Archaeological research south of the third waterfall
In the years 1911-1914, the expedition financed by Sir Welkam conducted its excavations in the southern part of the island, at Mount Moya (between the Blue and White Nile, thirty kilometers west of ancient Sennar). As we have repeatedly pointed out, the southern Kushite, including Meroe Island, is almost unstudied archaeologically, and systematic studies have only been carried out in some scattered places, including the capital. Hence the importance of the work carried out in Jabal Muwayya, which appears to be the farthest of the sites to the south. However, what has been excavated does not exceed 20% of the site area. The residence here was established around the 10th century BC. It extended for approximately six hundred years. Its prosperity dates back to the seventh century BC, and the beginning of its decline dates back to the middle of the sixth century BC.
In the short review, which contains an exposition of the main stages of the history of Kush, Addison challenges Reisner's theory of the Libyan origin of the Nabatean dynasty, and points out in particular that the so-called "Libyan" arrowheads uncovered in the Kurru burials are more similar to what was discovered at Jebel Muwayya (where, of course, there were no Libyans) than to the actual Libyan arrowheads. This fact is of vital importance for the roots of the Nabataean Kingdom, which was linked to direct trade relations with Jebel Muwayya, as indicated by the finds in the upper layers of the site. Thus, we have an idea, if not of the limits of its political plantation, then at least of the extent of its economic relations and cultural influences. Unfortunately, the reasons that led to the site withering were not determined. Addison assumes that this may be due, possibly, to the scarcity of land with the increase in population or to periodic tribal migrations, which is what the pottery indicates. But he leaves this problem open depending on the results of archaeological studies of the Neolithic era in North Africa.
At the end of the work of this mission, another residence site was studied in Abu Qili and its cemetery, which dates back to the Late Meroe period. The site is located on the eastern bank of the Nile, 3-4 km south of Sennar (about 275 km south of Khartoum). The site is located in Rabieh and was inhabited from the second to first centuries BC. Until the third - mid-fourth century AD. What is important is that some of the finds - iron arrowheads and pottery - are very similar to what was uncovered in the Karanog tombs dating from the same period. Hence, it can be said that there was a degree of cultural unity that characterized the entire vast area of the Meroe Kingdom.
When construction work began again on the Sennar Reservoir in 1921, which had been interrupted as a result of the outbreak of World War I, a cemetery from the Meroe era was discovered on the eastern bank of the Blue Nile. Unfortunately, the Sudanese Antiquities Service did not learn about this until two or three years later, when some materials from the exhumed tombs began to appear in the Khartoum Museum. Some of the finds were scattered in the hands, and some were lost in a sunken ship on the way to England. Edison had published reports on these discoveries at the time, Addison, 1950. Addison,1950
The site is located some distance from the village of Al-Ni. When Edison visited him, the majority of the graves had been exhumed, and no success was achieved in determining the composition of the graves or the actual sizes of the burial pits, which were often oval and were used to bury more than one body. Among the materials that arrived at the Khartoum Museum were bronze vessels showing Greek influences, pottery, alabaster artifacts, and decorative tools. Much of it shows similarities with materials found in Northern Nubia. From here, it can be concluded that either trade linked the two sides of the Meroe Kingdom, or there were movements of tribes from south to north. Many of the vessels are identical to vessels dating back to Mount Moya.
The richness that characterized the tombs indicates, possibly, the emergence of a large and prosperous settlement in the south of the country no less than the settlement sites of Faras and Karanog in the north, and there may have been an administrative center, as is the case in the two northern sites. Therefore, it is possible that the borders of Kush extended further south, as it is difficult to imagine the emergence of a site of this size at the extreme point of the border. Unfortunately, if we exclude the Edison reports mentioned above and the very brief exposition written a short time ago by Dr. Dixon, 1964 These exciting discoveries are still unpublished. Dixon,1964
At the beginning of 1913, a mission of American scientists led by Reisner began work in Sudan, and its activity continued for more than ten years, embodying an era of archaeological research in Sudan. Reisner and his companions have done more to reconstruct the history of Napata and Meroe than any other expedition. Their work was distinguished by the fact that they were keen to share their successes, even if this was initially through sporadic reports, but they quickly succeeded in publishing the complete reports.
