Burial customs in the upper main Nile: an overview
Contents
- Prehistory
- Protohistory
- Historical Period
- Refrences
A brief study of the Nubian and Sudanese burial customs throughout the cultural sequence is a necessarily delicate and incomplete undertaking, due to the fact that the archaeology of those regions has primarily concentrated on the excavation of tombs. Being underground and located at the edge of the desert and thus isolated from various disturbances, they have, from the very beginning, exhibited better conditions than the settlement. Most importantly, they are closed units containing, in the majority of instances, rich and coherent data typical of their time, which have been used in that capacity as chronological and cultural markers. The analysis of burial assemblages and structures has largely assisted in the identifying of Nubian cultures, the establishing of their chronology, the determining of their relationships with other regions and other earlier/later cultures and, eventually, the understanding of their social structures. The reasons ordinarily given for the considerable tomb excavation activities have been the ready availability of complete and collectable objects found within. But, for the reasons stated in the preceeding lines, this viewpoint needs reconsidering: the tomb findings enable us to create easily chronological, cultural, social and economic frames for all further research.
Used first and foremost as chronological and socio-cultural markers, the graves have rarely been studied as entities in themselves. The very nature of our discipline may be responsible for this. How can purely material remains reveal the beliefs and ideas that engendered them? However, death represents for any social group a serious event with a myriad of implications. As has been written and has been well illustrated by the civilization of Ancient Egypt, "reaction to death is not random but meaningful and expressive Hutington and Metcalf, 1979:1. But, in their investigations, archaeologists must often come to grips with harsh reality. Since ancient times, various plunderings and disturbances of the sites, either human or natural, have touched most cemeteries and have obliterated a large part of the data. As Adams 1977; 156 has rightly stated "... the finding of an intact tomb is today a red-letter day for the archaeologist". Yet even an intact tomb may well have given up all traces of its organic contents.
Prehistory
The most ancient inhumations in the upper main Nile were discovered in Lower Nubia, at Gebel Sahaba Wendorf,1968b and Gezira Dabarosa, near Wadi Halfa, and at Toshka Wendorf,1968a:869-875 were attributed to the Qadan (c. 13000-8000 BC), which ends the Palaeolithic in that area.
Literature often mentions the Gebel Sahaba cemetery for reasons that have nothing to do with mortuary practices. Indeed, the large segments of the cemetery's population - men, women and children - display marks of violent death, and the lithic component of the weapons that killed them was noted to be occasionally imbedded in their bones.
Nevertheless, this cemetery provided precious information about burial customs. It is the first significant example in the area of a population taking care of its dead and, as such, it may be considered a forerunner of those traditions that subsequently would appear in Nubia; the graves are in an area which seems strictly funerary; several inhumations occupy small oval pits protected by thin sandstone slabs; the position and the orientation are the same for all the skeletons which lie contracted (2) on their left side, head eastward facing south, hands generally in front of their faces; in some instances, one grave groups two to four burials (Fig.1).
However, no grave goods were found though many of the burials were intact. At Toshka and at Gezira Dabarosa, the position of the bodies follows the same pattern though their orientation has no fixed rules. At Toshka, bucrania of wild cattle (Bos primigenius) were noted as lying on top of several graves, being placed there possibly to indicate their location.
These first and rather spectacular beginnings of mortuary traditions in Nubia seem not to have been continued. Despite extensive exploration, no Neolithic grave has been revealed in Lower Nubia. It is not known whether inadequate field research or site erosion or the absence of burial practices are responsible for the lack of data. However, recent discoveries in Central Sudan have luckily rectified the situation and have provided evidence of an evolution in funerary customs during this period.
The most ancient tombs in this region dating from the so-called Khartoum Mesolithic (c. 8000-5000 BC) contrast significantly with those from the Qadan of Lower Nubia. They were within the settlements and did not occupy specialized areas. There were no precise rules governing the orientation and position of the bodies. Although occasionally contracted on their sides, they lay most often on their backs with legs folded upward and hand away from their faces (Fig.2).
