Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

FOURTH CATARACT — EL-SADDA

SUDAN

APPENDIX 3
PRELIMINARY REPORT ON HUMAN SKELETAL
REMAINS FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
IN EL-SADDA
Lukasz Maurycy Stanaszek

The examined skeletons come from four
chronologically and culturally different sites
situated around the El-Sadda village: SD1,
post-Meroitic; SD4, end of Kerma Horizon;
SD24, Meroitic and post-Meroitic; SD34,
Christian.
The age at death and/or sex of altogether
52 skeletons were determined during the
2005 and 2007 seasons. Three of the graves
(SD1-G1; SD1-G4; SD1-T83) were empty,
possibly because they were cenotaphs or had
been robbed in the past. Site SD1 yielded 25
skeletons in the 2005 season and another 12
in 2007 (jointly 18 male, 16 female, three
infant). Explorations in 2007 at three other
sites gave the following results: site SD4:
three skeletons (one male, two female);
SD24: four skeletons (one male, one female,
two infant); site SD34: eight skeletons (five
male, two female, one infant). The table
below presents the results for sexing, ageing
and morphological characteristics of the
individuals without giving the cultural
context of particular graves.
A structure analysis by age and sex was
possible only for individuals from the
cemetery on site SD1, the low number of
skeletons on the remaining sites making any
comparisons statistically insignificant. As
shown in the diagram [Fig. i], the number of
females in this group was slightly less (47.1%)

than that of men. There is a distinctive
absence of infant graves (only SD-T75); the
two adolescent (invents) individuals (SD1-
T10; SD1-T78) should be assumed as having
been treated as adults by their contempo-
raries (especially if they were young females).
More than half the burials on this site
represents mature and aged persons, the
predominant category being adult males.
The long bones and crania of all adult
individuals were measured using the Martin
technique (Martin, Sailer 1957; Trotter,
Gleser 1952). Cranioscopic and nonmetric
traits were also noted (Piasecki 1992;
Buikstra, Ubelaker 1994). The results of the
analysis were presented in a separate paper.


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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007