A Chronology of Meroitic Occupation below the Fourth Cataract

A Chronology of Meroitic Occupation below the Fourth CataractAuthor(s): Bruce WilliamsSource: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 22 (1985), pp. 149-195Published by: American Research Center in EgyptStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40000399 .

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A Chronology of Meroitic Occupation below the Fourth Cataract

Bruce Williams

Contradictions between written records and archaeology in Nubia have been stressed in recent years. Despite Twenty-fifth Dynasty and Meroitic building and political activity, settlement has generally been dated very late, and it has been thought to appear with suddenness and intensity at the end of the first century after a long hiatus in settlement that included most of the first millennium b.c.1 Chronological ambiguities within Meroitic and in the succeeding X-Group (Bal- lana) materials have made it possible to assume that the two periods were chronologically juxta- posed and that the latter developed directly from the former in Lower Nubia, despite major differences in most aspects of the two cultures.2 Some investigatiors recognize only one culture in fourth century Lower Nubia.3

However, some evidence that the long hiatus in land settlement between the New Kingdom and Meroitic Periods was not as complete as once thought was recovered by the Franco- Sudanese Survey in the area between the southern end of the Second Cataract and Sai Island. At Abri, Andre Vila excavated a large cemetery-complex that contained significant remains of Twenty- fifth Dynasty and Napatan date. Objects and practices in this cemetery could be compared with many other sites to the north, mostly dated to the New Kingdom by previous investigators.4 One cemetery excavated by the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition (W) also contained some comparable groups, and chronological criteria derived from these cemeteries could be used to establish a fairly extensive list of sites with some limited evidence for occupation in these periods.5 The sites are mostly in the cataract region and to the south, extending from Qustul to Sai, and they are small, but their dispersion indicates the existence of a definite though modest land settlement in the district. As identified at Abri, the late Napatan tombs rarely contained objects of daily use.6

1 Torgny Save-Soderbergh, "Cultural and Historical Back- ground" in T. Save-Soderbergh, Gertie Englund, and Hans- Ake Nordstrom, Late Nubian Cemeteries, Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, vol. 6 (Uppsala, 1981) 1-2; B. G. Trigger, History and Settlement in Lower Nubia, Yale University Publications in Anthropology, no. 69 (New Haven, 1965) tables, pp. 160, 166; W. Y. Adams, "Post-Pharaonic Nubia in the Light of Archaeology I," JEA 50 (1964) 109-14; Idem, "The 1980 Excavations at Qasr Ibrim, Implications for the History of Rush," Meroitica 7 (1984) 420.

2 B. G. Trigger, "The Royal Tombs at Qustul and Ballana and their Meroitic Antecedents," JEA 55 (1969) 117-19; Idem, History and Settlement in Lower Nubia, 132-34; W. Y. Adams, "Post-Pharaonic Nubia in the Light of Archaeology, II," JEA 51 (1965) 160-69; Idem, "Sudan Antiquities Service Excavations at Meinarti, 1963-64," Rush 13 (1965) 175, 176; B. G. Trigger, "History and Settlement in Lower Nubia in the Perspective of Fifteen Years," Meroitica 7 (1984) 372; see below, Arminna. For a different view of the problem and the most recent review of the evidence see Sir Laurence Kirwan, "The X-Group Problem," Meroitica 6 (1980) 191-204.

3 W. Y. Adams, Nubia, Corridor to Africa (Princeton, 1977) 420; Save-Soderbergh, "Cultural and Historical Background,"

2-3, recognizes the existence of a special culture in the Dodekaschoinos but only with a restricted significance.

4 Andre Vila, La necropole de Missiminia I. Les sepultures napateennes, La Prospection archeologique de la valee du nil au sud de la cataracte de Dal., vol. 12 (Paris, 1980) 169-78.

5 B. Williams, Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and Napatan Re- mains from Cemeteries W and V at Qustul, Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition, vol. 7 (forthcoming), Chapter 4, conclusion.

6 Vila, La necropole de Missiminia I, for examples see 2-V-6/241, 245, 258 (with libation table), 258, 259 (with libation table and pottery stand).

149



150 JARCE XXII (1985)

The fact that even a modest phase of settlement could be missed entirely for so long in the intensive exploration of Nubia calls for some explanation. First, pottery and objects of this period were encountered earlier in the region, but they were often mixed in reused New King- dom tombs and were themselves reused, even as late as X-Group.7 Materials of this date had been encountered and published earlier in the Napata area and in Egypt,8 but this earlier work was not sufficient to modify the conclusion that no settlement existed in the region. Thus the less obtrusive features of this period were obscured by the strong tendency in Lower Nubian archaeology to assign materials to well known tightly clustered cultural cores with easily recognized characteristic features that can quickly be distinguished under salvage conditions.

In the Near East, ^//-formation tends to preserve some evidence of accumulation from periods whose remains are not highly distinctive; but in Nubia, such accumulations tend to be confined to the few dense concentrations at strong points, such as Ibrim, Ada, and Faras, and on islands, such as Meinarti, which may have been occupied most intensively for restricted periods under special circumstances.9 Elsewhere, occupation tended

to straggle, exposing the remains to such disorga- nizing forces as deflation (sheet erosion) or burial under sand dunes.10 Structures were dismantled and the bricks reused.11 Sherds were used to chink brick walls and arches.12 Abandoned structures were used as dumps and latrines. Whole sites have been systematically destroyed by sebakh- diggers. In Late Nubia, this complex of confusing features has produced at least one false transition in a final report, between Meroitic and X-Group.13

Given the state of the evidence, there is hardly any way to ensure that every phase of settlement can be recovered, or precisely dated, but knowl- edge can be expanded somewhat from the easily identified clusters. Some of the chronological vagueness produced by trash fills and reused sherds may be limited. This can be done by aug- menting information derived from simple stra- tigraphy and phase-clustering with the steadier stream of intentional groups that occurs in compact cemeteries.

Techniques that exploit the changes in burial locations over time also have limitations, for the inhabitants of Nubia did not always use compact cemeteries for burial. Moreover, the available space being limited to the desert edges on the

7 Ibid. p. 176; G. Steindorff, Aniba; Zweiter Band (Gliick- stadt-Hamburg-New York, 1937) pl. 87-88. Vessels cited by Vila included some of probable New Kingdom date; those accepted here as Napatan are pl. 87:49/2, 4-5; pl. 88:50/4. In addition, pl. 87:49/3 and 6 are not New Kingdom. Vila (ibid.) also noted pendants and other beads from Ballana reused in X-Group; see W. B. Emery and (Sir) Laurence P. Kirwan, The Royal Tombs of Ballana and Qustul (Cairo, 1938) pl. 48 H (Q17-51).

8 Major publications available at the time of the rescue included Dows Dunham, El Kurru, Royal Cemeteries of Kush, Vol. I (Cambridge, Mass, 1950); Idem, The West and South Cemeteries at Meroe, Royal Cemeteries of Kush, vol. 5 (Boston, 1963); F. LI. Griffith, "Oxford Excavations in Nubia," LAAA 10 (1923) 73-171 (Sanam cemetery); Dunham, Nuri, Royal Cemeteries of Kush, vol. 2 (Boston, 1955); (Sir) William M. F. Petrie, Qurneh, BSAE, vol. 16 (London, 1909), pls. 49-51, 54; Petrie, Guy Brunton, and Margaret A. Murray, Lahun II, BSAE 33 (London, 1923), pls. 59-60; Uvo Holscher, The Excavation of Medinet Habu, V: Post-Ramesside Re- mains, Oriental Institute Publications, vol. 66 (Chicago, 1954), see especially pl. 47.

9 At Meinarti, occupation consisted of two phases with essentially the same building (W. Y. Adams, "Sudan Antiqui- ties Service Excavations at Meinarti, 1963-64," 148-76, especially 150-52). Levels 18 and 17 are Meroitic. Adams noted a general resemblance of the plan to the "Western Palace" at

Faras, and carved stone fragments extend the similarity. 5-T-48 on Gaminarti has some similarly rowlike room arrangements (Adams and Nordstrom, "The Archaeological Survey on the West Bank of the Nile: Third Season," Kush 11 (1963) 24-28), but the plan is not complete, nor is that of Meili (p. 28). Settlement can "disappear" from ̂ //-concentrations in the Near East also, as in much of E.B. IV/M.B. I Palestine.

10 See below, p. 186. 11 Apart from the dismantling of some very substantial

structures (see below p. 185 for the destruction of Dakka fort), evidence of the quarrying of structures was clearly shown in the chapel rows near the Cemetery Q (220) X-Group tumuli, where piles of brick were accumulated for transport and stone fittings thrown down. Used bricks were put into tomb block- ings along with pieces of stone, including carved objects.

12 Aspects of the process are noted in C. Leonard Woolley and D. Randall-Maclver, Karanog; the Romano-Nubian Cemetery, Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia, vol. 3 (Philadelphia, 1910) 18 and F. LI. Griffith, "Oxford Excava- tions in Nubia," LAAA 13 (1926) 25.

13 Meroitic and X-Group sherds were found together in the lowest deposits at Arminna. However, the site was excavated in an "architectural" style and the use of sherds to separate courses of brick in construction was not taken into account. Even the latest intentional groups (i.e., burials) of Meroitic times at Ballana and Ibrim do not contain X-Group pottery. See below, pp. 156, 182.



A CHRONOLOGY OF MEROITIC OCCUPATION 151

fringes of narrow crescents of arable land, burial locations were often reused, producing deceptive appearances of transition. The tombs themselves were very often reused; and in the Meroitic Period, the structures themselves were often altered to accommodate new burials or customs.14 This last feature may have been one of the most misleading characteristics of Meroitic archaeology in the region.

Chronological arguments based on the distribution of distinct features observed in a cemetery have played an important and successful role in many phases of Nubian archaeology.15 However, in the Nile Valley, a rigorous technique of plot- ting the occurrence of such features in a cemetery stems from Kaiser's work in the Naqada Period.16 The technique was elaborated and expanded by Bietak17 and used by Vila to establish sequences in the Napatan-Meroitic cemeteries at Abri.18

I. The Relative Chronology of Cemetery Q at Qustul and Cemetery B at Ballana

Two large Meroitic cemeteries excavated by the Oriental Instiute Nubian Expedition at Qustul and Ballana under the direction of Prof. Keith C. Seele offered a major opportunity to answer certain cultural and historical questions that concern the date of Meroitic occupation in Lower Nubia, its place or direction of origin, and its relation to the succeeding X- Group. The research was substantially funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The cemeteries, Seele's B (221) and Q (in 220 between tumuli 48 and 56), contained about 300

and 500 Meroitic graves, respectively, arranged in compact groups suitable for a distribution study of the kind conducted by Bietak and Kaiser.19 However, two problems had to be addressed before any such study could be undertaken. First, Cemetery Q was partly removed in the operations that accompanied the construction of Tumulus 48, and to a lesser extent, 56. Distributions had to take into account the fact that part of the cemetery was missing. Second, both cemeteries were repeatedly reused for burial. Two kinds of tomb reuse could be identified. The original (or even succeeding) burials could be removed after their partial mutilation - removal of head and arms to detach jewelry- in various stages of thoroughness, leaving some tombs entirely without human remains to await new burials. Second, burials were often simply added to those already in the tomb. In Cemetery Q, removal was quite common, although cumulative burials were also frequent. In Cemetery B, cumulative burial was the common form of reuse. Tombs in both cemeteries had to be evaluated to distinguish those that contained original burials from those whose interments were secondary. Those whose burials were original, or nearly so, were used in the distribution study. Although errors were undoubtedly made in this process of evaluation, the resulting distributions of features and phases in the two cemeteries show clear and credible patterns.

Certain easily observed differences between the two cemeteries in structures, customs, and objects suggested features that might be subjects of initial plots.20 The results of these plots and a number of long-recognized changes in Meroitic objects could be grouped into phases - clusters of features that commonly occurred together - and these were plotted again to verify an actual chronology (figs. 1, 2).

14 All of the tombs illustrated in this article were reused. 15 In a recent work I. Hofmann reviewed the chronology of

royal tombs according to clusters (Beitrdge zur meroitischen Chronologie, Studia Institutii Anthropos, vol. 31 [St. Augus- tin bei Bonn, 1978]).

16 Werner Kaiser, "Stand und Probleme der agyptischen Vorgeschichtsforschung," ZAS 81 (1956) 87-109; Idem, "Zur inneren Chronlogie der Naqadakultur," Archaeologia Geo- graphica 6 (1957) 69-77. See also Barry J. Kemp, "Dating Pharaonic Cemeteries, Part I: Non-Mechanical Approaches to Seriation, MDAIK 31 (1975) 259-92.

17 Manfred Bietak, Studien zur Chronologie der Nubischen C-Gruppe; ein Beitrag zur Fruhgeschichte Unternubiens zwischen 2200 und 1550 vor Chr., Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil-Hist. Klasse Denkschriften 97 (Vienna, 1968).

18 Vila, La necropole de Missiminia I, 31-32.

19 Keith C. Seele, "University of Chicago Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition; Excavations Between Abu-Simbel and the Sudan Border, Preliminary Report," JNES 33 (1974) 5-6, 7-11,20-22.

20 The following differences between Cemeteries Q and B were apparent in the preliminary review:

Feature Q B

Tomb substructures end-chamber side-chamber, (predominant) vault Tomb superstructures pyramid mastaba (predominant) (square) (rectangle)

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Phase I. The earliest stage consisted of tombs concentrated in the eastern part of Cemetery Q, burials that closely resembled some identified as late Napatan and/or early Meroitic at Abri. Each tomb had a chamber cut from one end of an east-west shaft or trench. The burials were often in coffins, sometimes with garlands of leaves and crudely incised libation tables, but rarely any other objects (fig. 3). A few tombs contained some personal objects.

Phase HA. The cemetery expanded to the west and spread to the north and south, with new features that included pottery, jewelry, more personal and cosmetic objects.

The first pottery to appear was a group of black polished handmade jars, cups, and beakers with incised-impressed decoration (fig. 4a). The pottery continued to be fairly common in this and the next subphase, but it rapidly decreased in importance.