Reisner was right when he wrote in the introduction to the full report on the results of excavations at Kerma Reisner (1923) that northern Nubia represents, from an archaeological standpoint, a “closed book,” and that everything that McIver, Woolley, and Garstang did, although important, was not sufficient to reach convincing generalized conclusions. All information about the ancient past of this region is limited only to data extracted from Egyptian texts, especially the news of the Egyptian administrators about their trips to the south, as well as the information contained in the royal annals, starting with the Palermo Stone. Reisner,1923
Excavations at Kerma continued over a period of three years (starting from 1913 until the beginning of 1916), and although the conclusions reached by Reisner on the basis of the material he discovered were wrong, the effects revealed by the mask were of such importance that they later allowed covering an entire chapter of the history of Kush. Now, while Reisner's conclusions are being subjected to a critical re-evaluation, we know that he discovered neither an Egyptian trading colony nor the burials of Egyptian nobles who led and protected this colony located on the southern trade routes, but rather a cemetery of local leaders who were the early ancestors of the Kushite dynasty who ruled authentic local tribes that possessed their own local culture that was highly developed. It is true that Reisner clearly defined the burials called Shatti burials (that is, in which slaves forcibly accompany their masters to their other world - the translator), the non-Egyptian method of placing the body, and the funerary rituals, but despite all that Reisner remained captive to his wrong theory, and reached incorrect conclusions, trying to twist the facts and bend them to suit his hypotheses. Thus, these burials, with the human sacrifices contained in them, the absence of coffins in them, the placement of the body instead of a scorpion, and so on, were interpreted by Reisner as remnants of an older era and as an influence of African customs on the Egyptian colonists.
Currently, all the enormous material that Reisner has collected, meticulously described and published needs to be reconsidered. These materials, as we will explain later, help reveal the local roots of Napata and Meroe culture.
The small Meroe cemetery at Kerma yields very limited traces. What is interesting about these finds is that they are completely identical to what was discovered in Karanog: the same style and technology of the glass artifacts, and the same iron arrowheads. Some minor discrepancies can be explained by local conditions: Kerma is located more than 350 kilometers south of Karanog. Therefore, it is permissible to talk about the unity of culture in the third and fourth centuries AD, according to Reisner’s assessment.
Excavations in Barkal, Al-Kurru and Nouri
In the winter of 15/1916, Reisner himself, after preliminary studies on 12/1913, undertook a comprehensive study of the Gebel Barkal temples. The report was published on the findings that were reached during the years prior to cleaning the temples. Reisner studied 25 of the funerary chambers in the royal pyramids located at the “Clean Mountain.” It turned out that all of them had been looted in ancient times, with the exception of one in which the thieves, as a result of haste or for some other reason, left some jewelry and artistic products dating back to the first century BC. Then archaeologists were interested in cleaning the large temple of Amun located between the river and Gebel Barkal. The temple was surrounded on the mountain side by other buildings. To the south, there were some other temples, including the temple built by Aspalta and restored by Senkamanskin. The oldest temple among them dates back to the fifteenth century BC. While the last of them was built in the Meroe era. Regarding the enormous Temple of Amun, the construction of which began in the Eighteenth Dynasty, it was subjected to rebuilding more than five times and eventually took on a completely Meroe style and layout.
Many statues of the Kushite kings - Piya, Taharqa, Tanut-Amun, Aspalta, Netakamani and others - were found in and near the temples, and also, and most importantly, inscriptions, the oldest of which date back to the era of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Among these inscriptions, for example, the Obelisk of Tuthmosis III, which completes his annals, and the Obelisk of Prince Khaliut, can be considered among the most important historical sources.
Subsequent reconstructions and alterations in the temples, as well as small objects found inside and near them, provide material for judging the political transformations and fluctuations taking place in Kush over a period of almost two thousand years. Reisner returned again shortly after 18/1919 to the Gebel Barkal temples, where he began excavating the royal cemeteries of Kush located near Napata: Nuri and Al-Kurru. The materials uncovered by the American archaeologist proved to be extremely important. These materials enabled him to establish, for the first time, an absolute chronological table for the history of Kush in the era of the Napata Kingdom. In the first place, with the help of discovered materials bearing the names of kings, the pyramids of the two cemeteries were identified. Of course, Reisner did not recognize the names of those buried in all of the fifty-two pyramids that he excavated, but those that remained without names are the minority.
