Figure - available from: African Archaeological Review
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Trench 1/O: the distribution of different groups of artifacts (top) and distribution of pottery in all layers of the trench (bottom) (prepared by Tomasz Michalik and Ewa Czyżewska-Zalewska)
Source publication
Recent research at Soba focuses on the tangible and intangible heritage of the medieval capital of Alwa kingdom, whose remains cover approximately 275 ha. About 222 ha of this area has been built up or transformed into agricultural land in the past 30 years. An ethnographic survey was also carried out in the built-up area to understand how the resi...
Citations
The model of animal husbandry is an enduring cultural element. It undergoes transformations only as a result of the pressure of serious factors: ecological, demographic or, less frequently, religious ones. By conducting comparative analyses of faunal data from the largest ancient and Medieval civilisation centres of NE Africa, mainly from the Middle Nile, we identify the effects of such factors − the time, scope and strength of their impact on local communities. For the first time, we compare animal breeding models by communities from two Medieval, neighbouring Nubian kingdoms: Makuria and Alwa (AD 500–1200). Research shows that Makuria was dynamic, changeable and open to the adaptation of new species: pig, camel, chicken and horse. In the Southern state community of Alwa practiced a conservative, largely cattle-raising model typical of the ancient Kush civilisation (300 BCE- AD 300). Long-horned, indigenous cattle were imported to Makuria from the central Sahel, as evidenced by osteometric and isotopic data. Only local taurine shorthorn cattle were bred at Alwa, unchanged for two millennia, continuing the tradition of ancient Kush. We found that the pattern of farming and meat consumption can be an element of identity among communities living in analogous environmental, political and religious contexts.
Between the sixth and fifteenth c. CE, a vast expanse of central and southern Sudan belonged to the kingdom of Alwa, ruled from the urban metropolis of Soba. Renewed investigation of the city unearthed a small cemetery in the northern part of the site. The heterogeneity of burial practices raised some questions as to the cultural and religious affinities of the deceased and suggested potential multiculturalism of the local urban population. We applied isotopic analyses to investigate the origins of the people buried at Cemetery OS and their concomitant ways of life. Non-concordance of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O values with local hydro-geological background speaks to the mixing of water sources as a result of residential mobility. The concordance of human and faunal strontium and oxygen results, combined with elevated δ¹³C values corresponding to almost exclusive reliance on C4 produce, points to the possibility of seasonal movement of people with their herds between the Nile valley and the adjacent grasslands. Despite the turn of the medieval Nubian economy towards settled agriculture, by revealing the granular specificities of human adaptation in challenging ecosystems, our results produce the first insight into the enduring diversification of economic production, even in urbanized settings, and persisting participation of local peoples in agro-pastoral symbiosis.
Archaeological evidence as well as textual sources leave no doubt about Alwa’s (Alodia’s) intense transcultural connections, further corroborated by understudied overseas glass bead imports found there. This paper presents results of an analysis of twenty‐three glass beads from Soba, the most prosperous capital of medieval Nubia. Compositional analyses using laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) have identified glass belonging to a number of broad compositional groups. Three samples were made of soda‐lime low‐alumina glass produced in the Middle East (v‐Na‐Ca) and Egypt (m/v‐Na‐Ca). The remaining beads were made of two types of mineral‐soda high‐alumina glass (m‐Na‐Al) North Indian in origin. Results of this study provide new evidence for the provenance and chronology of glass beads available in medieval Soba and Northeast Africa, and contribute new data to research on trade contacts of that time.
Este artículo pivota entre el análisis de la acción de la Unesco durante la Campaña de Salvamento en Nubia, la gestión del patrimonio cultural (arqueológico, monumental, inmaterial), y el impacto que produjo la construcción de la presa de Asuán y la evacuación forzosa de las poblaciones nubias asentadas en la región. La historia de los desalojados a causa de la construcción de la presa, no ocupó tantas páginas de la literatura como lo hizo el rescate del patrimonio cultural sudanés y egipcio (arqueológico, histórico, epigráfico, artístico, etnográfico, etc.). La población contemporánea que ocupaba el territorio anegado, y que era heredera directa de los pueblos que habían habitado la región desde tiempos prehistóricos, pronto fue olvidada. Ocuparnos de ellos es lo que pretendemos con esta breve contribución. Ofreciendo algunas reflexiones sobre el pasado colonial, las interpretaciones con tintes de superioridad sobre el pasado de Nubia, las teorías arqueológicas postcoloniales, las nuevas prácticas arqueológicas: indígena, colaborativa, más la antropología de rescate.
The preliminary report covered the results of the fieldwork conducted in Soba (Sudan, Khartoum State) in 2021-2022. It includes a general description of the idea behind the project as well as results of geophysical surveys, archaeological excavations, pottery studies, analysis of macro organic remains and stone tools, ethnological research, and training program.
