The potential for Historical Archaeology in the Sudan

Abstract

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...

Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period Nubia

“…Leveraging previously-published genome-wide data from three ancient Egyptians, we show that the West Eurasian-related ancestry detected at Kulubnarti was plausibly introduced via people from Egypt who harbored a majority of Western Eurasian-related ancestry and a minor proportion of Nilotic-related ancestry. The introduction of West Eurasian-related ancestry through Egypt is consistent with archaeological evidence of connections between Egypt and the Levant established by the first half of the 4 th millennium BCE 74,75 and between Egypt and Nubia ongoing since at least the second half of the 3 rd millennium BCE 1-4,76,77 . Archaeological and strontium isotope studies have identified Egyptian occupation as far as southern Upper Nubia 4,76,78,79 and have uncovered well-established cultural and material links between Nubia and the Ptolemaic and Roman Egyptian and Hellenistic worlds existing alongside indigenous cultural traditions rooted in Sudanic Africa 76,80 .…”

“…The introduction of West Eurasian-related ancestry through Egypt is consistent with archaeological evidence of connections between Egypt and the Levant established by the first half of the 4 th millennium BCE 74,75 and between Egypt and Nubia ongoing since at least the second half of the 3 rd millennium BCE 1-4,76,77 . Archaeological and strontium isotope studies have identified Egyptian occupation as far as southern Upper Nubia 4,76,78,79 and have uncovered well-established cultural and material links between Nubia and the Ptolemaic and Roman Egyptian and Hellenistic worlds existing alongside indigenous cultural traditions rooted in Sudanic Africa 76,80 . Studies of skeletal morphology 61,81 and genetic studies of present-day populations 52 suggest long-term interactions between Egypt and Nubia involving gene flow.…”

“…Studies of cranial and dental traits suggest that the Kulubnarti Nubians were similar to people from Wadi Halfa, located to the north near the Nile’s Second Cataract 8,9 ; however, morphological data have limited resolution for determining biological relationships relative to genome-wide data. Genetic studies of present-day Nubians reveal a mix of sub-Saharan African- and West Eurasian-related ancestry, but the mixture is largely a result of the Arab conquest of the late-1 st and early-2 nd millennia CE 20 , a time during which people with West Eurasian-related ancestry spread southward along the Nile through Egypt and into Nubia 1,4 . Because more recent admixture events obscure our understanding of the ancestry of people who predate these events, the analysis of paleogenomic data from Kulubnarti offers an opportunity to directly investigate the ancestry and biological relationships of a group of pre-Islamic Nubian people.…”

“…Situated along the Nile River between the First Cataract at Aswan in present-day Egypt and the confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers near the modern Sudanese capital of Khartoum (Fig. 1a), Nubia has long been a corridor connecting sub-Saharan Africa with Egypt and West Eurasia [1][2][3][4][5] . Throughout the 20 th century, archaeological expeditions explored patterns of interactions between Nubian groups and people from both north of the Sahara Desert and sub-Saharan Africa, fueling debates about the population history of this region [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] .…”

Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period Nubia

“…Studies of cranial and dental traits suggest that the Kulubnarti Nubians were similar to ancient people from Wadi Halfa, located to the north near the Nile’s Second Cataract 8 , 9 ; however, morphological data have limited resolution for determining biological relationships relative to genome-wide data. Genetic studies of present-day Nubians reveal a mix of sub-Saharan African- and West Eurasian-related ancestry, but the mixture is largely a result of the Arab conquest of the late-1st and early-2nd millennia CE 20 , a time during which people with West Eurasian-related ancestry spread southward along the Nile through Egypt and into Nubia 1 , 4 . Because more recent admixture events obscure our understanding of the ancestry of people who predate these events, the analysis of paleogenomic data from Kulubnarti offers an opportunity to directly investigate the ancestry and biological relationships of a Nubian group that lived in the region before the introduction of Islam.…”