Events tend to come thick and fast at the end of the year – as was the case with our latest article, which was fortunately published yesterday despite the public holidays.
We are happy to announce that the ‘Contact Space Biography’ concept developed as part of the DiverseNile project (see already my early blog post at the start of our project) is now available in article form and will hopefully be discussed – and useful to others. We developed this concept in order to reach a higher resolution understanding of cultural dynamics and diversity of ancient Nilotic groups, taken the Attab to Ferka region as a case study. We argue that areas like the MUAFS concession can be understood as complex social spaces intertwined with an often changing landscape.
We present our findings from the study of selected cemetery and settlement sites in Attab and Ginis. The following sites are discussed in our article: cemetery GiE 003; cemetery GiE 002 and the settlement sites AtW 001, AtW 002 and 2-T-53 (cf. other “stone villages” in Attab and Ginis West). These sites range in date from Middle Kerma to the Napatan period and allow to consider the local realities of cultural interactions in rural areas, away from “central sites” such as Amara West and Sai Island, showing clear changes from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Read our article for more information!
MUAFS concession area showing the location of the sites discussed in our article (Map: C. Ward)
Reference:
Budka, J., Aglan, H., & Ward,C. (2025). Reconstructing Contact Space Biographies in Sudan During the Bronze Age. Humans, 5(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/humans5010001
Happy to announce that my new article on the DiverseNile project’s use data from a 1970s survey of the research area by André Vila and colleagues has just been published with Journal of Global Archaeology. In the paper, I discuss the (re)-use and integration of historical data into the DiverseNile project. This includes the geo-referencing of published plans and making effective use of the bespoke typology of sites used by Vila and his team. The use of historical data is widespread in archaeological research but it is not always problematised effectively from a methodological perspective, as I showcase in the paper.
The scope of the 1970s survey make it in an invaluable starting point for much of the research conducted by the DiverseNile team. However, integrating historical data which has to be re-assessed and sometimes altered to reach its full potential is not always straightforward. It is also crucial to consider such work within its historical context in order to fully integrate the results, as I discuss in the article. Unfortunately, the remoteness of some of the sites, as well as the ongoing war in Sudan, means that we must increasingly rely on existing archaeological data to study this particular region.
Reference:
Ward, C. (2024) “Between Legacy and Innovation: Archaeological Data Re-use and Integration, a Case Study from Northern Sudan”, Journal of Global Archaeology, 2024(05), pp. 214–235. doi:10.34780/3zczgz54.
The post-excavation processing of the Kerma cemetery GiE 003 is in full swing (see also an earlier blog post). There are some interesting observations regarding the diachronic development of the site and also its spatial organisation. A case study on the latter is presented below.
Trench 3 excavated in GiE 003 yielded Classic Kerma burial pits (Budka et al. 2023, Budka 2024). The trench is situated in the northwestern extent of our excavations at the site. It shows a relatively large area on its eastern side in which no burial pits were found. This apparent ‘gap’ contrasts with the surrounding areas, which show dense burial activity and graves laid out very regularly in the same orientation. Such a deliberate avoidance of this area raises some questions about ceremonial practices associated with the cemetery’s use.
Plan of Trench 3 in GiE 003 with Kerma burial pits and an area void of graves around an irregular pit.
In the middle of the area in question, a shallow depression with an irregular outline was found. First thought to be an unfinished burial pit, it might in fact be a marog-digging pit. Its dimensions are 1.97 meters in length, 1.67 meters in width, and 0.23 meters in depth.
The pit was dug into the alluvial soil and found filled with compacted sand, containing numerous brownish-grey clay clumps, medium to large in size,. Some human remains were found in the northeastern part of the pit − most likely coming from nearby burial pits. Most of the burials in Trench 3 appear to have been looted and dispersed human bones were found across the surface of the trench.
Of course, it is also possible that the pit itself was cut by the ancient looters (maybe in Medieval times) when they were looking for burial pits at the site.
Nevertheless, the gap between the otherwise evenly aligned east-west graves is unlikely to be coincidental. One possible explanation for the gap in burial pits in Trench 3 is that we have cut into an area used for funerary practices and intentionally kept clear of graves. Although, as we have not excavated the entire cemetery, this is still difficult to fully judge.
Interestingly, similar spatial patterns can be observed at Ukma, another provincial Kerma cemetery, where areas void of graves are in particular present in the southern part between Classic Kerma burial pits which are comparable to those at GiE 003 (see Vila 1987, general plan of the site). These recurring patterns suggest that such gaps were common in Kerma cemeteries.
Further analysis, including additional excavations of GiE 003 and comparison with other Kerma cemeteries, might allow us to better understand the reasons for these gaps. A better comprehension of the spatial dynamics of Trench 3 within the context of GiE 003 could provide new insights into patterns of funerary practices during Kerma times.
References:
Budka et al. 2023 = Budka, J., Rose, K., Ward, C., Cultural diversity in the Bronze Age in the Attab to Ferka region: new results based on excavations in 2023, MittSAG 34 (2023), 19–35.
Budka 2024 = Budka, J., Introduction. Regionality of resource management in Bronze Age Sudan: an overview and case studies, in: J. Budka and R. Lemos (eds), Landscapeand resource management in Bronze Age Nubia: Archaeological perspectives on the exploration of natural resources and the circulation of 751 commodities in the Middle Nile; Wiesbaden 2024, 19–33.
Vile 1987 = Vila, A. (avec les contributions de Guillemette Andreu et de Wilhem van Zeist), Le cimetière kermaïque d’Ukma Ouest, Paris 1987.
I am delighted to announce the next DiverseNile Seminar Series. Nahed Al-Hakim will speak about “Animal industries within Kerma civilization”.
Nahed has been an archaeologist with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities since 2004 and currently serves as the Director of Scientific Research at the Karnak temples.
In 2022, she earned a master’s degree in ancient history and civilization, focusing on „Raw Materials and Industries in the Kushite Civilization.“ Currently, she is pursuing her doctorate at the Faculty of African Graduate Studies, Cairo University, with a dissertation on the Osirian religion during the Napatan period, examining the cemeteries of Kurru and Nuri in Sudan, as well as Abydos and Thebes in Egypt. A very exciting topic and highly relevant for both Egyptology and Sudan Archaeology!
The upcoming DiverseNile Seminar lecture will focus on results from Nahed’s MA thesis and will highlight the importance of animals in Kerma culture. I am very much looking forward to this and hope you can join us – it’s also the last lecture for 2024, so not to be missed!