Wheelmade vessels (herein designated Kushite wheelmade) also appeared in this period, heavy- walled bowls, beakers and jars, also with gourd- like globular or ovoid bodies. These have painted bands, black, or black and white on red or buff surfaces (figs. 5a, b). Some vessels were painted with forerunners of the well-known Meroitic decoration (fig. 5b, c); others were painted with broad waving vines (fig. 7d-IIB). As best seen elsewhere, the earliest jars had short necks, but some tall-necked vessels were soon made (fig. 5b), and the most elaborate of these belong to the next phase.21

Phase IIB. Although it appeared earlier (fig. 4c-d; 6a-b), pottery from Roman Egypt became really prominent in this subphase (fig. 7b-c, e, 8b-f; 9a, d). It includes a substantial amount of table pottery such as goblets or cups, pitchers, amphora-]ugs, jugs, and juglets. In Cemetery Q, a series of two-handled cookpots (fig. 7e, known as such from Egypt, but not fire-discolored here) appeared that were replaced by large barrel -

shaped jars in Cemetery B (fig 10c). This imported pottery was frequently painted with the decoration that prompted Wenig to identify it as a "Vine-leaf School" of painting.22

Some cups, beakers, and small globular jars with short, straight necks were made of a grey white clay from the Nubian sandstone and decorated in red and dark (purple to black) paint, with sometimes other colors (fig. 9b, e, f - the cups and jars are called Meroitic fine/ordinary here). The designs were mostly carefully executed, generally in close designs of small motifs that Wenig identified as an "Academic School."23 In addition, the thicker wheelmade vessels ("Kushite wheelmade") were often given similar decoration; there are some truly excellent examples from other sites.24

At Qustul, tombs of this phase continued the pattern of dispersion noted in IIA. Cemetery B was begun in IIB, with some end-chamber (mostly

Feature Q B

coffins (and leaves) common rare

weapons rare common

spindles rare common metal vessels lead bronze black incised-impressed common rare pottery Kushite wheelmade common -

pottery Meroitic fine/ordinary early fine late styles pottery styles common common

Roman-Egyptian cookpots globulars jars pottery short klepsydra long klepsydra

21 See below, p. 178 for short-necked jars at Kerma. Some of the finest tall-necked jars were found in the cataract region, especially at Semna south (below, p. 184).

Apart from the difference between local and imported pottery, certain traditions are recognized in the material here,

black or dark-faced incised-impressed vessels, local wheelmade pottery with heavy walls, and band-painted decoration sometimes expanded to painting of considerable elaboration (Kushite wheelmade), and the thinner-walled Meroitic fine and ordinary pottery, very commonly decorated. A very early group of hand- and wheel-made pottery will be discussed at Abri that differs from all three of the groups mentioned above. The groups mentioned above correspond to major group of hand- and wheel-made pottery will be discussed at Abri that differs from all three of the groups mentioned

22 Steffen Wenig, "Meroitic Painted Ceramics," Meroitica 5 (1979) 130-32. The "Vine-leaf School" is actually a stage in the development of decorated pottery found in both Nubia and Egypt. Its development is traced in Williams, Meroitic Cemeteries Q and B at Qustul and Ballana, OINE 8 (forthcoming), Chapter 2. It had immediate antecedents in a style that combined vines, vertical garlands or "trellis" elements and "shark's teeth" or leaf chains left in reserve, a style also imitated in Nubia. The vine group proper dates to IIB-IIIA, with rigid forms developing from which derived much X-Group decoration.

23 Ibid, 132-33. The close painted or "Academic" style dates to IIB and IIIA; in IIIA, it was rapidly replaced by the more cursive standard Meroitic style.

24 See below, p. 178.




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Fig. 3. Tombs Q181 and Q547 of Phase I (Up is River- north, except when longitudinal axis is up-down, where it is to the right).

west-end) tombs cut into a low scarp at the eastern edge and some scattered side-chamber tombs made in the desert plain above.

Phase III A . The black incised handmade and the heavy-walled decorated wheelmade pottery virtually disappeared by Phase IIIA. Although many Meroitic cups were still made with the fine grey white clay, alluvial clay was used for most jars. These jars were given more elongated bodies and much narrower necks (fig. lOd); the surfaces

were lightly coated red. Painting was reduced to the red and dark colors and motifs were larger and less carefully painted. This is the most common, standard Merotic style. Changes in imports were minor.

Changes in burial customs also can be noted. Coffins were very rarely found at Ballana, and by the end of this phase, they had probably ceased to play a role in the Meroitic burial here.

Only a few tombs or deposits of phase III occurred at Qustul, and these were probably mostly not original in the tombs where they were found (figs, lla; 12a). Although more burials of this period were found at Ballana it was still not as important there as it was elsewhere in the region.

Phase IIIB. Imports of Egyptian pottery declined in ordinary tombs (figs., 11-15); many have no imports at all. Some Meroitic cups were painted with red or white bands at the rim (fig. 1 lb; 12c) and other cups and jars have glossy red exteriors (fig. 13); some jars have boldly and finely painted decoration in dark red to purple, the figures filled with white, or figures are painted in white bands. Jars with simple white bands also occur (fig. 12e).

Tombs and objects of this phase and succeeding IV are closely related. Chamber tombs in Ceme- tery B were almost replaced by those with crude vaults, made with two or three bricks per ring. Earlier tombs were not only reused, but often remodeled to receive vaults in their shafts (fig. 16a); in some cases, the chambers may have been altered as well. The first weapons (arrowheads and other evidence of archery) and the only domestic implement, the spindle, appear.

Very few tombs were dated to Phase IIIB in Cemetery Q, and there were fewer of IV. These may even have been reused, and the mastaba superstructures above added to earlier shafts. However, IIIB, and especially IV, were very important at Ballana, and the cemetery rapidly expanded to its final size.

Phase IV A. Pottery was drastically simplified, painting was confined to a few simplified motifs, while the red exterior style continued. Juglets and wine amphorae were almost the only imports.

Phase IVB. Virtually only the simplest red exterior vessels, including some jars of very ungainly appearance, continued in this subphase, which was the last in Cemetery B (fig. 16).




Fig. 4. Black inased-impressed handmade pottery from tombs Q270 and Q278 (a, b); Roman- Egyptian pottery of Phase II from tomb Q284 (c, d).

Summary: The Problems of Subdividing Phases and Applying the Qustul-Ballana

Chronology in Lower Nubia

The Phase IIA may be subdivided, although the features of the subdivision were not clearly shown by distribution studies. The earliest tombs of IIA appear to have incised-impressed and Kushite wheelmade jars with very low necks. The late tombs in IIA contained Roman-Egyptian vessels and Kushite wheelmade vessels with higher necks. In earlier IIB, these high-necked

Kushite wheelmade vessels have their most elaborate development. In the later part of the period, the "Academic" or close style of Meroitic painted pottery appears.

At Abri, a phase of I will be noted that did not occur at Qustul, with simple pottery. It is recognized in the tables as IA; IB in the tables indicates materials distinguished only as Phase I at Qustul.

Although succinct and relatively simple, this chronology was produced from burials, and it is subject to a number of problems typical of burial chronologies. Changes in the objects do not all




Fig. 5. Pottery of Phase HA from tomb Q269.




Fig. 6. Pottery of Phase IIA from tomb Q318.




Fig. 7. Pottery and a kohl-stick of Phase IIB from tomb Q308.




Fig. 8. Tomb Q560 of Phase IIB and its pottery.




Fig. 9 Pottery from tomb Q439 of Phase IIB.




Fig. 10. Pottery from tomb B67 of Phase III A.




Fig. 11. Tomb Q352 of Phase IIIB and its pottery.




Fig. 12. Tomb Q402 of Phase MB and its pottery.




Fig. 13. Pottery from tomb Q402 (cont.).

reflect the complete career of each so much as the period when such objects were customarily deposited in tombs. The first appearance of incised pottery, the brief appearance of Roman -Egyptian cookpots in II (which began long before and continued in general use in Egypt for centuries), and the appearance of weapons and spindles in III are all examples. Thus it would be absurd to assume that the Meroitic of Phase I had an aceramic culture merely because burials of the period contain no pottery. On the other hand, some objects underwent a series of progressive changes in the burials, and they more closely reflect the actual chronology of objects in use. Changes in Meroitic painted pottery are the most important examples of this more accurate reflection.

For the phases IIA-IV, changes in the pottery are overlapped; changes do not occur in all groups of vessels at once, and in some groups they are progressive. Thus the chronology of the groups probably reflects an actual succession. The simple burials of Phase I, with coffins, leaves, and libation tables, comprise a definite phase, especially in the eastern part of Qustul Cemetery Q. However, simple burials, often without coffins, appear in most Meroitic cemeteries; and such

burials can be given a chronological significance in only a general way or when important other elements, such as the coffin, are also present.

One circumstance of burial has important con- sequences for chronological analysis of other sites in the region. The earliest, simple coffin burials, were often single burials; and the cemetery rapidly expanded. Over time, as multiple burials were made and the burial changed to incorporate small objects and pottery, the former, especially jewelry, offered tempting targets for plundering. With the partial destruction of the body came the further temptation to remove earlier burials entirely and usurp the tomb itself and even earlier pottery. Thus it often happens that the remains found most intact in Cemetery Q (and those that resemble it) represent only the latest use of a tomb that was constructed much earlier, and this feature may have resulted in some distortion of the chronology of Meroitic funerary architecture as investigators have assumed the tombs were contemporary with the burials found in them. Many cemeteries may contain whole phases of reuse that have obscured the date of the original tomb structures. In at least two cases, Meroitic burials were put into New Kingdom tombs, and one of these, Buhen,




Fig. 14. Pottery from tomb B78 of Phase MB.




Fig. 15. Pottery pom tomb B32 of late Phase MB.




Fig. 16. Tomb B8 of late Phase IV and its pottery.




comprised an entire cemetery with no new graves constructed at all. This very probably happened elsewhere, but in circumstances less easy to detect. Although tombs with remains of more than one burial could clearly be seen to be mixed, in most cases reports do not distinguish between single burials made in new tombs from those placed in earlier ones from which the previous burial had been removed. The information available is therefore quite limited, for the distribution study cannot be repeated elsewhere with as much confidence.

Despite the problems of mixture and reuse, chronological patterns of change were confirmed in important aspects of Meroitic culture. Changes in the tomb structure detected at Qustul and Ballana have some chronological significance. End- and side-chamber tombs coexisted at Qustul and in the early stages of the Ballana cemetery (to IIIA?). During IIIB, the brick vault rapidly replaced the end-chamber tomb in that cemetery. A simple shaft covered with stone slabs can be considered an intermediate type. It was also at this time that the coffin ceased to be used in the burial, and it is probable that the slab or inverted V-vaulted tomb of IIIB-IV was a substitute for both chamber and coffin. These vaulted tombs were also very often reused and burials were even placed on the roofs, sometimes even under a second vault.

Changes in the pottery deposited with the burial were relatively simple, and Meroitic material from Qustul and Ballana can be compared with Meroitic sites elsewhere to ascertain chronological patterns of occurrence. The discussion is necessarily brief and incomplete, and based on major changes. Although the changes cannot all be assumed to represent the instantaneous adop- tion of new features, the major phases appear at widely separated sites and are thus correctable.

Because tombs were so generally reused, it will only occasionally be possible to describe the chronology of a site on the basis of complete ensembles. Pottery was also subject to reuse in burials at this period, so occasional apparent inconsistencies can be expected. In this context, we will attempt to identify representative complexes of the Phase I and determine the presence of subsequent phases at any given site by noting the appearance of materials characteristic of these phases.

II. The Qustul-Ballana Chronology in the Region Below the Fourth Cataract

The following discussion of occurrences in the major areas is not a complete catalogue of Meroitic sites, for many of them are small, very badly destroyed, or reported too briefly to be used in any discussion of chronological substance. Geographical areas are considered in the following order (fig. 17): the area between Dal and the Third Cataract; the southern Triakontaschoinos, Faras to Dal; the northern Triakontaschoinos, Faras to Maharaqa; and the Dongola Reach. Within each area, the most important site will be considered first, followed by others in a geographical order appropriate to their publication. There- after, problems in the relation to Meroitic cemeteries to the Dodekaschoinos and to settlements will be considered briefly (see tables 1-4).

Cemeteries from Dal to the Third Cataract

Abri-Missiminia. Even in Napatan times, the Abri necropolis was not a single cemetery, for two small "zones" and one larger were found.25 The larger, or southernmost, area was not used only in the earlier Napatan Period, although burials began quite early. Shafts with narrow trenches at either end intended to receive a bed burial were characteristic, as were the complexes of amulets, scarabs, and pottery vessels.26 Most characteristic of these were vessels that occur also in the two northern zones and in other Napatan cemeteries, conical to convex molded or handmade bowls with red-painted rims and tall, narrow, wheelmade beakers with streak-burnished red coats.27 These were made of alluvial clay, while smaller ovoid jars or handleless jugs and larger, more irregularly thrown storage vessels were made of the hard pinkish to grey-white fabric usually associated with the "desert wares" - hard pink or Qena- of Egypt.

The materials noted briefly above are distinctive and easily dated, but as the larger zone expanded to the south, a new form of burial came into fashion. This was a stepped shaft or ramp that

25 Vila, La necropole de Missiminia I, 31-32; see also figs. 4-5.

26 Ibid, frontispiece, figs. 30, 37, 39. 27 Ibid., 155-64.



A CHRONOLOGY OF MEROITIC OCCUPATION 1 7 1

led to a chamber excavated from the western end. The burial was radically changed.28 The body was often placed in a cartonnage or coffin (usually anthropoid, but one was trapezoidal); burial goods were essentially limited to bead collars, and painted decoration was sometimes preserved on the cartonnage.29 Some funerary objects, such as crude carved or incised libation tables and a pottery stand, were also found. Although no cartonnage was preserved, it should be clear that this mode of burial was the earliest type found at Faras, and its design corresponds to the earliest type found at Qustul. However, the burials farther north were probably contemporary with a slightly later stage in the Abri series.

