Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

FOURTH CATARACT - ES-SADDA

SUDAN

Altogether 36 pieces, all of them from a single
specimen of goat (Capra aegagrus f.
domestica). The archeozoological analysis
demonstrated that only the left part of the
skeleton was present in the grave and in this
case as well, the parts represented belonged
among the most meaty parts of the carcass.
The animal was not mature from the
morphological point of view (hence no
osteometrical measurements were taken),
bone fusion analysis revealing that it had
not been quite three years old.

Faunal remains were also discovered in
Feature G4, which was not a grave and has
been interpreted as a cenotaph. It held 19
bones, mostly ribs and lumbar vertebrae. In
the absence of diagnostic traits, all that
could be said was that the bones belonged to
a ruminant. A thigh bone was identified as
belonging to a goat and an analysis of bone
fusion indicated that the animal had not
been quite three years old. However, judg-
ing by the size alone, the animal had been
a very young representative of its species.

SUMMARY

The frequency of deposits of animal bones in
this part of the Es-Sadda burial field leads to
the assumption that for some reason it was
the rule to make offerings of meat to the
dead buried in this part of the cemetery. The
species uniformity is interesting to note.
The meat of young goats was obviously
preferred, although slightly older specimens
were also encountered. Osteometrical
analysis of the material, as well as an ecofact
from this part of the cemetery (a piece of
goatskin) have made the morphological
type of the animal more specific. Fleight at
the withers oscillating around 60 cm and
the long black hair of the piece of goatskin
suggested that the offerings were made of
a Nubian breed of goats of Mamber type.
This particular species was brought into
Nubia from Egypt in antiquity.1 The goats
are characterized by a height up to 70 cm
(males), a long black or brown-black coat
and hanging ears. These animals also have
an exceptional resistance to difficult desert
conditions and nomadic grazing. Further
osteometrical analyses, especially of skulls,
if any are found, should either confirm or

reject the conjecture that goats of the
Mamber type were deposited as meat
offerings in the graves at Es-Sadda.
The absence of skulls and lower limbs in
the material was sufficient proof of the
character of these remains and the role they
served in the burial chambers. The presence
of the meatiest parts of the carcass
demonstrated beyond any doubt that the
offerings were made as a means of assuring
food, in this case meat, for the dead. It
should be noted that these were the best
cuts of meat available.
The fact that no other species beside
goat is represented in the assemblage from
Es-Sadda indicates that goats constituted
the chief source of meat for the local
inhabitants. The reason for such
preferences could have lain in the easy
breeding of these animals and their
resistance to difficult conditions. Cattle is
much more demanding in terms of fodder
and is not suited to traveling over long
distances, while mutton is in the modern
evaluation of the Sudanese people
(Mahmoud El-Tayeb, pers. comm.) meat of

3 H. Epstein, The origin of the domestic animals of Africa (Leipzig 1971).

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