Sudanese Antiquity: New Insights from the Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition (BONE)

In a project area encompassing nearly 100 m²on the right (north) bank of the Nile River west of Abu Hamed, Sudan, the Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition has documented sites ranging back to the Early Stone Age (>250,000 years ago) with more intensive use in the Middle Stone Age. The focus of fieldwork has been on habitation, rock art/gong, and cemetery sites dating from the Mesolithic to Christian periods in the eastern portion of the concession. Using a combination of 2- and 3-dimensional historic and modern remote sensing data combined with in-field survey and excavation, we examine topographic prominence, intervisibility, and other spatial and contextual relationships between archaeological sites and the natural environment. This research spans different periods and different types of sites, from relationships among clusters of Kerma period graves in one area to analysis of Meroitic fortifications and their viewsheds within a broader region. This work helps us understand interconnected components in the region as part of a larger cultural dynamic with complex relationships to people and the environment in the past and present. Relationships between this "hinterland" and core areas of state-level societies are also of interest. Grave architecture and treatment of the dead show variable local practices but inclusion of imported grave goods show integration into far-flung trade networks from the Kerma (c. 2500-1500 BC) through Christian (c. AD 550-1400) periods. Persistence of local traditions, spatial and social organization of cemeteries, and distinct identities marked in life (e.g., dental avulsion) or death (e.g., interment with archery equipment) illuminate new aspects of ancient Nubian mortuary behavior and identity. Additionally, indicators of diet and disease in the skeletons provide insight into shifting patterns of subsistence and life histories of individuals over time.

Speaker:  Dr. Brenda Baker, Arizona State University