Kulubnarti I: The Architectural Remains 9781407308050, 9781407337968

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Plates
List of Tables
PREFACES
CHAPTER I: THE SETTING
CHAPTER II: SITE 21-S-2
CHAPTER III: THE KULUBNARTI CHURCH
CHAPTER IV: SITE 21-S-25
CHAPTER V: SITE 21-S-10
CHAPTER VI: SITE 21-S-9
CHAPTER VII: OTHER ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS
CHAPTER VIII: ROCK PICTURE SITES
CHAPTER IX: MURAL INSCRIPTIONS
APPENDIX A: LIST OF REGISTERED FINDS FROM KULUBNARTI SITES
APPENDIX B: LIST OF DATED POTTERY WARES FOUND IN KULUBNARTI SITES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLATES

Citation preview

BAR S2241 2011

Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication Number 18

Kulubnarti I The Architectural Remains

ADAMS

William Y. Adams

KULUBNARTI I

B A R Adams 2241 cover.indd 1

BAR International Series 2241 2011 16/06/2011 15:10:38

Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication Number 18

Kulubnarti I The Architectural Remains

William Y. Adams

BAR International Series 2241 2011

ISBN 9781407308050 paperback ISBN 9781407337968 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407308050 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

KULUBNARTI I THE ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS

To the memory of HAJJ GAMAL AHMED HASSAN Who made everything possible

Contents List of Figures

viii

List of Maps 

ix-x

List of Plates

xi-xv

List of Tables

xvi

Preface to the First Edition

xvii

Preface to the Second Edition

xvii

I. THE SETTING The island  The sites The excavations The 1969 excavations The 1970 conservation work The 1979 cemetery excavations  Excavation and recording methodology Chronological indications Acknowledgments

1-9 1 1 2 4 5 5 6 6 7

II. SITE 21-S-2 Flimsy houses  Rough stone houses Slab houses  One-storey unit houses  Two-storey unit houses  The “Castle” Late houses  Recent houses Animal pens and terrace walls  The silt-retaining wall Chronological summary  Small finds

11-68 11 18 21 21 32 49 61 64 64 64 65 67

III. THE KULUBNARTI CHURCH The building  The paintings The original painting in the sanctuary (no. 21)  The earlier general decoration (Paintings 10-17)  The later general decoration (Paintings 1-7) General observations  The graffiti Chronological indications

69-77 69 72 73 73 75 76 77 77

IV. SITE 21-S-25 The enclosure wall The houses Terrace walls Chronological indications Small finds

79-83 79 79 83 83 83

v

V. SITE 21-S-10 Pharaonic occupation The Classic Christian occupation  The jebel-top houses  The upper and middle terraces  The Terrace D houses  The Post-Christian occupation  The jebel-top houses  The Terrace D houses  The jebel-base units  The lowest terraces  Chronological summary Small finds

85-98 85 85 85 87 87 91 91 91 96 98 98 98

VI. SITE 21-S-9 The walled compounds  The stone huts The one-storey unit houses The two-storey unit house  The underlying structure The original two-storey house Later modifications  Chronological summary The late houses The jalus houses Chronological summary The burials Small finds

99-108 99 100 102 103 103 103 105 106 106 106 108 108 108

VII. OTHER ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS The northern kourfas Site 21-S-42  Site 21-S-44 House and hut clusters Site 21-S-40  Site 21-S-43  Site 21-S-41  Site 21-S-45  The northern church Site 21-S-49 Pottery kilns Site 21-S-50 Small finds

109-119 109 109 112 114 114 115 116 116 116 116 119 119 119

VIII. ROCK PICTURE SITES The sites  The figures  Chronological indications 

121-124 121 121 124

IX. MURAL INSCRIPTIONS Site 21-S-2 The church inscriptions Inscriptions in the prothesis (Room 1)  Inscriptions in the sanctuary (Room 2)  Inscriptions in the diakonikon (Room 3)  Inscriptions in the north aisle (Room 4)  Inscriptions in the south aisle (Room 6)  Inscriptions published by Sayce  Inscriptions in the unit houses Inscriptions in House C1

125-130 125 125 125 126 126 127 127 128 128 128

vi

Inscription in House of F2 Inscriptions in House H1 Pseudo-Arabic inscriptions in the Castle Site 21-S-43

129 129 130 130

APPENDIX A. LIST OF REGISTERED FINDS FROM KULUBNARTI SITES 

131-157

APPENDIX B. LIST OF DATED POTTERY WARES FOUND IN KULUBNARTI SITES

158-159

BIBLIOGRAPHY

161-162

vii

List of Figures The Setting 1.1. Chronology of sites and house types at Kulubnarti.

8

Site 21-S-2 2.1. Site 21-S-2, cross-sections to show how secret crypts were entered in two-storey unit houses. a, b, House Al, Crypt 2-4. c, d, House Cl, House Cl, Crypt k. e, f, House Dl, Crypt 1-10 (and overlying Crypt c). 2.2. Site 21-S-2, House D1, sketch and cross-section to show how the upper floor was entered after the partial collapse of the south house wall, and before rebuilding of the Castle. a, sketch view from the south (not accurate to scale). b, north to south cross-section. 2.3. Site 21-S-2, Cross-Section of the Silt-Retaining Wall.

65

Site 21-S-10 5.1. Site 21-S-10, cross-section through Rooms IX and X, showing floor levels. 

90

33 45

Rock Picture Sites 8.1. Corpus of boat figures from Kulubnarti rock picture sites.

122

Mural Inscriptions 9.1. Examples of pseudo-Arabic graffiti from the Castle tower, Unit D3 (nos 1, 5 and 8).

130

viii

List of Maps The Setting 1.1. Map of northern Nubia showing location of Kulubnarti and other late medieval sites.  1.2. Map of Kulubnarti Island showing locations of sites excavated and/or recorded by the University of Kentucky Nubia Expedition. Site 21-S-2 2.1. Site 21-S-2, orientation and contour map. Shaded areas identify locations of one and two-storey unit houses. The wadi separating Kulubnarti Island from the west bank (dry at the time this map was drawn) is at the left.  2.2. Site 21-S-2, comprehensive plan showing buildings of all ages.  2.3. Site 21-S-2, general plan of flimsy houses, rough stone houses, and slab houses.  2.4. Site 21-S-2, plans of selected flimsy houses. a, House A6; b, House A11; c, House E5.  2.5. Site 21-S-2, plans of selected rough stone houses and slab houses. a, House L4; b, Houses A9, D8, and D9.  2.6. Site 21-S-2, general plan of unit houses.  2.8. Site 21-S-2, cross sections on one-storey Unit House A5. a, north east to south west; b, north-west to south-east section.  2.7. Site 21-S-2, plan of one-storey Unit House A5.  2.9. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey Unit House B2. a, north to south cross section.  2.10. Site 21-S-2, plan of one-storey Unit House D4.  2.11. Site 21-S-2, plan of one-storey Unit House D6.  2.12. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey Unit House Fl. a, east to west cross section.  2.13. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey Unit House F2. a, north-west to south-east cross section. 2.14. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey unit House G3. a, north-east to south-west cross section.  2.15. Site 21-S-2, plans of two-storey Unit House A1. a, upper floor plan.   2.16. Site 21-S-2, elevation and cross section of two-storey Unit House Al. a, south-east elevation.  2.17. Site 21-S-2, south-west elevation of two-storey Unit House Al.  2.18. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House Cl. a, south-west elevation.  2.19. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House Cl. a, north-west elevation.  2.20. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of two-storey Unit House Cl. a, north to south cross section.  2.21. Site 21-S-2, elevation and cross section of two-storey Unit House D1. a, west elevation. b, east-west cross section across the northern part of the building.  2.22. Site 21-S-2, upper-storey plan of two-storey Unit House D1 as originally constructed.  2.23. Site 21-S-2, upper-storey plan of two-story Unit House D1 as modified subsequent to original construction. Ascending stairway is shown at the south side of the building.  2.24. Site 21-S-2, upper-storey plan of two-storey Unit House D1 showing locations of crypts below the floors. 2.25. Site 21-S-2, ground floor plan of two-storey Unit House D1.  2.26. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House H1. a, north-east elevation. b, upper storey plan.  2.27. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of two-storey Unit House H1. a, north-east to south-west cross section through the south-east side of the building. b, upper-storey plan showing locations of crypts below the floors.  2.28. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House H1. a, south-east elevation. b, ground floor plan.  2.29. Site 21-S-2, cross section of two storey Unit House H1 across the north-west side of the building. 2.30. Site 21-S-2, general plan of the Castle (Units D1-D3a).  2.31. Site 21-S-2, upper floor plan of two-storey Unit House D1 at the final phase of occupation. Ascending stairway is at the south side of the building.  2.32. Site 21-S-2, two-storey Unit House D1, plan of upper walls to show original locations of roof timbers.  2.33. Site 21-S-2, elevation and cross section of the Castle (Units D1-D3).  2.34. Site 21-S-2, north elevation of Castle Units D2 and D1.  2.35. Site 21-S-2, plans of Castle Tower D3. a, plan at a level 2.5m above the floor. b, plan at floor level. Ascending stairway is at right, corner Parapet D3a at upper right. 

ix

2 3

13 14 16 17 19 22 25 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 34 35 35 37 38 39 41 42 42 43 43 46 47 48 49 51 52 53 54 55 57

2.36. Site 21-S-2, plan and cross section of Castle Tower D3. a, plan at top of walls, showing original locations of roof timbers. b, north-west to south-east cross section through the doorway.  2.37. Site 21-S-2, south-east elevation of Castle Units D3 and D2. Tower D3 is at left, Courtyard wall of D2 at right.  2.38. Site 21-S-2, south-west elevation of Castle Units D2, D3a, and D3. Part of Courtyard wall D2 is at left, Corner parapet D3a in center, and Tower D3 at right.  2.39. Site 2l-S-2, general plan of late houses, and unit houses remaining in use in the late period. Late House L3 is off the map to the right.  2.40. Site 2l-S-2, plans of selected late houses, a, House G5; b, house A4; c, House L3.  2.41. Site 21-S-2, plan of late House G2.  2.42. Site 21-S-2, general plan of recent houses, and older structures remaining in use. Recent Houses K1, L3, and L5 are off the map, to the right. 2.43. Site 21-S-2, plans of selected recent houses. a, House G4; b, House H2; c, House E2. 

58 59 59 60 62 63 66 68

The Kulubnarti Church 3.1. Site 21-S-2, South Elevation and Plan of Church J1. 3.2. Site 21-S-2, East Elevation and Plan of Church J1. 3.3. Site 21-S-2, Elevation and Cross-Section of Church J1. 3.4. Site 21-S-2, Church J1, West Elevation. 3.5. Site 21-S-2, Plans of Church J1 to show locations of Mural Paintings.

69 70 71 71 72

Site 21-S-25 4.1. Site 21-S-25, General Plan.

80

Site 21-S-10 5.1. Site 21-S-10; general plan showing terrace walls and late buildings.  5.2. Site 21-S-10, plan of Post-Classic Christian houses at original stage of construction.  5.3. Site 21-S-10, plan of Post-Classic Christian houses as modified subsequent to original construction.  5.4. Site 21-S-10, plan of Post-Christian houses and terraces.  5.5. Site 21-S-10, plans of Post-Christian houses 5B and 18A. a, plan of House 5B, showing subfloor magazines in Rooms 3 and 4. Magazines are shown with covering slabs partially in situ as found. Site 21-S-9 6.1. Site 21-S-9, general plan showing buildings and compound walls. House E1 is off the map at bottom; House G2 is off the map at right. 6.2. Site 21-S-9, cross section and plan of Unit Houses C1. a, north to south cross section. b, plan.  6.3. Site 21-S-9, plans of two-stormy Unit House A1. a, upper floor plan. b, ground floor plan.  6.4. Site 21-S-9, cross section and plan of two-storey Unit House A1. a, north to south cross section. b, upper-floor plan showing locations of crypts below floors.  Other Architectural Remains 7.1. Site 21-S-42, general plan of the Western Diffi. 7.2. Site 21-S-42, general plan of the Eastern Diffi. For explanation see the legend.  7.3. Site 21-S-44, general plan. All construction is of jalus except where stone is indicated.  7.4. Site 21-S-40, plan of the northern houses. For explanation see the legend.  7.5. Site 21-S-40, plan of the southern houses. All construction is of mortared stone masonry.  7.6. Site 21-S-49, plan of Church A and adjoining building B. 

x

88 92 93 95 96

100 104 105 107

110 111 113 114 115 116

List of Plates Plate 1.1. The Kulubnarti environment. 1.1a. The Nile at Kulubnarti, from Site 21-S-25. The island is to the left, the east bank to the right. 1.1b. The channel separating Kulubnarti from the west bank, at the peak of the Nile flood. The island is to the right. 1.1c. The topography of Kulubnarti near the middle of the island. Modern house in the foreground; kourfa Site 21-S-42 on the skyline. 1.1d. The topography of Kulubnarti, on the east side of the island, looking west from the summit of Site 21-S-10. The mountains in the background are on the west bank. 1.1e. The modern village of Kulb Saab, at the north end of Kulubnarti Island. 1.1f. Desert dunes and jebels behind Kulubnarti Island. Plate 1.2. The excavations. 1.2a. Excavations at Site 21-S-2. 1.2b. Excavations at Site 21-S-2. 1.2c. Sherd washers at Site 21-S-2. 1.2d. Baskets of washed sherds, waiting to be sorted and tallied. 1.2e. Pay time at Site 21-S-2. The rakuba in the background served as supervision headquarters for the dig. 1.2f. The dig house in Kulbincoing village, at the end of the season. Expedition gear and finds are stacked in crates, awaiting transport to the river and back to Wadi Halfa. Plate 2.1. Site 21-S-2: general views. 2.1a. The site as seen from across the Nile, looking north. 2.1b. The site viewed from the south west. The line of trees marks the channel separating Kulubnarti from the west bank. Note the church in the center of the picture. 2.1c. General view over the surface of the site after excavation, looking west. House F2 is in the foreground, House H1 in the left background. 2.1d. General view over the surface of the site after excavation, looking east. House C1 is in the background. 2.1e. General view over the surface of the site after excavation, looking north east. House A5 is in the background, right. 2.1f. General view over boulder alignments in the center of the site after excavation, looking south west. The corner of Tower D3 is just visible at top right. Plate 2.2. Site 21-S-2. Flimsy houses. 2.2a. House E5, denuded back wall remnants. 2.2b. House E5, brick and stone wall remnants. 2.2c. House E7, Room 1, wall remnants. Note sub-floor pot. 2.2d. House E7, Room 6, sub-floor basin. 2.2e. House E8, corner fireplace in north-east corner. 2.2f. House F5, stone wall remnants. Plate 2.3. Site 21-S-2. Rough stone houses and slab houses. 2.3a. House A9, wall remnants, looking south east. 2.3b. House A9, Room 2, sunken storage bins. 2.3c. House L5, Room 2, rough stone construction. 2.3d. House L7, rough stone construction. 2.3e. “House” D8 (background) and “House” D9 (right), looking north. 2.3f. House L1, slab walls, looking north. Plate 2.4. Site 21-S-2. One-storey unit houses. 2.4a. House A5, looking south. House A1 in the background. 2.4b. House B2, west end. 2.4c. House D4, small northern rooms (Rooms 3-8). 2.4d. House F1, north-west corner (Rooms 1a-1c). 2.4e. House F2, from east. 2.4f. House F2, Rooms 4 and 5. Plate 2.5. Site 21-S-2. House A1. 2.5a. South wall. 2.5b. East wall. 2.5c. Upper floor, entrance to Room 2-1. 2.5d. Upper floor, Room 2-4, entrance to sub-floor crypts. xi

2.5e. Upper floor, Room 2-1, dividing wall between sub-floor crypts. Plate 2.6. Site 21-S-2. House C1. 2.6a. South wall. 2.6b. East wall. 2.6c. North-west corner, where later doorway was hacked through. 2.6d. Upper floor, Room 2-1, and doorway to Room 2-5. 2.6e. Upper floor, Room 2-3 corridor and hatchways to Crypts a-c. 2.6f. Upper floor, Room 2-1, late pots in situ in refuse. Plate 2.7. Site 21-S-2. House D1. 2.7a. West wall before clearing. 2.7b. West wall after clearing, showing slumped section. 2.7c. North wall. 2.7d. Detail of north wall, showing blocked doorways. 2.7e. East wall, where wall of Courtyard D2 joins. 2.7f. South-west corner, showing outside stair parapet at right. Plate 2.8. Site 21-S-2. House D1: upper storey. 2.8a. Room 2-2 and 2-3. 2.8b. Room 2-2, north wall. 2.8c. Room 2-3, original floor. 2.8d. Room 2-8, looking north to original doorway to Room 2-3. 2.8e. Room 2-8, looking south into Room 2-9. Toilet fixture is in the corner. 2.8f. Room 2-9, crypt hatches in floor. Crypt f at left, Crypt e at right. Plate 2.9. Site 21-S-2. House H1. 2.9a. View from the east. The doorway to Room 1-5 is at the left, vault of Room 1-2 at the right. 2.9b. View from the south-east corner. 2.9c. Room 2-4, and doorway to Room 2-3. 2.9d. Denuded ground-floor rooms at the north-east corner (Rooms 1-21, 1-1 , and 1-15). 2.9e. Extension at the south side (Rooms 1-6, 1-7 and 1-8). 2.9f. Blocked exterior doorway to Room 1-2. Plate 2.10. Site 21-S-2. The “Castle:” House D1. 2.10a. General view, from the south west. 2.10b. South face, as seen from the Church roof. 2.10c. Upper floor, late doorway to Room 2-2. 2.10d. Upper floor, remains of soma in Room 2-4. 2.10e. Upper floor, blocked window in west wall of Room 2-8. 2.10f. Upper floor, loophole in west wall of Room 2-10. Plate 2.11. Site 21-S-2. The “Castle:” Courtyard D2 and stair ramp to House D1. 2.11a. The “Castle’’ complex from the east. Tower D3 to the left, Courtyard D2 to the right. 2.11b. Exterior of the stir parapet wall, south side of House D1. Note single loophole in center of wall. 2.11c. South-west corner of Courtyard D2, with stairway landings. Stairway to House D1 ascends to right; stairway to Tower D3 ascends to left. 2.11d. Interior of the stair ramp, south side of House D1, after removal of the stairs. Incised lines show successive heightenings of the parapet wall. 2.11e. Top of the stair ramp and parapet (Room 2-10), south-west corner of House D1. Note partially blocked loop-holes, leaving only a small round opening. 2.11f. North-west corner of Courtyard D2. Note peephole in the corner where courtyard wall joins House D1 wall. Plate 2.12. Site 21-S-2. The “Castle:” Tower D3 and Corner parapet D3a. 2.12a. South side of the “Castle” complex. Tower D3 to right, Parapet D3a at center. 2.12b. Tower D3, south face. Parapet D3a at left. 2.12c. Ascending steps on the north face of Tower D3, probably leading to the top of the courtyard gateway. 2.12d. Stair ramp and entrance to Tower D3. 2.12e. Stair ramp to Tower D3. 2.12f. Tower D3, interior floor. Plate 2.13. Site 21-S-2. Late houses. 2.13a. House G1 looking north. 2.13b. House G1, east end. 2.13c. House G2 from west end, looking east. 2.13d. House G5, looking north east. xii

2.13e. House G7, looking west. 2.13f. House H3, east end. Plate 2.14. Site 21-S-2. Recent houses. 2.14a. House A3, north-west corner. 2.14b. House F1, north wall (recent reconstruction of an older unit house). 2.14c. House G4, Room 2. 2.14d. House H2, looking east. 2.14e. House I4, looking south. 2.14f. House K1. Plate 3.l. Site 21-S-2. Kulubnarti Church (Building J1). 3.la. View from north. 3.lb. View from east. 3.lc. View from south. 3.ld. View from west. 3.le. North-west corner, interior. 3.lf. South-west corner, interior, showing doorway to stair chamber (Room 9). Plate 3.2. Site 21-S-2. Kulnbnarti Church (Building J1): interior views. 3.2a. East end of the north aisle (Room 4), with doorway to Room 1. 3.2b. Room 1, niche in south wall. 3.2c. East end of the south aisle (Room 6), with doorway to Room 3. 3.2d. West end of the nave, seen from top of stairway. 3.2e. Doorway from the nave to the stair chamber (Room 9). 3.2f. Room 9, looking down on the stairs from above. Plate 3.3. Site 21-S-2. Wall paintings. 3.3a. Nativity, left panel. North wall of north aisle. 3.3b. Nativity, center panel. East wall of north aisle. Plate 3.4. Site 21-S-2. Wall paintings. 3.4a. Nativity, right panel. South wall of north aisle. 3.4b. Apostles and ?Pantocrator. North and east walls of sanctuary. Plate 3.5. Site 21-S-2. Wall paintings in the church. 3.5a. Apostles. South wall of sanctuary. 3.5b. Head of Christ with the Four Creatures. South wall of the south aisle. Plate 3.6. Site 21-S-2. Wall paintings in the church. 3.6a. Fragmentary original painting in the sanctuary. 3.6b. Part of Nativity? South wall of north aisle. Plate 3.7. Wall paintings. 3.7a. Apostles. North wall of sanctuary. 3.7b. Head of Christ with the Four Creatures. East wall of sanctuary. Plate 4.1. Site 21-S-25. 4.la. View of the enclosure wall and site, from the north. House 1 is at the right. 4.lb. House 1, Interior view of Room 2, showing original beam sockets at top of wall. 4.lc. House 3, general view from the north west. 4.ld. House 4, general view from the north west. 4.1e. House 5, storage pots in situ. 4.lf. House 7 In the foreground; House 6 in the background, perched atop a high boulder. Plate 5.1. Site 21-S-10: general views and early jebel-top houses. 5.1a. Jebel Aburjai from the north west, looking across the Nile toward the east bank. Terrace D retaining wall can be seen a short distance below the summit. 5.1b. Jebel Aburjai from the south east. Lower houses are located in the cleared area almost in the center of the picture. 5.1c. House I, sub-floor magazines. Soma at right. 5.1d. House I, sub-floor magazines. 5.1e. House II. Inner room in foreground, outer room in center, open terrace in background. 5.1f. House II, group of pots resting on floor in outer room. Plate 5.2. Site 21-S-10. Terrace D: general views and southern houses. 5.2a. Exterior face of the terrace wall, north of gateway. xiii



5.2b. The gateway, seen from within. Antechamber is in foreground, with gateway proper beyond it. House X, Room 4 is to left. 5.2c. Looking along terrace from south end. House VII in foreground left, House VIII in foreground right. 5.2d. Looking down on the terrace from above. House IX in right foreground, House X in middle of picture, gateway at top right. 5.2e. House VI. Terrace D retaining wall is visible at lower left. 5.2f. Houses IX (foreground) and X from above.

Plate 5.3. Site 21-S-10. Terrace D: northern houses. 5.3a. House XI. Note floor pots at left and in center. 5.3b. Stratigraphy at the north end of Terrace D. House V floor with pots in background; House XIII back wall, and floor with grinding slab, in foreground. 5.3c. Pots and grinding slab in House V. 5.3d. House XIII. Outer room, with grinding slab, in foreground; inner room in background. Plate 5.4. Site 21-S-10. Post-Christian jebel-top and Terrace D houses. 5.4a. House 1 before excavation, showing brick wall slumped over sidewise. 5.4b. House 1 after excavation. 5.4c. House 3b after excavation. 5.4d. House 4 after excavation. 5.4e. House 5b after excavation, from above. Room 1 at extreme right; Room 4 at left. 5.4f. House 5b, detail of sub-floor crypts in Rooms 3 (right) and 4 (left). Plate 5.5. Site 21-S-10. Post-Christian jebel-base units. 5.5a. Houses 17 (1eft), 16b, 16a, and 15, seen from below. Remains of Terrace F wall are at far right. 5.5b. House 15 floor, from the south. 5.5c. House 17, from below. 5.5d. House 18a floor, from the south. 5.5e. House 18a, details of floor features in the southern half of the room. Doorway is at top right. 5.5f. Denuded walls of Terrace F (center) and Terrace G (right). Plate 6.1. Site 21-S-9. 6.1a. Two-storey Unit House A1 and its surrounding enclosure wall. 6.1b. One-storey Unit House C1, from the north. 6.1c. One-storey Unit House D1, from the south. 6.1d. Jalus Houses A2-5, from the south east. 6.1e. Jalus House G1, from the north. 6.1f. Burial below the floor of House G2. Plate 7.1. Site 21-S-42. 7.1a. Western Diffi, general view from the west. Tower A is the highest standing structure. 7.1b. Western Diffi, Tower A, north side. 7.1c. Western Diffi. Tower B, east side. Note adjoining rooms of Unit B in foreground. 7.1d. Western Diffi, Unit C. north-west corner rooms, from above. 7.1e. Eastern Diffi, from the east, showing “pebbled” outer wall of Rooms 1 and 2. 7.1f. Lower room group, eastern end, from above. Plate 7.2. Sites 21-S-40 and 21-S-48 7.2a. Site 21-S-40, general view of the northern half of the site, looking north. House 5 is in the foreground, House 4 is behind it at left, and Complex A is in the background. 7.2b. Site 21-S-40, House 1, Room 1 (left) and Room 2 (right). 7.2c. Site 21-S-40, House 4, from the north. 7.2d. Site 21-S-43, denuded remains of Late Christian Unit House 1, with later-added rough stone walls. 7.2e. Site 21-S-43, remains of Late Christian Unit House 2, with later-added jalus walls. House 1 is in the background. 7.2f. Site 21-S-43, recent jalus structure below the ridgetop. Plate 7.3. Sites 21-S-41, 21-S-45, 21-S-49 and 21-S-50. 7.3a. Site 21-S-41, Houses E (foreground) and F. The latter is an example of one of the well-preserved stone huts, probably built or rebuilt in the fairly recent past. 7.3b. Site 21-S-41. House B. An example of a very denuded hut, probably from the Classic or Late Christian period. 7.3c. Site 21-S-45, House 10. One of the best preserved structures, with a doorway still intact. 7.3d. Site 21-S-49, Building A. The foundations of the church as seen from the west. 7.3e. Site 21-S-50. The pottery-making site. Kilns 2-6 are at the center. 7.3f. Site 21-S-50, Kilns 4 to 6, from left to right.

xiv

Plate 8.1. Rock pictures of animals. 8.1a. Site 21-S-47, ?antelope figure. At the upper left is a very crude boat figure. 8.1b. Site 21-S-48, two horses and a boat. The lower horse appears to be saddled. 8.1c. Site 21-S-48, a long-horned bovid (upper left). 8.1d. Site 21-S-57, a group of short-horned cattle. 8.1e. Site 21-S-48, an apparent camel. 8.1f. Site 21-S-57, a dog. Plate 8.2. Rock pictures of boats, human activities, etc. 8.2a. Site 21-S-57, boats. 8.2b. Site 21-S-48, a boat and a probable bovid. 8.2c. Site 21-S-48, part of Panel 5. At the upper left, a boat apparently superimposed on a bovid. At lower left, an equestrian and two animals which may be dogs. 8.2d. Site 21-S-48, a cross and an equestrian. 8.2e. Site 21-S-58. Most clearly recognizable are two human figures. The upper figure is in Pharaonic pose; the lower is a sampler stick figure. 8.2f. Site 2 1-S-48, part of Panel 5. A panel comprising mostly human figures, of whom the majority are stick-figures. The two friezes of opposed goats are decidedly unusual.

xv

List of Tables The Setting 1.1. Sites investigated by the University of Kentucky expedition, 1969 and 1979. 1.2. Chronology of medieval and modern Nubian culture periods. 

4 7

Site 21-S-2 2.1. List of flimsy houses at Site 21-S-2. 2.2. List of rough stone houses at Site 21-S-2. 2.3. List of slab houses at Site 21-S-2. 2.4. List of one-storey unit houses at Site 21-S-2. 2.5. List of two-storey unit houses at Site 21-S-2. 2.6. Units of the ‘Castle” at Site 21-S-2. 2.7. List of Late Houses at Site 21-S-2. 2.8. List of Recent Houses at Site 21-S-2.

18 20 21 24 49 60 64 65

The Kulubnarti Church 3.1. List of Paintings in the Kulubnarti Church (Building J1).

74

Site 21-S-25 4.1. Comprehensive List of Houses at Site 21-S-25.

82

Site 21-S-10 5.1. Comprehensive List of Houses and Terraces at Site 21-S-10. 5.2. Features of Terrace D houses.

86 90

Site 21-S-9 6.1. Comprehensive list of houses at Site 21-S-9

102

Rock Picture Sites 8.1. Distribution of figures at Kulubnarti rock picture sites

123

Mural Inscriptions 9.1. List of mural inscriptions in Kulubnarti sites.

126

xvi

PREFACE to the First Edition This is the first of a projected three volumes, setting forth the results of the University of Kentucky excavations at Kulubnarti in 1969 and 1970, and the Kentucky-Colorado excavations in 1979. The present volume deals with all of the architectural remains investigated by the expeditions, comprising ten settlement sites, two churches, and a pottery kiln site. Also included are descriptions of the epigraphic remains found at two settlement sites and six rock picture sites. Subsequent volumes will deal with all of the artifacts from the Kulubnarti sites (Kulubnarti II), and with the mortuary remains from two cemeteries (Kulubnarti III). The long delay in publishing these reports is the result to a considerable extent of lack of funding. Even now funds are available only for a relatively inexpensive publication format, which may leave something to be desired aesthetically. However, it seems better to publish the results in whatever form is possible, rather than wait for additional funding, which is very unlikely to materialize.

PREFACE to the Second Edition In 1998 and 1999 volumes II and III of the reports on the University of Kentucky excavations at Kulubnarti were published by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society as numbers 2 and 4 in its monograph series. Kulubnarti III was also available through British Archaeological Reports in its International Series no. 814. Volume I has long been out of print and, at the request of the author, the Sudan Archaeological Research Society agreed to republish the first volume, the cost being generously borne by Professor Adams. The excavations at Kulubnarti remain the only detailed study of a late medieval and post-medieval landscape in the Sudan. The extensive nature of the work on habitation sites of many differing types, on monumental buildings such as the church and the kourfa, on some of the associated cemeteries as well as of the rock art provided an immense amount of data. The Kulubnarti volumes publish all this material in full and are an invaluable source of information on life in rural settlements during this pivotal period during which Christianity vanished to be replaced by Islam. It thus sheds light on the origins of the present northern Sudanese cultures in an area long inhabited by the Nubians. The text is reproduced as in the first edition with some updating of the bibliographic references. The original text was scanned and converted into a Microsoft Word document by Dr Ross Thomas who also scanned all the original photographs and plans. Derek A. Welsby

xvii

25th March 2011

CHAPTER I THE SETTING The island

Although there is a sizable village (Kulb Saab) near the northern end of the island (Plate 1.1e),4 there has been no floodplain cultivation on the island itself in recent times. The main fields of the Kulb Saab villagers are located on the west bank, a little downstream from the island. Another patch of alluvium just upstream from the island is cultivated by the inhabitants of the hamlet of Kulbincoing, opposite the island’s southern tip. However, there are indications of former cultivation (including an abandoned saqia) along the southern shore of Kulubnarti, between sites 21-S-2 and 21-S-25 (see Map 1.2). In addition, date palms have been planted thickly all along the channel which separates Kulubnarti from the west bank; they represent almost the only productive use of the island’s soil in modern times. In the past, dates were an important cash crop for the people of Kulubnarti and surrounding regions (see especially Dafalla 1975, 77-83).

The Nile island of Kulubnarti (“Island of Kulb” in the Mahasi dialect of Nubian) is situated about 130 km upstream from Wadi Haifa, in the Batn el-Hajjar region of Sudanese Nubia (Map 1.1). It is very roughly trapezoidal in shape, with maximum dimensions of about 2 km from north to south and 1 km from east to west (Map 1.2). Prior to the filling of Lake Nubia it was not a true island except for a few weeks each year, at the peak of the Nile flood season. At that time it was separated from the west bank by a narrow channel, so regular in its contours that an early visitor thought it must be man-made (Plate 1.1b) (Burckhardt 1819, 77-78).1 The channel however was dry during most of the year, it sides and bottom serving as seluka-land for the growing of legumes and other fodder crops (see Adams 1977, 5l; Dafalla 1975, 76). Kulubnarti was then simply one of many headlands projecting into the river from its western bank. This situation has been altered by the building of the Aswan High Dam. Kulubnarti today is just at the head of Lake Nubia, and it is a true island whenever the lake level is at or near its maximum contour. The lake waters have inundated and destroyed all of the former seluka-land. They have not however overflowed the original channel so as to destroy the nearby areas of level floodplain that were cultivated in wheat and durra, nor have they reached any of the houses on the island or the adjoining mainland. For this reason most of the Nubian inhabitants at Kulubnarti and vicinity have chosen to remain in their ancestral homes rather than relocate to New Nubia, where the majority of Sudanese Nubians are now resettled.2 Kulubnarti is situated in the very heart of the Batn el-Hajjar (“Belly of Stones”) — the most rugged and inhospitable terrain along the entire course of the Nile (Plate 1.1a). Throughout this region, bare granite ridges and pinnacles are interspersed with equally barren alluvial flats, many of them deeply drifted in sand. Natural vegetation is confined to a scattered growth of acacia, dom palm, and halfa grass along the riverbanks and a few large wadis. There is no continuous floodplain; arable land occurs only here and there in small patches along both sides of the river.3 These features are characteristic of the island of Kulubnarti no less than of the neighboring mainland areas east and west of the river. The island’s surface is dominated by a number of rocky ridges and outcrops, the highest of which, near the southern end, rises to perhaps 80m above the level of the riverbank. Between the ridges are undulating or level plains, largely devoid of vegetation, that are either drifted over with sand or strewn with fallen boulders from the heights above (Plate 1.1c-d).

The sites By far the most conspicuous archaeological site at Kulubnarti is the abandoned village 21-S-2, at the island’s southern extremity.5 A number of its houses are still standing to their original height of two storeys, and the imposing “castle” (Building D1-3) can be seen from a considerable distance up and down the river (Plate 2.la-b). Its presence was first noted in 1813 by J. L. Burckhardt (Burckhardt 1819) who also visited and described the nearby church (Building J1). The site was subsequently visited by various other European travellers,6 and plans of the Kulubnarti church were published by Somers Clarke (1912, 48) and by Monneret de Villard (1935, 233). No other archaeological remains were observed at Kulubnarti prior to the survey undertaken by A. J. Mills for the Sudan Antiquities Service between 1963 and 1969. Mills and his party found two more important settlement sites on the island (21-S-9 and 21-S-10) (Mills 1965, 11). Our own surveys in 1969 disclosed an additional 16 sites, bringing the total of known sites at Kulubnarti to 19 (Table 1.1). Of these, 10 are settlements in one sense or another, one is an isolated church, one is a pottery manufacturing site, one is a cemetery, and six are rock picture localities. Except for the rock pictures, all of the sites belong to the later medieval period. All 19 sites received some measure of attention during the 1969 season of excavations, as did one cemetery site on the adjacent mainland. For ethnographic studies of the Kulubnarti Nubians see Kronenberg and Kronenberg 1964 and 1965. The total population of the sheikhship of Kulb (which includes settlements on Kulubnarti as well as a few on the neighboring mainland) was calculated at 556 in 1960. See Republic of the Sudan, Department of Statistics, Population Census in Wadi Haifa Rural Area and Town (Khartoum, 1960), p. 88. 5 For an explanation of the system of site numbering used in Sudanese Nubia see Adams 1961, 8. 6 For a list of references see Monneret de Villard, 1935, 234. 4

1 There is no real support for Burckhardt’s theory that the channel is artificial. 2 See especially Dafalla 1975, 86-300. 3 For fuller topographic description see Adams 1977, 26-28.

1

Map 1.1. Map of northern Nubia showing location of Kulubnarti and other late medieval sites. Squares identify medieval sites; circles identify modern towns.

The excavations

Monuments of Nubia. 7 The primary objective of the Kulubnarti excavations was to shed light on the cultural transition from Christianity to Islam, a phase of Nubian cultural history that is almost wholly undocumented historically and that was also

The University of Kentucky Excavations at Kulubnarti were carried out in 1969, 1970, and 1979, under a license granted by the Sudan Government Antiquities Service to the University of Kentucky. The work was undertaken as a contribution to the International Campaign to Save the

7 For a detailed history and evaluation of the campaign see SäveSöderbergh 1987.

2

Map 1.2. Map of Kulubnarti Island showing locations of sites excavated and/or recorded by the University of Kentucky Nubia Expedition.

mostly neglected in previous archaeological campaigns (see Adams 1977, 508-510; 1987a, 327-328). Site 21-S-2, at the southern extremity of Kulubnarti Island, suggested itself as an especially promising place for this investigation. Many of its buildings were exceptionally well preserved, and surface collections of pottery indicated an

occupation at least from the 13th into the 17th century.8 Accordingly, the excavation of site 21-S-2 became the main objective of the first season’s work at Kulubnarti. 8 For the method of dating Nubian archaeological sites on the basis of their ceramic content see Adams 1986a, 27-45; 1986b, 601-633.

3

TABLE 1.1. Sites investigated by the University of Kentucky expedition, 1969 and 1979. Site no.

Period of Occupation

Type of site

Remains noted

Work done

21-S-2

Late Christian and PostChristian

Settlement and church

Kourfa; church; 63 other houses

Excavated in toto

21-S-9

Late Christian and PostChristian

Walled Settlement

12 houses; girdle wall

Excavated in toto

21-S-10

Classic Christian to PostChristian

Settlement

35 houses; stone terrace wall

Excavated in toto

21-S-25

Late Christian and PostChristian

Walled Settlement

7 houses; terrace walls; girdle wall

Excavated in toto

21-S-40

Post-Christian

Settlement

8 houses

5 houses fully or partly excavated

21-S-41

Late-Christian

Settlement

12 or more houses

Sketched and recorded

21-S-42

Post-Christian

Kourfas

2 Kourfas; other associated 5 rooms partly excavated; mapped rooms

21-S-43

Late-Christian

Houses

3 houses

21-S-44

Post-Christian

Kourfa

Enclosure wall and interior Recorded and mapped rooms

21-S-45

Late-Christian and PostChristian

Settlement

40 or more houses

8 houses excavated in full

Church; adjoining building; 5 graves

Church excavated in toto

7 kilns; 1 house

Kilns excavated in toto

Settlements

1 house partly excavated; mapped

Church 21-S-49

Classic Christian?

Church

21-S-50

Post-Christian?

Pottery kilns

Pottery kilns Cemeteries 21-R-2

Christian and Post-Christian

Cemetery

Est. 500-600 graves

188 graves excavated*

21-S-46

Christian and Post-Christian

Cemetery

Est. 300 graves

208 graves excavated*

21-S-47

Pharaonic?

Rock pictures

Several panels over large area

Recorded and photographed

21-S•48

Pharaonic? 
and Christian

Rock pictures

Several panels over large area

Recorded and photographed

21-S-55

Pharaonic?

Rock pictures

Several panels over large area

Recorded and photographed

21-S-56

Pharaonic?

Rock pictures

2 panels close 
together

Recorded and photographed

21-8-57

Pharaonic?

Rock pictures

3 panels close 
together

Recorded and photographed

21-S-58

Pharaonic?

Rock pictures

1 panel

Recorded and photographed

Rock pictures

  *1979 season

The 1969 excavations invaluable service as messengers and sherd counters. A force of 110 local laborers was employed for the first half of the season (cf. Plate 1.2a), after which the number was gradually decreased to 40 in the last weeks. Supervision was provided by a skilled corps of five Egyptian Quftis under the direction of Reis Ismail Khalil. Dr Friedrich Hinkel, on leave from the Sudan Antiquities Service,

Excavations in the 1969 season were carried on from January 5 until May 1. The professional staff consisted of William Y. Adams, Field Director, Nettie K. Adams, Camp Manager and Technical Assistant, Frank B. Fryman and Thomas E. Higel, Student Archaeologists, and Mildred Fryman and Sandra Higel, Object Registrars. Messrs Ernest and Edward Adams, then aged 9 and 7, performed 4

completed the mapping of several of the excavated sites after the departure of the main excavation team in May. Site 21-S-2 was excavated virtually in its entirety. (A few outlying houses at the eastern end of the site were noted and mapped, but their deposit was not fully removed.) Sufficient time was found also for the excavation in toto of three other late medieval settlements, 21-S-9, 21-S-10, and 21-S-25, and some excavation and/or surface observation was carried out in more than a dozen other sites as well. Altogether 19 sites on the island of Kulubnarti and one on the adjoining mainland9 were investigated in the 1969 season, as shown in Table 1.1.

been published (Adams 1970b, 6), but there has been no extended report prior to the present work. Site 21-S-2 was excavated under the general supervision of the present author, with assistance from Mr Fryman and Mr Higel, who took responsibility for the excavation and recording of particular houses. Sites 21-S-10, 21-S49, and 21-S-50 were excavated and recorded entirely by me, while Sites 21-S-9 and 21-R-2 were excavated by Mr Fryman. All of the remaining sites on the island were excavated and/or recorded by Mr Higel.

The Setting The excavators of 1969, as well as those of later seasons, occupied a spacious Nubian house in the hamlet of Kulbincoing, just opposite site 21-S-2 on the west bank of the Nile (Plate 1.2f). Two rooms were also rented in a neighboring house, for use as a laboratory and for object storage. As usual in Nubian fieldwork, the Kulubnarti expedition was without electricity or other modern conveniences. Light for evening work was provided by pressure lanterns, and water was carried by donkey from the Nile, about 200m distant from the house. A small staff of Nubian servants was employed for cooking, washing, and water-carrying. Food and other supplies were shipped by lorry from the railhead at Wadi Haifa, 130 km to the north. Here Hajj Gamal Ahmed Hassan, Clerk of the Antiquities Service, acted as purchasing and forwarding agent as well as bursar for the expedition. His faithful and conscientious service kept the field operation supplied with all its necessities for nearly five months, despite the extremely isolated situation of Kulubnarti. A plentiful supply of excavation tools and equipment had been shipped from the United States in September, 1968. However, as so often happens in the Sudan, this materiel was delayed for many weeks at Port Sudan, and did not actually reach Kulubnarti until near the end of the dig. Meanwhile we were fortunate in obtaining a substantial quantity of leftover and used excavation equipment from the Finnish Nubian Expedition, which had recently completed its work at a site further to the north. We were fortunate also in borrowing two Land Rovers from the Combined Prehistoric Expedition of Southern Methodist University, which was not active in the Sudan at that season. These vehicles provided our only reliable link with the outside world, since Kulubnarti is 8 km from the nearest through road (from Wadi Haifa to Abri) and 130 km from the nearest town with medical services and supplies. The 1969 excavations were supported by a grant of $86,230 (No. GS-2031) from the National Science Foundation. Additional support in the form of equipment, services, and cash advances was provided by the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology and the University of Kentucky Research Foundation. Brief preliminary reports on the 1969 excavations have

No excavations at Kulubnarti were originally contemplated after the 1969 season. However, the excavations at site 21-S-2 revealed traces of important wall paintings in its ruined church (Building J1), and these were deemed to be worthy of removal and conservation. Under terms of our excavation license, such conservation became a legal obligation of the University of Kentucky Expedition. Fortunately there was an unexpended surplus of just over $10,000 at the conclusion of the 1969 season, and the National Science Foundation generously gave permission that these funds might be used for the conservation of the church paintings, even though no such activity was envisioned in the original grant application. Accordingly Mr Silvestro Castellani, a skilled conservator with previous experience in Nubian church conservation, was engaged for the job of removing and conserving the Kulubnarti paintings. Mr Castellani worked at Kulubnarti from February 22 to March 29, 1970, removing altogether 17 fragmentary church paintings.10 He was accompanied in the field by Mr Frank Fryman, one of the student archaeologists from the previous season, who acted as his guide and liaison with the local population. Also present during this time was Professor Sergio Donadoni, of the University of Rome, who kindly made hand-copies of the numerous inscriptions and graffiti in the Kulubnarti church and in several of the houses at Site 21-S-2. The transcriptions and notes in Chapter IX of this work are largely based on the work of Professor Donadoni. After removal, the Kulubnarti paintings were sent to Urbino, Italy, where they were treated and mounted on permanent backings in a conservation laboratory of the Italian Department of Antiquities. In August of 1971 the National Science Foundation once again generously authorized me to travel to Urbino in order to document and photograph the paintings after their conservation. In October of the same year they were returned to the Sudan, where they are now either on exhibition or in storage in the National Museum in Khartoum. The paintings are described, mostly for the first time, in Chapter III of the present work.

The 1970 conservation work

The 1979 cemetery excavations Among the sites partially excavated in 1969 were two medieval cemeteries, 21-R-2 and 21-S-46, in which most of the interments were found to retain their fleshy tissues in

9 Cemetery site 21-R-2, on the mainland, was not technically within the Kulubnarti excavation concession, but was investigated at the specific request of the Sudan Antiquities Service.

10 So far as I know the particular technology of mural conservation employed by the Italians has not been described in print.

5

a desiccated (i.e. naturally mummified) condition. This circumstance aroused the interest of Professor Dennis Van Gerven, a physical anthropologist at the University of Kentucky who had previously worked with Nubian skeletal materials. Van Gerven saw an unusual opportunity to investigate medieval Nubian demography and pathology through the study of the Kulubnarti burials. At his suggestion, he and I applied for a second National Science Foundation grant in 1972, to excavate the two Kulubnarti cemeteries. Our initial submission was not approved, but a revised application was submitted and was approved in 1978 (Grant No. 77-270210-535, in the amount of $58,729). By this time Van Gerven had moved to the University of Colorado, and the 1979 expedition was accordingly a joint Kentucky-Colorado operation.11 My own involvement in the 1979 excavations was limited to accompanying the investigators to the field, and remaining with them long enough to help get the work underway. The actual work of excavation was carried out by Professor Van Gerven, assisted by graduate students Edward Rowan from the University of Colorado and Roger Allen from the University of Kentucky. The former worked as an assistant in physical anthropology, while the latter was responsible for excavation and for the documentation of the graves and their contents. The team worked in the field from January 22 to March 17, collecting altogether about 400 skeletons and partial mummies which were shipped to the University of Colorado for analysis. The anatomical, demographic, and pathological results of this analysis have been published elsewhere;12 the archaeological features of the two cemeteries are reported in a later volume in this series (Kulubnarti III).

by level, following naturally observable stratigraphy wherever possible. For purposes of dating, all potsherds from every excavation unit were collected, washed, sorted into types, and counted, and the number and percentage of sherds of each type were entered on tally sheets (Plate 1.2c-d). Relative percentages of wares present and absent than yielded an approximate dating for the excavation unit in which the sherds were found. At the conclusion of the 1969 season it was found that a total of 238,326 sherds had been collected and examined from the various Kulubnarti sites. Only a very small number of these were catalogued as artifacts; the largest number served only for the estimation of dates, and were then discarded. The methodology of ceramic dating in Nubia has been described in detail in several previous publications, and need not be repeated here (see Adams 1986b, 601-633). For the most part the locations of artifactual finds were recorded in the same way as were sherd finds; that is, by excavation unit and level. Artifacts were cleaned and repaired as far as field conditions would permit, and were described and drawn on artifact registration cards immediately after their recovery. Because appropriate field conditions for photography were lacking, no artifact photography was done except in the case of large objects (mostly pottery vessels) not destined for removal from the site. Smaller objects were photographed after shipment to the University of Kentucky Museum of Anthropology, where most of them were housed until 2009, when they were transferred to the British Museum.

Chronological indications Although several of the Kulubnarti sites had been occupied for long periods, the accurate dating of individual buildings and deposits proved to be difficult. Notwithstanding the careful effort given to ceramic analysis, this method was not nearly so reliable for dating purposes as in earlier medieval sites. Unfortunately, the Nubian wares of the post-Christian period are mostly non-distinctive handmade wares, and they seem to have undergone little change between the 16th and the 19th century (see Adams 1986b, 632). Consequently, there is little variation in the sherd counts obtained from post-Christian buildings, even when other evidence suggests quite different dates of occupation. Stratigraphy also proved to be of limited help in the dating of buildings and deposits, in contrast to the situation at such tell sites as Meinarti (see especially Adams 1968), Arminna (see Trigger 1967) and Qasr Ibrim (see Adams 1996; 2010). At Kulubnarti, settlements seem mostly to have grown horizontally rather than vertically, with new buildings erected beside older ones rather than on top of them. Only at Site 21-S-10 was there a consistent pattern of architectural superposition. Moreover, the midden refuse deposits were generally not very deep in any of the sites, although bedded refuse did provide a clue to the dating of the earliest buildings at 21-S-2 (see Chapter II). In the absence of other evidence, architectural typology provided the basis for dating many buildings. Prevailing fashions in housing at Kulubnarti, as elsewhere in Nubia, fluctuated from century to century (see Adams 1977, 488-

Excavation and recording methodology For the most part the Kulubnarti excavations were carried out using excavation methods that have long been familiar in the Nile Valley, both in Egypt and the Sudan. The work was done entirely by local laborers, mostly without previous excavation experience, but was supervised by a small corps of skilled Egyptian Quftis as well as by the staff archaeologists. Earth was loosened with the turiya, a heavy-bladed, short-handled hoe, and then was carried away in baskets to dumps at the edge of the excavation (Plate 1.2a-b). Trowels and brushes were of course used for cleaning house floors, burials, and other delicate features; this work was mostly performed by the Quftis. Prior to excavation of any site, the entire surface was cleared of potsherds and other loose material. Excavation then proceeded room by room in habitation sites, burial by burial in cemeteries, or square by square in open areas. Within each excavation unit finds were segregated 11 Because the excavation license at Kulubnarti was (and still is) held by the University of Kentucky alone, the 1979 excavations are officially recorded in the Sudan Antiquities Service files as a continuation of the University of Kentucky excavations rather than as a joint operation. 12 Carlson and Van Gerven 1979, 53-55; Carlson and Van Gerven 1981, 22-30; Carlson and Van Gerven 1982, 307-316; Van Gerven et al. 1973, 555-564; Van Gerven et al. 1985, 175-280; Van Gerven et al. 1981, 395-408.

6

493, 514-519). It was possible to recognize a succession of house types that had developed in the period between about AD 1200 and 1800, and to place these at least in a rough chronological order on the basis of such stratigraphic or ceramic evidence as was available (see Figure 1.1). To the extent that this scheme is valid, the building of particular houses can be assigned to particular eras on the basis of their architectural characteristics. This evidence is useful, of course, only in establishing the original dates of building; it establishes a terminus post quem for the occupation of any house without saying anything about the actual length of occupation, or the time of abandonment. The dating of buildings, of course, applies also to the artifacts found within them.13 Throughout the following chapters, sites, buildings, and finds are assigned to chronological periods according to the schema in Table 1.2.

TABLE 1.2. Chronology of medieval and modern Nubian culture periods. Period Ballaña (X-Group) Early Christian I (EC1)

AD 350-550 550- 700

Early Christian II (EC2)

700- 850

Classic Christian I (CC1)

850-1000

Classic Christian II (CC2)

1000-1100

Late Christian I (LC1)

1100-1300

Late Christian II (LC2)

1300-1400

Terminal Christian (TC)

1400-1500

Post-Christian*

1500-1700

Early modern

1700-1900

* This period could theoretically be designated as Early Islamic, but evidence for the organized practice of Islam is lacking in this part of Nubia before about AD 1700.

Acknowledgments From almost any perspective the three Kulubnarti field expeditions must be deemed a complete success. The volume of work accomplished was substantially greater than was originally envisioned. Moreover, despite the extremely isolated and remote locale, field operations proceeded without any significant complications or setbacks from beginning to end. Part of this was certainly pure luck; a much larger part was due to the kindness and cooperation of a very large number of persons who had no official part in the expeditions, but without whom the Kentucky and Colorado-Kentucky operations could have achieved only a fraction of what they did. My first thanks must obviously go to the National Science Foundation, which funded all of the Kulubnarti excavations, and to the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, which administered the NSF grants. My field assistants, Thomas Higel and Frank Fryman, and their wives, Sandra Higel and Millicent Fryman, were very much involved and very helpful in every stage of the operations from the original planning to the preparation of the published reports. In the field, invaluable logistic support was provided by three old and valued friends: Friedrich W. (Fritz) Hinkel, Hajj Gamal Ahmed Hassan (unhappily since deceased), and Anthony J. (Tony) Mills. Through the ingenuity and resources of these individuals we were actually able to receive a regular supply of fresh vegetables and foods in spite of the extremely isolated setting of Kulubnarti. Hinkel in Khartoum would purchase fresh foods for us, pack them in ice in a basket, and put it on the train to Wadi Haifa. Gamal in Wadi Halfa would meet the trains, offload our baskets of food, and send them along by lorry to us in the nearby village of Akasha, from where local villagers would bring them along to Kulubnarti. Tony Mills, who with his family was excavating a few kilometers away at Ukma, provided help in the original setup of our camp, and offered hospitality on many subsequent occasions. I must surely thank also Fred Wendorf, Director of the Combined Prehistoric Expedition, who let us have the use of two of that expedition’s Land Rovers during the whole of our field season. These vehicles, parked on the 13

Approximate dates

east bank opposite Kulubnarti, were our lifeline of communication with Wadi Halfa when needed. Thanks are also due to many individuals for professional and technical help. It was Tony Mills who did the original, preliminary survey of Kulubnarti Island, and who drew our attention to several of the large settlement sites (see Mills 1965, 11). Special gratitude is due to Fritz Hinkel, who spent three weeks at Kulubnarti in 1969 after the rest of us had departed, and who drew more than half of the maps appearing in this volume, including all of the best ones. Hinkel is also responsible for a number of the photographs appearing herein. In 1970, Silvestro Castellani undertook the removal of all the paintings from the Kulubnarti Church, which were subsequently conserved in his laboratory at Urbino, Italy. The colored photographs in Plates 3.3-3.7 were supplied by Mr Castellani. Accompanying Mr Castellani at the time of his visit was Professor Sergio Donadoni of the Università di Roma, who kindly copied all of the Christian mural inscriptions described in Chapter IX, and who furnished partial translations and commentaries. Additional commentary on several of the inscriptions was later provided by Professor Gerald M. Browne of the University of Illinois. My most profound thanks go to all these friends and colleagues, whose help in many cases was offered without remuneration. It is a pleasure to record also my debt, over a period of many years, to the Sudan Government Antiquities Service and all its personnel, both in Khartoum and in the field. It was the Director-General of Antiquities, Sayed Negm el-Din Mohammed Sherit who first urged me to undertake the Kulubnarti excavation, who issued and regularly renewed my excavation license, and who at the end of the seasons granted a most generous division of the finds. He and other Antiquities personnel did everything possible to facilitate the work, and surely deserve some of the credit for its success. The Sudan is, in my experience, one of the few countries in the world where the archaeologist enjoys a wholly collaborative and not in an adversarial relationship with the local antiquities organization. The local residents at Kulubnarti were helpful in every

For discussion see especially Adams 1987b, 7-46.

