yes Yes

Party Party

Yes Yes Yes

Party Party Party

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Party Party Party Party

First hand? Yes

Perspective

No

List

No

Enemies

Yes? Yes

Enemies Party

Yes Yes

Party Party

... the Aithiopian Megabaroi put iron knobs on their clubs ... ... opposite Meroe, live the Megabaroi (...) called the Adiabari ...

Yes

Exotic

No

List

Necho II sent a riverine expedition against the Trogodytes. ... their neighbours (...) have subterranean dwellings ... The Aithiopian Trogodytes are the swiftest runners ... (see 274) Their local burial customs are quite extraordinary. (see 189) ... the tribes of the Aithiopians (Trogodytes?) ... The Trogodytes lead a nomadic life ...

Yes

?

No

Party

No

Exotic

No

Exotic

Yes Yes

Exotic Exotic

Relevant quotation / Abstract Ikike-Amannote defeats both the Rehrehes and the Meded. ... Megabaroi and the Blemmyes (...) along the sea live the Trogodytes. Having subdued Atalmo and Beja (...) up to the boundaries of Egypt ... [...] and I pillaged the [...] ... when the nation of the Bougaites once revolted ... ... King of (...) Khaso and Bougaites ... An archive of thirteen official documents (see above).

29

Exotic

Enemies

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA No.

Author

Relevant quotation / Abstract

202

Pliny the Elder

218 224

Plutarch Nicolaus Demascenus?

233 274

Ravennas Geographus Heliodorus

... the most important trading centre of the Trogodytes ... ... be they Aithiopians, Trogodytes ... The Trogodytes who had been dispersed by Rufus [...] ... Aithiopia of the Trogodytes ... The Trogodytes inhabit a part of Aithiopia; they are nomads ...

First hand? No

Perspective

No Yes?

Party Enemies

No No?

List Exotic

List

Table 1C: Geographical and personal names — and some additional remarks — as mentioned in the references to Blemmyes, Beja, Megabaroi and Trogodytes in the Fontes Historiae Nubiorum (Eide et al. 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000) No.

Geographical names

Personal names

Remarks / Abstract

34

Bulahau (Blemmyes?)

Anlamani and Nasalsa (his mother)

50*

Teudjoi, Blemmyes

Ahmose, Wahibremer (a Blemmyan)

56

Elephantine, Aithiopians, Meroe Red Sea, Megabaroi, Blemmyes, Aithiopians, Trogodytes, Nubia Edonians, Hebrus, Aithiopians, Blemmyes, Nile Blemmyes, Black Land (Egypt)

—

Kawa is on the east bank of the Nile, 100 km south of the Third Cataract. Blemmyes seem to have acted as guards/policemen. Description constructed from ‘hearsay’. Strabo (see 190) quotes Eratosthenes (both appear trustworthy).

109 116 123* 136* 190 259 260

Elephantine, Blemmyes (see 312) Trogodytes, Blemmyes, Noubai, Magabaroi, Aithiopians —

Psammetich — Harmais (son of Harpaeis), Taese (daughter of Khahor) Petra (son of Pshenpoer/Peteharhensnufi) — Teqorideamani Pasan (son of Paese), Teqorideamani

272

Final Island (Philae), Pure Island (Abaton), Black Land (Egypt) Final Island (Philae), Pure Island (Abaton) Pure Island (Abaton)

276

Not fully translated

Yesebokheamani

278

Danube, Tomi, Meroe, Nile

Celerinus

279

Blemmyes, Aithiopians

Emperor Maximian

280

Emperor Constantinus I

281

Nile, Aithiopians, Indians (Blemmyes? see 283 and 293) Egypt, Aithiopians

282

Egypt, Thebaid (Upper Egypt)

283*

Egypt, African Frontier, Blemmyes, Saracens Lybia (Libya?) (North Africa), Blemmyes, Indians (see 280 and 293)

Lucius Mussius Aemilianus (Prefect of Egypt), Emperor Gallienus Firmus, Queen Zenobia, Emperor Aurelius Emperor Aurelius

261

Idem

Bekmeti (son of Qerenya) Teos (son of Peteos)

Emperor Diocletianus

30

This ‘rock’ may well be one of the cataracts. Pabus, the son of Hamais, is elsewhere called Megabaroi. Egyptians and Blemmyes drinking and disturbing the peace together. Strabo’s own ‘observation’ (see 109). King Teqorideamus may have ruled the Dodecaschoinos (see 260). The deserts may have been dominated by the Blemmyes (see 259). Tami’s career may be influenced by the conflicts in the region. Teos may have been an officer of the fleet fighting the Blemmyes. Meroitic control over the Dodecaschoinos made visiting Philae possible. At this time ‘Blemmyan’ is synonym with ‘enemy of Christianity’ (see 293). Blemmyes are (partly) responsible for the troubles in the region. It remains unclear after which unrest the region is said to be pacified. Connection between the Persian war and a campaign in Upper Egypt. These barbarians may well be the Blemmyes. Firmus trade contacts aided Aurelius’s victory over Zenobia. Captives are displayed in a procession for Aurelius in Alexandria.

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES No.

Geographical names

Personal names

Remarks / Abstract

284

Pamphylia, Isauria, Coptos, Ptolemais, Blemmyes —

Probus, Narseus

Aithiopians, Blemmyes, Indians (see 280 and 283) Aithiopians

Emperor Constantinus I

Diospolis (Luxor), Thebaid (Upper Egypt), Blemmyes ‘Barbarians’ (most likely Blemmyes) Blemmyes

Emperors Constantinus and Constans

Blemmyes aided the population in their revolt against the Romans. The route between Aswan and Philae had to be protected by a wall. Barbarian envoys (see 278) pay their respect to the Emperor. The Aithiopians are said to be ruled by queens. Flavius Abinnaeus was helping proRoman Blemmyes. These barbarians may have been Meroites or, more likely, Blemmyes. Blemmyes as desert dwelling (like the monks) enemies of Christianity. Soleb is on the west bank of the Nile, 75 km north of the Third Cataract. With a miracle, Shenute frees the captives of Blemmyan raiders. Attacks from the south may have disturbed the regular cult life in Philae. The Blemmyes may have lived between the Nile and the Red Sea.

292 293* 294 295* 296 Idem 300 301

Luxor, Napata, Qurte, Philae, Karanog, Soleb (not fully translated) Blemmyes, Ptolemais

Victorinus, Emperor Licinius

—

Pachomius ‘the Great’, ‘the Blessed’ (both most likely Pachomius) Isemne (see 311), Kharamadoye (not fully translated) Shenute

302

Blemmyes, Nubians?, Pure Island (Abaton)

Petsinamre (son of Page), Petesenufe (son of Harendotes)

303

Elephantine, Meroe, Aithiopians, Red Sea, Catadupians, Saracens Blemmyes

—

Red Sea, Smaragdinum, Berenike, Elephanine, Kalābsha, Blemmyes Pure Island (Abaton)

Emperors Nero and Domitian

Emperor Theodosius

310

Aithiopians, Aswan, Thebaid (Upper Egypt) Nile, Lybia (or Libya?) (North Africa), Aithiopinas, Blemmyes Luxor, Aswan, Kalābsha, Blemmyes —

