DOI Artikel:
Krzyżaniak, Lech: Eleventh season of excavations at Kadero (Sudan)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42008#0031
The testing of the Neolithic burial ground situated in the central part of
the mound was done by excavating an area of total surface of ca. 800 square
meters. It was an extension of the trench excavated here in the last three
seasons. The dig was done to the depth of lm. Altogether 31 graves were found
and explored this season (nos. 86-116) but six of them were found outside the
trench, on the heavily eroded surface of the mound (a careful inspection of the
mound is a routine practice of the expedition carried out in the morning ours of
the day when human remains are best visible). Out of all these graves 29
inhumations were of Neolithic date and 2 were of Heroitic period.
While most of the Neolithic graves did not contain any furnishing, about
one third of them did, and several of the latter contained particularly rich
belongings by the standards of the Neolithic/Predynastic cultures of Sudan. This
furnishing consisted of personal adornments (camelian beads and marine shells
forming necklaces and armlets), palettes of porphyry and sandstone,
malachite/amazonite and ochre lumps, blades of the composite tools of quartz,
bracelets made of elephant ivory and sherds of pottery vessels of a fine (table)
ware. The pits of these rich graves were oval in plan and deep down to 0.95m.
The bottom had a discolouration which undoubtedly resulted from the ochre paint
having been applied either to the container for the corpse or to the corpse
itself. These rich graves adjoin several others found in the previous three
seasons in this part of the mound and they form together a clear cluster of
inhumations.lt is thought that they are the burials of the Neolithic social
elite. The dead were adult men and women as well as children, according to the
determinations made in the field by the physical anthropologists. It is thought
that they represented the Neolithic social elite.
The Heroitic graves did not contain any furnishing and their chronology was
determined on the basis of the position of the skeleton and bone preservation.
These traits were similar to those of other Heroitic graves found earlier at
Kadero in association with furnishing.
27
the mound was done by excavating an area of total surface of ca. 800 square
meters. It was an extension of the trench excavated here in the last three
seasons. The dig was done to the depth of lm. Altogether 31 graves were found
and explored this season (nos. 86-116) but six of them were found outside the
trench, on the heavily eroded surface of the mound (a careful inspection of the
mound is a routine practice of the expedition carried out in the morning ours of
the day when human remains are best visible). Out of all these graves 29
inhumations were of Neolithic date and 2 were of Heroitic period.
While most of the Neolithic graves did not contain any furnishing, about
one third of them did, and several of the latter contained particularly rich
belongings by the standards of the Neolithic/Predynastic cultures of Sudan. This
furnishing consisted of personal adornments (camelian beads and marine shells
forming necklaces and armlets), palettes of porphyry and sandstone,
malachite/amazonite and ochre lumps, blades of the composite tools of quartz,
bracelets made of elephant ivory and sherds of pottery vessels of a fine (table)
ware. The pits of these rich graves were oval in plan and deep down to 0.95m.
The bottom had a discolouration which undoubtedly resulted from the ochre paint
having been applied either to the container for the corpse or to the corpse
itself. These rich graves adjoin several others found in the previous three
seasons in this part of the mound and they form together a clear cluster of
inhumations.lt is thought that they are the burials of the Neolithic social
elite. The dead were adult men and women as well as children, according to the
determinations made in the field by the physical anthropologists. It is thought
that they represented the Neolithic social elite.
The Heroitic graves did not contain any furnishing and their chronology was
determined on the basis of the position of the skeleton and bone preservation.
These traits were similar to those of other Heroitic graves found earlier at
Kadero in association with furnishing.
27