At Shabona, on the White Nile, only two skeletons were found in good condition and both were lying in full length on their backs Clark,1989. Neither the bodies nor the graves exhibited any apparent outer covering or protection and burial goods were absent, except in a very few cases: at Saqqai Caneva,1983:21-24 and Kahartoum Arkell,1949:31-35, fresh water mollusc shells may well have been associated with some burials; at Kahartoum, one of the skeletons was provided with a large potsherd as a headrest and another had a necklace of ostrich eggshell beads. More elaborate mortuary customs were to appear much later only, in the Khartoum Neolithic sites (Fifth millennium BC), as demonstrated by the excavations at Kadero Krzyzaniak,1984 and el Ghaba Geus,1984; Lecointe,1987, where large cemeteries have recently been discovered. It is worth remarking that the graves there, as those of Nubia several thousands of years earlier, lie outside the settlements in specially designated areas.
At el Ghaba, wherever the sediment allowed them to do so, the excavators identified circular or sub-circular pits of diameters varying from 120 cm to 160 cm. These pits contained one single occupant lying in a contracted side position with no particular orientation. The skeleton, occasionally exhibiting personal adornments - bracelets, necklaces and lip-plugs - was generally at the centre of the pit, which also contained pottery vessels and, more exceptionally, stone and bone tools, fresh water mollusc shells and malachite fragments. Green traces were occasionally present on teeth and skulls; red traces appeared on the bones and the surrounding sediment; there were thick white-coloured regions underneath the skulls and the feet. Moreover, in the more recent tombs, one or two bucrania sometimes lay near the skull.
The Khartoum Neolithic burials represent an obvious advance over the Khartoum Mesolithic, whose origins are perhaps to be found in the much earlier Qadan graves. This is particularly notable in the attitude regarding death, possibly seen as a passage towards another form of existence as the deceased's posture evokes the embryonic stage and thus the act of birth. Ignorant of what this passage involved and perhaps inclined to view it as a final initiation rite, the population expressed its desire to assist the deceased by providing elements of their prior existence, hence the possible explanation for the presence of personal adornments and belongings, and also the necessity of protecting the pits. The archaeologist unfortunately recovers material remains of this action only, by-passing its deeper meaning, its underlying beliefs and the associated religious or magic rites. Thus, publications of burial sites often include essentially monotonous, yet useful, inventories that discuss at length material remains, but seldom approach burial conceptions and beliefs in themselves.
At El Ghaba - to return to the matter at hand - the deceased buried alone in the pit occupies the pre-natal position. There is no fixed orientation rule. The deceased wears the ornaments that adorned him during his liftime and to which probably attributed prophylactic powers. The colours found inside the pits show that considerable attention was given to the body. They are indeed the remains of ochred colthes and spreads (red), or headrests and footrests (white) and facial painting possibly of magical significance (green). Different objects surround the dead, referring to their lifetime activities or social ranks. The pottery vessels were not there to contain food, as one would think, since they are almost always inverted and occasionally on top of each other. They might have been used during a ritual banquet before the sealing of the tomb. Finally, the bucrania, whose precise function remains unknown, indicate the importance of cattle for the society and for the funeral rituals.
While appearing to be the perfect illustration of the burial modes whih were to remain in place until the advent of Christianity, El Ghaba is much less revealing of other mortuary custtoms. No external sign of the the graves could be discovered and the whole cemetery seems to have developed along strictly chronotopographical lines, a likely indication of an egalitarian society structure. The only deviation in the horizontal arrangement of the graves is a free area where possibly some material structure stood, unfortunately leaving no trace. Although contemporary with El Ghaba, Kadero exhibits a more complex development as its tombs are organised in clusters supposedly signifying family or social units.
Nevertheless, the flourishing of Neolithic customs occurs at El Kadada (fourth millenium BC), neighbour and successor to El Ghaba Geus,1984; Reinold,1987:21-41. Two major zones have been excavated there, including one of which like Kadero held several grave clusters (Fig.3).
The burials still occupied circular or sub-circular pits; the bodies lay contracted on their sides and had no particular orientation (Fig.4).
As in El Ghaba's burials, pillows and mats; but there was no facial painting, though fragments of malachite are to be found among the offerings. While more varied and numerous, the funerary assembleges were of the same nature, but the vases were in an upright position. Female pottery figurines were perhaps one of the most important innovations, Although their precise function remains a matter of discussion, they undoubtedly indicate considerable progress in mortuary conceptions confirmed by other innovations: several pits contained superimposed burials; dogs skeletons, and more infrequently, goat skeletons were present in the graves, alongside the bucrania; and finally, child burials occurred in large vessels in the settlements (Fig.5).