311

—

Isemne, Degou, Ploulan

312

—

313

Kalābsha

314 315

Aswan, Elephantine, Philae, Blemmyes, Annoubades —

Kola, Tesemaeikhem, Silbanikhem (son of Namous) Phonen, Gamatifant Psentaesis, Menroukhem Plokhkarour Emperors Flavius Theodosius and Valentianus Pasnous (son of Pachoumios)

Idem

—

Pamet (son of Bereos)

317

Silko (see 319)

318*

Noubades, Aithiopians, Kalābsha, Tāfa, Blemmyes Blemmyes, Noubades, Philae

319*

Blemmyes

320

Egypt, Anouba, Aswan, Philae

304 305 306 307 308 309*

—

Esmetakhom (son of Esmet)

— — Tamal, Sentaesis, Pateboras

Maximinus Phonen (king of the Blemmyes), Abourti (king of the Noubades), Silko Viventius, Tantani

31

The hippopotamus is hunted to extinction in Egypt, but not south of there. Blemmyes have recently conquered Kalābsha and Mons Smaragdus. The cult of Madulis accommodated both Egyptian and Blemmyes. Aithiopinians is used here for Blemmyes, Beja and ‘barbarians’. The Blemmyes appear to live in the Nile Valley. For a visit to the emerald mines in the region a royal order is needed. Tamal may have been king of the Blemmyes between AD 394 and 453. The tribal Blemmyes may have seen Kalābsha as their cultural centre. The Blemmyes must have integrated with society (see 136). The Blemmyes had non-Egyptian gods and non-Egyptian names. Blemmyes and Annoubades (Nubians) threaten Upper Egypt. The names of the writer and the god may be Blemmyan or Nubian. The names of the writer and the god may be Blemmyan or Nubian. Maybe the Noubades majority spoke Nubian and the Blemmyes Meroitic. Despite subsidies the raids continue (see 329). Phones asks Abourti, the successor of Silko (see 317), to withdraw. The Blemmyes may also have had a tribal chief (phylarch).

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA No.

Geographical names

Personal names

Remarks / Abstract

321 323

Yahatek, Tantani Probus

324

Nouba, Talmis Ptolemais, Thebaid (Upper Egypt), Coptos, Blemmyes —

326

Blemmyes

Germanus

327

Himyarites, Negran, Coptos, Berenike, Blemmyes, Noubades Aksum, Elephantine, Blemmyes, Nobatai, Oasis, Philae Alexandria, Noubades, Blemmyes, Aithiopia —

Emperor Justinius, King Ella Asbeha, Alamoundaros Emperor Diocletianus, Narses

— — Temsir (an island also known as Tanare, see 336) —

Trempyoh (daughter of Phant) Sulien (son of Wanaktikuta), Phant Pokatimne, Poae

Yahatek may be a Blemmyan name. The revolt in Ptolemais and Coptos was supported by the Blemmyes. Philae turned from a surviving pagan shrine into a Christian sanctuary. The text cannot be linked to a datable episode. The troops to help the Christians in Arabia were probably never sent. Procopius’ description may have served to explain the existing situation. This account is probably based on that of Priscus (see 318). Tribal chief Khaias signed the document which does not free the mother. The names are Egyptian. The same parties as in 335. The location and final status of the island remains uncertain. The same parties as in 333.

328 329 331 332 333 334 335

Bishop Apa Theodorus

Attila, Florus, Zeno Kharaftik, Mahanat, Apehset, Sentekhaynis, Munkokhnhiu

336*

Blemmyes, Tanare (Temsir? See 334)

Sulien (son of Wanaktikuta), Phant (son of Kirbeeitak), Todetes Kharakhen (both the king and his son, see 339), Kharapatkhur, Kharahiet

337

—

Ose

338

—

Argon (son of Laize), Noaymek

339*

Blemmyes

340

—

Barakhia (king of the Blemmyes), Amnas/Sophia, Kharakhen (see 336) Osian, Ose (see 341–343)

341

—

Sle, Ose (tribal chief, see 340 and 343)

342

—

Sle, Ose (tribal chief, see 340 and 343)

343

—

Tusikia, Hadetak[...], Ose (tribal chief, see 340–2)

Additional references to ‘Beja’ No. Geographical names 71 109 234 285 298* 299* 331– 43

The ‘Romans’ might not agree to pay taxes to their Blemmyan overlords. Actually two receipts, the relation between which remains unclear. Invalid if written by Diokoros, valid if written by Sansnos. Amnas was baptised Sophia, Barakhia succeeded Kharakhen. Ose is specified to be phylarkhos (tribal chief). The same parties as in 342, but a different date. The same parties as in 341, but a different date. —

Personal names

Remarks / Abstract

Rehrehes (in the desert to the north), Meded (western desert dwellers) Red Sea, Megabaroi, Blemmyes, Aithiopians, Trogodytes, Nubai

Irike-Amannote, King Talakhamani (his predecessor) Psammetich

Red Sea, Atalmo, Beja (Blemmyes?), Tangaites Aksum, Himyar

—

These desert dwellers may have been groups of the Beja. Blemmyes, Megabaroi and Trogodytes may be groups of the Beja. The Beja may be the Blemmyes.

Aksumites, Himyarites, Aithiopians, Bougaites (Beja?) Aksumites, Himyarites, Bougaites (Beja?) Temsir, Tanare, Blemmyes

Aeizanas, Sazanan and Adiophan (his brothers) Azanas

—

Chiefs Khaias, Kharakhen, Barakhia and Ose

32

The first lacuna may have contained a reference to the Beja. The Bougaites may be the Beja (see 299). The Bougaites may be the Beja (see 298)’ The names and other peculiarities suggest a third language (Beja?).

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES

Additional references to ‘Megabaroi’ No. Geographical names

Personal names

Remarks / Abstract

189

Trogodytes, Aithiopian

—

198

Trogodytes, Red Sea, Meroe, Napata

—

This description of the Red Sea coast from Aristocreon and Artemidorus. Pliny’s uncritical compilation includes many errors and fabulous tales.

Additional references to ‘Trogodytes’ Comments The text is too fragmentary to be fully understood 57 Aithiopians, Indians 66 Aithiopians, Trogodytes

The text is too fragmentary to be fully understood Cambyses —

147

—

—

171

Aswan, Aithiopians or Trogodytes

Iunius Sabinus

189

—

—

202

—

224

Sace, Daphnis, Adulites, Trogodytes, Ptolemais Aithiopians, Trogodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, Parthians Aithiopians, Trogodytes

233

Aithiopians, Trogodytes

—

274

Trogodytes, Aithiopia, Arabs

—

218

— Rufus

The evidence of a Blemmyan language, possibly related to Meroitic, is limited to specific names of persons and gods, the use of ‘pidgin’ Greek in some texts and observations like that of Plutarch who wrote that Cleopatra VII could ‘... deliver her responses by herself [without an interpreter] to most of them, be they Aithiopians, Trogodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes or Parthians.’10 Five additional texts in the Fontes are listed as referring to the Beja, a name often seen as a synonym for the Blemmyes or as a later version thereof. Apart from a fifth century BC inscription in hieroglyphic Egyptian (no. 71) in Kawa, these are second- to fourthcentury AD inscriptions, in Greek, found much further to the south, in Meroe, Aksum and Adulis, on the Red Sea coast.