7

Figure 1.1. Chronology of sites and house types at Kulubnarti.

during the entire 10-year interval between the 1969 and 1979 digs. Thanks go also to Nureddin Abdel Mannan of Kulb Saab, who as a schoolboy worked for me as a laborer, and who was later a member of the Diplomatic Corps in Washington D.C. Nureddin has provided much valuable historical information about the Kulubnarti sites. My greatest thanks as always belong to my wife Nettie,

possible way both as laborers and as neighbors. I must signal out for special mention Mohammed Ali Issa, the “patriarch” of Kulbincoing village, where we had our field headquarters, and his son Jallal Issa, who was our landlord and also doubled as our water-carrier. Mohammed Ali and Jallal allowed us to keep a large part of the expedition’s equipment in storage in one of their houses at Kulbincoing 8

who oversaw the camp arrangements, supplies, and meals with the same superb capability that she has always shown in 25 years of Nubian field work, and I must not forget my sons Ernest and Ned, who performed invaluable service as messengers between the camp and the digs, and who helped me to count and record potsherds in the afternoons. Finally I owe thanks to Dr Robert Hemenway, Chancellor of the University of Kentucky, and to Dr Lee Magid, Vice President for Research, for providing the funds that made possible the publication of this report, and to the Program for Cultural Resource Assessment (PCRA), where the manuscript was prepared. Thanks must go especially to Adonis Spivey, of PCRA, who oversaw all phases of production, and who spent uncounted hours in converting both text and photos to their present attractive form. Additional thanks go to Bradley Tune for his assistance in preparing the photos and figures for publication, and to Sande Thomas, who prepared some of the figures.

9

CHAPTER II SITE 21-S-2 Site 21-S-2, the pièce de résistance of the Kulubnarti excavations, occupies a rocky, boulder-strewn terrace at the south-western extremity of the island (Map 1.2). Along its southern (lower) side the terrace drops away steeply to a narrow strip of alluvium just beside the Nile; on the north side it backs up against a high granite ridge, which overlooks the southern shore of Kulubnarti (Map 2.1 and Plate 2.1b). The terrace is terminated both on the east and on the west by wadis cutting back from the riverbank. Its surface is somewhat uneven, and has a considerable slope from north to south and a lesser slope from west to east. The level of the terrace on average is 20 to 25m above that of the riverbank. The full length of the terrace is about 180m from east to west, and the maximum width is a little over 70m. Altogether, site 21-S-2 covers an area of about 2 hectares. This locality was known locally by the toponym Korosay. Almost the entire surface area of the terrace is occupied by the remains of buildings, of many different types and of different ages (Map 2.2). Many of the structures are “wedged in” between natural boulders, sometimes making use of them for a portion of their walls; a few are perched directly on top of boulders (Plate 2.1c-f). The arrangement of buildings at all periods seems to have been highly irregular, and dictated by circumstances of topography and available space. There is no suggestion of an overall town plan, nor are there recognizable streets or plazas. In these respects 21-S-2 is typical of many late medieval Nubian settlements, although differing from those of the earlier Middle Ages (see Adams 1977, 551-518). Altogether, remains of 65 buildings were discovered and excavated at 21-S-2. The great majority were certainly habitations, although they differ significantly in size and plan. Outstanding among them is the “castle” (Building D1-3), which began in late Christian times as an ordinary “unit house,” (see Adams 1977, 551-518) but was subsequently enlarged by the addition of a walled courtyard and a corner tower to form an enormous kourfa — a distinctive type of structure that made its appearance in Nubia in the early Islamic period (Plates 2.10-12) (see especially Vila 1979, 71-120). Other buildings may have been animal pens or storage structures. Standing by itself on a lower terrace, at the south-western corner of the site, is a very small church (Building J1) of a familiar Late Christian type (Plate 3.1).1 Very 1ittle architectural superposition was observed at 21-S-2; new houses were mostly built alongside older ones rather than on top of them. Refuse deposits were also rather scanty, except in those instances where the lower floors of two-storey unit houses had been used as dumps. Outdoors, the refuse deposits were rarely more than 500mm deep, and usually rested directly on jebel rock. Nevertheless, the earliest and lowest deposits in the western portion of the site exhibited a consistent pattern 1

of stratification that is helpful in dating the buildings in this area. During the earliest occupation (probably in the 12th century) a thin but fairly continuous deposit of dense white ash, abundantly mixed with sherds and other refuse, was laid down over a wide area. In many cases it rests directly on jebel. Houses that are buried in this deposit (most notably E7, E8, and F4) are considered to be the oldest on the site. All of these structures are of the type, which we have called “flimsy houses” (see below). Overlying the ash deposit was a thin but fairly continuous layer of sheep and goat dung, presumably representing a time when large numbers of domestic animals were kept on the site. House remains that overlie the ash deposit but are buried in dung are presumed to represent a second phase of occupation. Once again they are all rather insubstantial structures, of the types we have called flimsy houses, rough stone houses, and slab houses. They are believed (on the basis of their ceramic content) to date mainly from the 12th century, though some undoubtedly continued to be occupied later. All of the substantial buildings at 21-S-2 (the unit houses, late houses, and modern houses) are built on top of the dung layer, and occasionally also on the remains of older buildings. They are presumed to date from the 13th century and later. The chronological ordering of these later types of houses is based on architectural typology and on their sherd content, rather than on stratigraphy (see Figure 1.1). The ruined houses at Kulubnarti may be assigned to eight types, of which seven are represented at site 21S-2. In addition to actual dwellings there are structures identified as animal pens, terraces, and a church. In this chapter the house types will be described in the presumed chronological order of their development. The church will be described separately in the following chapter. The excavations at 21-S-2 were carried out between 8th January and 29th March, 1969, and were conducted jointly by W. Y. Adams, Frank B. Fryman and Thomas E. Higel, each of whom took responsibility for the clearance and recording of specific buildings.

Flimsy houses (Maps 2.3-2.4; Plate 2.2) The oldest surviving structures at Site 21-S-2 are irregularly shaped huts, scattered among the boulders on the terrace surface (Map 2.3). The preserved remains consist only of hard-packed floors and stone or brick foundations. The surviving walls are typically thin and are frequently curving, comprised either of very rough stone masonry or of stretcher copses of mud brick, or both. Natural boulders, left in situ, are frequently incorporated into the walls. No walls are preserved to a height of over 400mm, and in many cases only one course of masonry survives. The irregular size and shape of these buildings, together

Type 4d; see Adams 2009, 321-313.

11

12

Map 2.1. Site 21-S-2, orientation and contour map. Shaded areas identify locations of one and two-storey unit houses. The wadi separating Kulubnarti Island from the west bank (dry at the time this map was drawn) is at the left. Contours at intervals of 5m above the level of the Nile on 30 May 1969. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

13

Map 2.2. Site 21-S-2, comprehensive plan showing buildings of all ages. Contours at intervals of 1m above the level of the Nile on 30 May 1969. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

with the absence of fallen building debris, suggests that the upper walls of the flimsy houses may in some cases have been of grass or brush rather than of masonry. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of post-holes in a number of the structures. Moreover, some of the thin and curving masonry walls could hardly have stood to a height much greater than what is still preserved. The flimsy houses apparently had anywhere from two to six rooms, although the number of rooms is often difficult to calculate because of fragmentary preservation.

Doorways for the most part seem to have been mere gaps in the wall, frequently framed by large stones, although in one house (E5) there are two rebated doorways of the traditional Nubian type.2 Floors, where they are preserved, are hard-packed mud surfaces. The flimsy houses exhibit a number of floor features that are typical of domestic 2 That is, with a short, stout buttress projecting into the interior room just beside the doorway, on one or both sides. A pivoting wooden door was made to turn on a stout upright pole, mounted in the angle between the buttress and the main wall.

14

dwellings, including mastabas in three houses, storage pots buried partially or fully beneath the floor in five houses (cf. Plate 2.2c), a mud-lined sub-floor mixing basin (Plate 2.2d), and a slightly raised platform of masonry. Seven buildings at 21-S-2 were classified as flimsy houses (Table 2.1). However the exact number of houses, like the number of individual rooms, is difficult to calculate because of the very fragmentary condition of the walls. It often cannot be determined whether a cluster of rooms represents a single house or a group of contiguous

houses. Since the flimsy houses are chronologically the earliest at 21-S-2, it is also possible that additional house remains of this type may underlie some of the later unit houses, which have not been dismantled. All of the surviving flimsy houses are found in the western portion of the site, where they are grouped rather closely together (Map 2.3). Their close proximity to the various one-storey and two-storey unit houses (see below) would suggest at first glance that there was some kind of functional association between the two types of dwell15

Map 2.3. Site 21-S-2, general plan of flimsy houses, rough stone houses, and slab houses. Plain type identifies flimsy houses; bold face type identifies rough stone houses; italic type identifies slab houses. Houses L1-L7 are off the map to right. Fine dotted lines identify the locations of unit houses that were not dismantled. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

ings; however, it can be shown on both stratigraphic and ceramic grounds that the flimsy houses were in existence prior to the building of the unit houses. On the basis of their ceramic content they can be dated originally to the 12th century (the Late Christian 1 period),3 though some evidently continued in use substantially later. In view of their variability no one flimsy house can be cited as typical, but Houses A6, E5, and A11 may serve to exemplify variations of the type. 4

indications that there may have been a second smaller room as well. There is no trace of a doorway in any of the surviving walls. As usual in flimsy houses, the walls of House A6 involve a combination of mud brick and rough stone masonry, and also take advantage of a least one natural boulder that has been left in situ. The north wall is mainly of stone masonry, as is the adjoining portion of the west wall. The remaining walls are mostly of thin brick masonry, comprised of a stretcher course only, although a natural boulder has been incorporated as part of the wall at the south-west corner. House A6 has a smooth, hard-packed mud floor, with a slight downward slope from north to south. Adjoining the north wall in the larger room is a small mastaba edged by upright bricks, and having a smooth mud top at a level 200mm above house floor. Also within the larger room is a section of brick partition, 250mm high, which separates off a small area at the west side of the room. The partition was apparently never any higher, to judge

House A6 is one of the most regular-shaped of the flimsy houses. It is roughly square in plan, with outside dimensions of 5.8 x 6m (Map 2.4a). The preserved remains include one large room and one smaller room, with 3 For the chronology of Christian and Post-Christian culture see Table 1.2. 4 For convenience of house numbering, the surface area of site 21-S-2 was divided up into 12 sectors, each measuring roughly 30 m. square, and these were designated with the letters A through L. Buildings within any square were numbered sequentially in the order of discovery: A1, A2, A3, etc.

16

a.

b.

c.

Map 2.4. Site 21-S-2, plans of selected flimsy houses. a, House A6; b, House A11; c, House E5. Stone masonry in walls is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline without hatching are of mud brick. Dotted hatching identifies natural boulders of jebel rock. Original field plans by W. Y. Adams.

from the rounded and worn condition of its top. The floor area enclosed by the partition is at a slightly lower level than the rest of the floor. There are traces of some kind of feature — possibly a fireplace — in the middle of the floor, but this area is poorly preserved. In one of the

smaller rooms, at the south-west corner of the house, a storage jar of a common Late Christian type (Ware U10)5 had been buried up to its rim in the floor. 5 For a list and chronology of the pottery wares found at Kulubnarti see Appendix B.

17

TABLE 2.1. List of flimsy houses at Site 21-S-2. House No.

Inside dimensions

No. of rooms

A6

6 x 5.5m

3?

Mostly brick; some solid stone masonry

Mastaba; floor pot; firepit?

A11

8 x 6m

4+

Natural rock; brick partitions

None preserved

E5

12 x 5.5m

6?

Mostly brick; some solid stone masonry

Floor pot

E7

12 x 8m

5?

Solid stone masonry; brick; natural rock

Mud brick basins; floor pot

E8

7.5 x 7m

2?

Mostly stone masonry; brick at one side

Corner fireplace

F4

8 x 6.5m

2

Mostly brick; small section of stone masonry

Mastaba; floor pot

F5

10 x 6.5m

3?

Stone masonry; brick; natural rock

Small stone flagged platform

Wall construction

House A6 was built on top of a dense accumulation of ash and potsherds from an earlier occupation, but there is no trace of an underlying structure. After its abandonment, however, A6 was itself partly overbuilt by a rough stone house, A8.

Floor features

houses elsewhere (see Adams 1977, 491, 514). House A11 exemplifies in the extreme the propensity of the flimsy house builders to take advantage of natural features of the jebel when constructing their homes (Map 2.4 b). The entire back (south) wall is formed by a natural rock ledge, while the other three enclosing walls incorporate a number of large natural boulders that have been left in situ. The area thus enclosed measures about 6 x 8m (interior dimensions). It has been divided up by thin brick partitions into at least four rooms, which may however represent two different houses. At one end of the southernmost room there is a step up into a small alcove, entirely enclosed within natural boulders; this might have been a toilet area. No floor features and virtually no refuse were preserved in House A11.

House E5 is a very irregularly-shaped complex of at least six rooms, having maximum overall dimensions of 12 x 5.5m (Map 2.4 c). Because of interruptions in the surviving walls it is not a certainty that this is all one house; in particular, the two southern Rooms 5 and 6 may be part of a separate complex. The house is in very denuded condition, the brick walls standing nowhere more than three courses high. House E5 is contiguous with two other flimsy houses, F4 to the north east and F5 to the south east. The walls in House E5 are mostly of brick (stretcher courses only), except in the two small southerly rooms, which have walls of fairly heavy stone masonry laid in mud mortar (Plate 2.2a-b). Natural boulders are also incorporated at three points on the east and south sides. The house is worthy of note because it is one of the few flimsy houses which has rebated doorways (from the outside to Room 1 and also apparently from Room 1 to Rooms 2 and 3) and also a wall-support buttress (along the wall between Rooms 3 and 4), suggesting the probability that its masonry walls once stood to the full height of the building. Elsewhere, these features are usual in Nubian houses of the Classic and Late Christian periods (see n. 5). Very little of the original floor survived in House E5, and no floor features were observed. Within Room 1, a small painted wooden vessel (21-S-2/663) and a pottery saucer (21-S-2/776) and vase (21-S-2/819) were found resting directly on jebel surface; presumably they had originally been buried under the room floor. The very small, D-shaped Room 5, enclosed by a wall of stone masonry, had been built before the adjoining brick walls of Rooms 2 and 3. It has a hard-packed dung-andmud floor, and was found filled with dung and ash. There is no doorway connection with other rooms of House E5, and it is possible that Room 5 does not belong to this dwelling. Room 6 is actually a small raised platform at the southern end of Room 5, separated from the rest of the room by a low stone partition. It might have been a toilet platform; a feature common in Classic and Late Christian Nubian

Rough stone houses (Maps 2.3 & 2.5a-b; Plate 2.3a-d) Rough stone houses are similar to flimsy houses in terms of their irregularity of size and plan, and their tendency to incorporate natural boulders into the walls. They differ in that large parts of their walls are formed simply by crude alignments of very large stones, laid end to end without any evidence of mortaring, while remains of regular stone or brick masonry are relatively scant. It is possible that the large aligned stones were foundations for walls of more regular masonry, as in some of the modern stone houses at 21-S-2 (see below). However, no trace of regular masonry was found resting on top of any of the stone alignments. Moreover, they are formed in some cases of thin upright slabs, which could hardly have served as foundations. A more probable supposition is that the rough stone “houses” were outdoor cooking and working areas used by the inhabitants of neighboring houses. Domestic floor features were found in several of the houses; they include hearths, sub-floor pots, brick-lined pits or cysts, and a small ceramic oven set into a floor. Rough stone houses are scattered throughout the area of site 21-S-2 (Map 2.3). They appear for the most part to be coeval with the flimsy houses; indeed the two types are not sharply distinct. However, rough stone House A8 was partly superimposed over the remains of an earlier 18

a.

b.

Map 2.5. Site 21-S-2, plans of selected rough stone houses and slab houses. a, House L4; b, Houses A9, D8, and D9. Stone masonry in walls is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline without hatching are of mud brick. Dotted hatching identifies natural boulders or jebel rock. Original field plans by W. Y. Adams.

19

flimsy house (A6), and House L4 appears to be a flimsy house that was partly rebuilt as a rough stone house. All of the rough stone houses, like the flimsy houses, were found in extremely denuded condition, with large portions of their walls missing altogether. Ten houses at 21-S-2 were classified as rough stone houses, although one of these is clearly a “hybrid” which could just as well have been called a flimsy house (Table 2.2). Once again the number of individual “houses” is only an approximation, because of the difficulty in many cases of deciding where one “house” stops and another begins. House A9 will be described here as exhibiting characteristic features of the type; House L4 will be described because of its interesting combination of flimsy house and rough stone house features.

the wall separating Room 1 from Room 3, and there are indications of another brick partition running across the middle of what is here designated as Room 1. The wall between Rooms 2 and 3 employs a small amount of drylaid stone masonry at its western end; there is no mortared stone masonry anywhere in the house. At the north side of Room 1 there is a small raised area, measuring about 1.4 x 1.3m, bordered by a single course of horizontally laid bricks. This may be a threshold step, if indeed the original house door was just beyond it; the location of the doorway could not be clearly determined. Other floor features include a well-defined hearth, partly lined with small stones, in the floor of Room 1, and a handmade jar (Ware H4) buried to the rim in the south-east corner of the same room. In the north wall of Room 2 there was a wide gap between two of the wall stones, and here an oval-shaped basin, 1.55m long and 400mm deep, was sunk into the ground. It was lined with upright bricks and stone slabs set in mud mortar, and was also divided in half by a thin partition of brick across the middle (Plate 2.3b). Both halves were filled with fine ash, but there was no evidence of burning on the lining itself. Since the basin breaks the line of what should be the north wall, it is possible that this represents a later intrusion, after the abandonment of the house. House A9 did not yield enough sherds for reliable dating. However, it had a substantial fill of animal dung, and on that basis it is assigned to an early period of occupation, probably in the 12th or 13th century, or both.

House A9 is one of the largest and best preserved of the rough stone houses, having maximum interior dimensions of about 12m east and west by 7.5m north and south (Map 2.5b). It stands directly alongside the brick Unit House A5, whose western wall may be partly superimposed on the old east wall of House A9. (An alternate though less likely possibility is that House A9 was a contemporary neighbor of A5, the mud-brick wall of the unit house serving as a party-wall between the two structures.) House A9 is also adjoined on its south-west side by Slab House A12, and along its northern side by two other slab houses, D8 and D9 (see below). House A9 is roughly in the shape of a triangle, with its point toward the east and its base toward the west. Its enclosing walls are almost entirely rough stone alignments without mortar; they are mostly complete except

House L4 has a much more regular plan than do other rough stone houses, and the presence of straight brick

TABLE 2.2. List of rough stone houses at Site 21-S-2. House no.

Inside dimensions

No. of rooms

A8

4 x 3.5m

2

Natural boulders; dry stone masonry

Hearths; floor pot

A9

12 x 7.5m

4?

Stone alignments; some upright slabs and brick

Entrance step; brick-lined pits; floor pot; fireplace; cooking hearths

A10

4 x 3.5m

2

Natural boulders; stone alignments

2 hearths

D7

8 x 35m

2

Natural boulders; stone alignments

3 floor pots; post supports

E6

8 x 6m

?

Natural boulders; stone alignments; some stone masonry

Subfloor mud-lined cysts

F3

11 x 7m?

?

Natural boulders; stone alignments; fragments of stone masonry

Small ceramic oven

L2

12 x 5m

4?

Stone alignments

None noted*

L4

9.5 x 5m

4

Stone alignments; mud brick

None noted*

Wall construction

Floor features

L5

5.5 x 5m

2?

Stone alignments; upright slabs

None noted*

L7

4.5 x 2.5m

2+

Stone alignments; crude stone masonry

None noted*

*Floor not fully cleared

walls and rebated doorways suggests that it was originally a genuine house with walls of full height (Map 2.5a). Brick construction survives in the south and east walls of Room 2, and the west wall has a fully rebated doorway with a threshold step. There is also a rebated doorway, with a threshold step, in the south wall of Room 2, although the wall to the south of it is of rough stone while that to the north is of brick. Presumably these are

for a missing portion of the western wall (Plate 2.3a). A portion of the southern wall, separating House A9 from House A12, is formed of thin upright slabs (as are all the other walls of House A12), and a part of the interior partition separating Room 1 from Room 3 is also formed by an upright slab. Elsewhere the stones which form the walls are mostly laid horizontally. Mud-brick construction (stretcher courses only) is employed for a portion of 20

remnants of an original flimsy house. However, the two surviving brick walls are immediately bordered on the outside by rough stone alignments, which serve to block one of the original doors. The remaining walls of the house are entirely in the form of rough stone alignments or upright slabs. Room 4, at the south-east corner of the house, was overbuilt in much later times with a stone pen of dry-laid masonry. These arrangements suggest that House L4 was originally a flimsy house, which was converted into a rough stone house when most of its original brick walls were dismantled. Room 1 had a well-laid mud floor directly over jebel rock; the floors in the other rooms were not cleared. Interior dimensions of the rebuilt house are about 5 x 9.5m; the size of the original flimsy house could not be estimated.

a partition of thin stone masonry. There is no connection between this area and the adjoining room, and it may not properly belong to “House” D9. Under the circumstances, D9 might be regarded simply as an outdoor area intervening between houses, but it nevertheless has a number of floor features of it own. Against the east wall is a neatly made mastaba, 1.9m long by 1.45m wide, enclosed by a thin wall of stone masonry. The mastaba surface seems to have been at a level only slightly higher than the room floor, but its enclosing wall projected at least 100mm higher than the surface within. Tucked away in an angle at the south side of the house is a small fireplace enclosed by an upright slab. Three wheel-made storage jars of Ware Ul0 were buried under the floor near the western end of the house. They were found with their covers intact, comprising in two cases a large potsherd, and in one a flat stone. However, the vessels were devoid of contents. Two wooden keys were buried under the floor close to one of the vessels — a practice very common in medieval Nubian village sites (cf. Adams 1996). Two small sockets which are interpreted as post-holes are located in the floor, in such a way that they could have supported a kind of ridgepole across the middle of the structure.

Slab houses

(Maps 2.3 and 2.5b; Plate 2.3e-f) Slab houses represent a variant of the rough stone houses, in which the alignments forming most of the walls are made up of large, fairly thin slabs set upright in the ground (Map 2.3). As already noted, this kind of construction occurs sometimes in the rough stone houses as well. The upright slabs could not in most cases have served as foundations for regular masonry; if the houses had any superstructure, it could only have been of grass or brush. Floor features which have been interpreted as post supports have in fact been found in three of the slab houses. They are small square or round depressions in the floor, lined with small flat stones or sherds and with a horizontal flat stone in the bottom. These features, when present, occur in a line more or less in the middle of the house rather than along the walls, suggesting that the posts were supports for some kind of a ridgepole. Five structures have been identified as slab houses, as listed in Table 2.3. Like the houses in the two preceding categories they are irregular in size and plan. The smallest has one room, and the largest three. Houses D8 and D9 will be described here as exemplifying variations of the type.

“House” D8 comprises a single room of rounded rectangular shape, having interior dimensions of about 4.5 x 3.5m (Map 2.5b). Unlike the other “houses” discussed thus far it is actually a sunken area in the ground, about 250mm deep and enclosed by upright stone slabs set in mud mortar. The upper surfaces of the slabs do not project substantially above the outside ground level, so that D8 in effect comprises a kind of broad, shallow basin which might in fact be considered as forming a part of House D9 (Plate 2.3e). The basin has a smooth mud floor, rounded up against the bases of the enclosing slabs. Near the southern end is a line of five small sockets in the floor, lined with small stone slabs or potsherds, which seem to be supports for small posts. These might be loom anchors; it is difficult to suggest what other function they could have served. There are no other floor features.

“House” D9 is an irregularly shaped area, measuring roughly 8 x 6m, which is largely defined by the walls of other slab houses: D8 to the south, D5 to the north, and D7 to the east (Map 2.5b). There is no obvious closure at the west side. The “house” consists mainly of two large rooms, but at the eastern end a small area is walled off by

One-storey unit houses (Map 2.6; Plate 2.4) The house types described thus far are not generally typical of medieval Nubian dwellings (see Adams 1977, 489-492); to some extent they may be adaptations to the

TABLE 2.3. List of slab houses at Site 21-S-2. House no.

Inside dimensions

No. of rooms

A12

5 x 4.5m

2

Natural boulders; upright slabs

Fire area

D8

4.5 x 3.5m

1

Upright slabs

Post supports

D9

8 x 6m

2?

Upright slabs; stone alignments

Post-holes; 3 floor pots; mastaba; firepit

L1

6.5 x 6m

3

Upright slabs; natural boulders

None noted*

L6

7.5 x 5m

2

Jebel edge; upright slabs; dry stone masonry

None noted*

Wall construction

* Floor not fully cleared

21

Floor features

Map 2.6. Site 21-S-2, general plan of unit houses. Plain type identifies one-storey unit houses; bold face type identifies two-storey unit houses. Stonework in walls is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline without hatching are of mud brick. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

special topographic conditions at Kulubnarti. Unit houses on the other hand conform to a familiar type that made its appearance all over Nubia in the 13th and 14th centuries (see Adams 1977, 492-493). The quality of their construction and the regularity of their plans suggest that they were the work of itinerant professional builders, as were the best Nubian houses in modern times (see especially Wenzel 1972, 20-24). Unit houses are so-called because they are always freestanding (see Adams 1977, 492). Under crowded conditions they might stand virtually wall-to-wall with each other (cf. Adams 1964, 219), but they never share a party wall. Indeed, the unit houses at 21-S-2 seem to be rather deliberately spaced at considerable distances from

one another (Map 2.6). They also differ from earlier medieval dwellings in the stoutness of their construction, the straightness of their walls, and the fact that they contain “strong-rooms” that could only be entered from the roof (see below). Beyond doubt, the unit houses were built with an eye to security, and were an adaptation to the unsettled political and military conditions that prevailed in late medieval Nubia (Adams 1977, 508-518). Unit houses are of two kinds, having respectively one and two storeys. One-storey houses have a characteristic arrangement of living and storage rooms on the ground floor, while in the two-storey structures this arrangement is reproduced on the upper floor, the lower chambers being used as cellars. Two-storey unit houses seem to have 22

made their appearance in Nubia somewhat later than did the first one-storey structures (Adams 1977, 515), and they are decidedly less common. However, there are several houses of both kinds at 21-S-2. It might be said that unit houses are architecturally the most interesting and archaeologically the least interesting of the Kulubnarti remains. They exhibit many ingenious features of design, yet with a few exceptions they are conspicuously lacking in mastabas, subfloor pots, fireplaces, and the other everyday living arrangements so common in the flimsy houses and the rough stone houses. The fill material encountered within their rooms consisted mostly either of soft, post-abandonment refuse or of fallen material from the walls and roofs; not the typical midden deposit found in most Nubian houses. These conditions

suggest the possibility that the unit houses were used mainly for storage and for refuge, while everyday living activities were carried on as much as possible in the neighboring flimsy houses or in outdoor areas. Indeed, this may explain the rather widely scattered spacing of the unit houses at 21-S-2 (Map 2.6). Since the unit house interiors were relatively dark and airless, lit only by a few slit windows high in the walls, it is easy to imagine that the inhabitants preferred to spend a good part of their time out of doors. Eight buildings at 21-S-2 were classified as one-storey unit houses (Table 2.4). The walls in all but one case are stout enough to have supported an upper storey, and it therefore cannot be said with finality that all these structures were only one storey high. However, all of them have a ground-floor doorway leading to a connected series 23

TABLE 2.4. List of ONE-storey unit houses at Site 21-S-2. House no.

Outside dimensions

No. of storeys

No. of rooms

A5

9 x 7.5m

1?

9

Mud brick

Vaulted

Bins; floor pot

B2

8.5 x 7.5m

1?

8-9

Mud brick

Vaulted

Mastaba?

D4

7 x 6.5m

1?

7-9

Mud brick

?

None preserved

D6

10.5 x 8m

1?

7?

Mud brick; stone foundations

Vaulted?

Mastaba

Wall construction

Roof construction

Floor features

E3

?

?

4+

Mud brick

?

Mud mixing area

F1

7.5 x 6m

1?

8

Mud brick

Vaulted?

Subfloor crypt?

F2

9 x 6m

1

5

Mud brick

Flat

Mastaba; toilet

G3

10 x 9m

1?

9?

Mud brick; stone foundations

Vaulted + flat?

None preserved

one of which leads to one or two small rooms that are not internally connected with the rest of the house. The possibility exists that these were toilet chambers, entered from outside the house instead of from within as was more usual in medieval Nubian houses (Adams 1977, 491, 514). Other houses exhibit the L-shaped interior passage leading to a toilet which is the usual Nubian arrangement. It must be assumed that house entrances were closed with stout, pivoting wooden doors, as are modern Nubian houses. However, not all of the houses preserve the rebate and buttresses that are usually associated with such doors. Interior doorways presumably were not equipped with closing doors. By far the most distinctive feature of all unit houses, at Kulubnarti and elsewhere, is the presence of one or more rooms, usually small, which have no lateral entrances, and could only be entered through a hatchway in the roof. These “strong-rooms” were undoubtedly meant for the safe storage of grain and perhaps valuable personal property, and they were designed in such a way that their presence might not be suspected by marauders hastily ransacking the house interior. Although strongrooms are characteristic also of two-storey unit houses, evidence from Meinarti (Adams 1977, 515) shows that their presence is not a priori evidence that a second storey was present. The following are notes on individual one-storey unit houses at 21-S-2:

of rooms, and these are not features characteristic of two storey unit houses (see below). All the one-storey unit houses at 21-S-2 are built of regular, well-laid mud brick masonry. Individual bricks average 90 or 100mm wide and 180 to 200mm long — the typical sizes of Late Christian bricks elsewhere in Nubia (cf. Adams 1965b, 155, n. 13). Walls are commonly 550 to 600mm thick, with each course comprised of a row of stretchers and a row of headers. The external walls often stand on heavy stone footings, while the interior partitions are of brick only. Very little plaster has survived on the walls of the unit houses, but this may be due to the fact that they stood open to the weather for protracted periods after the collapse of their roofs. There are remnants of smooth interior plaster in at least a couple of houses, and one bears a short inscription in Greek. The typical size of the houses is about 9 x 7m Three of the one-storey unit houses exhibit remnants of barrel-vaulted brick roofing.6 The same method of roofing can be conjectured for all of the unit houses at 21-S-2, in view of their rather narrow rooms and stout walls. In two houses where a section of vault is preserved intact (Houses A5 and G3), the crown of the vault is respectively 1.7m and 1.8m above the room floor. All the houses have hard, wet-laid mud floors, which in most cases are devoid of features. Multiple floor levels, reflecting successive phases of occupation, are not characteristic of the Kulubnarti houses, although they are usual in medieval Nubian houses elsewhere (see especially Adams 1996). Several of the unit houses were found in very denuded and partly destroyed condition, having apparently been stripped of building material for the construction of later houses (cf. Plate 2.4b-c). As a result, the complete, original house plan can be recovered in only two cases (Fl and F2). In all but one of the other houses, however, enough survives to give a reasonable idea of the original layout of rooms. No two unit houses at 21-S-2 are identical in plan, but certain features are common to most of them. The interiors are comprised in part of a connected suite of rooms, of which at least one, near the front door, is larger than the others (typically at least 4 x 2m). There is normally only one exterior doorway per unit house, but three of the structures at 21-S-2 are peculiar in having two doorways,

House A5 (Maps 2.7 and 2.8; Plate 2.4a). This house is fairly well preserved on its northern side, retaining even portions of the original roof vaults (Map 2.8). The southern and eastern sides however are very much denuded, and a considerable part of the eastern wall is missing altogether. There is a small rebated doorway in the north wall, but it gives access only to three small rooms (35). The outer of these (Room 3) has a pot buried in the floor just within the doorway, and the middle (Room 4) has two small brick-lined bins built against its eastern wall. The much larger suite of rooms, which occupy the southern half of the building, was evidently entered via a second doorway, near the south end of the now-missing east wall. No traces of an actual aperture in the wall are preserved, but the socketstone for a pivoting door still remains in situ just where the wall breaks away. Room 8, at the south-east corner of the house, is unusually large as unit-house rooms go, and may even be too wide to have

6 For the method of construction see Mileham 1910, 8-10; also Clarke 1912, 26-27.

24

Map 2.7. Site 21-S-2, plan of one-storey Unit House A5. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mudbrick construction; broad diagonal hatching identifies foundation stones. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. TH = raised threshold. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

Map 2.8. Site 21-S-2, cross sections on one-storey Unit House A5. a, north east to south west; b, north-west to south-east section. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

25

supported a vaulted roof. Maximum exterior dimensions of the house are 9 x 7.5m Along the north side of the house is a line of small strong-rooms (1, 2 and 9), accessible only from above. Another such room, the very narrow Room 7, intervenes between Rooms 6 and 8. This feature is decidedly unusual; its extreme narrowness may have been designed to deceive marauders into the belief that it was merely a thick, solid wall. A fragment of the vault springing has survived, and shows that the height of the ceiling in Room 7 (about 1.15m) was substantially lower that in the adjoining Room 6 (1.7m). This suggests that there was a small, concealed room directly above; a feature found also in some of the two-storey unit houses. Room 6 looks like the typical L-shaped passage leading to a latrine that is common in medieval Nubian houses, although no actual

remnants of a latrine were found. House B2 (Map 2.9; Plate 2.4b). This house is nearly identical in size to House A5, and is similar in many other respects as well. Like House A5 it is fairly well preserved at the northern side, retaining a fragment of roof vaulting in Room 5, but is denuded at the southern side (Map 2.9b). The walls at the south-west corner are missing. Like House A5, House B2 has two external doorways. One gives access only to a single large room (5), while the other gives access to the rest of the house. The main doorway, at the south-west corner of the house, has a raised threshold slab, and there is also a raised stone threshold in the doorway between Rooms 7 and 4. Strong rooms without lateral entrance are located at the center of the house (Rooms 3 and 3a), and there could have been one or more additional strong rooms at the north-west corner.

Map 2.9. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey Unit House B2. a, north to south cross section. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; broad diagonal hatching identifies foundation stones. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. S = step up or down; TH = raised threshold. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

26

Map 2.10. Site 21-S-2, plan of one-storey Unit House D4. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud brick construction; broad diagonal hatching identifies foundation stones. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

Room 1 looks like the traditional passage to a latrine, which, if present, would have been at the now-destroyed north-west corner of the house.

house itself. Its enclosing wall survives along the west and also part of the east side, and is comprised of stone masonry foundations surmounted by brick. There is also a thin partition of brick projecting into the interior of the courtyard, in such a way as to form a screen in front of the doorway leading into House D4. A level mud floor was preserved in the area between this screen wall and the doorway to House D4; elsewhere no floor surface was preserved in the courtyard. Additional small rooms of mud brick (Rooms 9 and 10 on the plan) were built against the outside east wall of House D4.

House D4 (Map 2.10; Plate 2.4c). This is the smallest of the one-storey unit houses, and one of the most problematical. It was largely dismantled when the “Castle” courtyard wall (Unit D2) was overbuilt, and survives only in the form of denuded and incomplete foundations. Only a few fragments of the original floor are preserved, and many features of the plan cannot be reconstructed. The house is built partly on top of large natural boulders, which evidently resulted in rather uneven floor levels. House D4 is built mainly of brick, but rests on stone foundations at the east side. It was entered via a narrow doorway, with a raised stone threshold, at the north-east corner. Just beside the doorway is a very stout masonry buttress, which is hollow on the interior. The buttress is socketed to receive a sliding bolt, at a level only 250mm above the threshold. Little can be said of the remaining interior rooms, because of their very incomplete preservation. The tiny square Room 7 is probably a strong room, and the same could be true of the adjoining Rooms 8 and 11. On its northern side, House D4 is adjoined by a rectangular open courtyard, slightly larger in size than the

House D6 (Map 2.11). This house is as denuded as the nearby House D4, and may also have been dismantled to provide building material for the “Castle” courtyard. The outer walls are preserved mostly in the form of heavy stone footings, with here and there traces of mud-brick masonry adhering to their tops. Foundations of several brick interior walls are preserved in the northern part of the house. The building plan is notably more irregular than are those of most unit houses: the outside walls are not precisely parallel, and there appears to be an offset, or jog, in the east wall. The house is built on top of a number of natural boulders, which protrude through the floors at various points. The southern and larger half of House D6 appears to 27

Map 2.11. Site 21-S-2, plan of one-storey Unit House D6. Stonework and brickwork walls are shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

consist only of two large rooms, of which the larger (Room 1) retains traces of a mastaba faced with mud brick. The rooms have a hard-packed and smooth but decidedly sloping mud floor, with jebel boulders protruding here and there. There is no surviving trace of a doorway giving access to these rooms. The more northerly part of the house is comprised of several very small rooms, of which at least three (Rooms 4, 5, and 6) have no lateral entrances. Room 5 has a floor paving of mud bricks laid horizontally, and Room 6 has a hard-packed mud floor. At some time, almost certainly after the abandonment and partial destruction of the house, a fireplace of upright slabs was built within the walls of Room 6, and the surviving remains of the room became filled with ash.

and resting on a footing of large stones. Presumably this was an exterior house wall. Running northward from it are the remnants of two thinner brick walls without stone footings, which are presumed to be interior partitions. Enclosed between the partitions are the remnants of two smallish rooms and the beginning of a third one. Nothing else survives, and the original plan and dimensions of the house cannot be estimated. House Fl (Map 2.12; Plate 2.4d). This house was originally built entirely of brick, and then, at a much later date, was rebuilt partly in stone (see “Late Houses,” below). The rebuilding and continued occupation of the house seem to have prevented the deterioration that affected most other unit houses after the time of their abandonment. As a result, the original plan of House Fl is preserved in its entirety. Like Houses A5 and B2, House Fl has two exterior doorways. Both are relatively narrow and without interior rebates or buttresses. One doorway, at the south-west

House E3. This structure is tentatively identified as a unit house because of the quality and nature of its masonry. However, the house survives only in the form of disconnected fragments of wall (Map 2.6). At the south side is a section of very stout brick wall, 800mm thick 28

Map 2.12. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey Unit House Fl. a, east to west cross section. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; broad vertical hatching identifies stone construction; fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud brick construction. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. TH = raised threshold. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

corner, gives access only to a single small room (1f), whose floor is at a considerably higher level than are the others in the house. The floor is composed of flat stone slabs overlain with mud; beneath it is a small hidden crypt (Room 1d). The crypt is only 650mm high, and is entered though a tiny aperture in the wall from the adjoining Room la, to the north. The second exterior doorway to House Fl gives access to a connected suite of four rooms (la-b, 2, and 3). In two instances the interior doorways are preserved to their full height, which is about 700mm in each case. The intact doors are capped by flat stone lintels, and all doorways have raised thresholds of stone. Room 2, the largest in the house, was evidently the scene of extensive milling activity. At the base of the east wall there is a raised mud platform for a quern (rahaya), and several milling slabs and handstones were found on the floor. A curious feature of Room 2 is a kind of miniature wall-safe: a tiny aperture, 200mm above the floor, which open into a hollow within the wall. House Fl has three strong rooms (lc, le and lg) without lateral entrances. Except for the quern foundation in Room 2, no floor features are preserved in the house.

House Fl was found to be deeply filled with ash and occupation refuse, up to the preserved tops of the walls. Included in the fill material were highly abundant fragments of palm fiber matting, sandals, bags, and rope; almost certainly the relics of a local fiber-working industry. However, these finds are probably not indicative of activity carried on in the house; more probably they are part of the refuse dumped in after the dwelling was abandoned. House F2 (Map 2.13; Plate 2.4e-f). This house differs from other unit houses at 21-S-2 in two important respects. First, the walls are uniformly 400mm thick, in contrast to the 600mm or even 800mm walls found in other unit houses. Second, the house has no strong rooms; the whole interior comprises one set of interconnected rooms, entered by a single doorway from outside. These features provide fairly conclusive evidence that House F2 had a flat, timbered roof rather than a vaulted one. The large Room 5, at the east side of the house, was probably for entertaining guests. It is equipped with a mastaba, 2.2m long by 1m wide, whose upper surface is paved with mud bricks. Elsewhere the room has a good, hard-packed mud floor. 29

Map 2.13. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey Unit House F2. a, north-west to south-east cross section. Crosshatching identifies mud-brick construction; fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud brick construction. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. S = step up or down; Th = raised threshold. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

Rooms 6 and 1 together comprise an L-shaped passage leading to a raised toilet platform (Room 2). The platform had been supported on three horizontal palm logs, which were found in situ. Presumably they were originally surmounted by a ceramic toilet fixture, of the kind which was found abundantly at Meinarti (Adams 1977, 491). A mud-brick step at the north-west end of Room 1 led up to the level of the platform, which was 750mm above the floor level in Room 1. The space beneath was of course a cesspit, cleaned out through a small aperture at the base of the wall separating Room 2 from Room 1. The interior Room 3 is anomalous in having two doorways, respectively in the west and south walls. Both have raised thresholds, and both could originally be closed by pivoting doors within Room 3, as is indicated by the presence of socket stones in the room floor. The southern doorway, opening into Room 6, is fully preserved, with a flat stone lintel at a height 700mm above the threshold.

On the wall directly above the doorway is a complete painted inscription of four lines, in Greek (Inscription 14). The text is a familiar trinitarian formula, and will be discussed in Chapter IX. Other features of Room 3 are a flat stone set into the wall at the south-west corner, so as to form a small shelf, and a very narrow opening through the south wall, between Rooms 3 and 6. Both the shelf and the opening are situated about 1.2m above the floor, and it is evident from the encrusted material on them that both served as rests for lamps. In many of its features, House F2 more nearly resembles the Classic Christian houses than it does the Late Christian houses found at Meinarti and other Nubian sites (Adams 1977, 489-491). However, there is nothing to suggest that House F2 was actually built earlier than the neighboring unit houses at 21-S-2. Perhaps the owner was simply conservative by temperament and perhaps unafraid of marauders. 30

Map 2.14. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of one-storey unit House G3. a, north-east to south-west cross section. Crosshatching identifies mud-brick construction; broad vertical hatching identifies stone construction; fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; broad diagonal hatching identifies foundation stones. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

House F2, like Fl, was deeply filled with domestic refuse, including an abundance of palm fiber matting, sandal, bag, and rope fragments.

the house cannot be reconstructed. The arrangement of rooms suggests that there was probably more than one exterior doorway, but their locations cannot be certainly determined in any case. The plan of House G3 as excavated by us seems to show a very large room (Room 2) measuring 5 x 4.25m, at the north-west corner of the house. A room of this size could hardly have supported a vaulted roof, 7 yet traces of vault springing are clearly preserved along the eastern wall. From this we infer that there must originally have been two narrower rooms (2a and 2b) side by side, although no trace of any dividing partition has survived. Room 2b appears to have been entered from the outside via a doorway near its north-west corner, although

House G3 (Map 2.14). This house is built on a naturally sloping surface, which was first levelled by building a kind of rectangular terrace enclosed by low walls of stone masonry. The brick walls of the house itself were then raised directly on top of the stone terrace walls (see Map 2.14a). The state of preservation in the house is highly variable. Some interior walls have survived nearly to their full original height, and a portion of one roof vault is preserved intact (Map 2.14a). On the other hand the original north and east corners of the building are missing altogether, and other exterior walls are considerably denuded. As a result, the full original plan of

7 The crown of the vault would necessarily have been at least 5m above the floor.

31

the wall here is very poorly preserved. The presence of a doorway is suggested mainly by a stone-paved approach ramp adjoining the outside of the wall. A second and larger doorway in the north-west wall of Room 2a seems to have been hacked through at a later date. It was found solidly blocked up with large, loosely piled stones. From Room 2b, a low, arched doorway gives access to three small adjoining rooms: 3, 4, and 6a. The doorways from Room 2b to Room 3 and from Room 3 to Room 4 are both fully preserved. They have raised brick thresholds and arched lintels, and in each case are a little over 1m high. The unusual, oval shape of these doors suggests the possibility that they were cut through after the original construction of the walls (cf. Map 2. 14a). There is no evidence of an interior connection between Room 2a and the fairly large adjoining Room 1, which was either a strong room or was entered via its own outside door. The same is true of the two projected rooms at the north-east corner of the house (5 and 6b), which have no interior connection with other rooms of the house. In the wall between Room 1 and Room 5, at a level 1.2m above the floor, there is a small triangular opening which evidently served as a lamp-rest (see Map 2.14 b).

individual houses given below. The security arrangements in the two-storey unit houses were not, however, allowed to remain permanently intact. After some period of time doors were crudely hacked through the lower walls, giving direct access to the ground-floor rooms, and holes were also cut through the ceiling vaults to gain direct access to the crypts above them. Evidence suggests that this was done after the upper storeys had become dilapidated, and were no longer serviceable except perhaps for open-air activities such as cooking. The lower storeys were then in effect converted into one-storey unit houses by providing them with ground-floor access and with interconnection between formerly separated rooms. These modifications had been made in all of the two-storey houses at Kulubnarti, and also at Meinarti. In addition to man-made changes, the two-storey unit houses exhibit a rather consistent pattern of natural deterioration. In three of the four houses, substantial portions of the outer, upper walls have slumped away, while the interior partitions have survived. This is evidently because the outer walls rested partly on the vault springings of the underlying rooms (see Maps 2.16b, 2.20a, and 2.27a), which means that they had a less secure footing than had the interior walls. So long as the second-storey roof timbers were in place the walls were in a sense ‘tied together,” and imparted stability to one another; after removal of the timbers their situation became more precarious. The type of slumpage that occurred can be seen most clearly in the west wall of House Dl (Plate 2.7b). The two-storey unit houses at 21-S-2 are nevertheless the best-preserved buildings on the site, partly because of their very stout construction and partly because they evidently remained in use until a later date than did most of the one-storey unit houses. The ground-floor rooms have survived intact, including many of the roof vaults, in all the houses. Preservation of the upper floors is somewhat variable, but enough survives in all cases to permit a reconstruction of the original floor plan. Three of the four two-storey houses at 21-S-2 have lower walls of heavy stone masonry and upper walls of brick, a feature of construction, which is otherwise known from only one other site in the Batn el-Hajjar.10 The stonework does not extend to the full height of the ground-floor rooms, but only to the level from which the roof vaults spring; above this point all construction is in brick (see Maps 2.16b, 2.20a, and 2.27a). Ground-floor interior partitions are of stone in two houses, and of brick in two houses. All the buildings have brick-vaulted ceilings in the lower rooms, while in at least two houses, D1 and H1, the upper rooms had flat, timbered roofs. In houses A1 and C1 the upper floor is not sufficiently preserved to indicate the method of roofing. For all their common features, the two-storey unit houses at 21-S-2 are remarkable as much for their diversity as for their similarity. House A1, measuring no more than 7 x 5.5m, is one of the smallest two-storey unit houses ever found, while the labyrinthine House H1 is almost four times as large and is markedly different in plan. House C1 differs in having stouter walls than have

Two-storey unit houses (Map 2.6, Plates 2.5-10) Two-storey unit houses, sometimes called castle-houses, are among the most distinctive and the most conspicuous architectural remains from late medieval Nubia. They are known to occur at least from Dal in the south (see especially Vila 1975, 22-25) to Qasr Ibrim in the north(Adams 1996),8 but are much more abundant in the Batn el-Hajjar than they are further to the north. The great majority are in island locations. It is a curious fact that many sites, like Meinarti (Adams 1964, 232-233 and pl. L), Kasanarti (Adams 1964, 22 and pl. XLIX, b), and Abkanarti (see Presedo Velo 1965, pls XIII-XIII) seem to boast only a single two-storey unit house, alongside a much larger number of one-storey structures. At Kulubnarti however there are four (Map 2.6), and the number is even greater at the nearby site of Dal.9 The most outstanding feature of all two-storey unit houses is the extreme concern for security that is exhibited in their design. There is no lateral entrance at the ground-floor level; the houses were accessible only through a single doorway at the level of the upper floor, which could only be reached by a ladder. The whole ground floor was thus made up of strong rooms, entered through hatchways in their vaulted ceilings. In addition to these full-size storage rooms, the spaces between their angled vaults and the overlying floors were occupied by additional storage crypts, again reached via hatchways from the rooms above (see especially Maps 2.16b, 2.20a, 2.21b and 2.33). Finally most houses had, somewhere within them, an especially concealed room whose presence would hopefully go undetected by marauders hastily ransacking the house (Figure 2.1) (see Adams 1977, 493, 516). The design of these secret crypts shows considerable ingenuity, as will be apparent in the descriptions of 8 9

For a detailed discussion of castle-houses see Adams 1993, 1-36. Author’s unpublished field observations.

10

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On the island of Tanjur (see Dinkler and Grossmann 1971, 140-141).

Figure 2.1. Site 21-S-2, cross-sections to show how secret crypts were entered in two-storey unit houses. a, b, House Al, Crypt 2-4. c, d, House Cl, House Cl, Crypt k. e, f, House Dl, Crypt 1-10 (and overlying Crypt c). Drawings by W. Y. Adams.

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a.

b.

Map 2.15. Site 21-S-2, plans of two-storey Unit House A1. a, upper floor plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction. TH = raised threshold. b, lower floor plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; broad diagonal hatching identifies stone construction. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.  

any of the other structures.

brick construction (Plate 2.5b). The upper-floor walls have fallen away at the north-east and south-east corners; elsewhere they are mostly preserved to a height of between 1 and 1.35m The ground floor rooms retain nearly all of their original wall plaster, which is generally thin and rather rough. The plaster in the upper rooms has been destroyed by weathering. The exterior walls of House Al are built of stone masonry, up to the level of the ground-floor vault springings, and of brick above that point (Maps 2.16 and 2.17). Interior walls both on the ground and upper floors are almost entirely of brick. The lower rooms have vaulted brick ceilings, which are preserved intact throughout the building. Those in the narrower rooms have the pointed

House A1 (Maps 2.15 - 2.17; Plate 2.5). This tiny “miniature castle” is built on top of a series of large boulders, which add to its already elevated situation (Plate 2.5a). It stands higher above the river’s edge than does any other building at 21-S-2, and it is so situated that it commands a view over the whole site as well as up and down the wadi, which separates the island of Kulubnarti from the mainland. However, there is nothing to suggest that House A1 was designed as a watchtower; it has the same interior arrangements as are found in other domestic structures. The ground floor of House A1 is almost totally preserved, except at the north-east corner where two rather crude doorways had been hacked through the original 34

a.

Map 2.16. Site 21-S-2, elevation and cross section of two-storey Unit House Al. a, south-east elevation. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. b, north-east to south-west cross section. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; vertical hatching superimposed over stone identifies stone construction, fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

b.