One of the most significant observations concerns the superimposed inhumations of two and three individuals. A comparative analysis of these burials seems to indicate the presence of human sacrifice in those tombs containing three bodies. If confirmed, this would be the first occurrence of a custom destined to become widespread in later times, particularly in Kerma. This presence of human sacrifices, the increasing complexity of the graves and their grouping in clusters are all factors which point to a non-egalitarian society in which the elements of social differentiation were beginning to exist.
Our knowledge of these mortuary customs has been significantly enriched by the excavations of the tombs in Central Sudan, The fieldwork of the recent past carried out in the Kerma Basin has extended northward the geographical range of the operations. Important graveyards dating from the same period as El Kadada have been excavated around Kadruka (Reinold 1987: 44-54) where, thanks to optimal preservation conditions, excavators were able to observe new elements concerning, in particular, tomb distribution and body orientation. [For further information on Kadruka see Kadruka and the Neolithic in the Northern Dongola Reach].
Protohistory
It is unfortunate that these discoveries have so far been given only partial publication as they concern Nubia where the end of the Neolithic is marked by by the appearance of important funerary practices of which A-Group Nordström,1972, C-Group Bietak,1968 and Kerma sites Bonnet et al.1990 have left us numerous and spectacular remains. The mortuary assembleges are comparable with those already described for the Central Sudan and include personal adornments, clothes and spreads, toilet utensils, tools and pottery vessels.
However, due to the absence of local graves directly preceding them, the burials of the A-Group (c.3500-3000 BC) have been usually compared with those of Upper Egypt, considered their predecessors. In fact. the earliest cemetery attributed to the A-Group, located in Khor Bahan in the north of Lower Nubia, is hardly distinguishable from its Egyptian Amratian counterparts. In most cases, the dead, buried in sub-rectangular or oval pits, lay in a contracted position on the left, heads to the south facing west.
Although the Egyptian influence in pit shapes and strict orientation rules is incontestable, it is less obvious in the placing of the offerings alongside the dead. The discoveries at El Ghaba, El Kadada and Kadero demonstrated that, in the south, far removed from Egyptian influence, furnishing the graves was a widespread practice. Furthermore, the A-Group graves display many affinities with those of the southerly areas, one of the most significant of which is the presence of female pottery figurines within. It would be tempting to say that the occurrence of superimposed inhumations, which is not associated here with human sacrifice, is another. But both customs are equally documented in Predynastic Egypt. Finally, both funerary assemblages and ceramics share many common traits.
The choice of a certain precise orientation, though borrowed from Egypt, responded to obvious religious necessities probably dedicated by the rising and the setting of the sun. Both the choice of a precise orientation and the surprising habit, also of Egyptian influence, of using the flow of the Nile waters as a reference for the northern direction were to become a lasting custom in Nubia.
Comprising relatively homogeneous units, the A-Group cemeteries evidently reflect an egalitarian society, nevertheless including a few comparatively poor graves. These were first misintrpreted as the result of an evolution and attributed to an impoverished successor of the A-Group, the B-Group, whose existence has since been proven incorrect. To the contrary, two small cemeteries, located at Sayala and at Qustul, included graves of amazing wealth, raising problems of interpretation from a social-historical point of view. Furthermore, Cemetery 268 at Tunqala presented several new features: superstructures - whose shapes are like those of the later C-Group - offering places and offering pottery covered the pit burials, indicating their locations. However, since they were the only ones documented, these superstructures may not be considered cultural markers as those of the C-Group are.
In structure, the graves of the C-Group (c.2200-1500 BC) are similar to those of A-Group though some differences attest to an evolution in funerary conceptions that can be interpreted as the result of either Egyptian or southern influence. This evolution is seen essentially in the different orientation of the bodies, the absence of superimposed burials, the building of mud-brick burial chambers, the generalisation of superstructures and associated offerings and, in a later phase, the presence of animal offerings. A remarkable feature is the frequent occurrence of clay figurines representing women and cattle.
Nonetheless, this culture enrooted in Lower Nubia for more than a thousand years, from the end of the Old Kingdom (3) until the middle of the XVIIIth dynasty, was destined to evolve and thus modify its patterns. These changes are primarily visible in the mortuary assemblages closely dependent on relations with Egypt, themselves subject to modifications throughout the times. They are also obvious in mortuary structures and in inhumations.
