A Premise for Precolonial Nuba History

Spaulding, Jay

doi:10.2307/3171848

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…We are even more ignorant of the material evidence for the opening of Sinnār to contacts with the "outside world", a process which has begun to be studied on the basis of historical records (e.g. Spaulding 1985), but is otherwise known only from occasional reports of glass shards and glazed pottery on the surface of postmedievals sites. Even the major urban centres of the Funj Sultanate, Sinnār and Arbajī, remain largely unexplored.…”

Section: The Funj and Their Neighboursmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These have in turn become primary sources for more general historical studies of the period (e.g. McHugh 1994;Spaulding 1985).…”

Section: Archaeology and Islamic Holymenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following the final collapse of the Funj state, the TurcoEgyptian government was responsible for major changes in trading relations in the region, especially with regard to the Upper Nile. While the eighteenth century seems to have seen the final erosion of the royal monopolies on long-distance trade (Spaulding 1985), the new regime brought new trading imperatives linking in to ever wider world markets, as well as government attempts to assert new controls on trading activities. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These have in turn become primary sources for more general historical studies of the period (e.g. McHugh 1994;Spaulding 1985).However, many questions about the religious enclaves which grew up around these holymen still remain to be addressed. To what extent were they new foundations?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Burckhardt 1819). While their accumulation of estates and followers in the area can be traced in historical documents (Spaulding 1985), how they related to existing communities remains far from clear and, as with most of such sites, no archaeological investigations have been undertaken to explore their early histories. Only in rare cases do we have even basic descriptions of such sites, such as Abu Haraz on the Blue Nile (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The potential for Historical Archaeology in the Sudan

Edwards

2004

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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IntroductionTraditional archaeologies of the Middle Nile and the modern Sudan have long-focused on the more obvious and monumental achievements of its early "civilizations". The archaeology of more recent periods, however, remains largely neglected; such work as has been undertaken has tended to be framed simply in terms of an "Islamic" archaeology, in succession to a "Christian" medieval archaeology. What this paper wishes to explore is the possibility of developing some rather different approaches to the archaeology of the postmedieval and more recent periods in the Sudanese Middle and Upper Nile. Drawing on methodological and theoretical approaches being developed in the practice of "historical archaeology" in other parts of the world (e.g. Andrén 1998, Falk 1991, Funari et al 1998 it will discuss a few possible areas where research might be directed and some of the possibilities for developing more fruitful dialogue between history and archaeology. At this time we are still very much talking of the potential for future work. However, within one regional research programme, still ongoing in the Nubian Third Cataract region of northern Sudan, it is proving possible to begin to explore some of the potential of historical archaeology, with encouraging results.If we choose to look beyond traditional religion-based periodisations, one possible line for the development of research is to begin to explore some of the concerns of historical archaeology, as practiced in other parts of the world. There is clearly considerable potential, for example, for developing research concerned with the postmedieval spread of Europe and its values, the development of capitalism and "modernity". If we wish to avoid the Eurocentrism (apparent in many definitions of the scope of historical archaeology), we also need to look at the specific local contexts and particularities of the history of the Middle Nile. What may be termed "capitalist" forces were certainly an important element of the intrusive institutions and social forces which were to destroy the Sinnār Sultanate during the eighteenth century (Spaulding 1985: xiii-xiv). However, the appearance of these forces and the growth of more general global linkages during the postmedieval period were not however initially through European contacts. Instead they came through the great powers of the Near East, notably the Ottoman Empire, while new intellectual links were mediated through Islamic traditions, entering the Middle Nile from a number of directions. The slow infiltration of coin and the growth of monetary economies were also rooted within long-established regional trading traditions. When the first steps towards modernization, "improvement", and small-scale industrialization were made in the nineteenth century, they were mediated through exploitative policies of the colonial government of the Turkiyya, inspired in turn by the policies for modernizing Egypt of Muhammed Ali and his successors.If historical archaeology may suggest new areas of research for us, its theory and metho...

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Section: The Funj and Their Neighboursmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These have in turn become primary sources for more general historical studies of the period (e.g. McHugh 1994;Spaulding 1985).…”

Section: Archaeology and Islamic Holymenmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%