Western Connections of Northeast Africa: The Garnet Evidence from Late Antique Nubia, Sudan

Abstract

Outstanding garnet beads were found recently in an elite tumulus dated to the fourth century AD and located at the cemetery of Hagar el‐Beida in the Upper Nubian Nile Valley region. Whereas contacts of Northeast Africa with South Asia have just been proven through analysis of glass beads found in Nubia and dating to the time of intensive Indian Ocean trade, scientific evidence for Nubia's link with the regions to the west was lacking. Laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) was used to determine the elemental composition of three garnet beads to gain information about their type and origin. Additionally, we analyzed twelve garnets from two nearby alluvial placer deposits. While the garnet beads are inclusion‐free Cr‐poor and Ti‐rich pyropes related to alkaline mafic volcanic rocks, the local garnet deposits are shown to be inclusion‐rich almandines and thus unrelated to the investigated Nubian beads. Detailed comparison of data from Merovingian cloisonné jewellery and all known sources of the Cr‐poor and Ti‐rich pyropes shows identical ranges of elemental contents. The source of raw materials for the beads found in Nubia has been not identified with certainty yet, but sources in Portugal and Nigeria are suggested and a connection is shown to similar garnets from Merovingian contexts.

Hun kori örökség – a nagyváradi polikróm aranycsüngő

“…A gránátberakások kémiai összetétele MgO-CaO kétváltozós diagramon ábrázolva az elektronmikroszondás EDX adatok alapján. A potenciális gránátlelőhelyek osztályozásának alapja: Greiff (1998); Quast & Schüssler (2000); Mannerstrand & Lundqvist (2003); Calligaro et al (2002); Gilg et al (2010;; Then-Obłuska et al (2021). A szürke terület változatos kémiai és gemmológiai jegyekkel rendelkező gránátokat foglal magába, amelyek különböző, ismeretlen telepekből származnak és lehetséges új klasztereket alkotnak.…”

“…(Calligaro & Périn, 2019 nyomán). A gyenge minőségű elemzések Locock (2008) Greiff (1998), Quast & Schüssler (2000), Mannerstrand & Lundqvist (2003), Calligaro et al (2002), Gilg et al (2010;Then-Obłuska et al (2021). The grey area represents garnets with variable chemical and gemmological characteristics that derive from various, unknown deposits and cover possible new clusters: yellow circle: Sri Lanka (Elahera?)…”

“…A természettudományos anyagvizsgálatok terén a 20-21. századforduló vízválasztó időszak a provenienciakutatások számának ugrásszerű növekedése miatt. A műszeres analitikai módszerek fejlődésével és gyarapodásával egyre több külföldi és hazai régészeti gyűjtemény ékköves anyagáról készült archeometriai elemzés (a legfontosabbak : Greiff 1998;Calligaro et al 2002;Mannerstrand & Lundqvist 2003;Gilg et al 2010;Horváth & Bendő 2011;Schmetzer et al 2017;Calligaro & Périn 2019;Pion et al 2020;Then-Obłuska et al 2021). A nemzetközi kutatás eredményei alapján az elmúlt évtizedekben folyamatosan fejlődik a régészeti korokban felhasznált gránátok geokémiai (ásványkémiai) meghatározása és osztályozása.…”

Four millennia of garnet trade in Northeast Africa—chemical analysis of ancient and Late Antiquity beads from Lower Nubian sites

“…This transparent, red stone was used in all kinds of jewelry—from sophisticated engraved rings or seal stones; inlays in diadems; earrings or necklaces or even small sculptures; thin, doubly polished plates in cloisonné jewelry; to simple beads, merely drilled to be assembled into necklaces, bracelets, or applied to garments. Archeometric studies of jewelry dated from the Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity/Early Medieval times, the so‐called “garnet millennium” (Adams, 2011), have identified at least seven distinct garnet types, mostly almandines and pyropes (e.g., Calligaro et al, 2002; Carter et al, 2022; Gilg et al, 2010; Mellis, 1963; Mozgai et al, 2021; Nasdala et al, 2023; Rösch et al, 1997; Schmetzer et al, 2017; Schüssler et al, 2001; Then‐Obłuska et al, 2021; Thoresen & Schmetzer, 2013). On the basis of major and trace element compositions, chemical zonation, as well as distinct mineral inclusion assemblages, the provenance of some of these types could be linked to European (Gilg et al, 2015; Quast & Schüssler, 2000; Then‐Obłuska et al, 2021), others to Indian (Gilg et al, 2019; Schmetzer et al, 2017) or Sri Lankan (Schüssler et al, 2001) deposits, whereas sources for the other types are yet to be determined.…”

Garnet Trade in Early Medieval Europe: The Italian Network

“…The current model of the circulation of garnets is based on the results of the chemical and mineralogical characterization of thousands of garnets from sixth–seventh-century contexts in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary, the Netherlands, the British Islands, and Nubia (Calligaro et al, 2007; Šmit et al, 2014; Hamerow et al, 2015; Pion et al, 2020; Then-Obłuska et al, 2021). These studies show that, until the end of the fifth century, the market was dominated by stones mined in southern Asia and sent to the Mediterranean via the Indian Ocean maritime route (Pion et al, 2020, with references).…”