With some 293 tombs, the Meroitic cemetery at Abri-Missiminia 2.V.20 was substantially larger than that of the Napatan Period. Its earliest burials simply corresponded in type to those of Late Napatan 2.V.6, of which it is a continuation.30 As at Qustul, tombs contained wooden coffins31 and simple libation tables,32 or even obelisk stelae.33 One inscribed libation table was found in situ at the surface of an end-chamber tomb.34 Most tombs had their chambers at the west end, although five had chambers on the east, and a number had side chambers.35 As at Qustul, the tombs were frequently reused and some were recut to accept mudbrick chambers.

Although pottery and small objects comparable to other sites were found, they were not common. The most distinctive object group noted by Vila was the heavy ankle bracelet found as the sole equipment of the deceased in several tombs, a feature he connected to burials elsewhere.36 Most pottery consisted of beakers that continued the earlier streak-burnish tradition, black incised pot-

Fig. 17. Lower Nubia from Aswan to Soleb.

tery that corresponds to the early pottery deposited at Qustul,37 heavy wheelmade jars and bowls or beakers generally designated IIA (-B) at Qustul,38 and a few fine, thin-walled cups of the type generally dated to IIB-IIIA at Qustul.39 Although later pottery occurs,40 it is rare, and found primarily in cists. As an aside, one of the most interesting vessels was a reused Naqada II decorated jar with pierced lug handles. Roman- Egyptian pottery was almost entirely absent,

28 Ibid., fig. 13; N IV, 25-26. 29 Ibid., nos 234, 235, 239, 248, 257, 258, 259, 272, and 190

(p. 117 a misprint for p. 290?), for example. See also no. 234 (beads), figs. 153, 164 (painted coffins or cartonnage), and figs. 112, 115 (funerary equipment).

30 Vila, La necropole de Missimima II. Les sepultures meroitiques. La Prospection archeologique de la vallee du nil, au sud de la cataracte de Dal (Nubie Soudanaise), vol. 13

(Paris, 1982) 186. A comparison is made to Faras and Karanog. 31 Ibid., figs. 12, 13. 32 Ibid., fig. 37 (2-V-20/90), fig. 41 (2-V-20/95). 33 Ibid., fig. 38 (2-V-20/92). 34 Ibid., figs. 45-46 (2-V-20/1 13). 35 Ibid., plan (after p. 164). 36 Ibid., 187-91, also p. 174.

37 Ibid., nos. 2-V-20/11A, 115, 131, 169, 198, 288. 38 Ibid., nos. 2-V-20/29, 114 (?), 190, 191 (?), 213 (?), 215,

269, 282, 315, 363. Some streak-burnished bowls or beakers

may continue earlier traditions. 39 Ibid., nos. 2-V-20/107, 109, 112, 168, 171, 240, 302, 322. 40 Ibid., nos. 2-V-20/168 (?), 261, 283, 311.




Tables 1-4: Key

x slight presence by proportion X strong presence by proportion X occurrence of special significance [ ] enclose indication of a possible occurrence (this can apply to either x or X) - phase of the cemetery may belong to any or all of the Meroitic phases indicated

Note: Phase I is divided on the basis of Abri into a phase with a few simple vessels, notably convex or elongated burnished cups, and one without pottery. Phase IA rarely occurs north of the Second Cataract.

Table 1 Sites from Dal to the Third Cataract

Abri Soleb Sai Phase Missiminia Amir Abdalla Meroitic cem. NK reused SA. S.2.T

I A X - [X] B X [X] X X

II A X X - X

II B x X x

III A - x B [x]

x

IV A B -

Table 2 Sites from Faras to Semna South

West Bank Sites East Bank Sites Faras Argin Aksha Buhen Semna South Serra East Abka

Phase NagShayeg Nelluah Nag el Arab 25 280 250 416

I A no int. X [X] B X [X] X x [x] x x [x]

IIAXXX XXx X x

II B X - X X [x] X XXx

III A X - X B X [x] [x] x X X

IV A X. x x x? x reuse B X x



A CHRONOLOGY OF MEROITIC OCCUPATION 1 73

S cm

I2 x

w X X x |X I s "

O -a

•i *

1 .

I *

h -

g gO? X| X| X| X X x x

o 2 S 2 qj g cm

5 £ £ X| | X X X

* a

| S|

3 | | x i

t a

ill x 2 x i i I I

c^5 ^ < J2 ̂ xx

h o o cr> p_ "x"1 x ^ X

fcJD c^ O

^ § x 2 2 xi xi xi xi x

o, ^ s s a >




Table 4 Sites in the Dongola Reach

Napata Kerma Phase Saram "l'ecole" N. Cem.

I A B X

II A X

II B X X?

III A X B X

IV A X B X?

although some was found farther south in the cemetery at Kerma.

Abri-Amir Abdalla. The larger cemetery at Abri in this period is as yet known only in a very preliminary report (an additional cemetery to the north has been reported but not described).41 In contrast to the Missiminia cemetery where almost all tombs had chambers on the west end, many of the 377 tombs in the Amir Abdalla cemetery had chambers on the east end, or on the side.42 It would be difficult to detail the chronology from the limited information available, but Fernan- dez's study of the distribution of tomb types and objects suggests a chronological order. It would appear that larger west-chamber tombs were associated with black incised pottery, while the east- end and side-chamber tombs tended to contain wheelmade vessels.43 Superstructures were noted in the cemetery. Charcoal from the later part of the earlier phase was dated to 300 B.C. ± 90, approximately confirming the early date of the phase at Abri.44

Chronologically, the Abri cemeteries seem to

complement each other, and they extend from

Napatan to at least IIB. Phase III is not yet clearly documented.

Sai: SA.S.2.TJ (1). A small cluster of late tombs has been reported from Sai Island that consists of Islamic (north-south), Christian, and a few Meroitic side-chamber tombs.45 Others existed, but were destroyed.46 One of those de-

stroyed yielded a high-necked Kushite wheelmade jar with elaborate decoration.47 The most important tomb contained a burial in a rectangular coffin with a variety of typical later Meroitic

objects.48 Even this final burial in the tomb had been partly plundered, and the tomb was reused.49 A second tomb of the same type contained a cup with a rim band and representational decoration.50 Above another tomb were a Kushite wheelmade cup and a globular jar, possibly of the same group, although it appears much like a typical narrow-necked Meroitic jar.51 The earliest material in this small cluster belongs to phase IIB. Burial 1 was probably made in IIIA, and the rim- band decorated cup is IIIB or later.

Soleb. Meroitic materials from the necropolis at Soleb consisted of two groups, a Meroitic cemetery and burials added to the deposits in New Kingdom tombs.

The Meroitic cemetery consisted of 102 tombs placed in a rather open arrangement on the desert well away from the New Kingdom cemetery. The tombs consisted of end chambers and a few side-chamber graves, with one square (pyramid) superstructure. Many of the tombs contained simple burials, with just the body or some objects of personal use; there was one burial with large anklets. Two black incised-impressed pots were found.52

41 V. Fernandez, "The Meroitic Cemetery of Emir Abdalla," Meroitica 7 (1982) 427-32.

42 Ibid. 43 Ibid., Fernandez, "Excavations at the Meroitic Cemetery

of Emir Abdallah (Abri, Northern Province, the Sudan); some

Aspects of the Pottery and its Distribution," Meroitic News- letter 20 (1980) 13-22. Vessels illustrated on pl. 1 (tombs 28 and 167) are tall-necked Kushite wheelmade jars, IIB; the low-necked Kushite wheelmade jar on pl. 2 (tomb 1 18) is IIA, as is the early Roman-Egyptian jar on pl. 4 (tomb 127). The black incised-impressed vessel on pl. 3 (tomb 128) is of II date.

44 Fernandez, "The Meroitic Cemetery of Emir Abdalla."

45 Jean Vercoutter, "La tombe meroitique SA.S.2.T.a. (1) de Sai," Etudes sur I'Egypte et le Soudan anciens 5 (1980) 210-36; fig. 2.

46 Ibid., 219-20. 47 Ibid., fig. 7. 48 Ibid., figs. 10-12. (T. 1). 49 Ibid., fig. 4. 50 Ibid., fig. 8. 51 Ibid., fig. 6; note that the jar's shoulder is carinated. 52 Michela Schiff Giorgini, Soleb II; les necropoles (Flor-

ence, 1971), plan, pl. 17; 344-67. For a burial with anklets, see

fig. 682, p. 348; for black incised pottery, see figs. 683 and 684.



A CHRONOLOGY OF MEROITIC OCCUPATION 1 75

The reuse of New Kingdom tombs contined somewhat later. Here, in addition to the black incised pottery, low-necked forms of Kushite wheelmade and a Roman-Egyptian pot were found.53

The Meroitic tombs themselves were probably confined to phase I, with only one or two burials of earliest IIA; the reuse of the New Kingdom tombs continued well into IIA.

Cemeteries from Faras to Dal: The Southern Triakontaschoinos

Faras. The premier cemetery and site in Lower Nubia, Faras contained some 2000 graves that were actually excavated. The number of burials, even as preserved, must have been vast indeed.54 With graves distributed in and around the temple of Tutankhamun, the present layout of the cemetery included a large official area to the north, rather like Karanog. The preliminary nature of the report would not permit a distribution analysis, but Griffith's remarks do help identify the earliest phase of materials.

Early Evidence: These were west-end chamber tombs (cave graves) of Griffith's earliest phase, sometimes with anklets,55 and very little else. Very little wood was preserved at Faras and only a few pieces were recorded.56 With only one clay coffin preserved,57 the perishable aspects of the earlier Meroitic burial were also not preserved; but it is clear that these graves correspond to the earliest phase at Qustul.

East-chamber graves followed in Griffith's scheme, and those cited contained Sudanese - Saharan black incised, Kushite wheelmade, and

Roman-Egyptian pottery of IIA, possibly some of IIB date.58

Griffith interpreted the side-chamber burials as a later form,59 although such tombs were actually contemporary with end-chamber tombs at Qustul and Ballana. Sudanese-Saharan pottery in them was of early types at Qustul.60 Some of the tombs were oriented north-south, and it would be difficult to consider them Meroitic.

Later Evidence: The cemetery was, if any- thing, even more intensively reused than others of the period, and without a more detailed publication it would be difficult to consider any of the tombs discussed as groups, or to associate the contents of any tomb with its structure. Griffith noted a considerable amount of alteration of earlier tombs in the cemetery; and the creation of some foot- and head-niche graves with brick vaults may actually have been due to remodeling earlier chamber tombs. In any case, vaulted tombs of the inverted V-type made of two bricks became quite common and they correspond to the major period of Cemetery B at Ballana.61 In this connection, Griffith noted red-coated bottle jars of late type as well as arrowheads and finger looses, all aspects of later burials in Cemetery B.

Apart from vessels cited, pottery also parallels a complete development as outlined, from the black incised,62 Kushite wheelmade,63 Roman- Egyptian,64 and common Meroitic decorated ves- sels65 that follow the full course of development from the banded Kushite wheelmade66 to elaborate Kushite wheelmade,67 to Meroitic "Academic" or close painted68 and the standard styles.69 Some vessels painted in the late styles were elaborate.70

53 Ibid., 369-83. For black incised-impressed (larger vessels), see figs. 747-49, 755; for Kushite wheelmade pottery, see fig. 736; for the early Roman-Egyptian decorated jar, see fig. 756.

54 F. LI. Griffith, "The Oxford Excavations in Nubia," LAAA 11 (1924) 141-80, see pp. 141-42; Idem., "Oxford Excavations in Nubia," LAAA 12 (1925) 57-172.

55 Griffith, LAAA 11, pl. 40; LAAA 12, 58. 56 Griffith, LAAA 11, 143; LAAA 12, nos. 572A (wood and

cloth), 1092 (wooden kohl tube), 1199 (kohl from tube, no wood preserved), 1217 (ivory fitting from casket), 1516 (kohl tube, decayed), 2515 (wooden kohl pot), and 2741 (same).

57 Griffith, LAAA 11, 146-47, pl. 35, 2. The anthropoid coffin was known in the Ptolemaic-Roman phase in the Dodekaschoinos. See below, p. 185.

58 Ibid., LAAA 12, 60, nos. 93, 303, 329, 397, 421, 687, 860, 957, 1224, 2338, 2339, 2369.

59 Ibid., 61. 60 Ibid., 61 and LAAA 12, especially pl. 43, 1-3. 61 Griffith, LAAA 11,62-63. 62 Ibid., pls. 15; 41-44. 63 Ibid., pls. 16-17, 28: LXVIII. 64 Ibid., pls. 18: VIII; 20: VIII, XX; 21: XXIX, XXXIII;

22-27, 28:LIV, also 49. 65 Ibid., pls. 19: XIII, XIV; 29. 66 Ibid., pl. 47:5, 6. 67 Ibid., pl. 46:13, 14. 68 Ibid., pl. 45:12, 13. 69 Ibid., pl. 45:9, 10. 70 Ibid., pl. 52:4.




Had the Faras cemetery been published in detail, it would have presented the Meroitic sequence more completely than Qustul-Ballana, for its large number of early west-chamber graves with simple burials probably began earlier than any major group in Cemetery Q at Qustul, although no early Napatan remains were noted in this cemetery.

Aksha. The Meroitic cemetery at Aksha contained about one-fifth the number of tombs found in Cemetery Q,71 and it illustrates a number of Qustul's features in detail. The cemetery, elongated in a north-south direction, consisted almost entirely of west-end chamber tombs with a few that had side chambers; there was one large brick vault.72 Only two superstructures were found. The shafts were mostly steeply cut as at Qustul, without steps. Tombs were fairly frequently reused, making a total of about 202 known burials;73 most of the tombs contained coffins.74

Some of the tombs at Aksha were simple coffin burials,75 but most contained pottery, black incised,76 Roman-Egyptian or heavy-walled Kushite wheelmade vessels.77 The fine/ordinary Meroitic pottery is not common,78 and late vessels are rare.79 The black incised pottery sometimes occurred alone, but it was found most often with Roman-Egyptian or Kushite wheelmade vessels. Thus the cemetery is most comparable to phase IIB at Qustul and Ballana, but probably began somewhat earlier, possibly even in phase I.

