DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Longa, Anna; Śliwa, Joachim: The el-Ar P1 cemetery (fourth cataract, Sudan)
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42093#0432
FOURTH CATARACT
SUDAN
The grave goods at the El-Ar PI
cemetery usually comprised ceramic vessels.
In the group of nine tombs from the Old
Kush II period, this was commonly a single
vessel placed by the head of the burial. In
only one case (grave 4), four vessels were
discovered, one in the context of the grave
superstructure and three by the north wall
of the grave pit. Two graves contained no
furnishings whatsoever.
The personal adornment category from
the El-Ar PI cemetery included bead
necklaces and bracelets made of faience,
ostrich eggshell and stone. In a few cases the
original arrangement of the beads was
reconstructable. In grave 9, discoidal beads
of ostrich eggshell alternated with
cylindrical faience ones.
El-Ar PI was certainly a multi-cultural site
with evidence of human occupation from the
Neolithic through the Late Meroitic period.
The most important period of occupation,
however, was when a burial ground existed in
the Old Kush II period (approx. 2050-1750
BC). Fortunately, it has suffered only
marginally at the hands of grave plunderers.
A faience scarab discovered in the context
of a rock structure marked yet another
chronological period of occupation at the
site, that is, approx. 1200-650 BC. Its
placement among the rocks of the stone
structure appears to have been intentional.
The latest human presence at the site is
represented by the Late Meroitic burial
(approx. AD 150-350).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The interpretation of the El-Ar PI site and
finds owes much to Prof. Wlodzimierz
Godlewski and Dr. Mahmoud El-Tayeb who
have generously shared with the author their
extensive knowledge of the area.
REFERENCES
Bonnet, C.
1980 Les fouilles archeologiques de Kerma (Soudan), Kerma Soudan 1979-1980, Genava 28,
n.s., 31-62
1990 Kerma, royaume de Nubie: L’antiquite africaine au temps des pharaons. Mission
archeologique de I’Universite de Geneve au Soudan, Geneve
Bonnet, C., Privati, C., Simon, C., Chaix, L., and de Paepe, P.
1988 Les fouilles archeologiques de Kerma (Soudan): Rapport preliminaire des campagnes de
1984-1985 et de 1985-1986, Genava 34, n.s., 5-20
Chaix, L.
1986 Les troupeaux et les morts a Kerma (Soudan) (3000 a 1500 avant J.C), Anthropologie
physique et archeologie, Paris: CNRS, 297-304
Chaix, L., Grant, A.
1987 A study of a prehistoric populations of sheep (Ovis aries L.) from Kerma (Sudan),
Archaeozoologia 1, 93-107
Edwards, D.N.
2004 The Nubian Past. An Archaeology of the Sudan, London-New York: Routledge
El-Tayeb, M., Kolosowska, E.
2003 Pottery from the Fourth Cataract region (Sudan), GAMAR 2, 117-126
426
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007
SUDAN
The grave goods at the El-Ar PI
cemetery usually comprised ceramic vessels.
In the group of nine tombs from the Old
Kush II period, this was commonly a single
vessel placed by the head of the burial. In
only one case (grave 4), four vessels were
discovered, one in the context of the grave
superstructure and three by the north wall
of the grave pit. Two graves contained no
furnishings whatsoever.
The personal adornment category from
the El-Ar PI cemetery included bead
necklaces and bracelets made of faience,
ostrich eggshell and stone. In a few cases the
original arrangement of the beads was
reconstructable. In grave 9, discoidal beads
of ostrich eggshell alternated with
cylindrical faience ones.
El-Ar PI was certainly a multi-cultural site
with evidence of human occupation from the
Neolithic through the Late Meroitic period.
The most important period of occupation,
however, was when a burial ground existed in
the Old Kush II period (approx. 2050-1750
BC). Fortunately, it has suffered only
marginally at the hands of grave plunderers.
A faience scarab discovered in the context
of a rock structure marked yet another
chronological period of occupation at the
site, that is, approx. 1200-650 BC. Its
placement among the rocks of the stone
structure appears to have been intentional.
The latest human presence at the site is
represented by the Late Meroitic burial
(approx. AD 150-350).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The interpretation of the El-Ar PI site and
finds owes much to Prof. Wlodzimierz
Godlewski and Dr. Mahmoud El-Tayeb who
have generously shared with the author their
extensive knowledge of the area.
REFERENCES
Bonnet, C.
1980 Les fouilles archeologiques de Kerma (Soudan), Kerma Soudan 1979-1980, Genava 28,
n.s., 31-62
1990 Kerma, royaume de Nubie: L’antiquite africaine au temps des pharaons. Mission
archeologique de I’Universite de Geneve au Soudan, Geneve
Bonnet, C., Privati, C., Simon, C., Chaix, L., and de Paepe, P.
1988 Les fouilles archeologiques de Kerma (Soudan): Rapport preliminaire des campagnes de
1984-1985 et de 1985-1986, Genava 34, n.s., 5-20
Chaix, L.
1986 Les troupeaux et les morts a Kerma (Soudan) (3000 a 1500 avant J.C), Anthropologie
physique et archeologie, Paris: CNRS, 297-304
Chaix, L., Grant, A.
1987 A study of a prehistoric populations of sheep (Ovis aries L.) from Kerma (Sudan),
Archaeozoologia 1, 93-107
Edwards, D.N.
2004 The Nubian Past. An Archaeology of the Sudan, London-New York: Routledge
El-Tayeb, M., Kolosowska, E.
2003 Pottery from the Fourth Cataract region (Sudan), GAMAR 2, 117-126
426
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007