description, as an exotic phenomenon, or as enemies of the state or established religion. Only thirteen texts (18%) meet all three criteria of reliability; these are marked with an asterisk in Table 1. Although these criteria may be interpreted differently and some texts may be assigned to different groups, the above percentages provide a fair characterisation of the available sources. It is not just the dearth of information that hampers the formulation of firm conclusions but even more so the fact that the sources are far from unambiguous. The ‘father of history’, Herodotus (no. 56), is now rarely considered to be a reliable source, but even the three best informed sources, Eratosthenes (ca. 275–194 BC)/Strabo (ca. 64/63 BC–AD 18) (nos 109 and 190), Olympiodorus of Thebes who visited the Blemmyes ca. AD 425 (nos 309 and 326?) and Procopius of Caesarea (ca. AD 490/507–560) (no. 328), do not agree on the area in which the Blemmyes live (the Nile Valley or the Eastern Desert) nor on their number, neighbours or life-style: some suggest a nomadic tribe or others a settled chiefdom. It is remarkable that Olympiodorus mentions the emerald mines in the report on his visit to Dodecaschoinos.11 The only known sources

Four of these seventy-three texts (taken here as 100%) must be considered literary, fifty-six (77%) of the remaining sixty-nine are written by authors who can justifiably claim first-hand knowledge of their subject. Only thirty-one (42%) of all texts actually mention Blemmyes or Beja, in the remaining forty-two the references are indirect to a variable extent. In thirty-seven texts (51%) Blemmyes or Beja somehow appear as more or less active participants. In the remaining thirty-six they are discussed as outsiders, either as part of a geographical 10

The text is too fragmentary to be fully understood This may refer to the Trogodytes. Trogodytes may be used here to mean nomads. Diodorus quotes Agatharchides; the observation may be accurate. Aithiopians may have to be read here as Trogodytes. This description is partly similar to 147. The description follows the East African coast (Azania). The Trogodytes mentioned may have come from the Dodecaschoinos. The status and interpretation of the text remains unclear. This may refer to the area between the Nile and the Red Sea. They are also mentioned to be swift runners (see 66).

11

Life of Anthony 27.3–5, no. 218 in the Fontes.

33

In Late Antiquity (the Byzantine Period) the area between Aswan and Hiera Sycaminos (near Sayala) was referred to as the Dodecaschoinos (Map 4), a name later also used for all of Lower Nubia (between the First and the Second

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA of this gemstone, actually beryl, in Egypt were in the Mons Smaragdus (Wādī Sikait) region, far from Kalābsha (Greek: Talmis) and indeed the Nile Valley (Map 4). Epiphanius (no. 305) also places these mines near Kalābsha as well as on an island in the Red Sea, probably confusing them with the peridot mine on St John’s Island12 near Berenike. Just as in Julius Caesar’s account of the rivers in northern Europe, the geography of the area seems to have been distorted. On the other hand, the texts thought to be most closely associated with the Blemmyes were found as far apart as Qasr Ibrīm (nos 319 and 321), Kalābsha (nos 310, 311 and 313) and alGabalīn [Gebelein] (nos 331–43).

stimulated by the competition over scarce desert resources between the pastoral nomads and early Christian ascetic monks (nos 278, 296 and 301), the term evolved into an ethnic reality. The subjects started to use the term as well, if they did not already do so, as attested when and where they were powerful enough to leave their mark (nos 310–3). Most likely, however, there were always several rival groups in the region, at times united and at times divided by language, religion or chieftains. None of these will have unequivocally been defined as Blemmyes for any prolonged period of time. This may partly explain the limited success of diplomatic efforts to pacify the region (nos 293, 318, 328).

There is a similar confusion concerning the names of ethnic groups. Bulahau, Blemmyes, Beja and Bougaites may all refer to the same group, or different parts thereof, although there is precious little evidence to support this. The suggestion that the name ‘Indians’ may include or refer specifically to the Blemmyes (no. 280) seems less plausible as both names are mentioned simultaneously elsewhere (nos 283 and 293). The same holds true for Aithiopians (no. 17). It is remarkable that the son of the Blemmyan mentioned in PHauswaldt VI (no. 123) is identified as a Megabaroi in PHauswaldt XV. This may indicate that Blemmyes and Megabaroi were somehow connected or that it was possible to belong to more than one ethnic group at the same time, just as Jules Destrée could be Walloon, Belgian or European depending on the context. Alternatively, it could be that being Blemmyan referred to a certain life-style, independent of ethnicity, like Gypsy, Bedouin or Persian. The last was, at the time, used to point to a military background, as Blemmyan seems to do in PRylands IX (no. 50).

One ancient text that is not in the Fontes, but of interest here, is in the Natural History by Pliny the Elder: ‘Blemmyis tradantur capita abesse ore et oculis pectori adfixis’ (‘the Blemmyes are reported to have no heads, their mouth and eyes being attached to their chests’).14 This curious remark developed into the best-known image of the Blemmyes, partly because it was utilised by the early Christian church in its efforts to demonise pagan peoples. Eugen Strouhal (Charles University, Prague) kindly pointed out that in 1974 a tall but narrow, oval shield was found in Qasr Ibrīm that was obviously designed to cover its bearer from the knees up to the nose.15 When used in this manner, and especially when then observed from some distance, the resulting silhouette fits Pliny’s description rather nicely. Rarely, however, do the written sources and the archaeological record appear to complement each other so satisfactorily.16

Despite the above and other problems, conclusions that seem relatively secure are that several groups must have roamed the desert between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea in antiquity, just as they do at present. And as there is today, there seems to have been some confusion concerning the ethnic units composing these groups.13 Both the ancient and the modern sources mention an unexpectedly large number of names for the relatively small number of inhabitants that this arid wasteland was ever able to sustain. It seems reasonable to assume that these groups had fluid edges and overlap in a way that is difficult for outsiders to comprehend. Blemmyan may originally have been one of the names used by the people themselves to whom it was meant to refer. It may also have been an invention of outsiders as a means to reduce the confusion and to be able to refer to the inhabitants of the area, just as Julius Caesar apparently invented the term ‘Belgian’. For political reasons, following several hostile encounters in the Nile Valley and further

12 13

Cataract). Zebirget [Zagbargad] Island, about 80 km south-east of Berenike (Map 4). Murray 1935, Paul 1954.

14 15 16

34

Pliny the Elder. 1961. V, 46. Plumley 1975. Wendrich et al. 2003, Rosen forthcoming

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES

Figure 1: A selection of the Eastern Desert Ware (EDW) excavated in Tabot (in Sudan, 19°N 00´50˝–35°E 55´22˝, Map 4), see Table 2 for a description

Figure 2: A selection of the Eastern Desert Ware (EDW) excavated in Wādī Sikait (in the Mons Smaragdus area, 24°N 37'57˝–34°E 47'26˝, Map 4), see Table 2 for a description

35

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA Table 2: Description of a selection of Eastern Desert Ware excavated in Tabot and Wādī Sikait Data are presented in the following format: EDW number: provenance and context. Weight and average thickness of the sherd. Munsell colour and treatment of inside. Munsell colour and treatment of outside. Method of decoration, tools and direction. Rim diameter and estimated vessel equivalent. Munsell colour of break, fabric. Classification of form and lay-out, predominant motifs. Remarks and possible parallels. Eastern Desert Ware from Tabot, see Figure 1 for illustration EDW 93

Tabot, 110 x / 118 y — LI, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 5 g. Average thickness 7.4 mm. Inside 10R 5/6, wiped. Outside 10R 6/8, smoothed. Decoration impressed, incised with triangular tool (direction unknown). Rim diameter 14 cm. (3% preserved). Break 2.5YR 5/2, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 1d, D 2 (lines, triangles).