Argin. The Omodiyya of Argin contained three sites with Merotic burials, and a fourth with some Meroitic pottery reused in X-Group.80

(1) Nag Shay eg. Located near the center of the Omodiyya (Argin N.) was a large compact cemetery of end- and side-chamber tombs.81 Inter- spersed among them were a few A-Group pits, and a few later tombs were scattered, mostly around the periphery. The recovery of the cemetery was obstructed by houses on the north, south, and east. Most of the tombs had the chambers at the west end, while a few, mostly near the original center, had chambers on the east. Side-chamber tombs tended to be located near the edges of the cemetery.82 Plundering and reuse of the tombs makes chronological details extremely difficult to recover. A few tombs mostly located near the western edge of the cemetery contained simple burials or no remains.83 A number had coffins, but sherds may indicate that pottery was also present although the sherds could also have been tools.84

Early pottery, black incised and Kushite wheelmade occurred frequently in the cemetery;85 but material of later times also appeared, including simplified standard painted pottery,86 red-coated pottery,87 and cups with red rim bands.88 Earlier Roman-Egyptian pottery was represented by the "cookpots."89 Phase IIA was clearly present, as was IIIB-IV, but the so-called "Academic" style and contemporary Roman-Egyptian vessels were not present in any numbers.

(2) Nelluah. With about 50 tombs, the cemetery at Argin south was much smaller than Nag Shayeg.90 The cemetery consists mostly of west-

71 Andre Vila, Aksha II; le cimetiere mero'itique d' Aksha (Paris, 1967)313.

72 Ibid., 320. 73 Ibid., 323. 74 There were approximately 65 tombs with coffins. 75 Ibid., no. AM 50. 76 Ibid., fig. 162:6, 305. 77 Ibid., 333-56. 78 Ibid., fig. 213b, ("Academic"), and pl. VI:5 (Standard). 79 Ibid., fig. 198: a, e, both with rim-bands. 80 Manuel Pellicer Catalan, La Necropolis Meroitica de

Nag Shayeg Argin (Sudan). Memorias de la Mision Arqueo- logica, vol. XI, 2 (Madrid, 1963); Miguel Angel Garcia Guinea and Javier Teixidor, La Necropolis Meroitica de Nelluah, Memorias de las Mision Arqueologica, vol. 6 (Madrid, 1965); Manuel Pellicer and Miguel Llongueras, Las

Necropolis Meroiticas del Grupo "X" y Cristianas de Nag-el- Arab (Argin, Sudan). Memorias de las Mision Arqueologica, vol. 5 (Madrid, 1965); F. J. Presedo Velo, R. Blanco y Caro, and M. Pellicer Catalan, la Necropolis de Mirmad. Memorias de las Mision Arqueologica (Mision en Egipto), vol 11 (Madrid, 1970). Meroitic objects (figs. 89, 176, 208) at Mirmad appear to have been reused.

81 Catalan, Nag-Shayeg, figs. 1-2. 82 Ibid., fig. 2. 83 Ibid. See nos. 148 (coffin), 149, 150, 152, 173, 175, 189

(B-l), 190, 193, 199, 200 (A-l), 217, 220 (A-3). 84 Ibid., no. 172, for example. 85 Ibid., figs. 5-7. 86 Ibid. figs. 11:6, 10; 12:4-8; 8:1, 4. 87 Ibid., figs. 10:3; 9:4. 88 Ibid., figs. 11;5, 9; 12:3. 89 Ibid., fig. 14. 90 Guinea and Teixidor, Nelluah, figs. 1, 2.




and side-chamber tombs, with one vault.91 Coffins were not common.92 Many entries explicitly state that no pottery was found, but it would be difficult to determine the presence of Phase I on that basis alone.93

Otherwise, early evidence from the cemetery consisted of black incised pottery,94 Kushite wheelmade, Roman-Egyptian, and "Academic" painted vessels.95 The Kushite wheelmade vessels include a number of jars with very tall necks,96 unlike Nag Shayeg; and elaborately decorated Roman-Egyptian vessels were found,97 but no "cookpots", only the great globular jars.98 The major phase of the cemetery thus includes IIB- IIIA, the period least represented at Nag Shayeg.

Later burials with red-coated pottery, simple standard painted, and rim-band styles also occurred, but they were few and scattered.

(3) Nag el- Arab. The long cemetery west of Nag el-Arab at Argin North contained a substantial cemetery of Meroitic tombs along the northwestern edge (Zone F). Only the southern part of the group was excavated, leaving most of the tombs to the north unexcavated.99 A few of the tombs had side chambers, but most, at least, had chambers at the west end of a shaft or dromos; in a few cases, chambers were at the east end. As usual in Meroitic cemeteries, the tombs were substantially reused and pillaged. Pottery presented from them consisted of a few complete vessels and a very few fragments. Sherds were recorded more generally, however, with brief comments on their general character.

Early Evidence: Some of the most intriguing evidence was indicated by the existence of a number of long, narrow dromos approaches, mostly found near the eastern part of the explored

area.100 Some of these tombs contained handmade vessels with burnished red-brown exteriors, including bell-shaped beakers, conical beakers, and a lower conical bowl.101 Vessels of these shapes and general character occurred in the early Meroitic cemetery at Abri-Missiminia, in both hand- and wheel-made pottery.102 Were such a stage documented here, it would represent an aspect of Phase I not clearly shown in the groups at Qustul, cemetery Q.

Tombs with simple burials (the majority), sometimes in coffins,103 and occasionally with anklets,104 are connected more directly with Phase I in the Qustul cemetery. To these tombs could be added a number with identifiable pottery of Kushite wheelmade type;105 the one or two vessels of Roman-Egyptian origin cited are not chronologically distinctive.106

Later Evidence: None of the structures were necessarily late. Of the objects, red-coated pottery by itself is not an indication of late date, for Kushite wheelmade vessels were often red-coated. The only late vessel illustrated was a globular jar with a pattern of beads painted on the shoulder, of IIIB-IVA.107

Buhen. Apart from scattered remains of settlement and two religious structures,108 Meroitic remains at Buhen consisted of burials deposited in New Kingdom tombs. Some of this reuse was very substantial.109

91 Ibid, tomb 1: pp. 11-13. 92 Ibid., tomb 20. 93 Ibid., chapter II, 15-90. 94 Ibid., tomb 6. 95 Ibid., figs. 5:2 (tomb 5); 12:2 (tomb 9); 14:5; 15:3, 4; 16:3

(tomb 10), for example. 96 Ibid., figs. 7:1, 2; 17:1; 22:5, 7. 97 Ibid., figs. 7:3; 10:2; 17:2 (trellis). 98 Ibid., figs. 24:1-2; 26:7; For later pottery see figs. 25:3-7;

26:1, 2; 27:1, 2, 29. 99 Pellicer and Llongueras, Nag-el- Arab, Plan, Zone F,

and plate 1.

100 Ibid., nos. 624, 622, 626, 628, 629, for example. 101 Ibid., no. 628, 629 (both long trench tombs); see also

nos. 606, and 570, possibly 657. 102 See above, p. 171. 103 Ibid., nos. 656, 555, 567. 104 Ibid., nos. 576, 587; 585 also contained a tall hand-

made cup. 105 Ibid., nos. 620, 615; tomb 611 contained black incised-

impressed pottery. 106 Ibid., fig. 26:7 (from no. 615). 107 Ibid., fig. 19:1. 108 D. Randall-Maclver and C. Leonard Woolley, Buhen.

Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia, vol 8 (Phila- delphia, 1911) 125-28.

109 Ibid. For cemetery K, see pp. 197-216; for cemetery H, pp. 137-66; for cemetery J, see pp. 167-79. Early evidence includes black incised-impressed pottery (pl. 69) and coffin burials in H2 1 , H22, and K 1 6; two in H4 and J9 may be later. H5 contained standard painted pottery. Tombs with Meroitic deposits generally include H3, H4 (74 vessels !), H5, H8, H9, H15, H37,H65, H68, H69, H71, Jl, J4, J8, J9, J13, J15, J19,




Semna South. The Oriental Institute Sudan Expedition excavated one of the largest Meroitic cemeteries at Semna South, which has been summarized in a preliminary report.110 Most of the tombs were of end-chamber type, with a few (late?) brick vaults.111

Although the cemetery was thoroughly disturbed and tombs were repeatedly reused, remaining objects suffice to indicate the general chronology.

Except for weapons,112 the published objects from Semna South are all early. Most remark- able of these are a series of heavy-walled jars with tall necks decorated in the "Academic" or close style that preceded the development of standard painted styles.113 The cemetery was probably constructed in I-IIB, with only a few tombs reused later.

Serra East. None of the sites on the east bank from Qustul to the cataract were very large, and the occurrences were scattered. As excavated by the Scandinavian expedition, the tombs were often dated by sherds, and the nature of the tomb itself did not play a major role in dating.114 Earlier, Griffith had noticed that important New Kingdom tombs near Serra Fort were reused in the Meroitic Period, a reuse that parralleled that of the New Kingdom cemeteries at Buhen.115

(1) Serra-25. The Meroitic parts of the cemetery mostly consisted of two clusters, with some

A-Group loci interspersed among the graves and X-Group tombs at the edges of the northern cluster. A larger cluster of X-Group tombs was located to the north and smaller clusters of Christian tombs were found to the northwest, west, and south.116

Although its superficial appearance was rather like the Qustul cemetery, it differed in that most tombs had chambers on the west end, an arrangement no longer common, even in the early area of Qustul. Moreover, the northern cluster contained near the center, a series of tombs with long, narrow dromoi, often stepped;117 and a few of these occurred in the southern cluster also118 (east-end chamber tombs predominated in the southern cluster).

The cemetery was reused, even in X-Group, and original burials did not remain to give additional evidence of date.119 The long dromos tombs were located at the center of each cluster, which indicates that they were earlier than the tombs that surrounded them.120 These were X-Group or undated, except for one burial with anklets, which can be connected to others of the type.121 Either these tombs are to be dated to the earlier Meroitic Period, prior to Qustul and contemporary with similar tombs at Abri, or they were a unique form of X-Group burial, copied from the cemeteries at Meroe.

Otherwise, the occurrence of black incised, Kushite wheelmade, and Roman-Egyptian pottery dates this cemetery to IIB and before, while a few late (red-coated) vessels indicated a reuse in IV.

(2) Serra-280. Just south of cemetery 25, probably part of the same complex, cemetery 280 contained a few west-end chamber tombs and some with east-end chambers; two have pyramids.122 One tomb contained both Roman- Egyptian and Kushite wheelmade pottery of IIB type. Another contained a coffin burial with

J27, J43, J44, and K16. H68 had a ba-hgure (aviform); another New Kingdom tomb was given a Meroitic superstructure. Buhen contained a Meroitic cemetery with no Meroitic tombs. See also Serra East, below.

110 Louis V. Zabkar and Joan J. Zabkar, "Semna South. A Preliminary Report on the 1966-68 Excavations of the Univer- sity of Chicago Oriental Institute Expedition to Sudanese Nubia," JARCE 19 (1982) 21-28.

111 Ibid., 21; on p. 28, the very late date of a "frog" lamp is discussed; there were also a few slab-roofed tombs.

112 Ibid., 23. 113 Ibid., illustrations, 42-48. 114 Save-Soderbergh, Englund and Nordstrom, eds., Late

Nubian Cemeteries 18-19. For example, 25.314, a Meroitic end-chamber tomb, was dated to X-Group on the basis of a cup in the disturbed fill. The drawing is somewhat difficult to compare with other materials (B2), but it resembles Roman- Egyptian cups of Meroitic IIB date from Qustul more than any X-Group vessel.

115 F. LI. Griffith, "Oxford Excavations in Nubia," LAAA 8 ( 1 92 1 ) 98. The Meroitic reuse of these New Kingdom tombs included the addition of funerary sculpture.

116 Save-Soderbergh, Englund, and Nordstrom, eds., Late Nubian Cemeteries, pls. 23, 24.

117 Ibid., cemetery 25, tombs 66, 39, 35, 119, 130, 76. 118 Ibid., cemetery 25, tomb 252. 119 Ibid., cemetery 25, tombs 66 and 76 have bowls of

X-Group date. 120 Ibid., pls. 23-24. 121 Ibid., cemetery 25, tomb 97. 122 Ibid., cemetery 280, tombs 241 and 239 (pl. 39).




Roman-Egyptian pottery and a lead cup, also probably IIB.123

Abka. Two small cemeteries contained evidence of Meroitic date.

(1) Abka-250. A modest cemetery of west- and east-end chamber tombs included some with quite narrow dromos approaches. One tomb dromos was stepped, as in Upper Nubia.124 Sever- al tombs contained no finds and most were disturbed or repeatedly reused. It seems likely that the first tombs were made in Phase I,125 and that construction may have continued through IIB, as indicated by a coffin burial in a west-end chamber tomb with Kushite wheelmade pottery and the occurrence of Roman -Egyptian and "Aca- demic" style painting in the cemetery.126 Later vessels were probably deposited in a phase of reuse.

(2) Abka-416. Some of the tombs in this cemetery of west-end chamber graves127 were reused in X-Group.128 Actual Meroitic pottery present is said in the description to be substantially late. Several of the tombs contained no finds, and it would be difficult to justify dating the tombs by their contents. In any case, they were reused between IIIB and IV.

Cemeteries from Qustul to Wadi es-Sebua: The Northern Triakontaschoinos

Karanog (Aniba). After Faras, the great cemetery at Aniba was the largest of Meroitic Lower Nubia, with about 800 tombs containing probably a maximum of 3,000 burials.129 The tombs included the major types discussed above, west- end chamber (with dromos or with shaft), east-end chamber, side-chamber and vaults, both elaborate and simple.130 Slab -roofed tombs were also found and the structures of some tombs were altered to

accommodate newer forms of burial.131 The cemetery itself was not a compact mass of tombs but included a number of divisions or clusters.132 A large compact group to the west was the largest in the cemetery, while a second large cluster to the east contained a major group of pyramid tombs that include those of the pesto princes, reminiscent of the "official quarter" in the Faras cemetery. There are two smaller clusters to the north of the main ones; and the westernmost of these, along with the westernmost tombs of the great mass, preserve row-like arrangements of tombs reminiscent of the Qustul Cemetery.

An approximate idea of the tomb structures in the cemetery can be obtained from the plan and the register, but only a few were described in detail.133 The report is dominated by the characteristic elaborate and often finely decorated pottery vessels.

