DOI Heft:
Sudan
DOI Artikel:Osypiński, Piotr: Excavations on two kerma horizon cemeteries in el-Gamamiya
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42093#0406
FOURTH CATARACT
SUDAN
EXCAVATIONS ON TWO KERMA HORIZON
CEMETERIES IN EL-GAMAMIYA
Piotr OsypiAski
Survey and testing in the El-Gamamiya
district on the Fourth Cataract continued for
another season (see above, report by M.
Chlodnicki et alii in this volume), including
sites like a Christian church (GM101) and
a rock art gallery with images of common
longhorn cattle as well as a “pastoral parade”
and hunting scenes (GM67). The main
focus, however, was on numerous cemeteries
composed of small stone cairns and tumuli,
located on the summits of rocky hills near
river terraces. They have been identified
tentatively as Kerma horizon in terms of
chronological and cultural provenience. Two
of these cemeteries were excavated in order to
clarify their chronology and character.1
EL-GAMAMIYA 55
Numerous small stone tumuli were recorded
on the slope and summit of a hill near the
river terrace. Many graves bore traces of
modern looting since the place is used
nowadays as a stand for a huge water tank
located between the houses. Fieldwalking
determined the most eroded areas of the site
to be on the southwestern slope where
fragments of cream-colored wheel-made
ceramics, obviously imported, were recorded.
Excavations concentrated on a place at
the top of the hill, where four burials were
visible on the surface. A layer 0.20 m thick of
surface soil was removed from a square 10 by
10 m big. Altogether 12 graves were revealed
[T/gf 2, 3]: five female burials, both adult and
juvenile (T.l, T.2, T.3, T.4, T.10), two that
may have been male burials (T.8, T.ll) and
the remaining five identified as children’s
burials (T.5, T.6, T.7?, T9, T.l2?).
The female burials formed a separate kind
of grave consisting of a shallow chamber
approximately half a meter deep, roughly
square in shape, the sides revetted with big
stones and the entrances blocked with slabs
laid flat. The mound above the burial
chamber was formed of cobbles and covered
with a coat of quartz gravel, presumably also
a mix of color pebbles — red, black, yellow
and white — preserved in the lower part.
Small black slabs ran around the mound,
lining the sides up to 15 cm above ground
surface (similar but not identical with the
FT02f type in the Borcowski and Welsby
1 The excavations were carried our between 22 November and 4 December 2007 under the direction of the author with
team members: Marta Osypihska, archaeozoologist, field assistant; Dobieslawa Baginska, ceramologist; Musa El-Fadul
Abdalla El-Tayeb, NCAM inspector.
400
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007
SUDAN
EXCAVATIONS ON TWO KERMA HORIZON
CEMETERIES IN EL-GAMAMIYA
Piotr OsypiAski
Survey and testing in the El-Gamamiya
district on the Fourth Cataract continued for
another season (see above, report by M.
Chlodnicki et alii in this volume), including
sites like a Christian church (GM101) and
a rock art gallery with images of common
longhorn cattle as well as a “pastoral parade”
and hunting scenes (GM67). The main
focus, however, was on numerous cemeteries
composed of small stone cairns and tumuli,
located on the summits of rocky hills near
river terraces. They have been identified
tentatively as Kerma horizon in terms of
chronological and cultural provenience. Two
of these cemeteries were excavated in order to
clarify their chronology and character.1
EL-GAMAMIYA 55
Numerous small stone tumuli were recorded
on the slope and summit of a hill near the
river terrace. Many graves bore traces of
modern looting since the place is used
nowadays as a stand for a huge water tank
located between the houses. Fieldwalking
determined the most eroded areas of the site
to be on the southwestern slope where
fragments of cream-colored wheel-made
ceramics, obviously imported, were recorded.
Excavations concentrated on a place at
the top of the hill, where four burials were
visible on the surface. A layer 0.20 m thick of
surface soil was removed from a square 10 by
10 m big. Altogether 12 graves were revealed
[T/gf 2, 3]: five female burials, both adult and
juvenile (T.l, T.2, T.3, T.4, T.10), two that
may have been male burials (T.8, T.ll) and
the remaining five identified as children’s
burials (T.5, T.6, T.7?, T9, T.l2?).
The female burials formed a separate kind
of grave consisting of a shallow chamber
approximately half a meter deep, roughly
square in shape, the sides revetted with big
stones and the entrances blocked with slabs
laid flat. The mound above the burial
chamber was formed of cobbles and covered
with a coat of quartz gravel, presumably also
a mix of color pebbles — red, black, yellow
and white — preserved in the lower part.
Small black slabs ran around the mound,
lining the sides up to 15 cm above ground
surface (similar but not identical with the
FT02f type in the Borcowski and Welsby
1 The excavations were carried our between 22 November and 4 December 2007 under the direction of the author with
team members: Marta Osypihska, archaeozoologist, field assistant; Dobieslawa Baginska, ceramologist; Musa El-Fadul
Abdalla El-Tayeb, NCAM inspector.
400
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007