EDW 94

Tabot, 109 x / 118 y — LI, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 5 g. Average thickness 7.3 mm. Inside 10R 4/1, wiped. Outside 10R 4/1, smoothed. Decoration incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 15 cm. (3% preserved). Break 7.5YR 4/2. Form and lay-out H 1, D 0 (lines). Carefully squared rim. Possible parallels Sayala 76909 (Kromer 1967: 96–9, Abb. 31/5) and EDW 132 (Tabot).

EDW 108

Tabot, 105 x / 106 y — LI, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 4 g. Average thickness 4.4 mm. Inside 2.5YR 5/4, burnished. Outside 10R 4/2, burnished. Decoration incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 15 cm. (4% preserved). Break 10YR 4/1, fabric EDW–2. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 3 (waves). Possible parallels BE94/95–1 [bce] pb# 67 (Hayes 1996: 166, Fig. 6–15/5), EDW 57 (Berenike), EDW 126 (Tabot), EDW 207 (Wādī Qitna), EDW 210 (Wādī Qitna) and EDW 235 (Wādī Sikait).

EDW 118

Tabot, 154 x / 106 y — LIII, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 3 g. Average thickness 5.5 mm. Inside 5YR 2.5/1, burnished. Outside 2.5YR 3/6, burnished. Decoration incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 14 cm. (5% preserved). Break 7.5YR 4/1, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 3 (lines, waves).

EDW 123

Tabot, 116 x / 125 y — LII, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 16 g. Average thickness 5.2 mm. Inside 10R 4/2, wiped. Outside 10R 4/3, burnished. Decoration incised, punctuated with chisel, filled in (direction unknown). Rim diameter 21 cm. (4% preserved). Break 5YR 4/2, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 2 (lines). Carefully squared rim.

EDW 126

Tabot, 109 x / 024 y — LI, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 12 g. Average thickness 6.8 mm. Inside 2.5YR 3/1, burnished. Outside 2.5YR 3/1, smoothed. Decoration incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 21 cm. (8% preserved). Break 5YR 3/1, fabric EDW–3. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 3 (waves). Carefully squared rim. Possible parallels BE94/95–1 [bce] pb# 67 (Hayes 1996: 166, Fig. 6–15/5), EDW 57 (Berenike), EDW 108 (Tabot), EDW 207 (Wādī Qitna), EDW 210 (Wādī Qitna) and EDW 235 (Wādī Sikait).

EDW 131

Tabot, 107 x / 024 y — LI, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 6 g. Average thickness 5.9 mm. Inside 10R 5/4, wiped. Outside 10R 5/6. Rim diameter 19 cm. (3% preserved). Break 10R 3/1, fabric unclassified. Lug-handle with fragment of the rim of the vessel. Surfaces very worn, treatment and original colour uncertain. Possible parallels Wādī Qitna P 834 (Strouhal 1984: 163, Fig. 129), Hitan Rayan 51 (Sidebotham et al. 2002: 24, Fig. 20/51), EDW 15 (Berenike), EDW 59 (Berenike) and EDW 139 (Tabot).

EDW 150

Tabot, 109 x 024 y — LV, way-station (associated with mines and quarries?), third–fourth century AD. Weight 41 g. Average thickness 6.4 mm. Inside 10R 5/4, wiped. Outside 10R 5/4, mottled, wiped. Decoration impressed, incised with round point (direction unknown). Rim diameter 16 cm. (14% preserved). Break 10R 4/3, fabric EDW–1. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 2 (lines, waves). Carefully squared rim. Possible parallels BE95–1 [080] (Hayes 1996: 174, Fig. 6–19/5) and EDW 37 (Kab Marfu’a).

36

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES Eastern Desert Ware from Wādī Sikait, illustrated in Figure 2 EDW 229

Wādī Sikait, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), third–sixth century AD. Weight 35 g. Average thickness 5.6 mm. Inside 10R 5/3, burnished. Outside 7.5R 5/4, burnished, mottled. Decoration incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 18 cm. (6% preserved). Break 10R 5/6, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 2d, D 3 (lines, triangles).

EDW 232

Wādī Sikait, SK03–9 [012] pb#030, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), late fifth century AD. Weight 53 g. Average thickness 6.1 mm. Outside 10R 5/6, mottled, smoothed. Decoration incised with chisel, filled in (direction unknown). Rim diameter 11 cm. (37% preserved). Break 10R 6/6, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 1, D 2 (lines, running dog). Inside surface very worn, treatment and original colour uncertain.

EDW 234

Wādī Sikait, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), third–sixth century AD. Weight 88 g. Average thickness 5.9 mm. Inside 10R 5/6, wiped. Outside 2.5YR 5/6, burnished. Decoration impressed, incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 11 cm. (25% preserved). Break 7.5YR 4/1, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 2c, D 3 (waves, X-motif). Almost complete vessel, height 6.0 cm.

EDW 239

Wādī Sikait, SK03–10 [140] pb#309 & [164] pb#336, Greco-Roman beryl mine, fifth–sixth century AD. Weight 10 g. Average thickness 3.9 mm. Inside 5YR 5/4, smoothed. Outside 10R 5/8, red slip, smoothed. Decoration impressed with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 11 cm. (11% preserved). Break 5YR 2.5/1, unusual fabric with burnt organic remains. Form and lay-out H 1, D 3 (running dog). Red slip spills over on inside rim.

EDW 242

Wādī Sikait, SK03–9 [015] pb#029, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), late fifth century AD. Weight 12 g. Average thickness 5.8 mm. Inside 10R 3/1. Outside 10R 3/1, burnt. Rim diameter 21 cm. (7% preserved). Break 2.5YR 5/1, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 2b, undecorated, may not be EDW. Carefully squared rim. Inside surface very worn, treatment and original colour uncertain.

EDW 243

Wādī Sikait, SK03–7 [083] pb#148, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), fifth–sixth century AD. Weight 11 g. Average thickness 5.5 mm. Inside 7.5YR 6/4, wiped. Outside 10R 5/6, burnished, red slip. Decoration impressed with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 12 cm. (4% preserved). Break 5YR 5/1, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 1c, D 8 (circles, waves). Red slip spills over on inside rim.

EDW 247

Wādī Sikait, SK03–9 [023] pb#046, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), fifth century AD. Weight 13 g. Average thickness 5.8 mm. Inside 10R 4/3, burnt, smoothed. Outside 10R 4/3, burnt, smoothed. Decoration impressed with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 16 cm. (10% preserved). Break 2.5YR 4/3, unusual reddish brown fabric with abundant quartz. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 3 (waves).

EDW 248

Wādī Sikait, SK03–9 [007] pb#014, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), late fifth century AD. Weight 4 g. Average thickness 5.4 mm. Inside 2.5YR 5/4, wiped. Outside 7.5R 5/4, red slip, wiped. Decoration incised with chisel (direction unknown). Rim diameter 10 cm. (5% preserved). Break 10R 3/1, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 1d, D 3 (lines). Red slip spills over on inside rim. Possible parallel EDW 71 (Marsa Nakari).