Map 2.17. Site 21-S-2, south-west elevation of two-storey Unit House Al. Horizontal hatching identifies mudbrick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

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shape of Gothic arches (cf. Map 2.16a and b; Plate 2.5b). A small amount of light is admitted to some of the groundfloor rooms through tiny apertures in the southern house wall, just below the crowns of the vaults. These openings are triangular in shape, their lintels being formed by two bricks resting against each other at an angle (Plate 2.5a). One of the windows, which originally opened into Room 1-4, was found to have been blocked. A somewhat larger window opening in the east wall (Plate 2.5b) appears to have been cut through at a later date, to judge from its irregular shape. There is no certain indication how the upper-floor rooms were roofed. However, the largest upstairs room (Room 2-2) has reinforcing buttresses at the middle of its two side walls (see Map 2.15a), which are probably to be interpreted as supports for a master beam across the middle of the room.11 There is no surviving entryway in the outside walls of House Al, either on the ground floor or the second floor. The two very crudely shaped doorways that can be seen in Plate 2.5b were obviously hacked through at a later date. The only possible locus for an entrance would however have been at the north-east corner of the upper floor, where the wall is no longer preserved. The upper-floor wall is also partly destroyed at the south-east corner of the house, but a doorway here would have opened directly into the toilet. The upper floor of House A1 exhibits the typical plan of a small Nubian dwelling (Map 2.15a). Almost one-half of the total area is occupied by a single large room (Room 2-2), and from it a narrow L-shaped passage (Room 2-3) turns around a smaller room (Room 2-1), and ends in a toilet chamber at its eastern end (Adams 1977, 491). The “toilet” comprises two small square holes in the floor of Room 2-4, one of which is enclosed by several courses of brick masonry, and evidently served as a urinal (Plate 2.5d). Directly below the toilet chamber, the ground floor chamber (Room 1.5) is a cesspit, having no lateral entrance except a small cleanout hole in the east wall. Room 2-1, enclosed between the main living room and the toilet passage, must have been a storeroom. It was fitted with a rebated doorway, and the wall opposite the rebate still exhibits a socket to receive a door bolt (Plate 2.5c). The interstice above and between the ceiling vaults of Rooms 1-1 and 1-2 is occupied by two crypts, which must have been entered via hatchways from the overlying Room 2-2. One crypt retains a portion of its original covering of flat stone slabs (cf. Map 2.16b); in the other crypt the roofing is entirely missing (Plate 2.5e). Access to the lower floor rooms was via a stone-lined hatchway, 550mm square, in the east end of Room 2-1. A ladder inserted here would have descended into the underlying Room 1-3, from which very low doorways (1 to 1.1m high) lead into the adjoining rooms 1-2, 1-1, and 1-4. There is no lateral access to Room 1-5, which, as already mentioned, was a cesspit beneath the upstairs toilet (Map 2.15b). The secret crypt in House Al (Room 2-4) is a low

chamber, 900mm high, that lies directly beneath Room 2-3 and directly above Room 1-5 (see Map 2.16b). It is roofed over with flat stone slabs, which form the floor of Room 2-3. However, entrance to the secret crypt was not either from directly below or from directly above, but through a small aperture high in the vault wall of Room 1-4 (see Figure 2.1, a and b). A marauder would have had to look upward nearly to the ceiling in the narrow, cramped, and lightless Room 1-4 to spot the entrance to Room 2-4. The original small window in the south wall of Room 1-4 may in fact have been deliberately blocked so as to minimize the amount of light in the room. At a later date however one of the floor slabs in the overlying Room 2-3 was taken up, giving direct access to Room 2-4 from above. Very little occupation debris was found on the upper floors of House A1, where the fill material consisted mainly of fallen brick and wind-blown sand. In the lower rooms there were substantial accumulations of ash, sand, and occupation debris, much of which apparently dated from a late period of occupation, after the upper rooms had been abandoned and doorways had been hacked through into the ground-floor rooms. The final date of abandonment for the house cannot be ascertained, but it was probably well after the end of the Christian period. House C1 (Maps 2.18-2.20; Plate 2.6). This is the most stoutly built of the Kulubnarti unit houses. The stone-built lower walls are no less than 900mm thick at the base, and even the brick walls in the upper storey are 800mm thick (i.e. the thickness of two courses of headers or four courses of stretchers). Nevertheless the house is not as well preserved as is House Al. The upper-storey walls are nowhere preserved to a height exceeding 1.5m, and parts of them have fallen away altogether along the outer sides of the house. The lower walls of House Cl are of heavy stone masonry, carefully laid to yield a flat outer surface. The stonework extends upward to an average height of 2.5m in the outer walls (Plate 2.6a-b), but only 1.4m in the interior partitions (Maps 2.18a, 2.19a, 2.20a). All the upper construction is of mud brick. Rather rough mud plaster survives throughout the lower rooms, but the original plastering in the upper rooms has mostly been destroyed by weathering. The ground-floor rooms, as usual, have brick vaulted ceilings (cf. Plate 2.6c), while the method of roofing cannot be determined for the upper storey. However, one of the upper rooms (Room 2-6) is exceptionally large in size (5.5 x 4.5m) and also retains traces of what may have been a central pilaster, which would have served to support a roof timber. A flat roof therefore seems probable, at least for this room. No trace of an exterior doorway survives. There was certainly no aperture in the lower walls, but the upper floor could have been entered at almost any point along the north or the south wall, both of which have since fallen away (Map 2.18b). However, a doorway in the south wall would have entered the latrine chamber or latrine passage, or else a rather small storeroom; both of these seem unlikely possibilities. The best probability is that the original entrance was in the north wall, leading directly into the large Room 2-6. There is no surviving

11 For other examples of this kind of construction see Adams 1964, 228; 1996.

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Map 2.18. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House Cl. a, south-west elevation. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. b, upper floor plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

evidence of any windows in the house. From Room 2-6, which was presumably a living room, doorways lead into two smaller rooms, 2-1 and 2-5. Room 2-1 has a rebated doorway, and a socket for a door-retaining beam can be seen in its east wall (Plate 2.6d). Three

handmade pottery vessels (21- S-2/803, 805, and 808) were buried in the floor at the southern (inner) end of the room. Room 2-1 when found was largely filled with ash, in which were buried a number of broken pottery vessels as well as other domestic refuse (Plate 2.6f). The vessels 37

a.

b.

Map 2.19. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House Cl. a, north-west elevation. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. b, upper-storey plan showing locations of crypts below the floors (identified by lower-case letters). Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

were heavily soot-stained, suggesting that the room in its last phase of occupation had been used as a cooking place. Room 2-5 opens off the large Room 2-6 on its west side. Nothing survives in this room to indicate its original function. At some time in its history it was re-walled

along the north and west sides, presumably because the original outer wall had fallen away. The newly built wall does not rest on the foundations of the old one but on a line further within the room (see Map 2.l8b), which means that it rests directly on the vault of the underlying Room 38

a.

b.

Map 2.20. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of two-storey Unit House Cl. a, north to south cross section. Horizontal-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, ground floor plan. Broad diagonal hatching identifies stone construction; fine vertical hatching and broken screen hatching both identify mud-brick support buttresses inserted subsequent to original construction. Stones shown without hatching are natural boulders. Circled numbers identify locations of mural inscriptions (see Chapter IX). Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

39

1-3. To support this added weight, a massive brick buttress had to be built underneath it, effectively filling up the north end of ground floor Room 1-3. From the south side of Room 2-6, a narrow, angled passage (Room 2-3) led to a latrine (Room 2-4). Enclosed within the angles of the passage is a small storeroom (Room 2-2) having a rebated doorway on the inside and retaining traces of a door-support timber. Most of the original floor has been broken through, to provide easy access to the underlying rooms, and no features are preserved. In the latrine chamber 2-4, the toilet is simply a hole in the floor, 150mm in diameter, outlined with small stones. At the west side of the toilet chamber, a thin mud-brick partition has been built parallel to the main west wall but about 100mm from it. Probably the narrow, slot-like space that is thus partitioned off was a urinal. House C1 has no fewer than eleven intramural crypts, built in the angles between the lower-floor roof vaults (see Map 2.19b). Three of these (Crypts a, b, and c) are in a row, beneath the eastern part of passage 2-3; they are enclosed between the ceiling vaults of the underlying Rooms 1-6 and 1-7. These crypts are roofed over with stone slabs, most of which are preserved in situ (Plate 2.6e). They were entered from above by means of square hatchways, presumably covered by movable slabs. Another three similarly constructed crypts (d, i, and j) are located beneath the western end of Room 2-3 and are enclosed between the ceiling vaults of Rooms 1-4 and Room 1-5. Four large crypts (e, f, g, and h) are located beneath Room 2-6, and are enclosed between the vaults of Rooms 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3. These crypts are themselves covered by small brick vaults (see Map 2.20a), and were entered through square apertures in the floor of Room 2-6. The secret crypt in House C1 is Crypt k, which is concealed within the thickness of the wall between Rooms 1-6 and Rooms 1-5 and 1-4. Unlike the other intramural crypts it was not entered from above but from below, by means of an opening in the top of the doorway between Rooms 1-5 and 1-6. The doorway was capped by a narrow lintel stone at each end, but the space between them was empty; this was the aperture to Crypt k (see Figure 2.1, c and d). At some point in the history of House Cl, holes were knocked through several of the ground-floor ceiling vaults, giving access to and from the rooms above. However, the original entry to the lower floor would appear to have been through a hatchway at the north end of Room 2-2, an arrangement very similar to that in House Al. In each case, the entry to the lower floor was at the inner end of the innermost and most protected room. The lower floor of House Cl is basically a symmetrical arrangement of six rooms, of which one is further subdivided into two smaller chambers (see Map 2.20b). The rooms form a single interconnected suite, except for Room 1-4 which was originally a cesspit without a lateral entrance. All of the ground-floor doorways are very low, varying in height from 550 to 900mm, and are capped by flat lintel stones. The floors are wet-laid mud and dung surfaces, laid either directly over jebel rock or over refuse fill

that has been inserted to level the uneven natural ground. Here and there, jebel rock protrudes through the floors. In the west wall of Room 1-1, four inscriptions (nos 11, 11a, 11b and 11c) have been impressed in the wet plaster. They will be discussed in Chapter IX. In addition, a cross design is incised in the plaster of Room 1-4. The ground-floor rooms underwent various modifications in the course of use. Massive brick buttresses were inserted in Rooms 1-2 and 1-3, presumably because of weakening or anticipated weakening of the overarching vaults. The buttress in Room 1-3 actually occupies more than half the total floor area in the room. However, the buttress in Room 1-2 does not quite reach to the ceiling, suggesting that the strengthening project was for some reason abandoned. Additionally, a brick partition was run across Room 1-6 near its southern end, so as to provide the room with a narrow entrance passage (Map 2.20b). The new partition is penetrated by a low, arched doorway, 720mm high, giving access to the main part of the room. The threshold of the doorway is 900mm above the original floor level in the south end of the room, and a flight of low brick steps has been provided on the south side (the entrance passage) to make access easier. Concealed within the brickwork of the steps is a tiny crypt, accessible only through a “reachhole” 250mm wide. The aforementioned modifications may have been carried out while the upper-storey rooms were still in use. Other changes were apparently made after their abandonment. A large hole was crudely knocked in the lower house wall at the north-west corner, providing ground-floor access to Room 1-1. This aperture was mostly walled up again at a still later date, but the difference between the original stone masonry and the rather crude rebuilding can be clearly seen in Plate 2.6c. Also, a doorway was cut through into Room 1-4 from the south, at a point where there had formerly been only a small cleanout hole. Finally, holes were cut through several of the ceiling vaults. At least two of these are too small to permit the passage of a man; their purpose was presumably to admit light to the otherwise windowless lower rooms. It may be noted that no such hole was made in the ceiling of Room 1-1, which now had a lateral doorway. Both the upper and lower floors of House Cl were found deeply filled with ash and occupation refuse, including a number of handmade pots that had obviously been used for cooking (Plate 2.6f). The vessels mostly did not rest on well developed floor surfaces, but were simply buried in the ash deposits. They are presumed to date from the last phase of the building’s occupation, when it was no longer functioning as a dwelling. House Dl (Maps 2.21-2.25; Plates 2.7-2.8). House Dl had a long and complex history, extending at least into the 18th century. At that time it had become one of the components of the Kulubnarti “Castle,” and was a sometime residence of the local kashefs (Adams 1970a, 143). The various features of the “castle” will be described in a later section. However, House Dl began as an ordinary unit house in the Late Christian period, and the earliest phase of its occupation is most conveniently described here. House Dl is the best preserved of the Kulubnarti houses, 40

the floor, but reaches a maximum of 2.4m in Room 1-1 (which has a lower floor than the adjoining rooms). Vaults in most of the rooms have a rounded profile, but those in the small Rooms 1-4 1-5, and 1-6 are sharply pointed, as in House A1. In the upper storey, beam sockets in the walls, shown in Plates 2.7c, 2.8b, and Map 2.21b, indicate that the upper rooms had timbered roofs about 2.3m above their floors. The sockets are stone-lined, with centers about 350mm apart. However, these sockets may date from a late rebuilding. Construction features of the upper walls suggest that the original second-storey roofs were at a level about 750mm lower than the late roof, with beams resting on a string course of flat stones set into the wall (see Plate 2.7c). Above the level of the upper floor are remnants of a loopholed parapet, about 1m high, which again may date from a late rebuilding. There are no windows of any kind in the ground-floor rooms of House D1. The only apertures in the lower walls are small cleanest holes for two cesspits, respectively at the south-west and southeast corners (Rooms 1-7 and 1-9). The upper rooms however are more or less uniformly provided with rectangular windows 300mm wide and 500mm high (Plate 2.8a-b). There are four of these in the north wall (see Map Map 2.21. Site 21-S-2, elevation and cross section of two-storey Unit House D1. a, west 2.34; Plate 2.7c), four in the east elevation. Horizontal hatching identities mud brick construction. b, east-west cross section wall (Plate 2.7e), one in the south across the northern part of the building. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; wall, and two surviving examples dashed horizontal hatching identifies midden deposits on the upper floors; fine vertical in the partly collapsed west wall hatching identifies jebel rock. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel. (Maps 2.22 and 2.23; Plate 2.7a). The sills are at a level about 1.6m above the original floors; presumably by virtue of its occupation until the fairly the flat stone lintels are just below the presumed level of recent past. The timbered second-floor roofs are gone, the original ceilings. Only one original doorway survives but the walls nevertheless continue to stand nearly to their intact on the upper floor, connecting Room 2-6 with the original height, especially at the east and north sides of corner storage room 2-3. It is a very low opening, 400mm the building (Maps 2.21a-b, 2.33, and 2.34; Plate 2.7c, e). wide and 550mm high, with a flat stone lintel (Plate 2.8d). The highest surviving wall, on the east, rises to a height None of the upper-floor doorways appear to have been of 6.5m. Damage has occurred most noticeably at the rebated, except for the main entryway into Room 2-2. north-west corner of the house, where the upper outside House D1 was entered at the upper-storey level through wall has slumped away (Plate 2.7a-b). a doorway in the middle of the south wall. Presumably Unlike the other two-storey unit houses, House Dl is this was originally reached by a ladder. Later, a mud-brick built entirely of brick, with walls uniformly 600mm thick. stairway and protecting parapet were built outside the The lower rooms have brick-vaulted ceilings, which southern house wall, facilitating access to the doorway survive fully intact throughout the building (Maps 2.21b, (Map 2.23 and Plate 2.7f). The room at the top of the 2.33). The crown of the vaults is typically about 2m above 41

Map 2.22. Site 21-S-2, upper-storey plan of two-storey Unit House D1 as originally constructed. Diagonal hatching identities mud-brick construction. S = step up or down; TH = raised threshold. Numbers beside circles identify pots found on or under floors. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

Map 2.23. Site 21-S-2, upper-storey plan of two-story Unit House D1 as modified subsequent to original construction. Diagonal hatching identities mud-brick construction. Ascending stairway is shown at the south side of the building. S = step up or down; TH = raised threshold. Numbers beside circles identify pots found on or under floors. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

42

Map 2.24. Site 21-S-2, upper-storey plan of two-storey Unit House D1 showing locations of crypts below the floors (identified by lower-case letters). Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

Map 2.25. Site 21-S-2, ground floor plan of two-storey Unit House D1. The secret crypt is in the thickness of the wall between Rooms 1-2 and 1-8. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction. p = pot resting on floor; S = step up or down; TH = raised threshold. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

43

stairs (Room 2-10) then became a kind of open porch; whether it was a fully enclosed room in the original unit house plan cannot be determined. From Room 2-10, a wide doorway gives access to a very large room (Room 2-2), which was clearly the main living room of the house. Remaining features on the upper floor plan are similar to those in other unit houses. From the main room, an angled passage (Rooms 2-6 and 2-8) leads around an interior storeroom (Room 2-7), and ends in to latrine (Room 2-9). There was some kind of constructed toilet fixture of stone masonry in the southwest corner of the room, but only its foundations have survived (Plate 2.8e). At the opposite side of the room is a small, low masonry platform with a depression in the top; presumably a stand for a water jar. The level of the roof in Room 2-9 was about 800mm higher than that in neighboring rooms, and two small square holes in the north wall, just below the ceiling level, were evidently for ventilation. The room directly beneath (Room 1-9) is a fully enclosed cesspit. House D1 is unique in having two toilet chambers on the upper floor, respectively at the south-west and southeast corners. Since the room at the south west (Room 2-11) is directly at the top of the outside stairway, it may be surmised that this was for visitors, while Room 2-9 at the back of the house was for the regular inhabitants. House D1 has the usual assortment of intramural crypts, enclosed between the roof vaults of the lower rooms (Map 2.24). The large Crypts a and b, enclosed between the vaults of Rooms 1-1 and 1-2, were themselves covered by small brick vaults. They were entered though hatchways in the floor of the very large Room 2-6 the hatchway to Crypt a retained intact its cover of three stone slabs. The much smaller Crypt d, beneath Room 2-7, and the two even smaller crypts (e and f) beneath the toilet chamber, were roofed over with flat stone slabs rather than vaults (Plate 2.8f). All three were found with their stone slab covers in situ. The long, box-like Crypt c is unique in that it is not enclosed between underlying roof vaults. Its sides are formed by thin, vertical walls of brick, and its floor, comprised of flat stone slabs, is also the roof of the underlying secret crypt (Room 1-10). Crypt c thus has a square profile rather than a triangular one. It is roofed over with flat stone slabs, and is entered by a stone hatchway just beside the south wall of Room 2-2. Entrance to the lower rooms in House D1 was though a hatchway, about 550mm square, near the middle of the house. It led down from the floor of Room 2-2 into Room 1-2. The ground-floor rooms are interconnected by low, arched doorways, less than 1 meter high in all cases. Most of the doorways have raised thresholds at a level about 200mm above the original floors. The floors are rather uneven, conforming to the contours of the underlying jebel, which projects though at several points. The wet-laid mud floor in Room 1-1 retains an impression of plaited matting. There are no built-in floor features, but a large concave milling stone was found resting on the original floor surface in Room 1-1. In the same room, a short loop of palm-fiber rope projects downward from the crown of the ceiling vault; presumably it was for the suspension of something.

The ground-floor plan of House D1 (Map 2.25) shows two large rooms, 1-1 and 1-2. From Room 2-1 a narrow passage in the east wall (Room 1-4) leads to three much smaller rooms (1-3, 1-5, and 1-6), and a passage in the south wall leads to Room 1-8. Rooms 1-7 and 1-9, at the southern corners of the house, are cesspits without interior entrances, as already noted. The secret crypt in House D1 is Room 1-10, enclosed within the wall between Rooms 1-2 and 1-8. At first glance this appears simply to be an exceptionally thick wall; in fact it is two thin walls (each 200mm thick) with an enclosed space between (Map 2.25). Entry to the crypt is through an aperture high in the wall of the passage between Rooms 1-2 and 1-8. The design of the entryway is similar to that in the secret crypt in House C1. That is, the passageway from Room 1-2 to Room 1-8 has flat stone lintel slabs at the north and south ends, but the space between them is empty. The thin brick wall, which separates the passageway from the secret crypt extends upward as high as the lintel stones, but does not continue above them in the space between them (see Figure 2.1, e and f). Thus, the only way to see into the secret crypt is to poke one’s head up into the empty space between the two lintel stones, and then look to the right (west). Like all of the two-storey unit houses, House D1 underwent modifications, in which security was sacrificed for convenience. Two tall, irregularly shaped doorways were cut through the north wall at ground level, giving direct access to Rooms 1-1 and 1-2 (see Map 2.34; Plate 2.7d). At the same time, the doorway between these two rooms was fitted with a rebate buttress and a pivoting door. A hole was also hacked through the ceiling vault at the south end of Room 1-1, and this evidently became the main route of access from the lower to the upper rooms. Directly below the hole, two footholds were cut into the south room wall of Room 1-1. Another hole, about 250mm in diameter, was cut through the ceiling vault and into Crypt a, which was formerly accessed only from above. The second-storey rooms tell an interesting story of decay, modification, and rebuilding. At some point in time a part of the upper south wall of the house fell away, carrying with it the original doorway to the house and the floor fill in Room 2-10. There was no immediate rebuilding. Instead, access to the upper rooms was now gained by stepping up from a large natural boulder onto the surviving stump of the fallen house wall, from this to the top of the roof vault of underlying Room 1-8 (which was now exposed to the sky), and from this in turn to a fragment of what had been the floor of Room 2-10, which now became a kind of outside landing (see Figure 2.2). This method of entry is clearly signalled by worn places on the top of the wall stump, and on the vaulting bricks of Room 1-8. At a later date however the fallen wall was partially restored in the form of a parapet, and Room 2-10 then became an outside porch. This was coeval with the building of the access stairway at the south side of House D1, to be described in the next section (“The Castle”). Within the house there were additional modifications in the upper storey (Map 2.23). A wall was run most of the way across the very large Room 2-2, converting it into two rooms (2-2 and 2-5 in the second-phase plan), and a rebate 44

Figure 2.2. Site 21-S-2, House D1, sketch and cross-section to show how the upper floor was entered after the partial collapse of the south house wall, and before rebuilding of the Castle. a, sketch view from the south (not accurate to scale). b, north to south cross-section. Drawing by W. Y. Adams.

buttress was added to the doorway between Room 2-6 and Room 2-3. These walls were built on top of a small accumulation of rubbish overlying the original house boors. After their building, new floors were established in all the rooms, at levels 100 to 200mm above the original floors (cf. Map 2.33; Plate 2.8a, c). Additional and more drastic modifications were made when the place became part of the “Castle;” these will be described in the next section.

(Plate 2.9a). As in House D1, there is some possibility that the existing beam sockets belong to a late reroofing of the building. There is a continuous string course of flat stone slabs at a level 2m above the floors, and this may represent the level of the original ceiling (Plate 2.9c). The upper storey as currently preserved consists only of five large rooms, three of which (Rooms 2-1, 2-3, and 2-4) are far larger than those found in any other house at Kulubnarti (Map 2.26b). It is not certain that all of the surviving walls are original; in particular, the wall between Rooms 2-3 and 2-4 looks like a rebuilding. However, and notwithstanding the large room size, the house exhibits the typical Late Christian house plan, with large rooms at the front, smaller rooms at the back, and an L-shaped passage (Room 2-5) turning around an interior storeroom (2-2) and ending in a latrine. There is no indication where the original outside doorway was located. The ground-floor arrangements in House H1 can only be described as bizarre (Map 2.28b). The house is built directly on top of a jagged jebel outcrop, which occupies a considerable part of what would normally have been the ground floor area. Between and around the natural stone is a veritable warren of small and irregularly shaped rooms, numbering 23 in all. There are three interconnected suites of rooms, each with its own doorway from the outside, two suites of rooms that could only be entered from above, and seven individual rooms that could only be entered from above. Some of the ground-floor doorways however are certainly later intrusions rather than part of the original plan; these would probably include the exterior doorways to Rooms 1-5 and 1-11. (The small aperture in the outside wall of Room 1-13 is a cleanout hole for a cesspit, not a doorway.) All of the ground-floor rooms are enclosed by masonry walls with stone foundations. In addition, a part of the area above the jebel outcrop is occupied by small brick-walled crypts, which were formerly roofed over with flat stone slabs. In nearly all cases, the coverings had been removed prior to the time of our excavations. House H1 has an extraordinary number of sub-floor crypts and magazines, mostly in the northern portion of the house (see Map 2.27b). Most of them are in the interstices between ground-floor roof vaults, and are

House H1 (Maps 2.26-29; Plate 2.9). This is the largest of the two-storey unit houses, and the most unusual. Its curving walls and irregular plan are in marked contrast to the other two-storey houses, and show affinities with the “Late Houses” of the post-Christian period (see below). However, Christian invocations were found in no fewer than five of the ground-floor rooms (Inscription nos 1525), leaving no doubt as to the original time of building. It may be surmised however that the building of House H1 was the work of local artisans rather than of itinerant specialists, as has been assumed for the other unit houses. The upper parts of House H1 are rather poorly preserved (Map 2.26). The outer walls have almost entirely fallen away, except for a few surviving remnants, and the roof vaults of the lower rooms are partly broken in. On the other hand two of the interior partitions on the upper floor still stand almost to their original height (Plate 2.9a-c). As in Houses A1 and C1, the lower walls are of stone masonry and the upper walls of mud brick (Maps 2.26a, 2.28a and 2.29). The stonework is relatively coarse, especially in comparison with House C1, and it extends upward only to the height of the vault springings, which in most places are not much more than 1m above the room floors (see Maps 2.27a, 2.29a). Consequently, the house gives the impression of being built largely of brick. The highest standing section of stone masonry, at the north side, reaches a height of just under 2m. The overlying brick walls have a uniform thickness of 600mm Most of the lower rooms are vaulted, though a few narrow ones are roofed with flat stone slabs. Enough survives of the upper walls to show that the second-storey rooms had flat, timbered roofs, at an elevation about 2.8m above the floors. The spacing of the beam sockets is variable, but averages about 350mm from centerpoint to centerpoint 45

Map 2.26. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House H1. a, north-east elevation. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. b, upper storey plan. Fine diagonal hatching identities standing mud-brick construction. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

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a.

b.

Map 2.27. Site 21-S-2, cross section and plan of two-storey Unit House H1. a, north-east to south-west cross section through the south-east side of the building. Horizontal-hatching identifies mud-brick construction, fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, upper-storey plan showing locations of crypts below the floors. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

themselves vaulted over; a few are directly on top of the jebel rock in the middle part of the house. All of the crypts had been broken into in antiquity, and were found to be filled with rubbish. House H1 has no clearly identifiable secret crypt. Possibly the presence of so many ground-floor rooms, and their labyrinthine plan, was itself meant to deceive robbers into overlooking some of them. In time, the lower rooms in House H1 underwent the

some kinds of modifications as did those in other twostorey unit houses, the effect of which was to convert them into one-storey rooms. They were hacked through from the outside and holes were cut through many of the roof vaults. A brick partition was built across Room 1-11, separating it into two rooms, and three new brick-walled rooms were built against the outer east wall of the house, adjoining the newly-cut doorway into Room 1-5 (Map 2.28b and Plate 2.9e). 47

a.

b.

Map 2.28. Site 21-S-2, elevation and plan of two-storey Unit House H1. a, south-east elevation. Horizontal hatching identifier mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. b, ground floor plan. Broad diagonal hatching identifies jebel rock; broad diagonal hatching superimposed over stonework identifies stone construction; fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction. S = step up or down, TH = raised threshold. Circled numbers identify locations of mural inscriptions (see Chapter IX). Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

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Map 2.29. Site 21-S-2, cross section of two storey Unit House H1 across the north-west side of the building. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction, vertical hatching superimposed over stone identifies stone construction, fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. Original held plan by F. W. Hinkel. TABLE 2.5. List of two-storey unit houses at Site 21-S-2. House no.

Outside dimensions

A1

7 x 5.5 m

C1

11.5 x 11 m

D1

9 x 8.5 m

H1

13.5 x 13 m

Storey

No. of rooms

Wall construction

Roof construction

> Upper

4

Mud brick

?

> Lower

5

Mud brick upper; stone lower

Vaulted

> Upper

7

Mud brick

?

> Lower

8

Mud brick upper; stone lower

Vaulted

> Upper

9

Mud brick

Flat

> Lower

10

Mud brick

Vaulted

> Upper

5

Mud brick

Flat

> Lower

23

Mud brick upper; stone lower

Vaulted

Floor features Crypt hatch Crypt hatches Crypt hatches; soma Crypt hatches

that its outside walls project beyond those of the adjoining courtyard or house, very much like the corner bastion of a European castle. Windows or loopholes in the tower can then provide surveillance along the adjoining walls, and offer an opportunity for enfilading fire along the walls. As a distinctive architectural form, the kourfa seems to have escaped the attention of scholars until as recently as 1974, when André Vila and other members of the French Archaeological Mission made a survey of these structures in the vicinity of Abri (see Vila 1979). Here, in a single small area, the French team found no fewer than 39 kourfas in various states of preservation (see Vila 1979, 73). All of the recorded examples are of jalus (coursed adobe) rather than of brick construction (see Vila 1979, 76 and photos, pp. 78-119), which marks them as belonging to the fairly recent past. Jalus construction, which is characteristic of western Sahelian architecture (cf. Engeström 1957), has not been identified in medieval or post-medieval sites before the 18th century, although it occurs much earlier at Kerma (Bonnet 2004, 12). Most of the Abri kourfas were in fact reputed to have been built in the 19th century, though a few were clearly older (Vila 1979, 72). Local tradition associated most of them with

It seems that, in its last years, House H1 had become three separate one-storey houses: one comprising Rooms 1-1 and 1-2; one comprising Rooms 1-3, 1-4, and 1-5, plus the later constructed brick Rooms 1-6, 1-7, and 1-8; and one comprising Rooms 1-11, 1-12, 1-23, 1-24, and 1-26.

The “Castle” (Maps 2.30-2.38; Plates 2.10-2.12) The “Castle” (Units D1-D3) is the most conspicuous archaeological relic on the island of Kulubnarti, and has attracted the attention of foreign visitors since the time of Burckhardt (Burckhardt 1819, 78; Monneret de Villard 1935, 234). As preserved today it represents the final evolutionary stage of Unit House D1, after it had been enlarged with a walled courtyard (D2) and a watchtower (D3). In this form it is actually a giant kourfa — an architectural form peculiar to post-Christian Nubia (Map 2.30) (see Adams 1987, 338-339). The kourfa consists typically of a dwelling, an adjoining courtyard and a stoutly-walled tower either at one corner of the courtyard (cf. Plate 2.10a-b) or, occasionally, at one corner of the house itself (see Vila 1979). The tower is always so placed 49

one or another of the kashefs — civil officials who held power in Nubia both under the Ottomans and in the 19th century Turco-Egyptian regime (see Vila 1979, 72-78). Kourfas have thus far been recorded only along the 60-km. stretch of the Nile between Sai Island and Kulubnarti. The “Castle” at 21-S-2 is almost the most northerly known example.12 It may also be one of the oldest, since it is built entirely of mud brick and employs no jalus construction. Nothing is known for the time being about the distribution of kourfas to the south of Abri, but this may only reflect the lack of systematic archaeological survey It seems likely enough that these structures will be found throughout the Middle Nile region, at least is far upriver as the Fourth Cataract.13 The Kulubnarti “Castle,” like other kourfas, had essentially three components:

wall, about 1m high. Fragments of this are preserved on the north and east sides of the house (Plate 2.7c). The wall is of thinner construction (400mm) than the true house walls, and is unplastered on the inside. There are a few surviving traces of loopholing in the parapet wall. 4) Rooms 2-10 and 2-11, at the south-west corner of the house, had previously lost much of their outside wall, and had become no more than a kind of ramp giving access to the rest of the upper storey rooms (see above). However, they were now newly enclosed by a thin parapet wall, 250mm thick and 1.4m high, at the south and west sides. In this form they became an open-air balcony at the top of the stairs, which led to the house (see below). The parapet wall on the west side of the house was provided with three rectangular loopholes, originally 350mm high and 220mm wide, at a level 800mm above the floor. However the loopholes were not exactly in a horizontal line; the one at the south was slightly lower than the one in the middle, which in turn was slightly lower than the one at the north. At a later date all three were solidly blocked with brick masonry, except that a very small round aperture, 70mm in diameter, was left at the bottom of the original middle loophole (Plates 2.10e, 2.11e). Almost certainly this modification coincided with the introduction of the musket, replacing the bow and arrow as the principal weapon of defense in Nubia. A similar treatment was given to the original window in the east wall of Room 2-9, which was blocked up except for a small round aperture at the bottom. Three of the windows in the north wall of House D1 were also partially blocked, although in these cases a somewhat larger aperture, 200mm high, was left at the top. From the newly built corner balcony a wide and tall doorway, equipped with a flat slab lintel, led into Room 2-5; this was now the main doorway to the house interior (Plate 2.10c). To the west of the door on the outside is a stout buttress — the last surviving remnant of the former partition separating Room 2-11 (originally a corner latrine) from 2-10. Evidently the latrine at the south-west corner of the house was no longer functioning as such, since its enclosing partition was gone. 5) A stairway was built adjoining the south side of the house (Map 2.31), leading upward from ground level at the south-east corner to the second-floor balcony (Room 2-10). As originally built, the stairway was not protected by a true parapet; it was merely enclosed within a kind of masonry balustrade, no more than 500mm higher than the steps themselves. The lower portion of the stair-retaining wall was of stone masonry, and the upper portion of mud brick (Plate 2.11b). Not much survives of the original steps, but impressions in the plaster on the outside house wall of D1 suggest that there was a series of low, rather wide steps with stone risers. The same plan was followed when the stairway was later renewed; it was fitted with five wide steps, each with a riser of rather crude stone masonry. These in turn had become so worn down from use that the stairway in modern times was little more than a sloping ramp. At some point after its building, the balustrade beside the stairway was raised with brick masonry to form a true parapet 1m high, bordering the stairs on their outer (south)

The residence (House D1) (Maps 2.31 & 2.32; Plate 2.10). As noted in the previous section, the upper storey of Unit House D1 had in the course of time become dilapidated. A portion of the outer wall had fallen away, and the upper storey, or most of it, was probably unroofed. For a time the ground floor become the main occupation area, and doorways were knocked through into Rooms 1-1 and 1-2. At a still later date there was a general restoration of the house, concurrent with its incorporation into the “Castle” The following modifications were involved: 1) Renovation of the upper-floor rooms, and rearrangement of several of their interior partitions. In particular the original large living room, Room 2-5, was made very much smaller when the adjoining store Room 2-7 was enlarged, and when a new wing wall was built at the south-west corner of the room, partitioning off an area (Room 2-4) containing a large mud storage silo (soma) (Plate 2.10d). It looks as if Room 2-5 now became mainly a passage, while Room 2-2 at the north-west corner became the main living room. Store Room 2-3 had its original doorway at the south-east corner blocked, but was equipped with new doorways in both the south and the west wall (Map 2.31). However, the former of these was itself blocked with mud brick at a later date. The toilet chamber (Room 2-9) and the narrow passage leading to it (Room 2-8) were the only features of the original house not affected by renovation. However, all of the rooms were given new floor levels 250 to 500mm higher than those of the previous occupation (cf. Map 2.33). The fill material between the late floors and the underlying ones consisted mainly of fallen wall and roof material; but with a considerable admixture of ash and goat dung. The new partitions that were added at the time of renovation rested on top of this deposit. 2) The whole upper storey, except Room 2-10, was reroofed, apparently at a level about 750mm higher than that of the original roof (Map 2.32). The stone-lined beam holes visible in the upper walls today (Plate 2.7c) clearly belong to this later roofing. 3) The newly restored roof was surmounted by a parapet 12 The only known examples farther north are the nearby Sites 21-S42 and 21-S-44; see Chapter VII. 13 However, they are not reported in Crawford 1953.

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Map 2.30. Site 21-S-2, general plan of the Castle (Units D1D3a). Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline without hatching are of mud brick. S = soma. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

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Map 2.31. Site 21-S-2, upper floor plan of two-storey Unit House D1 at the final phase of occupation. Ascending stairway is at the south side of the building. All hatching identifies mud-brick construction of different ages, as indicated in the legend. S = step up or down; TH = raised threshold. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

(Room 1-10) there were three large storage jars; two others were found in the small store Room 1-5, and one, lying on its side, was in Room 1-4. On the upper floor, a handmade pot was buried in the floor of Room 2-10 (the outside balcony) just beside the main house door. A very large soma (mud storage silo) occupied almost the whole floor area of Room 2-4 (Plate 2.10d).

side. At the upper (west) end, this was made continuous with the parapet enclosing the outside balcony described earlier (Room 2-10). The stair parapet is pierced with a single loophole, 220mm wide and 130mm high, at a point just opposite the south-east corner of the house (Plate 2.11b-c). At some still later date, the stair parapet was raised again to such an extent that it was simply incorporated in the enclosing wall of the “Castle” courtyard (D2) (Plate 2.10a-b). Plate 2.11d, an interior view of the stairway, shows clearly the successive stages of heightening of the retaining wall. 6) The rude doorways that had earlier been knocked through the north wall of House D1, into Rooms 1-1 and 1-2, were walled back up again with brick masonry (cf. Map 2.34; Plate 2.7d). The ground-floor rooms then essentially reverted to their earlier status as cellars. They were given new, rather soft and uneven floors, laid on top of anywhere up to a meter of refuse that had accumulated during the earlier occupation. The repairs in the north wall were sufficiently plastered over so that the former doorways were barely noticeable from outside the building (Plate 2.7c-d). They were however conspicuous from the inside, since the brick patches were only 400mm thick, in contrast to the 600mm thickness of the original walls. House Dl was found to contain substantial amounts of occupation debris, dating mainly from the last phase of its occupation. On the ground floor in the secret crypt

The courtyard (Unit D2) (Map 2.30). The “Castle” courtyard is a rectangular enclosure, with maximum dimensions of about 14.5 x 11.5m, adjoining the east side of House D1. It was clearly built later than House D1, against which it is abutted, and earlier than Tower D3, which straddles the partially dismantled foundations of its south-eastern corner walls. The courtyard wall stood originally to a height of about 5m. It is built of heavy stone masonry up to a height of about 2m, and of brick above that point (Plate 2.11f). The brickwork was originally plastered with mud on the interior (courtyard) side, while the lower stone portion of the wall was apparently unplastered. The lower wall is double-faced and rubble-filled, and has a thickness of just over one meter at the base. The overlying brickwork however is only 400mm thick. It is built flush with the outer edge of the underlying stone wall, leaving a kind of shelf 500-600mm wide running all around the inner side of the wall, where brickwork and stonework join. Because of this rather insubstantial construction, a considerable part of the upper wall has fallen. It survives intact only 52

Map 2.32. Site 21-S-2, two-storey Unit House D1, plan of upper walls to show original locations of roof timbers. Diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction, very fine diagonal hatching identifies stone lining of timber sockets. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

wall of Tower D3 is adjoined by a stout brick-built buttress 3m high, which forms the southern side of the entryway. This may also have been a support for timbers, which formed the roof of the passage, as well as the floor of an overlying room. At the opposite end, the same timbers were socketed into the south wall of courtyard Room 2, where again the beam sockets are clearly visible. The presence of an upper room is suggested by a steeply sloping ramp or stairway of brick (Plate 2.12c), which also adjoins the north outside wall of Tower D3 just to the west of the passageway (Map 2.35b). It looks as if this was meant to provide access to a room or at least a platform above the entryway to the courtyard. Within the courtyard, a large area at the north-east corner (designated as Room 2) is partitioned off by a stout brick wall, which remains standing to a height of just over 3m (Map 2.30). Two rows of beam sockets are preserved in the partition wall, one at a level 1.65m above the floor and one at 3m above the floor. Evidently therefore there were both upper and lower rooms here, and entry to the former would presumably have been gained through the room above the passageway. Nothing can of course be said about the features or the purpose of the upper room. Running across the floor of the lower room, near the middle of the room, is a low brick riser, and the area to the south of this is filled in with small stones to create a floor level 250mm higher than that in the rest of the room. An impression in the mud floor, just in front of the raised area, shows that a stone quern (rahaya) was once situated here. In the north-east corner of the room are the foundations of a very small mastaba, or possibly a basin, enclosed within stone masonry. This structure did not abut against the nearby walls, but stood out from them by about 100mm. Although the evidence is largely conjectural, it is suggested that Room 2 may have served as a kitchen for the garrison force which occupied the tower and the courtyard. At a later date however the room was provided with a new mud floor 250mm higher than the original, and all features of the earlier floor were buried. The newly installed floor is flat and without features. The reminder of the courtyard was obviously unroofed. It has a well-defined floor of hard-packed mud, with a considerable downward slope from west to east conforming to the contours of the underlying jebel. Very little occupation refuse was found in the courtyard, but substantial deposits of horse dung show that the animals were sometimes kept here, though whether they were actually stabled is problematical. Remains of mud silos (somas) were preserved in three places, more or less in corner locations (Map 2.30); these could have been for the storage of animal fodder. All along the west side of the courtyard is a kind of raised terrace, about 2m wide, which adjoins the east wall

along the southern side of the courtyard (see Map 2.33), and at the north-west corner, adjoining House D1 (Plate 2.11f). However, the stone-built lower part of the wall is almost fully preserved. The courtyard was entered through a straight-sided doorway, 950mm wide, near the middle of its east wall (Map 2.37, P1ate 2.11a). The original features of the doorway cannot be determined, for it was redesigned after the construction of Tower D3 just alongside. After that time, the doorway proper gave onto a narrow passage, enclosed between the north tower wall and the south wall of courtyard Room 2, directly opposite. A socket for a sliding bolt is preserved in the northern doorjamb, at a level 1m above the floor. There is a step up of 200mm from the outside ground surface to the doorsill, which is at the same level as the floor within the courtyard. The entrance passage was originally roofed over with timbers, at a level no less than 3m above the floor. Although the timbers themselves have long since disappeared, their impressions can still be clearly seen in the north wall of Tower D3. The unusual height of the entryway probably indicates that it was designed for the passage of mounted men. There is some evidence to suggest the presence of a small room, like a guardroom, directly above the entrance passage. Just on the inner side of the doorway, the north 53

54

Map 2.33. Site 21-S-2, elevation and cross section of the Castle (Units D1-D3). At left, the north face of Tower D3 is shown in elevation. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. At right, Unit House D1 is shown in east-west cross section through the middle of the building (for the location see Map 2.31). Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction, dashed horizontal hatching identifies midden deposits on the upper floors; vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

55

Map 2.34. Site 21-S-2, north elevation of Castle Units D2 and D1. Horizontal hatching identifies mudbrick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. Note blocked doorways in the wall of Unit D1. Original field plan by F W Hinkel.

of House D1. It is retained by a brick wall at the north end, and by a stone masonry wall at the south end. The terrace incorporates within it a number of large stone outcrop boulders, which also underlie the east wall of House D1. The height of the terrace, relative to the adjoining courtyard floor, is only about 300mm at the north end, but nearly 1m at the south. Access to the southern and higher end of the terrace was by means of a rather crudely built ramp of stone masonry. The south end of the terrace was also the lower landing for the stairways ascending westward into House D1, and eastward into Tower D3 (Plate 2.11c). A curious feature of the courtyard is a very small peephole drilled through the original brickwork of House D1 at its north-east corner, at a level 1.5m above the ground (see Map 2.25 and Plate 2.11f). This allowed a person standing within the courtyard to exercise a certain surveillance along the north outside wall of the house.

project into the room for a short distance on either side of the doorway, but these are not more than 1.5m high, with rounded tops indicating that they were never higher. Apart from this walling, the floor area of the room is divided up into three rather unequal sections by rows of bricks laid on edge (see Plate 2.12f). The section at the north-west corner is about 50mm higher than the remainder of the floor. There is a small recess for a lamp in the more southerly of the two wing walls, to the right of the doorway, and a second near the middle of the north wall, at a height of 1.4m above the floor. The tower room has a good, wet-laid mud floor, which is rounded up against the bases of the walls on all sides. The walls are also well plastered, up to the level of the original room ceiling. Several “pseudo-Arabic” graffiti (nos1-8) were incised in the wall plaster; they will be discussed in Chapter IX. A handmade pot (21-S-2/8O7) was found buried under the floor near the north-west room corner, and another rested on the floor close to the south wall. Also found on the floor were three large, flat discs of mud and dung (Plate 2.12f). They were probably covers for zirs (water jars), whose remains were found in the refuse fill of the adjoining corner parapet (see below). Near the south-west corner of the room, behind one of the interior wing walls, was a small hearth area. Features of wall construction show how the tower was arranged for defense. On all four sides there are small rectangular windows, with average dimensions of 500 x 350mm, at a level about 300mm above the floor. There are two such windows in the north and west walls, and one each in the south and east walls. However, those at the east, the north east, and the north west had been blocked with a rubble of stones and mud mortar, though in the eastern window a small round aperture was left open at the top (see Map 2.35b). The very low sill level of these windows suggests that they were designed originally for the use of kneeling archers, while the blocking of the more northerly windows probably took place after the musket had displaced the bow and arrow as the weapon of Nubian warfare. Alongside the windows there are also much smaller, round loopholes in the south and east walls; that is, the two walls which are exposed to the “Castle” exterior (Map 2.35b). There are two such holes in the east wall (Plate 2.11a) and three in the south wall (Plate 2.12b), placed at regular intervals from each of other and from the aforementioned windows. The loopholes are about 150mm in diameter and are located 800mm above the floor; that is to say, about on a level with the tops of the adjacent windows. Each loophole has a slight downward angle from inside to outside. These apertures seem clearly to have been designed for the use of kneeling musketeers. They are original features of the building, not 1ater improvisations, showing that the tower was constructed after the introduction of firearms to Nubia but before the bow and arrow was completely displaced. At a level just about 2m above the floor there are small and somewhat irregularly placed beam sockets in the north, east, and south walls. They are only 70-100mm in diameter, and project into the thickness of the wall for between 250 and 400mm. These holes are too small and

The tower (Unit D3) (Maps 2.33, 2.35-2.38; Plate 2.12). The kourfa tower stands at the south-east corner of the “Castle” compound. As usual in kourfas, it is so situated that its southern wall projects outward 2.2m beyond the line of the courtyard wall, and its eastern wall projects outward a similar distance (Map 2.30; P1ate 2.12a). In addition, the uppermost walls rose at least 2m higher than did those of the adjoining courtyard (Map 2.33). The tower was built later than the courtyard, whose original south-east corner walls were partially dismantled, and their stumps buried within the rubble fill that occupies the lower storey of the tower (see Map 2.35b). After construction of the tower, the courtyard walls were rebuilt in such a way that they are bonded with the upper tower walls. The tower is the best preserved architectural feature at 21-S-2. Except for a couple of small gaps at the north and south sides, its enclosing walls stand everywhere to their original height of 7 to 8m. Only the original wooden roof has been removed, but its locus is clearly indicated by beam sockets (Plate 2.12b). The tower is built of stone masonry to a height of between 2.5 and 3m, and of mud brick above that level. The stonework of the lower walls is unfaced and very uneven on the inner side, for the whole lower storey was designed from the beginning to be rubble-filled. The brickwork of the upper walls is much more substantial than that of the adjoining courtyard walls, with a thickness of 800mm Architecturally, the most conspicuous feature of the tower is the pronounced batter (i.e. inward slope) of its walls (Plate 2.12b), a characteristic not found in any other structure at 21-S-2. Battered walls are generally characteristic of jalus rather than of brick or stone construction (cf. Vila 1979) and their presence in the “Castle” tower is something of an anomaly. As already mentioned, the entire stone-built lower portion of the tower was filled from the beginning with a rubble of stones, earth, and occupation rubbish. Much of this is probably material from the dismantling of the original corner wall of the courtyard, and of adjacent houses such as D4 and D6. Above the level of the rubble fill, the whole tower interior consists of a single enormous room, measuring 5.5 x 4m, and no less than 4m high (Maps 2.35 and 2.36b; Plate 2.12f). Interior wing walls 56

Map 2.35. Site 21-S-2, plans of Castle Tower D3. a, plan at a level 2.5m above the floor. Diagonal hatching identifies mud brick construction. Circled numbers identify locations of mural “inscriptions” (see Chapter IX). b, plan at floor level. Ascending stairway is at right, corner Parapet D3a at upper right. Diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; very fine diagonal hatching identifies blockages of some windows. S = step up or down; TH = raised threshold. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

too widely spaced to have supported a roof spanning the entire chamber; it seems probable that they were supports for a narrow catwalk running along three sides of the room. Such a hypothesis derives additional weight from the fact that there is a second line of small windows at a level just above that of the presumed catwalk (Maps 2.35a and 2.36b; Plate 2.12b). These upper windows are slightly smaller than the lower ones, with average dimensions of 500 x 200mm. There are three such windows in the north and south walls, two in the east wall, and one in the west wall. None of them was found to have been blocked. At a height of 4m above the floor, the tower was roofed across with seven stout timbers, set into stone- lined beam sockets in the north and south walls (Maps 2.36a and 2.38; Plate 2.12b). The stumps of many of these beams are still in situ in the walls. The beams were overlaid with small sticks and jerid (palm-leaf centrum stalks), fragments of which are still projecting from the east and west walls just above the level of the beam tops. Above the roof level is a parapet wall, about 1m high,

pierced by innumerable small loopholes on the north, east, and south sides (Maps 2.37 and 2.38; Plate 2.12b). The loopholes are about 100mm wide and 200mm high, with sills 600mm above the level of the parapet floor. The interior facing of the parapet wall is unfaced. It seems clear, in sum, that the tower could be defended if necessary by three ranks of archers and/or musketeers: one group shooting from the rooftop parapet, one group kneeling on the interior catwalk, and one group kneeling on the floor of the tower chamber. The interior room of the tower was entered through a doorway near the north end of the west wall, having a raised stone threshold and a stone lintel. The doorway itself was reached via a stairway ascending along the south wall of the courtyard (Map 2.39; Plate 2.12d). At the lower end, this came down on the same landing as did the stairway leading to House D1. The stairway had originally comprised three rather wide steps having brick risers 300mm high. Curiously enough, the top and bottom steps appear to have had treads formed of small wooden 57

Map 2.36. Site 21-S-2, plan and cross section of Castle Tower D3. a, plan at top of walls, showing original locations of roof timbers. Diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction. b, north-west to south-east cross section through the doorway. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; vertical hatching superimposed over stone identifies stone construction; dashed horizontal hatching identifies deliberate fill of stones and earth below the floor; fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

primary function of the corner parapet was evidently to serve as a latrine for the garrison forces stationed in the adjacent tower. There was a wooden floor, supported on beams, at a level comparable to that of the floor in Tower D3. Below the level of this floor the interior walls are rough and unfaced, and the whole lower part of the structure was clearly meant to serve as a cesspit. There is, moreover, a small cleaning hole, about 400mm wide and 600mm high, at the base of the westerly wall of the structure (Plate 2.12a). The area within was found to contain a considerable accumulation of ash, excrement, and various other occupation refuse. The upper parapet chamber was entered from the landing at the top of the steps leading to Tower D3 through a doorway 800mm wide in its north wall. This opening had apparently been hacked through the older courtyard wall, which forms also the north wall of the parapet. The outside walls of the parapet chamber, at the south and west, are pierced by five small windows or loopholes. The window nearest the tower and the one nearest the courtyard wall are both about 500mm high and 200mm wide, with sills 700mm above the floor. The three windows nearest the south-west corner are smaller, measuring 300 x 150mm, and are situated at a lower level (Map 2.38; P1ate 2.12a). Their sills are about 500mm above the floor. Presumably the placement of these apertures was meant to allow for both outward and downward fire. There is no indication that the upper parapet chamber was roofed over.

beams, and the empty space beneath them was solidly packed with donkey dung. This was probably sweepings from the courtyard, which perhaps were being stored for use in plaster, or as fuel. The middle step had a filling of mud and stone laid directly over a large outcropping boulder, with a paving of flat stones and broken brick to form the tread. The stairway was flanked on its outer (northern) side by a balustrade of mud brick 1m high (Plate 2.12e).

Outside ground surfaces. Around the outside of the “Castle” complex on the north, east and west, a hard, wet-laid mud paving had been laid over the natural ground surface as well as over the surviving foundations of the dismantled Houses D4 and D6. This apparently extended as far as the walls of the nearest adjacent structures.

The corner parapet (Unit D3a). The final addition to the “Castle” complex was a loopholed parapet, built into the angle formed by the west wall of Tower D3 and the adjoining south wall of Courtyard D2 (Map 2.35b; Plate 2.12a-b). It stands just to the same height (about 5.5m) as does the adjoining section of courtyard wall, and like the latter is built of stone masonry to a height of 1.5m, and of brick above that level. The plan of the structure is nearly square at the base, but becomes somewhat more oblong at the top. Although it is provided with loopholes for defense, the

Summary interpretation. The “Castle” evidently grew in a series of increments, beginning with the restoration of House D1, then the addition of Courtyard D2, then the building of Tower D3, and finally addition of the Corner Parapet D3a. In its final form the place was the residence 58

Map 2.37. Site 21-S-2, south-east elevation of Castle Units D3 and D2. Tower D3 is at left, Courtyard wall of D2 at right. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone constriction is shown accurately to scale. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

Map 2.38. Site 21-S-2, south-west elevation of Castle Units D2, D3a, and D3. Part of Courtyard wall D2 is at left, Corner parapet D3a in center, and Tower D3 at right. Horizontal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; stone construction is shown accurately to scale. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

59

Table 2.6. Units of the ‘Castle” at Site 21-S-2. Unit no.

Outside dimensions

Storey

No. of rooms

Wall construction

Roof construction

Floor features Crypt hatches; soma

> Upper

9

Mud brick

Flat

> Lower

10

Mud brick

Vaulted

14.5 x 11.5m

2

Mud brick upper; Stone lower

Room l none; Room 2 flat

Raised platform; somas

D3

7.5 x 6m

1

Mud brick upper; Stone lower

Flat

Floor partitions; Floor pot

D3a

2.5 x 2m

1

Mud brick upper; Stone lower

None

None

D1

9 x 8.5m

D2

Map 2.39. Site 2l-S-2, general plan of late houses, and unit houses remaining in use in the late period, Italic type identifies unit houses remaining in use; bold face type identifies late houses. Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. Late House L3 is off the map to the right. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

60

the introduction of jalus architecture to Nubia in the 18th or 19th century; otherwise the tower would presumably have been built of jalus, as were nearly all other koufa towers. In the refuse fill beneath the corner parapet were found two fragments of letters addressed to kashefs, which can be dated probably to the 18th or early 19th century;15 these provide a final datum point for the occupation of the “Castle” complex.

of local kashefs,14 who occupied the unit house, and a body of their armed retainers, who kept watch in the tower and used the adjoining corner parapet as a latrine. Room 2 of the courtyard was perhaps a cookhouse for the garrison force, and the room directly above it might have been a dormitory for those not actually on guard duty. Horses and donkeys were kept at times in the “Castle” courtyard. The building dates for the various additions cannot be very accurately determined, since the refuse fill in all the buildings dates almost entirely from the last occupation. The restoration of House D1 clearly took place before the introduction of musketry to Nubia in the middle of the 16th century (see Adams 1970a, 145), since the outside balcony of this house (Room 2-10) was originally fitted with tall, narrow loopholes that were later mostly closed up. The tower however must date from a time after the introduction of firearms, since it was equipped from the beginning with small round loopholes unsuitable for archery. All construction was presumably completed before

Late houses (Maps 2.39-41; P1ate 2.13) “Late houses” is the designation given to a number of dwellings, which seem to represent the last phase of continuous occupation at 21-S-2, perhaps in the 16 th and 17th centuries. These buildings have some features in common both with the early flimsy houses and with the one-storey unit houses. Like the flimsy houses their walls are relatively light and are frequently somewhat

14 Two fragmentary letters (21-S-2/374 and 375) addressed to kashefs were found in the refuse fill beneath the corner Parapet D3a.

15

61

These and other textual finds are discussed in Kulubnarti II.

b.

a. c.

