DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47598#0176
Torgny Säve-Söderbergh
The Publications of the Scandinavian
Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia
The Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, organized by Denmark, Finland, Norway
and Sweden, investigated the area between Faras East and Gammai East in the years 1961-1964.
The vast concession—some 60 kilometers long—yielded an overwhelming amount of finds and
archaeological data from cemeteries, settlements, fortresses and churches.
I should like to use this opportunity to give a short account of our publication series and a resumé
of some results of special interest to the Late Nubian period, results which pertain to the racial
problems and an analysis of our finds of textiles.
The publication series is planned to consist of a first series of 9 volumes with the following titles :
1. The Rock Drawings (Hellström & Langballe). Published in 1970.
2. Preceramic Sites (Marks). Published in 1970.
3. Neolithic and A-Group Sites (Nordstrom & Hâland). To appear in 1973.
4. C-Group, Pangrave and Kerma Sites. To be published in 1973/74.
5. Pharaonic New Kingdom Sites. To be published in 1973/74.
6. Late Nubian Cemeteries (Möllerop & Oldenburg). To be published in 1973/74.
7. Late Nubian Sites, Churches and Settlements (Gardberg). Published in 1970.
8. Textiles (Ingrid Bergman). To be published in 1973.
9. Human Remains (Vagn Nielsen). Published in 1970.
Thus so far four volumes have appeared and one more volume is being printed now.
The intention of the editorial board (Profs. Glob, Ludin Jansen, Meinander, Säve-Söderbergh —
editor) is to present first of all the primary facts and not to delay the publications with exhaustive
comparative studies or a detailed analysis of the data. It is, however, inevitable in order to make
the immense amount of data readable and compact enough for publication to arrange them
logically in typologies with the aid of computers and other technical means.
To illustrate this problem I can mention some of the quantities implied. The first volume on the
rock drawings is a publication of some 6400 figures distributed on some 2600 groups of drawings.
To publish all these figures without exception would hardly be feasible; instead the different figures
were arranged in the form of a corpus, where the most common types are illustrated only by
a choice of the most characteristic examples, whereas all other figures which are not commonplace
were published without exception. All figures and drawings are then described verbally, but in the
case of the most commonplace ones there is sometimes only a reference of the type “similar to
Corpus No. so and so”—similarity in this case amounting more or less to identity.
In the descriptions there are also notes on all figures regarding e.g. superimpositions, technique
of cutting, and patina, but we have avoided to delay the publication with the time-consuming task
to make an exhaustive study of the internal and absolute chronology on the basis also of a study
of the available comparative evidence. Such a study will be published later in a second series
of publications.
The analysis of the skeleton material implied some 35,000 measurements and, of course, it would
be absurd to publish them all individually. Hence the statistically relevant data are given by groups,
not by individuals. A list of the individual skeletons is given, but those who want the individual
measurements must apply to the Institute of Anthropology in Copenhagen.
Ill
The Publications of the Scandinavian
Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia
The Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, organized by Denmark, Finland, Norway
and Sweden, investigated the area between Faras East and Gammai East in the years 1961-1964.
The vast concession—some 60 kilometers long—yielded an overwhelming amount of finds and
archaeological data from cemeteries, settlements, fortresses and churches.
I should like to use this opportunity to give a short account of our publication series and a resumé
of some results of special interest to the Late Nubian period, results which pertain to the racial
problems and an analysis of our finds of textiles.
The publication series is planned to consist of a first series of 9 volumes with the following titles :
1. The Rock Drawings (Hellström & Langballe). Published in 1970.
2. Preceramic Sites (Marks). Published in 1970.
3. Neolithic and A-Group Sites (Nordstrom & Hâland). To appear in 1973.
4. C-Group, Pangrave and Kerma Sites. To be published in 1973/74.
5. Pharaonic New Kingdom Sites. To be published in 1973/74.
6. Late Nubian Cemeteries (Möllerop & Oldenburg). To be published in 1973/74.
7. Late Nubian Sites, Churches and Settlements (Gardberg). Published in 1970.
8. Textiles (Ingrid Bergman). To be published in 1973.
9. Human Remains (Vagn Nielsen). Published in 1970.
Thus so far four volumes have appeared and one more volume is being printed now.
The intention of the editorial board (Profs. Glob, Ludin Jansen, Meinander, Säve-Söderbergh —
editor) is to present first of all the primary facts and not to delay the publications with exhaustive
comparative studies or a detailed analysis of the data. It is, however, inevitable in order to make
the immense amount of data readable and compact enough for publication to arrange them
logically in typologies with the aid of computers and other technical means.
To illustrate this problem I can mention some of the quantities implied. The first volume on the
rock drawings is a publication of some 6400 figures distributed on some 2600 groups of drawings.
To publish all these figures without exception would hardly be feasible; instead the different figures
were arranged in the form of a corpus, where the most common types are illustrated only by
a choice of the most characteristic examples, whereas all other figures which are not commonplace
were published without exception. All figures and drawings are then described verbally, but in the
case of the most commonplace ones there is sometimes only a reference of the type “similar to
Corpus No. so and so”—similarity in this case amounting more or less to identity.
In the descriptions there are also notes on all figures regarding e.g. superimpositions, technique
of cutting, and patina, but we have avoided to delay the publication with the time-consuming task
to make an exhaustive study of the internal and absolute chronology on the basis also of a study
of the available comparative evidence. Such a study will be published later in a second series
of publications.
The analysis of the skeleton material implied some 35,000 measurements and, of course, it would
be absurd to publish them all individually. Hence the statistically relevant data are given by groups,
not by individuals. A list of the individual skeletons is given, but those who want the individual
measurements must apply to the Institute of Anthropology in Copenhagen.
Ill