To date the tombs, Reisner used data from the Gebel Barkal inscriptions, along with other texts discovered in Egypt, and he resorted to the following methods:
- Compare the shapes of the pyramids and their construction methods.
- He subjected the funerary statues (Shawabti), alabaster vessels, obelisks, and others found in or near the pyramids to typological analysis.
- He also analyzed the sacrificial items typologically, including pottery and all possible tablets, whether with or without inscriptions, weapons, and others.
- Comparing the relative position of the pyramids.
In this, Reisner started from the assumption that the best craftsmen and artists contributed to building the pyramids and preparing the artifacts found in them, preserving the traditions of Egyptian artists of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. However, from time to time new working methods and some gaps in form and style appeared. In the pyramid of each king, artifacts were found indicating the overlapping of generations to form one group. In this way, Reisner found himself forced to study the system of frequency of groups based on different artifacts and their succession, and the forms of change in the technology of building the pyramids, as well as their locations in terms of their relationships to each other, noting that the most distinguished in terms of location are those that were built at an earlier time. Reisner published his thoughts briefly in an article in the Journal of Egyptian Antiquities (1923), at the end of which he presented a table showing the frequency of successive reigns of the Napata kings and the relative years of their rule. His students later benefited from his approach and added to and verified his observations and conclusions, especially his chronological table. The basic conclusions remained without radical modifications and have not lost their validity until today as a basis for constructing the chronology of Kush in the eighth - sixth centuries BC. And for a comprehensive description of the royal necropolis of Kush.
The oldest burials in Al-Kurru date to the middle of the ninth century BC. It is somewhat similar to some Kerma burials. The body of the deceased is placed on a pedestal without being mummified. Then a huge mound of dirt descended upon the vault. Over the next two centuries, the shape of the tomb underwent radical changes. It was transformed first into a mastaba and then into a pyramid. In the oldest burials of this cemetery, six generations were buried, the ancestors of the founder of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, Piya, as well as his father, Kashta. Unfortunately, all the cemeteries were subjected to extensive looting in ancient times, such that it became impossible to determine the names of those buried in them. Among the things that remained were many gold pieces.
With the appearance of the pyramids, Egyptian burial rituals began to take over, including mummification, even though the body remained lying on a pedestal. The inscriptions on the funerary statues helped identify the names of those buried in those pyramids - the kings and queens of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, starting with Piya and his wives. Large quantities of artistic artifacts were found, including gold jewelry.
The pyramids in Nouri exceeded their counterparts in Al-Kurru in size. Taharqa was the first to build a pyramid for himself in Nuri, most likely due to the lack of a suitable site in the cemetery of his ancestors. The cemetery of Nuri was used for three and a half centuries - from 690 to 337 BC, that is, even after the capital was moved to Meroe. In total, 18 tombs of kings and 54 tombs of queens were cleaned. During this, many previously unknown names were identified, as well as the succession of the rule of many kings. This cemetery gave many traces that allow judging the trade relations and cultural connections of Napata and Meroe, as well as the development of their authentic cultures. Unfortunately, some of the inscriptions that were revealed are still awaiting publication.
In 1920, after completing the excavations in the Temple of Amun in Barkal, Reisner began studying the three cemeteries in Meroe (Al-Bajrawiyah): the southern, northern and western ones, the oldest of which were contemporary with the Kurru burials. The western cemetery was used until the Late Meroe, so it must have been in use over a millennium. This cemetery was reserved for lesser members of the royal family. At the same time as the Western Cemetery, the Southern Cemetery was established, where burials continued until the last quarter of the third century BC. (The last to be buried there were Kings Arkakamani and Amnislo, and Queen Partari). When no good sites remained, a new northern cemetery arose to the north, which was used until the end of the Meroe Kingdom. Here we can trace, with the passage of time and the weakening of connections with Egypt, a renewed return to ancient burial customs, including the burial of slaves who had to accompany their master to serve him in the other world. The huge quantities of visual art products allow studying the development of local culture over many centuries. The products of the artisans are not only important for determining dates, but also give the possibility of determining the nature of the connections with the Mediterranean world as well as the level of influence of the latter on the performance of the Meroe artists who achieved a high degree of skill, especially in preparing various types of jewelry.