EDW 249

Wādī Sikait, SK03–9 [007] pb#014, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), late fifth century AD. Weight 10 g. Average thickness 6.2 mm. Inside 10R 5/6, red slip, smoothed. Outside 10R 5/6, red slip, smoothed. Decoration impressed, incised with chisel, filled in (direction unknown). Rim diameter 14 cm. (4% preserved). Break 2.5YR 5/6, fabric EDW–3. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 3 (triangles, waves). Possible parallels Sayala 76251 (Bedawi 1976: 29–30, Abb. 12/2, Tafel 28/2), Sayala 77183 (Kromer 1967: 96–9, Abb. 31/2), EDW 105 (Tabot) and EDW 287 (Sayala).

EDW 267

Wādī Sikait, SK02–1 [004] pb#007, Greco-Roman beryl mine (Mons Smaragdus), fifth–sixth century AD. Weight 8 g. Average thickness 4.5 mm. Inside 2.5YR 5/6, wiped. Outside 10R 5/6, smoothed. Decoration coloured and impressed, incised with triangular tool (direction unknown). Rim diameter 16 cm. (7% preserved). Break 5YR 4/1, fabric unclassified. Form and lay-out H 2b, D 3 (grille, triangles).

37

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA organic temper. The most common arrangement is now identified as EDW–1. Fabric EDW–2 is similar to EDW– 1, but has some reduced organic material rendering the centre of the wall much darker. Other fabrics are similar to EDW–1, yet with a slightly different appearance and are therefore catalogued as EDW–3 (with micaceous surfaces), EDW–4 (with ground pottery, ‘grog’, added) or ‘unclassified’ (Table 2). Many decorations, most likely made with the thorn of a date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), are strangely asymmetric (for instance, EDW 93 and 229). The lay-out of the decoration could be classified using the system put forward earlier.23 The classification system for the form of the vessels had to be slightly adapted.24 Following the macroscopic description, a selection of sherds is prepared for petrologic study in thin-section, sourcing by trace element analysis (using ICP–MS) and determination of the organic residues (using GC/MS).

The archaeological record It is both tempting and problematic to connect what appear to be manifestations of a discrete material culture with a specific ethnic group,17 especially when the finds turn up isolated or mixed with material with a seemingly different origin. Careful analysis, however, may yield important insights. A relation between the Blemmyes and some of the many simple dwellings and graves in the region has been suggested but never satisfactorily demonstrated.18 Finds that similarly have been associated with the Blemmyes are the sherds of burnished cups and bowls, made without the use of a potter’s wheel and decorated with incised and impressed patterns that are often enhanced with a partial red slip.19 In January 2002, a research group was formed to study this corpus of pottery, here more prudently identified as Eastern Desert Ware (EDW), both in museum collections and newly excavated sites.20 Sherds of this kind of pottery have now been described at a large number of sites in Lower Nubia as well as in the Eastern Desert (Map 4), where they are usually found among much larger quantities of sherds from vessels that were produced in the Nile Valley in the fourth to the sixth centuries AD.21 Three radio-carbon dates suggest that the period in which they occur can be expanded from the third to the eighth century AD.22

The evidence so far points to a small-scale industry of utilitarian ware in a variety of locations. This can be interpreted as the household production of a nomadic group whenever the need occurred or the opportunity presented itself. The resulting pottery must have served as a strong cultural and possibly even an ethnic marker, especially as they were most likely used as serving vessels. The association with the Blemmyes, however, is doubtful and not just because this name may not refer to a stable ethnic entity, as argued above. Even with the wider horizon indicated by the radio-carbon dates, the period in which Eastern Desert Ware was produced and used (third to eighth centuries AD) is much shorter than the period in which Blemmyes are present in the written sources (seventh century BC, probably to the present). And although the written sources are far from comprehensive, the region controlled by the Blemmyes seems smaller that the area in which Eastern Desert Ware is found.

Eastern Desert Ware differs significantly from the pottery produced in the Nile Valley at the time, in both production technique and decoration (Figures 1 and 2). With few exceptions the vessels are made of a rusty red to orange fabric with clearly visible, poorly sorted white inclusions (quartz and limestone), rather than the usual 17 18 19 20

21 22

Dolukhanov 1994, Jones 1997. Monneret de Villard 1935, Ricke 1967: 33–5, Sidebotham and Barnard 2002. Strouhal 1991, Sidebotham and Wendrich 2001, Luft et al. 2002. This research group includes Drs Anwar Abdel-Magid Osman (University of Bergen), J.L. Bintliff (Leiden University), J.F. Borghouts (Leiden University), S.M. Burstein (CSU Los Angeles), J.H.F. Dijkstra (Groningen University), J.W. Eerkens (UC Davis), A. Manzo (Naples University), H. Neff (SCU Long Beach), P.T. Nicholson (Cardiff University), C.C. Rapp (UC Los Angeles), R.H. Pierce (Univeristy of Bergen), P.J. Rose (Cambridge University), S.A. Rosen (Ben-Gurion University), M. Serpico (University College London), S.E. Sidebotham (University of Delaware), S.T. Smith (UC Santa Barbara), E.Strouhal (Charles University Prague), R.S. Tomber (British Museum), J. van der Vliet (Leiden University), W.Z. Wendrich (UC Los Angeles), K.A. Willemse (Erasmus University), G. Pyke, and the author. The progress of the research project can be monitored at . Barnard 2002, Barnard and Magid, forthcoming, Barnard and Rose, forthcoming, and Barnard and Strouhal 2004. Sadr et al. 1995, Magid 1998.

In conclusion, it can be stated that the status of the Blemmyes as an ethnic group remains enigmatic. Neither historical nor archaeological research so far provides clear evidence for their existence other than as a construct by contemporary or modern outsiders. The lack of correspondence between the data from the different sources only adds to the confusion. Several groups may have shared the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea and probably also the Nile Valley between the First and the Third Cataract. But more data need to be gathered before any theory on their relations, life-style and (material) culture can be tested.

23 24

38

Strouhal 1984. Barnard 2002.

HANS BARNARD: SIRE, IL N’Y A PAS DE BLEMMYES ———. 2004. The Site of Tabot: an old way-station in the southern Red Sea Hills, Sudan. 15–72 in S. Wenig (ed.), Neueste Feldforschungen im Sudan und in Eritrea. Akten des Symposiums, Berlin, 13–14 October 1999. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

References Barnard, H. 2002. Eastern Desert Ware: a short introduction. Sudan & Nubia 6: 53–7, Plates XXX– XXXI. Barnard, H. and Magid, A.A. forthcoming. Eastern Desert Ware from Tabot, more links to the North. Archéologie du Nil Moyen 10.

Meredith, D. 1958. Tabula Imperii Romani. Coptos Sheet NG 36. Oxford: Society of Antiquaries of London. Murray, G.M. 1935. Sons of Ismael. London: George Routledge.

Barnard, H. and Rose, P.J. forthcoming. Eastern Desert Ware from Berenike and Kab Marfu’a. In S.E. Sidebotham and W.Z. Wendrich (eds), Berenike 1999– 2000. Los Angeles (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology).

Paul, A. 1954. A History of the Beja Tribes of the Sudan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Barnard, H. and Strouhal, E. 2004. Wādī Qitna revisited. Annals of the Náprstek Museum (Prague) 25: 29–55.

Plumley, J.M. 1975. Qasr Ibrim, 1974. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 61: 24, pl. XIV.3.

Dolukhanov, P. 1994. Environment and Ethnicity in the Ancient Middle East. Aldershot: Brookfield (Avebury).

Rackham, H. (ed. and tr.). 1961. Pliny the Elder. Natural History. Loeb Series. 10 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, London: Heinemann, reprint.