Early Evidence: Well over a hundred tombs contained no pottery at all.134 Many of these also contained burials and some may correspond to the simple burials characteristic of early Qustul and Abri. However, wood was not often mentioned in the report and coffin burials were quite rare, although they do occur, in the style of early Qustul.135 It remains possible that multiple extended burials were made here in Christian times, which would account for a number of the scattered burials without pottery, but some evidence of so late a use would probably have found its way into the report. The excavators recorded sherds by type.

Other early evidence includes black incised pottery;136 but the tall-necked jars with impressed

123 Ibid., cemetery 280, tomb 188 (pl. 40). 124 Ibid., 158-65; pls. 60-63; see tomb 41. 125 Ibid., cemetery 250, tombs 17, 31, and 32 are possible. 126 Ibid., cemetery 250, tombs 42 (IIA), 8, 43, 44 (IIB). 127 Ibid., 167-71, pl. 64. 128 Ibid., cemetery 416, tombs 14 and 23. 129 C. Leonard Woolley and D. Randall -Maclver, Karanog.

Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia, vols. 3-4 (Phila- delphia, 1910) 3.

130 Ibid., plan; 22-24.

131 Ibid. See G384 (p. 43) and G445 (p. 44), for example. 132 Ibid., plan. For an important discussion of Meroitic

social relations with some implications for the development of cemeteries, see Abdelgadir M. Abdalla, "Meroitic Social Stratification," Meroitica 7 (1984) 23-84, especially the appen- dices and figs. 1-5. It may be assumed that the tomb-locations of families I, II, and IV at Karanog were original, in the "official quarter" of the cemetery, but lesser families (II, V, VI) could as well have reused and remodeled tombs.

133 Woolley and Randall-Maclver, Karanog, 32-45; see also figs. A-C; there are about 14 tombs.

134 Ibid., tabular analysis, 116-237; note that sherds are entered.

135 Ibid., nos. Gl, G8 (coffin, called a bier), and G177 (coffin).

136 Ibid., pls. 100(9011), 101-11.




animal decoration do not occur, and we cannot be sure that its appearance here indicates the presence of burials of early IIA. Early pottery of other kinds is also absent; the gourd-shaped Kushite wheelmade jars with bands or more elaborate painted decoration so important at Faras do not occur, nor does the early form of Roman-Egyptian painted pottery, with "trellis" decoration (See fig. 6b).

Later Evidence: Meroitic fine globular jars with short, wide necks are the earliest evidence of date before IIIA in the pottery of the cemetery. A few vessels belong to the "Academic" or close- painted style.137 Almost all other vessels must be assigned to the standard or late styles.138 The great age of the cemetery's pottery groups began in IIB after the disappearance of the most distinctive Kushite wheelmade pottery.

This "pottery period" includes some of the most important pieces of most later styles and groups, and these will not be detailed except to note the full complex of vine decoration in Roman-Egyptian pottery,139 cups with red rim- bands,140 and red-coated vessels, some magnifi- cently decorated.141 The importance of later materials is reinforced by the appearance of weapons.142

Summary, Karanog: Changes in the pottery paralleled Phases E IIA? (black incised), possibly later IIB (without Kushite wheelmade), and III- IV phases. The date of the original construction of many tombs remains a difficult question. At Ballana, end-chamber tombs were still made in IIIA, but by IIIB, the large majority were brick vaults of the kind also found at Faras. Brick vaults, even simple ones, were also found at Karanog; and almost all of the large tombs of officials in the center of the eastern group belong to the type. The reuse of New Kingdom cemeteries at Buhen and, to a lesser extent, at Serra leave us

with the possibility that Karanog, in the late

phases when pottery was deposited, at least partly represented the reuse of an earlier cemetery, even to the extent of adding superstructures above old chambers.

Wadi es-Sebua. Two parts of the large cemetery 150 were excavated by C. M. Firth in the first Nubian Survey (1-57)143 and the remainder (58 and following) by Emery and Kirwan.144 The large cemetery area straggled considerably to the north and south. Tombs excavated by Firth were in two areas, the northern, of end-chamber tombs with slab blocking, and the southern, with primarily slab-roofed tombs, some under simple square stone or brick superstructure foundations.145 The areas explored by Emery and Kirwan contained a few tombs of this latter type,146 but most tombs had west-end chambers. A few tombs were not on an east- west axis,147 and there were a few north-south tombs with broad ramps of a type that occurred more frequently in Cemetery 163.148 The area excavated by Emery and Kirwan also contained distinguishable clusters.149 Two small ones occurrred to the north, and the main area to the south was not compact. One part of this southern area extended well to the west of the main body of tombs. Superstruc- ture foundations consisting of hollow squares and rectangles were found to the south and east in the southern cluster.

Early Meroitic Evidence: Several tombs in the southern and central parts of the area excavated by Emery and Kirwan had very long dromoi.150 Most of these contained no objects

137 Ibid., pls. 58:G546, G777; 70:G401; 71:G753, G730; 72:G316; 74.

138 Ibid., pls. 41-100, various. 139 For examples of the early vine, see ibid., pls. 99:9021;

57:G553; 54:G542; 45:G712 (both); for the later vine, see pls. 44:G631; 56:G712, G235; 67:G665; 68:G665; 75:G645, G281.

140 Ibid., pls. 93:G451; 94:G387, G448, G371. 141 Ibid., pis 41.-G271; 42:G156, G271; 45:G112. 142 Ibid., pls. 34; 35:G324 and various objects shown below.

143 C. M. Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1910-1911 (Cairo, 1927), 229-33.

144 \y. B. Emery and (Sir) Laurence P. Kirwan, The Exava- tions and Survey between Wadi es-Sebua and Adindan (Cairo, 1935), 70-102.

145 Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1910-1911, plan 13.

H6 Emery and Kirwan, The Excavations and Survey between Wadi es-Sebua and Adindan, cemetery 150, tombs 275, 162 (possibly), 132, and some simple shafts, such as 125.

147 Ibid., cemetery 150, tomb 81. 148 Ibid., cemetery 150, tombs 288-90, 152, 182. 149 Ibid., pl. 43. 150 Ibid., examples of W 10 tombs include cemetery 150,

tombs 66, 67, 95, 68, 89, 81, 84, 91, 310 (especially), 314, 315, 317, 277, 281, 313, 282, 283, 270, 238, and 252.




that were recorded.151 One tomb contained objects, but no pottery.152 paralleling the simple burial at Qustul; and anklets also occurred alone.153 Black incised pottery was found,154 along with some possible Kushite wheelmade155 and earlier Roman- Egyptian pottery.156 Other Roman-Egyptian pottery was also found.157

Later Meroitic Evidence: As noted above, many tombs were slab-roofed and some were vaulted. Standard painted pottery,158 red-coated,159 and other late styles also appeared in the cemetery.

Summary, Meroitic Evidence: The long- dromos Meroitic tombs and early burials indicate that 150 was begun by the end of Phase I. However, as usual in northern Lower Nubia, the early forms of Meroitic pottery did not occur in circumstances that indicate that many tombs were made in II. It seems likely that the other burials were actually made in III and IV; earlier chamber tombs were reused and new vaulted and slab-roofed tombs were constructed.

Other Evidence: Several tombs made on a north-south axis, with side chambers at the bottom of a broad, sloping ramp, clearly resemble a major group found in Cemetery 163.160 The orientation of these tombs is typical of many Ptolemaic- Roman burials in the Dodekaschoi- nos,161 and tombs in this cemetery also contained early jars and a cup from Egypt.162 In any case, neither the design nor the orientation of the tombs is characteristic of Meroitic Lower Nubia.

Korosko (163). The cemetery excavated oppo- ite Korosko at er-Riqa exhibited a number of unusual features, many probably due to the reuse of objects and pottery as well as the 152 tombs.

The Meroitic part of the cemetery consisted of west-chamber tombs found to the north and west and east-west shafts, some slab-roofed, others with side chambers, found to the south and east.163 Between these two parts and among the tombs was a cemetery of north-south shafts with slab roofs and broad ramps with trench niches along the west side.

Early Meroitic Evidence: A few vessels may be related to Roman-Egyptian "trellis" type painted pottery and Kushite wheelmade jars of earlier types, and one jar appears to be painted in the close or "Academic" style.164

Later Meroitic Evidence: Despite the appearance of some Roman-Egyptian pottery, even with vine decoration,165 most Meroitic vessels belong to the standard and late styles.166 The early and late phases of the cemetery are thus dated to II and IIIB-IV. IIIA (Academic) may have been present.

Other Materials: The north-south tombs with wide ramps and side chambers pose an interesting problem. One contained a vessel with an inscription Emery and Kirwan dated to the fifth or sixth century.167 However, materials from two others are not late.168 A cup from tomb 129 has an evenly convex side and well-painted vine; the objects from tomb 131, bronze kohl stick, amphora, juglet, and rings with small bezels, are also not late. The form of tomb W9 is not Meroitic. Despite the late date proposed for the inscription, the other objects and simple burials better fit the description of Ptolemaic-Roman tombs in the Dodekaschoinos as does the orientation. The W9 graves in Korosko 163 should therefore be assigned to this earlier period, just before the establishment of the Meroitic cemetery.169

151 Sherds are not noted. 152 Ibid., cemetery 150, tomb 180. 153 Ibid., cemetery 150, tomb 1. 154 Ibid., cemetery 150, tomb 28, with Roman-Egyptian

pottery. 155 Ibid., cemetery 150, tomb 139. 156 Ibid., cemetery 150, tombs 207 and 139. 157 Ibid., cemetery 150, tombs 134, 196, 200, 253, 234 (with a

possible "Academic" pot), 162. 158 Ibid., cemetery 150, tombs 128, 130, 132, 162, 170, 229,

250. 159 Ibid., cemetery 150, tombs 125, 148, for example. 160 Ibid., cemetery 150, tombs 288-90, 152, 182. 161 See below, p. 184. 162 Ibid., pottery, types WXXVIId, WVI, and WIVa.

163 Ibid., pl. 47; pp. 151-68. 164 Ibid., cemetery 163, tombs 51, 140, and 143. 165 Ibid., cemetery 163, tombs 1, 3, 29, 65, 67 (late), and 100

(late). 166 Ibid., cemetery 163, tombs 39 (standard), 40 (decorated

red-coated), 43 (same), 64 (mixed; standard and X-Group goblets), 99 (rim-band cup), 132 (standard), 136 (rim-band and red-coated vessels).

167 Ibid., cemetery 163, tomb 105. 168 Ibid., cemetery 163, tombs 129, 131, and 3. 169 Ibid., cemetery 163, tombs 3 (pottery), 5 (reused in

Meroitic?), 6-8, 9 (pottery), 10-15, 18, 22, 76, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89,




Ibrim 192A and 192C. Two small clusters of pyramid tombs were excavated north of the rock at Qasr Ibrim.170 Both were very late, and the second group may be among the latest remains in Meroitic Nubia. Cemetery 192 A contained three pyramids with stone foundations erected over shafts with vaults built on ledges.171 One head from a ba- figure was found, with a sun disc.172 Meroitic pottery was very simple, a cylindrical cup with a convex (?) base and a globular jar with an everted rim.173 The second group (192C) consisted of five brick pyramids, also erected over brick vaults built on ledges (more were present but they were covered by a modern cemetery).174 Fragments of figurines were found here too. Pottery consisted of conical cups and two very ungainly jars with splayed lower sides.175 None of the pottery from these cemeteries was decorated, apart from the red coat. The cemetery dates to phase IV and may be so late as to continue the series of official tombs at Karanog (Aniba) to the end of Meroitic Nubia.

Masmas. A small cemetery at Nag Sawesra North was only partly excavated by the Spanish mission.176 The tombs were pits with end chambers. Above were open square (pyramid) and one rectangular (mastaba) superstructure. The tombs had been repeatedly reused.

Roman-Egyptian vessels with curvilinear vines177 occurred, and standard painted pottery was common. The pottery from the cemetery can be assigned to Phase III.

Toshka West. A large cemetery of some 200 tombs, TWA, excavated at Toshka West included many Meroitic west-end chamber tombs, some with secondary chambers cut from the sides of

the shaft. No superstructures were found.178 Few pottery vessels of the many found were illustrated, but these included a standard painted jug, sherds of close painted vessels, and, most interesting, sherds of vessels painted with the very early vine type decoration noted in IIA at Qustul, and in the Ptolemaic-Roman period of the Dodeka- schoinos.179

Arminna East. The cemetery of some 75 tombs at Arminna was made up almost entirely of end-chamber tombs with a few with side or vaulted chambers.180 The simple coffin burial was not present, but simple incised offering tables did occur,181 as did black incised pottery.182 A number of tombs were empty. As at Karanog, characteristic Kushite wheelmade jars and beakers did not appear. The cemetery was badly plundered, however, and fragmentary vessels may not have been noted.183 Those remaining indicated a date of late IIB and III.

Arminna West. Cemetery AWB at Arminna contained a number of important pyramid tombs with elaborate fittings. Details of the burials and objects are not available in sufficient detail to date phases, except to note that the type of substructure, a simple roofed (?) shaft, is characteristic of later sites, and probably dates some, if not most, of this cemetery to IIIB-IV.184

Abu Simbel West (214). Approximately 175 graves were described from a cemetery located

94, 96, 98, 100, 101, 102, 105, 106, 129 (pottery), 131 (pottery, objects), 133.

170 A. J. Mills, The Cemeteries of Qasr Ibrim. EES mem. 51 (London, 1982) 36-38.

171 Ibid., pls. 38, 44. 172 Ibid., pl. 38:3.4. 173 Ibid., 3.3, 3.1. 174 Ibid., 44-45; pl. 50. 175 Ibid., pl. 49. 176 Martin Almagro, Eduardo Ripoll and Luis A. Monreal,

Las Necropolis de Masmas Alt Egipto (Campana de 1963). Memorias de la Mision Arqueologica, vol. 3 (Madrid, 1964) 39-68.

177 Ibid., fig. 41:5, 4.

178 William Kelly Simpson, "Toshka-Arminna 1962; The Pennsylvania-Yale Archeological Expedition to Nubia," in no ed. Fouilles en Nubie 1961-1963 (Cairo, 1967) 169-84.