Map 2.40. Site 2l-S-2, plans of selected late houses, a, House G5; b, house A4; c, House L3. Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. Dotted filling identifies natural boulders or jebel rock. P = pot on or under floor; R = foundation for rahaya (quern). Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

curving, employing a combination of mud brick and stone masonry construction. They can only have supported a light, flat roof of poles and matting. On the other hand the late houses are considerably more regular in plan than are the flimsy houses, and their arrangement of rooms in several cases is reminiscent of that in the one-storey unit houses. At least some of them had storage rooms accessible only from above, a feature not found in any of the flimsy houses. Comparable structures were found at several other post-Christian sites on the island of Kulubnarti (see below). The late houses in general are fairly well preserved, with walls standing between 1 and 2m high. Fifteen buildings at Site 21-S-2 were classified as late houses (Table 2.7). They are scattered over the whole of the surface area of the site, but are most heavily clustered toward its eastern end (Map 2.39). The stratigraphic position of these buildings, overlying the early dung and ash deposits, leaves no doubt that they belong to a late period of occupation. Their occupation was probably concurrent with the last occupation of the unit houses, and of the “Castle”. One late house (D7) is actually a rebuilt flimsy house. Four examples of late houses will be described here, as representing variations of the type:

measuring about 5.5 x 5m (Map 2.40b). The walls are mostly of heavy and coarse stone masonry, but at several points they are built over remnants of mud brick from an older structure; presumably a flimsy house. The doorway, at the south-east corner, gives onto a kind of entrance passage flanked by a wing wall, but there is no threshold and no sign of a closing door. The house has a hard-packed and fairly even mud floor, without any constructed features. However, a dense accumulation of ash at the north-east corner of the room indicates that this was a regular fire area. House L3 is a large, roughly rectangular structure built entirely of heavy stone masonry (Map 2.40c). The original plan cannot in all cases be determined, because the house was partly overbuilt with dry-walling in modern times. It appears however that the western end of the house was comprised of a single large room (Room 1) entered through a doorway in its north wall. Two handmade pots were buried beneath the hard mud floor in this room. There is no clear indication of a communicating doorway between Room 1 and the remaining rooms of the house, but this may have been obliterated in a later rebuilding. The middle part of House L3 is occupied by three very small rooms (Rooms 2-4). Room 2, at the north, is entered through a doorway from the outside, but this has

House A4 comprises only a single large, square room, 62

Map 2.41. Site 21-S-2, plan of late House G2. Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. Dotted filling identifies natural boulders or jebel rock. P = pot on or under floor. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

a very rough appearance and may have been cut through a some date after the original building of the house. From Room 2 a doorway with raised threshold — certainly an original feature of the house — leads into the somewhat larger Room 3. However, there is no evidence of any communication between Room 3 and the adjoining Room 4, which was apparently a storage room accessible only from above. The same is true of the long and narrow Room 7, which occupies the eastern end of the house. Room 6 is a later addition built against the north side of the original house. It forms a kind of antechamber leading to the doorway into rims 2 and 3.

group of seven rooms. The doorway, at the south-east corner, gives onto a long and narrow entrance passage (Rooms 1 and 4),16 which returns around an inner storeroom (Room 2) and then opens onto a group of larger rooms. Because the house is built on uneven ground, there are two ascending steps within the entrance passage. Room 7, at the north-west corner, is the largest room in the house and was presumably the main living room. The south wall of Room 7 is mostly destroyed, but enough survives to indicate that there was a doorway leading to the adjoining Rooms 3, 5, and 6. A very small window, 160mm wide and 250mm high, is preserved in the east wall of Room 3, at a level 1.2m above the floor. From Room 3, there is a step up of 500mm to the floor level in Rooms 5 and 6. All the rooms have well-laid, hard mud floors. In the entrance passage, a short distance within the doorway, a small subfloor crypt, lined with brick, is built against the east wall. Just beyond it, at the foot of a rising step, is a buried wheel-made jar. Other sub-floor pots were found in Rooms 5 and 7 (see Map 2.40a).

House G5 is the most regular in plan of the late houses, and has a superficial resemblance to the one-storey unit houses (Map 2.40a). It was clearly subject to a great deal of rebuilding in the course of its history, for the surviving exterior walls are partly of mud brick, partly of stone masonry, and partly of stone resting on older stumps of brick (Plate 2.13d). These outer walls have an average thickness of 400-500mm. The interior walls however are nearly all thin (200mm) brick partitions comprised of stretcher bricks only. The interior plan comprises a single interconnected

16 Numeration of the rooms in this house is somewhat illogical because they were numbered in the order of discovery.

63

Table 2.7. List of Late Houses at Site 21-S-2. House no.

Outside dimensions

No. of rooms

A4

5.5 x 5m

1

Rough stone masonry

Fireplace

B1

4.5 x ?m

2+

Part stone masonry; part mud brick

None preserved

C2

9 x 7m

5+

Stone masonry; one brick interior partition

3 Floor pots

D7

7.5 x 6.5m

2?

Mud brick on stone foundations*

None preserved

Wall construction

Floor features

E1

9 x 6m

3?

Mud brick upper; stone lower

None preserved

G1

8.5 x 6m

4

Mud brick on stone foundations

Mastaba?

G2

19 x 7m

11?

Rough stone masonry

Floor pots; bins

G5

8 x 7m

7

Part stone masonry; part mud brick

Floor pots; crypt

G6

9 x 9m

6

Stone masonry

Floor pots; mastaba

G7

13 x 6m

5

Stone masonry; some interior brick partitions

Toilet

G8

4 x 3.5m

1+

Mud brick on stone foundations

None preserved

H3

8 x 7.5m

7

Part stone masonry; part mud brick

None preserved

I1

9 x 5.5m

2

Dry-laid stone masonry

None preserved

I2

9 x 8m

4

Dry-laid stone masonry

None preserved

L3

9 x 8m

7

Stone masonry

Floor pots

* Rebuilding of an older rough stone house.

one house includes a mastaba, one retains the impression of a stone quern (rahaya), and one has several impressions of pot-rests. The recent houses probably do not represent any continuation of Site 21-S-2 as a community; more probably they were temporary residences occupied by individual families from time to time. Their poverty and irregularity of construction strongly recall Burckhardt’s description of housing conditions in Nubia at the beginning of the 19th century (1819, 140-141).17 Eleven houses at Site 21-S-2 were classified as recent houses, though three of them involve partial rebuilding of older dwellings (Table 2.8). Five of the recent houses have only a single room, while the two largest have four rooms each. Floor plans of three typical recent houses are shown in Map 2.43.

House G2 is the designation given to an irregular, straggling cluster of at least nine rooms, built mainly of heavy and coarse stone masonry which in some cases rests on large upright slabs (Map 2.41 and Plate 2.13c). At the north side the house is partly enclosed by natural stone boulders, and at the north it is adjoined by the contemporary Late House G7. Preservation of the walls is highly variable, and leaves many features uncertain. Among other things, it is not clear where the whole complex was entered from the outside. It is also by no means certain that House G2 represents a single original dwelling; there may be two separate houses, comprised respectively of Rooms 1-5 and 6-11. The complex as it is currently preserved has clearly developed through a process of partitioning. In particular, the walls separating Rooms 7, 8, and 9 are laid on top of an accumulation of refuse and dung which was laid down subsequent to the original building of the outer walls. Floor features are found mainly in the more northerly rooms. Room 2 has two bins, enclosed by upright stone slabs, built against its north wall, and Room 1 has two pots buried under the floor as well as an impression on the mud floor showing where a rahaya (rotary stone quern) was originally installed.

Animal pens and terrace walls At several points within the area of Site 21-S-2 there are long, curving sections of dry-laid stone walling that are presumed to be remnants of animal pens. Structures so designated are B3, C3, G1, and I3 (see Map 2.2). These are believed to be of mostly recent origin, though there is of course no way of dating them. There are also two long sections of relatively straight wall (A7 and D5; Plate 2.1f) that are designated as terrace retaining walls, though their function is actually quite uncertain.

Recent houses (Maps 2.42 and 2.43; Plate 2.14)

The silt-retaining wall

There are a few rather crudely built houses at Site 21-S-2 that appear to be of fairly recent origin, dating perhaps from the 19th or the early 20th century (Map 2.42). Some involve partial rebuilding of older houses (e.g. Plate 2.l4b); others are new constructions. Most of them are relatively small, and are built of dry-stone masonry (that is, without mud mortar). The walls in most cases are markedly curving, except where they follow the alignment of older house walls. There are usually no floor features, but

Throughout the Batn el-Hajjar region one may observe low but massive walls of stone masonry, from four to eight meters thick, which project out from the banks of the Nile into the stream itself. They are meant to catch and retain silt, which then provides seluka-land for the cultivation of fodder crops after the receding of the high Nile flood. Sometimes these walls form a connection between the 17 Similar houses were found in many other places on the island of Kulubnarti; see especially Chapter VII, Sites 21-S-41 and 21-S-45.

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Table 2.8. List of Recent Houses at Site 21-S-2. House no.

Outside dimensions

No. of rooms

A2

4x3m

1

Dry stone masonry

Built-up mud pot rests

A3

4x4m

1

Dry stone masonry

None

B1

5.5 x 5 m

1

Dry stone over older stone masonry*

None

E2

10 x 7.5 m

4

Dry stone masonry

None

Wall construction

Floor features

F1

6x5m

1

Dry stone over brick masonry**

Mastaba

G4

9x4m

2

Dry stone masonry

None

H2

7 .5 x 5 .5 m

2

Dry stone masonry

None

I4

10 x 6 m

3

Dry stone masonry; some mud brick

None

K1

(not rec.)

4

Part dry stone; part mortared stone

(Not excavated)

L3

6x5m

1

Dry stone over older stone masonry*

Rahaya impression

L5

6.5 x 5.5 m

2

Dry stone masonry

None

* Rebuilding of a late house ** Partial rebuilding of a brick unit house

heightening, although its stones are firmly bonded into those of the lower tier. The wall is nowhere preserved to its original height. It seems a reasonable conjecture that the building of the silt-retaining wall took place during the time when the nearby Site 21-S-2 was occupied.

east or west riverbank and a nearby island; at other times they simply project for a certain distance (often up to 50m) out into the main stream, and then disappear. Some examples are in good repair and are evidently of recent construction; others are dilapidated and are clearly much older. None can of course be dated with any accuracy, Chronological summary unless they were built within the memory of current Ceramic evidence places the first occupation at Site 21inhabitants in the area. S-2 in the late Classic Christian I period or at the start of One such wall runs all the way across the Kulubnarti the Late Christian II period; that is, probably between AD Channel near its upstream end, connecting the island 1050 and 1150 (See Table 1.2). The earliest occupation on with the west bank (see Map 2.1). The eastern terminus the site is indicated by a scatter of LC1 potsherds, mixed of the wall is immediately below and to the west of Site with a few CC2 sherds, on the site surface. However, these 21-S-2. The structure was clearly meant to prevent the pottery types were found in direct association with only scouring out of the channel, whose bottom was and still one building: the large but very denuded flimsy House E7. is extensively used for seluka cultivation at the season of If there were other, contemporary structures at 21-S-2, no the low Nile. It is however in a very ruinous condition, trace of them was found by us. and has not been kept up for a long time. A considerable The earliest structures were undoubtedly the flimsy section is missing altogether, although its foundations houses, the rough stone houses, and the slab houses; may be buried beneath the present silt deposits in the probably the three types were built and occupied more channel. We carried out limited excavations along both or less concurrently. The very insubstantial nature of the upstream and the downstream faces of the retaining these dwellings suggests an impoverished population wall, but were not able to locate its foundations or to with little in the way of furniture or other material goods. estimate its original height. The possibility exists however that these were seasonal The structure is built entirely of large, mostly rather residences for families which also had other and more thin slabs of granite, which are tightly wedged together in an upright position, without mortar or chinking (Figure 2.3). At the lowest point which our excavations reached the wall has a thickness of about 7m and this thickness seems to be maintained more or less uniformly along the length of the wall. Both the upstream and downstream faces have a considerable batter (Figure 2.3). At least in its better preserved portions the retaining wall appears to be built in two tiers. The upper tier is only about half as wide as the lower, its facing being inset by about half a meter from that of the lower tier (Figure 2.3). The upper tier may represent a later repair or Figure 2.3. Site 21-S-2, Cross-Section of the Silt-Retaining Wall. 65

Map 2.42. Site 21-S-2, general plan of recent houses, and older structures remaining in use. Plain type identifies late houses remaining in use; italic type identifies unit houses remaining in use; bold face type identifies recent houses. Unit houses shown without numbers are standing ruins, no longer occupied. Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. Recent Houses K1, L3, and L5 are off the map, to the right. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

Kulubnarti Church was probably built concurrently with the earliest of the unit houses, and very possibly by the same team of builders. The unit houses and the church certainly remained in use at least until 1500, and this interval of two-and-a-half centuries represents the apogee of the community’s history in terms of size and importance. However, the older flimsy houses and rough stone houses gradually fell into disuse and were abandoned in the Late Christian II and Terminal Christian periods. Meanwhile, the late houses perhaps began to make their appearance in the 15th century. The dating of events at Kulubnarti after 1500 is largely conjectural, because of the non-distinctive character of the post-Christian pottery.18 It was presumably some time

permanent dwellings elsewhere. The first inhabitants might have moved in from the nearby site 21-S-10, which was occupied in the later Classic Christian period and then abandoned just about at the time when 21-S-2 was first occupied (see Chapter V). In any case Site 21-S-2 in its earliest phase does not give the impression of a fullydeveloped community The unit houses, both one-storey and two-storey, apparently made their first appearance around 1200 or 1250, as they did also in many other parts of Nubia (see Adams 1977, 514-517). They did not immediately and wholly supplant the flimsy houses and rough stone houses, but for some time coexisted with some of the earlier structures, although others were dismantled when the more substantial brick dwellings were built in their place. The

18

66

This is discussed in Kulubnarti II.

in the 16th century that the unit houses began to undergo modifications which reduced their defensive character: the hacking through of ground-floor doorways, and of openings into the concealed crypts in the ceilings. The Kulubnarti Church certainly went out of use as a place of worship not long after 1500, if not before, but it continued to be used as a dwelling for some time longer. Conversion of Unit House D1 into the “Castle” may have begun around 1600, although this is a matter of conjecture. It certainly remained in use until well after that date, concurrently with some of the late houses, while other unit houses seem gradually to have fallen into disrepair and been abandoned. The absence of any construction either in thin brick (see Chapters IV and V) or in jalus (see Chapter VI) suggests that there was no very substantial building activity at 21-S-2 after the 17th century, although occupation certainly continued in the “Castle” and some of the neighboring buildings. The “Castle” in its last years was unquestionably one of the many residences of the Nubian kashefs (see Burck-

hardt 1819, 135-l36),19 and indeed the whole site may have been occupied simply by them and their entourage. Occupation continued at least until the early 18th century, but may have ceased not very long after that. Site 21-S-2 then for all practical purposes ceased to exist as a community, although a few roughly built dry-stone houses made their appearance in the 19th and perhaps even in the 20th century. Six Egyptian coins of mid-19th century date were actually found among the surface refuse deposits on the site. (The artifactual finds are discussed in Adams and Adams 1998). One of the residents at Kulbincoing village in 1969 asserted that his grandfather had lived at 21-S-2 during the last century.

Small finds Site 21-S-2 yielded a total of 876 registered objects. They are listed according to provenience in Appendix A, and are described in more detail in a subsequent volume 19 Fragmentary letters addressed to Ahmed Daud Kashef and Hussein Karkashef Daud were found in the refuse fill of Parapet D3a.

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(Adams and Adams 1998). Study collections were also made of sherds, fragmentary fibre and matting, human fecal material, and animal bone. A total of 158,482 sherds were studied, tallied, and discarded on the site. Animal bone collections are discussed in Kulubnarti II (Adams and Adams 1998).

a.

b. c.

Map 2.43. Site 21-S-2, plans of selected recent houses. a, House G4; b, House H2; c, House E2. Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale. Dotted filling identifies natural boulders or jebel rock. Original field plans by W. Y. Adams.

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CHAPTER III THE KULUBNARTI CHURCH Standing by itself, on a terrace below the main part of Site 21-S-2, is the little Kulubnarti Church (Building. J1) (see Plate 2.1b).1 It is situated about 100m to the south of and below the “Castle” tower (‘Unit D3). The church was visited and described by a number of early travelers,2 and plans were published by Somers Clarke (1912, 48) and Monneret de Villard (1935, 233). Our own excavations added only a few details to what was already known about the building, but we were able to uncover and to conserve several fragments of wall paintings that had not previously been recorded. Excavation and recording of the Kulubnarti Church was carried out by W. Y. Adams between 22 and 24 February, 1969.

of the three easterly rooms or one of the three westerly rooms (Plate 3.1b, d). There are also two much more widely spaced windows in the north wall, and three in the south wall (Maps 3.1a, 3.3a). All of the windows have heavy stone lintels. Flooring is somewhat variable from room to room, reflecting the fact that the church is built on a slightly sloping and uneven rock terrace. At the eastern and higher

The building (Maps 3.1-3.49; Plates 3.1-2) The Kulubnarti Church is a fairly typical specimen of the Late Christian “cupola type,” (Monneret de Villard 1957, 31-32) elsewhere designated by me as Type 4d (Maps 3.1b and 3.2b) (Adams 2009, 312-13). It is a tiny building, constructed entirely of mud brick, with maximum exterior dimensions of 7.2 x 6.1m. In most of the building the walls have survived nearly to their original height, and vaulted ceilings are preserved in the three most easterly rooms (Map 3.3b). The vault crowns are at a height of 3.2m above the floor. However the exterior walls, at least at the west end of the building, were built up well above the roof level by the addition of a parapet wall; their maximum height is nearly 5m (Maps 3.3a and 3.4; Plate 3.1d). All of the vaults in the church were constructed on an east-west alignment (that is, parallel to the long axis of the building), though there may have been a small cupola over the center of the nave (see Map 3.2b). The exterior walls and the east-west interior walls have a thickness of 600mm, while the north-south walls that separate the corner rooms (Rooms 1, 3, and 9) from the adjoining naves have a thickness of 400mm The parapet wall above the roof level is also 400mm thick. Like nearly all Nubian churches, the Kulubnarti Church is entered through symmetrically placed doorways in its north and south walls (Plate 3.1a). These are respectively 2.2 and 2.1m high, with arched brick lintels. The doorways are without jambs or rebates, and there is no indication that they were ever equipped with closing doors. Light is also admitted to the church through narrow, slit-like windows, 200mm wide and 500mm high, at a height about 2.5m above the floor. There are three pairs of such windows each in the east and in the west wall, each pair being situated just below the vault crown in one

Map 3.1. Site 21-S-2, South Elevation and Plan of Church J1.

end, the sanctuary and adjoining corner rooms (Rooms 1-3) are floored on native bedrock, with wet-laid mud inserted here and there to fill in uneven places. Further to the west, the floor level has been built up with small stones

1 This detached location is fairly typical of Late Christian churches in Nubia; see Adams 2009, 381. 2 For published references see Monneret de Villard, 1935, 234.

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laid in mud mortar, and then floored over with smooth, wet-laid mud. In the south aisle there are surviving remnants of a flagstone floor, formed of large granite slabs set in mud mortar, extending from the south doorway as far as the central nave (see Map 3.1b). However, there is no evidence that such flagging was employed elsewhere in the building. The interior of the church as it survives today is almost wholly without features, apart from its decoration. There are no surviving traces of an altar, pulpit, higab (ikonostasis), or baptismal font, although at least the altar must surely have been present originally.3 The interior features were perhaps removed when the building was converted to an ordinary dwelling, in its later years (see below). As usual in churches of Type 4, the east end of the church comprises a rectangular sanctuary area (not an

apse) flanked by very small rooms to the north and south. The two corner rooms are not entered directly from the sanctuary but from the north and south aisles, through rather low doorways, 1.65m high, having flat stone lintels (Plate 3.2a, c). There is no passage behind the sanctuary connecting the north and south corner rooms, as in earlier Nubian Churches (see Adams 1965, 93-94). Room 1, the northeast corner room (or prothesis, according to Greek liturgical usage), has three deep, arched niches symmetrically placed in its north, east, and south walls (Map 3.1b).4 The niches in the north and east walls are both 550mm wide and 650mm high, with sills about 700mm above the floor. Both of these were later cut all the way through to the outside of the building, to form small doorways (Maps 3.1a and 3.3a; Plate 3.1a-b). The niche in the south wall is somewhat larger: 600mm wide and 950mm high, with a sill 400mm above the floor (Plate 3.2b). Room 3, at the south corner (the diakonikon in Greek liturgical usage), has a single niche in its north wall, 400mm wide and 500mm high, with a flat stone lintel. The sill is about 500mm above the floor. There are no signs of burning to indicate that these niches were used for lamps; their function cannot be determined. There may originally have been a painting within the eastern niche in Room 1 (see below). The sanctuary area or presbyterium (Room 2) is enclosed by walls which project westward considerably beyond their intersection with the walls of the adjoining corner rooms (see Map 3.2b). At their western ends there are low, arched doorways, 1.45m high and 500mm high, leading through into the north and south aisles respectively. Directly above the more southerly doorway is a small niche, 450mm wide and 400mm high, which was apparently meant for a lamp (see Map 3.2b). In the absence of a higab there is no indication where the sanctuary area ended and the nave began, if indeed any such liturgical distinction was made (cf. Adams 1965a, 118). Although in some Nubian churches of Type 4 the square or rectangular sanctuary was covered by a semi-dome resting on pendentives, the surviving vault in Room 2 shows that this room had only a plain longitudinal vault. As in many churches of Type 4, there is no separate room at the north-west corner of the Kulubnarti Church to balance the stair chamber at the south-west corner (Map 3.1b; Plate 3.1e) (Adams 1965, 116). The stair chamber (Room 9) is entered from the western end of the nave by a rather tall doorway, 1.8m high, with a flat stone lintel (Plates 3.1f, 3.2e). The lowest step, just within the doorway, is formed of a single large stone, with a riser of 300mm. The upper portions of the stairway are constructed entirely of brick and are so worn that their original dimensions are difficult to determine. As nearly

3 The pulpit, higab, and font are not usual in churches of Type 4; see Adams 2009, 312-13.

4 Similar niches were encountered in the church at Abdallah Nirqi; see Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 14.

Map 3.2. Site 21-S-2, East Elevation and Plan of Church J1.

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Map 3.3. Site 21-S-2, Elevation and Cross-Section of Church J1.

Map 3.4. Site 21-S-2, Church J1, West Elevation.

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as can be estimated, each step was about 300mm wide and 300mm high. The steps begin their ascent in a southward direction, then return northward around an interior partition (Map 3.2b; P1ate 3.2f). Beneath the upper part of the steps is a small crypt, entered through a low doorway from the western end of the south aisle (Map 3.1b; Plate 3.1). The aperture is 400mm wide and 500mm high, with a flat stone lintel. The church underwent considerable modification in its late years. At some point, presumably after the demise of Nubian Christianity, it appears to have been converted into an ordinary dwelling. A higher floor level was established throughout the building, resting on an accumulation of refuse and dung. This later floor has a very distinct and hard-packed mud surface, and is evidently the result of human rather than of animal occupation. It is at a level about 150mm higher than the original floor in the eastern end of the church, and about 500mm higher at the west end. At the time of this occupation the former sanctuary area (Room 2) was evidently used for cooking or at least for fires, for there was a considerable accumulation of ash on the upper floor surface, and the adjoining walls show evidence of burning. It was probably at the same time that two of the niches in Room 1, in the north and east walls, were cut through to the outside of the building (Plate 3.1a-b). The original ached doorway connecting the sanctuary with the south aisle was also crudely hacked to make it very much wider. Like many Nubian churches, the church at Kulubnarti saw its final use as a goat pen. There was a substantial acculturation of dung above the uppermost floor, and exterior doorways were particularly blocked with loosely piled stones. There was no cemetery adjoining the Kulubnarti Church, a possibility that was precluded by its location directly on a bedrock shelf.5 It is presumed that the inhabitants at 21-S-2 continued to use the large cemetery 21-R-2, located about half a kilometer away on the west bank. Use of this cemetery began in Early Christian times, well before the first occupation at 21-S-2, but evidently continued until a much later date. The Kulubnarti cemeteries are reported in Kulubnarti III (Adams et al. 1999).

Map 3.5. Site 21-S-2, Plans of Church J1 to show locations of Mural Paintings.

late paintings and plaster were removed for conservation, several additional paintings were uncovered (nos 11-17). These earlier decorations are all closely similar in style and in their use of color, and evidently represent a single episode of decoration. In the north and south aisles they are executed directly on the original wall plaster, and are certainly the earliest decorations. In the sanctuary, however, removal of Paintings 13 and 14 revealed traces of a still older design (no. 21). Nothing comparable was found anywhere else in the church. It can only be concluded that the sanctuary was, in the beginning, the only decorated room in the building. Later it was redecorated, and at the same time additional paintings were executed in the north and south aisles, and still later the whole church was replastered and redecorated. The standing walls in the western part of the church do not retain any traces of decoration (Plate 3.1e-f). However, the fill material within the western rooms consisted partly of fallen brick from the overlying vaults, and among these several fragments of painted decoration were recovered. The fragments exhibit a fairly extensive use of black and blue in the designs, suggesting that they are relics of the earlier and not of the later program of decoration (see below). The north-east and south-east corner rooms (Rooms 1 and 3) however show no evidence of decoration either on the earlier or on the later plaster, except possibly in one of the wall niches (see below).

The paintings (Map 3.5)6 As originally observed by us, and by earlier visitors, the interior of the Kulubnarti Church was plastered throughout with a hard, grayish buff plaster comprised of desert sand mixed with dung. In the eastern part of the building this had been covered in turn with a very thin coat of whitewash, on which traces of several paintings were observable (nos 1-7). Here and there patches of the late plaster had fallen away, revealing evidence of an older program of decoration underneath (Plate 3.2c). When the This again is typical of late Nubian churches. Painting numbers were assigned in the field as follows: nos 1-7 for paintings on the late plaster, nos 11-17 for paintings on the earlier plaster, and no. 21 for the original decoration in the sanctuary. In some cases separate numbers were assigned to parts of the same painting when it appeared on two or more adjoining walls, since before restoration it could not always be determined whether or not the different parts belonged to the same design. 5 6

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The original painting in the sanctuary (no. 21)

the later plaster revealed substantial parts of four paintings: one in the north aisle, one in the sanctuary? and two in the south aisle (Table 3.1 and Map 3.5a). The paintings were executed on a rather thin whitewash that had been applied directly over the original mud plaster of the church, except in the sanctuary. The painted surfaces were consequently rather soft and easily damaged; they must have become dilapidated quite rapidly when regular services were held in the building. The predominant colors in all the paintings of this group are red and yellow, but there is also a conspicuous use of blue in three of the four paintings. The designs are “busy” and full of decorative detail, particularly in the depiction of clothing and in the wings of archangels. The overall style and the color program conform in a general way to that which was designated at Faras as the “yellow-red” style (Michałowski 1974, 36; Michałowski and Gerster, 1967, 80-81), although the date of execution was certainly later than the dating assigned “ yellow-red” paintings at Faras (ibid). Identifying names are entered above many of the figures in the earlier paintings.

(Plate 3.6a) This very fragmentary painting was discovered in the sanctuary area (Room 2) after removal both of the late Painting 4-5 and of the underlying Painting 13-15. Its predominant colors are yellow and white, with red used for outlining and blue in a few places for filling. The largest of several surviving remnants was found on the north end of the east sanctuary wall, and on a small portion of the adjoining north wall (Map 3.5a).7 Visible here are parts of two human heads, one at a level substantially above the other. The higher of the two heads is mostly preserved, except at its lower left side. The figure appears to have yellow hair, or a head covering, extending well down beside the face. The face does not appear to be bearded. Most curious is the very narrow nimbus which surrounds the face, and which is surmounted by a pair of curving, converging horns. Above these again are three radiating lines of blue. The nimbus is much narrower than the traditional halo shown in Nubian church paintings, and the horns do not closely resemble those that are usually shown in representations of the Nubian Eparch (cf. Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pl. 93; Griffith 1928, pl. XXXII). Similar representations of heads have not been found elsewhere in Nubia, and the interpretation of the Kulubnarti example remains problematical. The upper head with its nimbus and horns appear to be resting on, or peering over, a narrow strip of geometric decoration executed in red on a white or yellow background. Below this, and to the right of the higher figure, is the top of the nimbus and a small part of the forehead of a second figure. Here we see the typical wide nimbus, decorated with lozenge figures, which is usual in Nubian church decoration. The figure, and the band of decoration above it, call to mind the representation of apostles (specifically Painting no. 15) that was overpainted in the sanctuary a little later. However, the higher figure with its horned headdress has no counterpart in the later design. A second fragment of Painting no. 21 was preserved further to the south on the east sanctuary wall, and at a level somewhat higher than the one just described. Although the design is indistinct, it is possible to make out the folds of a gown, executed in white with red outlining. Near the middle of the surviving remnant is a small human hand, apparently clutching a staff. The small size of the hand suggests that the complete figure was drawn at a smaller scale than were the two haloed figures on the neighboring and larger fragment. Also preserved are three small, detached fragments of Painting 21 which seem to show parts of vestments.

When we began our excavations only a few traces of the earlier paintings could be observed, in places where the later plaster had fallen away or been removed by visitors (see Adams 1970, 146). However, systematic removal of

No. 10-12: The earlier Nativity. The east wall of the north aisle, as well as adjoining portions of the north and south walls, were occupied by a Nativity scene (Map 3.5a). The potions on the north and south walls (that is, at the extremities of the scene) are much better preserved than is the central part. On the left wall, in Painting 11 (Plate 3.3a), we see Joseph in the usual seated posture with his hand before his face (cf. Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pl. 67; see also Van Moorsel et al. 1975, pl. 75; Griffith 1928, pl. XLV).19 To his left, shown at a much smaller scale, are the two shepherds Arnias and Lekotes, with their crooks. Here, as at Faras, the names of the shepherds were entered over their heads (Michałowski and Gerster 1967, 146 and pl. 63). The name of APNIAC is fully preserved, while that of his companion has been lost except for the cross which preceded it. Directly over the head of Joseph are the horses on which the three Magi have arrived. However, the Magi themselves have dismounted and prostrated themselves in front of their horses — a unique detail not found in any other Nubian church painting (pers. comm. Dr Tadeusz Golgowski). The headgear of the visitors is difficult to make out, but appears to consist of pointed caps, as is common in Nubian Nativities.8 On the ground in front of the three figures, in a parallel row, are three long, staff-like objects, of which only the proximal ends are preserved. They might represent the scepters of the kings, or gifts brought by them. Above the figures, the names of Thaddeus and Melchior are largely preserved, while that of Balthasar is mostly destroyed. Directly below the Magi and to the right of the shepherds is the figure of the archangel Gabriel, standing with his arms folded. His right wing is folded in conventional repose, while the left is extended upward and outward behind him. The archangel seems to be resting against a tall oblong object on his left, though the exact nature of this cannot be made out. The central part of the Nativity (Painting 10; Plate 3.3b)

7 For this information I rely on the report of the conservator, since the earliest paintings were not seen in situ by me.

8 According to Van Moorsel these are Phrygian caps; see Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 90.

The earlier general decoration (Paintings 10-17) (Map 3.5a and Plates 3.3-3.5)

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Table 3.1. List of Paintings in the Kulubnarti Church (Building J1). Painting no.*

Location

Colors

Scene

Original painting in the sanctuary 21

East end of sanctuary

Yellow, white, red, blue

(Portions of holy figures)

Earlier general decoration 10-12

East end of north aisle

Yellow, red, blue, black

Nativity

13-15

Sanctuary

Yellow, red, blue, black

Row of apostles with central ?Pantocrator

16

East end of south aisle

Yellow, red, black

Standing archangel

17

South wall of south aisle

Yellow, red, blue, black

Head of Christ with Four Creatures

Later general decoration Niche in east wall of prothesis

Yellow, red

(Tip of angel’s wing)

2-3

1

East end of north aisle

Yellow, red

(Fragments of nativity)

4

North wall of sanctuary

Yellow, red

(Heads of 3 haloed figures; presumably apostles)

5

East wall of sanctuary

Yellow, red

(Small parts of head of Christ with Four Creatures)

6

East wall of south aisle

Yellow, red

(Part of archangel’s wing)

7

South wall of south aisle

Yellow, red

(Fragment of head of Christ with Four Creatures)

* Numbers originally assigned in the field. Separate numbers were assigned to portions of the same painting when they appeared on two or more adjacent walls. Parentheses indicate that the design is very incomplete.

is very much damaged. The Madonna is largely destroyed, except for the lower end of her robe. She rests, as usual, on an elaborate couch, with crosses on staffs rising from the top of the back (cf. Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pl. 65). Further in the background appears to be a section of masonry wall; a detail also found in other Nubian Nativities, where it represents the brickwork crib in which the Baby Jesus rests (cf. Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 89-91). Above this again is the wing of a hovering angel, while at the top of the design is a large, solid blue object like a book or a folded cloth. Standing before the Madonna’s couch is an animal, which most closely resembles a mule, though it is probably meant to represent an ass (cf. Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pl. 69 and p. 143). The Nativity design was completed on the south wall of the north aisle (Painting 12; Plate 3.4a). Here we see the third of the three crosses, which rises from the top of the Madonna’s couch, and, behind her, the Archangel Michael. He stands with one wing in repose and the other extended, like his counterpart Gabriel on the other side of the design. However, Michael has his right hand extended with something, perhaps a censer, depending from it, another feature paralleled at Faras (Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pl. 65 and p. 144). His wings are decorated with eyes. The overall arrangement of figures in the Kulubnarti Nativity is very similar to that at Faras and elsewhere (cf. Michałowski & Gerster 1967, 143 & pl. 69: see also Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 90-92), though much of the elaborate detail is necessarily lacking in the small Kulubnarti Church. The prostrate Magi figures are however unique to Kulubnarti.

14) the apostle to the right of the central figure is also poorly preserved, but can be identified as Peter by the two large keys held in his right hand. The central figure apparently towered far above the flanking apostles, and only the lower portion is preserved (Plate 3.4b). It wears a blue inner gown decorated with rosettes in red and yellow, and apparently a gold-colored outer gown decorated with eyes. We cannot state with certainty that this is an outer garment and not the wings of an archangel but the iconography is not closely similar to that of other winged figures at Kulubnarti. The right hand, which is just visible where the painting breaks off at the top, holds a white maniple or scarf, which depends from the hand on either side. This iconographic detail calls to mind the Madonna who occupies a central place among the apostles at Faras (see Michałowski 1974, pl. 19),9 while on the other hand the decorative eyes on the robe are more suggestive of a Pantocrator (cf. Michałowski and Gerster 1967, 133 and pl. 59).10 It is possible too that the central figure represents a portion of a Trinity, as in a similar design at Faras (see Michałowski 1974, 180 and pl. 35). The apostles to the left of the central figure (far right of Painting 14 and Painting 15) are considerably better preserved than are those on its right (Plate 3.5a). Five of the six heads are preserved, along with the shoulders and upper bodies, and the names are also preserved above four of the six figures. They are respectively Jacob (second on the left of the central figure), Simon (fourth on the left), Thomas (fifth) and Matthew (sixth). The latter for some reason lacks a halo. The apostles are not shown alternately as old and young men, as in the Citadel Church at Faras

No. 13-15: The Apostles and ?Pantocrator. The north, east, and south walls of the sanctuary (Room 2) were embellished with a single large design representing the Twelve Apostles ranged on each side of a large central figure. The figures on the north wall (Painting 13) are very poorly preserved (Plate 3.4b). On the east wall (Painting

9 The maniple is also held, in either the right or the left hand, by various bishops and eparchs at Faras; see Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pls 24, 59, 77, 82, 83. 10 The sanctuaries at Sonqi Tino and at Kasar-Ico (North-east Church) were decorated with a Pantocrator flanked by Apostles; see Donadoni 1970, 214; Presedo Velo 1963, pls 3-4.

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(Griffith 1926, 87 and pl. XXXIV); all of them have imposing white beards. The figure between Jacob and Simon (whose name is obliterated) holds a book in his right hand, while several of the others appear to be holding rolled-up scrolls. To the left of Matthew’s head (i.e. on his left) there are very faint traces of an inscription, which cannot be read. Above the heads of all the figures is a narrow band of geometric decoration, which would presumably have been present above the more northerly group of apostles as well.

beyond the heads of the creatures. The painting described here most nearly resembles one recorded by Griffith at Abdel Qadir (1928, pl. XXXIX).

The later general decoration (Paintings 1-7) (Map 3.5b and Plates 3.6b-3.7b) Surviving traces indicate that the earlier paintings had become considerably dilapidated by the time when the Kulubnarti Church was redecorated. They were then covered over with a coat of soft mud plaster, about 10mm thick, and a much harder and thinner coat of plaster, mixed with desert sand, was applied on top of this. Finally a very thin coat of whitewash was applied, to serve as background to the actual paintings. The later paintings are very poorly preserved. Large parts of the later plaster had fallen or been chipped away, and even the surviving portions are very faded as a result of long exposure to the weather. They have also been partially defaced, and cut through with various graffiti ancient and modern. It can be observed nevertheless that the designs are executed almost entirely in yellow and red, with only a very sparing use of blue, and that they lack much of the elaborate detail found in the earlier paintings. They evidently belong to a very late, simplified decorative style that has been observed also at Abdel Qadir (Griffith 1928, pls XXXI-XLVII), Meinarti (Adams 2003, 33-6), and elsewhere, but which was not observed in the Faras Cathedral (cf. Adams 1977, 484). As nearly as can be determined, the later program of decoration duplicates the earlier one in regard to the placement of particular designs in particular parts of the building. However, there are no identifying names attached to any of the figures in the later paintings.

No. 16: Archangel. The east wall of the south aisle was decorated with a single large figure of a standing archangel.11 Unfortunately, the upper part of this painting and most of the middle is destroyed. All that survives is the tip of the right wing, the lower part and outer edge of the left wing, and lower part of the robe, and the feet (Plate 3.2c). Both wings are represented in the conventional position of repose. The wing surfaces are elaborately embellished in a style reminiscent of the Post-classic Christian style of pottery decoration (see Adams 1986b, 329-333). The archangel appears to be dressed in a solid red undergarment and an outer robe having red vertical stripes on a yellow background. This is the only painting among the earlier group at Kulubnarti that employs no blue, at least in the surviving portion of the design. Below and to the left of the figure were the very faded remnants of an inscription of at least 14 lines, which could not be read. No. 17: Head of Christ with the Four Living Creatures. Variants of this popular design have been found in just about every decorated church in Nubia.12 It was most often located on the south wall of the south aisle, as was the case at Kulubnarti (Map 3.5a). At Kulubnarti it was by far the best preserved and most complete of the church paintings, although a portion which was exposed where the later plaster was chipped away had suffered some defacement (Plate 3.5b). In the center of the design, within a mandorla, are the head and upper body of Christ, who holds a book in his right hand.13 Radiating outward from the mandorla is the usual arrangement of elaborately decorated, wing-like elements, which cross each other in pairs at the top, bottom, and sides. Also projecting outward from the mandorla are the heads of three of the Four Living Creatures (man, eagle, calf, and lion) who are presumed to symbolize the evangelists (cf. Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 99, 112). As always the man is at the upper left, the eagle at the upper right, and the calf at the lower right. At the lower left, the lion which should complete the set has been lost through defacement. Additional “wings” radiate directly outward

No. 1: Portion of an ?angel’s wing. It may be recalled that Room 1 (the prothesis) had three arched niches, respectively in the north, east, and south walls. Just beside the eastern niche was a small surviving fragment of painted decoration, in yellow outlined with red. It seems to represent the outer edge of the wing of a small winged figure. The remainder of the design cannot have been anywhere except within the niche itself, and it was evidently destroyed when the niche was crudely hacked through to make a doorway to the outside of the church. This is the only indication of decoration in either of the two eastern corner rooms. No. 2-3: The later Nativity. These are disconnected scraps of a later Nativity, which was painted directly on top of the earlier one, at the east end of the north aisle. Only the portions on the north and south walls, at the extremities of the scene, have survived (Map 3.5b). At the left side (Painting 2), near the top of the surviving fragment the Magi can once again be seen in a prostrate position, although only their heads and upper bodies are preserved. Below them are a couple of very small and indistinct figures which might be animals, and below these again is a haloed head, which presumably belongs to Joseph. In front of the Magi, and at a slightly lower level, are the head, shoulders, and right wing of an archangel, in the position which is occupied by Gabriel in the earlier Nativity. The figure seems to be holding a book or tablet in its

An archangel figure occupied this position also at Abdel Qadir; see Griffith 1928, pl. XXXIII, 2. Presumably the figure is that of the Archangel Michael, whose special importance in Coptic theology is well known. 12 Cf. Donadoni 1970, pl. 192; Griffith 1928, pl. XXXIX; 1926, pl. LVII; Michałowski 1974, 50; Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pls. 44, 87-89; Monneret de Villard 1957, pls CLIV, CLXXI; Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 14; Adams 2003, 35. 13 At Abdallah Nirqi and at Faras the book is held in the left hand; see Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pls 87-89; Van Moorsel et al. 1975, pl. 79. 11

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left hand, though this is not certainly distinguishable. At the bottom, right are some indistinct, geometrically ranged lines, which might possibly belong to the Virgin’s couch and to the lower end of her robed body. In the right-hand fragment (Painting 3) the surviving design is very indistinct. (Plate 3.6b). The haloed head, body, and left wing of an archangel are fairly clearly discernible in the center of the fragment but the curving lines to the figure’s right are difficult to interpret. They could represent the nimbus and upper part of the head of a holy figure, but if so they have been executed on a far larger scale than any other figure in the painting, or indeed in the Ku1ubnarti Church. Alternatively, they could be the top back of the Virgin’s couch. It cannot be stated with certainty that this fragment belongs to the same Nativity scene as does Painting 2, although the archangel is in the correct position at the far right of the design.

of the sanctuary, but not on the east wall. No. 6: Wing (of ?archangel). On the east wall of the south isle, nothing survived of the later plaster and decoration except a tiny scrap at the south side that appears to show the outer edge of the wing of an archangel. It is, as usual, done in yellow with a red geometric design superimposed. The design occurs on the same wall as does the archangel (Painting 16) in the earlier program of decoration. No. 7: (Fragments of three designs). Preserved on the south wall of the south aisle was a sizable remnant of plaster that partially overlay the earlier Painting 7. It seems to exhibit portions of three designs, though all are very faded and indistinct. At the right-hand (west) side are radiating, wing-like elements that can only have belonged to yet another representation of Christ with the Four Creatures. The preserved elements represent only the lower left portion of the original design; the entire central mandorla is missing. However, the distinctive flowing and criss-crossing wing-like elements make an identification of the original design certain, for these figures are never found in conjunction with any iconographic representation except the head of Christ with the Four Creatures. The main part of the design would have been more or less directly on top of the earlier representation of the same theme (Painting 7). Below the wing-like figures is the halo and a small part of the face of a single holy figure, which presumably constitutes all or part of a separate design. The face has been deliberately mutilated, and the lower body is not preserved. At the far left (east) side of the same fragment, and unconnected with the other two designs, there appears to be a small portion of the wing of an archangel.

No. 4: Heads of Apostles. This fragment was found on the north wall of the sanctuary (Room 2), directly over the earlier Painting 13. What survives is a depiction of two haloed figures and part of a third one, standing together in a row (Plate 3.7a). The figures have white faces with features outlined in yellow, and one has a forked beard. The haloes are solid yellow, edged with red in the case of the left and right figures, and with blue in the case of the middle figure. Almost certainly these are parts of a row of apostles, and would have been balanced by another row on the opposite (south) wall. The empty space which is clearly visible beside the right-hand figure shows that the row of Apostles did not continue from the north wall onto the adjoining part of the east wall, as in the earlier painting (Nos 13-15) in the sanctuary. No. 5: (Head of Christ) with the Four Living Creatures. This design evidently occupied the whole east wall of the sanctuary. Only a small fragment survived at the northern (left) side, but enough remains to show that this was the familiar head of Christ with the Four Living Creatures, or symbols of the Evangelists (Plate 3.7b) (cf. Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 99, 112). Only a small piece at one edge of the central mandorla is preserved, but the miniature heads of the man and of the lion are clearly visible in their usual positions alongside it. They are superimposed on a series of billowing, wing-like elements, painted in yellow, outlined alternately in red and in blue, and embellished with numerous eye figures. The design may also have included a cross, with arms radiating symmetrically from the top, bottom, and sides of the mandorla, as at Abdallah Nirqi (Van Moorsel et al. 1975, pl. 78) and Faras (Michałowski and Gerster 1967, pls 88-89). Near the center of the preserved portion there is a rectangular element, with geometric decoration, which might be one arm of the cross. The part of the design which is preserved most closely resembles that at Abdallah Nirqi (Van Moorsel et al. 1975, pls 78-81), although it was certainly executed at a much later date (Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 113). Painting no. 5 is the only design in the later program of decoration that did not duplicate the earlier, underlying design (No. 14), which included a central figure flanked by apostles. In the later decoration there were apparently apostles facing each other on the north and south walls

General observations Several concluding observations may be made in regard to the Kulubnarti paintings that are relevant also to broader issues in the study of Nubian church decoration (see Adams 1992, 317-326; Martens-Czarnecka 1992, 307-316): 1. The overall program of decoration seems to have been rather sparse, even in comparison with other very late churches like those of Abdel Qadir (Griffith 1928) and the Church of the Angels at Tamit (Monneret de Villard 1935, 154). In the tiny church of Abdel Qadir no fewer than 43 paintings were catalogued in the main body of the church (that is, exclusive of the two side aisles that were added to the building later) (Griffith 1928, pl. XXV). At Kulubnarti however not more than 10 separate paintings could be identified either on the earlier or on the later plaster. Even allowing for the destruction of some paintings in the western part of the church, the absence of decoration in the two eastern corner rooms is unambiguous. This was certainly not the case generally in Nubian churches, although it seems to have been true also at Abdallah Nirqi (cf. Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 77). In all late Nubian churches, the decorators had to contend with the problem of limited space. The more common solution seems to have been to reduce the size of the paintings (see Adams 1992, 324-325), but the solution at Kulubnarti seems to have been rather to reduce 76

their number, and to execute large designs on two or more adjoining walls. 2. The placement of particular designs within the building evidently conforms to a general plan of decoration that was common to many Nubian churches, including the Nativity at the head of the north aisle, apostles in the sanctuary, archangel at the head of the south aisle, and head of Christ with the Four Living Creatures on the south wall (cf. Martens-Czarnecka 1992; Adams 2009, 401-5). This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that, when the Kulubnarti Church was redecorated, nearly all the same designs were executed in the same places. The one significant exception was the depiction of the head of Christ with the Four Creatures (No. 5) on the back wall of the sanctuary, in place of an earlier Madonna or Pantocrator (No. 14). This design, although extremely common (see n. 12), has not been found in the sanctuary of any other Nubian church. An odd peculiarity of the Kulubnarti decorations is the absence of cavalier saints, which were elsewhere very popular in Nubian church decoration (see Adams 1977, 484; 2009, 401-5). 3. The decorative style of the earlier paintings at Kulubnarti corresponds in a general way to the “yellowred” style identified at Faras (Michałowski, 1974, 36; Michałowski and Gerster, 1967, 80-81), but is certainly later in date than anything in the Faras Cathedral. The later paintings exhibit a very simplified style, preponderantly in yellow and red, that developed after the abandonment of the Faras Cathedral, but has been noted in several late Nubian churches (see Adams 1977, 484; MartensCzarnecka 1992; Griffith 1928, pls XXXII-XLVI; 1926, pls XXXIV-XXXV; Presedo Velo 1963, pls I-V). 4. While most of the figures in the earlier paintings at Kulubnarti are identified by written legends, they are entirely lacking from the later paintings. This was not the case at Abdel Qadir (Griffith 1928, pl. XXIX) and other late Nubian churches.

The best evidence for dating the Kulubnarti Church is probably provided by its close association with other buildings at Site 21-S-2. The earliest of these (the socalled “flimsy houses”) appear to date from the 12th century, but they are so insubstantial as to hardly constitute a community in the full sense of the word. It seems unlikely that a church would have been built to accommodate so small and impoverished a settlement; particularly since the nearby Domed Church (21-R-1) on the west bank probably still remained in use at that time.14 Most probably the building of the Kulubnarti Church was coeval with the building of the unit houses at 21-S-2; that is to say, probably in the 13th century. Once constructed, the building remained in use long enough to undergo one complete redecoration, and, apparently, an additional redecoration in the sanctuary. Otherwise, there is no evidence of architectural modification or repairs during the time when the building served as a church. The cutting through of doorways to the outside of the building, and between the sanctuary and the south aisle, probably took place in Post-Christian times, when the one-time church had become a dwelling. The date when the building ceased to be used as a church cannot of course the calculated. Presumably it was at the time when the Christian faith itself finally disappeared from northern Nubia, but that too remains rather uncertain. The last known inscription belonging to a Christian bishop (at Gebel Adda in Lower Nubia) bears the date 1484 (see Adams 1977, 533), but there is some evidence for the continuation of Christian worship in isolated Nubian localities until a date considerably later than this (see Adams 1977, 541-544). Kulubnarti could well have been one such locality.

The graffiti In addition to painted inscriptions accompanying the wall paintings, the walls of the Kulubnarti church also exhibited at least 26 scratched or incised graffiti dating from the Late Christian period. These will be discussed in detail in Chapter IX.

Chronological indications No sherd deposits were found in or around the Kulubnarti Church, which might provide a dating for the building. Consequently, dating must depend on typological and on associational grounds. Architecturally the church belongs unquestionably to Type 4d, and the great majority of such churches date unquestionably from the last three or four centuries of the Christian period in Nubia (Adams 1965, 118). There are nevertheless certain earlier examples, which preclude an absolutely certain dating on typological grounds (see Adams 1992, 322). The same is true in regard to the decorations, since the “yellow-red” style of the earlier paintings has been dated as early as the 10th century at Faras (Michałowski 1974, 36).

14 The dating is based on our examination of sherd material from the Domed Church. For descriptions and plans of the church see Clarke 1912, 45-48; Monneret de Villard 1935, 234-235.

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CHAPTER IV SITE 21-S-25 fragmentary walls suggestive of several others as well (Map 4.1).

Site 21-S-25 was excavated in its entirety by Thomas E. Higel between 8 February and 17 February, 1969. The following is quoted from the published preliminary report (Adams 1970, 146-147): “Site 21-S-25 is situated within sight of 21-S-2 and a short distance to the east of it. It consists of some six or eight houses scattered over the top and sides of a very steep-sided promontory of rock. The settlement was protected on three sides by cliffs and on the fourth by a stout wall of stone masonry, breached by a single narrow gate. The houses are similar in construction and plan to the late houses at 21-S-2, but they are distinguished by the use of long, thin bricks, generally 250mm wide and anywhere from 400 to 500mm long. These bricks were laid in stretcher (lengthwise) courses only; their extreme thinness and the heavy mortar in which they were laid gives them a superficial resemblance to Roman brickwork. Their design was apparently intended to provide a certain ‘flexibility,’ allowing the adaptation of walls to uneven and sloping rock surfaces. The use of such brickwork was widespread for a time in the Batn el-Hajjar and apparently represents a distinct but short-lived architectural horizon.1 Its absence at 21-S-2 suggests the lack of occupation, or at least of building activity, during this particular interval. “Site 21-S-25 almost certainly represents an offshoot from 21-S-2; its history may well begin where that of the older settlement ends. The two are essentially the same community at different points in time. Removal to a more secluded location may have been prompted in part by a desire to escape from the proximity of the Castle and its garrison. There is no clear indication of the length of occupation at the new locality. Two of the houses look considerably later than the others, and may be evidence of a subsequent and unrelated occupation. One of them was notable for the finding of three ostraka bearing suras from the Koran.” Properly speaking, Site 21-S-25 occupies the western end of a small jebel, which rises immediately beside the riverbank along the southern shore of Kulubnarti Island (Map 1.2). The jebel drops away very steeply on the north and west sides, where it is adjoined by a dry wadi bed, but somewhat more gradually toward the north, where it slopes down to the riverbank. On the east, the site area is adjoined by a cliff, rising to higher ground on the eastern half of the jebel. The total area of Site 21-S-2 is about 60m north-south and 40m east-west. The area is clearly demarcated by a very stout stone enclosing wall on the north, and by remnants of much less substantial stone walls at the west and south. On the east, the site area is terminated by the aforementioned cliff. Within the enclosed area, remains of seven houses can in clearly identified, but there are

The enclosure wall It looks as if Site 21-S-25 was originally enclosed on three sides by a single, curving and very irregular wall of rough stone masonry. At the north, the wall is relatively well preserved, and has an average thickness of over 1m. It serves as the foundation on which the outer walls of Houses 1 and 2 are built (Plate 4.1a). The north wall as well as most of the west wall stands at the top of a very steep, rocky slope. The wall at the west and south is much thinner than that at the north, having an average thickness of only about 500mm. Large portions of the west wall, and some parts of the south wall, have fallen away. Indeed, it is not absolutely certain that the surviving fragments of wall at the south were originally joined to form a single fortification. They may only be terrace enclosing walls (see below). At least one entryway to the site was at the north west, where there was a wide aperture in the enclosing wall between Houses 1 and 2 (see Map 4.1). This opening had been roughly blocked with stone at some time after the original building. There was also at least one gateway in the south wall, which probably served as a water gate since it gave access directly to the riverbank. There is no evidence of defensive arrangements at either gateway. Indeed, the defensive function of the enclosure walls at 21- S-25 is somewhat problematical, since the thinnest and weakest wall is located along the most easily approached side of the village, at the south.

The houses The houses at 21-S-25 are quite irregular in design and construction, some being entirely of brick, some of rough stone masonry, and some of brick raised on stone foundations. The brickwork when present is comprised in all cases of very large, long and thin bricks, quite unlike anything found at Site 21-S-2 but similar to the late brickwork at Site 21-S-10 (see Chapter V). The bricks were evidently hand-formed without moulds, for they vary considerably in size. They are typically about 250mm wide and 80mm thick, while lengths vary from 440 to 500mm. The houses are rather widely scattered and are at various elevations on the slopes and top of the jebel, the lowest being at about 11m above the level of the high Nile, and the highest at 25m above the high Nile level. However, four of the seven houses are located in a relatively level area in the north-western part of the site. The open spaces between the houses exhibit mostly bare rock, with very little earth or occupation debris. House 1 is by far the best preserved structure at 21-S-25. It stands directly atop the enclosure wall at the northwest corner of the site (Plate 4.1a), and is adjoined on its

1 This type of brick has been noted at a number of sites from Faras in the north to the Abri area in the south, none of which has been reported in detail. For discussion see Adams 1987a, 335.