Eide, T., Hägg, T., Pierce, R.H. and Török, L. 1994. Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Vol. I: From the eighth to the mid-fifth century BC. Bergen: University of Bergen Press.

Ratcliffe, P. (ed.). 1994. ‘Race’, Ethnicity and Nation. London: University College London Press. Ricke, H. 1967. Ausgrabungen von Khor-Dehmit bis Bet el-Wali. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

———. 1996. Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Vol. II: from the mid-fifth century BC to the first century AD. Bergen: University of Bergen Press. ———. 1998. Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Vol. III: from the first to the sixth century AD. Bergen: University of Bergen Press.

Rosen, S.A. forthcoming. The Tyranny of Texts: a rebellion against the primacy of written documents in defining archaeological agendas. In A. Maier and P. de Miroschedji (eds). ‘I will speak the riddles of ancient times’ (Ps. 78:2b). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.

———. 2000. Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Vol. IV: corrigenda and indices. Bergen: University of Bergen Press.

Sadr, K., Castiglioni, Alf. and Castiglioni, Ang. 1995. Nubian Desert Archaeology: a preliminary view. Archéologie du Nil Moyen 7: 203–35.

Hanford, S.A. 1951. [Julius] Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul. Translation of De Bello Gallico. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Sidebotham, S.E. and Barnard, H. 2002. Five Enigmatic Late Roman Settlements in the Eastern Desert. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 88: 187–225, Plates XVI– XVIII.

Hayes, J.W. 1996. The Pottery. 33-36 in S.E. Sidebotham and W.Z. Wendrich (ed.). Berenike 1994. Preliminary report of the 1994 excavations at Berenike (Egyptian Red Sea coast) and the survey of the Eastern Desert. Leiden: Research School CNWS.

Sidebotham, S.E. and Wendrich, W.Z. 2001. Berenike, Roms Tor am Roten Meer nach Arabien und Indien. Antike Welt 32 (3): 256–7. Smith, S.T. forthcoming. Crossing Boundaries. Nomadic Groups and Ethnic Identities. In H. Barnard and W.Z. Wendrich (eds). The Archaeology of Mobility. Nomads in the Old and in the New World. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

Hutchinson, J. and Smith, A.D. (eds). 1996. Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jones, S. 1997. The Archaeology of Ethnicity. London and New York: Routledge.

Strouhal, E. 1984. Wādī Qitna and Kalābsha South. Vol. 1. Archaeology. Prague: Charles University: 157–77.

Kershaw, I. 1998. Hitler. 1889–1936: hubris. London, New York: Penguin: 563–72.

———. 1991. Further Analysis of the Fine Handmade Pottery of Egyptian Nubia in third–fifth century AD. p.5 in W. Godlewski (ed.), Coptic and Nubian pottery. Warsaw: National Museum in Warsaw, pt II.

Krall, J. 1900. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Blemyer und Nubier. Vienna: Keiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Luft, U., Almásy, A., Farkas, M.A., Furka, I., Horváth, Z., and Lassányi, G. 2002. Preliminary Report on the Fieldwork at Bir Minih, Arabian Desert. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 58: 384–8.

Updegraff, R.T. 1988. The Blemmyes I. The Rise of the Blemmyes and the Roman withdrawal from Nubia under Diocletian. 44–97 in W. Haase and H. Temporini (eds). Aufstieg und Niedergang der römische Welt. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, II (10.1).

Magid, A.A. 1998. Ancient way-stations in the southern Red Sea Hills: a new discovery. Sudan Notes and Records 2 (n.s.): 1–12.

Villard, U.M. de. 1935. La Nubia Medievale. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale : 29–31, 42.

39

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA Wendrich, W.Z., Tomber, R.S., Sidebotham, S.E., Harrell, J.A., Cappers, R.T.J. and Bagnall, R.S. 2003. Berenike crossroads: the integration of information. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 46 (1): 46–87. Yinger, J.M. 1994. Ethnicity. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Richard Pierce (University of Bergen, Norway), Dr Eugen Strouhal (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) and Dr Stanley Burstein (California State University, Los Angeles, USA) for their scholarly support in preparing this article; and to Ms Anna Barnard-van der Nat and Dr Willeke Wendrich for their financial and logistical support. All illustrations were drawn by Hans Barnard.

40

Troglodites and Trogodites: Exploring Interaction on the Red Sea during the Roman Period Roberta Tomber Troglodites — or trogodites? When I was first reviewing Roman writings on their neighbours in East Africa, I found that the Romans appear to have invoked two descriptions: ‘troglodites’ and ‘trogodites’. In actuality, ‘troglodites’ refer to cave dwellers who lived on the northern side of the Caucasus, in north-western Africa, the interior of northern Africa and probably on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, while ‘trogodites’ were nomadic herders of cattle residing in Egypt and to the south.1 The confusion seems to stem from the mistaken insertion of an “l” in the word ‘trogodites’, but when this confusion arose is not straightforward. The Loeb translation of Strabo’s Augustan Geographia2 utilises ‘trogodites’ to refer to genuine trogodites and cave dwellers alike, while both terms are appropriately used in the Loeb edition of Pliny’s late-first-century AD Natural History.3 In discussing this problem with me, Wilfried van Rengen drew attention to the lack of original texts, making it impossible to detect when in the history of the documents errors were inserted. He also noted that the name ‘troglodites’ first occurs in Herodotus’s The Histories Book IV, 183,4 and was popularly used by the fourth century BC, becoming common in literary but not non-literary texts.

Figure 3: Trogodite ostracon reading Pet[—] Trogodyt[—] (Photograph by R. Tomber) Also known as ‘trogodytic myrrh’, Pliny too extols the myrrh from this area in his Natural History.7 A secondor third-century papyrus from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt refers to trogoditic unguent or myrrh, verifying both its expense and importation into the Roman world.8 Further evidence that the inhabitants of Egypt were familiar with the term ‘trogodite’ is demonstrated by a sherd of a Nile Valley amphora from a late second- or third-century layer at Myos Hormos (al-Qusayr alQadīm) illustrated in Figure 3 (See Map 5 for site locations). An incomplete Greek inscription addresses the vessel to a named recipient, presumably foreign, bearing the qualification of trogodite (Pet[—] Trogodyt[—] ostracon no. 543), not troglodite.9 Nevertheless, it is still unclear when interpreting this text exactly what is meant by ‘trogodite’. Could this ostracon relate to an inhabitant from Somalia, the source of the finest myrrh?

The mid-first-century AD Periplus Maris Erythraei, penned by an anonymous Egyptian merchant and our bible for all things Roman in the Indian Ocean, does not once invoke either word. However, Casson5 tells us that the Barbarikê chôra or country of the Barbaroi, frequently mentioned in the Periplus Maris Erythraei, was described by the Roman geographers as Trôgodytikê. As seen on Casson’s figure 2, the region of the Barbaroi is extensive, including not only modern Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, but for the ‘Far-Side’ Barbaroi, Somalia. From this last region, north-west Somalia, comes myrrh, which according to the writer of the Periplus is ‘finer than any other’.6

1 2 3 4 5 6

From the Red Sea itself, there is no archaeological evidence for contact with Somalia, although the source of some types of handmade pottery found in various Red Sea sites remains unknown and could potentially

Hammond and Scullard 1978: 1096. Jones 1917 [Strabo]. Rackham 1969 [Pliny the Elder]. Godley 1921 [Herodotus]. Casson 1989: II, 97–100. Casson 1989: VII, 55.