179 Ibid., fig. 5: TWA 140.4 (standard), TWA 126.2 and 158.5 ("Academic"), TWA 101.1-2 and 168.1 (early vine; see below, p. 184 for its appearance in the Dodekaschoinos, p. 186 at Ibrim and above p. 181 at Korosko).

i8o Hermann Junker, Ermenne; Bericht u'ber die Grabungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien auf den Friedhofen von Ermenne (Nubien) in Winter 1911/12. Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Phil-Hist Klasse, Denkschriften, vol. 67: 1 (Vienna, 1925) 120-25, pls. 3-6.

181 Ibid., pl. 12. 182 Ibid., 118. 183 Ibid., pls. 10-11. 184 William Kelly Simpson, "The Pennsylvania-Yale Expe-

dition to Egypt, Preliminary Report for 1963: Toshka and Arminna (Nubia)," in no ed. Fouilles en Nubie 1961-1963, 185-94. See also Idem., "The Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt, Preliminary Report for 1963: Toshka and Arminna (Nubia)," JARCE 3 (1964) 15-22.




about a kilometer north of the Abu Simbel temples.185 As usual, most of the graves had been reused, some repeatedly.186 The cemetery was not densely crowded, but extended well to the north and south. North-south oriented X-Group tombs occurred near the southern end of the cemetery, while a number of Christian burials were scattered in the cemetery and clustered near the eastern side near the midpoint.187

As Emery and Kirwan pointed out, only a few of the tombs had end chambers.188 Some tombs with chambers at the west end of the shaft were located in a cluster near the center,189 and the few with chambers on the east end were in a small group to the southeast.190 All other tombs were graves with side chambers, vaults, or slab roofs.191

Early Evidence: End-chamber tomb 75 contained a dark incised-impressed jar and a scarab; 79 had Kushite wheelmade and Roman-Egyptian pottery, and 80 contained Roman-Egyptian and handmade pottery. Tomb 36 contained an incised jar with a mix of Roman -Egyptian (some broken) and standard painted pottery. These tombs are the only indication that part of the cemetery began before IIIA, most probably in IIB.

Later Evidence: Apart from the tombs themselves, standard painted pottery occurs,192 sometimes with simple Roman-Egyptian vessels.193 Late painting occurs in simple bands,194 rim- bands,195 and simple bead motifs,196 while red-

coated cups and jars occur in tombs throughout the cemetery, even in the baggy late shapes.

Summary, 214: Cemetery 214 was used for a short time in Phase II, probably only IIB. However, the lack of elaborate Roman-Egyptian pottery and fine jars in the close painted or "Academic" style indicates that the major period did not begin before IIIB and continued

through IVB. The cemetery closely parallels Ballana cemetery B.

Meroitic Remains in the Dongola Reach

Kerma and the region of Napata are the only major places where Meroitic remains have been detailed in the entire area, although it would be difficult to believe that such a rich land was

substantially depopulated in this period. How- ever, despite their small size and number and

many special features, the cemeteries of the

Dongola Reach could be readily correlated with the general Meroitic sequence as found farther north. They date from all phases, although II was less well represented than the others.

Sanam. Apart from the Meroitic Pyramids of Barkal, Griffith found rather little of Meroitic date in the cemetery of Sanam. The remains consisted of secondary burials in Napatan tombs. These contained some tall-necked jars probably of IIB type.197

Kerma. Two Meroitic cemeteries have been reported from Kerma; both were rather small, although neither was completely excavated.

(1) "La necropole de Vecole." The earlier of the two cemeteries was a small group of mostly shaft and west-end chamber tombs located in the courtyard of a school in the modern town.198 Three rows of tombs can be distinguished with a few other burials that may not belong to the cemetery proper.

185 Emery and Kirwan, The Excavations and Survey between Wadi es-Sebua and Adindan, 417-50 and pl. 55.

186 Ibid., 417. 187 Emery and Kirwan dated a number of tombs (Ibid.,

tombs 1, 12, 13, 14, 15, 27, 156, and 157) to Christian times; the cluster 46-67 should be added to the list.

188 Ibid., 417, pl. 55, type W10; "no more than 11 tombs." 189 Ibid., cemetery 214, tombs 75, 76, 152, 151, 79, 80,

81, 111. 190 Ibid., cemetery 214, tombs 17, 19, and 173; one unnum-

bered tomb was located just north of the central group. 191 Emery and Kirwan noted in this connection the pre-

dominance of simple "red-polished" jars and contrasted both tombs and pottery with cemetery 150.

192 Ibid., cemetery 214, tombs 39, 40, 74 (late), 88, 105, 109, 114, 151.

193 Ibid., cemetery 214, tomb 73, for example. 194 Ibid., cemetery 214, tombs 85, 105, 109, 114, 117, 125. 195 Ibid., cemetery 214, tomb 93. 196 Ibid., cemetery 214, tombs 73, 88.

197 F. LI. Griffith, "Oxford Excavations in Nubia." LA A A 13 (1927) 17-35. See pl. 12 and pp. 19-20. New evidence is also coming to light at Barkal; Irene Vincentelli, "La ceramica dei quadrati F7-G7," Meroitica 6 (1982) 313-16. Loredana Sist, "Alcune ceramiche decora ta, "Meroitica 6 (1982) 317-21; figs. 1-2, 3:F.7.1. may be related to phase II.

198 Charles Bonnet, "Fouilles archeologiques a Kerma (Soudan); Rapport preliminaire de la Campagne 1977-1978," Genava 26 (1978) 107-27; fig. 7. See 120; 23 tombs were noted.




The burials, extended head west, were very often made in anthropoid coffins; but one burial at least was in a rectangular coffin,199 in a brick chamber that may have been built in an earlier tomb. A number of the burials were simple, as at Abri, but some contained objects and Kushite wheelmade pottery that could be related to the sequence at Qustul-Ballana. These were low- necked piriform jars with a smooth profile, decorated with broad vines, a wavy band, or horizontal bands.200 It is noteworthy that the illustrated vessels were deposited with the last of three coffin burials; the first two had no other goods. The cemetery dates to I-IIA.

(2) Northern Meroitic Cemetery. The cemetery found by Reisner northwest of the Lower Deffufa was quite different.201 Badly denuded, the tombs nevertheless showed a varied orientation not found in cemeteries farther north or the earlier Meroitic cemetery in the schoolyard. Most were north-south chambers approached by a sloping shaft or ramp from the east or west.202 A few were simple shafts (with a wall of brick blocking that may indicate they were chambers whose shafts had been removed); one was a shaft with a narrow chamber at the east end of normal Meroitic type.203 The cemetery was so severely denuded that plans could have been altered by the erosion. Although remains of burials were recovered, no evidence of coffins was noted.

The most prominient aspect of the remains was painted pottery of "Academic" or close style and standard types.204 One black incised vessel of late type was also illustrated.205 Some juglets of Roman-Egyptian type were also found.206 Late materials included red-coated jars with narrow necks207 and arrowheads.208 Although many as-

pects of this cemetery were unusual, evidence is sufficient to correlate it with other cemeteries discussed here. It dated from (IIB-) III-IV.

As mentioned above, the cemetery was very much denuded, a circumstance Reisner attributed to wind erosion. It must also be considered possible that the denudation of the "Plain of Potsherds" was due to sebakh-digging as well and that the vast plain was occupied by installations now virtually destroyed.209

III. The Relative Chronology of Meroitic Cemeteries and the Dodekaschoinos;

The Problem of Settlement Sites

Two problems of significance have not been considered in this inquiry. The chronology of remains in the Dodekaschoinos is related to the problem of Meroitic occupation generally by the similarity of early burials in the regions south of Aswan and by the occurrence of actual Ptolemaic- Roman burials in cemeteries 150 and 163. The problem of settlement sites themselves has much in common with the problem of chronology in the Dodekaschoinos; and selected sites from the Dodekaschoinos and the Triakontaschoinos will be considered together.

The Dodekaschoinos. The lower parts of the valley in the Dodekaschoinos were largely explored by the first archaeological survey of Nubia. In the course of these explorations, the survey encountered numerous cemeteries, some very large, which they dated to the Ptolemaic and Roman- "Byzantine" periods (prior to X-Group).210

The wealthier burials called Ptolemaic were made in stone sarcophagi, mummies with cartonnage panels, and placed in end- chamber tombs cut into the rock. Sometimes many burials were put in a tomb. Other burials of descending wealth and status were made in end-chamber tombs cut into the higher alluvium deposits, made with either a dromos or pit and blocked

199 Ibid., 122, tomb 39. 200 Ibid., fig. 16; one is inscribed. 201 G. A. Reisner, Excavations at Kerma, Parts I -III.

Harvard African Studies, vol. 5 (Cambridge, Mass. 1923) 41-57.

202 Ibid., 41 and plan 12. 203 Ibid., plan 12, unnumbered tomb, below, center. 204 Ibid., figs. 12, 15. 205 Ibid., fig. 16:45. 206 Ibid., fig. 15:34-35. 207 Ibid., 45: V3 R-BW. 208 Ibid., fig. 22.

209 For the location, see ibid., plan 1. Alternatively, sherd scatters could be attributed to the deposition of sebakh on fields now disused.

210 Detailed bibliographic analysis will not be undertaken here. Major descriptions are in the following volumes: G. A. Reisner, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia; Report for




with stone slabs.211 These also were often mummies with cartonnage panels of types generally well known in Ptolemaic Egypt, and some had gold leaf faces of types dated to the early Roman period in Egypt.212 There were even remains of three portrait boards.213 Many burials, however, contained no objects, and offered no evidence for date other than their general character. Some strikingly resembled tombs at Qustul and simple burials at Karanog, even to the leaf garlands added to the burial.214 It would be difficult to exclude some relationship between the regions in this period.

Even though burials of the kind under discussion cannot be dated with detailed precision, the forms of cartonnage are clearly Ptolemaic; and it is equally clear that during the period between the fifth century B.C.215 and the third century of

our era, the Dodekaschoinos was occupied with some intensity ("a large and uninteresting class of graves").

Settlements. Settlements were frequently reported in Lower Nubia, and sometimes excavated. However, the finds have only occasionally been presented in sufficient detail for investigators to arrive at an independent opinion of their date and significance. Moreover, the excavations were generally conducted in an architectural manner, designed for broad clearances rather than strati- graphical control, and without baulks. This and the problem of mixture noted above make it difficult to justify chronological conclusions based on sherd evidence alone. Nevertheless a comparison between the cemeteries and selected settlements with published or accessible remains is useful.

Dakka. The problem of relating settlements and cemeteries is highlighted in the Dakka plain. There, simple Ptolemaic and Roman burials, almost entirely without pottery, were found in five cemeteries, two of them major, and one, 98:1, among the largest in Lower Nubia.216 The corresponding settlement, however, consisted only of the "customs house" with nearby pottery deposits; the former was protected because it was thought to be a qubba. Some broken walls and Dakka camp remained to the south. This massive structure was itself preserved only in fragments and the interior structures had almost disappeared, leaving only the temple.217 Firth recorded that the cemeteries were themselves in process of being destroyed by sebakh-diggers.218 Thus the cemeteries indicated the presence of settlements far more than the tatters of town or fort, and even these were about to be ruined.

Wadi el- Arab. The straggling houses of this settlement contained material that ranged in date from Meroitic to X-Group (both Blemmyan and

1907-1908; Volume I; Archaeological Report (Cairo, 1910); see especially pp. 343-44, with the chambers normally oriented at right angles to the hillside; C. M. Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia; Report for 1908-1909 (Cairo, 1912), especially pp. 30-34; on p. 33, burials of the fifth century B.C. are described, but dated later because of "a certain retardation of culture"; Idem, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1909-1910 (Cairo, 1915), especially pp. 160-62, 22-24 and the discussion of Dakka settlement (Pselchis) on pp. 25-38; Idem, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1910-1911, especially pp. 30-31 (comparison of Ptolemaic-Roman and Meroitic burials) and 43-45 (tabular resume). Specific cemeteries and other installations were cited in the tabular resume by B. G. Trigger, History and Settlement. The most important cemeteries were 89 (Awam) and 98 (Dakka), but cemeteries were very numerous, especially near Aswan. The most detailed discussion of remains in the Dodekaschoinos in this period remains Ugo Monneret de Villard, La Nubia Romana (Rome, 1941); the relationship between cemeteries and settlements/temples is discussed as well as the potential role of the vine (pp. 40-42) and the saqiya (pp. 43-46).

211 Reisner, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1907-1908, 343-44.

212 Specific illustrations of sarcophagi, coffins and cartonnage appear in Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1908-1909 plates 22-32. For gilt faces, see pl. 27:b-c; Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1909- 1910, 26.

213 Reisner, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1907-1908, 344.

214 Ibid., 343-44; see Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1909-1910, 162 and list.

215 Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1908-1909, 33. Antecedents of the Ptolemaic burial with

wooden and gilt coffins are described. They were assigned a later date, however, solely on the basis of an assumed "retardation of culture."

216 Firth, The Archeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1909-1910, 160-62.

217 Ibid., 25-38. 218 Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for

1908-1909, 43-44.




later).219 Although it may be assumed that these houses were originally of Meroitic construction, very little in them was of Meroitic date; they do not correspond to a cemetery.

A rminna. Fragments of an extensive settlement were found at Arminna west.220 These were fairly widely scattered, well beyond the area occupied by a compact Christian townsite in the center.221 The original Meroitic settlement area as recon- structed would be roughly comparable in area to a modern hamlet, although the smaller houses (rather than the large modern house compounds) might indicate a considerably denser population existed than normally found in a modern hamlet of the same area.

On the strength of excavations to "virgin soil" it was believed that the Meroitic and X-Group remains were themselves mixed in a transitional period.222 But considering the fact that the Meroi- tic site contracted rapidly in early X-Group,223 the admixture could be attributed to the various forms of chronological disturbance noted above, and the decay or dismantling of the structure would release early sherds into later levels and trash fill.

In any case, the settlement was associated with a cemetery just behind it on the desert. Since the cemetery has not been fully published, its size and significance cannot be determined precisely, but it does correspond to the settlement as recon- structed, in some kind of proportion.