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Map 4.1. Site 21-S-25, General Plan.

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southern side by the north-west gateway. The north wall of the house is rather curving, following the alignment of the enclosure wall on which it rests, while other walls are relatively straight. The walls are constructed of very heavy stone masonry to an average height of 1.3m, and of brick above that level. A considerable portion of the north wall is preserved to its full original height of about 2.6m. A line of beam sockets shows that the house had a flat, timbered roof (Plate 4.1b). House 1 consisted originally of at least three rooms, and possibly more. Only the two more northerly rooms are well preserved, and these may have remained in use after the southern rooms were dismantled or destroyed. The doorway between Rooms 1 and 2 appears to have been crudely hacked through at some time after the original building of the house, and then subsequently was partially blocked with stones. The doorway between Rooms 2 and 3 was also found solidly blocked. Both of these were, in the beginning, interior doorways; it is not clear from the surviving remains where the original outside doorway was located. Two large handmade jars (Ware H4) were found buried in the floor of Room 1; otherwise no floor features were preserved.

at its south-eastern corner. This gave access to a narrow passage, which opened into two other rooms. In the floor of the middle room, the mud foundation for a rahaya (quern) is preserved within a shallow, mud-lined bin, and there is a rather deep, mud-lined basin sunk into the floor of the same room. House 4 is the most regular, rectangular structure at 21-S-25, but is rather poorly preserved (Plate 4.1d). The surviving upper walls are of thin brick, resting directly on the site enclosure wall on the west side, on a natural rock outcrop at the north side, and on stone foundations of varying height at the east and south. The interior partitions are of brick resting on foundations a single stone high. The interior of the house mostly comprises a single room, entered at its south-east corner. However, there are two much smaller rooms at the south-west corner of the house. The brick partitions separating these from the main room are only preserved to a height of about 300mm, and it cannot be determined if they ever rose to the full height of the house. Within the innermost and smallest room is the raised mud foundation platform for a rahaya. House 5 was probably a storehouse rather than a dwelling. It is markedly different in construction from the other numbered houses at 21-S-25, comprising a single long room built directly against a high cliff face. The house is enclosed by a stoutly built, curving stone wall on the west side, and by the natural rock face on the other sides; it is entered through a wide doorway, without jambs or rebate, at the southern end. Two large storage jars and two smaller pots were found at the base of the walls at the inner end of the room (Plate 4.1e). Three of the four had covering slabs in situ, but were empty of contents. To the north and to the south of House 5 there appear to have been two other, similarly constructed rooms against the some cliff face.

House 2 stands just to the south of House 1, and also rests partly on top of the enclosure wall. The surviving walls are almost entirely of rather thin stone masonry. Mr Higel’s plan shows brick masonry resting on top of the stonework, but no trace of brick can be seen in any of the photographs of the house. The walls throughout most of the house are preserved to an average height of about 1.2m. House 2 seems to have comprised three interconnected rooms, with a doorway from the outside in the west end of the south wall. In the north-west corner of Room 1, upright slabs enclosed a small, rectangular bin, within which was found a handmade pottery vessel. No other floor features were observed.

House 6 consists of a single room perched high atop a natural boulder, looking directly down on the other houses of the site (Plate 4.1f). Because of its exposed location it has suffered extensive weathering, and no walls are preserved to a height of more than 800mm The house is roughly trapezoidal in shape, and is built of brick only, without stone foundations. The doorway is at the northwest corner, and is protected by a curving windbreak wall adjoining the outer house wall (see Map 4.1). An interior wing wall adjoins the doorway on its southern side. Two handmade vessels were buried under the floor of the house.

House 3 is constructed mostly of thin brick, which here and there rests on low stone foundations. One portion of the exterior wall rides up and over a large, irregular jebel outcrop, which protrudes partly into the house. Preservation is rather variable, but most of the walls are standing to a height of 800mm or more, with the west wall preserved to a height of about 1.3m (Plate 4.1c). The original east wall has fallen over sideways en bloc, a fate that is very common for thin brick walls because of their insubstantial foundations (cf. also Chapter V). House 3 was apparently entered through a doorway

Table 4.1. Comprehensive List of Houses at Site 21-S-25. House no.

Outside dimensions

No. of rooms

1

8 x 7.5m

3?

Stone lower walls; brick upper walls

2

10.5 x 8m

3?

Stone lower walls; brick above?

3

6 x 6m

3

Narrow, thin brick on stone foundations

4

5.5 x 5m

1

Narrow, thin brick on stone foundations

5

8 x 4m

1

Rough stone wall built against cliff face

6

5 x 5m

1

Thin brick

7

6.5 x 6m

1

Thin stone walls built against rock face

Wall construction

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House 7 appear, from the very denuded remains, to have been a single large, square room built against a natural rock face (Plate 4.1f). The surviving remnants of wall are of rough stone masonry on the north and south and of brick on the west. There is no indication as to the location of the original doorway. No features were found in the house.

Terrace walls At the lower (southern) end of the Site 21-S-25 area are various disconnected segments of dry-piled stone wall which look as if they may have been built as retaining walls for terraces; that is, to create areas of level ground on the naturally sloping rock surface, Presumably these would have been outdoor activity areas.

Chronological indications There was a thin scattering of Early Christian and Classic Christians sherds on the site surface, but no structural remains could be associated with those periods. All evidence points to a late and relatively brief occupation of the structures at 21-S-25. There was very little depth of refuse deposition on the site, and no evidence of architectural modification or rebuilding in the houses. The pottery consisted overwhelmingly of handmade wares of the PostChristian period, and even the decorated handmade wares (H7 and H14) characteristic of the early Post-Christian period (c. 1500-1600) were almost entirely absent (see Appendix B and Adams 1986b, 614). A Post-Christian dating is indicated also by the use of thin, irregular bricks in construction, since this feature has never been found in sites of the Christian period (see Adams 1987a). At the same time the absence of jalus construction suggests an occupation before AD 1700 (see Adams 1987a, 344). The sum of available evidence thus points toward an occupation at 21-S-25 entirely in the 17th century.

Small finds The excavations at 21-S-25 yielded 22 registered objects. They are listed in Appendix A, and are described in more detail in Kulubnarti II. In addition study collections were made of sherds and of animal bone. A total of 16,560 sherds were studied, tallied, and discarded on the site. Animal bone collections are discussed in Kulubnarti II (Adams and Adams 1998).

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CHAPTER V SITE 21-S-10 Jebel Abujai1 is a small but steep-sided granite jebel, which forms a promontory, projecting into the Nile from the east side of Kulubnarti Island (Map 1.2; Plates 5.1ab). At the season of the high Nile (and when Lake Nubia is full to capacity) it is entirely detached from the main island of Kulubnarti, and forms an island unto itself. At other times it is attached to the main island by a narrow neck of land (Plate 5.1a). Scattered here and there over the top, sides, and base of the jebel is a group of medieval houses, which collectively are designated as Site 21-S10. This site, like 21-S-2 and 21-S-25, was excavated in its entirety in the 1969 season. The work was carried out between 30 March and 24 April, under the direction of W. Y. Adams. The individual houses and other constructions at 21-S10 can be described in terms of four components:

(2) Terrace D was built and occupied during the earlier occupation, but was not reused (at least for new structures) during the later occupation, except for one or two houses at the north end. The same was apparently true of the smaller nearby terraces (Terraces A-C and E-F). (3) The houses at the base of the jebel belong only to the later period of occupation. On Terrace A there were also a few sherds indicative of occupation in the Egyptian New Kingdom, when the place may have served as a lookout station. A list of all the houses and terraces at Site 21-S-10 is given in Table 5.1

Pharaonic occupation Terrace A is the highest of three small more or less level areas within and among the jebel rocks near the summit of Jebel Aburjai. On it there was a small accumulation of wind-blown earth, but no midden deposit. The only suggestion of a structure was a circle of roughly piled boulders, about 3m in diameter, at the southern end of the terrace. Scattered nearby were a few sherds of New Kingdom plain brown ware — the only potsherds found on the terrace. It is hypothesized that this place may have served as a lookout post in New Kingdom times, since it is the only one of the 21-S-10 terraces that commands a view both up and down the river.4 The circle of boulders may perhaps have been a place for a signal fire. There is no other evidence of pharaonic activity on Jebel Aburjai, but additional, probable evidence of New Kingdom activity at Kulubnarti is furnished by the rock picture sites 21-S-47, 21-S-48, and 21-S-55 through 21-S-58 (see Chapter VIII).

(1) A group of small, detached houses perched here and there on level spaces at and near the top of the jebel (Classic Christian Houses I, II, IV XV and XVI; PostChristian Houses l-5b).2 (2) Traces of occupation on several small, more or less level rock ledges on the south and west sides of the jebel (Terraces A-C and E-F), below the summit. (3) A large, artificially constructed terrace (Terrace D) on the west side of the jebel, about 8m below the top. The surface is occupied by a contiguous cluster of ten small houses (Houses XIII and XVI) (see note 2). (4) A line of small houses, some contiguous and some detached, along the base of the jebel at its south-western side (Houses 11-21) (see note 2). A striking peculiarity of Site 21-S-10 is the fact that it underwent two distinct episodes of occupation, one in the Classic Christian II and Late Christian I periods,3 and another, after a hiatus of about three centuries (see Table 1.2) in the Post-Christian period. Some areas of the site were occupied only during the first episode, some only during the second, and some in both, as follows:

The Classic Christian occupation (Maps 5.1-5.3) For convenience, the earliest medieval occupation at 21S-10 is here designated as the Classic Christian occupation, although it probably terminated in the early part of the Late Christian period (see Table 1.2). Two successive phases of this occupation can be recognized stratigraphically at several points; they will be designated as Classic 1 and Classic 2. As previously noted, these remains are found in several locations on the top and sides of Jebel Aburjai, but not at the base.

(1) The jebel-top houses were built during the earlier occupation of the site, and after a period of abandonment were overbuilt and reoccupied during the later occupation. Local residents could not give a meaning for this name. The system of house numbering employed at 2l-S-10 requires some explanation. In the initial survey, prior to excavation, only houses of the later (Post-Christian) occupation were visible, and these were designated by Arabic numerals. The houses on the jebel-top were numbered from 1 to 5, and those at the foot of the jebel from 11 to 21. Subsequently, when remains of an earlier (Classic) occupation were encountered beneath the Post-Christian houses, they were designated by Roman numerals, The original plan was to give each earlier house a Roman numeral designation corresponding to the Arabic numeral of the house which directly overlay; thus, House V underlies House 5, and so on. However, this system was followed only for Houses 1 through V. Houses VI through XVI do not underlie late houses having the same numbers. 3 Hereinafter described, for the sake of simplicity, as the Classic Christian occupation. 1 2

The jebel-top houses (Map 5.2; Plates 5.1c-f) Remains of five small, detached houses were found on and near the top of Jebel Aburjai. All were in very denuded condition, and all but one of them had subsequently been overbuilt with structures of the Post4 For other such pharaonic lookout posts see Adams and Nordström 1963, 23; Mills and Nordström 1966, 11.

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Table 5.1. Comprehensive List of Houses and Terraces at Site 21-S-10. Pharaonic occupation

Classic Christian occupation Period 1 Period 2

Late occupation

Jebel-top units House I House II---------------------------------------->?

House 1 House 2 House 3a House 3b

?

House IV

House 4

House XIV House XV Upper terraces Terrace A

?

?

?

Terrace B House--------------------------------->? Terrace C House--------------------------------->? Terrace D units House 5b House XIII

House V

House XVI

House V

?

House VI

House 5a

House VII---------------------------------------->? House VIII--------------------------------------->? House IX----------------------------------------->? House X------------------------------------------>?

(Possibly Impermanent Structures)

House XII---------------------------------------->? Middle terraces Terrace E House-------------------------------------->? Terrace F Jebel-base units House 11 House 12 House 13 House 14 House 15 House 16a House 16b House 17 House 18a House 18b House 19 House 20 House 21 Lowest terraces Terrace G Terrace H

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Christian occupation. Because of this overbuilding it was frequently difficult to recover much of the plan of the original structures. Houses II, XIV, and XV can be dated on stratigraphic and/or ceramic grounds to the original Classic occupation (Classic I), although House II continued in use in Classic 2 as well. Houses I and IV were built in the Classic 2 occupation. As nearly as can be determined, all of the early jebel-top structures were flimsy houses much like those at 21-S-2. They were very irregular in shape and were “wedged in’’ where space allowed between the natural boulders of the jebel, which formed a considerable part of their walls. Man-made walls were mainly thin partitions of stretcher bricks, but occasionally were of small stones set in mud mortar (Map 5.2). House I was unusual in that it included four small sub-floor magazines, set down between the jebel rocks and separated from each other by brick partitions (Plate 5.1c-d). Despite their small size and irregular construction, the jebel-top houses had well-defined and hard-packed mud floors, with abundant evidence of habitation in the form of fireplaces, buried pots, and midden accumulation. House II, the best preserved of the houses, will be described in more detail here.

near the partition separating the inner from the outer room. In one corner of the outer room, no fewer than four vessels were buried close together in a kind of semi-circle, their rims flush with the floor level (Plate 5.1f). Two of the vessels had covers formed from the bases of broken qadus (sagia pots); the other two were without covers. None of the vessels had any content other than refuse fill. Outside the house proper was a small open terrace enclosed at the front by a row of large, roughly piled stones. This area also had a good, hard-packed mud floor, with a shallow depression in the center which may have been a firepit. A few surviving remnants of mud brick, adjacent to the terrace enclosing wall, suggest that there may at one time have been an enclosed room here also. An additional handmade pot was buried in the floor just beside the brickwork remnant.

The upper and middle terraces At various points on the south and west slopes of Jebel Aburjai there are small, more or less level ledges of rock which bear traces of occupation in the Classic period (Terraces B, C, E, and F). Terraces B and F were artificially leveled, in part by building rough stone retaining walls at their outer sides, and filling in behind them with rubble and earth. The other terraces were naturally level or nearly so, and had bare rock surfaces. Traces of flimsy houses were preserved on Terraces C and E. The Terrace C house, by far the better preserved of the two, is more or less half-round in shape, its curving outer wall conforming in a general way to the outer edge of the ledge on which it is built. The wall is about 300mm thick and is built of very small bricks, laid in alternate courses of headers and stretchers. The back of the house is formed by overhanging jebel rock. The doorway must have been at the south-west side of the house, where the wall is now missing. From this side, Terrace C could easily be reached by stepping across a low outcrop of rock from the neighboring Terrace B. The floor of the Terrace C house was formed partly by natural rock and partly by rather soft sand fill, which may be windblown. At the back of the house, beneath the overhanging jebel, was a narrow sunken area, separated from the main part of the floor by a retaining wall of small stones set in mud mortar. Two small handmade jars were found resting on the floor within this area. Near the front of the house, enclosed between its outer wall and a natural declivity in the rock, is another small sunken area, which shows evidence of a great deal of burning. The Terrace C house had a fairly deep fill of Classic midden deposit, which included a substantial amount of goat dung. Terraces B and F also bore a certain amount of midden deposit, but no surviving traces of early structures.

House II (Plates 5.1e-f). Remains of this house were found after excavation and removal of the overlying House 2. They occupied a small but deep natural cranny in the rocks. Jebel rock formed the side and back walls of the house, at least up to a height of one meter. The walls may have been carried upward above that level by brick or stone masonry, but if so all traces were destroyed in the course of the later overbuilding of House 2. The only surviving masonry was at the front (south) side, where the house was enclosed by a thin brick partition. The original doorway would certainly have been located somewhere in this wall, but its exact location could not be determined in the denuded remnant of masonry that survives. House II was apparently comprised of two small rooms in the cranny between the rocks, plus a small open terrace in front of them. However, the two inner rooms may have been separated from each other only by a low raised ridge of stones set into the floor, rather than by a true wall. Both rooms had well-defined, hard-packed mud floors, although in the inner room a considerable part of the floor was formed by sloping jebel rock. The house preserved an extraordinary number of floor features. At the back of the inner room, under a natural rock overhang, a small mud soma was found nearly intact. It measured about 350mm in diameter and 350mm high. Just in front of it was a raised area in the floor, which had evidently served as the base for a grinding slab, and beside this was a shallow depression in the floor, which was perhaps a rest for a basket. A small fireplace formed by upright stone slabs, and containing a considerable ash deposit, was tucked into one corner of the room. Finally, a handmade pottery vessel of Ware H15 rested on the floor

The Terrace D houses (Maps 5.2 & 5.3; Plates 5.2 & 5.3) Terrace D is a wide and very long natural ledge that runs across the entire west side of Jebel Aburjai, about 8m below the summit. The full length of the terrace is over 30m, and the width about 7m at the widest point. The

Ware H1 is a relatively thin-walled ware characteristic of the Early and Classic Christian periods, in contrast to the much heavier and coarser hand-made wares of the Late and Terminal Christian periods. Most of the hand-made vessels found in the Classic houses were of Ware H1. The pottery wares is enumerated in Appendix B and discussed in Kulubnarti 5

II (Adams and Adams 1998).

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Map 5.1. Site 21-S-10; general plan showing terrace walls and late buildings. Building walls are shown in outline without hatching; terrace walls are indicated by fine hatching. Arrows indicate route of ascending pathway to Terrace D gate. Contours at intervals of 5m above the level of the Nile on 31 May 1969. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

terrace is retained, all along its outer edge, by a stout wall of rough and mostly dry-laid stone masonry, averaging about 1m in thickness (Plate 5.2a). Prior to excavation, we had assumed that the outer wall of Terrace D was a mere retaining wall to create a level surface. The space behind it was filled in with dense midden deposit, but bore no traces of structures above the surface, except at the extreme north end (House 5). The sherds on the surface were mostly Classic or Late Christian, but included also a scattering of sherds from the later, Post-Christian occupation. The retaining wall showed some evidence of having been repaired in the Post- Christian period, but we could find no traces of any structures from the later occupation, except for House 5 at the north end. We hypothesized that Terrace D had served merely as an outdoor working area, unless perhaps there had been rakubas or other impermanent structures built on it.

Removal of the midden deposit revealed however that in Classic times the entire length of the terrace had been occupied by a nearly continuous line of brick-walled rooms, numbering at least 17 in all. Most of the rooms were built directly against the stone outer terrace wall (Plate 5.2 c-f). It was therefore originally an enclosing wall as well as a retaining wall) and must have stood to a height substantially greater than the 1 to 1.3m which is now preserved. There are a few remaining traces of mud brick on top of the stonework, suggesting that the upper part of the terrace wall was formed of brick, as were all of the interior partitions of the Terrace D rooms. The fill within the terrace — in places up to 1m deep — consisted almost entirely of occupation refuse from the Classic houses. Terrace D was approached from below by a zigzag pathway, whose route can still easily be traced (see Maps 5.1 & 5.4). At the top of the path, two broad steps, with 88

stone masonry risers, led up to a gateway in the middle of the terrace wall. The opening was about 600mm wide with a raised threshold at its outer side. At the inner side, the gateway opened into a very small antechamber that was evidently roofed over with palm logs. Just within the doorway on the north side, the base of a wooden door pivot post was preserved in situ, showing that the gate was originally equipped with a closing door (Plate 5.2b). At the back of the antechamber there was originally a step up of almost 500mm, to the level of the interior passages leading north and south along the terrace (Plate 5.2b). Later however interior steps, formed of palm logs set between bricks, were installed within the antechamber, making the ascent to the inner chambers easier. From the top of the steps a short corridor led eastward, then branched off north and south, giving access to the various rooms along the terrace. Most rooms were built between the corridors and the outer terrace wall; that is, they had the terrace wall at the front, and the corridor wall at the back. However, a few rooms were built between the corridor and the overhanging jebel face at the back of the terrace (see especially Plate 5.2c). As originally built, the Terrace D houses had walls exclusively of mud brick, except where they abutted against the stone masonry of the outer terrace wall. As usual in flimsy houses the walls are thin, comprised of stretcher courses only, and are frequently curving. Natural stone boulders, resting on the ledge surface, are incorporated into the walls at various points (Plate 5.2 c, d, f). The rooms designated as Houses VIII, IX, and XIII employ the vertical face of the jebel, at the back of the ledge, for their back walls. The arrangement of corridors and rooms along Terrace D is unlike that of any other Nubian habitation site thus far published, and resembles a small apartment house rather than a group of ordinary dwellings. That is, a single outside doorway gives onto long, narrow corridors, which in turn open into small individual rooms. Most of the rooms have their own separate entrances from the corridors, and are not internally interconnected (Maps 5.2 & 5.3) Moreover, the whole complex seems to have been built at one time, and subsequently to have been repaired and strengthened at one time. Under these circumstances the possibility of a small, fortified monastery cannot be ruled out, although there is certainly no room that can be identified as a refectory, kitchen, or chapel.6 Obviously, the division of the Terrace D rooms into discrete houses is difficult, and the system of house numeration that was adopted in the field is quite arbitrary. Nine houses (nos VXIII) were tentatively designated;7 each being comprised

of from one to four contiguous rooms. It must be stressed again however that in most cases the rooms constituting a “house’’ are not interconnected; each room has its own entrance from one of the terrace corridors. As originally constructed, the Terrace D rooms had relatively little earth flooring. A small amount of earth was inserted at the front of each room, adjacent to the terrace retaining wall, to create an area of level floor but the back part of the floor in each case was formed by sloping jebel rock (Figure 5.1). Later, higher floor levels were established on top of the refuse fill that had accumulated in the rooms, so that in the Classic 2 period most rooms had level earth floors throughout (Figure 5.1). Thanks to the deep midden fill many floor features were preserved in the Terrace D rooms, including mastabas, ovens, grinding areas, and pots either resting on the floors or buried underneath them. Most of these features were associated with the later rather than with the original floors. Table 5.2 lists the houses located on Terrace D, and the features found in each. The later modifications (Map 5.3). The “houses” on Terrace D underwent a series of modifications in the latter part of the Classic occupation (herein designated as the Classic 2 period): (1) Higher floor levels, resting on deep rubbish fill were established in all the rooms (Figure 5.1). At the north end of the terrace, House XIII was entirely rubbish-filled and then was overbuilt with a new house (House V) having different wall alignments (Plate 5.3b). (2) New floor features were installed in many of the rooms. (3) Palm log steps were installed within the gate antechamber, as previously noted. (4) The most southerly room in “House’’ X had its original entranceway blocked with stone masonry, while a new doorway was knocked though from the adjoining “House” VII. Thus, the room was effectively transferred from “House” X to “House” VII (5) A number of walls, in several different rooms, were doubled in thickness. This was done in each case by laying additional courses of stretcher bricks alongside the original wall bricks, as shown in Map 5.3. The added brickwork rested on top of the uppermost floor level in each room, showing that the doubling of the walls belonged to the last phase of the Classic occupation (cf. Figure 5.1). “House” X (Plate 5.2 d, f). The four rooms collectively designated as House X will be described here, as illustrative of the features of Classic occupation on Terrace D. The interior walls of each room were thin brick partitions, originally 200mm wide, laid directly on the sloping rock surface of the jebel ledge. The front wall of each room was apparently also of thin brick, which in this case was laid on top of the rough stone masonry of the Terrace D retaining wall. All of the rooms were originally entered from the South Corridor, and were not interconnected. Room 1, at the south, was separated from the adjoining House VII by an angled brick wall, part of which rode up and over a large boulder resting on the ledge floor. The original doorway was in the middle of the east wall, and was reinforced by a very stout brick buttress on its

6 There are other small, fortified monasteries in the vicinity of Akasha, a short distance downriver; see Mills 1965, 10, Sites 21-N-7 and 21-N-11. However, there is no other known example of a “cliffdwelling” monastery. Subsequent to the excavation, Julie Anderson has perceptively recognized that Site 21-S-10 is probably a laura, a kind of small, self-designated monastic community, see Anderson 1999, 81-2. 7 They were not all occupied simultaneously. House XIII, at the north end of the terrace, was filled with refuse and then overbuilt with House V in the Classic 2 phase of occupation. Also House V1, although adjacent to House VII, is not technically on Terrace D but is built against the outside of its retaining wall, at the south end (see Plate 4.2e), It is included with the Terrace D houses here for the sake of descriptive convenience.

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Table 5.2. Features of Terrace D houses. House no.

Inside dimensions

No. of rooms

XIII

5x3m

2

Between back of ledge and terrace retaining wall; underlies House V

Raised grinding slab; oven; roof support posts

V

5.5 x 2 m

1

Between back of ledge and terrace retaining wall; overlies House XIII

2 pots on floor; 1 decorated jar

XII

3 x 2.5 m

1

Between North Corridor and terrace retaining wall

Large ceramic oven; 3 pots buried in floor; line of posts with matting attached

XI

3.5 x 3 m

1

Between North Corridor and terrace retaining wall; next to gateway

Sunken area in floor; mastaba?

X

10 x 2.5 m

4

Between South Corridor and terrace retaining wall; next to gateway

Mastabas; 13 pots on or under floors; base for rahaya; door pivot post

IX

6 x 1.5 m

2

Between back of ledge and South Corridor None

VIII

4 x 1.5 m

2

Between back of ledge and South CorCeramic oven; base for rahaya ridor; mostly within cranny in natural rock

VII

5x4m

3

Between South Corridor and terrace retaining wall; south end of terrace

2 subfloor pots; mastaba

V1

5x3m

4

Adjoining outside of Terrace D wall at south end

None

Situation

southern side, The earliest floor (Floor 1) was of hard earth fill at the front and jebel rock at the back. There were no constructed floor features, but there was evidence of considerable burning along the base of the south wall, and a substantial deposit of ash had accumulated on the floor here. In the Classic 2 occupation, a higher floor (Floor 2) was installed at a level about 500mm above the original, on top of a fill of rubbish. Two pottery vessels were buried in the fill between the two floors; one a wheel-made storage jar with its lid (the broken-of base of a qadus) still in situ, and the other the bottom half of a handmade storage pot. On the upper floor, near the front of the room, could be seen the round impression where a rotary quern (rahaya) had been installed. During the later occupation of the house the original doorway from the South Corridor was blocked with a rubble of stones and brick, and a new doorway was cut through the south wall, into House VII. The room thus ceased to be a part of House X, and was added to the adjoining house. Room 2 adjoined Room l to the north. The doorway leading in from the South Corridor was flanked by a short section of wing wall, and there were two brick steps leading down from the level of the corridor to the level of the original floor (Floor 1). There may have been a small mastaba or raised shelf in the area between the wing wall and the south room wall; the evidence for this is somewhat problematical. The original floor of Room 2 was at the same level as that in Room 1, and was similarly formed of earth fill and sloping jebel rock (Figure 5.1). Three handmade vessels were found resting on the floor in the north-west corner of the room. They evidently belonged to the original phase of occupation, for two of them were directly underneath the brickwork that was added when the walls were doubled in the Classic 2 occupation. There was a very deep accumulation of soft ash on top of the original floor. In the Classic 2 occupation a higher floor level (Floor

Floor features

2) was established in Room 2 as in Room 1. One large handmade jar was buried under the later floor, with its rim flush with the floor, in the south-west corner of the room. Finally, the width of all three of the interior walls (at the south, east, and north sides) was doubled by the addition of brickwork along the inner sides of the original walls (Figure 5.1). Room 3 adjoined Room 2 to the north. As in Room 2, there were two descending steps within the doorway, leading down from the level of the South Corridor to the level of the room floor. The doorway was flanked on the left (south side) by a typical door buttress, and beside it the base of a wooden door pivot post was preserved in situ. On the side opposite the doorway, the buttress was adjoined by a kind of raised masonry platform 1m high, which had evidently served as a rest for a lamp, for its upper surface was very burned. The original floor in Room 3 (Floor 1) was at the same level as were the original floors in Rooms 1 and 2. The north-west corner of the room was occupied by a low

Figure 5.1. Site 21-S-10, cross-section through Rooms IX and X, showing floor levels (indicated by numbers). Stonework in the outer retaining wall is shown schematically, not to scale. Drawing by W. Y. Adams.

90

mastaba of mud, 1.5m long and 1.2m wide, with slightly raised and rounded edges. Later another floor surface (Floor 2) was established at a level about 150mm above the original, bringing the level of the whole room up to that of the mastaba top. One large jar was buried up to the neck in this floor, in the south-west corner of the room, and another jar was half-buried near the doorway. Floor 2 was itself deeply buried in midden, but no higher floor surface, dating from the Classic 2 occupation, could be discovered in Room 3, comparable to Floor 2 in Rooms 1 and 2. Within the midden fill overlying Floor 2 however there were remains of three more buried handmade pots, all ranged along the base of the south room wall. Room 4, the most northerly in House X, was entered through a door in the east end of its south wall. There was a single step down into the room, at the inner side of the threshold. The doorway was flanked on its western side by a short section of wing wall. The original room floor (Floor 1) was continuously sloping from east to west, and was formed of a thin but hard layer of mud laid directly over the jebel rock. Room 4, like Room 3, had a second floor surface (Floor 2) a few centimeters above the original. There was a slightly raised area of floor, 100mm higher than the rest, adjoining the west side of the doorway wing wall; it may have been a grinding area. Two handmade pots were buried to about half their full height in Floor 2, one at the base of the north wall and one nearer the middle of the room. Above the level of Floor 2, the north and east walls of Room 4 had been thickened to a width of about 350mm This was not done by laying additional brickwork alongside the original walls, as in Room 2, but, by rebuilding the walls altogether with a combination of bricks and small stones. Perhaps at the same time, the original room door was solidly blocked with stones and brick. There is no indication how the room was subsequently entered. The uppermost floor in Room 4 (Floor 3) was established within the newly thickened walls, on top of a dense fill of goat dung and other midden material overlying Floor 2. It was a very well defined, wet-laid mud surface which had a number of large sherds and small pieces of flat stone set into it, flush with the surface but in no discernable pattern. No other features were preserved in Floor 3.

and rather crude stone masonry. However, most of them employ the some peculiarly long and thin mud bricks that were previously noted at Site 21-S-25 (Chapter 1V). Stone masonry, where it is employed, tends to be rather similar to the brickwork, in that it involves mostly thin and flat stone slabs, laid up with a minimum of mortar. There is no evidence of wall plastering either on the brick or on the stone masonry. The walls of thin brick were often laid on top of rather irregular stone foundations, which rendered them somewhat unstable. As a result, many of the walls were found to have toppled over sideways (cf. Plate 5.4a).

The jebel-top houses (Map 5.4; Plates5.4a-d) At the top of Jebel Aburjai, Houses 1, 2, and 4 were built directly over the denuded remains of Classic Houses I, II and IV. Houses 3a and 3b were built on localities that had not previously been occupied. All of these are roughly square buildings, averaging about 5m square, and comprising either one or two rooms. At least three of the houses have a long interior wing-wall beside the doorway, so as to create a kind of entrance passage (Plates 5.4b-c). Except in House 3b the walls are entirely of long and thin brick; House 3b has walls partly of brick and partly of stone masonry (Plate 5.4c). Houses 1, 2, and 4 have well-defined mud floors established on top of refuse fill from the underlying houses. Houses 3a and 3b have floors of jebel rock, or of mud laid directly over the rock. Only House 1 has evidence of more than one level of occupation; it had two floor levels separated by about 200mm of refuse and goat dung. None of the late houses on the jebel-top had any floor pots or other significant features. On the whole, it seems probable that the occupation of these structures was rather brief.

The Terrace D houses (Maps 5.4 & 5.5; Plate 5.4e-f) Houses 5a and 5b, located at the extreme north end of Terrace D, were the only structures of Post-Christian date located on this terrace. House 5a, built on top of the older and deeply buried Houses XIII and V, survives only as a small remnant of brick wall at what was evidently its south-east corner. Whether or not this structure was originally contiguous with House 5b cannot be determined. House 5b however is one of the best preserved and most interesting of the Post-Christian houses, and merits description in more detail.

The Post-Christian occupation (Maps 5.4 & 5.5) Ceramic and architectural evidence suggests that the Post-Christian occupation at 21-S-10 began no earlier than AD 1600, after a hiatus of at least three centuries when there was no occupation on the site. As previously noted, Post-Christian houses were found at the top and at the base of Jebel Aburjai, and at the north end of Terrace D. Altogether 20 houses were dated to the Post-Christian phase of occupation (Houses 1-5b and 11-21). 8 The Post-Christian houses at 21-S-10 are generally similar in plan and construction to the late houses at 21-S2 (see Chapter II), involving a combination of mud brick

House 5b (Map 5.5a; Plate 5.4e-f) is not built over the remains of any earlier structure. Its plan might be described as very roughly boat-shaped, the pointed north end being adapted to the contours of the ledge on which it is built. The surviving walls are entirely of mud brick, except that the base of the west (outside) wall is partly underlain by the Terrace D retaining wall of stone masonry. The bricks used in this house are, on average, somewhat smaller and thicker than those in other Post-Christian houses, but like the others they are irregular in size and are laid in stretcher courses only (Plate 5.4e-f). The house can only have been entered at some point in its southern wall, which

8 See Note 2 and Table 5.1 for explanation of the numeration of these houses.

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92

Map 5.2. Site 21-S-10, plan of Post-Classic Christian houses at original stage of construction. Stonework is indicated schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. P = pot on or under floor; S = soma; s = step up or down. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

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Map 5.3. Site 21-S-10, plan of Post-Classic Christian houses as modified subsequent to original construction. Stonework is indicated schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. P = pot on or under floor; S = soma; s = step up or down. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

94

Map 5.4. Site 21-S-10, plan of Post-Christian houses and terraces. Stonework is indicated schematically, not accurately to scale. Walls shown in outline, without hatching, are of mud brick. Dashed line indicates ascending pathway to Terrace D gate. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

95

a b

Map 5.5. Site 21-S-10, plans of Post-Christian houses 5B and 18A. a, plan of House 5B, showing subfloor magazines in Rooms 3 and 4. Magazines are shown with covering slabs partially in situ as found. M = magazine; P = buried under floor; S = step up or down. All construction is of mud brick. Dotted shading identifies areas of jebel rock or natural boulders. b, plan of House 18B, showing objects found on floor. Stonework is shown schematically, not accurately to scale, 1-4, pots; 5-8, large bowls; 9, pot resting on a section of jebel outcrop; 10, ceramic dipper resting on shelf; 11, group of 3 sandstones for grinding slab; 12, grinding slab and handstone set on a raised platform of mud; 13, grinding rahaya (quern); 14, round depression in the floor, lined with small stones at the west side; 15, half of the upper stone of a rahaya; 16, pot; 17-18, two hearths formed by three upright, ceramic pot supports in each case. Dotted shading identifies areas of jebel rock or natural boulders. Original field plans by W. Y. Adams.

in the floor; this may have contained water for the convenience of those using the toilet. Room 3 is the largest room in the house. A doorway in the north-east corner, equipped with an ascending step, connects with Room 2, and another doorway in the south-west corner leads into Room 4. Neither doorway is adjoined by a buttress or rebate. Beneath the south-east part of the floor in Room 3 are four small storage crypts (Crypts 2-5),9 650 - 750mm deep and separated from each other by brick partitions. Unlike the walls of the overlying rooms, the interior walls of the crypts have a thick coat of mud plaster, as well as hard and smooth mud floors (Plate 5.4f). The crypts were originally roofed over with flat stone slabs. These were all preserved in situ in the long and narrow Crypt 2, except for a small hatchway that had been deliberately left open at the east end. Crypts 3 and 4 still had a couple of their covering slabs left in situ, while the remainder were missing; the covering for Crypt 5 was entirely missing. No contents other than rubbish fill were found in any of the crypts. In addition to the storage crypts, Room 3 has a small, oval depression, lined with dung plaster, in the south-east corner of the floor. There are some traces of burning along the sides and bottom, but no ash deposit was found in it. Room 4, at the south end of the house, has a fairly large storage crypt (Crypt 6) at its western end. It measures about 1 x 1.2m, with a depth of 700mm. The covering slabs were entirely missing, and the crypt was found to contain nothing except refuse fill. Elsewhere, the floor of Room 4 was formed almost entirely of jebel rock.

The jebel-base units (Map 5.4; Plate 5.5)

The jebel-base units (Houses 11-21) are strung out in an irregular line along the south and south-west sides of Jebel Aburjai, just below the steepest portion of the mountain (Plate 5.5a). Most of the houses are built directly against the vertical jebel face, which forms their back wall. Altogether the 13 houses10 extend over a distance of about 60m. They are mostly built at the top of a steep and unstable talus slope, which has slumped away at various points, and there is also some evidence of damage from high Nile floods. Consequently, none of the jebel base structures was found in a very good state of preservation. The jebel-base houses are generally similar in plan and construction to those on the top of the mountain, as well as to late houses at 21-S-2. They mostly comprise either one or two rooms, and are built of a combination of large, thin brick and stone masonry. Outlines are rather irregular, as dictated by the contours of the jebel on or against which they are built. Most of the houses have fairly well defined mud floors, but floor features are preserved only in a few of them. Houses 15,

is now largely missing, for no doorway is preserved in any other wall. House 5b is built on a very uneven surface of jebel rock, which forms most of the floor in the two more northerly rooms (1 and 2) as well as at the east (inner side) of the southern rooms (3 and 4). But the natural surface dips down sharply at the outer (west) side of Rooms 3 and 4; these rooms have deep earth fill floors into which no fewer than five small storage crypts are sunk. Room 1, the most northerly room, is mostly floored on jebel, and has no surviving floor features. Room 2 is a narrow passage, which seems to have led to a latrine along the outer house wall. The actual “toilet” is simply a natural crack in the rock, which at this point projects outward from the line of the house wall. At the inner (east) end of the passage, a large jar of Ware H4 was buried

9 There was no Crypt 1; this number was assigned in error when it was believed that Crypt 2 was two separate crypts. 10 For the numeration see Table 5. 1

96

House 18a (Plate 5.5d-e) was the most extraordinary structure at Site 21-S-10, in terms of its content. Although it comprises only a single room, it was found to contain no fewer than 10 pottery vessels, along with an assortment of grinding apparatus and other features (Map 5.5b; Plate 5.5d). Like most of the other jebel-base units, House 18a is built against a vertical section of jebel face, which forms its back wall. The enclosing walls were originally of rough stone masonry surmounted by brick; later, when some of the brickwork fell away, it was replaced by stone. The walls have mostly survived, at least to a height of a few centimeters, but a portion of the outer (west) wall is missing entirely. Entrance to the house was through a doorway in the south wall, which is flanked on the right by a short interior buttress. There is a second, filled-up doorway in the north wall, which apparently connected originally with the adjoining House 18b. House 18a has a smooth, wet-laid mud floor, which is preserved throughout the whole of the room. The interior area is roughly divided into two parts by a natural boulder which projects above the floor to a height of a few centimeters, and by two long, narrow slabs of stone that are laid end-to-end beside it (cf. Plate 5.5d). These are certainly not the foundations for a masonry partition; they simply demarcate functionally distinct areas of the floor. From the finds that were encountered, it appears that the northern section was a storage area, and the southern section a cooking area. The finds in House 18a are shown in Map 5.5b. In the northern or storage section, Nos 1-4 comprise a globular pot and two bag-shaped jars that were half-buried in the floor, plus a small mud soma that was completely buried to the rim. At the base of the back (east) wall, Nos 5-8 are all burnished red bowls of Ware H5; they had been inverted in a neat row along the wall, underneath a slightly overhanging rock shelf. No. 9 is a small bag-shaped jar, which was found resting directly on top of the small jebel boulder that projects through the floor (Plate 5.5d). In the southern or cooking section, a narrow, raised shelf had been constructed along the base of the east wall, very similar to the shelf in House 17 (Plate 5.5e). It is about 250mm wide and 300mm high, and is enclosed by a wall of thin mud brick. On top of the shelf was found a small pottery dipper (No. 10). Just in front of the shelf, a stone grinding slab (No. 12) was set into the top of a low raised platform of mud, and a handstone rested directly on it. Three small, round pounding stones (No. 11) were on the floor nearby. Just south of the grinding stone is an impression in the mud floor showing where a stone quern (rahaya) had been mounted (No. 13), and a portion of the upper quern stone (No. 15) was found lying inverted on the floor not far away. Other pieces of the quern stones were found in the rubbish fill of the room. At the base of the west wall, at a point opposite the grinding stone and quern, is a rounded depression in the floor, about 600mm wide and 150mm deep (No. 14). The depression is edged with small upright stones at the west side, and has traces of a fine white material adhering to it. The purpose of this feature is unknown. At the base of the south room wall are two small hearths

17, and 18a, which are among the best preserved, will be described here. House 15 (Plate 5.5b) comprises a single large room, measuring about 4 x 6m. It is built entirely of mud brick, except where natural jebel rock forms the back wall and a part of the south wall. However, both these walls are built upward with brick masonry above the level of the natural rock. The house is contiguous with House 16a to the north, while House 14 stands on a higher rock shelf directly above it. House 15 does not have a constructed doorway, but is entered through a natural declivity between the jebel face and a large detached boulder, which is incorporated into the south wall. This opening is equipped with a raised threshold of stone masonry, 350mm higher than the floor level within the room. Just inside and to the left of the doorway, a long wing wall serves to enclose a kind of entrance passage. House 15 has a well-defined and smooth mud floor, most of which is preserved intact. Near the north-east corner of the room an area measuring about 2m long and 1m wide is raised to a level about 150mm above the remainder of the floor, and is surrounded by a slightly raised mud ridge (Plate 5.5b). This may be a mastaba, or it may have served for winnowing. Along the base of the north wall there are remnants of a slightly raised “bench”, 500mm wide, formed of a single course of brick masonry topped by flat stones. No other features were preserved in House 15. House 17 (Plate 5.5c) is one of the few jebel-base units that unmistakably comprise more than a single room. It is a roughly rectangular area, which was probably enclosed by brick walls on all four sides, although the outer (west) wall has entirely fallen away. The north and south walls are straight, while the east wall is markedly curving, conforming to the contours of the jebel, which forms its foundation. House 17 is contiguous on the south with House 16b. Entrance to the house must have been through the nowdestroyed west wall, since there is no trace of a doorway in any of the other three walls. Within, the house is divided by interior partitions into three rather small rooms. The largest (Room 3), at the north, occupies about ⅔ of the total area of the house. This room has a kind of narrow, raised shelf, 300mm wide and 500mm high, running all along the back (east) wall, adjoining the jebel face. It is faced with brick set on edge, and filled in behind with mud. There is also a slightly raised area along the base of the north wall, as in House 15. A handmade vessel of Ware H4 was buried in the floor just at the base of the south wall. There is no interconnection between Room 3 and the adjoining, smaller Rooms 1 and 2, which must have been separately entered through the west wall. The latter two rooms have floors at a level 300mm higher than that in Room 3. They are connected with each other by a doorway 350mm wide, having neither buttress nor rebate. Buried in the floor of Room 1 (the outer room) just beside the doorway is a small mud soma. At the back of Room 2, a low projection of jebel rock has been widened with mud, to make a kind of seat in the south-east corner of the room. 97

the earlier dwellings. Another cluster of houses was built at the base of the jebel (Houses 11-21), where there had been no earlier structures, but there was no rebuilding on the terraces between the top and the bottom of the jebel, except perhaps for impermanent rakubas and for one or two houses at the north end of Terrace D. The date when Site 21-S-10 was abandoned for the second and last time cannot be established with any certainty, but it was probably not long after AD 1700, since there was no jalus construction on the site (see Chapter VI).

side by side (Nos 17 and 18); each has three small upright supports positioned so as to hold a pot over a small fire (Plate 5.5e). The supports in one of the hearths are three wheel-thrown ceramic cylinders (“elephant feet”) of a kind that are very often found in late Nubian sites; the other hearth has two “elephant feet” plus a small upright stone slab. Nearby, another bag-shaped, handmade jar was buried in the boor, and covered with a small stone slab (No. 16). The quantity of finds in House 18a stands in marked contrast to all the other houses at 21-S-10, suggesting that the inhabitants of this particular structure either left in a great hurry, or left with the full intention of returning, but never did.

Small finds The excavations at 21-S-10 yielded 100 registered objects. They are listed in Appendix A, and are described in more detail in Kulubnarti II (Adams and Adams 1998). In addition study collections were made of sherds and of animal bone. A total of 24,112 sherds were studied, tallied, and discarded on the site.

The lowest terraces (Map 5.4, Plate 5.5f) Running along the southern base of Jebel Aburjai, at a level slightly below the line of jebel-base houses, are remains of two stoutly built terrace walls of heavy stone masonry, one slightly above the other (Terraces G and H). Both have been extensively damaged by flooding, which has long since dissolved away whatever mud mortar they may have contained, and has partially displaced the building stones (Plate 5.5f). These are not simply retaining walls for a level terrace on which the jebel-base houses were built, as in the case of the Terrace D wall, for they are situated at a remove of 3 to 6m from most of the houses and at a lower level. More probably, they were built to provide protection for the houses above, by keeping the Nile floods from eroding the talus slopes on which the houses are built. If so, they were only partially successful. A few houses (13, 19, and 20) had been built directly adjacent to the inner face of the Terrace G wall. These, like the wall itself, have been extensively damaged by flooding, and retain no interior features.

Chronological summary Ceramic and architectural evidence shows quite clearly that Site 21-S-10 underwent two distinct episodes of occupation, separated by a hiatus of at least three centuries. The earliest houses on the jebel-top, and those on Terrace D, were built in the later Classic or the Post-classic Christian period, and were abandoned around the end of the Late Christian I period (see Table 1.2). The estimated dates for this occupation are from about AD 1050 to 1250. During those two centuries there was a considerable amount of rebuilding of the original houses, and some addition of new ones. Thanks to clear-cut stratigraphic evidence, it has been possible to divide the original occupation into what are here designated as Classic 1 and Classic 2 phases. Some houses are assignable only to the first and some only to the second phase, though the majority clearly belong to both (see Table 5.1). As previously noted, it seems likely that at this phase of occupation Site 21-S-10 was a laura. It would have been served by the nearby Church 21-S-49. During the centuries after 1250, the original houses evidently fell into a very ruinous condition. Then, perhaps around AD 1600, new houses were built on the jebel-top, most of them directly on top of the denuded stumps of 98

CHAPTER VI SITE 21-S-9 Site 21-S-9 is another village site that was excavated almost in its entirety. The work was carried out between 9 March and 5 April, 1969, under the direction of Frank B. Fryman. The following is quoted from the published preliminary report (Adams 1970a, 148): “Site 21-S-9 occupies an island called Erbenarti1 opposite the northern shore of Kulubnarti, and accessible from it at the low Nile. As in all the sites previously described, the structural remains are situated along the top and sides of a rocky ridge (Plate 6.1a), whose northern side plunges almost vertically into the Nile (cf. Map. 6.1). Again characteristically for this region, the village seems to have had a long but intermittent history of occupation. “The most conspicuous feature of Site 21-S-9 is a girdle wall surrounding an area somewhat less than one hectare in extent. It was entered through a large gateway at the lower side. Within the walled area were half a dozen houses; a few others were situated immediately outside, and still others somewhat farther away to the east. Parts of the girdle wall may date from pre-Christian times, for a few Meroitic and X-Group sherds were found in its vicinity. A variety of masonry styles, involving both stone and brick, suggest that additions and repairs were made at many different times. However, the oldest preserved house remains belong to the Late Christian period, perhaps contemporaneous with the first occupations at 21-S-10 and 21-S-2.2 As in both the latter sites they are flimsy and extremely denuded, and their identity at 21-S-9 is not absolutely certain. Much more certainly identifiable are the remains of... unit houses within the walled compound, and others immediately outside and below it. One of the uppermost structures (House A1) was a two-storey unit house similar to those at 21-S-2, although it was somewhat modified in later times. “The architectural remains at 21-S-9 aside from those previously named seem to belong to a much later period, for they are built of jalus (coursed adobe) rather than mud brick. This is the universal method of construction in Nubia today, except in the extreme north, but it is seldom found in archaeological sites and is believed to be a fairly recent innovation (cf. Adams 1987a, 335). No jalus constructions of any kind were found at 21-S-2, 21-S-25, or 21-S-10. “Jalus constructions at 21-S-9 included the enlargement and repair of the girdle wall and its gateway, the refurbishing and partial modification of the two-storey unit house, and the building of at least two additional houses within the enclosed area. These activities may have been as recent as the 19th century, athough no European manufactured

goods were found on the site” Altogether, 20 structures that might be houses were identified at 21-S-9. However, six of these are very crudely piled circles of stone, which cannot be definitely identified as dwellings, although they are tentatively designated as the foundations of flimsy houses. Table 6.1 gives a comprehensive list of the different types of structures on the site. It cannot be stated with any certainty that these structures represent a continuum of occupation. Occupation in the Late Christian period and in the recent past is clearly inferable on the basis of architectural styles, but the jalus houses may represent a reoccupation after a considerable period of abandonment, as was the case with the reoccupation of Site 21-S-10.

The walled compounds (Map 6.1) Only five of the 20 “houses’’ at Site 21- S-9 are actually enclosed within the walled compounds at the top of the site. Moreover, two of these houses appear to be relatively late additions. It looks as if there were originally three separate, relatively small walled enclosures each one surrounding one of the major unit houses of the Late Christian period. The walls in all cases are built of heavy and rather crude, dry-laid stone masonry. As currently preserved they are highly variable in thickness, probably reflecting the fact that they underwent numerous repairs in the course of their long history. On the topmost elevation of the island is the Northern Compound, a roughly round area, 20m in diameter, surrounding the two-storey unit House A1 (Plate 6.1a). Later, Houses A6 and A2-5 were also built within the same walls. The enclosure was not walled at its northern side, perhaps because the natural ridge here drops so steeply to the riverside that no artificial defense was considered necessary. The compound was entered through a doorway in its southern wall. Adjoining the Northern Compound on the south is the Middle Compound, a larger, oval-shaped enclosure which was evidently built at a later date, and which surrounds House B1-B2.3 This compound is entered through a massively walled but very narrow gateway at the west. A clearly demarcated path winds up to the gateway from the river’s edge. In the course of a late rebuilding the original stone walls were heightened by the addition of thin wall made from irregularly laid bricks, apparently reused from the nearby Unit House B1. Probably at the same time, a heavy buttress of jalus, enclosing a bolt socket, was built beside the gateway on its northern side. The Southern Compound adjoins the one just described, and comprises a section of curved wall, which partially

1 This is our best effort at transcribing a local Nubian toponym that, so far as we know, has never previously been rendered in written form. Local residents did not know the source or meaning of ‘’Erbe”. 2 More accurately the earliest occupations at 21-S-10, and possibly also at 21-S-2, belong to the Classic Christian II rather than to the Late Christian period.

3 This structure was designated as House B1 in its original form as a unit house, and as B2 in its rebuilt form as a late house.

99

Map 6.1. Site 21-S-9, general plan showing buildings and compound walls. Building walls are shown in outline without hatching; compound walls are identified by fine hatching. House E1 is off the map at bottom; House G2 is off the map at right. Contours at intervals of 5m above the level of the Nile on 29 May 1969. Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel.

21-S-9 is a talus-covered slope, which forms a kind of westward spur from the main ridge of Erbenarti Island (Map 6.1). Scattered over its surface are the remains of half a dozen structures made from rudely piled stone masonry (Houses E2-E7). They are generally similar in appearance to the dilapidated stone huts found in many

surrounds the unit House C1, on its west and south sides. There is no wall to the north or east of the house, where the jebel drops away steeply.

The stone huts Outside and to the west of the enclosed compounds at 100

places on the island of Kulubnarti (e.g. Sites 21-S-41 and 21-S-45 see Chapter VII). Four of the structures (E2-4 and E7) are essentially round in plan, with a diameter in each case of about 6m. Each has a clearly recognizable doorway, but no floor features were found in any of the houses. House E5 differs in comprising two rooms, one of which is nearly square in plan, and contains a masonrylined fireplace. The second, adjoining room is more nearly half-round in plan. The remains of House E6 are very denuded, but the building appears to have been long and narrow, and comprised of two rooms.

The very dilapidated condition of the huts suggests that they belong to an early phase of occupation, as does their sherd content. Ceramic fragments were abundant within and around the huts, and came overwhelmingly from large, wheel-made utility vessels (Wares U5 and U10). The very few decorated sherds were mainly of Classic, Post-Classic, and Late Christian wares, but decorated hand-made wares H6 and H7 were conspicuously absent. These circumstances point to an occupation mainly in the 12th and 13th centuries. All of the huts are quite large as one- or two-room dwellings go, and only House E5 has 101

TABLE 6.1. Comprehensive list of houses at Site 21-S-9 House no.

Outside dimensions

No. of rooms

Wall construction

Stone huts C3

4.8 x 4m

1

Rough stone

E2

6.6 x 6m

1

Rough stone

E3

7.2 x 6.4m

1

Rough stone

E4

6.2 x 5.6m

1

Rough stone

E5

14.2 x 9.2m

2

Rough stone

E6

13.8 x 6.4m

1?

Rough stone

E7

5.6 x 5m

1

Rough stone

B1

6.3 x 4.3m

3?

Mud brick with stone foundations

C1

5.3 x 4.7m

5

Mud brick with stone foundations

D1

7.2 x 4.2m

?

Mud brick with stone foundations

one-storey unit houses

D2

4 x 2.4m

6?

Mud brick

E1*

6 .8 x ?m

4+

Mud brick

two-storey unit house A1

6 x 4.2m

7

Mud brick with jalus repairs

Late houses A6

4 x 3.2m

3

Mud brick; rough stone; natural boulders

C2

7.4 x 5.2m

2

Mud brick on rough stone foundations

A2-5

14.8 x 6m

4

Jalus; stone girdle wall

B2

7.3 x 6.3m

3

Jalus; older mud brick; stone girdle wall

Recent jalus houses

F1

4.6 x 4m

1

Jalus; natural boulder

G1

8.4 x 6m

2

Jalus; natural boulders

G2*

13 x 5.2m

4

Jalus; natural boulders

rooms. Interior doorways are generally low and narrow, as is typical in Late Christian unit houses. However, the doorway between Rooms 1-2 and 1-1 has been enlarged and reinforced at some point, with stone masonry buttresses added on either side of the door opening. This doorway also was equipped with a pivoting wooden door, on the Room 1-1 side. There are no storerooms without lateral entrances in House C1, but Room 1-4 is entered only by means of a small, arched opening high in its east wall (cf. Map 6.2a). There are also no intramural crypts; the space between the ceiling vaults is solidly filled with brick (Map 6.2a). Room 1-1 has a small, brick-lined storage crypt or pit sunk below floor level at the base of the north wall. Apart from this, no floor features were preserved in House C1.