Starting as small rounded or oblong forms, the pits gradually became rectangular with stone slabs sometimes lining and covering them. During the Second Intermediate Period, the pit of the more elaborate graves was enlarged and transformed into an authentic mud-brick room, occasionally capped by a vault, usually constructed above ground level (Fig.6).
Stone superstructures, composed of a circle of dry stones filled with rubble and sand, covered the pit. With an increase in size, from 2 to 3 meters in diameter to 16 or thereabouts, during the second Intermediate Period, the quality of the construction declined. As from the very beginning, vases and, more occasionally, oblong stelae and bucrania were placed along their outer edges. Later, during the Second Intermediate Period, a mud-brick chapel or an offering place was sometimes included in the north part of the construction.
The deceased was placed in the contracted position in the pit and followed an orientation that altered during the Middle Kingdom: E-W, head eastward facing north became N-S, head northward facing west. The individual was adorned with various ornaments, mainly necklaces and bracelets. Numerous finds continue to show the presence of clothes- loincloths, sandals and caps, spreads and pillows. An important innovation of the Second Intermediate Period was the introduction of bed burials.
This description demonstrates that the C-Group contribution was more significant in the evolution of burial structures than in changes in funerary assemblages. At the close of the period, following the model appearing in A-Group and most likely under the influence of Egypt, the grave came to include a burial chamber, a superstructure and a chapel, a tradition that was to remain in use later. The change in the orientation of the deceased which occurred during the Middle Kingdom has a definite if still obscure religious significance.
Other changes are equally remarkable. Although most burial fields are composed of relatively similar graves indicating, as for the A-Group, an egalitarian society, larger and richer graves, sometimes clustered around the edge of the cemeteries, appeared during the Second Intermediate Period, revealing the beginning of a social stratification process. This demonstrates an influence from the southern Kerma culture, which is also found in such mortuary innovations as bucrania and bed burials (4).
Indeed, it is to the south of Batn el-Hagar that excavators have recorded the most impressive development of mortuary traditions of that period and more particularly at Kerma, where there is a cemetery of approximately 30.000 graves east of the ancient city. The work of Harvard University and more recently that of the University of Geneva have done much to unearth information about the evolution of mortuary traditions from the origins of that culture until its disappearance at the beginning of the New Kingdom through three successive stages labelled Ancient, Middle and Cassic Kerma (c.2500-1500 BC).
The substructure, usually just a single pit, changed into two remarkable ways: first, the horizontal section, oval or circular during Ancient Kerma, became rather circular during Middle Kerma and finally rectangular during Classic Kerma; secondly, the pit, originally small, grew to considerable proportions in the course of Ancient Kerma to return to normal size during Classic Kerma.
The inhumation itself followed the pattern described in the preceding paragraphs (Fig.7).
The position and orientation of the tomb occupants were those of the C-Group at its beginnings and did not change for the remainder of the period; body contracted, head eastward facing north. Spreads, loincloths, sandals, caps and fans of ostrich feathers are regular features and are often found in surprisingly good condition. The funerary goods deposited with the deceased were, as noted before, mostly pottery vessels; but, in subsequent phases, they came to include more numerous and diverse objects such as weapons undoubtedly revealing the emergence of a military class as illustrated recently by the excavation of some fascinating archers' burials and more usually by the occurrence of bronze daggers. The presence of one of these daggers in a child's tomb speaks eloquently on this subject.
However, other aspects of the inhumation appear even more original such as bed burials, animal sacrifices and human sacrifices. Bed burials first appeared at the end of the Ancient Kerma and remained in use from that time onwards. The C-Group people, as we saw, also adopted them in the final phase of their culture. Animal sacrifices, mainly small bovids, possibly found their origin in the earlier traditions of Central Sudan. Here, they assumed distinctly religious meanings, as by the head ornament of some lambs, the centerpiece of which is made up of a frontal disk of ostrich feathers. Human sacrifices, which may have also originated in the same earlier traditions, appearing with Ancient Kerma, became more and more frequent during Classic Kerma, particularly in the largest tombs of the Kerma site, attributed to the rulers. One contained 322 sacrificed bodies, many of whom had apparently been buried alive.
If these underground developments attest to the emergence of a highly stratified society with a strong central power. a significant evolution in funerary beliefs and rituals is also indicated on the surface, over the burials.
