Sudanese Archaeology

Osttor und Vorwerk der Festung Gala Abu Ahmed

by Jana Eger

Co-authored with Jana Helmbold-Doyé & Tim Karberg; Published in "Der Antike Sudan. MittSAG 21 (2010), 71-85

This paper presents the excavations of the seasons 2008/09 and 2009 at the eastern gate and the building structures... more This paper presents the excavations of the seasons 2008/09 and 2009 at the eastern gate and the building structures east of the fortress Gala Abu Ahmed, Northern Province, Sudan. With a contribution on the ceramics (by Jana Helmbold-Doyé).

Ein mittelalterliches Kloster am Gebel al-Ain?

by Jana Eger

Published in "Der Antike Sudan. MittSAG 22 (2011), 115-120

This article presents some results of a three-day survey south of the Wadi Howar to Gebel al-Ain taken out in January... more This article presents some results of a three-day survey south of the Wadi Howar to Gebel al-Ain taken out in January 2011 (during the University of Cologne mission to Gala Abu Ahmed led by Dr. Friederike Jesse). It was planned to identify some structures I discovered by interpreting remote sensing data for my M.A.-thesis. During the remote sensing evaluation, the site was labeled FJE2010-1.

The main finding during that survey was a large assemblage of ruins directly at the foot of the Gebel al-Ain hills, most probably the remains of a monastery. It consists of an elaborated sandstone church with three naves, an irregular shaped building erected of stone next to it, and a box graves cemetery, all surrounded by a large wall with a simple gate. Outside the wall other cemeteries were found, consisting of more box graves, some tumuli, and at least two cleft burials.

The ruined site seems not to be known to the scientific community so far. A Christian center so far from the Nile valley in the western desert raises several questions about the limits of control of the medieval Nubian states over that area.

Maybe two monasteries in a region named 'Tari' or 'Tahi' mentioned in medieval sources refer to those ruins.

Sesebi 2011

by Paul van Pelt

Fieldwork report Fieldwork report

Petroglyphs under the sand. A preliminary report on the field season 2008/09 at the fortress Gala Abu Ahmed

by Robin Peters

F. Jesse; R. Peters, Petroglyphs under the sand. A preliminary report on the field season 2008/09 at the fortress Gala Abu Ahmed. Sudan & Nubia 13, 2009, 62–71.

An Acheulian Site Near Bîr Kiseiba in the Darb el Arba'in Desert, Egypt

by Kathleen Nicoll

---> Citation: Haynes, C.V. Jr; Maxwell, T.A.; El Hawary, A.; Nicoll, K.A.; Stokes, S.; 1997. An Acheulian Site Near Bîr Kiseiba in the Darb el Arba'in Desert, Egypt. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal, v.12: p. 819-832.

ABSTRACT A small concentration of Acheulian cleavers and handaxes within the driest region on Earth adds to the... more ABSTRACT A small concentration of Acheulian cleavers and handaxes within the driest region on Earth adds to the increasing evidence that the eastern Sahara was considerably more verdant during the Middle Pleistocene than it is today. The similarities to stone artifact assemblages of Acheulian sites in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Levant support the evidence for the movement of hominids, utilizing the Kombewa lithic technology, between Africa and the Middle East during the Middle Pleistocene.

Radiocarbon chronologies for prehistoric human occupation and hydroclimatic change in Egypt and Northern Sudan

by Kathleen Nicoll

---> Citation: Nicoll, K. 2001. Radiocarbon chronologies for Prehistoric Human Occupation and Hydroclimatic Change, Egypt and Sudan. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal. v. 16: p. 47-64.

