DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Żurawski, Bogdan: Shemkhiya: season 2006
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42092#0443
FOURTH CATHARACT - SHEMKHIYA
SUDAN
Fig. 6. Early Christian bowl
(Photo M. Lemiesz)
covered with flat mud-brick structures
which densely covered the area of a burial
ground. Box graves were introduced
wherever possible in the gaps between the
platforms at a later date. Nevertheless
some of the brick pavements might have
been also superimposed with stone super-
structures. In some cases, these super-
structures missed considerably the burial
trench they were supposed to cover.
However, such axis deflation and even
misplacements between the shaft and the
superstructure occur frequently in
Christian cemeteries in Nubia (cf. Vila
1984: 187).
Only two sepulchers (SH9/G34 and
SH9/G35) were explored down to the
burial chamber. SH9/G34, seriously
damaged, was provided with a sub-
rectangular box, 1.85 m long, up to
0.90 m wide, maximum height 0.50 m.
The stones of this structure were medium-
sized and elongated, the spaces between
the bigger stones filled with rock detritus.
Its subterranean part qualifies it as
a bottom-niche grave (Adams 1998: 26,
Fig. 8.c). The oval pit (1.52 m long, 0.65
m wide and 0.80 m deep) was dug in sandy
ground and five big slabs were laid flat
across it, the sixth standing vertically at
the northern end. The skeleton was that of
a child (6-8 years old), found in anatomical
order, laid on its back with arms along the
sides and slightly flexed legs, the head
pointing to the west. No grave goods were
found, but there was a petrified animal
bone and a shell in the western end of the
pit.
SH9-G35 was a superstructured grave
with a well preserved subrectangular box
(2.30 m long, 1.05 m wide and 0.33 m
high) made of two courses of big stones, the
inside filled with sand and gravel. Beneath
was an irregular, oblong pit (2.02 m long,
0.64 m wide and 1.20 m deep). The
skeleton of a female about 22-25 years old
lay in shallow side-niche cut along the
north wall of the pit (cf. Adams 1998: 26,
Fig. 8.b). The body had been buried on its
back, head pointing roughly to the west,
arms crossed on the pubis. The head and
the upper part of the body had been covered
with a huge flat stone slab (1.29 m long)
placed at an angle by the northern side of
the chamber. There were no grave goods.
The very early Christian date of SH9
mud brick pavements was confirmed by
the sparse scatter of diagnostic pottery
found among the graves. On the strength
of analogy from the Dongolese kilns, a sub-
stantial fragment of a red-slipped bowl
decorated with a cross motif, found among
the bricks making up the structure
numbered 110, can be dated to the 6th-7th
century (Pluskota 1990: 35 and 39,
Figs 10-12) [Fig. 6}.
440
SUDAN
Fig. 6. Early Christian bowl
(Photo M. Lemiesz)
covered with flat mud-brick structures
which densely covered the area of a burial
ground. Box graves were introduced
wherever possible in the gaps between the
platforms at a later date. Nevertheless
some of the brick pavements might have
been also superimposed with stone super-
structures. In some cases, these super-
structures missed considerably the burial
trench they were supposed to cover.
However, such axis deflation and even
misplacements between the shaft and the
superstructure occur frequently in
Christian cemeteries in Nubia (cf. Vila
1984: 187).
Only two sepulchers (SH9/G34 and
SH9/G35) were explored down to the
burial chamber. SH9/G34, seriously
damaged, was provided with a sub-
rectangular box, 1.85 m long, up to
0.90 m wide, maximum height 0.50 m.
The stones of this structure were medium-
sized and elongated, the spaces between
the bigger stones filled with rock detritus.
Its subterranean part qualifies it as
a bottom-niche grave (Adams 1998: 26,
Fig. 8.c). The oval pit (1.52 m long, 0.65
m wide and 0.80 m deep) was dug in sandy
ground and five big slabs were laid flat
across it, the sixth standing vertically at
the northern end. The skeleton was that of
a child (6-8 years old), found in anatomical
order, laid on its back with arms along the
sides and slightly flexed legs, the head
pointing to the west. No grave goods were
found, but there was a petrified animal
bone and a shell in the western end of the
pit.
SH9-G35 was a superstructured grave
with a well preserved subrectangular box
(2.30 m long, 1.05 m wide and 0.33 m
high) made of two courses of big stones, the
inside filled with sand and gravel. Beneath
was an irregular, oblong pit (2.02 m long,
0.64 m wide and 1.20 m deep). The
skeleton of a female about 22-25 years old
lay in shallow side-niche cut along the
north wall of the pit (cf. Adams 1998: 26,
Fig. 8.b). The body had been buried on its
back, head pointing roughly to the west,
arms crossed on the pubis. The head and
the upper part of the body had been covered
with a huge flat stone slab (1.29 m long)
placed at an angle by the northern side of
the chamber. There were no grave goods.
The very early Christian date of SH9
mud brick pavements was confirmed by
the sparse scatter of diagnostic pottery
found among the graves. On the strength
of analogy from the Dongolese kilns, a sub-
stantial fragment of a red-slipped bowl
decorated with a cross motif, found among
the bricks making up the structure
numbered 110, can be dated to the 6th-7th
century (Pluskota 1990: 35 and 39,
Figs 10-12) [Fig. 6}.
440