Indeed. all Kerma graves seem to have been covered with a superstructure, a pebble covered circular mound of earth and sand. In the most notable examples, white pebbles covered the mound while black stones surrounded it in a remarkable contrast. These mounds - or tumuli - appear as the most visible sign of the occupant's social rank since, as from the end of Ancient Kerma, some of them started to dominate others in size. This trend reached its fullest development during Classic Kerma, when a series of very large tumuli was built at the southern edge of the Kerma necropolis. The three largest, including one reaching 90 meters in diameter, were built over mud-brick walls organised in corridors and rooms where the main burial, the furnishings, the sacrificial bodies and the subsidiary graves were placed. The mound was sometimes covered with mud-bricks and, in a few cases, it was topped by a cone of white dolomite marble.
Remains related to the tumuli - oblong stelae, wooden posts (possibly flag staffs), bucrania of large bovids and overturned vessels - confirm the development of mortuary rituals. However, most are typical of Ancient Kerma since subsequently the rituals seem to have favoured the burial itself. Nevertheless, placing bucrania at the edge of the tumulus remained a custom reaching spectacular proportions during Middle Kerma - one tomb at the end of this period included hundreds of them - to become rare during Classic Kerma. To the contrary, the vessels seem typical of Ancient Kerma when, judging by their inverted position and archaeological context, they were probably used during burial ceremonies. The excavators are inclined to associate them with hearth remains and consequently with funerary feastings which may have been performed before the construction of the mounds, During Classical Kerma, the royal tumuli were completed by a northern chapel remarkably illustrated by the Eastern Diffufa, a well preserved mud brick construction, having counterparts in some tumuli of lesser importance, a few dating back to Middle kerma. The inspiration for these constructions could be attributed to the chapels of the C-Group graves, but it is more probable that the idea came from Egypt, as the painted inner decoration seems to confirm.
The sizes and contents of the graves excavated at Kerma reflect the gradual emergence of a stratified and centralised society. The distribution of the graves confirms this phenomenon. In fact, throughout different areas of the cemetery, there were several clusters of graves around a central and greater one. This custom reached its peak and ultimate development in the royal tombs of Classic Kerma where the large tumuli of the rulers were surrounded by smaller ones, nonetheless of significant size. The royal tumuli, moreover, contained numerous and later burials having no tumuli of their own but including goods and sacrifices. They were most likely the graves of ranking officials who had wished to be buried as close as possible to their sovereign.
Historical Period
The Egyptian conquest of Nubia up to the Fourth Cataract at the beginning of the New Kingdom marked the partial end of local traditions. In most excavated cemeteries, except Kerma, after a transitional process the grave became virtually indistinguishable from Egyptian graves. The most striking change was the shift from the contracted to the extended position, which had been that of the Egyptians since the Old Kingdom. In Lower Nubia, decorated tombs, like Djehuty-hotep's, prince of Tehkhet, at Debeira East, illustrate the profound Egyptianisation of the upper classes.
Unfortunately, information is scarce for those areas not under Egyptian control during the period and for the whole country from Egypt's withdrawal at the end of the New Kingdom to the emergence of the Napatan-meroitic state (c,850- BC-AD 320) several centuries later. The archaeological record is then particularly significant as it shows a strong revival/survival of the older burial styles competing with the strong Egyptian influence, in ordinary and in royal cemeteries. In fact, one of the most ntable consequences of this influence is to be found in the appearance of cemeteries reserved for the rulers and their consorts, of which the sites of El Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal and meroe are impressive examples.
Among these cemeteries, El Kurru Dunham,1950 occupies a foremost position since, as the most ancient, it includes the graves of the Napatan Kings' direct ancestors which precisely illustrate the strong revival of Nubian mortuary traditions at a time-period which has, so far, yielded little concrete evidence. As in Kerma, the burials occupy a pit covered by a tumulus and the bodies, contracted on their right sides, lie on beds; but their orientation, head north facing west, is the one adopted by the C-Group during the Middle Kingdom. A surprising and remarkable feature of the cemetery is to be found in twenty-four horse burials located in a single area, apart from the main tombs.
Soon after the first burials, the tumulus was reinforced by a circular wall of stones and completed by a chapel at the east. Thew entire structure was then surrounded by an enclosure wall shaped like a horseshoe. At a later date, the wall and the superstructure became rectangular, the latter assuming consequently the shape of a mastaba.