* These houses are not shown on the site plan.

a floor feature, which might mark it as a dwelling. The others might be outdoor working areas of some kind.

The one-storey unit houses House C1. Site 21-S-9 includes three one-storey unit houses, of which the best preserved is C1 (Map 6.2). This house was at the center of the most southerly walled compound, as previously described. The house is built of mud brick, with walls 400mm thick resting on low stone foundations. The building is in a generally good state of preservation, with most of the vaulted roofs intact in the more northerly rooms (Map 6.2a; Plate 6.1b). The floor plan comprises a series of five interconnected rooms, which are entered from the outside through a doorway at the south-west corner of the house. The doorway as currently preserved is 700mm wide and 1.35m high, but it looks to have been enlarged from an original, smaller opening. The presence of a pivoting wooden door is proclaimed by a socket stone in the floor and by a bolt-hole in the west wall beside the doorway. The plan of House C1 is unusual in that the outside doorway opens only into a small antechamber (Room 1-3). From here a low, arched doorway, 1m high, gives access to the much larger Room 1-2, and the other interior

House B1 is situated within the Middle Compound, just inside its gateway. Apparently it was originally a unit house with dimensions of 6.3 x 4.2m, and with walls 400mm thick. The exterior walls are of mud brick raised on low stone foundations. Comparatively little of the original structure survives; most of what is visible today results from the rebuilding of the house in stone and jalus at a late date (House B2). The original stone foundations are fully preserved, but the mud brick upper walls remain standing only along the north and west sides of the house, and in a part of 102

one interior partition. Enough survives at the west side to show that the building had brick vaulted roofs, with the springing about 1.25m above the level of the floor. In the north wall there is one small, oval-shaped window, more or less at eye level.

a group of large boulders. Only the northern end of the house has survived, and the full original dimensions, therefore, cannot be determined. The surviving remains are those of two fairly large and two smaller rooms, with walls 600mm thick and with evidence of vaulted ceilings in three of the four cases. The doorway between Rooms 1 and 2 is unusual in having a lintel which is a true arch, formed of vertically laid bricks.

House D1 is situated on the boulder-strewn, uneven slope outside and below the walled compound areas, to the west. It is classified as a one-storey unit house more on the basis of its size and mud-brick construction than on the basis of its plan, very little of which survives. As preserved, the house comprises only a single very large room. The south and west walls are of mud brick, 400mm thick, resting on a foundation of large boulders (Plate 6.1c). They are preserved to an average height of 1.9m. At the top of the east wall is a line of five small, rectangular windows, more or less symmetrically placed along the full length of the wall. The building presumably had originally a flat roof, for there is no indication of vault springing on either of the two high-standing walls. The north and east walls of House D1 are of heavy, roughly piled stonework, and have quite obviously been constructed at a late date, when the building was used as an animal pen. Presumably the original structure was entirely of brick, but very little of the plan can now be recovered. Along the west wall, at a point near the southwest corner, there is an impression in the plaster to show where a cross-wall was abutted, though no trace of the wall itself is left. Between this point and the south-west corner, the stumps of three palm logs are set into the west wall at a level about 700mm above the floor. Directly below them is a small aperture in the wall, capped by a stone lintel. These features indicate almost certainly that the south-west corner of House D1 was occupied by a toilet chamber, the logs being supports for the toilet platform, and the opening underneath the usual cleanout hole. The presence of a toilet is perhaps the best indication that House D1 was originally a unit house.

The two-storey unit house (Maps 6.3 & 6.4) House A1 occupies the highest elevation at 21-S-9, and seems originally to have been surrounded by its own compound wall (the Northern Compound; Plate 6.1a). It is a very small but otherwise fairly typical two-storey unit house, originally constructed entirely of brick. The house is quite well preserved, both on the upper and lower floors, and shows signs of occupancy until the recent past. The lower floor roof vaults are nearly all intact, and several of the upper floor walls stand nearly to their original height (Map 6.4a). The structure is more crudely built than most of the unit houses at 21-S-2, with walls of uneven thickness, and with no two walls exactly parallel. House A1 underwent considerable modification in the course of its long history. At some late date the north-east corner fell away, and was replaced by a rather crude, curving wall of jalus (Map 6.3). Elsewhere in the house, portions of the upper walls were also restored and/or heightened with jalus.

The underlying structure Most of the walls in House A1 are about 400mm thick, but the south wall is built up over a remnant of masonry 600mm thick, which is apparently the foundation of an earlier building. This earlier house was entered through a wide doorway in the middle of its south wall (see Map 6.3b), but when House A1 was overbuilt the aperture was very much reduced in size, and became merely the cleanout hole for a toilet chamber. The original house had a well-laid mud floor at a level 250mm below the floors in House A1. This surface runs beneath the walls of the overbuilt house, showing that there was a fairly large room in the early house. Other features of the structure were entirely destroyed in the process of overbuilding, and nothing can be said about them.

House D2 is the designation given to some very denuded mud-brick remains, situated among the boulders on the slope below D1. Preserved here are the remnants of at least six small rooms, no one of which is fully intact. The north-south walls are 600mm thick, while the eastwest walls (which are evidently interior partitions) are 400mm thick. The walls in general stand no more than 300 to 400mm high, but one short section stands to a height of 1.7m, and preserves the springing of a vaulted ceiling. The generally small size of the rooms suggests the possibility that at least some of them may have been blind cellars, but preservation is not complete enough in any case to make this a certainty. There is however only one doorway in the surviving remnants of wall. The thick walls and the very small rooms suggest a possibility that House D2 was originally a two-storey unit house, while on the other hand the floor preservation argues against such an interpretation.

The original two-storey house If House A1 was a typical two-storey unit house, it should originally have been entered at the level of the upper floor. However, there is no trace of a doorway in any of the surviving upper walls. The original upstairs doorway, if there was one, can only have been at the north-east corner of the house, in the potion of wall that fell away and was replaced with jalus. House A1 is unusual in that the upper floor from the beginning seems to have comprised only two large rooms (Map 6.3a). They were originally connected by a doorway 700mm wide and 1.6m high, though its size was

House E1 is a heavy-walled but somewhat denuded brick structure, situated well below and to the west of the other unit houses.4 Like House D1 it is nestled among and upon 4

Because of its separation from the other structures it is not shown

on the overall site plan, Map 6.1.

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Map 6.2. Site 21-S-9, cross section and plan of Unit Houses C1. a, north to south cross section. Cross-hatching identifies mud-brick construction; vertical hatching superimposed over stone identifier stone construction; fine vertical hatching identifies jebel rock. b, plan. Diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction. Walls shown in outline without hatching are interior features of brick. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

very much reduced in the course of a later modification. There were small rectangular windows, with stone lintels, all the way around the upper storey. Apparently, each of the upper rooms had two windows facing out in each direction, and there are also two interior windows in the partition wall dividing the rooms. Most of the windows are 200mm wide and 450mm high, with flat stone lintels.5 The heights are somewhat variable, but average about 1.3m above the floor. The original method of roofing on the upper storey cannot be determined with absolute certainty, because the original mud-brick walls have been preserved only to a height of about 1.6m. Above that level they were rebuilt in jalus during a later modification of the house. However, there is no trace of vault springing anywhere on the surviving walls, and in addition the large size of the two upper-storey rooms makes it a virtual certainty that they had flat, timbered roofs, like nearly all other two-storey unit houses. Upstairs Room 2-2 exhibits a feature not found in any other house at Kulubnarti. Built into the south-east cor-

ner of the room is a very small chimney-like structure of brick, which is preserved almost to the full height of the room (about 1.6m at this point). The interior dimensions are about 200mm square. There is no opening from the interior of this “chimney” into the room itself; however, the interior passage goes down through the floor and into the underlying Room 1-4, which is clearly a toilet cesspit. It seems evident therefore that the “chimney” is actually the drain for a toilet, which can only have been located on a parapet above Room 2-2. Also in Room 2-2 was a low mastaba, 120mm high and faced with brick, in the north-east corner of the room. House A1 has the usual collection of storage crypts in the interstices between the ground-floor ceiling vaults (Map 6.4b). All but one of them were roofed over with flat stone slabs, several of which were found in situ. The secret crypt in the house was apparently “Room’’ 2-1a, located beneath the floor of Room 2-1 in the north-west corner of the house. This chamber had a vaulted roof, and was entered through an aperture high in the north wall of the ground-floor Room 1-2. The original access to the lower storey was through a small square opening in the floor of Room 2-1, near

5 In other words, about the same size as windows at Site 21-S-2, House D1 and D3. See Chapter II.

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Map 6.3. Site 21-S-9, plans of twostormy Unit House A1. a, upper floor plan. Diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; cross-hatching identifies jalus reconstruction of northwest corner wall, and jalus interior partitions added subsequent to original building. TH = threshold. b, ground floor plan. Fine diagonal hatching identifies mud-brick construction; broad diagonal hatching identifies remnant of underlying. older house; cross-hatching identifies jalus reconstruction of northwest corner wall, and jalus interior partitions added subsequent to original building. TH = threshold. Original field plans by F. W. Hinkel.

a.

b. masonry. At the same time it was necessary to rebuild a part of the roof of Room 1-1, replacing the original brick vaulting with flat stone slabs. Quite possibly at the same time, a rather crude doorway was cut through the eastern wall of the house, giving access to ground floor Room 1-3 and through it to the adjoining Rooms 1-2 and 1-5 (Map 6.3b). The doorway is about 500mm wide and 700mm high, and is banked on the inner side by jalus buttresses, one of which carries a bolt-hole. Meanwhile the original interior doorway to Room 1-1 was solidly blocked up, and the room could subsequently be entered only through the overhead hatchway from Room 2-1. At the rebuilt eastern end of Room 1-1, a small triangular area was closed off from the rest of the room by a thin jalus partition, 1.45m high. We hypothesize that the area thus enclosed became a cesspit for a newly installed toilet in the room overhead. The remainder of Room 1-1 had presumably become a strong-room, a feature not present in the original design of the building. Another late modification was the making of a new access to the upper storey through Room 1-5. Earth was piled into the room to make a sloping ramp leading up

the north-east corner, allowing descent into the underlying Room 1-1. The ground-floor rooms probably had originally no lateral entrance, and were entered only from above, as is usual in two-storey unit houses.6 The ground-floor plan comprises four rather small and narrow interconnected rooms (Rooms 1-1 to 1-3 and 1-5), plus a single room not connected with the others (Room 1-4). Ground-floor doorways, as usual, are relatively small: 500mm wide and 700 to 750mm high. The isolated Room 1-4 is clearly a toilet cesspit, with a small cleanout hole in its south wall.

Later modifications Like most two-storey unit houses, House A1 underwent substantial modifications in the course of its history. The modifications can be clearly recognized because they all involve jalus construction, in contrast to the mud brick of the original building. The most conspicuous change was the rebuilding of the entire north-east corner in jalus, presumably following the collapse of the original brick 6 This cannot be established with certainty because of the subsequent destruction and replacement of the walls at the north-east corner of the house.

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toward the south end, where a crude hole was cut through the ceiling vault into the overlying Room 2-2. Two toeholds were cut into the east wall directly below the aperture, to facilitate climbing through the hole. Also, a small, teardrop-shaped window was cut through the south wall, to provide light for those using the ramp and steps. Apparently this now became the main access to the upper rooms, since after the rebuilding of the north-east corner there was no longer any second-storey doorway. On the upper floor, the original mud brick walls are preserved only to a height of about 1.6m. Above that level they have been rebuilt in jalus which in places stands to a height of 2.35m. At this level there is evidence of a flat roof supported on palm logs, one of which, in Room 2-2 remains in situ. Since it rests on jalus rather than on brick masonry, this roof must be a feature of the rebuilt house and not of the original one. At one point, near the north-west corner of Room 2-2, a section of jalus extends upward for another 500mm above the level of the roof beams, indicating the presence of a parapet. The original upper-floor doorway between Rooms 2-1 and 2-2 was very much reduced in size, not only by the insertion of jalus jambs but by raising the threshold level and lowering the lintel level. The resulting opening is only 450mm wide and 600mm high, in contrast to the very much larger earlier doorway at this point. A small jalus buttress, with a bolt-hole, was built beside the doorway on the Room 2-1 side. These modifications seem to evidence a new concern specifically to make Room 2-1 (and the access to Room 1-1) secure. At the east end of Room 2-1, two small areas are partitioned off by low jalus partitions 300mm high (Map 6.3a). One of these enclosures is triangular in shape, and has an opening in its floor leading down into the small, walled-off area at the east end of the underlying Room 1-1. This suggests the probability that the structure was a toilet platform. The other jalus enclosure is rectangular in shape; its function could not be determined. In Room 2-2, a wing-wall of jalus 400mm thick and 1.7m long extends into the room just beside the doorway (Map 6.3a). Its top is stair-stepped in four levels, the lowest step being about 250mm above the floor and the top step (adjoining the north room wall) 1.45m above floor level. Probably this was a stairway to provide access to a hatchway in the roof, from which the overhead parapet was reached. Room 2-2 contained a considerable quantity of occupation refuse from the most recent period of occupation. There was a substantial deposit of fine white ash, the bases of two mud somas, and several broken handmade vessels. One of the most significant modifications in House A1 was the closing up of the second-storey windows. One or two were blocked completely, but in most a small round aperture 100 to 150mm diameter was left at the top of the original opening. As at Site 21-S-2, this is almost certainly evidence of a change from archery to musketry as the principal means of defense, perhaps sometime in the 18th century.

A1 seems to involve three phases of development. First there was a stoutly built brick house with a doorway in the south wall. Only a few traces of this remain, for it was almost wholly dismantled when the two-storey Unit House Al was overbuilt. In the beginning A1 was a small but fairly typical unit house, entered only at the level of the second storey. As usual there were vaulted roofs on the ground floor and a flat roof on the upper floor, with a parapet above. This latter feature suggests that House A1 may have served as a lookout post for the whole community at 21-S-9; a logical function since it occupied the highest ground on the site. The installation of a latrine on the parapet might indicate that a watch was kept pretty continually. At some later date, and possibly after a considerable interval of abandonment, House A1 underwent a substantial rebuilding, employing jalus construction exclusively. The fallen north-east corner was rebuilt, the partially denuded second-storey walls were built back up, and various modifications were made in the house interior. Access was now through a ground-floor doorway in the east wall, while the upper storey was reached by a hatchway from below rather than vice versa. In this condition the house continued to be occupied until the fairly recent past.

Chronological summary

House A2-5 comprises four contiguous rooms, each of which was originally designated as a separate house. The

The late houses Only two structures at Site 21-S-9 have been tentatively classified as late houses (Table 6.1), of the type previously identified at 21-S-2. The relatively small House A6, built of a combination of brick and stone masonry, adjoins the west side of the compound wall surrounding House A1. Structurally, this house bears the closest resemblance to late houses at 21-S-2, in that its walls incorporate several kinds of masonry as well as large natural boulders, and the plan is somewhat irregular. House C2 comprises two rooms abutting against the Middle and South Compound walls. The surviving walls are mainly heavy stone foundations, with a small amount of mud brick preserved here and there along the tops.

The jalus houses Jalus houses represent a special kind of late house, found at Kulubnarti mainly at 21-S-9. In plan they are relatively similar to other late houses, but the constructed portions of their walls are mostly of jalus (coursed adobe) rather than of either brick or stone masonry. The jalus construction is typically no more than 200mm thick, somewhat curving, and sometimes rests on a low foundation of stone masonry. In addition, all the structures make some use either of previously built stone compound walls or of natural boulders, which provide support for the otherwise thin and flimsy walls. It is presumed that the jalus houses were built sometime after 1700, when jalus construction was first introduced to Nubia (cf. Adams 1987a, 335). Despite the thinness of their walls, most of jalus houses are fairly well preserved, with walls standing to a height of one to two meters. The evidence in several cases suggests that these were mainly grinding and cooking areas.

Insofar as it can be reconstructed, the history of House 106

B1, apparently after a long period of abandonment and decay. On the east and south, new walls of jalus were built up from the original stone foundations, while at the north and west jalus was added to the tops of the surviving brick walls. Numerous small, flat stones were inserted into the mud facing of the exterior walls, giving them a kind of pebbled appearance.7 Notches along the top of the north wall indicate the original location of roof timbers. The interior of the rebuilt house was divided into two fairly large rooms, again by adding jalus to the top of a previously existing brick partition. In the more northerly room, a small rectangular area in the north-east corner was enclosed by a low jalus partition, and a handmade pot was buried under the floor here. It is not clear how the reoccupied house was entered; there is no evidence a. of a doorway in the surviving exterior walls. In addition to restoring the old unit House B1, the late occupants also ran two new walls across the space between its west wall and the nearby stone wall of the middle enclosure, thus adding a large new room at the west side of the house. The walls are built partly of jalus and partly of irregularly laid brick, which has obviously been reused from the older structure. The new room was not connected with the others in the house but was entered from the outside through a doorway in its south wall; however, this was later blocked up. House G1 is a fairly large structure enclosed on three sides by thin, curving jalus walls, and on the fourth side by a natural rock outcrop (Plate 6.1e). The house comprises a narrow outer room and a larger inner room, with a long section of wing wall projecting into the inner room from a point beside the doorway. The mud foundation for a rahaya (quern) was found in the b. outer room, and two well-used grinding slabs in the inner room. In the north-west corner of the inner room, a kind of shelf was made by creating a mud platform Map 6.4. Site 21-S-9, cross section and plan of two-storey Unit House with a raised edge on top of two natural jebel rocks A1. a, north to south cross section. Cross-hatching of diagonal and that project into the room at this point. horizontal lines identities original mud-brick construction; crossHouse G2 is a very denuded structure situated at a hatching of diagonal lines only identifies jalus reconstruction of north south of G1, and also wall; fine vertical hatching identifies stone cover-slabs over crypts, and considerable distances to the 8 jebel rock. Italic lower-case letters identify crypts. b, upper-floor plan built up against a rock face. The jalus walls are supported on low stone foundations, but they remain showing locations of crypts below floors. standing only to a height of about 250mm. The upper Original field plan by F. W. Hinkel. portions of the walls had mostly collapsed into the house interior. The surviving portions show that the whole group adjoins the east side of the compound wall exterior faces were set with small projecting stones, as surrounding House A1, but was certainly built at a much in House B2. The original plan of the house was nearly later date than either the unit house or the compound square, and comprised an inner room enclosed between wall (Plate 6.1d). Rooms A2 and A3, though not intertwo narrow outer rooms. As in House A2-5, there were connected, were evidently built at the same time. The mud ridges and a small square fireplace in the floor of the adjoining rooms A4 and A5 were added later. These two inner room. At a later date, a very large additional room rooms are interconnected, with a single entrance from the was built, adjoining the older rooms on the south. outside. All of the rooms were apparently storage and/or An odd peculiarity of House G2 is that it is built directly working areas, probably satellite to House A1. The floors over a denuded Christian cemetery, of which the builders are divided into small square or rectangular areas by low were perhaps unaware (see The burials, below). mud ridges, and each room has a small square fireplace enclosed also by floor ridges. In the floors of Rooms A3 and A5 are raised mud supports for querns.

7 This feature was observed also at Site 21-S-42; see Chapter VII and Plate 7.1e. 8 Because of its distance from the rest of the site this house is not shown on the overall site plan, Map 6.1.

House B2 represents a rebuilding of the older unit House 107

House F1, the smallest of the jalus houses, comprises a single room built up against a natural rock face, at the northern extremity of the site.

bone. 39,172 sherds were studied, tallied, and discarded on the site. Animal bone collections are discussed in Kulubnarti II.

Chronological summary Ceramic and architectural evidence suggests a history of occupation at Site 21-S-9 very similar to that at 21-S-2, at least in the earlier centuries. The earliest structures9 were probably stone huts, built perhaps as early as AD 1100; these were followed after 1200 or 1250 by the one-storey and two-storey unit houses. Occupation in these almost certainly continued until 1500 or later. The rough stone late houses evidently belong entirely to the Post-Christian period, but the exact date of their building is uncertain. The jalus construction of five houses, and repair of several others, certainly belongs to a very late period, following the introduction of jalus construction perhaps in the 18th century. This may represent a reoccupation of the site after a period of abandonment, for the older brick houses were evidently in a very dilapidated condition at the time when the repairs were added. Once rebuilt, the jalus houses were probably occupied at least into the 19th century, and possibly into the early 20th.

The burials Immediately below the floors of House G2 were found eight skeletons, buried in shallow, oval pits (Plate 6.1f). The bodies appear to be those of five adults two subadults, and one infant.10 They are all arranged in the usual Christian burial posture, either dorsally or laterally extended with heads to the west. There is no covering of bricks or stones over the heads or other parts of the bodies. The spacing of the bodies, from 0.5 to 1m apart, is consistent with the usual practice in Christian cemeteries. The skeletons however were encountered only about 200mm below the floor level in House G2, which is also the natural ground level outside. Despite the close proximity of bodies and walls, it seems very unlikely that there can be any connection between the interments and the overlying House G2. The burial position of the skeletons marks them unmistakably as Christian or earlier, while the jalus architecture of the house is equally certainly Post-Christian. Most probably an old cemetery had undergone extensive surface deflation, destroying all traces of superstructures and bringing the bodies within a few centimeters of the ground surface, when its site was unwittingly chosen for the building of the jalus house. We did not undertake testing to see if other burials were present, beyond the immediate vicinity of House G2.

Small finds The excavations at 21-S-9 yielded 103 registered objects. They are listed in Appendix A, and are described in more detail in Kulubnarti II (Adams and Adams 1998). In addition study collections were made of sherds and of animal 9 Disregarding the possibility of Meroitic and X-Group occupation, which was not clearly established. 10 Properly speaking, seven of the bodies were found under the floor of Room 2, and one was found just outside its north wall.

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CHAPTER VII OTHER ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS The four major sites described in preceding chapters were the main focus of interest for the University of Kentucky Expedition, and received the bulk of the expedition’s attention. However, eight other architectural sites were also located on the island of Kulubnarti. They were recorded with varying degrees of completeness, but only the habitation site 21-S-40 and the church site 21-S-49 were the scene of major excavations. The descriptions that follow here are based mainly on surface observations and a limited amount of trial excavation. It should be recalled that none of these sites has been destroyed by the waters of Lake Nubia; they remain available for fuller investigation at any time in the future. The sites reported here were all investigated and recorded by Thomas E. Higel, except for 21-S-49 and 21-S-50, which were investigated by W. Y. Adams.

the uppermost 2.5m of wall. The walls are fully preserved only at the northern side (Plate 7.1b). They have a very pronounced batter from bottom to top, and may have been built in a single episode in spite of the different materials employed. There are stone-lined socket-holes for beams at a level about 5m above the ground, and there are small round loopholes both in the parapet wall above the roof level and in the room wall below it. Two storage crypts, one lined with brick and one with mud, are sunk into the floor in the building. The adjoining compound wall is built of stone to a height of about 1m, and of jalus above that level. This structure was probably unroofed, except for a beam directly over the gateway. Immediately to the east of the original kourfa is a second one (Unit B), consisting of a very stout, square tower with a roughly rectangular courtyard and/or house adjoining it (Plate 7.lc). Both the tower and courtyard are entirely of jalus construction. The tower is fully preserved to its original height of about 4m, and has much of its roof intact. The roof is comprised of palm logs overlaid with jerid (palm leaf ribs) and then with grass matting. There are small round loopholes in the north, east, and south walls, arranged at different angles so as to allow covering fire in several directions (cf. Map 7.1), Unlike Tower A, Tower B has no parapet above the roof level. The courtyard or house adjoining the tower seems to have consisted of at least three rooms, although the interior partitions are somewhat denuded. There are no surviving beam sockets to indicate that the structure was roofed, although this seems probable at least in the case of the two smaller rooms. Below and to the north and west of Units A and B is a much larger, more or less rectangular walled compound (Unit C), which clearly represents a later addition. It was entered through a wide doorway at the eastern end, which probably provided the only access to the whole of the Western Diffi in its last phase. The area within the gateway is open and unroofed, while further to the west there are several closed rooms built against the inner courtyard wall. All of these have beam sockets to show that they were originally roofed, and the room at the north-west corner still preserves intact its roof of palm logs, jerid, and matting (Plate 7.1d). Construction throughout Unit C is entirely of jalus, with most of the walls still standing to their original height of about 2.5m.

The northern kourfas Site 21-S-42 (Maps 7.1 & 7.2; Plate 7.1) Site 21-S-42 is perhaps the most visually conspicuous site on the island of Kulubnarti (cf. Plate 7.1a). It consists of two large kourfa compounds, situated on the top and sides of a low, steep-sided ridge, and a detached group of rooms at the foot of the ridge. The two kourfa compounds are separated from each other by a distance of about 50m. Dominating the site are two fairly tall towers, one of which is almost fully preserved. According to an informant from the nearby village, the towers were built by a certain Hillali, a kind of local patriarch at Kulubnarti, perhaps in the early 19th century. The interiors of the towers were fully excavated in 1969, and limited excavation was done in three other rooms as well. The two compounds are always referred to locally as diffi,1 and will be so designated here. The Western Diffi is the larger and more impressive of the two, with total dimensions of about 30 x 22m (Map 7.1). Both of the conspicuous towers are located within this compound, which occupies the western end of the ridge on which it is built (Plate 7.1a). The compound is very irregular in shape, and appears to have grown by accretion from a relatively small beginning to its present large size. The earliest structures were presumably those on the summit of the ridge, while later additions were made on the adjoining northern, southern, and western slopes. The oldest structure, according to our reconstruction, is a small kourfa (Unit A) comprising an oval-shaped tower and a small adjoining courtyard, which is also ovalshaped, at the western end of the ridge top. The tower is built of stone masonry to a height of about 2m, of brick above that level for another 2m, and finally of jalus for 1

The Eastern Diffi stands about 50m to the east of its neighbor, along the same ridge top. It is a single large, roughly square kourfa, with maximum outside dimensions of 19 x 20m (Map 7.2). Like all kourfas it is a walled compound with a projecting tower (Room 3) at one corner; in this case, at the south east. The enclosure is entered through a single fortified gateway in the middle of the south wall. The whole structure is built of jalus except for the tower, which is partly of brick. Along the

The Nubian name for any conspicuously upstanding ruin.

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110

Map 7.1. Site 21-S-42, general plan of the Western Diffi. For explanation see the legend. Original field plan by T. E. Higel.

111

Map 7.2. Site 21-S-42, general plan of the Eastern Diffi. For explanation see the legend. Original field plan by T. E. Higel.

northern side of the enclosure, the jalus enclosing wall rests on a low foundation of stonework. Like its western neighbor, the Eastern Diffi seems to have grown by accretion. The earliest component was probably the two-room house (Rooms 1 and 2) at the eastern side, which is entered from outside the Diffi enclosure rather than from within it. The exterior walls of this house exhibit a distinctive decorative feature, noted also at Site 21- S-9 (see Chapter VI, House B2). Innumerable small fragments of stone are set into the facing of the jalus resulting in a roughly pebbled appearance (Plate 7.1e). Although the walls are preserved virtually to their original height, there is no trace of loopholing, suggesting that this was in the beginning an ordinary, unfortified house. The next element to be built was the square tower (Room 3), which adjoins the original house on its southern side (Plate 7.1c). It is built of very large mud bricks to a height of about 1.6m, and of jalus above that level. The structure is not preserved to its full original height, and there are no beam sockets in the surviving walls. The kourfa complex was completed by the addition of a walled courtyard to the north and west of the original structures and the partitioning off of a line of rooms along the western side of the compound. The western rooms are all entered from within the compound, as is usual in kourfas. They are mostly preserved to their full original height, with numerous beam sockets to indicate how they were roofed. The western rooms as well as the open part of the courtyard are plentifully provided with round loopholes, angled to permit fire in various directions.

is located within the modern-day village of Kulb Saab, at its northern end. The compound should probably be classed as a kourfa, although it differs from other kourfas in that the tower (Room 6) is not structurally independent from the neighboring buildings; it is built integrally with the adjoining enclosure wall. The whole complex is built of jalus resting on stone foundations, except that the entranceway is flanked on the interior by wing walls of heavy stone masonry. The entrance is more or less in the middle of the west wall, where there was originally a pivoting wooden door. Directly above the doorway was a wooden platform, and five loopholes in the wall above this level permitted the defenders to fire on anyone attacking the door. A century ago this structure was the residence of Abdel Magid el-Qadi, who was the official qadi for the whole district between Ukma and Dal. The building may however have been originally built at an earlier date. Abdel Magid was the grandson of Hillali, who reportedly built the kourfas at 21-S-42. The compound interior consists mostly of open space, with a line of enclosed rooms (1-5) at the north end, a single room (7) just beside the entryway, and the tower (6) at the south end. Two of the northern rooms (2 and 3) appear to have been built first; they were in the beginning an ordinary two-room house, entered through a doorway in the middle of the south wall. The house stands on a slightly elevated rock outcrop, and is approached by a series of stone steps leading up to the doorway. The western room (2) is devoid of features, while the eastern (3) contains a mud mastaba and also a low stone partition running part-way across the floor. Projecting from all of the interior house walls, high above the floor, are wooden pegs, spaced about one meter apart. The house has three small round loopholes in its northern wall and one in its eastern wall. The latter must date from a time before the rest of the compound was built, since it now opens only into an adjoining room (4). The remainder of the compound was evidently added later than Rooms 2 and 3, and has much thicker external walls, averaging just over 1m thick at the base. However some later-added interior partitions, in Rooms 4 and 5, are only 350 to 400mm thick. Throughout the complex the walls are mostly standing to or nearly to their original heights, and beam sockets are visible everywhere except in Room 7. Except in the rooms with thin walls, the beam sockets run only part-way through the thickness of the walls. It is a distinct peculiarly of this kourfa that there are no loopholes in the later-added enclosure wall except directly over the gateway. There are, however, four small loopholes in the northern wall of the tower (Room 6); these open into the courtyard rather than to the outside. Like the original house, the tower has wooden pegs projecting from the interior walls at regular intervals. We suppose that when the kourfa was complete, Rooms 2 and 3 were the residence of the owner, Rooms 4 and 5, and possibly Room 1, were storerooms, Room 7 was a guard room, and Room 6 was the watchtower. The place was presumably built in the 18th or 19th century, and according to local traction it remained occupied until about 50 yeas ago, when the roofs were taken off. Since that time it has served as an animal pen.

The lower room group. Directly below the Eastern Diffi, the southern face of the ridge is marked by a nearly vertical cliff. At its foot, and built directly against the rock face, is a line of jalus rooms that are in varying states of preservation. The most northerly room still preserves most of its roof, and has a wooden door in situ; it is used for fodder storage by the residents of a nearby house (Plate 7.1f). Several of the rooms have regular rectangular windows, on the average 250mm wide and 550mm high, but none of them have loopholes. Evidently these structures, unlike those on the ridge above, were not designed for defense. Chronological indications. The prevailing jalus construction shows that site 21-S-42 is entirely of PostChristian date. We suppose that the bulk of occupation took place in the late 18th and 19th centuries, as in most other kourfas (cf. Vila 1979, 72), although there is some evidence of replastering and repairs within the past 50 years. Probably the place was originally two separate residential and storage complexes, one comprised of the Western Diffi and the other of the Eastern Diffi and the rooms directly below it. Collections. Site 21-S-42 yielded 15 catalogued objects; 232 potsherds were also recovered and tallied but not saved.

Site 21-S-44 (Map 7.3) Site 21-S-44 is a stoutly walled compound, measuring about 30m north-south by 20m east-west (Map 7.3). It 112

113 Map 7.3. Site 21-S-44, general plan. All construction is of jalus except where stone is indicated. Redrawn by the W. Y. Adams from original field plan by T. E. Higel.

Map 7.4. Site 21-S-40, plan of the northern houses. For explanation see the legend. Original field plan by T. E. Higel.

Site 21-S-40

We did not undertake any excavation at Site 21-S-44, and no collections were made.2

(Maps 7.4 and 7.5; P1ate7.2a-c) This hut cluster occupies the ridgetop just to the east of Site 21-S-42, described above (Plate 7.2a). It includes four room clusters having four or more rooms each (Complex A and Houses 4, 5, and 9), and two smaller, two-room houses (7 and 8), scattered over an area measuring about 100m north-south by 50m east-west (Maps 7.4 & 7.5). Construction is mostly in heavy but fairly well-laid stone masonry; there is also some use of jalus and some rebuilding in coarse dry-laid stonework. Three houses were completely excavated by us, and two others were partly excavated.

House and hut clusters Small, tumbledown huts, mostly of rough stone construction, can be found almost everywhere on the island of Kulubnarti, and more particularly on its western half.3 In four places they were sufficiently concentrated so that we gave them site designation, although we did not do a large amount of excavation in any of them.

2 Our roll of photographs of this site was unhappily spoiled in the field; thus, no illustrations are included in the present work. 3 They are also found abundantly throughout the whole of the Batn el-Hajjar region; cf. Mills 1965, 3-12 and especially Plate I, a.

Complex A (Map 7.4). At the north end of Site 21-S-40 is a group of four two-room houses or huts (Houses 1-3 and 114

the neighboring room is represented only by a line of large, loosely piled stones. Complex A could be interpreted as a very primitive and very denuded kourfa, the “tower” being represented by the loopholed Room 1 in House 1. As can be seen in the photo (Plate 7.2a) this structure stands considerably higher than any other on the site, and is also situated on the highest ground on the site. House 4 is a very irregular cluster of seven or eight rooms, situated about 5m to the south of Complex A. Construction is mostly in rather heavy, well-laid stone masonry (Plate 7.2c), but there are also some walls of much more loosely piled stone, and some construction or repair in jalus. At the western side of the house is one room built entirely of thin jalus. There are interconnections between two pairs of rooms in House 4; it is not possible to determine how the remaining rooms were entered. House 5, just to the south east of House 4, is a somewhat irregular alignment of five rooms, built of heavy and fairly well-laid stone masonry. The most southerly room, which is poorly preserved, appears to have been quite large, while the others are much smaller. The group evidently grew by accretion, with Room 2 constructed first and others added to the north and south of it at later dates. Houses 7, 8 and 9 (Map 7.5) are situated close together in a line, about 25m to the south of Houses 1-6. All are built of heavy stone masonry. Houses 7 and 8 are each comprised of two rooms that are not interconnected, while the irregular-shaped House 9 originally had at least four rooms. Jalus construction at Site 21-S-40 points to an occupation mainly in the 18th and/or 19th centuries; four of the buildings are still used for fodder storage by local villagers. Our excavations yielded 150 catalogued objects and 825 potsherds, which were tallied but not retained.

Map 7.5. Site 21-S-40, plan of the southern houses. All construction is of mortared stone masonry. Original field plan by T. E. Higel.

Site 21-S-43 (Plate 7.2d-f)

6) situated close together, and encompassed by a roughly built enclosure wall of large, loosely piled stones. These structures were collectively designated as Complex A.

This cluster of dwellings stands by itself on a small ridge at the west side of Kulubnarti Island. On the summit of the ridge are the very denuded remains of three heavy brick structures, which appear to have been Late Christian unit houses (Plate 7.2d). On the walls of one house, small fragments of three painted inscriptions, in Greek or Old Nubian, could be observed. After the original houses had fallen into an advanced state of decay they were partly built back up with jalus and with rough stone masonry, and once again became spacious, multi-room dwellings (Plate 7.2e). In their rebuilt state they may have remained in use as recently as the beginning of the 20th century, for the jalus walls are generally in good repair although the roofs are gone. Below the summit of the ridge is a curious, two-room jalus structure with markedly battered walls, built against a vertical rock face (Plate 7.2f). The structure is fully intact, including its roof and wooden door, and is used today for fodder storage.

House 1, at the north side, appears to have been built originally of rather thin jalus resting on a stone foundation, but its more easterly room has been largely destroyed and has been rebuilt with dry-laid stone masonry. The western room is much more nearly intact, with jalus walls standing in places nearly to their original height of about two meters (Plate 7.2b). There are at least two roughly-made loopholes in the north (outside) wall of this room. There is no indication of interconnection between the two rooms of the house as they are currently preserved. Houses 2 and 6 are each comprised of two interconnected rooms built of fairly well laid and mortared stone masonry. The walls in both houses stand to an average height of about 1m. House 3 has one room of mortared stone masonry while 115

Map 7.6. Site 21-S-49, plan of Church A and adjoining building B. Stone and brickwork are shown schematically, not accurately to scale. G = grave. Original field plan by W. Y. Adams.

the western side of the island, adjoining the Kulubnarti channel. Here, we gave the designation 21-S-45 to a collection of 40 or more huts, scattered over an area about a kilometer long and 200m wide. Eight of the buildings were fully excavated by us. The huts at 21-S-45 are closely similar to those at 21S-41. They are typically small, one-room affairs built of rude, frequently dry-piled stone masonry, though there are a few houses with two or more rooms. Most of the one-room huts are either round or square in plan. The majority are very denuded, but a few have obviously been repaired in the recent past, and some show clear evidence of use as animal pens. Low doorways with lintel stones still in place are preserved in two of the recently rebuilt houses (Plate 7.3c). Both Classic and Late Christian sherds were found scattered over the area of the site, and we hypothesize that the original structures were flimsy houses from those periods, with some rebuilding taking place within the last couple of centuries. No registered objects were recovered from Site 21-S-45.

We carried out only brief test excavations in one house at 21-S-43. Eleven registered objects and 154 sherds were collected.

Site 21-S-41 (Plate 7.3a-b) This designation was given to a collection of small, roughly-built stone huts that are strung out over a distance of about 400m, along the top and sides of a low ridge. There are at least 12 huts altogether, in three separate clusters. Some are essentially round in shape (Plate 7.3a), some are square or rectangular (Plate 7.3b), and some are irregular and are built up against natural rock faces. Most seem to have comprised a single small room, but at least two two-room houses were observed. The inside dimensions of the individual rooms rarely exceed 2 x 2m. The condition of most of the buildings is extremely denuded (cf. Plate 7.3b), with stonework surviving only to a height of 150 to 300mm, although a few have obviously been rebuilt with dry-piled stone masonry in the fairly recent past (Plate 7.3a). On the basis of limited sherd finds and of the very denuded condition of the walls we hypothesized that the original huts were Classic and/or Late Christian flimsy houses. We carried out no excavation, and no registered objects were collected.

The northern church Site 21-S-49 (Map 7.6; Plate 7.3d) Just below and to the east of Site 21-S-40, on a level area of alluvium, we found the remains of a fairly large church (Building A) and of a structure adjoining it (Building B); both so denuded that virtually nothing was visible on the found surface. We probably would not have excavated in this unpromising locality had we not been informed by local residents that a large and handsomely decorated church had stood here within living memory. It was

Site 21-S-45 (Plate 7.3c) Although rude stone huts can be observed almost everywhere on the island of Kulubnarti, they are especially concentrated on the rounded, boulder- strewn summits at 116

known as Husus-en-kisse,4 and was said to have been entirely destroyed for the sake of sebakh within the present century. Our excavations did indeed uncover the foundations of the church (Plate 7.3d), though the conditions we encountered made it hard to believe that destruction had taken place very recently, for both stones and brick walls were denuded almost to the vanishing point. Both the church and the adjoining structure were built on a cleared surface of hard, level alluvium, which served as the original floor in each case.

set on edge. A small brick buttress adjoins the southern door, on its east side. The arrangements at the western end of the building, insofar as they are discernible, seem to deviate from usual practices in Nubian church architecture. The western rooms are separated from the rest of the church by a stout wall of stone, rather than by brick partitioning as was apparently used elsewhere for interior walls. Access to these rooms is through a relatively narrow doorway (1.6m wide) in the middle of the wall, rather than by a passage of the same width as the nave. At the south-west corner of the building, a small room is partitioned off by stone masonry, but the surviving remnants are so denuded that the original location of the doorway cannot be determined. Within the room is a small, thin partition of brick, which divides the chamber into two compartments of roughly equal size. The floor throughout the south-west corner room is a well packed mud surface, and there are remnants of plaster on the walls extending down to floor level, suggesting the probability that this room did not contain a stairway. There are no surviving traces of a corresponding room at the north-west corner of the church. Of the original western enclosing wall of the church virtually nothing remains except a few remnants of upright brick foundations, and a few loose stones that may or may not be part of the original walls. Brick foundations were not employed elsewhere in the exterior walls that have survived, and their presence here suggests the possibility that the whole western wall may have been of brick, as was the adjoining Building B (see Map 7.6). Traces of original plastering are preserved in the south aisle and in the south-west corner room. On the south wall of the south aisle there is a hard, white gypsum plaster, which extends onto the adjoining portion of the original mud floor. The south-west corner room has a much cruder mud plaster which is not whitewashed. It is clear from the aforementioned evidence of plastering that the church originally had a hard mud floor; actually the natural alluvial surface on which the edifice is built. Later, most of the interior was refloored with rough and somewhat irregular flagstones, at a level 150 to 200mm above that of the original floor. The flagging has survived intact throughout most of the sanctuary area and in adjoining portions of the north and south aisles; elsewhere it has been largely quarried away except for a few individual stones here and there. The flagging did not however extend into the western rooms, which were refloored with wet-laid mud at a level about 100mm above the original floor level. Finger-marks are still clearly visible in the mud of the renewed floor, suggesting that this surface did not receive much traffic.

The church (Building A). The church, like all Nubian churches, is a rectangular building oriented east and west.5 The exterior dimensions are 15.5 x 9m (Map 7.6). The exterior walls, or what survives of them, are of well-laid stone masonry, 750mm thick. Along the north and south sides of the building they are mostly preserved to a height of 500 to 700mm, while the east and west walls are almost entirely destroyed. It is possible that the surviving stonework is only the foundation for walls of brick; this would explain why so little remains of the exterior walls as well as of the brick interior walls.6 The east end of the church is the most poorly preserved section. There is no surviving trace of an apse or of corner rooms to the north and south of it. However, impressions on the interior faces of the north and south walls show where the walls enclosing the corner rooms and apse shell should have abutted, and the threshold slab for a doorway is preserved at the east end of the north aisle. Also preserved is a short section of brickwork, faced with mud plaster on the west side but not the east side, which may represent the lowest step of a tribune that once filled the apse. If our reconstruction is correct the building would have had either a very elongate apse, or (much more probably) a passage behind the apse, as is usual in Nubian churches except in the earliest and latest periods (see Adams 2009, 387). The nave was separated from the north and south aisles by four mud-brick piers, of which the foundations of three remain in situ. The more or less symmetrical placement of the piers suggests the possibility that they supported a central dome. Adjoining the north-east pier are foundations of a brick wing wall which partially screened the sanctuary from the north aisle; another feature very common in Nubian churches (see Adams 1965a, 97). Adjoining the opposite (west) side of the same pier are three small stones which may be all that remains of a pulpit. A short distance further south, a single mud brick resting on the floor is probably the sole surviving remnant of the higab (ikonostasis). Sockets in the floor indicate that the doorway in the middle of the higab, giving access to the sanctuary area, had wooden jambs. The church, as usual in Nubia, was entered through symmetrically placed doorways in the north and south walls, near the western end of the building. Both doorways have brick jambs, and a doorsill formed of bricks

Building B is essentially continuous with the church on its western side, but differs from the church in being built entirely of brick. The outside dimensions are very close to those of Building A: 14.5 x 8.75m. The plan however is somewhat hypothetical, for nothing survives of Building B except its western wall, and remnants of upright brick foundations immediately adjoining the church. A small area of stone flagging indicates the probable location of a doorway in the south wall, though no portion of the wall itself is preserved at this point.

4 I.e. the Church of Husus. Local residents could give no meaning for the name Husus. 5 For discussion see Adams 2009, 381-2. 6 Had the exterior walls been entirely of stone they would probably remain standing to a greater height than they do, since there would be no reason to quarry away stone walls.

117

No interior features are preserved in Building B except at the north-west corner. Here, a short section of abutted wall indicates the probable location of a north-west corner room, which might have been a tower. Within the room area, at one corner, is a filling of brick topped with small flat stones, which very probably represents the lowest step of a staircase. The probability of a tower here is suggested also by the presence of a stout, half-round reinforcing buttress built against the outside wall (see below). The function of Building B, and its relationship to the church, remains problematical. It cannot even be determined which of the two was built first. The abutment of brick against stone at the point where the north walls join suggests that the stonework (i.e. Building A) preceded, while the fact that the wall separating the two buildings was apparently of brick rather than stone suggests that the brickwork (Building B) preceded. Whatever may have been the sequence of construction, it seems clear that the two buildings, once completed, comprised a single integrated unit. Roughly comparable architectural arrangements were noted by Monneret de Villard at Sitte Gasma (1935, 28-29) and at Sinesra (ibid., 119-120). In each of these places the church was adjoined on the west by a building of comparable size, which contained a stairway. It is clear from the plans, however, that the adjoining buildings at Sitte Gasma and Sinesra were not churches, though they probably had some ecclesiastical function (Adams 2009, 398-9). At Kulubnarti, the most likely interpretation, from the scanty available evidence, is that Building B was either an extension of the church or a second, independent church. The latter interpretation is suggested by its general size and length-to-width ratio, by the putative presence of a doorway at the appropriate point in the south wall, where a church door should be located, and by a stairway in the north-west corner. It is well known that Nubian churches are never adjoined by secular buildings, but not infrequently are adjoined by other churches (Adams 1965a, 90).

ing wall and rubble fill behind it. The full width of the northern mastaba after its enlargement was just over 3.5m. Additional mastabas extend westward from the church doorways, along the north-west and south-west walls of the church and adjoining portions of the Building B walls. Only relatively small portions of these have survived. The northern structure is about 750mm wide, and the southern about 2m wide. Finally, there are substantial remnants of a heavily built stone mastaba, 1.45m wide, adjoining the west end of Building B. A very curious reinforcing structure stands against the north-west corner of Building B. Directly abutted against the brick wall of the building is a stout, half-round buttress of stone, with a radius of just over one meter. It is paralleled, further away from the brick wall, by a heavy, curving stone wall, built in such a way that there is a kind of passage between the inner buttress and the outer wall. The possibility exists that there was a kind of ascending ramp here, allowing access to the roof from the outside. Exterior mastabas adjoining the church were noted also at Meinarti (see Adams 1965b, 165) and Gendal Irki.7 Presumably they were a convenience for persons attending church services but not actually entering the building. Graves. Five grave superstructures were noted in the immediate vicinity of the church: two just to the east of the building, and three close to the north doorway (Map 7.6). In four of the five cases enough was preserved to show that the superstructure was a low rectangular paving of mud bricks, with a brick lamp-box at the western end (cf. Adams 1977, 481). Three superstructures exhibit a central row of bricks laid horizontally, and running parallel to the long axis of the grave, while the remainder of the pavement is formed of bricks laid on edge, and running outward at right angles from the central axis. A fourth superstructure has only bricks laid on edge, with no central, axial row. A bowl-lamp of Late Christian pottery Ware R17 was found in one of the lamp boxes. Careful cleaning of the outside ground surface for a distance of 3 to 4m from the church walls failed to disclose any other graves. The five recorded graves were not excavated.

External mastabas. An intriguing feature of Site 21-S-49 is the presence of low, stone-built mastabas adjoining the outside walls both of the church and of Building B. These constructions are faced with an outer retaining wall of fairly good stone masonry, filled in behind with stone rubble mortared with mud. The two earliest-built mastabas were apparently those adjoining the northern and southern walls of the church. The former is about 900mm wide and the latter averages 1.4m wide, although it becomes somewhat narrower toward the east end (Map 7.6). The north and south mastabas were originally between 750 and 950mm high, and apparently had mud-plastered upper surfaces, although only a small fragment of the plaster now survives. At a later date, a mastaba was extended across the east end of the church also, abutting against the two earlier-built structures. The eastern mastaba is about 1m wide, and differs from its neighbors in having a stone-flagged upper surface. Only the southern half of this structure survives, along with the adjoining portion of the church wall. Also at a later date the northern mastaba was very much widened by the addition of a new retain-

Chronological indications. Nothing identifiable as occupation deposit was found either in the church or in Building B. Small, badly weathered sherds of all ages from Early to Late Christian were scattered about the area, but they were not in secure association with any of the excavated walls or floors. Dating of the site must therefore rest on the evidence of architectural typology. If our reconstruction is correct, Church 21-S-49 is a fairly typical example of Classic Christian Type 3c with eastern passage, tribune in the apse, and sanctuary screened both from the nave and from the north aisle (see Adams 2009, 348-9). Buildings of this type were constructed over a very long period, at least from the 9th to the 13th centuries (ibid., 348), and there is nothing in the surviving remains at 21-S-49 to suggest an early or late dating within that interval. The type of grave superstructure found at the site was also popular for a long period. The one secure chronological datum is the bowl-lamp 7

118

Author’s unpublished excavation notes.

of pottery Ware R17, found associated with one of the graves. This ware was produced mainly between about AD 1150 and 1400 (Adams 1986b, 614). Of course, the church might have been in use for a long period of time before the grave was dug. We now surmise that Church 21-S-49 was built for, and possibly by, the monks of the nearby laura, Site 21-S-10.

specimens of the heavy, all purpose utility Ware H4, which was made both in Late Christian and in Post-Christian times (Adams 1986b, 427-430). However, the fact that several of the fragments are recognizable as qadus (saqia pots) clearly indicates a Post-Christian dating, since in Christian times qadus were always mass-produced on the wheel (ibid., 23-24). That Nubians were finally reduced to the laborious shaping of these vitally important vessels by hand is clear testimony to the low technological and economic level to which the country was reduced under Ottoman rule (cf. Adams 1977, 583). Site 21-S-50 is of interest because it is the first manufactory of handmade pottery that has come to light archaeologically, although several wheel-made pottery factories have been excavated previously (Adams 1986b, 13-24).

Collections. The only registered object from Site 21-S-49 is the pottery bowl-lamp previously alluded to.

Pottery kilns Site 21-S-50 (Plate 7.3e-f) On the west side of Kulubnarti Island, close to the mouth of a small wadi, we found a site where handmade pottery had been fired (cf, especially Adams 1986b, 31-33). Preserved here are the remnants of at least seven kilns, and an accumulation of ash and kiln wasters. There are also three large pits that may be borrow pits, and the very denuded remains of a small building of jalus that may or may not be connected with the pottery-making operation.

Small finds Small finds from the sites described in this chapter are listed by provenance in Appendix A, and are described in more detail in Kulubnarti II (Adams and Adams 1998).

The kilns. The kilns are dug into a silt bank, at the edge of a small wadi (Plate 7.3e). Six of the seven (Kilns 1-6) are fairly close together in a straggling line (Plate 7.3), while one (Kiln 7) is about 15m away. Other kiln remains may have gone undiscovered by us, since we did not conduct a very thorough surface cleaning of the area. All of the kilns are simply excavations in the hard silt, and clearly did not involve any brick construction. In other words they are no more than firing-pits, very unlike the brick-built, doublechamber kilns in which Nubian wheel-made pottery was fired. The sides and bottoms of the pits are reddened from heat to a thickness of between 10 and 20mm Five of the seven kilns are round in shape, with diameters ranging between 1.1 and 2.1m. The two others are nearly square, with dimensions of about 2.1 x 2m. Depths, as currently preserved, vary from about 250 to 500mm However, there has evidently been some surface deflation, and the original depth of the pits cannot be estimated. In addition, several are broken away at one side, apparently as a result of erosion from the neighboring wadi. All of the kilns had rather shallow deposits of ash in the bottoms, and several had a scattering of fire-blackened rocks resting on the ash (cf. Plate 7.3f). Other remains. Close beside Kilns 1 and 2 are the denuded foundations of a small rectangular structure of jalus, which originally had at least three small rooms. The walls are preserved to a maximum height of 500mm at the north side, and are missing at the south. No floor features were observed, and we could not determine whether or not the building was coeval with, or associated with, the pottery-making operation. Also close to the line of kilns are three large, round pits, 5 to 7m in diameter, dug into the silt bank. They show no evidence of burning, and were obviously not kilns. We hypothesize that they may have been borrow pits from which potting clay was dug. The product. About 100 ceramic wasters were recovered from the area around the kilns. Without exception they are 119

CHAPTER VIII ROCK PICTURE SITES Rock pictures were encountered at several localities on the island of Kulubnarti; they are especially numerous on the cliffs just to the north and east of Site 21-S-25, and for a considerable distance along the cliffs to the north of Site 21-S-2 (Map 1.2). Altogether we assigned six site numbers to the rock picture localities, but this enumeration is quite arbitrary, as several of the “sites” include a number of disconnected and widely scattered clusters of drawings. By differentiating more precisely we could easily have designated as many as 20 rock picture sites. It should not be supposed therefore that all the drawings included under any one site number are contemporaneous, or related to one another. Recording of all the rock picture sites was done by Thomas E. Higel. The photographic record is unfortunately incomplete, as some rolls of film were accidentally spoiled in the process of developing in the field.

21-S-56 comprises two small groups of figures carved on a rock outcrop a short distance to the north of the major habitation Site 21-S-2. The most interesting figures are three giraffes. There is also a standing man, and a cross. There are no surviving photos of these figures.

The sites

The figures

21-S-57 includes three groups of figures, executed on a rock outcrop just to the north and east of Site 21-S-10. Visible here are no fewer than 10 boat figures (Plate 8.2a), and five bovids arranged in a single composition (Plate 8.1d). 21-S-58 is a single panel of figures (Plate 8.2e) carved on a low rock outcrop, a short distance to the north of 21S-57. There are three figures of standing men, of whom one is a stick-figure with outstretched arms, and another stands with the right arm upraised in a typical Pharaonic pose. Also recognizable are two long-horned cattle, and two boats. Next to one of the human figures appears to be a group of tally-marks.