ABSTRACT This article compiles 536 published, uncalibrated radiocarbon ages from well-studied localities in the... more ABSTRACT This article compiles 536 published, uncalibrated radiocarbon ages from well-studied localities in the presently hyperarid Western Desert, or Arba’in Desert, in northeast Africa. The synthesis of these records frames the spatial and temporal context of prehistoric cultural activity during wet periods when the region was habitable (9000 – 6000 yr B.P.). The variability of records by region indicates that the Holocene was not marked by uniform hydroclimatic conditions; lacunae, or gaps in the record formerly attributed to arid intervals, are not regionally consistent. Since rapid hydroclimatic changes (i.e., “wet – dry” cycles) have played a key role in the geomorphic evolution and human history of Egypt and northern Sudan, the precise definition of arid periods will be important in the further analysis of hydroclimatic change as a driver of cultural innovation, migration, and settlement.

Sacred places and beings of the Red Sea littoral societies

by Oscar Nalesini

in 'Navigated Spaces and Connected Places. Proceedings of Red Sea Project V held at the University of Exeter, September 2010', Edited by D. A. Agius, J. P. Cooper, A. Trakadas and Ch. Zazzaro. Oxford, Archaeopress, 2012, pp. 77-84 (BAR Int. S. 2346).

The paper will review the information on sacred places and beings among some littoral societies of the Red Sea... more The paper will review the information on sacred places and beings among some littoral societies of the Red Sea recorded in the Greek and Latin sources. Sailors and merchants from Egypt and the Mediterranean in the 4th-2nd century BC witnessed ritual practices connected to the marine environment during their journeys. These involved environmental features tied to the daily life of the local populations as well as to their thought: coastal shrines, special places, sea animals and marine phenomena. Although scanty and manipulated by ancient observers and geographers, these data can still provide an insight into their ideological representation of the man-sea relation.
To further explore the theme, the paper will compare this information to similar records of man's intimate ties with the sea and its creatures from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

History and Use of an Ethnonym: Ichthyophágoi

by Oscar Nalesini

published in 'Connected Hinterlands. Proceedings of Red Sea Project IV held at the University of Southampton, September 2008', Edited by Lucy Blue, John Cooper, Ross Thomas and Julian Whitewright. Oxford, Archaeopress (BAR S2052), 2009, pp. 9-18.

The wealth of data on fishing and navigation recently dug out of the archaeological layers in harbours and other... more The wealth of data on fishing and navigation recently dug out of the archaeological layers in harbours and other littoral sites on the Red Sea induced archaeologists to look for elements of comparison onto the people collectively labelled Ichthyophagoi, i.e. Fish-Eaters, by the Greeks, focusing on the writings of Nearchus of Crete and Agatharchides of Cnidus because of their detailed descriptions of the Ichthyophagoi peculiar way of life.
Notwithstanding the general awareness of the strong ideological bias that led the Hellenistic writers to portray the Ichthyophagoi as a wretched and backward race, recent publications maintain the assumption that they correspond to the people who left shell middens and traces of fishing and other maritime activities in the archaeological sites of Arabia and the Red Sea.
A closer reading of the Greek sources should prove such a correspondence simplistic, and reveal a more complex picture. Agatharchides certainly tapped his informations on the material culture of the Ichthyophagoi from the reports sailors made on the coastal adapted people of the Red and Arabian Sea making out on maritime resources for a living. But his description is also the product of Hellenistic geographic thought as well as of his personal disposition. This is clearly demonstrated by comparison with the concepts of the Ichthyophagoi expressed by other ancient authors, and their treatment of the social, economic and political ties between the populations of the Arabian and African littoral of the Red Sea.
The diachronic study of the name Ichthyophagoi challenges the idea of an unequivocal correspondence between the archaeological remains and and the Ichthyophagoi as described by the Greek sources.

Bericht über die Aufnahme der Steinmetzzeichen der Großen Anlage

by Tim Karberg

Published in "Der Antike Sudan. MittSAG 11, 38-40

Mason's marks from the Great Enclosure, Musawwarat es-Sufra, Sudan Mason's marks from the Great Enclosure, Musawwarat es-Sufra, Sudan