After five or six generations, according to Reisner's chronological model and starting with Kashta, the Kurru graves, influenced by Egyptian beliefs, changed in important ways. The bodies were extended, mummified and placed in Egyptian coffins and, as a consequence, bed burials disappeared. Their orientation was no longer north-south but east-west and they were provided with canopic jars, shabtis and amulets of Egyptian manufacture. During the following generation, with Piye, the mastaba gave way to a pyramid, still ending in an east chapel. This innovation was of the greatest significance since the pyramid would endure as the burial superstructure of the Napatan and Meroitic kings for over a thousand years (Fig.8).
At the same time, the burial pit was replaced by a vaulted room with a long stairway located to the east of the superstructure. Starting with Shabaka's tomb, the graves were to have two chambers. After a few generations, they were to include three.
The burial goods of the royal graves have largely diappeared due to inevitable plundering. However, the presence of objects of Egyptian origin found at El Kurru and at Nuri gives evidence of the strong influence of Egypt. At Meroe, there is an increase in typical Meroitic productions associated with imported objects, including some of Graeco-Roman origin. The grave of Tanutamon, whose reign is marked by the loss of Egypt, has preserved part of its painted decoration of Pharaonic tradition. At Meroe, the chapel walls are decorated with reliefs, one of the most fascinating legacies of Meroitic art.
There have been few descriptions of the non-royal graves of the Napatan period due to their almost total absence in Lower Nubia, the only region systematically explored. Indeed, as of the New Kingdom, this part of the Nile valley seems to have been deserted for reasons that are still imperfectly elucidated. Nevertheless, several cemeteries have been explored more to the south, the most important being located at Missiminia, Sai, Sanam, Meroe and El Kadada. A recent and very promisingn discovery near Gebel Barkal will do much to further our knowledge of the subject. In contrast, Meroitic sites are plentiful in Lower Nubia, where many cemeteries have been excavated, the most famous of them being at Aniba (Karanog) and at Faras. Recent excavations have considerably enriched the data already available for the more southern regions reaching up to the confluence of the two Niles for which, up until the present, there had been little evidence.
Both periods exhibit a great variety in tomb and burial styles and in mortuary assemblages. The meaning of this variety is far from being understood though it can be said to reflect the impact, in all its variations and degrees, depending on the regions and time-periods, of two rival traditions - one imported from Pharaonic Egypt, the other inherited from Prehistory. Their blending created particularly fascinating funerary practices in Meroitic times.
Sanam Griffith,1923, a Napatan cemetery located near the capital city, reflects the hesitations of the local society between traditional and Egyptian models. The absence of superstructures, a result of natural destruction according to the excavator, has limited data to the substructures and their contents that were unfortunately heavily plundered. Four main types of substructures could be distinguished, including caves and mud-brick vaulted chambers with stairway approaches; rectangular or oblong pits; narrow pits with lateral niches. In the first type, the body was extended and the goods were mostly Egyptian; mummification, coffins and cartonnages were less common and furnishings included, along with large Egyptian wheel-made jars, hand made pottery vessels reminiscent of the pre-Pharaonic local wares. Most significantly. animal offerings, so common in the earlier Kerma graves, did not occur, but the the burials of three lions and two fishes were found within the cemetery. In most cases, the skeletons were oriented east-west with skulls westward. Personal ornaments included numerous amulets of Egyptian manufacture.
The occurrence, side by side, of extended and contracted burials with similar assemblages is of the most remarkable features of this cemetery. The excavator first thought that they could be of two different periods, but the similarity of the assemblages and the stratigraphical distribution of the graves convinced him that they belonged to contemporaneous Egyptianising and conservative elements of the population. The most significant example was a rectangular grave containing the burials of a man and a woman, the male extended and his companion contracted, which led him to conclude that: "the woman...held to the aboriginal custom with proper conservatism while her husband followed the more fashionable style" Griffith 1923:88. Distinctions of a similar nature occur in the Napatan graves at Meroe, where extended mummies, frequently covered with bead nets and placed in wooden coffins, were attributed to a colony of Egyptian craftsmen, while contracted burials on beds were attributed to the indigenous population.
The Meroitic burials Geus,1990, unfortunately almost totally absent at Sanam, belong to the same tradition as the Napatan. The substructures are identical, the only variants being of a geological rather than of a cultural nature. In Nubia, both the frequency of cave graves and extended burials and the apparently preferred E-W orientation, head west, for the dead, reveal the strong influence of Egyptian and royal models (Fig.9).