Archaeological research in Semna and Oronarti
On 1923/24 and 1927-29, the joint expedition of Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, led by Reisner, worked at the Second Cataract in Semna on both banks of the Nile River and also on Orunarti Island. The beginning of the work on studying Egyptian fortifications and castles in Northern Nubia, which this mission set out to accomplish, was of great importance for reconstructing the history of relations between Egypt and Kush in the era preceding the emergence of the Napata Kingdom. Regarding the history of Kush in the following three hundred and fifty years, these works did not provide significant material, unlike the works in other castles, for example in Buhin, where, as in Semna and Kamma, interesting traces of the ancient and medieval kingdoms were uncovered. The Temple of Semna, which was built by Taharqa from unfired bricks in front of the ancient temple of Tuthmosis III, indicates that the rulers of Napata paid attention to the importance of these fortifications located on the main road linking Kush with Egypt.
If we exclude Reisner's work after World War I, archaeological research in Northern Nubia, especially in Sudan, was very limited until the end of the 1920s. In 1929, in connection with the decision to raise the level of the Aswan reservoir to 122 meters, which would result in raising the water level in the lake between Aswan and Wadi Halfa, a new exploratory phase began that continued until 1934. The results of these works were published in a series of reports included under the title “The Archaeological Expedition of Nubia 1929-1934.”
No work was carried out in Sudan during that period nor in the years that followed, and therefore the materials discovered only illuminated the history of the northern outskirts of Kush. The most prominent archaeologists and Egyptian studies scholars participated in the excavations and in describing the antiquities: Batrawy, Gauthier, Griffiths, Kirwan, Monier de Villard, Reeder, Steindorff, Emery, and Juncker. Nineteen volumes of this series were published from 1929 to 1938. Unfortunately, many remain unpublished or are incompletely described in preliminary reports.
Of course, these researches, which were conducted on a broad front, although they were limited to a limited area, shed light on all stages of the country’s history, starting from the Paleolithic Age, and were crowned with success in uncovering important antiquities: this is how, for example, in the years 1931-1932, the burials of the Nobadian leaders or kings were uncovered in Plana and Qastal, which belong to the so-called unknown group and which were dated to the Byzantine era.
The excavations conducted by Emery and Kirwan between Wadi Al-Seboua and Adindan revealed a number of Meroe cemeteries, which were quite large in some cases, and which provided materials that allow judging the size of the population centers in the area in question in the Napata-Meroe era and the extent of the political influence of the Kushite kings. Unfortunately, most of the tombs had been looted in ancient times, and the finds were limited only to pottery, small jewelry, and some scattered funerary paintings. After Emery presented the results of these works in brief initial reports, he, together with Kirwan, published a more comprehensive report in which he provided a description of the Meroe necropolis in Wadi Al-Sebou, Korsko, Amada, Al-Diwan, Thomas, Abu Simbel and others. Despite the richness of the material collected, this was not sufficient to judge the level of social inequality among the local population in the Napata-Meroe era. The report included a short historical overview of the history of Northern Nubia from the early dynastic era until the collapse of the Meroe Kingdom. It is correct to describe archaeological objects by the typological characteristics of various materials (pottery, scarabs, seals, amulets, etc.), as well as tombs. A special chapter is devoted to describing the Kuban Castle and the accommodation attached to it. Since the castle was abandoned at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty, almost no traces of the later era were discovered until the beginning of the Christian era, when the castle was exploited again and the sand was partially removed from it.