21-S-47 is a collective number given to numerous small, mostly isolated figures, scattered here and there for nearly 200m along a low cliff face, a short distance to the north of Site 21-S-2. There are altogether at least 25 figures, clustered in five separate areas. Most abundant are boats, representing nearly half the total of drawings at the site. Most of the remaining figures are animals, one of which appears to be some kind of antelope (Plate 8.1a).

Despite the prevalence of rock picture sites at Kulubnarti, the inventory of figures is quite limited in comparison to other areas of Nubia. Of the 29 basic figure types classified by Hellström (1970, 31-58), only about one-third are represented in our sites. The figures in all cases are pecked rather than incised, and the execution is generally crude. None of the figure groups are accompanied by texts of any kind.

21-S-48 is the most extensive rock-picture site on the island. It comprises five panels of drawings, scattered for about 150m along the cliff face just below and to the north of Site 21- S-25. At least 58 figures are represented; in some places they are more closely clustered than is usual in Kulubnarti rock picture sites. The site is remarkable for the number and variety of boat drawings, exhibiting at least 14 different vessels, no two of which are identical (see Figure 8.1) Panel 5 differs markedly from all other pictorial sites in that it appears to be a composed hunting scene, involving at least 12 antelopes and 11 hunters. Some of the hunters are clearly employing the bow and arrow, while others may be using a sling (Plate 8.2f). The theme and the general composition of this scene suggests a Pharaonic or earlier origin. In other panels at 21-S-48 however there are equestrian figures, a camel (Plate 8.1e), and crosses (Plate 8.2d) that can only be of medieval date.

Wild game. The 12 very stylized animals being hunted at 21-S-48, Panel 5 (Plate 8.2f) are probably gazelles, though an identification as wild goats is not impossible.1 A figure at 21-S-47 seems to represent a much larger antelope of some kind, with tall, branching horns (P1ate 8.1a).2 Giraffes are found at 21-S-55 and 21-S-56, and elephants at 21-S-55. These are the only figures at Kulubnarti that might conceivably be prehistoric, though such an attribution is not certain. Bovids are rather less common than in many Nubian sites, where they often outnumber all other figures. Cattle figures were nevertheless recognized at all six of the sites recorded by us, with by far the largest number (13) being at 21-S-55. Four of the five cattle at 21-S-57 are unusual in that they are all standing together in a single composition (Plate 8.1d).3 Only two figures, at 21-S-47 and 21-S-48, have the elongate, rectilinear body and wide-arching horns that are generally characteristic of early Nubian cattle representations (Plate 8.1c);4 the other figures are quite

21-S-55 comprises seven groups of drawings carved on a jebel outcrop and some nearby loose boulders, directly below the habitation Site 21- S-43. The site is remarkable for the absence of boat figures and for the abundance of bovid representations, which comprise half of all the drawings present. Also recognizable are two elephants, at least two giraffes, and several animals of indeterminate species. Unfortunately there are no surviving photos of these figures.

1 The nearest recorded equivalents that I have observed are in Dunbar 1941, pl. IV, fig. 16. 2 For approximate parallels see Hellström 1970, Corpus L35-189, and Almagro and Almagro 1968, pl. XXXI, 1. 3 For a parallel see Resch 1967, pls 20a-b. 4 See especially Resch 1967, pls 36-45, 50; also Hellström 1970, Corpus C1-449, and Almagro and Almagro, 1968, pls II; V, 1; IX.

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Figure 8.1. Corpus of boat figures from Kulubnarti rock picture sites. Not to scale.

differently drawn, and probably date from a later period. Horses are clearly recognizable at Sites 21-S-47, 21S-48, and 21-S-55. They are rather haphazardly drawn, with long, thin bodies and stick-like legs and necks. Two horses are clearly being ridden (Plate 8.2 c-d),5 and another is saddled but has no rider (Plate 8.1b). In still another drawing it looks as if a man on foot is leading a horse, but the design is indistinct and this interpretation is by no means certain (Plate 8.2c). At 21-S-57 there is a very small figure of a prancing animal that might be a 5

saddled horse. Other animals. At site 21-S-48 there is a very large, coarsely pecked figure that looks like a camel (Plate 8.1e).6 Two stick-like figures at 21-S-48 might be either horses or dogs, while a figure at 21-S-57, with tail curled over its back, is almost certainly a dog (Plate 8.1f).7 Boat figures were identified at five of the six rock art 6 For fairly close parallels see Almagro and Almagro 1968, 212, fig. 204, and Hellström 1970, Corpus F1. 7 For a parallels see Almagro and Almagro 1968, 126, fig. 105; Dunbar 1941, pl. XII, fig. 54; Hellström 1970, Corpus E8.

For a parallel see Hellström 1970, Corpus B9-12.

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TABLE 8.1. Distribution of figures at Kulubnarti rock picture sites SITE

Wild game

Bovids

Horses

Other animals

Boats

Standing men

Mounted men

Crosses

?

21-S-47 Area 1

1

1

Area 2 Panel 1

1

Panel 2

1

1

Panel 3

1

Panel 4

1

Panel 5

1

Area 3 Panel 1

4

Panel 2

2

Panel 3

2

Area 4

1

Area 5 Panel 1

1

Panel 2

2

TOTALS

2

2 2

4

2

11

1 1

2

3

21-S-48 Panel 1

1

Panel 2

1

Panel 3

1

Panel 4

2

3

1

2

1 4

6 4

1 1

Panel 5

12

1

2

1

2

11

1

TOTAL

12

4

5

3

14

12

2

5

1

1

2

1

2

21-S-55 Panel 1 Panel 2

2 3

Panel 3

1

4 2

4

Panel 4 Panel 5

3

Panel 6

2

Panel 7

1

TOTALS

4

1 1

13

5

1

1

21-S-56 Area 1

3

Area 2 TOTALS

3

1 1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

21-S-57 Lower

2

Upper

3

SE panel

5

1

TOTAL

5

4

21-S-58

2

TOTAL ALL SITES

21

29

5

15

8 10 3

3

39

18

123

5

7

6

sites, and are the single most commonly occurring design element at Kulubnarti, with a least 39 separate representations. The figures all exhibit a general similarity, though no two are identical (Figure 8.1; Plates 8.1b, 8.2a-c). The iconography is basically Pharaonic, involving usually a raked (i.e. crescent-shaped) hull, a central mast, and fore-and-aft stay ropes. The ten boats at Site 21-S-57 are anomalous in that most of them do not have stay-ropes, and one does not even have a mast (P1ate 8.2a). Most other boats have a single stay-rope fore and aft, but three drawings show two stay-ropes fore and aft (Plates 8.1b, 8.2b). Three drawings also show a cross-spar near the top of the mast (P1ate 8.2b). Many of the vessels have a small central deck-house, and one has additional deckhouses fore and aft. About half the boats are shown with a steering sweep at the stern — a feature that marks them unmistakably as Pharaonic in design. Apart from the sweep, no oars are depicted in any of the representations.8

1970, Corpus C1-449). This kind of representation is presumed to depict Bos taurus macroceros, the long-horned bovid of early Egypt and Nubia (cf. Almagro and Almagro 1968, 288). As an artistic subject it seems to have had a long history, extending perhaps from the A-Group to the New Kingdom (cf. Almagro and Almagro 1968, 288). Other cattle depicted at Kulubnarti are different iconographically and also, in all probability, biologically. They have shorter, in-curving horns and may represent Bos taurus brachyceros, a variety that gradually replaced the long-horn in Nubia after the New Kingdom (cf. Almagro and Almagro 1968, 288). One of the animals depicted at 21-S-57 looks as if it may be humped (Plate 8.1d). Perhaps the most interesting and chronologically significant drawings at Kulubnarti are the boat figures (Figure 8.1). They are all more or less of a single type, which elsewhere appears to be quite rare in Nubia, to judge from the paucity of published examples (see n. 8). While the general iconography seems clearly Pharaonic, the common presence of a central mast and stay-ropes, and the universal absence of oars (except for the steering sweep) sets these figures apart from most others in Nubia (cf. Engelmayer 1965; Hellström 1970, Corpus V). The boats are quite different in form and almost certainly are later in date than any of the 12 types designated by Engelmayer, which seem to belong mainly to the Archaic and Old Kingdom periods (Engelmayer 1965, 60-70). A New Kingdom dating would perhaps be most consistent with what we know of the general history of this part of Nubia, although the possibility that Pharaonic boat iconography survived until later times certainly cannot be excluded. The boat pictures are not records of actual visits by boat crews, for none of them are located near or within sight of the river, and none is accompanied by an inscription. The hunting scene at 21-S-48 seems to be the only composed scene of human activity.11 There is a complete absence of large, ithyphallic males, which are elsewhere common in Nubia and are presumed also to date from prehistoric times (see Almagro and Almagro 1968, passim). The few human figures at Kulubnarti are generally non-distinctive iconographically, except for the two that appear to be standing in attitudes characteristic of Pharaonic art (Plates 8.2e-f). Figures that may be recognized as clearly postPharaonic are the horses and equestrians, and the single camel. Conceivably, these could date from any period from the late Meroitic to the present. On the other hand the five crosses at 21-S-48 can only date from the period AD 550-1500. It should be recalled, finally, that no significant evidence of occupation before the Christian period was found anywhere on the island of Kulubnarti, although there is some evidence of a Pharaonic lookout post at Jebel Aburjai (Chapter V). Therefore, the possibility must be considered that all or nearly all of the rock pictures are medieval or later, even though the iconography of the boats and of a couple of the human figures looks Pharaonic.

Human figures are abundant in the hunting scene at Site 21-S-48; elsewhere they are uncommon. Most are the simplest of stick figures, with legs wide apart and arms outstretched on either side. However, three of the figures at 21-S-48 are unusual in standing with arms akimbo (Plate 8.2f).9 Two figures, one each at 21-S-48 and 21S-58, differ significantly from the others in that they are shown in a characteristic Pharaonic pose, with one leg just in front of the other, and one arm upraised from the elbow (Plates 8.2e-f).10 Crosses. Greek crosses are represented by at least five examples at 21-S-48, and single crosses were found at 21-S-55 and 21-S-56. Three of the crosses have crossing lines at the end of each arm (Plate 8.2d); the others are simple “plus” signs.

Chronological indications None of the Kulubnarti rock pictures are directly associated with habitations or other sites, and none are accompanied by written inscriptions. Dating must be based almost entirely on the iconographic content of the pictures, and on the technique of their execution. There is little likelihood that any of the figures at Kulubnarti are prehistoric, except perhaps for the elephants and giraffes at 21-S-55 and 21-S-56. However, these species survived in Nubia well into the historic period, and representations of them are not prima facie evidence of a prehistoric origin. It is noteworthy that all of the Kulubnarti figures are pecked, whereas genuinely prehistoric drawings in Nubia are more commonly incised (cf. Almagro and Almagro 1968, 280). Of the cattle figures, only two examples exhibit the characteristic early Nubian form, with elongate, rectilinear body and widely out-curving horns, which is elsewhere ubiquitous in Nubian rock art (Plate 8.1c) (Hellström For general though not precise parallels see Almagro and Almagro 1968, 233, fig. 232, and pl. XXXVI; Dunbar 1941, pl. XI, fig. 49; Hellström 1970, Corpus V20; Resch 1967, pl. 3a; and Engelmayer 1965, pls XXXV, 1a, and XXXIX, 3. 9 For a parallel see Hellström 1970, Corpus A189. 10 For a parallel see Hellström 1970, Corpus A298-302; Resch 1967, pl. 2a. 8

11 For general parallels see Engelmayer 1965, 70-72; Almagro and Almagro 1968, 304-305.

124

CHAPTER IX MURAL INSCRIPTIONS D3) are in “pseudo-Arabic”, and there are two modern Arabic graffiti in the Church. All of the other inscriptions are in medieval languages: primarily Greek, but also O1d Nubian and, apparently, Coptic. Inscriptions are in some cases impressed in wet plaster, in some cases incised on dry plaster, and in some cases painted.

Over 50 mural inscriptions were recorded by us at Kulubnarti; of these all but three are at Site 21-S-2. Nearly all the inscriptions are incompletely preserved, and several are so fragmentary that even the original language cannot be recognized. As usual in medieval sites, the largest number of inscriptions is in the church. The existence of these was previously noted by Burckhardt in 1819 (Burkhardt 1819, 78), and three inscriptions purportedly from the Kulubnarti Church were copied and published by Sayce a century later (Sayce 1910, 261-263).1 All of the inscriptions were originally registered and numbered by us, but we were unable to make copies or to translate them due to our ignorance of the languages involved.2 Subsequently, all but half a dozen of them were seen and copied by Professor Sergio Donadoni of the University of Rome who kindly furnished his copies and a brief commentary. Additional commentary on some of the inscriptions has been provided by Professor Gerald M. Browne of the University of Illinois.3 The text that follows is based very largely on the commentary of these two colleagues. Information provided by Professor Donadoni is identified by (D), and that from Professor Browne by (B).4 Professor Donadoni offers a preliminary word of caution: “I have clear in my mind, after some experience of Christian graffiti in Nubia, that a thorough understanding of them is probably out of the real possibility of scholars, but that even a more modest attempt to realize their meaning is hindered by the lack of a good edition of a sufficient amount of them. Too often copies are defective or approximate, and I think it is now time to collect all the available materials and try a critical edition of Nubian Christian texts; many problems will possibly be solved in this way. I believe therefore that a [full and final] publication of the Kulubnarti graffiti is bound, ultimately, to an inspection of all other similar texts — a task that I have not undertaken on this occasion. Better readings and better understandings must certainly be gained in the future.’’

The church inscriptions All of the inscriptions reported here are incised graffiti; that is to say, they are the work of visitors to the church and are not part of its original or planned decoration (cf. Chapter III, “The paintings”). There were in addition painted legends accompanying some of the mural paintings, as detailed in Chapter III. The inscriptions registered by us and copied by Professor Donadoni were all cut into the uppermost and latest coat of plaster, which itself covered some of the earlier paintings. There probably were inscriptions on the earlier plaster as well, which were covered up when the building was refinished. Professor Donadoni offers the following general commentary: “All of the graffiti are traced in the part of the church attaining to the sanctuary [i.e. Rooms 1, 3, 4, and 6], and have been scratched on the mud plaster which has covered the older painted decoration. The hands are quite different from each other, and go from very crude and large characters (e.g. no. 41) to quite elegant ones (e.g. no. 33). Very often the plaster shows other scratches of different origin, which deface the letters, and often the graffiti are missing some parts because of damages in the surface of the wall. Sometimes it seems that the text has not been completed, or that it is reduced to a single letter (e.g. no. 31b). It is worth noting that the haikal section [i.e. the sanctuary proper, Room 2] shows no graffiti but for two in Arabic [which are clearly modern].”5

Inscriptions in the prothesis (Room 1)6 31a.

Site 21-S-2

kaa // // M

Only part of one word, followed by a monogrammic symbol, are preserved, in bold characters about 50mm high (D). is the regular abbreviation for O1d Nubian corto, “priest”, but could also the for Greek presby− teroc, “priest” (B).

Site 21-S-2 yielded a total of 53 mural inscriptions. Ten inscriptions found in and near the Castle Tower (Unit 1 None of the inscriptions published by Sayce matches anything seen by us or by Professor Donadoni, and the possibility of an incorrect attribution cannot be ruled out. See discussion below. 2 The system of numeration assigned by us is, therefore, somewhat erratic. In several cases we grouped together two or even three different inscriptions under a single number, if they occurred close together, because we could not recognize that more than one text was involved. Professor Donadoni corrected this problems for us by assigning separate letters, a, b, and c, to separate texts that had been registered by us under a single number. See Table 9.1. 3 Professor Donadoni did not provide English translation along with his transcriptions, assuming probably that I knew Greek. I am indebted to Professor Browne for all of the translations. 4 The information is taken in all cases from unpublished personal communications, which therefore are not cited in footnotes.

31b. The text seems to be reduced to a single letter D, about 20mm high, perhaps with a stroke of abbreviation (D). Conceivably di(akwn), “deacon” (B). 5 For other discussion of church inscriptions in Nubia see Jakobielski 1970, 29-40; Schneider 1975, 3-36. 6 Because of limited production facilities the inscriptions can only be rendered here is standard (i.e. classical) Greek characters, which in no way reproduce their original appearance. Also, it has been necessary to omit diacritics from the printed text, which in some cases alters the meaning.

125

Table 9.1. List of mural inscriptions in Kulubnarti sites. Locality

Inscr. no.

Technique

Language

Locality

Inscr. no.

Technique

Language

Site 21-S-2 Church J1 Room 1

Room 2 Room 3

Room 4

Room 6

Castle D1-3 31a

Inscribed

Greek or Old Nubian

Unit D2

9-10

Incised

Pseudo-Arabic

Unit D3

1-8

“

Pseudo-Arabic

11

Impressed

31b

“

(Single letter)

31c

“

Old Nubian or Coptic

34

“

Modern Arabic

House C1

35

“

Modern Arabic

Room 1-1

Old Nubian

36a

“

Greek

11a

“

(Undeciphered)

36b

“

Old Nubian and Greek

11b

“

Greek

37a

“

Greek

11c

“

Greek

37b

“

Greek

Room 1-2

13

“

(Not copied)

38

“

Greek

Room 1-4

12

“

(Cross figure)

39

“

(Not copied)

32a

“

Greek or Coptic

House F2

32b

“

(Single letter)

Room 3

14

Painted

Greek

33a

“

Greek or Coptic

33b

“

Old Nubian and Greek

House H1

33c

“

Greek

Room 1-1

15

Painted

Greek

33d

“

Greek

Room 1-3

16

“

Greek

0

“

(Undeciphered)

17

“

Greek or Coptic

40a

“

Greek

18

“

Greek

40b

“

Greek and Old Nubian

19

“

(Undeciphered)

41a

“

Greek

24

“

Greek or Coptic

41b

“

Greek

25

“

(Undeciphered)

20

“

(Undeciphered)

Room 1-4

41c

Greek and Coptic?

Room 1-5

42

(Not recognized)

21

“

Greek or Coptic

43

(Not copied)

22

“

Greek

00

(Not recognized)

23

“

Greek?

Room 1-20 Site 21-S-43

House 1 Room 1

31c.

44

Painted

(Not copied)

45

“

(Not copied)

46

“

(Not copied)

evidently part of the opening word, is all that can be read. It is presumably Greek egrafa, “I wrote” (B). Height of the letters is 25mm. To the right are more signs, which cannot be read, and there are also traces of additional letters underneath. They may be the beginning of 36b, which runs onto the neighboring wall (D).

PAEI

possibly with some signs preceding, is all that can be read (D). Either Old Nubian “write” or Sahidic Coptic “this” (B).

Inscriptions in the sanctuary (Room 2) In the sanctuary there are only two modern Arabic visitors’ graffiti (34 and 35; actually the same name appearing in two places), one of which has the date 24/9/1966.

36b.

IE

+

Letters of about 20mm, not very elegant. As previously noted, this may be a continuation of the lower line of 36a, on the adjoining wall. Crosses of different types are superimposed over the letters, which probably commemorate the later visits of illiterate persons (D). The first word is

Inscriptions in the diakonikon (Room 3) 36a.

ACCIKA TE/ /// DAY///

/// E G R A //// 126

O1d Nubian for “daughter” (accusative or dative) (B). D A Y... is probably the beginning of the name “David” (D). 37a.

begins with what seems to be a second person (masculine) future construction, in Coptic (D). Browne observes that the use of a Greek vocative would not be out of place in an otherwise Coptic inscription (B).

EGw OILAZE K/ I B R E

33b.

Very large letters and crude handwriting; much uncertainty in the reading because of many superfluous scratches. This is the common Greek formula of egw, “I,” followed by names and/or titles (D). The single K in the second line may be an abbreviation for kai “and” (B). Thus, “I, Oilaze ... and Ibre...” 37b.

I

Average height 30mm (D). Old Nubian “I,” followed presumably by a personal name of which only the last two letters are preserved (B). 33c.

33d.

E G w. A. E C E G R A //// V

Presumably Greek “I, Ales (?) wrote...”. The most rustic of all the handwritings in the church, with each letter of a different size, from 20 to 70mm (D).

__

0.

Inscriptions in the north aisle (Room 4)

E /////

An additional inscription in the north aisle found by Professor Donadoni, not observed by us. Only the first letter is preserved.

All of these are in the east end of the room, immediately adjoining the prothesis: 32a. Parts of five lines representing the right side of an inscription, of which the left side has been destroyed.

Inscriptions in the south aisle (Room 6) Here again all the inscriptions that are preserved are at the east end of the room, adjoining the diakonikon.

//// H M O. //// I I E I //// CKLEI //// CTOL //// AHL .

40a.

K I B /////////// E G w ////////// ////////////////////

The inscription actually consists of fragments of two separate texts, the second with characters much thinner than the first (D). The second obviously begins with the usual Greek, “I” (so-and-so).

The first line could be an hmwn, known in formulas such as tac fycac hmOn [Greek: “our souls”) and Micahl agaqe yper hmon [Greek: “O good Michael, on our behalf...”].7 Line 4 may be apoctol (o c), i.e. “apostle.” The last line may be Mic]ahc (“Michael”) or wLHL . . [Coptic: “pray”], depending on whether the language is Greek or Coptic (D).

40b. The right side of a four-line inscription, of which the left side is destroyed: __

__ ___

//// T //// __ A C O Y //// PK w //////////// A P I ///////// C E A O /////////// A //// T O N /////////////// L G I O N

32b. A single letter and abbreviation stroke, presumably for di(akwn), “deacon”. Nearby are traces of some other letters and crosses, which cannot be made out. 33a.

///////////////// HNL////////////////// Y . . /////////////YIOY ////////////// PIA ////////////DOYLON/////////Y

Finely carved lettering, as in the preceding. Possibly a Greek invocation to Mary and her Son (D), as indicated by the second line: uiou, “of (your?) son” ..... [Ma]ria (B). The last line could be [ton] doulon [co]u : “help (or pity) your servant” (D).

39. Noted by us as an inscription of two words on separate lines, in Greek, Coptic, or O1d Nubian; not copied by Professor Donadoni.



MAPI //////////// OTON //// ATIKON

A very small inscription, finely carved with a thin, sharp pen. Average height of the letters is 5mm. Five or six letters are missing in the lacuna. The first word may be Maria. In the last word, could ATIKON be a rendering of adikon (Greek neuter singular for “unjust”)?(D).

E G w ///// I A

A formula similar to 37a, but more brief and incomplete. That is, “I” (Greek) plus a name of which only the last two letters are preserved. Beneath were additional letters, which could not be deciphered (D). 38.

A I G M //////OY

The inscription is in neatly carved letters, 20mm high. Line 1 is Greek, and apparently ends with “your (......) ness:” possibly an appellation to God or a saint (D). In the second line, AP with subscript I is presumably from Ma− ria, while the last four letters are from the O1d Nubian for “church:” K] -CEAO. Thus, “...in the Mary-Church” (B). The last word on the last line is Greek “holy.” The immediately preceding letters, though not clearly decipherable, look as if they may be another rendering of the same word, so that the inscription ends: “holy, holy” (D).

___ ___

M //// HP XE ////E///w //// EKN //////////// KT /////////// M

Rather good handwriting, with letters about 10mm high. Underneath there are additional letters, which are undecipherable. The beginning seems a vocative of Mhthr Cricton [Greek: “O Mother (of?) Christ”], followed by an undecipherable but evidently Coptic word (D). Browne suggests an alternative reading C////HPXE, which would yield Cwthr Cricte “Savior Christ” (B). The second line

41a. A Greek inscription of four lines, which appears to be partly missing at the left. The average height of the letters is 20mm

Both these formulas were recorded by Professor Donadoni in the church at Sonqi Tino, but have not yet been published. The translations were provided by Professor Browne. 7

127



//// MT //// F O R O Y M H N //// I E G w P A K I D IIA P T R ////////////////////



N ////// E /////////////// E G R Y A

that No. 7 would be “Tenth year of the king, 10th day of Khoiak, tenth (year) of myself Victor the Emperor (autokpatwr) (S). Browne suggests instead: “Year 10, Choiak 10, through (?) me, who(?) am(?) Victor....”. This is Greek except for [EN] OKPA[ “who am...,” which is O1d Nubian.8 Sayce’s autokratwr is absurd” (B).

In the first line, “One would like to read martyrofo− rou [“of the martyr-bearer”], but the sign after T looks like a broken M much more than like a P “ (D). The second line clearly ends with “I, Pakid,” and in the third line the writer seems to identify himself as “priest” ( ), with P T R possibly signifying the Peter-Church (D) or possibly indicating that the writer was “First Priest” (protoc) (B). The last line ends in “I wrote” (B).

8. MNHCw MOY EN TON ONOY//// TON E I CAE . This is intended to represent memnhso (or mnhsai) mou en tw ouranw eio aei, “Remember me in heaven for ever”(S). 9. IC ANTON MICAHL DOC

41b. Apparently

GH EME O Q C

“I do not understand this graffito” (S). Browne suggests, “Jesus and Michael yourself, give!” “But this is only a guess. For ANTON we should expect ANTOC (antos) and DOC (doc) is singular imperative; DOTE (dote) is expected” (B).

in letters about 50mm high. Donadoni tentatively reconstructs Greek odhgh eme o q[eo]c, “God leads me.” 41c.

D/ D K MGE ////// E ////// w D/ D K MT I O Y

DK in both the first and second lines is a usual abbreviation for diakonoc (deacon). Browne suggests di(a) d(ia) k(ovoc) m(e)g(alou), “through the great deacon,” followed by di(a) d(ia)k(onoc) m(e)t(a) Iou, “through the deacon, with Iou”. Presumably these titles were followed by names, and the letter w indicates that the first at least was Coptic. (B)

Inscriptions in the unit houses Mural inscriptions were found in the two-storey Unit Houses C1 and H1 and in one-storey House F2. Unlike the inscriptions in the church these are not visitors’ graffiti; they were either impressed into wet plaster or were painted on the walls, probably soon after the houses were built. They appear in all cases to be protective formulas, in Greek. Professor Donadoni writes as follows:

42. Only the letters

////// A P O //////

about 70mm high, can be recognized. There is no obvious meaning (D).

“Much more interesting and unusual than those preserved in the church is the series of inscriptions on the walls of private buildings in the village. They are normally written in white paint and a rather bold writing. Sometimes they are also incised in the wet plaster of the walls, and whitewashed afterward. “No inscriptions seem to have been identified in the upper floors, although they were the normal place of living....; the texts were on the walls of what was the cellar system of the house. The reasons for that may be purely accidental, the walls of the upper floors being much worse preserved...than those of the lower ones... “The language which seems employed everywhere is Greek, and the content of the texts is religious. It seems evident that we have to deal with formulas or invocations of phylacteric character....” It is not necessary to assume that either the builders or the inhabitants of the houses were literate in Greek, as they could easily have employed the village priests to put up the protective texts for them.

43. This fragmentary inscription of six or more lines was found on a piece of fallen building rubble. We guessed that it was in Old Nubian from the shape of one or two of the letters. It was not copied by Professor Donadoni. 00.

IDEIC

Another inscription found by Professor Donadoni, which we had failed to spot. Presumably it is a proper name (D).

Inscriptions published by Sayce In 1910 Professor A. H. Sayce published three inscriptions “from the walls of a ruined church in Kulubnarti.” (in Sayce 1910, 261-263, nos 7-9). None of the text matches any of those found by us at Site 21-S-2, and it is noteworthy also that Sayce did not see, or at least did not copy, any of the texts which we did record. This raises the obvious question as to whether Sayce’s inscriptions really come from the church at 21-S-2, or from some other, presumably since-destroyed church (possibly 21-S-49). They are republished here for whatever they may be worth, with the original identifying numbers assigned by Sayce. His commentary is identified by (S); additional commentary by Browne is identified by (B). 7.

_ _____

Inscriptions in House C1 The four textual inscriptions in House C1 were all found in ground-floor Room 1-1. All were impressed into the wall plaster when it was still wet.

_

L _ I BAC XAKI L EMAYTOC BIK TOPA//////OKPA/////

Browne notes that a similar conjunction of Greek and Old Nubian occurs in an inscription, originally copied by Griffith, which he intended to republish in Nubia Christiana 2 (in press). 8

“Emautoc seems to be bad Greek for emautou, so 128

11. A beautiful inscription on a single line, about 2.5m long, with letters 70mm high.

18, 22, and 23 in House H1.

Inscriptions in House H1

+ MICAHL GABRIHA RAFAHA OYROYRI //////// A HL ANAHA E //// IA

The two-storey Unit House H1 contained no fewer than 11 inscriptions, all painted in white in the ground-floor rooms. Some are painted on mud plaster and some directly on stone masonry blocks.

“It is a series of names of the Archangels, Michael Gabriel, Raphael to which are added a form of Uriel (which seems rather curiously spelt with superfluous elements).9 At the end is an Anael, in which I think we must see the last relic, only castigated in form, of an archangel known from Coptic magical texts, Satanael.” The character is a “Greek Ampersand,” standing for kai but the final word that follows it cannot be made out (D). For some reason the third name, that of Raphael, has been deliberately defaced, though it is still quite readable. Browne points out that OYPOY in the fourth word is O1d Nubian for “king” or “leader;” he therefore suggests that the apparent fourth and fifth words might be read as OYPOY PI/////// AHL, ''King Ri....ael,” or perhaps “King Raphael” if the I is a scribe's error (B).

15.

painted directly on stone, in letters about 50mm high, in Room 1-1. This is clearly the beginning of the Trinitarian formula, “In the name..,” but there is no trace of the rest of the formula (D). 16.

17.

____

///////// HL

in white letters about 60mm high, in Room 1-3. Obviously the last letters of a name; most probably MIXA] HL, which appears again and again as a protective formula in Nubian houses as well as on pottery.10

11b. All that can be made out is

18.

////// MATI //////

__

__ __

E //////// MATI TOY /// PC ////// Y Y Y

in letters about 60mm high, also in Room 1-3. Obviously the beginning of the Trinitarian formula, “In the name of the Father and of the Son,” but there is no trace of the rest of the formula (D). For the complete formula see no. 14.

in impressed letters about 30mm high that have been filled in white. Possibly from NOMATI, “name,” in the Trinitarian formula: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (see no. 14) (D). 11c.

_______

NE MHP TOY XC

written in white letters about 50mm high, in Room 1-3. The last three words are clearly “Mother of Christ” in abbreviated form. NE might be equivalent to nai, “yes” (B).

11a. Very scanty and unreadable letters directly above no. 11.

E N O N O M A [T I]

19.

ICOXC

____

____

__

M H N ////////// C K ////////// C

Also in Room 1-3. “The lettering is as usual, but some are of uncertain identification, and I have preferred not to transcribe them. Perhaps at the beginning is the name of St. Menas’’ (D).

in bold letters about 100mm high. This is a very common abbreviated formula for “Jesus (the) Christ;’’ it appears quite often as a painted design or a graffito on Nubian pottery (cf. Adams 1986b, 347, 348, nos 36-3 and 36-4).

20. Recorded by us as an inscription of four or five words (?), in Room 1-5. Professor Donadoni was unable to read it, apparently due to poor preservation.

12. Not a true inscription but a cross figure +_ impressed into the plaster in Room 1-4. 13. Again not a text but some kind of geometric design impressed into the plaster in Room 1-2. It is very faint and indistinct, and could not be clearly made out.

21.

ME //////////// I O C

in Room 1-5. The only fully intact letter is the E; the others are recognized from fragmentary traces. This could possibly be the rather popular name Merkourioc (D).

Inscription in House of F2

22.

The one-storey Unit House F2 yielded the most complete mural inscription at Kulubnarti. It is painted in white characters on the wall of Room 3, directly above the doorway to Room 6. The letters are about 20mm high and are executed in a peculiar hand, alternating broad and thin strokes of the brush (D).

////// MAT I //////

also in Room 1-5. This appears once again to be from NOMATI (“name”) in the Trinitarian formula, as in nos 11b, 14, 15, and 18 (D). 23.

ENO NOMATI

painted in white in Room 1-20. Once again, the beginning of the Trinitarian formula.

14. E N O N______ OMATI T O Y P RC TOY ____ Y Y [K] T______ O Y AGIOY PNA

24.

MICALH

(Michael), painted in characters about 40mm high in Room 1-20. Possibly followed by other, unreadable words (D).

This is the complete Greek Trinitarian formula, “In the name of the Father (and) of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Fragmentary or incomplete examples of the same formula are found in no. 11b in House C1, and in nos. 15,

25. An unreadable text, apparently of a single word, in Room 1-4.

9 In the major unit house at Meinarti there was a painted inscription comprising the names of the three main archangels in a repeating succession (see Adams 1964, 232).

10

129

See Adams 1986b, 384, and numerous abbreviated forms on p. 385.

Pseudo-Arabic inscriptions in the Castle Incised “inscriptions” (nos 1-8) were found on all four of the interior walls of the Castle tower (Unit D3), and two others (nos 9-10) were found in the adjoining courtyard (Unit D2). They are deeply but rather crudely scratched in large letters, in some cases over 100mm high. There is a general similarity of appearance among them, and many may be the work of a single individual. The “inscriptions” are quite obviously meant to simulate Arabic (or Turkish) writing, but none of them yields any meaning. They have a general resemblance to children’s scrawlings, but the height of some of them above the floor suggests rather the work of grownups. Very possibly they were made by illiterate members of the kashef’s garrison, passing their time in the tower. A selection of the “texts” is shown in Figure 9.1.

Site 21-S-43 This site consisted of three Late Christian unit houses in very dilapidated condition (see Chapter VII). On one of the walls (Room 1, House 1) we noted three short, fragmentary inscriptions (nos 44-46) in Greek, Coptic, or Old Nubian. All seemed to comprise no more than a few words, on a single line. These texts were not seen or copied by Professor Donadoni, and no further evidence about them can be given. Probably they were the same kinds of protective texts found in the unit houses at Site 21-S-2, and indeed throughout Nubia. As the site stands on high ground, the inscriptions remain available for copying in the future.

Figure 9.1. Examples of pseudo-Arabic graffiti from the Castle tower, Unit D3 (nos 1, 5 and 8). Not to scale.

130

APPENDIX A LIST OF REGISTERED FINDS FROM KULUBNARTI SITES (All registration numbers in the second column should be read as though preceded by the site number. Numbers in parentheses in the fourth column indicate pottery wares, in the case of pottery objects — see Appendix B) Site 21-S-2 Unit and sub-unit Surface

Float

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

253

Copper

2 Egyptian coins

Complete

730

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

34

Wood + iron

Box

Complete

53

Glass

Bead

Portion

54

Glass

Bead

Portion

258

Glass + iron

Goggles

Complete

745

Wool

Textile

Scrap

369

Paper

Scrap with ?Arabic text

Scrap

74

Wood

Round, flat tray?

Fragment

4

Glass

Ointment jar

Fragment

165

Glass

Handle or bracelet

Fragment

842

Pottery

Cup (W14)

Portion

867

Pottery

Cup (W14)

Portion

838

Pottery

Cup (W16)

Portion

784

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Complete

796

Pottery

Bowl (H14)

Portion

852

Pottery

Bowl (R11)

Portion

855

Pottery

Bowl (R17)

Fragment

850

Pottery

Bowl (R27)

Portion

864

Pottery

Bowl (R27)

Fragment

854

Pottery

Bowl (W15)

Portion

848

Pottery

Bowl (W17)

Portion

840

Pottery

Footed bowl (R11)

Portion

839

Pottery

Footed bowl (W14)

Portion

874

Pottery

Footed bowl (W14)

Portion

875

Pottery

Footed bowl (W14)

Portion

871

Pottery

Vase (R28)

Portion

863

Pottery

Vase (W|14)

Portion

865

Pottery

Vase (W14)

Portion

866

Pottery

Vase (W14)

Portion

872

Pottery

Vase (W14)

Portion

873

Pottery

Bottle (W14)

2 Fragments

844

Pottery

Lid (U5)

Portion

853

Pottery

Bowl lamp (R17)

Portion

790

Pottery

Censer (H7)

Portion

857

Pottery

Basin (H14)

Fragment

688

ceramic

Pot stand

Portion

767

Wool

Textile

Scraps

131

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House A1 Room 1-1

Room 1-2 Rooms 1-3 and 1-4

Room 1-5

Room lc

218

Iron

Blade

Complete

146

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

221

Mud

Pot stopper

Portion

813

Pottery

Pot lid (H15)

Body

70

Stone

Hammerstone

Complete

73

Wood

Spindle whorl

Complete

80

Seed

Bead

Complete

791

Pottery

Jar lid (U5)

Complete

810

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

66

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

81

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

75

Leather

Shoe

Fragment

76

Leather

Tube

?

77

Leather

Strap

Fragment

78

Leather

?

Scraps

79

Leather

?

Scrap

477

Wood

Notched peg

Complete

476

Wood

Notched peg

Fragment

429

Wood bark

Tray

Fragment

420

Palm fiber

Sandal

Fragment

494

Palm fiber

Ring

Complete

484

Leather

Braid and scrap

Fragments

380

Leather

?

Scrap

501

Leather

?

Scrap

367

Leather

Scraps with Old Nubian text

Scraps

371

Leather

Scrap with Old Nubian text

Scrap

693

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

694

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

726

Wool

Textile

Scrap

368

Paper

Scraps with Arabic text

Scraps

21

Leather

Strip

Fragment

25

Leather

?

Scrap

2nd storey crypt

372

Parchment

Scraps both Greek text

Scraps

Terrace east

497

Leather

Braided object

382

Leather

?

Scrap

483

Leather

?

Scrap

485

Leather

?

Scrap

84

Copper

Egyptian coin

Complete

85

Copper

Egyptian coin

Complete

86

Iron

Earring

Complete

87

Glass

2 millefiore beads on thong

Part of necklace

89

Stone

Notched and grooved pebble

Fragment

90

Leather

?

Scrap

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

Outside south

Outside west

496

132

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Obiect

Portion or Condition

House A2 Floor

185

Iron + wood

Turiya

Complete

Subsurface terrace

158

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragment

102

Copper

Rivet

Complete

103

Lead

Ingot

Fragment

491

Leather + iron

Shoe?

Fragment

104

Glass

Bead necklace

Fragments

362

Goat hair

Animal girth

Complete

706

Wool

Textile

Scraps

707

Wool

Textile

Scraps

751

Wool

Textile

Scraps

156

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragments

361

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragments

House A4 Fill

Terrace west House A5 Room 4

71

Stone

Handstone

Complete

Outside east

91

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

92

Wool

Garment?

Fragment

Fill

201

Horn

Container

Complete

South fill 1

135

Leather

Tube

Fragment

142

Wool

Textile

Scrap

690

Wool + goat hair

Braid

462

Glass + leather

Necklace

Portion

817

Pottery

Pot or jar (U10)

Portion

House A6

Lower level

689

Cotton

Shroud?

Fragments

South wall

133

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

Outside south

235

Ceramic

Camel figurine

Fragment

169

Bronze

Ring

Complete

184

Horn

Bracelet

Fragment

230

Ceramic

Miniature crucible

Fragment

248

Ceramic

Miniature crucible

Fragment

426

Leather

?

Scrap

460

Sheepskin

?

Scrap

180

Bone

Tube

Fragment

206

Horn

Container

Complete

150

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragment

152

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragment

288

Goat hair

Rope

Section

818

Pottery

Vase (W14)

Portion

Wool

Textile

Scraps

Wool

Textile

Scraps

287

Palm fiber

Braid

Fragment

710

Wool + leather

Textile

Scrap

House A7 Fill

Terrace west

House A8 South room Floor 686B Ash mound

133

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit House A12

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

847

Pottery

Bowl (R17)

Portion

Wall chinking

489

Wood + pottery

Spindle and whorl

Nearly complete

Outside SW

490

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

433

Leather

?

Scrap

House B1

House B2 Room 1

733

Wool

Textile

Scrap

Room 3a

164

Mud

Unfired pot

Complete

Room 4

292

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragments

Room 6

290

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

298

Palm fiber

Rope

?

299

Palm fiber

Rope

?

447

Goatskin

?

Scrap

Fill

204

Ceramic

Jar stamp

Complete

Dung layer

658

Ceramic

Animal figurine

Fragment

Field north House B3

House C1 Room 1-1

Room 1-2

Ivory

Razor handle

Portion

140

37

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

471

Leather

?

2 scraps

224

Stone

Bead

Complete

789

Pottery

Lid (R29)

Half

843

Pottery

Footed bowl (R17)

Portion

Mud

Vessel

Complete

45 356

Room 1-4

Room 1-5

Palm fiber

Object of rope

Fragment

83

Leather

?

4 scraps

39

Cotton

Bag

Complete

15

Ivory

Bracelet

Complete

14

Glass

Ointment jar

Fragment

6

Wood

Bowl

Portion

222

Wood + gourd

Spindle and whorl

Complete

815

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

831

Pottery

Bowl (W21)

Portion

256

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

354

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

127

Palm fiber

Sandal

Fragment

126

Palm fiber

Sandal?

Scrap

503

Leather

Strap and braid

Fragment

128

Leather

?

Scrap

129

Leather

?

Scrap

130

Leather

?

Scrap

131

Leather

?

Scrap

132

Flax + cotton

Textile

Fragment

244

Pot stopper

Complete?

167

Camel figurine

Fragment

134

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House C1 (c) Room 1-6

Room 1-7

162

Glass

Ointment jar

Portion

828

Pottery

Cup (W18)

Portion

277

Palm fiber

Container

Fragment

252

Stone

2 door pivots

Complete

26

Wood

Qadus yoke

Complete

30

Mud

Pot stopper

Complete

31

Mud

Pot stopper

Complete

46

Leather

Harness strap?

Portion

192

Faience

Bead

Complete

431

Leather

Skirt

Fragment

47

Leather

?

Scrap

Room 12

27

Horn

Container

Portion

28

Wood

2 qadus yokes

Complete

Room 2-1

159

Iron

3 needles

Portions

772

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Portion

808

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Nearly complete

803

Pottery

Jar (H4)

Complete

805

Pottery

Jar (H4)

Complete

166

Room 10

Mud

Miniature crucible

Portion

47

Leather

Handle

Complete

479

Leather

Handle

Complete

44

Leather

Bucket

Portion

50

Leather

Skirt?

Fragment

49A

Goat hair

Textile

Fragments

49B

Goat hair

Textile

Scrap

Room 2-3

814

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

Room 2-4

809

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Nearly complete

812

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

Room 2-5

35

Stone

Bead

Complete

Room 2-6

61

Glass

Coin weight

Complete

68

Wood + iron

Awl?

Complete

38

Wood

Tapered and notched stick

Portion

48

Palm fiber

Basket

Portion

Bracelet

Portion

Crypt F

153

Crypt G

259

Mud

2 amphora seals

Portions

144

Straw + resin

Resinated basket

Fragment

436

Pigskin

?

Scrap

475

Leather

Container

Portion

364

Leather

Square sewn pieces

Portion

379

Leather

?

Scrap

414

Leather

?

Scrap

509

Leather

?

Scrap

22

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

43

Palm fiber

Matting strip

Portion

134

Palm fiber

Sandal

Complete

Float

135

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House C1 (c) Float (c)

41

Palm fiber

Sandal

Fragment

42

Palm fiber

Sandal?

Fragment

40

Leather

Jar stopper

Nearly complete

806

Pottery

Pot (H4) = Floor Pot 1

Complete

804

Pottery

Pot (H4) = Floor Pot 2

Complete

800

Pottery

Jar (H4) = Floor Pot 3

Complete

452

Ceramic

Jar stopper

Complete

424

Palm fiber

Tray

Portion

428

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

186

Ceramic

Bead

Complete

526

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

Approach ramp

611

Iron + wood

Awl

Complete

Lower storey

661

Plant stern

Beer strainer?

Nearly complete

859

Pottery

Cup (R26)

Portion

858

Pottery

Goblet (R27?)

Portion

834

Pottery

Bowl (W18)

Portion

845

Pottery

Footed bowl (R11)

Portion

862

Pottery

Footed bowl? (Wl8)

Portion

861

Pottery

Vase (W15)

Portion

860

Pottery

Lid (W14)

Portion

634

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

635

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

646

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

561

Palm fiber

Sandal

Fragment

570

Palm fiber

Sandal

Fragment

564

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

560

Leather

Sandal

Complete

556

Leather

?

Scrap

621

Leather

?

Scrap

640

Leather

?

4 scraps

527

Wood + iron

Awl?

Complete

870

Glass

Flask

Neck portion

868

Pottery

Cup (W15)

Portion

774

Pottery

Bowl (R17?)

Complete

779

Pottery

Footed bowl (R22)

Portion

657

Pottery

Vase (?)

Fragment

869

Pottery

Lid (G.II)

Portion

614

Mud

Pot

Complete

629

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

584

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

587

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

583

Leather

Braid

Fragment

586

Leather

Braid

Fragment

House C2 Room 1

Outside east House C3 Area House D1

Room 1-1

136

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House D1 (c) Room 1-1 (c)

Room 1-2

Rooms 1-5+ 1-6

591

Leather

Handle

Complete?

622

Leather

?

Scrap

648

Leather

?

Scrap

653

Leather

?

Scrap

679

Cotton + goat hair

Textile

Scrap

664

Wool + goat hair

Textile

Scrap

683

Wool

Textile

Scrap

684

Wool

Textile

Scrap

685

Wool

Textile

Scrap

528

Wood + iron

Knife

Complete

616

Wool

Pointed stick

Complete

801

Pottery

Pot (H4) = Floor Pot 3

Complete

620

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

636

Palm fiber

Basket

4 fragments

641

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

642

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

569

Palm fiber

Matting or basket

Fragment

577

Palm fiber

Pouch

Portion

581

Palm fiber

Pouch

Portion

594

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

598

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

600

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

602

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

619

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

625

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

651

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

876

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

578

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

585

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

617

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

632

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

656

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

588

Leather

Rahat?

Small fragment

589

Leather

Braid

Fragment

590

Leather

?

Scrap

592

Leather

?

Scrap

668

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

655

Palm fiber

Baskets?

2 fragments

575

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

593

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

595

Palm fiber

Matting

4 fragments

596

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

597

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

599

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

624

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

649

Palm fiber

Matting

3 fragments

137

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House D1 (c) Rooms 1-5+ 1-6 (c) Room 1-7

Upper storey

654

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

680

Cotton + wool

Textile

2 scraps

601

Palm fiber

Basket

Portion

623

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

636

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

696

Wood + goat hair

Stick with cord attached

Complete?

571

Wood + leather

Perforated stick with thong

Complete

637

Wood

Bundle of sticks tied with cord

Complete

630

Palm fiber

Pouch

Nearly complete

544

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

547

Palm fiber

Matting

7 fragments

546

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

697

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

696

Wool

Textile

Scrap

147

Iron

Medallion

Portion

160

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

798

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Portion

811

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Portion

823

Pottery

Pot (H16)

Portion

567

Palm fiber

Basket

2 fragments

121

Palm fiber

Roof matting?

6 fragments

123

Palm fiber

Roof matting

15 fragments

550

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

551

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

552

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

553

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

554

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

715

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

Room 2-1

125

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

Room 2-2

665

Cotton

Textile

5 scraps

670

Wool

Textile

Scrap

545

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

523

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

558

Palm fiber

Bag

Portion

458

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

506

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

644

Palm fiber

Matting

21 fragments

650

Palm fiber

Hand brooms

3 fragments

463

Shell

Pendant

Complete

Pottery

Pot (U10)

Complete

799

Pottery

Bowl (H4)

Complete

786

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Complete

450

Mud

Jar seal

Complete

466

Palm fiber

Basket

Complete

708

Paper

Scrap without text

Scrap

531

Palm fiber

Matting

3 fragments

Room 2-3

Room 2-5 Room 2-6 Room 2-7

Room 2-9

138

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House D1 (c) Room 2-9 (c)

532

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

542

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

543

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

533

Palm fiber

Sandal

Room 2-10

615

Wood + pottery

Spindle and whorl

Complete

Magazine 3

612

Copper

Perforated disc

Complete

Dump

605

Mud

Jar seal

Complete

618

Leather

Wrapped strips

2 fragments

Courtyard D2 Room 2

604

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

Soma fill

626

Palm fiber

Pouch

Portion

Rock wall fill

233

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragment

109

Bronze

Nail

Complete

Tower D3 Room 2-1

112

Iron

Sickle

Fragment

124

Iron

Sickle

Portion

423

Iron + cotton

Fishhook stuck in cotton rag

Complete

107

Iron + ivory

Folding razor

Complete

114

Horn

Bracelet

Complete

145

Wood

Bowl

Portion

116

Glass

Bracelet of strung beads

Complete

117

Glass

Bead

Complete

807

Pottery

Pot (Hl5)

Nearly complete

820

Pottery

Pot (H15)

Portion

499

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

504

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

519

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

525

Palm fiber

Matting

13 fragments

536

Leather

Pouch

Portion

541

Leather

Braid

Fragment

508

Leather

?

5 scraps

529

Leather

?

Scrap

537

Leather

?

Scrap

538

Leather

?

Scrap

540

Leather

?

Scrap

667

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

671

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

381

Wood + iron

Awl

Complete

212

Wood

Perforated tool

Portion

148

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

219

Pottery

Censer (H7)

Fragment

486

Pottery

Handle?

Fragment

451

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

453

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

444

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

Parapet D3a Corner parapet

139

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

Parapet D3a (c) Parapet (c)

522

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

373

Paper

Piece with Arabic text

Portion

374

Paper

Piece with Arabic text

Fragment

375

Paper

Piece with Arabic text

Fragment

173

Horn

Container

Portion

316

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

179

Glass

Flask

Fragment

115

Glass

Bead

Complete

136

Ceramic

Animal figurine

Fragment

149

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Portion

171

Plant fiber

Tray

Fragment

303

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

305

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

514

Leather

?

Scrap

515

Leather

?

2 scraps

516

Leather

?

2 fragments

177

Horn

Funnel

Complete

734

Wool

Textile

Scrap

113

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

House D4 Fill 1

Room 3 Room 4 Room 5

94

Alabaster

Nose plug

Complete

Room 6

105

Leather

Strips and scraps

5 fragments

137

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

139

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

713

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

157

Horn

Bracelet

Fragment

151

Iron

Blade

Complete

220

Faience

Bead

Complete

312

Palm fiber

Sandal

2 fragments

268

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

296

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

487

Leather

?

Scrap

674

Wool

Textile

Scrap

675

Wool

Textile

Scrap

93

Glass

Ointment jar

Fragment

Room 3

36

Brass

Belt buckle

Complete

Wall fill

603

Glass

Bracelet

Portion

Outside east

712

Wool

Textile

Scrap

Outside SW

191

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragment

Outside NW

198

Glass

Beads

2 complete, 2 fragments

275

Wood

Comb

Portion

Outside Room 6 House D6 Fill House D7 House E1 Room 2

Room 4 House E2 Room 1

House E3 Fill

140

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House E3 (c) Fill (c)

Room 1

Room 3

276

Palm fiber + leather

Spice container

Complete

274

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

714

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

209

Glass

Ointment jar

Fragment

17

Mud

Bead

Portion

16

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

320

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragments

322

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

317

Shell

Spoon

Portion

223

Stone

Bead

Complete

449

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

448

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

461

Leather

2-ply cord

Fragment

472

Leather

Strip

Fragment

469

House E4 Fill House E5 Fill

Leather

?

Fragment

720A

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

720B

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

721

Wool

Textile

Scrap

722

Wool

Textile

Scraps

766

Wool

Textile

Scraps

Floor

764

Wool

Textile

Scrap

Room 1

663

Wood

Small painted pot

Complete

776

Pottery

Bowl (R11) = Floor Pot 1

Complete

819

Pottery

Vase (R17) = Floor Pot 2

Complete

833

Leather

?

Scrap

Outside south

348

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

Outside SW

208

Copper

Coin

Complete

194

Horn

Bracelet

Fragment

199

Glass

Bracelet

Portion

716

Cotton

Textile

Scraps

741

Pottery

Footed bowl (W6?)

Mostly complete

498

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

520

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

215

Horn

Bracelet

Portion

231

Horn

Bracelet

2 portions

328

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

511

Leather

?

Scrap

727

Wool

Textile

Scrap

188

Silver

Knife blade?

Fragment

226

Stone

Bead

Complete

227

Stone

Bead

Fragment

217

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

Outside west House E6 Floor

House F1 Room la

Room lb

141

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House F1 (c) Room 1b (c)

Room lc

Room ld

253

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

412

Leather

Bag

Portion

512

Leather

?

Scrap

676

Cotton + palm

Textile scrap faith rope attached

Scrap

827

Pottery

Qadus (H4)

Nearly complete

266

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

269

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

340

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

350

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

507

Leather

?

Scrap

Room 1-6

421

Leather

?

Scrap

Room 2

155

Iron

Wire loop

Complete

269

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

325

Palm fiber

Pouch

Complete

328

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

336

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

340

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

344

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

Wall chinking Outside north

Outside NE

311

Palm fiber

Sandal

Complete?

313

Palm fiber

Sandal

Complete

282

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

285A

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

285B

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

293

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

294

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

295

Palm fiber

Rope

3 fragments

326

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

327

Palm fiber

Braided fronds

Fragment

346

Vine

Bracelet of twisted vines

Complete

347

Twigs

Wicker object

Fragment

422

Leather

Looped thong

Portion

430

Leather

Thong

Portion

470

Leather

?

2 scraps

473

Leather

?

Scrap

744

Cotton

Textile

Scraps

750

Cotton

Textile

Scraps

181

Iron

Blade

Complete

243

Stone

Weight

Complete

468

Leather

?

Scrap

717

Cotton

Textile

Scraps

718

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

719

Wool

Textile

Scrap

775

Wool

Textile

Scraps

757B

Goat hair

Animal girth

Portion

731

Goat hair

Braided strip

2 pieces

174

Iron

Sickle blade

Complete

142

Site 21- S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House F1 (c) Outside NE (c) Outside SE

Outside SW Outside NW Outside

699

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

700

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

495

Pottery

Bowl (?)

Portion

310

Palm + leather

Sandal

3 fragments

425

Leather

?

Scrap

435

Leather

?