In the south, substructures adhered to the same pattern. However, extended burials prevailed in a restricted area only, around Meroe, where they appeared at a much later date then vanished towards the end of the period. The same may be said for their orientation which displays many variations. In fact, in this region, Egypt's influence was limited in time and restricted to the vicinity of the capital city and the royal cemeteries.
Even in nubia, this influence shows weakening since mummies and cartonnages are absent and coffins rather rare. In contrast, two sites only yielded evidence of bed burials. Bodies might have been laid on mats or spreads as in former times, but the evidence for this remains poor. The mortuary assemblages followed the old tradition associating utility goods, toilet articles, weapons and vessels, in contrast with contemporaneous Egyptian graves which included at most a coffin and a cartonnage, a fact well documented in the very northern part of Nubia, then in Egyptian hands. During the first centuries AD, there was a large scale development of painted ceramics included in the tombs, with motifs previously appearing on the Egyptian style amulets whose disappearance at that time was almost complete.
However, the most typical features of the Meroitic cemeteries in Lower Nubia are rectangular or square structures of stone and/or brick, covering many of the graves. They are all so ruined that their original shape raised problems of interpretation. Though they might represent other types of constructions, most archaeologists are now more inclined to consider them as the remains of small pyramids and therefore another sign of the influence of Egyptian and royal models. To the east of these structures stood chapels and altars to which stelae, offering tables and statues, that were to take part in the rituals, were obviously related. Being one of the most original features of the Meroitic cemeteries, these objects represent new changes in mortuary beliefs, some of which have obscure implications. Statues of strange figures with long wings folded and stretched back from the shoulders down to the floor were a local innovation. Their iconographic similarity has resulted in their identification with the "ba" of the Egyptian religion - they are usually called ba - statues - though this has never been confirmed by other data. The offering tables yield more precise iconographic data indicating, in particular, a deep influence of rituals related to the cults of Isis and Osiris (Fig.10).
The significance of rituals related to funeral or later commemorations finds support in other observations. At Sedeinga, broken glass vessels were found were found in tomb stairways. At Karanog, imprints of wooden poles - possibly flagstaffs - and deposits of small vases, both found near the descending approach of cave graves without superstructures, show that much rituals were not limited to graves endowed with superstructures. Another significant feature of Karanog is the occurrence of offerings inside the superstructures.
Major changes came at the end of the Meroitic Kingdom. These changes, particularly evident in the burials, have long been viewed as the evidence of a sharp cultural break with past traditions. Yet, the result of recent field work has come to represent them as a gradual revival of local customs, encouraged by the decline, then the end od Meroe's political leadership.
Indeed, the main common feature of post-Meroitic cemeteries (c.320-600 AD) is the use of tumuli as tomb superstructures, with first occurrences at Meroe and neighbouring sites before the end of the Kingdom. At the same time, bed burials, contracted bodies and N-S orientations re-appeared alongside previous customs. As formerly at Kerma, the royal tombs of LowwerNubia Emery,1938 contained human sacrifices, never exceeding 17 individuals in one single grave, and were surrounded by smaller non-royal burials. On the other hand, stone objects and inscriptions associated with the superstructures were no longer present.
The continuity with the preceding period is nevertheless striking. In private tombs, substructures were almost identical - in the north, the types were those occurring in the Napatan cemetery of Sanam - and the mortuary assemblages showed no fundamental variations, the changes being mostly in quality. As usual, pottery vessels dominated while other goods included personal adornments, weapons, tools and toilet articles.
In the south, the density of tumuli is surprisingly high. In the Shendi ridge, 30.000 of them were recorded on the left bank of the Nile over an area of only fifty kilometers. The largest among them may cover the tombs of kings, which would be the local counterparts of the northern kings, whose tombs were excavated at Ballana and Qustul Lenoble 1989.
