DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Chłodnicki, Marek; Żurawski, Bogdan: From Khor Umm Ghizlan to Shemkhiya: archaeological survey in the fourth cataract region december 2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0378
FOURTH CATARACT - SURVEY
SUDAN
GAMAMIYA 3
A dozen or so of much dilapidated box gra-
ves with some undiagnostic potsherds scat-
tered on the verge of the cultivation (near
the place of the local suq). The local top-
onym of the place is Darderdaka. A partly
dismantled tumulus lies nearby, to the south
of the cemetery.
A nice copper alloy cross [Fig. 6], which
was shown to the mission by a local driver,
Mohammed Saleh, was said to come from
one of the nearby cemeteries. The circum-
stances indicated that it came from the clan-
destine plundering of sepulchers, a notorious
operation in which local inhabitants must
be engaged on a major scale to judge by
the huge numbers of robbed graves of all
periods in the region.
GAMAMIYA 4
The place is called Rum, the village nearby
is Rubab. Cultivation has encroached hea-
Fig. 6. El Gamamiya cemetery ? Copper-alloy
cross (Photo B. Zurawski)
vily on the burial ground leaving the rec-
tangular superstructures of the graves in
sorry condition, mostly as amorphous piles
of stone. Virtually no pottery was collected.
Local eyewitnesses tell of the bones from
the dilapidated graves being thrown into
the nearby jebel by the basketful. A myste-
rious foreigner is also said to have been ex-
cavating in this cemetery a couple of years
ago, according to local informers.
There is a Neolithic settlement on the
other side of the road, towards the jebel;
however, the Neolithic sherds are mixed
with modern pottery.
GAMAMIYA 5
Part of the cemetery along the river has been
taken over for cultivation; the stones from
the grave superstructures have been piled
up, the bones discarded among the graves in
the other part of the cemetery. There were
more than a 100 graves here for sure, but
estimates are difficult in the present con-
dition. The practice of reclaiming burial
grounds for cultivation turns out to be quite
recent, apparently triggered by generous
government compensation paid out on the
eve of the dam construction project.
The toponym Shahura does not mean
anything; however the custom of naming
old Christian cemeteries is significant in the
region.
GAMAMIYA 6
System of drywall dams (?), located c. 100 m
to the southeast of Shahura cemetery
[Fig. 7]. The uppermost dam of the set ap-
pears to have blocked the wadi outflow. The
purpose of two compartments with en-
trances leading into the wadi is unknown.
They could not have been a permanent dwel-
ling, since they are flooded during rainfall.
The structures may be connected with the
fields that are 100 m or so to the northwest.
376
SUDAN
GAMAMIYA 3
A dozen or so of much dilapidated box gra-
ves with some undiagnostic potsherds scat-
tered on the verge of the cultivation (near
the place of the local suq). The local top-
onym of the place is Darderdaka. A partly
dismantled tumulus lies nearby, to the south
of the cemetery.
A nice copper alloy cross [Fig. 6], which
was shown to the mission by a local driver,
Mohammed Saleh, was said to come from
one of the nearby cemeteries. The circum-
stances indicated that it came from the clan-
destine plundering of sepulchers, a notorious
operation in which local inhabitants must
be engaged on a major scale to judge by
the huge numbers of robbed graves of all
periods in the region.
GAMAMIYA 4
The place is called Rum, the village nearby
is Rubab. Cultivation has encroached hea-
Fig. 6. El Gamamiya cemetery ? Copper-alloy
cross (Photo B. Zurawski)
vily on the burial ground leaving the rec-
tangular superstructures of the graves in
sorry condition, mostly as amorphous piles
of stone. Virtually no pottery was collected.
Local eyewitnesses tell of the bones from
the dilapidated graves being thrown into
the nearby jebel by the basketful. A myste-
rious foreigner is also said to have been ex-
cavating in this cemetery a couple of years
ago, according to local informers.
There is a Neolithic settlement on the
other side of the road, towards the jebel;
however, the Neolithic sherds are mixed
with modern pottery.
GAMAMIYA 5
Part of the cemetery along the river has been
taken over for cultivation; the stones from
the grave superstructures have been piled
up, the bones discarded among the graves in
the other part of the cemetery. There were
more than a 100 graves here for sure, but
estimates are difficult in the present con-
dition. The practice of reclaiming burial
grounds for cultivation turns out to be quite
recent, apparently triggered by generous
government compensation paid out on the
eve of the dam construction project.
The toponym Shahura does not mean
anything; however the custom of naming
old Christian cemeteries is significant in the
region.
GAMAMIYA 6
System of drywall dams (?), located c. 100 m
to the southeast of Shahura cemetery
[Fig. 7]. The uppermost dam of the set ap-
pears to have blocked the wadi outflow. The
purpose of two compartments with en-
trances leading into the wadi is unknown.
They could not have been a permanent dwel-
ling, since they are flooded during rainfall.
The structures may be connected with the
fields that are 100 m or so to the northwest.
376