7 8 9

41

Rackham 1969: XII, 69. Casson 1989: 155. Erroneously published as ‘troglodite’ in Tomber 2004: 399.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA of cAqabah commenced in the Nabataean or Pre-Roman period and continued into Islamic times.15 According to the ancient writers,16 Klysma, at the site of modern Suez, was particularly important to this network during the Late Roman period. Unfortunately it cannot be properly integrated into this discussion for, despite an extensive publication covering the French excavations of the 1930s,17 the finds of interest from that site are not necessarily illustrated in the subsequent volume.

originate from this region. During this period two sites are well known from Somalia, Heis10 and Ra’s Ḥ̣afūn.11 Both contain Roman Mediterranean ceramic types that are common in Egypt. The pottery from Ra’s Ḥafūn, in particular, contains close parallels with examples found in the Red Sea region, when comparing Mediterranean and Egyptian wares, and also to Indian, Mesopotamian and South Arabian pottery as well. This connection between the Red Sea and Somalia provides a plausible explanation for the ‘trogodite’ ostracon. However, other possibilities exist — in terms of the relationship between Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia — and it is this association, from the archaeological evidence, that is investigated in this essay.

In this review the evidence for Roman artefacts from Ethiopia and Eritrea will first be summarised: this is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather a sketch of the main evidence provided, which comes particularly from Adulis, Matarā and Aksum.18 Evidence for the Early Roman period, prior to the international flourishing of the Aksumite kingdom, is slim, but importantly does exist. For this period the material evidence comes primarily from Aksum, particularly from Bieta Giyorgis, where finds include a Roman amphora from Gaul and millefiore glass fragments.19 Although known by the writer of the Periplus and other ancient authors, Early Roman artefacts are as yet to be found in the area of Adulis. However, the coastal area known as Galala/Gebaza20 is thought to be the most likely location for the earliest port with contact with the Roman empire, although the area has yet to be investigated.21

Red Sea environs The Aksumite kingdom was established from the first century AD and its seaward links operated through the harbour of Adulis, which lies four kilometres from the coast. The Aksumite kingdom flourished as an international power between the third and particularly the fourth to the mid-seventh century, equivalent to the Late Roman period. Such was their importance that it is often assumed that Aksumite traders acted as middlemen for Roman merchants, while the Roman merchants took a less significant role during this period. This assumption can be investigated by examining the relationship between the Roman world and East Africa, and in doing so addresses questions about the nature and extent of their respective roles in the commerce of the Indian Ocean. A chronological approach is adopted here, comparing the first to third centuries AD with the fourth to sixth centuries, or, rather, the Early and Late Roman periods. Inevitably this is based on a broad overview, so the focus will be on material from the northern Red Sea for which new data is available from three recently excavated Roman sites: Myos Hormos (al-Qusayr al-Qadīm) and Berenike in Egypt and Aylah (Aila, cAqabah)12 in Jordan (Map 5).

During the Late Roman period, Roman finds in East Africa are more prolific. One of the exotic imports is marble found at Adulis, some of which has been verified as Proconnesian by isotopic analysis.22 Elaborate glass is another fairly common find at Aksum.23 More prosaic are Roman ceramics, including an Abū Minā flask found in Adulis24 thought to have been made in the region of Alexandria. Amphorae consistently occur, although many in secondary contexts. Most commonly, these amphorae were made at cAqabah25 or less frequently a type known as ‘LR Amphora 1’ which were produced in Cilicia (southern Anatolia) and Cyprus. Both of the types are found at Aksum26 and Adulis;27 the cAqabah vessel is also

All three sites have been extensively published and apart from stressing their role as ports for Indian Ocean trade, only their chronology is summarised here. The first of these ports, Myos Hormos, has a sequence from the Late Augustan period to at least the mid-third century AD13 while the second Egyptian port, Berenike, was occupied between the mid-second century BC and the early sixth century AD.14 Finally, the sequence at Aylah on the Bay

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

10 11 12

13

14

Desanges et al. 1993. Smith and Wright 1988. Whitcomb and Parker (see references at the end of this paper) have agreed that they will use the ‘Aila’ for the Roman town and ‘Aylah’ for the Islamic one. Peacock et al. 2002 including its bibliography; Peacock and Blue, forthcoming; Whitcomb and Johnson 1979, 1982. Sidebotham and Wendrich 2000 including its biblio

22 23 24 25 26

27

42

graphy. Parker 2003, including its bibliography. For example, CCSL 175: 101, Itinerarium Egeriae 6.4.7. Bruyère 1966. For further details see Manzo, this volume. Fattovich and Bard 1995. Munro-Hay 1996: 404–5. Habtemichael et al. 2004. Munro-Hay 1996: 412. For example, Chittick 1974. See also this volume, above. Paribeni 1907: fig 54. Tomber 2004. De Contensen 1963: pl. XIIIc; Wilding 1989: figs 16.468– 70; Phillipson 2000: figs 283a, 283c, 343a; Williams 2000: 494. Paribeni 1907: figs 2, 58; Munro-Hay 1989b: pl. Vc; D. Peacock: personal communication for LR Amphora 1.

ROBERTA TOMBER; TROGLODITES AND TROGODITES found at Matarā.28 Both amphora types are commonly also found at Roman sites further north on the Red Sea, where they comprise part of the standard Late Roman assemblage.

Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ḥalhūl (near Hebron), Hebron and Caesarea. Furthermore, he has noted40 that many of them are associated with pilgrimage sites and may have been distributed via Aylah, and that some can be dated as late as the mid-seventh century AD, that is, beyond the lifetime of Berenike as a flourishing port, but not beyond the lifetime of Aylah, and indicate that Aksumite coins were possibly circulating after the Roman period.

Finds from the ‘Black Assarca’ wreck off the island of Dahlak Kabir are intriguing, but further work on them is needed. cAqabah amphorae are definitely present, and a possible LR Amphora 1 may be visible in a photograph by Pedersen.29 Costrels30 are another common find and possible source areas for them would include Jordan or Egypt: resolution of their source would have significant implications for where the cargo was assembled and also the date of the cargo, as to whether it is Late Roman or Early Islamic.

A third category, frequently from excavation, comprises miniature copies of coins cast from shrunken moulds in Egypt, from where they travelled. Like the coins, the miniature copies can be dated until the mid-seventh century AD and some copies occur at sites that also have genuine coins. They have been identified from Palestine (Jerusalem, Caesarea, Ascalon, Mount Gerizim, Korazim, Gush Halav, Capernaum, Beit She’an), Egypt (Abū Minā, Ḥawārah, Tebtynis, Oxyrhynchus, Kom Ishqāw, Qāw alKabir, Akhmīm, Edfū, Luxor), Turkey (Antioch), Lebanon (Baalbek) and Italy (Massafra).41 An additional site where Aksumite original coins or casts were found is Meroe in Sudan but it seems to be mentioned only by Munro-Hay.42

Of Roman coins found in East Africa, a hoard of Antonine coins that had been re-used as pendants is recorded from Matarā,31 while single third- and fourthcentury ones are recorded from Adulis32 and Qohayto.33 A sprinkling of Roman coins is known further south, and was summarised by Horton34 but the circumstances of their discovery is generally so unreliable as to permit their exclusion here.