Ballana. In the immediate vicinity of Qustul and Ballana, only the wrecked walls of a settle-

ment at Ballana remained to indicate actual settlement. The site was excavated only briefly, and abandoned, owing to the large amount of sand that had been deposited above it. Materials included both early Meroitic (IIA; figs. 18-19) and Christian, the latter probably indicating the date when the walls were dismantled. The settlement is, perhaps, too far south to belong to the Qustul cemetery; its corresponding town was probably located under Cemetery 219.

Faras. The mound of Faras itself was not excavated to Meroitic levels, although there can be little doubt that these levels were extensive indeed, if the cemetery nearby is any indication. The definite structure of the period was the "Western Palace." Pottery illustrated was black incised- impressed of types that belong to IIA (-B).224 The structure, by its design, was clearly official. Its layout is that of a central living block surrounded by magazines. Such a combination could well represent an estate.

Fortress and Island Sites. Despite their importance for understanding the occupation of Lower Nubia, details of finds from sites excavated on islands near the Second Cataract225 and the great fortress sites of Ada and Ibrim are not published. The fortress of Gebel Ada could be said to correspond in some part with the Meroitic cemeteries, which were quite late.226 A brief resume of pottery found in debris fills at Ibrim can be related to other evidence from Lower Nubia.227

219 Emery and Kirwan, The Excavations and Survey between Wadi es-Sebua andAdindan, 108-22. Pottery is actually mostly later; see only fig. 103:2. The incised and polished red "bowls" (cups) are Blemmyan, fig. 94:1, 99:5, 103:13 and 89. Roman-Egyptian cookpots from several places in the settlement are not closely dated in a domestic context, as these have a very long career in Egypt.

220 B. G. Trigger, The Late Nubian Settlement at Arminna West. Publications of the Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt, Number 2 (New Haven and Philadelphia, 1967); see the chronological discussion on pp. 80-83; Idem, "The Cultural Ecology of Christian Nubia," in Erich Dinkier, ed., Kunst und Geschichte Nubiens in christlicher Zeit (Reckling- hausen, 1970) 347-79, especially 367-69.

22i Trigger, "Cultural Ecology," figs. 41, 42; see also 43. 222 Ibid.; Trigger, Arminna West, 80-83. The actual mix-

ture was in Level III, actually a number of loci in various structures.

223 Trigger, "Cultural Ecology," 370.

224 F. LI. Griffith, "Oxford Excavations in Nubia," LAAA 13 (1926) 17-35. For a plan of the "Western Palace" see pl. 13; pottery is shown on pls. 17-18. The activities of sebakh- diggers are mentioned on p. 21; the palace is described on pp. 21-23. Black incised-impressed pottery is part of an intentional (original) deposit (p. 22). A klepsydra fragment dates to II-IIIA. Other evidence, pp. 25-29, is of uncertain date. See also Krzysztof A. Grzymski, "Comment on two problems in Meroitic Architecture," Meroitica 6 (1982) 171-73. He notes that fragments of accounts were important, indicating the presence of offices.

225 See above, note 9. 226 Nicholas B. Millet, Meroitic Nubia (Ph.D. Dissertation,

Yale University, 1968), 46-53; Idem., "Gebel Adda Prelimi- nary Report 1965-66," JARCE 6 (1966) 53-66.

227 W. Y. Adams, "The 1980 Exacavations at Qasr Ibrim: Implications for the History of Kush," Meroitica 7 (1984) 415-20; Idem., "Primis and the 'Aethoipian' Frontier," JARCE 20 (1983) 95-106.

The pertinent materials from Ibrim came from debris fills inside the wall. Some of the painted pottery is paralleled by




Although pottery was found to be largely of Roman-Egyptian origin, the overwhelming bulk consisted of amphorae.228 Some pieces of painted pottery were compared to Ptolemaic- Roman vessels in the Dodekaschoinos, while handmade incised-impressed pottery was found as well.229 Thus the information now available indicates that the Ibrim material dated to IIA; the pre- dominance of northern pottery (amphorae) may be due to the site's military character, i.e., ensuring provisions in case of siege. The presence of typical IIA pottery of Kush implies the presence of such local customs as beer brewing (merisa) which would be as indicative of the culture of the occupants as imports;230 the situation at Ibrim is therefore ambiguous.

Argin 6-B-8. This site contained a fairly wide variety of decorated pottery, including standard painted, but also Demotic ostraca dated to the year of a peqli or peqer (crown prince), of generally Roman type. These latter objects would tend to indicate some activity relatively early roughly in the first century.231 The site may correspond to the cemetery at Argin South.

Gezira Dabarosa 6-G-9. This important site contained only handmade vessels, some Roman- Egyptian juglets, and some large jars of late

Napatan to Ptolemaic type. The handmade pottery may be related to some of the handmade vessels from Meroitic Abri, but the shapes are too

simple to be considered chronologically excluive; in any case, some vessels were streak-burnished as well, also characteristic or this earlier period. The date of the site in the late first millennium B.C. is clear. The plan is intriguing and may be related to the magazine compound of the "West- ern Palace" at Faras.232

Settlements and Cemeteries. In contrast to the large and impressive funerary remains, the settlements of this period excavated and published from Lower Nubia have been relatively few and

fragmentary. Specific structures are sometimes difficult to date, because sherds used to chink the mudbrick contaminate later debris, and the structures were often used as trash dumps in later

periods. In any case the few settlements reported in the

Dodekaschoinos simply do not suffice to cor-

respond, either with the specific references in the itineraria and classical authors or with the numerous cemeteries of the period.

To the south, although Meroitic houses and settlements have been noted, the sites of Wadi el-Arab (III), and Ibrim (I-?) do not account for the cemeteries in their vicinity. The fragment of settlement at Ballana dating to IIA cannot alone account for the large cemetery at Qustul with which it was contemporary, and the very large later cemetery at Ballana has no corresponding settlement at all. Arminna West and its cemetery are in apparent proportion and that of Ada had associated cemeteries, but the reports are quite preliminary. The Faras cemetery was associated with a major town which remained buried.

South of Faras, the picture is quite similar. The SJE cemeteries had no corresponding settlements, nor did major areas at Argin or Semna South. Curiously, Meinarti, Meili and Gezira

early Meroitic vessels elsewhere of the "Kushite wheelmade" group; and it may not have been of entirely Egyptian origin. The fortress could have had episodes of Roman and Meroitic occupation not easily detected in such general fill material.

William Y. Adams, "Pottery Wares of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods at Qasr Ibrim; Preliminary Ware Descrip- tions," n.p., n.d. Distributed as a service to the archeological community by the Qasr Ibrim Expedition and the University of Kentucky. The handmade pottery of local origin includes the black incised-impressed (HBR, p. 7, fig. 3) and possibly some of the earlier burnished vessels (in HBR, p. 8). Red wares seem to include a number of vessels assigned to the Kushite wheelmade group (see fig. 4, center left; fig. 5, above left; fig. 6, a jar with a very tall neck, IIB; the decoration for RBO, p. 31, is typical of the K.W. group).

228 Adams, "The 1980 Excavations at Qasr Ibrim," 417. 229 Ibid. 230 See also, however, evidence of Roman military equip-

ment and duty rosters, Adams, "Primis and the 'Aethoipian' Frontier," 96-97.

231 Florence K. Lister, Ceramic Studies of the Historic Periods in Ancient Nubia. University of Utah Anthropo- logical Paper 86 (Salt Lake City, 1967), 54-73. Illustrated evidence includes (fig. 24) standard painting (III), blob or spot-bead painting (IIIB-IVA?) and curvilinear vines (late IIB). See also W. Y. Adams, "Pottery Kiln Excavation," Kush 10 (1962) 62-75, 6-B-17, p. 64. This writer is indebted to Robert K. Ritner of the Oriental Institute's Demotic Dictio- nary for the reading of the ostraca.

232 Lister, Ceramic Studies, 63-64. See also H. A. Norstrom, "The Archaeological Survey on the West Bank of the Nile, Second Season," Kush 10 (1962) 49-50; G. W. Hewes, "Gezira Dabarosa: Report of the University of Colorado Nubian Expedition, 1962-1963 Season," Kush 12 (1964) 176-78.




Fig. 18. Pottery of Phase IIA from the Ballana Settlement.




Fig. 19. Pottery of Phase HA from the Ballana Settlement.




Dabarosa were settlements without cemeteries. The cemeteries at Abri lack settlement remains nearby.

The extensive search for settlement remains in recent explorations has not substantially offset the preponderance of cemeteries over settlements in the archaeology of the regions concerned. It is quite clear that evidence from the settlements is simply less well preserved than that of cemeteries, inadequate as even these are. For entire omodiyya, evidence for settlement in this pros- perous period depends on cemeteries alone.

Despite the fragmentary and mixed evidence from the valley settlements, they do, where materials are actually presented, correspond in date to cemeteries in their respective regions as a whole. This is especially true of Arminna (III-IV), Ballana (IIA), Faras "Western Palace," and the sites to the south (Argin, Gezira Dabarosa). How- ever, the remains were too few and badly destroyed to account for the many cemeteries that adjoin the alluvial crescents.

Several causes may be identified. First, the river valley, like all others, is dynamic; and the progressive changes in the bed as the river has cut away the outer banks of meanders and deposited silt near the inner would ensure major changes in the record. Sometimes complete changes in the riverbed, as at Ballana, have been identified. Higher settlements have been eroded into inco- herence by deflation (or "sheet erosion") or buried (on the West bank) by encroaching dunes.233 Areas just above the flood would tend to be reoccupied, obscuring earlier remains; and the lack of sites in the areas of modern villages, especially the larger ones, is conspicuous.234 In the end, one of the most important destructive factors was the value of earlier sites as fertilizer (sebakh) and as sources of building materials. Thorough se ba kh- quarrying operations were recorded by the Archeaological Survey of Nubia, and these had extended even to the destruction of cemeteries.235

Thus the record of settlement has been made fragmentary by the wholesale removal of settlement debris and mud banks that once contained ancient cemeteries. Many cemeteries remain to indicate the presence of old towns and villages, along with the temples, once busy hubs of cult activity backed by complexes of estates and revenues. Despite some recent opinion,236 these and the forts suffice in the Dodekaschoinos to indicate that a settlement existed there in Ptolemaic and Roman times on a par with the major ones that preceded. From Qustul southward to Abri, the evidence of Meroitic I-IIA parallels the Ptolemaic-Roman occupation of the Dodekaschoinos. The area between Qustul and Wadi el-Arab remains a problem. Cemeteries, especially Karanog and Arminna East, seem to have IB or other early tombs. Qasr Ibrim has material of this general period. The settlements are otherwise so sparse that they hardly augment our information on the point. How many of the Meroitic tombs originated in the period III-IV, and how many were actually reused early graves - even possibly of non-Meroites buried as in the Dodekaschoinos? The Meroites so often and so thoroughly reused chamber tombs of earlier periods that it is possible that their colorful remains mask an entire earlier phase at Karanog, an earlier phase that definitely occurs at Qustul and Ibrim. We must consider the possibility that the absence of evidence from the northern "Triakontaschoinos" as an occupational entity was due to the simplicity of the remains recovered and, like the Dodekaschoinos, this region had an actual population in the Ptolemaic and early Roman Periods.

IV. Relations With the Historical Sequence

Considering the large amount and wide variety of remains, precise correlations between historical

233 The Ballana settlement was deeply buried in sand, but already fragmentary when buried.

234 This problem and its relation to the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition's work at Qustul and Ballana are discussed in OINE 3 (forthcoming) Chapter 1. For the relation between sites and modern settlements in the area see B. Williams, C-Group, Pan Grave and Kerma Remains at

Adindan Cemeteries T, K, U, and], OINE 5 (Chicago, 1984), pl. 1.

235 Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1908-1909, 43-44. He proposes that much sebakh -digging, connected with the introduction of the saqia, took place in pre-modern times.

236 Adams, Nubia, Corridor to Africa, 334-35. Idem., "The 1980 Excavations at Qasr Ibrim," p. 420.




Table 5 Summary of Archaeological Evidence of Occupation

3rd-4th S. Triakontaschoinos N. Triakontaschoinos Dodekaschoinos Phase Cataract to Soleb**

I A Occupation at Major Occupation+ Major Ptolemaic- +C14 b.c. uncalculated Slight Occupation; Ptol. -Roman

B intensity Major Occupation to Meroitic; Mer to South? Roman

II A Major Occupation Occupation Hiatus

II B Major Occupation31 xFaras 2800- ca. 150 a.d.

III A Slight Occupation Major Occupation Occupation

B Slight Occupation Major Occupation Continues, Intensity _

IV A Uncertain Slight Occupation Major Occupation* *Amanitewawi

ca. 250 a.d. Karanog G187

B

Hiatus Hiatus Hiatus Hiatus

Blemmyan+ +Coins, mid 4th century

X-Group

**Faras and Qustul/Ballana had a continous major occupation

sequences (absolute dates) and Meroitic archaeology are remarkably vague (table 5). A variety of Roman-Egyptian imports have been reviewed with the conclusion that most objects from IIA- IV would date to the first through the fourth centuries;237 the parallels themselves have often not been dated by critical examination of closed groups. Attempts to correlate phases with general historical conditions place the investigator in danger of reasoning in a circle of self-fulfilling prophecy. Despite these difficulties, certain correlations can be made. Although they are few in number, they are at least direct.

Abri. In Phase I, the later cemetery at Abri yielded carbon dates in the last centuries b.c.238 Although these dates were not calibrated accord-

ing to the latest (now) available curve (Irish Oak),239 they do not occur in a highly proble- matical period for carbon dating, and even though they come from wooden objects they can be used generally to establish Phase I approximately in the last centuries b.c. These also parallel early carbon dates taken a long time ago at Gezira Dabarosa for the early settlement.240

The settlement at Argin also yielded ostraca, of types that do not occur in later sites to the north. These demotic ostraca may be used to establish a part of the sequence, very roughly in the first century. Although they do not indicate which materials are to be dated to the period, the ostraca do indicate some activity at the site - by someone who knew both demotic and Meroitic insti- tutions.

237 Hofmann, Beitrdge zur Meroitischen Chronologie, 200- 30 (Excurs); Idem., "Meroitische Chronologie im Lichte des Kunstgegenstanden," Meroitica 5 (1979) 71-84, especially p. 84.