Scrap

737

Cotton

Textile

2 scraps

732

Wool

Textile

Scrap

736

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

739

Wool

Textile

10 scraps

757A

Goat hair

Animal girth

Portion

757B

Goat hair

Animal girth

Portion

731

Goat hair

Braided strip

2 pieces

196

Glass

Bead necklace

4 strung beads

286

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

210

Ivory

Bracelet

Fragment

195

Glass

Bottle

Fragment

660

Copper

Bowl

Complete

234

Ceramic

Bottle stopper

Complete

257

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

572

Palm fiber

Pouch

Mostly complete

573B

Palm fiber

10 pouches

Complete

502

Palm fiber

Sack-like object

Fragment

321

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

376

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

377

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

384

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

386

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

390

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

391

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

392

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

393

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

394

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

395

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

396

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

397

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

399

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

400

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

401

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

403

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

405

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

406

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

408

Palm fiber

Matting

3 fragments

409

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

378

Palm fiber

Sandals

5 fragments

House F2 Room 1

143

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House F2 (c) Room 1 (c)

Room 2

Room 3

Room 4

Room 5

387

Palm fiber

Sandal

Nearly complete

388A

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

278

Palm fiber

Rope

2 fragments

385

Palm fiber

Rope

3 fragments

407

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

521

Palm fiber

Rope

5 fragments

524

Palm fiber

Rope

3 fragments

441

Leather

Triangular sewn object

Fragment

410

Leather

?

Scrap

439

Leather

?

Scrap

467

Leather

?

Scrap

534

Leather

?

Scrap

535

Leather

?

Scrap

568

Leather

?

Scrap

704

Flax + cotton

Textile

Scrap

705

Flax

Textile

Scrap

765

Cotton

Textile

3 scraps

216

Glass

Bead

Complete

300

Wood + palm

Stick wrapped with rope

Complete?

792

Pottery

Footed bowl (U5)

Portion

769

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

273

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

333

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

309

Palm fiber

Sandal

Nearly complete

742

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

743

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

769

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

322

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

345

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

349

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

352

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

360

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

365

Leather

Sandal

Portion

505

Leather

?

Scrap

740

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

193

Bronze

Ring

Complete

242

Wood

Sharpened, notched stick

Portion

240

Pottery

Bowl (?)

Complete

335

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

357

Palm fiber

Sandal

Fragment

297

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

440

Leather

Pouch

Nearly complete

445

Leather

Sewn scraps

Scraps

416

Leather

?

Scrap

437

Leather

?

Scrap

518

Leather

?

Scrap

144

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House F2 (c) Room 6

777

Pottery

Cup (H5)

Portion

778

Pottery

Lamp (H8)

Portion

236

Pottery

Dipper

Nearly complete

271

Palm fiber

Basket

Portion

267

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

339

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

358

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

416

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

304

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

315

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

289

Palm fiber

Rope

3 fragments

402

Leather

?

Scrap

413

Leather

?

Scrap

758

Cotton

Textile

3 scraps

760

Wool

Textile

Scrap

Junction

241

Wood

Keys and lock parts

2 keys, 2 other parts

Rooms 1 and 6

526

Leather

?

2 scraps

539

Leather

?

Scrap

723

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

724

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

749

Wool

Textile

Scrap

754

Wool

Textile

4 scraps

197

Bronze

Fishhook

Portion

187

Iron

Awl?

Complete

446

Goatskin

?

Scrap

762

Cotton

Textile

2 scraps

735

Wool

Textile

7 scraps

761

Goat hair

Textile

Scrap

202

Leather + glass

Strung bead

Complete

493

Leather

?

Scrap

500

Leather

?

5 scraps

308

Palm fiber

Sandal

Portion

Room 1

627

Iron

Sickle blade

Portion

Room 2

608

Stone

Grooved weight

Complete

Room 3

609

Copper

Bowl?

Fragment

Outside east

701

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

Textile

6 scraps

Outside NE

Outside SE

Outside House G1

House G2 Room 1

Room 4

Room 5

824

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

825

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

337

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

366

Leather

?

Scrap

383

Leather

?

2 scraps

729

Wool

Textile

scrap

239

Horn

Cigarette holder

Complete

329

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

145

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House G2 (c) Outside

755

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

756

Wool

Textile

11 scraps

759

Wool

Textile

Scrap

753

Goat hair

Textile

Scrap

459

Iron

Needle

Complete

488

Glass

Flask

Complete

788

Pottery

Bottle (U14?)

Complete

247

Stone

Grooved pebble

Complete

279

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

251

Stone

Axe head

Complete

851

Pottery

Bowl (R11)

Portion

517

Leather

?

2 scraps

728

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

695

Wool

Textile

5 scraps

822

Pottery

Lid (H5)

Nearly complete

797

Pottery

Lamp (H5)

Portion

254

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

255

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

231

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Portion

691

Wool

Textile

Scrap

205

Silver

Wire bracelet

Complete

189

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

Rooms 3 + 5

338

Hair

Rope

2 fragments

Room 4

250

Pottery

Lamp (?)

Complete

161

Ceramic

Animal figurine

Portion

20

Palm fiber

Sandal?

Portion

60

Leather

Braided strip

Section

687

Leather

Inscribed document

Portion

225

Stone

Bead

Complete

3

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

1

House G3 Room 2

Room 2a Room 4

Room 6 Outside east Outside south House G6 Room 4 House G7 Room 1

House H1 Float

Room 1-4 Rooms 1-5, 1-6 +1-8

Mud

Camel figurine

Fragment

51

Palm fiber

Roof matting

5 fragments

23

Palm fiber

Sandal

Complete

24

Palm fiber

Sandal?

Portion

119

Straw

Basket

2 fragments

99

Leather

Belt

Fragment

106

Leather

Braid

2 fragments

95

Leather

?

2 scraps

96

Leather

?

Scrap

97

Leather

?

Scrap

98

Leather

?

Scrap

101

Leather

?

Scrap

146

Site 21-S-2 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House H1 (c) Room 1-7

182

Mud

Pot

Portion

Room 1-12

795

Pottery

Bowl (W8)

Portion

Room 1-18

190

Wood

Hair ornament

Complete

633

Wood

2 slats

Complete

639

Wood

Stick covered with beeswax

Fragment

232

Gourd

Container

Portion

771

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Nearly complete

249

Pottery

Censer (?)

Fragment

427

Leather

Strip

Fragment

260

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

261

Palm fiber

Tray

Fragment

341

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

343

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

Stone

Bead

Complete

Room 1-19

58 773

Pottery

Bowl (Hl4)

Portion

52

Palm fiber

Basket

Fragment

55

Leather

Knotted cord

Fragment

56

Leather

?

Scrap

Room 1-20

748B

Cotton

Textile

Scrap

Room 1-22

359

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

Room 1-23

474

Leather

?

Scrap

Room 1-26

566

Palm fiber

Pouch

Nearly complete

579

Palm fiber

Pouch

Complete

580

Palm fiber

Pouch

Nearly complete

565

Palm fiber

Matting

Portion

559

Palm fiber

Sandal

Complete

Silver

Slender rod

Fragment

Room 2-1

11 9

Iron

Bracelet

Portion

10

Glass

Bottle

Fragment

12

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

780

Pottery

Cup (H7)

Portion

704

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Nearly complete

793

Pottery

Toy pot (H8)

Nearly complete

138

Ceramic

Animal figurine

Fragment

13

Faience

Bead

Fragment

178

Mud

Fragment of painted mural

Fragment

118

Straw

Basket

Fragment

64

Leather

Strap

Fragment

62

Leather

?

Scraps

63

Leather

?

Scrap

67

Cotton

Textile

Portion

672

Cotton

Textile

2 scraps

Outside

555

Leather

Shoe sole

Portion

Main Street

238

Glass

Jar

Fragment

House H2 Room 1 House I3

147

Site 21-S-9 Unit and sub-unit Main Street (c)

High Street

East Central Terrace

West central Terrace Area A

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

229

Ceramic

Bead

Complete

242

Clay

Unidentified, modelled object

Complete

355

Leather

Braid

Fragment

677

Wool

Textile

Scrap

678

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

237

Iron

Nail

Complete

245

Stone

Bead

Complete

647

Shell

Lamp

Complete

492

Leather

Pouch

Complete

767

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

-

Wood

Plug

Portion

662

Pottery

Ostrakon

Fragment

692

Cotton

Textile

2 scraps

746

Wool

Textile

4 scraps

659

Pottery

Lid (?)

Portion

832

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Portion

77

Stone

Chipped flint tool

Fragment

62

Shell

Bead

Complete

71

Shell

Bead

Complete

15

Wood

Bead

Complete

40

Brass

Spatulate tool

Complete

34

Iron

Kohl stick

Complete

49

Leather

Straps

2 fragments

16

Shell

String of 5 cowries

Portion

Ostrich egg

Shell

Fragment

20

Wood

String of wooden beads

Portion

18

Glass

Bead

Fragment

21

Glass

24 beads

Complete

39

Glass + leather

2 beads on leather thong

Complete

41

Glass

Bead

Complete

42

Glass

Bead

Complete

43

Glass

7 beads

Complete

44

Glass

Bead

Complete

3

Mud

Jar

Complete

90

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

91

Leather

Handle

Complete

17

Leather

?

Scrap

22

Leather

?

Scrap

24

Leather

?

Scrap

28

Leather

?

2 scraps

92

Stone

Grooved pebble

Complete

76

Glass

3 beads

Complete

38

Palm fiber

Matting

2 fragments

68

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

85

Leather

Amulet or wallet

2 fragments

83

Leather

?

Scrap

House A1 Room 1-1

Room 1-2

9

Room 1-3

148

Site 21-S-9 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House A1 (c) Room 1-3 (c)

29

Paper

Arabic text

3 fragments

Room 1-4

54

Shell

Bead

Complete

61

Shell

Bead

Complete

46

Wood

Writing pen

Complete?

97

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Portion

60

Palm fiber

Rope

Section

81

Leather

Pouch or amulet

Complete

55

Leather

?

Scrap

Paper

Arabic text

Fragment

80

Copper

Tube or sheath

Portion

47

Iron

Kohl stick

Complete

63

Stone

Hammerstone

Complete

45

Glass

Bead

Complete

64

Faience

Bead

Complete

66

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

67

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

100 Room 2-1

Room 2-2

Room 2-3

8

Stone

Polished pebble

Complete

26

Sulfur

?

4 small lumps

12

Shell

2 cowries

Complete

32

Glass

3 beads

Complete

78

Glass

2 beads

Complete

30

Paper

Arabic text

3 fragments

37

Paper

Arabic text

2 fragments

93

Paper

Arabic texts

10 fragments

13

Shell

Cowrie

Complete

23

Glass

Bead

Complete

33

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

19

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

2

Leather

Braid

5 fragments

1

Leather

?

2 scraps

89

Paper

Arabic text

2 fragments

65

Leather

Braid

Fragment

82

Leather

?

Scrap

Outside north

53

Glass

Kohl flask

3 fragments

Outside east

69

Leather

Strap

Fragment

84

Leather

?

Fragment

86

Leather

?

2 fragments

48

Stone

Smoothing stone?

Complete

74

Wood

Bowl

Fragment

36

Glass

Bead

Complete

Cowrie

Complete

Room 2-?

House A2 Fill

Room 1

103

Room 4

101

Glass

Bead

Complete

102

Paper

Arabic text

Fragment

11

Lead?

Chain

Fragment

House A3 Fill

149

Site 21-S-9 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House A3 (c) Fill (c)

House A3a House A5

House A6

5

Plaster

Spinning tool

Complete

14

Shell

2 cowries

Complete

35

Glass

8 beads

6 complete, 2 fragments

87

Leather

Strip

Fragment

88

Leather

?

Scrap

52

Stone

Whetstone

Complete

51

Stone

Hammerstone

Complete

57

Wood

Notched stick

Fragment

99

Pottery

Jar (H7)

Portion

50

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

56

Leather

?

Scrap

75

Dom nut

Kohl container

Complete

58

Glass

Kohl flask

Portion

59

Glass

Bead

Complete

98

Pottery

Lid (U5)

Mostly complete

Area B

79

Copper

Ring

Complete

House B3

73

Glass

Bead

Complete

Ceramic

Smoking pipe

Fragment

10

Iron

Cosmetic instrument

Complete

95

Horn

2 funnels

Complete

31

Glass

Bead

Complete

7

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

Room 3

6

Wool

Key

Complete

Room 4

25

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

House C2

72

Glass

Bead

Complete

House E1

94

Bone

Awl

Complete?

House G2

70

Glass

Bead

Fragment

Saqia fill

96

Pottery

Gebana pot?

Portion

Area C

4

House C1 Room 2

Site 21-S-10 Unit and sub-unit Float

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

16

Bronze

Coin?

Complete

98

Pottery

Bowl (W2O)

2 fragments

96

Pottery

Footed bowl (R21)

Portion

100

Pottery

Footed bowl (W2O)

Portion

99

Pottery

Vase (R22)

Portion

66

Pottery

Censer (H14)

Mostly complete

94

Pottery

Censer (H14)

Portion

30

Faience

Scarab ring

Fragment

29

Bronze

Hinge

Complete

93

Bronze

Ferrule

Fragment

House IV

26

Mud

Figurine?

Complete?

House V

90

Pottery

Footed jar (W6)

Complete

21

Leather + goat hair

Rope

Fragment

House II

150

Site 21-S-10 (c) Unit and sub-unit House V (c)

House VII House X

House XI House XII

House XIII

House 1

House 4

House 5

Reg. no.

Material

Portion or Condition

15

Leather

Braided circlet

Complete?

14

Leather

?

Scrap

28

Leather

?

3 scraps

63

Pottery

Footed bowl (R21)

Mostly complete

32

Plaster

Signet impression

Complete

43

Wood

Sharpened, perforated stick

Complete

77

Pottery

Bowl (H1) = Pot 2

Complete

95

Pottery

Bowl (R21)

Fragment

37

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

36

Leather

?

Scrap

38

Leather

?

2 scraps

49

Leather

?

9 scraps

40

Glass

Kohl flask

Portion

34

Glass

Necklace

15 beads

48

Glass

Necklace

42 beads

46

Leather

?

Scrap

55

Wool

Textile

Scrap

56

Wool

Textile

Scrap

97

Pottery

Bowl (W6)

Portion

67

Pottery

Vase (R22)

Portion

68

Pottery

Vase (R21)

Portion

11

Stone

Grooved pebble

Complete

64

Pottery

Lamp (?)

Portion

71

Pottery

Lid (H5)

Complete

72

Pottery

Lid (H5)

Complete

2

Palm + leather

Tray

Complete

1

Leather

Braided handle

Complete

53

Textile

Textile

10 scraps

7

Glass

Kohl flask

Portion

9

Leather

Lid Cover

Portion

3

Leather

?

Scrap

50

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

59

Wool

Textile

Scrap

60

Wool

Textile

Scrap

61

Wool

Textile

Scrap

35

Copper

Perforated strip

Complete

12

Stone + leather

Necklace of strung beads

3 beads

8

Ivory

Kohl tube

Fragment

33

Horn

Ring

Complete

13

Glass

Bracelet

Fragment

65

Pottery

Bowl (H8)

Portion

39

Leather

Shoe

Sole complete

5

Leather

Strap

Fragment

10

Leather

?

Scrap

17

Leather

?

Scrap

Goat hair

Braided and twisted net

Fragment

Iron

Kohl stick

Complete

4 House 6

Object

31

151

Site 21-S-10 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 6 (c)

23

Glass

Kohl flask

Portion

House 7

18

Iron

Knife blade

Mostly complete

92

Stone

Hammerstone

Complete

27

Leather

?

Scrap

22

Iron

Bracelet

Fragment

74

Pottery

Bowl (?)

Nearly complete

75

Pottery

Bowl (?)

Portion

73

Pottery

Lid (H5)

Complete

76

Pottery

Lid (U5)

Complete

83

Pottery

Jar (U5)

Complete

19

Palm fiber

Matting

4 fragments

20

Leather

Braid

3 fragments

41

Leather

Braid

Fragment

44

Leather

?

5 scraps

45

Leather

?

Scrap

47

Leather

?

3 scraps

51

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

62

Stone

Pounder

Complete

89

Pottery

Cup lamp (H5)

Mostly complete

House 10

House 16A

54

Wool

Textile

2 scraps

House 16B

81

Pottery

Doka (H8)

Nearly complete

House 18A

84

Pottery

Bowl (H5) = Pot 8

Complete

85

Pottery

Bowl (H6) = Pot 5

Complete

86

Pottery

Bowl (H5) = Pot 7

Complete

87

Pottery

Bowl (H6) = Pot 6

Complete

69

Pottery

Footed bowl (G.II)

Portion

88

Pottery

Miniature pot (H5) = Pot 6A

Complete

78

Pottery

Pot (H4) = Pot 3

Complete

79

Pottery

Pot (H4) = Pot 9

Complete

80

Pottery

Pot (H4) = Pot 4

Complete

82

Pottery

Grease dipper (H5)

Complete

24

Bronze

Coin?

Complete

25

Stone

Sharpening stone

Fragment

70

Pottery

Beaker (H6)

Portion

52

Wool

Textile

Scrap

57

Wool

Textile

Scrap

58

Wool

Textile

Scrap

Terrace E

42

Stone

Grooved pebble

Complete

Terrace G

91

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

Terrace C House Terrace D

Site 21-S-25 Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 2 Room 2

21 1

Pottery

Basin (H5)

Portion

Pottery

Arabic ostrakon

Complete as ostrakon?

152

Site 21-S-25 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 3 Room 2 Outside NE Terrace east

11 6 7 22

Pottery

Glazed bowl (G.I1)

Portion

Pottery

Arabic ostrakon

Complete as ostrakon

Pottery

Arabic ostrakon

Complete as ostrakon

Stone

Net weight

Complete

5

Pottery

Arabic ostrakon

Complete as ostrakon

13

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

14

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Nearly complete

19

Pottery

Jar (H4)

Complete

18

Pottery

Storage jar (H4/H5)

Nearly complete

Palm fiber

Rope

Fragment

10

Wool

Textile

3 fragments

8

Stone

Arabic ostrakon

Complete as ostrakon

2

Iron

Knife blade

Portion

House 4 Below floor House 5 Room 1

4

House 6

12

Ostrich egg

Shell

4 fragments

9

Wood

Sharpened stick

Portion

17

Pottery

Jar (H4)

Complete

15

Pottery

Storage jar (H4)

Complete

3

Leather

?

5 scraps

Bank 3

16

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

Beside enclosure wall

20

Pottery

Pot (H15)

Complete

Site 21-S-40 Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 1 Room 1

135

Brass

Grommet

Complete

21

Iron

Belt buckle

Complete

51

Iron

Knife, lance, or sword

Fragment

48

Iron

Turiya blade

Complete

50

Iron

Sickle blade

Complete

47

Iron

Spike

Complete

49

Iron

Spike

Complete

52

Iron

Spike

Complete

46

Iron

?

Portion

43

Wood

Handle

Nearly complete

2

Glass

Bottle

Nearly complete

84

Glass

Bottle

Fragment

17

Glass

Button

Complete

85

Pottery

Plate or bowl (G.IV)

Fragment

1

Pottery

Bottle (modern)

Mostly complete

105

Pottery

Pot (H15)

Portion

106

Pottery

Pot (H15)

Mostly complete

16

Pottery

Miniature pot (?)

Complete

44

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

153

Site 21-S-40 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 1 (c) Room 1 (c)

Outside east

45

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

81

Mud

Bowl

Nearly complete

13

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

15

Leather

Sandal

Portion

14

Leather

Braid

Fragment

18

Ink powder

Disc-shaped mass

Complete

19

Ink powder

Disc-shaped mass

Complete

20

Ink powder

Disc-shaped mass

Complete

69

Glass

Bottle

Portion

86

Iron

Padlock

Complete

88

Iron

Sickle blade

Complete

89

Iron

Ring with strap attached

Portion

87

Iron

Cylindrical container

Portion

70

Glass

Bottle

Fragment

71

Glass

Jar?

Fragment

72

Leather

Thin strips

Complete?

109

House 2 Room 1

House 3B Vicinity

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

27

Iron

Umbrella brace

Complete

28

Iron

Strip with rivet

Fragment

26

Iron

Wire loop inserted through rings

Complete

22

Iron

Water can

Complete

23

Wood

Packsaddle part

Complete part

24

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

25

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

House 4 Room 1

99

Iron

Axe head

Complete

112

Iron

Spear point

Complete

98

Iron

Kohl stick

Complete

97

Iron

Screw

Complete

113

Iron

Small box

Complete

111

Iron

Cylindrical can with lid

Complete

53

Glass

Bottle

Fragment

54

Glass

Jar

Nearly complete

57

China

Bowl or cup

2 fragments

58

China

Bowl

Fragment

101

Pottery

Pot (Hl5)

Complete

55

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

56

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

63

Palm fiber

Tray

Portion

61

Leather

Shoe sole

Nearly complete

60

Leather

Shoe sole

Portion

62

Leather

Shoe sole?

Fragment

82

Leather

Knife sheath + arm band

Complete

77

Leather

Sheath

Portion

154

Site 21-S-40 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 4 (c) Room 1 (c)

Room 2

Room 3

65

Leather

Pouch?

Fragment

59

Leather

?

Scrap

83

Leather

?

Scrap

66

Wool

Textile

Scrap

6

Iron

Kohl stick

Complete

9

Iron

Nail

Complete

11

Iron

Nail

Portion

8

Lead

Perforated disc

Complete

7

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

12

Leather

Braid

Fragment

10

Wool

Textile

Scrap

67

Brass

Umbrella slide

Complete

64

Leather

Braid

Portion

68

Leather

?

Scrap

Room 4

90

Iron?

Small bowl-like object

Complete?

Room 5

39

Copper

Bead?

Portion

32

Brass

Box lid

Complete

35

lron + wood

Knife

Nearly complete

29

Iron + wood

Awl

Complete

36

Iron

Spear or knife blade

Complete

37

Iron

Nail

Complete

38

Wood

Shuttle

Nearly complete

40

Wood

Spool

Complete

30

Wood

Comb

Nearly complete

42

Room 6

Outside

Porcelain

Dish

Fragment

100

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

102

Pottery

Pot (H5?)

Nearly complete

103

Pottery

Pot (H1d)

Complete

33

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

134

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

31

Ceramic

Disc

Complete

34

Mud

Pot stopper

Complete

75

Leather

Pouch

Complete

73

Leather

Pouch

Fragment

74

Leather

Pouch and braid

Complete

76

Leather

Higab

Complete

78

Leather

Higab

Complete

79

Leather

Higab

Complete

80

Leather

Higab

Portion

41

Velvet

Textile

Scrap

5

Iron

Nail

Complete

4

Palm fiber

Matting

Portion

3

Wool

Braid

Fragment

136

Stone

Whetstone

Complete

94

Brass

Umbrella slide

Complete

House 5 Room 1

155

Site 21-S-40 (c) Unit and sub-unit

House 5 (c) Room 1 (c)

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

91

Brass

Grommet

Complete

92

Iron

Belt buckle

Complete

93

Iron

Bolt

Complete

95

Iron

Flattened rod

Portion

107

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

108

Pottery

Storage jar (H4)

Complete

Room 2

133

Iron

Padlock

Complete

Room 3

116

Iron + wood

Awl

Complete

150

Iron

Pick

Complete

115

Iron

Sickle blade

Complete

117

Iron

Knife blade

Complete

114

Iron

Wedge

Complete

119

Iron

Spike

Complete

121

Iron

Hinge

Complete

138

Iron

Plate

Complete

96

Iron

Cup

Complete

118

Iron

Can lid

Complete

120

Steel

Axe head

Mostly complete

123

Stone

Polishing stone

Complete

137

Wood

Bowl

Complete

127

Wood

Comb

Portion

124

Wood + ceramic

Spindle with whorl

Complete

139

Glass

Bowl

Portion

140

Glass

Bottle

Nearly complete

146

Glass

Bottle

Portion

147

Glass

Bottle

4 fragments

141

Glass

Perfume flask

Complete

142

Porcelain

Jar

Nearly complete

104

Pottery

Bowl (H5)

Complete

110

Pottery

Amphora (U15)

Fragment

143

Pottery

Bottle

Mostly complete

144

Pottery

Bottle

Fragment

122

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

145

Ceramic

Handle

Portion

132

Palm fiber

Basket

Portion

125

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

126

Leather

Arm band

Complete

128

Leather

Higab

Complete

129

Leather

Higab

Nearly complete

131

Leather

Higab

Nearly complete

130

Leather

Cord

5 fragments

Site 21-S-42 Unit and sub-unit Western Diffi

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

10

Wood

Saddle part

Complete?

1

Pottery

Pot (H4/H5)

Complete

156

Site 21-S-42 (c) Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Western Diffi (c)

Eastern Diffi

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

2

Pottery

Pot (H4)

Complete

6

Pottery

Vase (?)

Fragment

7

Pottery

Vase (?)

Fragment

3

Leather

Sandal

Complete

Brass

Umbrella slide

Portion

Iron + wood

Awl

Complete

Stone

Whetstone

Fragment

12 9 11

Wood + ceramic

Spindle with whorl

Complete

15

5

Pottery

Bowl (H6)

5 fragments

13

Ceramic

Spindle whorl

Complete

Mud

Jar stopper

Complete

Palm fiber

Matting

Fragment

Leather

Higab

Complete

4 14 8

Site 21-S-43 Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

House 1 Room 1

11 Iron

Cigarette box

Complete

7 Iron

Can lid

Complete

8 Iron

Button

Complete

10 Iron + wood

Room 2

Awl

Complete

1 Wood

Door key

Complete

9 Glass

Bottle

Portion

4 Iron + wood

Folding razor

Complete

2 Wood

Bowl

Portion

3 Gourd

Spindle whorl

Complete

5 Palm fiber

Basket

Portion

6 Palm fiber

Matting strip

Fragment

Site 21-S-46 Unit and sub-unit

Reg. no.

Material

Object

Portion or Condition

Surface

11 Iron

Key

Portion

Grave 2

10 Iron

Ring

Complete

Grave 6

9 Pottery

Lamp (R7)

Nearly complete

Burial AA

3 Pottery

Pot (H2)

Complete

Burial CC

6 Pottery

Amphora (U5)

Nearly complete

Burial H

1 Pottery

Pot (H1)

Complete

Burial L

8 Pottery

Amphora (U5)

Mostly complete

Burial N

4 Pottery

Qadus

Nearly complete

Burial R

2 Pottery

Pot (H2)

Complete

Burial S

5 Pottery

Amphora (U2)

Nearly complete

Burial T

7 Pottery

Amphora (U5)

Nearly complete

Site 21-S-49 Unit and sub-unit Grave 4

Reg. no.

Material 1 Pottery

Object Lamp

157

Portion or Condition Portion

APPENDIX B LIST OF DATED POTTERY WARES FOUND IN KULUBNARTI SITES Ware no.

Ware name

Main dates of production, AD

HANDMADE WARES Group D.II. X-Group and earlier Christian domestic wares H1

Early domestic plain utility ware

100-1000

H2

Earlier Christian red-topped domestic ware

550-1000

H3

Earlier Christian red domestic ware

550-1000

Group D.III. Later Christian domestic wares H4

Later domestic plain utility ware

1000-1600+

H5

Later domestic red utility ware

1000-1600+

H6

Late Christian incised red domestic ware

1350-1600

H7

Late Christian painted red domestic ware

1350-1600

H8

Later Christian black domestic ware

1000-1300

H14

Late Christian painted white domestic ware

1350-1600

Group D.IV. Post-Christian domestic wares H15

Post-Christian schist-tempered plain domestic ware

1550-1900?

H16

Post-Christian schist-tempered red domestic ware

1550-1900?

H17

Modern red-topped domestic ware

1700-1990?

NUBIAN WHEEL-MADE WARES Group N.IV. Classic Christian wares R7

Classic Christian fine red ware

950-1100

R23

Classic Christian heavy red ware

?

W5

Classic Christian fine white ware

850-1000

W6

Classic Christian polished yellow ware

850-1100

W10

Classic Christian matte yellow ware

850-1100

W7

Classic Christian heavy white ware

850-1250

Group N.V Post-classic Christian wares R21

Post-classic Christian polished orange ware

1000-1200

R22

Post-classic Christian matte red ware

1000-1200

R36

Post-classic Christian southern red ware

W20

Post-classic Christian polished yellow ware

1000-1200

W23

Post-classic Christian matte white ware

1000-1200?

W21

Post-classic Christian southern yellow ware

?

?

Group N.VI. Late Christian wares R11

Late Christian polished orange ware

1150-1500

R17

Late Christian matte red ware

1150-1500

R19

Late Christian heavy decorated ware

1150-1500

W15

Late Christian matte white ware

1150-1500

W16

Late Christian polished yellow ware

1150-1500

Group N.VII. Terminal Christian wares R20

Terminal Christian heavy red ware

?

R26

Terminal Christian polished orange ware

1300-1500

R27

Terminal Christian dull orange ware

1300-1500?

R28

Terminal Christian decorated orange ware

1300-1500?

W14

Terminal Christian decorated white ware

1300-1500

158

Ware no.

Ware name

Main dates of production, AD

NUBIAN WHEEL-MADE WARES (c) Group N.VII. Terminal Christian wares (c) W18

Terminal Christian thin white ware

?

W31

Terminal Christian brown-on-white ware

?

Group NU. Nubian coarse utility wares U5

Christian red utility ware

100-1600+

U10

Later Christian pink utility ware

1000-1500

U14

Later Christian slipped utility ware

1000-1400

U23

Later Christian hard buff utility ware

1050-1200?

U24

Later Christian hard red utility ware

1050-1200?

IMPORTED ASWAN WARES Ground A.III. Early Islamic Aswan wares R13

Aswan Islamic plain red ware

850-1250

U8

Aswan early Islamic red utility ware

850-1100

Group A.IV. Medieval Aswan wares R24

Aswan medieval decorated red ware

950-1300?

W12

Aswan medieval white ware

950-1300

Aswan medieval grey utility ware

950-1500

U6

OTHER IMPORTED EGYPTIAN WARES Family E. Lower Egyptian mud wares U20

Mamluk thin utility ware

1400-1500?

U21

Mamluk heavy utility ware

1400-1500

Family L. Egyptian drab wares U12

Ballas drab utility ware

1100-1500

U13

Fostat ordinary utility ware

1100-1500

U19

Fostat decorated utility ware

1300-1500 GLAZED WARES

Group G.I. Earlier gloss wares

950-1100

Group G.II. Later gloss wares

1100-1500

Group G.III. Dull wares

1100-1500

Group G.IV. Mamluk wares

1300-1500

159

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Adams, W. Y. 1961. ‘Archeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia’, Kush 9, 7-10. Adams, W. Y. 1964. ‘‘Sudan Antiquities Service Excavations in Nubia: Fourth Season, 1962-63’, Kush 12, 216-248. Adams, W. Y. 1965a. ‘Architectural Evolution of the Nubian Church, 500-1400 A.D.’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 4, 87-139. Adams, W. Y. 1965b. ‘Sudan Antiquities Service Excavations at Meinarti: 1963-64’, Kush 13, 148-176. Adams, W. Y. 1968. ‘Settlement Pattern in Microcosm: the Changing Aspect of a Nubian Village during Twelve Centuries’, in K. C. Chang (ed.) Settlement Archaeology. Palo Alto, 174-207. Adams, W. Y. 1970a. ‘University of Kentucky Excavations in Nubia’ in Dinkler (ed.) 1970, 141-154. Adams, W. Y. 1970b. ‘The University of Kentucky Excavations at Kulubnarti, 1969’ Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association 11, no. 7, 6. Adams, W. Y. 1977. Nubia, Corridor to Africa. London. Adams, W. Y. 1986a. ‘From Pottery to History: The Dating of Archaeological Deposits by Ceramic Statistics’, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Gesellschaftswissenschaftliche Reihe 35, no. 1, 27-45. Adams, W. Y. 1986b. Ceramic Industries of Medieval Nubia. (Memoirs of the UNESCO Archaeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia, vol. 1, Lexington. Adams, W. Y. 1987a. ‘Islamic Archaeology In Nubia: An Introductory Survey’, in T. Hägg (ed.). Nubian Culture Past and Present. Stockholm, 327-361. Adams, W. Y. 1987b. ‘Time, Types and Sites: the Interrelationship of Ceramic Chronology and Typology’, Brooklyn Museum, Bulletin of the Egyptology Seminar 8, 7-46. Adams, W. Y. 1992. ‘Nubian Church Architecture and Nubian Church Decoration’, in C. Bonnet (ed.). Études Nubiennes, vol. 1. Geneva, 317-326. Adams, W. Y. 1994. ‘Castle Houses of Late Medieval Nubia’, Archéologie du Nil Moyen 6, 11-46. Adams, W. Y. 1996. Qasr Ibrim: the Late Medieval Period. Excavation Memoirs of the Egypt Exploration Society 59, London. Adams, W. Y. 1999. ‘The Murals of Meinarti,’ Nubica et Aethiopica IV/V, 3-15. Warsaw. Adams, W. Y. 2002. Meinarti III: the Late and Terminal Christian Phases. Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication No. 9, London. Adams, W. Y. 2003. Meinarti IV and V: the Church and the Cemeteries, and The History of Meinarti, an Interpretive Overview. Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication No. 11, London. Adams, W. Y. 2009. The Churches of Nobadia (2 vols). Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication No. 17, London. Adams, W. Y. and N. K. Adams 1998. Kulubnarti II. The Artifactual Remains. Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publications No. 2, London. Adams, W. Y., N. K. Adams, D. P. Van Gerven and D. L. Greene

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Vila, A. 1975. La Prospection Archéologique de la Vallée du Nil au sud de la Cataracte de Dal, 2. Paris. Vila, A. 1979. La Prospection Archéologique de la Vallée du Nil au sud de la Cataracte de Dal, 11. Paris. Weeks, K. R. 1967. The Classic Christian Townsite at Arminna West. Publication of the Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt, no. 3. Wenzel, M. 1972. House Decoration in Nubia. London.

Martens-Czarnecka, M. 1992. ‘Late Christian Painting in Nubia’, in C. Bonnet (ed.). Études Nubiennes, vol. 1, Geneva, 307-316. Michałowski, K. 1974. Faras, Wall-Paintings In The Collection Of The National Museum In Warsaw. Warszawa. Michałowski, K. and G. Gerster 1967, Faras, die Kathedrale aus dem Wüstensand. Einsiedeln-Zurich-Köln. Mileham, G. S. 1910. Churches in Lower Nubia. Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia, vol. 2. Philadelphia. Mills, A. J. 1965. ‘The Reconnaissance Survey from Gemai to Dal - A Preliminary Report For 1963-64’, Kush 13, 1-12. Mills, A. J. and H.-Å. Nordström 1966, ‘The Archaeological Survey from Gemai to Dal. Preliminary Report on the Season 1964-65’, Kush 14, 1-15. Monneret de Villard, U. 1935-57. La Nubia Medioevale, 4 vols. Cairo. Presedo Velo, F. 1963. Antigüedades Cristianas de la Isla de Kasar-Ico. Memorias de la Misión Arqueológica I. Madrid. Presedo Velo, F. J. 1965. El Pablado Cristiano de la Isla de Abkanarti en la Segunda Cataracta del Nilo. Memorias de la Misión Arqueológica VII, Madrid. Republic of the Sudan, Department of Statistics 1960. Population Census in Wadi Haifa Rural Area and Town. Khartoum. Resch, W. F. E. 1967, Die Felsbilder Nubiens, Eine Dokumentation Der OstÄgyptischen und Nubischen Petroglyphen. Graz. Sayce, A. H. 1910. ‘Karian, Egyptian and Nubian-Greek Inscriptions from the Sudan’, Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology 32, 261-263. Säve-Söderbergh, T. 1987. Temples and Tombs of Ancient Nubia. The International Rescue Campaign At Abu Simbel, Philae And Other Sites. Unesco, London. Schneider, H. D. 1975. ‘Epigraphica’, in Van Moorsel et al. 1975, 33-36. Trigger, B. G. 1967. The Late Nubian Settlement at Arminna West. Publication of the Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt, no. 2. New Haven, Philadelphia. Van Gerven, D. P. 1979. ‘The 1979 Kentucky-Colorado Expedition to Kulubnarti, Democratic Republic of the Sudan: the Implications for Physical Anthropology’, Nyame Akuma 15, 53-55. Van Gerven, D. P. 1981. ‘Nubia’s Last Christians: the Cemeteries of Kulubnarti’, Archaeology 34, no. 3, 22-30. Van Gerven, D. P. 1982. ‘The Contribution of Time and Local Geography to Craniological Variation in Nubia’s Batn el Hajar’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 59, 307-316. Van Gerven, D. P., D. S. Carlson and G. J. Armelagos 1973. ‘Racial History and Bio-Cultural Adaptation in Nubian Archaeological Populations’, Journal of African History 14, 555-564. Van Gerven, D. P., J. R. Hummert and D. B. Burr 1985. ‘Cortical Bone Maintenance and Geometry of the Tibia in Prehistoric Children from Nubia’s Batn el Hajar’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 66, 275-280. Van Gerven, D. P., M. K. Sandford and J. R. Hummert 1981. ‘Mortality and culture change in Nubia’s Batn el Hajar’, Journal of Human Evolution 10, 395-408. Van Moorsel, P., J. Jacquet and H. Schneider 1975. The Central Church at Abdallah Nirqi. Leiden.

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Plate 1.1a. The Nile at Kulubnarti, from Site 21-S-25. The island is to the left, the east bank to the right.

Plate 1.1b. The channel separating Kulubnarti from the west bank, at the peak of the Nile flood. The island is to the right.

Plate 1.1c. The topography of Kulubnarti near the middle of the island. Modern house in the foreground; kourfa Site 21-S-42 on the skyline.

Plate 1.1d. The topography of Kulubnarti, on the east side of the island, looking west from the summit of Site 21-S-10. The mountains in the background are on the west bank.

Plate 1.1e. The modern village of Kulb Saab, at the north end of Kulubnarti Island.

Plate 1.1f. Desert dunes and jebels behind Kulubnarti Island.

Plate 1.1. The Kulubnarti environment.

Plate 1.2a. Excavations at Site 21-S-2.

Plate 1.2c. Sherd washers at Site 21-S-2.

Plate 1.2e. Pay time at Site 21-S-2. The rakuba in the background served as supervision headquarters for the dig.

Plate 1.2. The excavations.

Plate 1.2b. Excavations at Site 21-S-2.

Plate 1.2d. Baskets of washed sherds, waiting to be sorted and tallied.

Plate 1.2f. The dig house in Kulbincoing village, at the end of the season. Expedition gear and finds are stacked in crates, awaiting transport to the river and back to Wadi Halfa.

Plate 2.1a. The site as seen from across the Nile, looking north.

Plate 2.1c. General view over the surface of the site after excavation, looking west. House F2 is in the foreground, House H1 in the left background.

Plate 2.1e. General view over the surface of the site after excavation, looking north east. House A5 is in the background, right.

Plate 2.1. Site 21-S-2: general views.

Plate 2.1b. The site viewed from the south west. The line of trees marks the channel separating Kulubnarti from the west bank. Note the church in the center of the picture.

Plate 2.1d. General view over the surface of the site after excavation, looking east. House C1 is in the background.

Plate 2.1f. General view over boulder alignments in the center of the site after excavation, looking south west. The corner of Tower D3 is just visible at top right.

Plate 2.2a. House E5, denuded back wall remnants.

Plate 2.2b. House E5, brick and stone wall remnants.

Plate 2.2c. House E7, Room 1, wall remnants. Note sub-floor pot.

Plate 2.2d. House E7, Room 6, sub-floor basin.

Plate 2.2e. House E8, corner fireplace in north-east corner.

Plate 2.2. Site 21-s-2. Flimsy houses.

Plate 2.2f. House F5, stone wall remnants.

Plate 2.3a. House A9, wall remnants, looking south east.

Plate 2.3b. House A9, Room 2, sunken storage bins.

Plate 2.3c. House L5, Room 2, rough stone construction.

Plate 2.3d. House L7, rough stone construction.

Plate 2.3e. “House” D8 (background) and “House” D9 (right), looking north.

Plate 2.3f. House L1, slab walls, looking north.

Plate 2.3. Site 21-s-2. Rough stone houses and slab houses.

Plate 2.4a. House A5, looking south. House A1 in the background.

Plate 2.4b. House B2, west end.

Plate 2.4c. House D4, small northern rooms (Rooms 3-8).

Plate 2.4d. House F1, north-west corner (Rooms 1a-1c).

Plate 2.4e. House F2, from the east.

Plate 2.4. Site 21-s-2. One-storey unit houses.

Plate 2.4f. House F2, Rooms 4 and 5.

Plate 2.5b. East wall. Plate 2.5a. South wall.

Plate 2.5c. Upper floor, entrance to Room 2-1.

Plate 2.5d. Upper floor, Room 2-4, entrance to sub-floor crypts.

Plate 2.5e. Upper floor, Room 2-1, dividing wall between sub-floor crypts.

Plate 2.5. Site 21-s-2. House A1.

Plate 2.6b. East wall.

Plate 2.6a. South wall.

Plate 2.6c. North-west corner, where later doorway was hacked through.

Plate 2.6d. Upper floor, Room 2-1, and doorway to Room 2-5.

Plate 2.6e. Upper floor, Room 2-3 corridor and hatchways to Crypts a-c.

Plate 2.6. Site 21-s-2. House C1.

Plate 2.6f. Upper floor, Room 2-1, late pots in situ in refuse.

Plate 2.7a. West wall before clearing.

Plate 2.7b. West wall after clearing, showing slumped section.

Plate 2.7c. North wall.

Plate 2.7d. Detail of north wall, showing blocked doorways.

Plate 2.7f. South-west corner, showing outside stair parapet at right.

Plate 2.7e. East wall, where wall of Courtyard D2 joins.

Plate 2.7. Site 21-s-2. House D1.

Plate 2.8a. Room 2-2 and 2-3.

Plate 2.8b. Room 2-2, north wall.

Plate 2.8c. Room 2-3, original floor.

Plate 2.8d. Room 2-8, looking north to original doorway to Room 2-3.

Plate 2.8e. Room 2-8, looking south into Room 2-9. Toilet fixture is in the corner.

Plate 2.8. Site 21-s-2. House D1: upper storey.

Plate 2.8f. Room 2-9, crypt hatches in floor. Crypt f at left, Crypt e at right.

Plate 2.9a. View from the east. The doorway to Room 1-5 is at the left, vault of Room 1-2 at the right.

Plate 2.9b. View from the south-east corner.

Plate 2.9c. Room 2-4, and doorway to Room 2-3.

Plate 2.9d. Denuded ground-floor rooms at the north-east corner (Rooms 1-21, 1-1 , and 1-15).

Plate 2.9e. Extension at the south side (Rooms 1-6, 1-7 and 1-8).

Plate 2.9f. Blocked exterior doorway to Room 1-2.

Plate 2.9. Site 21-s-2. House H1.

Plate 2.10a. General view, from the south west.

Plate 2.10b. South face, as seen from the Church roof.

Plate 2.10d. Upper floor, remains of soma in Room 2-4.

Plate 2.10e. Upper floor, blocked window in west wall of Room 2-8.

Plate 2.10. Site 21-s-2. The “Castle:” House D1.

Plate 2.10c. Upper floor, late doorway to Room 2-2.

Plate 2.10f. Upper floor, loophole in west wall of Room 2-10.

Plate 2.11a. The “Castle’’ complex from the east. Tower D3 to the left, Courtyard D2 to the right.

Plate 2.11b. Exterior of the stir parapet wall, south side of House D1. Note single loophole in center of wall.

Plate 2.11c. South-west corner of Courtyard D2, with stairway landings. Stairway to House D1 ascends to right; stairway to Tower D3 ascends to left.

Plate 2.11d. Interior of the stair ramp, south side of House D1, after removal of the stairs. Incised lines show successive heightenings of the parapet wall.

Plate 2.11e. Top of the stair ramp and parapet (Room 2-10), south-west corner of House D1. Note partially blocked loop-holes, leaving only a small round opening.

Plate 2.11f. North-west corner of Courtyard D2. Note peephole in the corner where courtyard wall joins House D1 wall.

Plate 2.11. Site 21-s-2. The “Castle:” Courtyard D2 and stair ramp to House D1.

Plate 2.12a. South side of the “Castle” complex. Tower D3 to right, Parapet D3a at center.

Plate 2.12c. Ascending steps on the north face of Tower D3, probably leading to the top of the courtyard gateway.

Plate 2.12b. Tower D3, south face. Parapet D3a at left.

Plate 2.12d. Stair ramp and entrance to Tower D3.

Plate 2.12e. Stair ramp to Tower D3.

Plate 2.12. Site 21-s-2. The “Castle:” Tower D3 and Corner parapet D3a.

Plate 2.12f. Tower D3, interior floor.

Plate 2.13a. House G1 looking north.

Plate 2.13b. House G1, east end.

Plate 2.13c. House G2 from west end, looking east.

Plate 2.13d. House G5, looking north east.

Plate 2.13e. House G7, looking west.

Plate 2.13f. House H3, east end.

Plate 2.13. Site 21-s-2. Late houses.

Plate 2.14a. House A3, north-west corner.

Plate 2.14b. House F1, north wall (recent reconstruction of an older unit house).

Plate 2.14c. House G4, Room 2.

Plate 2.14d. House H2, looking east.

Plate 2.14e. House I4, looking south.

Plate 2.14f. House K1.

Plate 2.14. Site 21-s-2. Recent houses.

Plate 3.la. View from north.

Plate 3.lc. View from south.

Plate 3.lb. View from east.

Plate 3.le. North-west corner, interior.

Plate 3.ld. View from west.

Plate 3.l. Site 21-s-2. Kulubnarti Church (Building J1).

Plate 3.lf. South-west corner, interior, showing doorway to stair chamber (Room 9).

Plate 3.2a. East end of the north aisle (Room 4), with doorway to Room 1.

Plate 3.2b. Room 1, niche in south wall.

Plate 3.2c. East end of the south aisle (Room 6), with doorway to Room 3.

Plate 3.2d. West end of the nave, seen from top of stairway.

Plate 3.2e. Doorway from the nave to the stair chamber (Room 9).

Plate 3.2f. Room 9, looking down on the stairs from above.

Plate 3.2. Site 21-s-2. Kulnbnarti Church (Building J1): interior views.

Plate 3.3. Site 21-s-2. Wall paintings in the church.

Plate 3.3b. Nativity, center panel. East wall of north aisle.

Plate 3.3a. Nativity, left panel. North wall of north aisle.

Plate 3.4. Site 21-s-2. Wall paintings in the church.

Plate 3.4a. Nativity, right panel. South wall of north aisle.

Plate 3.4b. Apostles and ?Pantocrator. North and east walls of sanctuary.

Plate 3.5a. Apostles. South wall of sanctuary.

Plate 3.5b. Head of Christ with the Four Creatures. South wall of the south aisle.

Plate 3.5. Site 21-s-2. Wall paintings in the church.

Plate 3.6a. Fragmentary original painting in the sanctuary.

Plate 3.6b. Part of Nativity? South wall of north aisle.

Plate 3.6. Site 21-s-2. Wall paintings in the church.

Plate 3.7a. Apostles. North wall of sanctuary.

Plate 3.7b. Head of Christ with the Four Creatures. East wall of sanctuary.

Plate 3.7. Wall paintings in the church.

Plate 4.la. View of the enclosure wall and site, from the north. House 1 is at the right.

Plate 4.lc. House 3, general view from the north west.

Plate 4.lb. House 1, Interior view of Room 2, showing original beam sockets at top of wall.

Plate 4.ld. House 4, general view from the north west.

Plate 4.1e. House 5, storage pots in situ.

Plate 4.1. Site 21-S-25.

Plate 4.lf. House 7 In the foreground; House 6 in the background, perched atop a high boulder.

Plate 5.1a. Jebel Aburjai from the north west, looking across the Nile toward the east bank. Terrace D retaining wall can be seen a short distance below the summit.

Plate 5.1c. House I, sub-floor magazines. Soma at right.

Plate 5.1e. House II. Inner room in foreground, outer room in center, open terrace in background.

Plate 5.1b. Jebel Aburjai from the south east. Lower houses are located in the cleared area almost in the center of the picture.

Plate 5.1d. House I, sub-floor magazines.

Plate 5.1f. House II, group of pots resting on the floor in the outer room.

Plate 5.1. Site 21-S-10: general views and early jebel-top houses.

Plate 5.2a. Exterior face of the terrace wall, north of gateway. Plate 5.2c. Looking along terrace from south end. House VII in foreground left, House VIII in foreground right.

Plate 5.2b. The gateway, seen from within. Antechamber is in foreground, with gateway proper beyond it. House X, Room 4 is to left.

Plate 5.2d. Looking down on the terrace from above. House IX in right foreground, House X in middle of picture, gateway at top right.

Plate 5.2e. House VI. Terrace D retaining wall is visible at lower left.

Plate 5.2. Site 21-S-10. Terrace D: general views and southern houses.

Plate 5.2f. Houses IX (foreground) and X from above.

Plate 5.3a. House XI. Note floor pots at left and in center.

Plate 5.3b. Stratigraphy at the north end of Terrace D. House V floor with pots in background; House XIII back wall, and floor with grinding slab, in foreground.

Plate 5.3c. Pots and grinding slab in House V.

Plate 5.3d. House XIII. Outer room, with grinding slab, in foreground; inner room in background.

Plate 5.3. Site 21-S-10. Terrace D: northern houses.

Plate 5.4a. House 1 before excavation, showing brick wall slumped over sidewise.

Plate 5.4b. House 1 after excavation.

Plate 5.4c. House 3b after excavation.

Plate 5.4d. House 4 after excavation.

Plate 5.4e. House 5b after excavation, from above. Room 1 at extreme right; Room 4 at left.

Plate 5.4f. House 5b, detail of sub-floor crypts in Rooms 3 (right) and 4 (left).

Plate 5.4. Site 21-S-10. Post-Christian jebel-top and Terrace D houses.

Plate 5.5a. Houses 17 (1eft), 16b, 16a, and 15, seen from below. Remains of Terrace F wall are at far right.

Plate 5.5b. House 15 floor, from the south.

Plate 5.5c. House 17, from below.

Plate 5.5d. House 18a floor, from the south.

Plate 5.5e. House 18a, details of floor features in the southern half of the room. Doorway is at top right.

Plate 5.5f. Denuded walls of Terrace F (center) and Terrace G (right).

Plate 5.5. Site 21-S-10. Post-Christian jebel-base units.

Plate 6.1a. Two-storey Unit House A1 and its surrounding enclosure wall. Plate 6.1b. One-storey Unit House C1, from the north.

Plate 6.1c. One-storey Unit House D1, from the south. Plate 6.1d. Jalus Houses A2-5, from the south east.

Plate 6.1e. Jalus House G1, from the north.

Plate 6.1. Site 21-S-9.

Plate 6.1f. Burial below the floor of House G2.

Plate 7.1b. Western Diffi, Tower A, north side.

Plate 7.1a. Western Diffi, general view from the west. Tower A is the highest standing structure.

Plate 7.1d. Western Diffi, Unit C. north-west corner rooms, from above.

Plate 7.1c. Western Diffi. Tower B, east side. Note adjoining rooms of Unit B in foreground.

Plate 7.1e. Eastern Diffi, from the east, showing “pebbled” outer wall of Rooms 1 and 2.

Plate 7.1. Site 21-S-42.

Plate 7.1f. Lower room group, eastern end, from above.

Plate 7.2a. Site 21-S-40, general view of the northern half of the site, looking north. House 5 is in the foreground, House 4 is behind it at left, and Complex A is in the background.

Plate 7.2b. Site 21-S-40, House 1, Room 1 (left) and Room 2 (right).

Plate 7.2c. Site 21-S-40, House 4, from the north.

Plate 7.2d. Site 21-S-43, denuded remains of Late Christian Unit House 1, with later-added rough stone walls.

Plate 7.2e. Site 21-S-43, remains of Late Christian Unit House 2, with later-added jalus walls. House 1 is in the background.

Plate 7.2f. Site 21-S-43, recent jalus structure below the ridgetop.

Plate 7.2. Sites 21-S-40 and 21-S-48.

Plate 7.3a. Site 21-S-41, Houses E (foreground) and F. The latter is an example of one of the well-preserved stone huts, probably built or rebuilt in the fairly recent past.

Plate 7.3b. Site 21-S-41. House B. An example of a very denuded hut, probably from the Classic or Late Christian period.

Plate 7.3c. Site 21-S-45, House 10. One of the best preserved structures, with a doorway still intact.

Plate 7.3d. Site 21-S-49, Building A. The foundations of the church as seen from the west.

Plate 7.3e. Site 21-S-50. The pottery-making site. Kilns 2-6 are at the center.

Plate 7.3f. Site 21-S-50, Kilns 4 to 6, from left to right.

Plate 7.3. Sites 21-S-41, 21-S-45, 21-S-49 and 21-S-50.

Plate 8.1a. Site 21-S-47, ?antelope figure. At the upper left is a very crude boat figure.

Plate 8.1b. Site 21-S-48, two horses and a boat. The lower horse appears to be saddled.

Plate 8.1c. Site 21-S-48, a long-horned bovid (upper left).

Plate 8.1d. Site 21-S-57, a group of short-horned cattle.

Plate 8.1e. Site 21-S-48, an apparent camel.

Plate 8.1. Rock pictures of animals.

Plate 8.1f. Site 21-S-57, a dog.

Plate 8.2b. Site 21-S-48, a boat and a probable bovid.

Plate 8.2a. Site 21-S-57, boats.

Plate 8.2c. Site 21-S-48, part of Panel 5. At the upper left, a boat apparently superimposed on a bovid. At lower left, an equestrian and two animals which may be dogs.

Plate 8.2d. Site 21-S-48, a cross and an equestrian.

Plate 8.2e. Site 21-S-58. Most clearly recognizable are two human figures. The upper figure is in Pharaonic pose; the lower is a sampler stick figure.

Plate 8.2f. Site 2 1-S-48. part of Panel 5. A panel comprising mostly human figures, of whom the majority are stick-figures. The two friezes of opposed goats are decidedly unusual.

Plate 8.2. Rock pictures of boats, human activities, etc.