Excavations at Kawa and the northern outskirts of Kush
Excavation work in Sudan during that period was limited to the area of the Second-Fourth Cataract. In 1930/31, the Oxford University mission, led by Griffiths, and after his death, led by Kirwan in the years 34/35/1936, worked at the site of Kawa, the ancient Aten. Here, beyond the third cataract, a settlement site arose, and possibly a city that was probably an administrative center for the region, if we take into account the importance attached to it by the Egyptian pharaohs and the Kushite kings. The site was founded by Amenhotep III or Akhenaten on the right bank of the Nile, facing present-day Dongola, about 10-12 kilometers to the south of it. The oldest temple in Kawa was built by Tutankhamun. Later, Ramesses II, III, and IV engraved their names. The second temple in Kawa was built by Shabaka and dedicated to the goddess of the Nile waters, Anukis. However, the actual prosperity of Kawa begins with the accession to the throne of Taharqa, who, according to what his inscriptions and discovered architectural monuments indicate, carried out tremendous activities here. Taharqa built the huge temple of Amun, whose map resembles an idol temple. Taharqa also restored the temple built by Tutankhamun, and planted orchards on the site. Later many Napata and Meroe kings left their mark in Kawa (Aman-nitti-irki, Aspalta, Malinaken and others). The massive building, literally called the "Eastern Palace", dates back to the Meroe period, mostly 2nd-1st centuries BC. In a niche, antiquities dating back to the Augustan era were also found. In the second season of excavations, a number of houses were cleaned, indicating successive stages of residence. All these architectural monuments and the objects found in them (among them pottery sherds, especially Greek and Roman) represent an important complex of sources, which allows the reconstruction of intermittent moments in the history of Napata and Meroe, for example the events associated with the Petroni campaign, and also to trace the commercial and cultural relations of Kush in the first millennium BC.
However, the largest discovery in Kawa made by archaeologists, the annals of Taharqa and Aman-Niti-Iriki, is not inferior to the inscriptions that were discovered at the time in Gebel Barkal. The importance of the excavations carried out here is particularly great because their description has been elegantly published by Lemming Macadam with the participation of Kirwan and using the materials found by Griffiths. However, the search for a niche is far from complete.
In the 1934/35 season, Kirwan conducted excavations in Farka, about 150 kilometers south of Wadi Halfa. The excavated cemeteries that belonged to the unknown group, the Nobadians, as in Ballana and Qastal, provided material that revealed the importance of the cultural heritage of the Napata, especially the Meroe.
Excavations conducted in 1936-1938 in Sisbey (located about 270 kilometers south of Wadi Halfa), where a citadel and a site belonging to it from the era of the New Kingdom of Egypt were found, did not reveal any traces of the Napata-Meroe era.
In Amara (located about 100 kilometers to the north), English archaeologists worked in the years 1937-1939 and 1947-1948. A city and a cemetery from the era of the New Kingdom of Egypt were also uncovered here. Only on the eastern bank of the Nile were the remains of the Temple of Meroe found. Separate burials of the unknown group were discovered. From here the road began to the Salima Oasis. Thus, it seems that Amara represented the gateway to the Nile Valley for caravans coming from the west. Since the work conducted here was merely exploration rather than excavation, the results of the work, as for Sisby, were not published in full.
Archaeological research in central Sudan
Of course, the outbreak of World War II led to the cessation of archaeological research for years in the Nile Valley. Only in Khartoum were the Meroe and, possibly, Napata-era burials discovered during ongoing construction work, which were studied and described by Arkell. The remains of funerary goods - pottery, iron arrowheads, amulets, etc. - were similar to their counterparts previously discovered in Faras and Karanog, and possibly in Meroe and Jebel Muwayya. Some of the scattered vessels were similar to those uncovered in Nuri. Hence, it is here at the junction of the White and Blue Nile that a residence site arose in the era of Napata's prosperity, a site whose foundation may date back centuries.
In one of the settlement sites in Al-Shehinab (between Mount Awliya and the Sixth Cataract to the north of Khartoum), which, based on the enormous discoveries, dates back to the Neolithic era, Arkell uncovered Meroe burials in 1949/1950: five of them for children and six for adults. The site dates to approximately 100-150 BC. The funerary items were ordinary: pottery, amulets, arrowheads, and pieces of linen. The importance of this discovery is that it shed light on the size of the population in that era.
In the winter of 1951/1952, Crawford confirmed, as a result of a trip he carried out to the area between the Fourth and Fifth Cataracts for the purpose of mapping the medieval Christian fortifications and the churches located there, that in Al-Taqawi he found a residence site dating back to the Meroe era, and that burials dating back to the same period were found in Al-Jarif. In addition, he identified a residence site near Al-Faki Mahmoud and in Al-Qatina on the White Nile, south of Khartoum. Crawford assumes that Meroe pottery can be divided into northern and southern. To the north belong pottery made of red clay, as well as vessels with painted decoration. Polished vessels with incised decoration were produced in the south.
