DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Lemiesz, Marek: Hagar el-Beida 1 excavations of a late/post-meroitic cemetery
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42091#0372
FOURTH CATARACT - HAGAR EL-BEIDA
SUDAN
HAGAR EL-BEIDA 1
EXCAVATIONS OF A LATE/POST-MEROITIC
CEMETERY
Marek Lemiesz
The site of Hagar el-Beida 1 (HB1) is a large
tumulus cemetery located in the immediate
vicinity of the Hagar el-Beida village
(N19°19T4.7" E032o45'46.4"). The site
consists of 15 huge and medium-sized
tumuli preserved on the surface, arranged in
two distinct and easily recognizable groups:
A (eight burials spread on a lightly eroded
alluvial rocky-and-gravel slope along the
southern outskirts of the village) and B (six
superstructures situated on a large, plain
sandy elevation, currently around the local
soccer-field between modern houses).
The site was discovered in 2003 during
an archaeological reconnaissance of the
Fourth Cataract area and then provisionally
recorded in late 2004.1 At the time of the
first prospection, archaeologists focused
attention on the largest superstructure in
the cemetery (HB1-T10), which they
referred to as "royal" burial because of its
size. It may very well be the most
spectacular historical feature so far dis-
covered within the area of the Polish
concession. However, the sheer size of this
burial, now estimated at c. 32 m in
diameter (up from the previous estimate of
28 m) and a maximum of 6 m in height, did
not allow anything but some standard
initial surveying and measurements during
the first season of excavation in 2005.
Following two weeks of initial earthworks,
the upper part of the eastern half of the
mound was removed down to about two-
thirds of its height. Four other relatively
well preserved tumuli, representing some
prominent differences in size and shape,
were selected for excavation and explored
between January 30 and March 6 {Table 1],
Although too few of the tumuli in this
cemetery have been excavated so far to
acknowledge them as a distinctly represen-
tative sample, the following remarks on
hypothetical variants and typology are put
forward with all due caution [Table 2).
SUPERSTRUCTURES
The superstructures are varied in diameter
and three main types can be distinguished:2
small tumuli (max. 11 m, e.g. T3),
medium-sized ones (from 12 to 18 m, e.g.
T2, T6, T7 and T13) and large ones (more
than 18 m, e.g. Tl, T5, T9 and Tl4). The
height ranges from 0.80 m for the small
1 L. Krzyzaniak, M. Chiodnicki, M. Jordeczka, M. Lemiesz, "Archaeological reconnaissance between Shemkhiya and
Khor Umm Ghizlan (left bank of the Nile), 2003", GAMAR 4 (2005), 42; M. Chiodnicki, PAM XVI, Reports 2004
(2005), 372, 375 and Fig. 4.
2 The "royal tumulus" HB1/T10 must remain outside this simple classification owing to its size and presumed
predominant role in the necropolis.
368
SUDAN
HAGAR EL-BEIDA 1
EXCAVATIONS OF A LATE/POST-MEROITIC
CEMETERY
Marek Lemiesz
The site of Hagar el-Beida 1 (HB1) is a large
tumulus cemetery located in the immediate
vicinity of the Hagar el-Beida village
(N19°19T4.7" E032o45'46.4"). The site
consists of 15 huge and medium-sized
tumuli preserved on the surface, arranged in
two distinct and easily recognizable groups:
A (eight burials spread on a lightly eroded
alluvial rocky-and-gravel slope along the
southern outskirts of the village) and B (six
superstructures situated on a large, plain
sandy elevation, currently around the local
soccer-field between modern houses).
The site was discovered in 2003 during
an archaeological reconnaissance of the
Fourth Cataract area and then provisionally
recorded in late 2004.1 At the time of the
first prospection, archaeologists focused
attention on the largest superstructure in
the cemetery (HB1-T10), which they
referred to as "royal" burial because of its
size. It may very well be the most
spectacular historical feature so far dis-
covered within the area of the Polish
concession. However, the sheer size of this
burial, now estimated at c. 32 m in
diameter (up from the previous estimate of
28 m) and a maximum of 6 m in height, did
not allow anything but some standard
initial surveying and measurements during
the first season of excavation in 2005.
Following two weeks of initial earthworks,
the upper part of the eastern half of the
mound was removed down to about two-
thirds of its height. Four other relatively
well preserved tumuli, representing some
prominent differences in size and shape,
were selected for excavation and explored
between January 30 and March 6 {Table 1],
Although too few of the tumuli in this
cemetery have been excavated so far to
acknowledge them as a distinctly represen-
tative sample, the following remarks on
hypothetical variants and typology are put
forward with all due caution [Table 2).
SUPERSTRUCTURES
The superstructures are varied in diameter
and three main types can be distinguished:2
small tumuli (max. 11 m, e.g. T3),
medium-sized ones (from 12 to 18 m, e.g.
T2, T6, T7 and T13) and large ones (more
than 18 m, e.g. Tl, T5, T9 and Tl4). The
height ranges from 0.80 m for the small
1 L. Krzyzaniak, M. Chiodnicki, M. Jordeczka, M. Lemiesz, "Archaeological reconnaissance between Shemkhiya and
Khor Umm Ghizlan (left bank of the Nile), 2003", GAMAR 4 (2005), 42; M. Chiodnicki, PAM XVI, Reports 2004
(2005), 372, 375 and Fig. 4.
2 The "royal tumulus" HB1/T10 must remain outside this simple classification owing to its size and presumed
predominant role in the necropolis.
368