238 Fernandez, "The Meroitic Cemetery of Amir Abdallah," 431.

239 Ian M. Shaw, "Egyptian Chronology and the Irish Oak Calibration," JNES 44 (1985) 295-317, especially 317.

240 Hewes, "Gezira Dabarosa: Report of the 1962-63 Season," pp. 178-79.




Faras 2800. The earlier stages of Roman- Egyptian pottery are not easy to distinguish chronologically, but the pesto's tomb at Faras contained amphorae of types that occur at second century Quseir,241 and they resemble examples from the earlier main building there rather than the later villa. Other pottery from the tomb included a Roman-Egyptian askos (LXIV) and a tall-necked Kushite wheelmade jar (III). These would date the tomb to IIB in the Meroitic Sequence.

Karanog G187. If phases I and II A are dated before ca. 100/150 a.d. (IIB), then the most significant question remaining is that of the end of Meroitic Nubia. This date may be indicated in part by a connection between the mid- third century Meroitic Chamber at Philae and Karanog. There, the greatest pesto's tomb, dated otherwise by the owner's family connections to the mid- third century,242 is connected to the person of Amanitewawi by an inscription on a jar.243 This individual occurs in inscriptions at Philae, also of the mid- third century.244

G187 was the most elaborately equipped in the cemetery and still contained imports not found in lesser graves. The most distinctive vessels, of local make, included Meroitic ordinary jars with everted rims, one with a white neck and white figure decoration against a red ground.245 Another of the type had only bands (white); five more had no decoration.246 A storage jar was decorated with a row of striding birds in a white band thus also belonging to the whiteband red-coated style.247 Cups were undecorated except for one with a white rim.248 Other vessels are not clearly represented in the publication, but a one-handled wine jar is late, of a type that occurs late in X-Group.249 The distinctive feature of this tomb group is the simple undecorated pottery or Meroitic ordinary pottery with white bands. The tomb would be assigned to phase IV at Ballana without hesitation, probably IVA.

Only the relatively few groups of IVB remained after IVA before the end of Meroitic Lower Nubia. Considering the rapidity with which Meroitic pottery developed from the time of Faras 2800 in IIB to Karanog G187, it would be difficult to extend Meroitic chronology in Lower Nubia much if at all later than 300 a.d. This would leave a hiatus between the known material of Meroitic times and that of X-Group in the Triankontaschoinos.250 The post-Meroitic period is not the subject of this work, and the fourth century will not be discussed here except to point out that the hiatus in the Dodekaschoinos is bridged typologically in Roman-Egyptian imported pottery by a significant body of materials

241 Griffith, LAAA 11, 12, no. 2800; pls. 23-24, amphorae XLVIIIa, b, f. See Donald S. Whitcomb and Janet H. Johnson, Quseir el-Qadim 1978; Preliminary Report, ARCE Reports, vol. 1 (Cairo, 1979), pi 29: m, q; 30: j. (b. 2 a-y). Material from the earlier central building is still more comparable; see Whitcomb and Johnson, Quseir el-Qadim 1980, ARCE Reports, vol. 7 (Malibu, 1982), pl. 27, also 15 c, from the villa.

Note also the Faras askos XLIV and the Kushite wheelmade jar, type III of IIB date. Other vessels of types II- III belong to the same class. Millet (Meroitic Nubia, p. 141) referred to the inscription of 2800 as "archaic" and the tomb's early connections are established by three kinds of complementary evidence.

Other correlations between Quseir and Nubia in this period include a barbotine cup (Whitcomb and Johnson, Quseir al-Qadim 1978, pl. 23: f ), Roman-Egyptian cookpots (Ibid., pls. 24:a, 25:d; Idem, Quseir al-Qadim 1980, pl. 10: d, r).

242 Millet, Meroitic Nubia, 136-37 gives the family connection.

243 Woolley and Maclver, Karanog, pl. 107, no. 13. 244 F. LI. Griffith, Meroitic Inscriptions Part 11. Archae-

ological Survey of Egypt, Vol. 20 (London, 1912) 37, no. 97 and p. 45, no. 8 connect Amanitewawi with the demotic spelling of the name on the amphora. See also Millet, Meroitic Nubia, 79-80, no. 72. This writer is indebted to Prof. Millet for pointing out the connection between the inscriptions. In addition, a number of members of the Wayekiye family were buried at Gebel Ada in a pyramid field (Meroitic Nubia, GA4, GA20, and 21: see also p. 48, belonging to a

daughter of Amanitewawi, ca. 253-60). The pyramid field was disturbed by reuse. Five pyramids in the cemetery (3) had simplified 3-brick vaults of late type. Inscriptions relate the General of the River to the period of the simplest chambers with crude pyramids. N. B. Millet, "Gebel Adda; Preliminary Report for 1963," 156-62; and Idem., "Gebel Adda Prelimi- nary Report 1965-66," 57.

245 Woolley and Maclver, Karanog; The Romano-Nubian Cemetery, pl. 53, 8152.

246 Ibid., register, p. 146, G187; see pl. 53, 8152. 247 Ibid., pl. 64, 8227 and others ringed, one plain. 248 Ibid., pl. 85, 8647, white band, three plain. 249 Ibid., register pl. 105, Fxxxiii. 250 See Kirwan, "The X-Group Problem," for the date of its

beginning.




that have hitherto been given relatively little notice.251

V. Conclusion: Historical Setting of the Meroitic Occupation in Lower Nubia

Phase I could be traced in sites from Qustul to Abri, where it was dated by C14 to the last centuries b.c. The simplicity of the materials that could be assigned to the phase made it difficult to detect and its intensity difficult to judge. It did exist, however, and it may even have existed in cemeteries to the north.

Although the materials are quite simple, they include distinctive modes of burial that clearly indicate that the earliest settlement in the southern Triakontaschoinos was simply an extension of the continuous Kushite settlement found in the region of Abri from the time of the Twenty- fifth Dynasty.

A small amount of evidence from early IIA, black incised-impressed and early Roman-Egyptian pottery or local imitations may indicate that this phase also occurred in the northern Triakon- taschoinos, and some Ptolemaic-Roman period burials at Wadi es-Sebua and Korosko were also contemporary with Phases I-IIA. Materials from most of Phases IIA and IIB are very important at sites from Qustul southward, and this is the major age of Meroitic settlement in the southern Triakontaschoinos. Little pottery of the distinctive Kushite wheelmade type found in this period occurred in the northern Triakontaschoinos; and it is to this period, including most of IIA and B, that the hiatus in Meroitic settlement of the area must be assigned. In addition to the southern Triakontaschoinos, the Dodekaschoinos was fairly intensively occupied, so that we could view the region between Maharraqa and Qustul, and especially that between Ibrim and Qustul, as a marchland between the two empires in the first and earlier second centuries.

Meroitic fine pottery with close-painted or "Academic" decoration and elaborately painted Roman -Egyptian imports occur all through the Triakontaschoinos and particularly north of

Qustul. By the end of IIB or the beginning of IIIA the hiatus had ended there, roughly in the late second century.

The change represents a shift in population, however, rather than a major introduction or increase; for from IIIA onward, very little material is found south of Faras. The area heavily occupied was flanked by the Roman frontier and Faras to the north and south and shielded by the rock fortresses of Ibrim and Ada on the east.

This new regime of settlement hardly continued more than a century to a century and a half, and not much past 300 a.d.; for late materials

already belong to the middle of the third century and mid-fourth century materials in the Dode- kaschoinos are already X-Group. This leaves another hiatus in settlement between ca. 300 a.d. and the establishment of Noubadian X-Group, as exemplified in the Qustul Royal cemetery about 375 a.d. This hiatus was more extensive than the one between IIA and IIB, however; for neither Meroitic or X-Group remains can be traced, from Wadi el-Arab to Kerma. The earliest remains may be the Tanqasi culture cemetery at Tabo.

The present reconstruction of Meroitic occupation in Lower Nubia differs considerably from a number of recent opinions on the subject, al-

though it more plausibly juxtaposes aspects of the early phases which have been thrown into

prominence by the new discoveries at Abri. It remains to compare the reconstruction with

major features of the historical situation.252 The early phase (I) corresponds largely to the

Ptolemaic period and it parallels a fairly intensive

occupation of the Dodekaschoinos. This region, though dotted with temples and cemeteries, had no formidable system of fortifications, and only the rock fort of Ibrim separated the two empires.253 The evidence is far from plentiful, but it appears

251 Herbert Ricke, Ausgrabungen von Khor-Dehmit bis Bet el-Wali. OINE vol. 2 (Chicago, 1967) 37-70; Eugen Strouhal, Wadi Kitna and Kalabsha-South; Late Roman-Early Byzan- tine Tumuli Cemeteries in Egyptian Nubia (Prague, 1984).

252 The essential nature of events is familiar and has been recounted in general histories. See H. I. Bell, Egypt, from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest (Oxford, 1948); E. R. Bevan, A History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (London, 1927); J. G. Milne, A History of Egypt under Roman Rule (London, 1898). For Meroitic records, see Millet, Meroitic Nubia, especially pp. 106-7, for a list of "Generals of the River."

253 \y. Y. Adams, "Primis and the 'Aethiopian' Frontier," 95-106.




that some settlement extended southward from the Dodekaschoinos and northward from Faras, perhaps on an irregular and sporadic basis. It remains possible that some Meroitic burials were concealed among the masses of Ptolemaic ones.254 Thus the reconstruction would correspond fairly closely with historical records of the period, even to the occasional forays of the Meroites northward.

About the end of the Ptolemaic era, in early IIA, the situation crystallized considerably. Pot- tery of later IIA and earlier IIB is quite distinctive and plentiful, but it occurs essentially south of Ada, where it marks a major age of settlement in the first century. It corresponds in the Dode- kaschoinos to the establishment of border forts and the continuation of temple building and the cemeteries. Apart from Ibrim, no major remains can be clearly identified between the two areas. The situation directly parallels the period of greatest Roman control in Egypt and her wide- ranging exploitation of the deserts, including permanent fortresses, mining camps, and port installations.

In the later second century, the corrosive effect of Roman exploitation in Egypt appeared in a rapid deterioration of conditions in Upper Egypt, and the country as a whole declined in significance within the Empire. By its end, the desert installations had been abandoned;255 and it may be that the southern border was neglected as well, except for the garrison at Syene. It is to this period that the (late) IIB expansion of Meroitic occupation into the northern Triakontaschoinos belongs.

As indicated above, this move toward the official Roman frontier was a shift (III-IV) rather than an expansion; and it corresponds to an increase

in fortification, documented especially at Gebel Ada,256 the appearance in the Meroitic records of

important military officials, official visits to Philae, and the frequent appearance of weapons in burials (IIIB-IV).

All of these events coincide with the repeated disorders in Upper Egypt and the first onslaughts of the Blemmyes that culminated in the alliance with Palmyra and the conquest of the Thebaid. Already by this time (ca. 270 a.d.) we hear little more of the great Meroitic military and civil officials who date the midpoint of Phase IV; and it could not have been much longer before Meroitic Lower Nubia ceased to exist.

The juxtapositions recapitulated above were based on chronological correlations between real time and archaeological materials by means of radiocarbon, historical persons, and the materials themselves. They suggest that the settlement re- gimes changed according to changes in the wider political and economic conditions that prevailed to the north and the effect they had on adjacent regions, especially the desert. The combination of evidence from written and archaeological sources for phases III-IV strongly indicates that problems of security were responsible, first for the concentration of settlement in the northern Triakontaschoinos and then its final demise.

This is not to deny the possible role of major changes in agricultural technology257 that may have made some of the alterations in settlement possible, or speeded them; although positive evidence is frustratingly lacking.258 It does deny that technology was the author of the change; for if it were, it is difficult to explain why the promising areas of Derr and Tomas were so long essentially unoccupied while less productive regions were settled to the south. This reconstruction also does not deny the possible role of such heavy natural blows as plague that may have been important in some of the changes and in Meroitic Lower Nubia's rather speedy end. It does indicate that the fundamental causes are to be found in the

254 C. M. Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1909-1910, 24.

255 Whitcomb and Johnson, Quseir al-Qadim, 1978, 297- 324; Idem., Quseir al-Qadim, 1980, pp. 391-96. Pottery presented from the site surveys in the first volume corresponds approximately with the port of Quseir itself, second century. See. also Lanny Bell, Janet H. Johnson, and Donald Whit- comb, "The Eastern Desert of Upper Egypt: Routes and Inscriptions, JNES 43 (1984) note 1. Such earlier studies as G. W. Murray, "The Roman Roads and Stations in the Eastern Desert of Egypt," JEA 11 (1925) 138-50, and David Meredith, "The Roman Remains in the Eastern Desert of Egypt," JEA 28 (1952) 94-111, did not publish distinctive small finds.

256 Summarized by Millet, Meroitic Nubia, 46-53. 257 Save-Soderbergh, Late Nubian Cemeteries, 2; Trigger,

History and Settlement in Lower Nubia, 163. 258 The early Ballana settlement contained no practical

qawadus and these do not occur in genuinely Meroitic burials. They do occur at sites with later occupation.




failure of Roman policy in Egypt and resulting major shifts in the balance of forces in the region.

The present chronology reveals a hiatus between Meroitic Lower Nubia and the establishment of X-Group in the Triakontaschoinos in the late fourth century, a hiatus held in place by chronologically (not culturally) transitional materials in the Dodekaschoinos,259 materials found as far south as Wadi el-Arab. The Meroitic features of X-Group in the Triakontaschoinos are important and undeniable, but the hiatus clearly indicates that the reservoir of Meroitic tradition from

which these features were derived was largely in the Meroitic heartland of Sudan, where the Noba encounter with Kush was intimate and long standing.260

University of Chicago

259 See notes 251 and 219.

260 Kirwan, "The X-Group Problem," 202-3. In the present reconstruction, the Meroitic heartland would have survived the northern province, pace Kirwan, p. 196 and W. Y. Adams, "Meroitic Textual Material from Qasr Ibrim," Meroitica 6 (1982) 211-16. In the latter, refuse materials were used as chronological evidence; in any case, Meroitic writing may have continued in use after the fall of both Lower Nubia and Meroe (Adams, fig. 2, alternative 3).



A Chronology of Meroitic Occupation below the Fourth Cataract

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