To the late Meroe era (270-350 AD) the tumulus in Al-Ashra (a village 5 kilometers south of Omdurman) dates back, which was contemporary with the later Meroe burials, which were linked to the movements of the Nobadians, and thus to the spread of the culture of the unknown group. They are also similar to the tumulus in Tangasi, located 10 kilometers south of present-day Meroe on the same bank of the Nile. With some differences in fine details. It is noted that the funerary goods in the Tenkasi tombs were poorer compared to the tomb of Al-Ashra.
In the spring of 1954, Chittick studied the caravan route from Napata to Meroe (Kabuchi), which passes through the Bayuda Desert. This study showed effects dating back mainly to the Christian era.
Campaign to save the antiquities of Northern Nubia
In 1955, a new phase of archaeological research began in Northern Nubia and Sudan when Egypt, after its liberation from long-term colonial occupation, began developing the Aswan Reservoir (High Dam) project, which would flood an area extending 500 kilometers from the First Cataract to Kushah in the south. This required massive rescue work and study of the antiquities. Thus, for more than ten years, many missions from different countries have been working under the supervision of UNESCO. Of course, interest was focused on the area threatened by drowning, and therefore the search in the southern regions was in a dispersed manner. The results of excavations, with few exceptions, are still published in very brief preliminary reports. Therefore, the obtained evidence and materials are not actually available for scientific use, and experience suggests that it is unlikely that they will be fully published any time soon. The truth is that the remains of the Napata-Meroe era are generally few in quality and quantity. This is understandable since the research takes place in the northern outskirts of Kush, far from its political and administrative centres.
Starting in 1951, initially sporadically, and since 1961 on a regular basis annually, Lechlan presented in the Orientalia periodical a summary of the discoveries of archaeological missions operating in Sudan and Egypt, with a detailed bibliography, covering everything that had been discovered during the current excavation season. It is worth mentioning that Adams briefly presented the results obtained in recent years in Northern Nubia and Sudan. The period from the end of Egyptian rule in Kush until the rise of the unknown civilization is given five and a half pages in this summary. This is in addition to the reports recorded by the heads of missions, which are usually published in the "Kush" magazine. We are trying to summarize what was accomplished in all the sites dating back to the Napata-Meroe era during the last twelve years, from 1955, and we will present the material in the direction of the upper Nile (i.e. from north to south).
There, on the borders of the Dodekaschoinos, where the border usually stood, separating the possessions of the Ptolemies, and later the Romans, from those subject to the control of the kings of Kush, the united Italian mission headed by Donadoni found in the crematorium near the Roman temple six Meroe burials covered by a superstructure resembling the form of terraces. Examples of pottery artifacts characteristic of the Roman era were found there, as well as a decorated bronze cup similar to the cups previously found in Karanog. The Kushites seem to have always lived in this border area, possibly within Roman possessions.
Near Thomas (Caranog), where an administrative center arose in the Greco-Roman era on the borders of the Kingdom of Meroe, the mission of the Institute of Egyptian Studies of the University of Strasbourg found an obelisk and an offering plaque bearing the name of Abratoi - the ruler (Bashti) of this region. Abratoi is known from other inscriptions and from Greek and Demotic inscriptions in the Philae Temple, thanks to which it can be dated to 253 and 260 AD. In a second sense, Abratoi was a contemporary of the Meroe king Tikredamani (246-266 AD). According to the brief testimony provided by Emery, in 1961 burials dating back to the Meroe era were found in Ibrim (Premis), and seven obelisks, including Coptic ones, as well as many bronze, glass, and pottery vessels. Later, in 1963/1964, Plumley discovered Meroe texts here, and in 1966, partial papyri with Meroe cursive writing, which is the first time such material has been discovered. In addition, decorated Meroe pottery was uncovered. Regarding the castle gates cleaned by Plumley, they, like the fortifications, were built by the Romans after the Batrouni campaign (23 BC).