Another category of finds from the Red Sea comprises enigmatic graffiti of probable Ethiopic origin from a late fourth/early fifth-century layer at Berenike.43 It is, however, the ceramic corpus that provides the newest and most prolific evidence for inter-regional contact, and like the other categories of finds can be discussed within the parameters of Early and Late Roman periods.

The corresponding evidence for East African finds in the Roman empire has been more elusive. This may largely reflect the fact that the region’s most important export — ivory —may not be preserved or when preserved can be difficult to source.35 A number of Aksumite coins have been identified in the Roman world, three of which come from excavated contexts. Two of these are from Aylah: one belongs to the Early Christian period, late fourth or fifth century in date; the other from a Post-Roman deposit may possibly be Post-Roman itself,36 although Hahn37 dates it to the second half of the sixth century AD. The third Aksumite coin, of Aphilas (ca. AD 270/90–before 38 AD 330), ruler in the first Ethiopian empire of Aksum, was found residually in a fifth-century AD deposit in Berenike.

Early Roman levels at Myos Hormos and Berenike include an uncommon but distinctive handmade jar, from its use marks considered to be a cooking pot (Figure 4). The type immediately stands out from the Roman material, although exact parallels outside the Roman world were difficult to locate. Typologically cohesive, it is characterised by looped horizontal handles and, particularly, applied irregular, raised circles incised with a cross. Frequently there is also an incised line on the girth. The fabric is also distinctive, composed of richlycoloured red-brown clay that is sandy and highly micaceous (particularly visible on the burnished surfaces). Light-coloured inclusions range up to 2.0 mm, but normally are between 0.5 and 1.0 mm. Similar examples of this type were sought amongst Aksumite material, since a raised circle incised with a cross on a handle is one of the technological features of Red Aksumite ware.44

The remaining Aksumite coins that were found in the Roman world are more difficult to assess as their primary occurrence is known only via antique dealers. Hahn39 has reported thirteen Aksumite coins from Palestine, found in 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

Anfray and Annequin 1965: pl. L, fig. 1. Pedersen 2000: fig. 9. Costrel: = handled gourd-shaped vessel, sometimes with flattened sides. Anfray and Annequin 1965: 68, pl. LXIX, figs 3–4. Paribeni 1907: 467, fig. 11. Munro-Hay 1982: 111. Horton 1996: 446–8. Casson 1989, book VI. Whitcomb 1994: 16–8. Hahn 2000: 286. Sidebotham and Wendrich 2003: 41. Hahn 1994–1999: 116–7.

40 41 42 43 44

43

Ibid.: 106; Hahn 2000: 286. Hahn 1994–1999: 106, n. 13, 117; Noeske 1998. Munro-Hay 1991a: 184. Gragg 1996. Wilding 1989: fig. 16.14; see also fig. 16.61.

Map 5: Location map of main Aksumite find spots mentioned in the text (Drawn by P. Copeland)

Figure 4: Adulis-style pottery found at Myos Hormos (Drawn by J. Whitewright, P. Copeland and R. Tomber)

44

ROBERTA TOMBER; TROGLODITES AND TROGODITES particularly characteristic of the ona culture of Eritrea,49 the dating for which remains a matter of debate.50 Tringali51 drew cultural links between the ona and Aksum on the basis of a pot illustrated by him from Aksum52 that is similar to Figure 4, nos 1–2 from Myos Hormos. No other vessels of this type are published from Cuscet e Sembel, nor was the fabric and general type familiar to Jacke Phillips, Cinzia Perlingieri or Andrea Manzo from their work on the pottery at Aksum.53

These two illustrations apart, it is not a regular feature of the ceramic repertoire from either the material excavated by Chittick45 or by Phillipson,46 nor is it visible in published pottery assemblages from Adulis.47

Despite the potential chronological discrepancies between Tringali’s statues and our pots, analysis of the clay fabric of the Myos Hormos and Berenike vessels supports his conclusion regarding source area. Thin section reveals consistent granitic rock fragments (comprised primarily of quartz and feldspar, and, rarely, pyroxene), microcline feldspar, biotite mica, limestone and rare discrete pyroxene and amphibole. Granite outcrops exist in the Aksum region, and two granitic fabrics are present amongst the Aksum samples, but both differ significantly from the Red Sea fabric by the quantity of accessory minerals in the granite (in one Aksum fabric amphiboles are common) and by the lack of limestone. A better geological match for the fabric is found in the region surrounding Massawa and about thirty-five kilometres to the west and south, where there are junctures of granitic and alluvial deposits.54 The most likely source of these vessels would therefore seem to be in the region of Adulis rather than Aksum, so for brevity those types illustrated on Figure 4 will be referred here as the ‘Adulis type’. This interpretation is reinforced by a single sherd in the same fabric found in the recent survey work at Adulis55 and the probable identification of a greater concentration of this type must await a survey of the earliest settlement at Galala. Figure 4, no. 5 is particularly interesting in uniting the Adulis and more Classic Aksumite features, for the incised line on the girth and the fabric securely ally it to other vessels in Figure 4. Nevertheless, the applied crescent-shaped, lug handle is commonly found on Aksumite pottery, where it is occasionally slashed, although not identically to the Myos Hormos vessel.56

Figure 5: Aksumite-style pottery in mudstone fabric from Myos Hormos (no. 1) and Berenike (nos 2–4); micaceous fabric from Berenike (no. 5) (Drawn by G. Pyke, G. Reed and P. Copeland)

Turning to the Late Roman period, as shown in Figure 5, handmade ceramics displaying Classic Aksumite features such as incised handles, and closed and open vessels with ribbed walls were found at Myos Hormos, Berenike and Aylah. While these typological features clearly demonstrate their Aksumite affinities, fabric analysis was

An identical parallel for the motif comes from five stone figurines from Cuscet e Sembel (near Asmara) published by Tringali in 1987,48 together with a further three examined by this writer in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan of the British Museum (EA 76640–42). Described by Tringali as statues of bull’s heads decorated with four-leaf clovers, he considered the motif

49 50 51 52

45 46 47 48

53

Wilding 1989. Phillips 2000. For example, Paribeni 1907: tav. IV–V. Tringali 1987: tav. III.

54 55 56

45

Ibid.: 214. See Munro-Hay and Tringali 1993: 136–7, for a discussion. Tringali 1987: 214. Ibid.: tav. IIH. Personal communication. See UNESCO 1963. Habtemichael et al. 2004. For example, Phillipson 2000: fig. 278c.

PEOPLE OF THE RED SEA undertaken to confirm that they were imported into the northern Red Sea rather than being local imitations.

micaceous siltstone, sometimes metamorphosed. No exact matches were found between these samples and thin sections from Aksum, but micaceous clay is present amongst the Aksum samples, and micaceous clay is available today to the north of Aksum.60 Micaceous fabrics, which include micaceous siltstones, have also been collected by David Peacock from Adulis. No source is suggested for this fabric, but the typology strongly indicates a source within the Aksumite kingdom and the geology does not contradict this conclusion. In an earlier report it was suggested that some of the Berenike vessels differed slightly in form and decoration from the Aksum sherds and may have come from outside Aksum: these petrological results may support this interpretation.61

At Myos Hormos, Berenike and Aylah these Aksumite forms occur in two main fabrics. The first is characteristically bright red or orange and hard-fired. The fabric is extremely variable, but the matrix is dense and may be well-sorted with multi-coloured inclusions (red, white, grey and black