The most impressive burial sites of the period are indeed the twin cemeteries of Ballana and Qustul, standing opposite each other on either banks of the Nile in Lower Nubia, where large tumuli covering royal graves - the largest one is 77m in diameter and 13m high - have long been mistaken for natural hills and have, therefore partly escaped plundering. This explains why their excavation provided a most most fantastic collection of objects, many of them originating from Byzantine Egypt. As Adams (1977:405) has noted: "Like the accidentally preserved tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt, they give us a clue - almost the only one we possess - to the even greater wealth which probably accompanied the tombs of earlier and more prosperous times". Fascinating descriptions of their discovery and excavation have been published by Emery, who describes the burials as follows (Emery 1938:25-26):
"An inclined passage was cut in the hard alluvium leading down to a large pit and a series of brick rooms were constructed in this pit with a small open court into which the inclined passage opened. In some cases each of the brick rooms have been built in separate pits and are connected by short passages tunnelled in the alluvium. The roofing of each room was barrel-vaulted, and in the larger tombs the doors had stone lintels...
...One room was usually reserved for the wine jars and drinking cups, and another was devoted to bronze and silver cooking utensils, lamps, jewels, weapons and tools. In Tomb 80 at Ballana, for example, we found spears and axes together with metal working tools and iron ingots. In the larger tombs a separate chamber was reserved for the burial of the queen, who was undoubtedly sacrificed, with her attendant slaves. But in the smaller tombs the sacrificed queen was placed beside her consort.
The king was placed in the chamber nearest the main entrance to the tomb, and it is evident that his installation was the last act before the final closing. His body was laid on a canopied wooden bier, below which were placed bronze and silver vessels for his immediate use. He was dressed in his royal regalia and weapons for his protection were left leaning against the foot of the bier, and its head lay the sacrificed bodies of a male slave and an ox. An iron folding chair was frequently placed by the side of the bier.
The entrance to the tomb was then blocked with bricks and stone and the owner's horses, camels, donkeys and dogs, together with their grooms and possibly soldiers, were then sacrificed in the courtyard and the ramp. The animals were buried wearing their harnesses and saddles, the dogs in some cases had collars and leashes.
The sacrificed humans met their deaths either by the cutting of the throat or by strangulation, and the animals were pole-axed.
Finally the pit and ramp were filled and a great earthern mound was raised over the tomb; in many cases offerings such as weapons, jewellery, vases. game etc., were buried in the mound. And at Ballana most of the mounds were covered with a layer of large schist.
The preceding description, rich in details of the extreme wealth and complexity of the burials on both sites, needs no further comment. These burials represent the ultimate point that deeply enrooted local and imported traditions were to reach before their extinction in Nubia soon after, with the advent of Christianity.
Indeed, with the Christianisation of Nubia the graves underwent major changes. The burials were not given the same attention as before, with the substructure containing only the dead person occasionally protected by a shroud or by a coffin, but tomb sites were still often indicated by some kind of superstructure. A remarkable change is the complete disappearance of royal cemeteries and, therefore, of royal tombs as state symbols. The same applies for Muslim times. Nevetheless, contemporary Nubian cemeteries still bear the influence of pre-Christian traditions: the deceased is buried on a bed; the burial pit is protected by small rectangular or oval mounds covered with white quartz pebbles, a vessel is placed at one side of the mound, a stone or a brick at both sides; small flags are occasionally fixed to the ground. On the other hand, some of the most important graves are covered with a qubba, a domed pyramids. It is also possible that hte palm branches which women during feast days bring to the graves are traces of an ancient custom lost to archaeology.
References
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Notes
- I would like to take this opportunity to express m gratitude to Mrs.Diana Pollin who was responsible for the English language version of this paper.
- To simplify matters, the terms used to describe the deceased's position have been limited to "contracted" and "extended".
- Old Kingdom (c.2635-2140), Middle Kingdom (c.2022-1650), Second Intermediate Period (c.1650-1539) and Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1539-1069) refer to the chronology of Pharaonic Egypt.
- Another possible influence is to be found in the tombs of the so-called Pan-Grave culture, which has been identified due to the discovery of small cemeteries in Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia. Although of the same basic traditions, it has not been given discussion in this paper because of its imprecise origins. Bietak (1987:124), dating the culture "from the time of the advanced Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period", has described the graves as follows: "Sometimes...graves show remains of a lose stone ring superstructure. Within a round shaft cut into the desert gravel, the bodies were deposited on mats or on fur in contracted position on their right side, either absolutely north-south oriented with the head in the north, facing west, or in an east-west orientation, the head in the west looking south...the bodies were protected by a layer of stone slabs. Offerings were deposited with the body in the shaft and also in separate small pits on the surface, where frequently bucrania of gazellles and goats. painted with red dots, were found".
