Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

FOURTH CATARACT - HAGAR EL-BEIDA

SUDAN

collection of 2003, which had included
some black-topped vessels. Exploration of
Tumulus HB3-T1 yielded one of the most
interesting finds of the season, a wheel-
made globular "pilgrim bottle" (HB3/T1/A)
furnished with circular handles, wide rim
and painted semi-centric circles on the body
[Fig. 1]. A wheel-made light-red bowl
HB3/T3/A was recovered from Tumulus
HB3-T2.
The absolute lack of any funerary
equipment other than pottery cannot be
explained entirely by thorough looting.
The most likely explanation is funerary
ritual providing relatively poor furnishings
for the dead.
The position of the shoulder and leg
bones of the deceased (medium-aged
female) found in situ in the burial pit of
Tumulus HB3-T2 reflects a characteristic
arrangement with the dead buried in
contracted position on one of the sides, but
following no defined orientation.
The cobblestone, somewhat ring-like
superstructures of the kind encountered on
the tumuli field of Hagar el-Beida 3 have
been considered as being of Old Kush I
date.3 Moreover, the location of the
cemetery on a rocky elevation, near the wadi
and not far from the Nile Valley itself, is
acknowledged as common throughout the
pre-Meroitic periods, that is to say in Old
Kush, New Kingdom and Early Napatan
times.4 The two vessels seem to confirm

fully this alleged date for the burials: the
bowl is most likely of the New Kingdom or
Napatan period,5 nevertheless the bottle has
been recognized as New Kingdom ware of
pure Egyptian or Late Mycenaean (Cypriot-
Levantine?) provenance. An almost identical
vessel was found at Abu Haraz6 7 * and at
Tom bosk


Fig. 1. Wheel-made pilgrim bottle from HB3/T1
(Drawing and photo M. Lemiesz)

3 See note 2 above.
4 M. El-Tayeb, E. Koiosowska, "Burial traditions on the right bank of the Nile in the Fourth Cataract region", GAMAR
4 (2005), 53.
5 For parallel forms, cf. B.B. Williams, Excavations Between Abu Simbel and the Sudan Frontier, Part 7: Twenty-Fifth
Dynasty and Napatan Remains at Qustul: Cemeteries W and V, Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition 7 (Chicago: The
Oriental Institute, 1990), 71, Fig. 22.b, Pis 5-d, 6.b.
6 Paner, Borcowski, op. cit., 96, Fig.13: C14 analysis yielded a date corresponding to 1060-890 BC.
7 S. Tyson Smith, "University of California Santa Barbara. Department of Anthropology. Excavations at Tombos ,
www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/stsmith/research/artifacts_pottery.html

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