The Spanish mission excavated the Meroe cemetery in Mesmas, where they found wonderful examples of Meroe pottery covered with colorful drawings. Another cemetery was excavated in Toshka in 1960/1961 by the joint mission of the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania. Imported Roman artifacts helped determine the date of the cemetery's emergence. In one of the tombs, a bronze seal was found on which was engraved a figure with four wings and four legs, very similar to the Babylonian winged marauder. From the same place came the Meroe texts on partial papyri. Later, a Meroe obelisk containing 13 lines was found in the superstructure of a cemetery dating back to the Coptic era. The obelisk belongs to a person named Meli-Wash. In an Armenian nearby on the east bank, Meroe's scribbles were copied. After the spread of Christianity, the settlement that was established in the Meroe era continued, which is confirmed by the finding here of partial Meroe obelisks, “Ba” statues, and the remains of superstructures of burials used in the construction of the church.
Approximately two and a half kilometers north of the cave temple in Abu Simbel, in the desert, the Leiden Museum mission cleaned a city that existed in the first centuries AD. The city occupied an area of 220 x 120 meters. Three stages of residence are clearly visible. Nothing remained of the first-story houses except the foundations at a depth of four meters. On top of those foundations, the second-story houses were later built, three of which remained in good condition. Its walls are constructed of brick, and the stairs and door jambs are made of stone. Food remains - grains and fruits - were found in the ovens. In the third and fourth centuries, as the third-class houses indicate, the site became poor. People used second-class houses for living. Archaeologists have collected many potsherds covered with colorful drawings, Hellenistic lamps, dolls, amulets, etc., as well as containing Demotic and Meroitic texts and maps of houses. The settlement here was agricultural and weaving flourished, which enabled trade to arise with both the south and the north, where pottery and luxury items (such as Roman lamps) were brought. This complex represents one of the few sites that gave an idea of the life and customs of the inhabitants in the Meroe part of northern Nubia in the first centuries AD.
Another major Meroitic residence site, which is considered a cemetery, was found at Mount Ada and continued until afterward. In 1962, archaeologists from the American Research Center in Egypt uncovered the remains of pyramids, some of which were built of unfired bricks, and some of which were built on a foundation of stones. The oldest ones were dated to a late era - the beginning of the fourth century AD. Large quantities of Ba statues and offering tables were found here. One of them mentions the name of the ruler of Persia, who was buried in this cemetery, where the sons of local nobles (Bashti) were buried. As one of the few texts indicates, the city was called “Aji” in ancient times. The city was fortified with the Cropolis, and its huge walls were cleaned. Manuscripts in the ancient Nubian language and Arabic documents were found in the castle.
Exciting discoveries marked the research in Plana and Qastal, where in 1959 work on the cemetery continued. Here the burials of the Nobadi leaders or rulers and their family members were uncovered. The tumuli in Plana (numbering 26) were dated to the third-sixth centuries AD. Some of them were not destroyed, which allowed for the reconstruction of a complete picture of the funerary rituals. The belongings were rich and varied. Many were made of metal: lamps, utensils, and pots. Among them were imported products. In Qastal, 43 burials belonging to the unknown group civilization were studied, which represented not only the Nobadians but also the post-Meroe local population. He also studied a number of Meroe tombs, most of which had been looted. However, in some of them, some ornaments, items for personal adornment, dolls, glass and pottery items, and offering plates were found, three of which bore texts.
Near the "royal" tombs in which Emery had previously excavated, I found an extensive Meroe cemetery, in whose burials more than 600 different objects were found and many pottery artifacts decorated with various colorful designs: plants, crocodiles, birds, fish, snakes, dogs, and human heads. Glass products found a place in this group. She collected many different ornaments: amulets, seals, bracelets, and necklaces. Pieces of linen, shoes, arrowheads, etc. were found in some graves. All this, when published, will give sufficient and valuable material for judging the Meroe art and craft, as well as the extent of its commercial connections.
Addison 1950, 'Archaeological Discoveries on the Blue Nile', Antiquity, vol. 24, No.93.
M.D.Dixon 1964, 'The Origin of the Kingdom of Kush (Napata-Meroë) ', Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 50.
G.A.Reisner, The Meroitic Kingdom of Ethiopia: A Chronological Outline.- Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 9.
Saving the antiquities of northern Sudan
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