Recent dotawo items

Introduction

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

The Homescapes of the Manasir: A Book Review of Welsby, Derek A. (ed.), Archaeology by the Fourth Nile Cataract.

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This book review discusses the first volume in the series announced by the Sudan Archaeological Research Society to present the results of their work within the Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project. It places particular emphasis on how the theme of the volume—“Homescapes”—is expressed in the context of the Archaeology of the Fourth Nile Cataract, with a focus on the homescapes of the Manasir, the people who lived in this region.

From Homescape to Flora Landscape

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In Sudan, the study of earthen construction materials is very rare, mudbricks were and still are widely used as building materials in many regions. This paper gives a new perspective for applying the technique of extorted plant remains from mudbrick in Sudan. The material was collected during the fieldwork of Mahas Archaeological project in April 2019 from four Christian mudbrick sites, approximately four kilograms (one kilogram from each site). The material was soaked in water for six hours to dissolve the hard mud and sand. Two metal sieves with a mesh size of 0.5 and 1 mm were used. The separated material was dried and examined under binoculars and for identification fresh seed was used as a reference collection and determination literature. Seven plant species were as seeds, fruits were extracted and identified. These include *Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare, Sorghum bicolor, Setaria italica, Adansonia digitate, Acacia nilotica* and *Cyperus rotundus*. In addition, some...

Nubian Architectural and Environmental Features Before and After Displacement: The Model of the Village Tūmās wa ʿĀfya

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This essay concerns the history of the three main Nubian groups that were displaced as a result of the building of the Aswan High Dam, and their reactions to this displacement. The loss of their homes was a traumatic experience for most Nubians, as the house was more than just a physical object for them. These were valued spaces, where day-to-day existence, festivities, and family customs unfurled. The Nubian house was imbued with social importance, addressing the heredity of a family and a community. The resettlement that the families had to endure cut off the associations with these social and hereditary spaces, leaving a void that the new homes couldn't fill. This paper compares traditional old Nubian homescapes before relocation with the new governmental dwellings built for them following their forced displacement. I have focussed upon the village of Tomas wa 'Afya, which was located 220 kilometers south of the town of Aswan, discussing the history of the village,...

A House Against Housing: Post-Displacement Nubian Domesticity

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This text discusses the displacement of the Nubian community and their houses due to hydropower projects, particularly the Aswan Low Dam, and subsequent developments. The impact of these projects led to economic hardships, male migration to urban areas for work, and women managing the Nubian houses. Despite these challenges, the Nubian community displayed resilience in rebuilding their villages. The text also examines the housing project initiated by the state for resettlement, known as \"New Nubia", by the state but referred to unfavorably as \"*Al Tagheer*\" by Nubians. The planning and implementation of this project were criticized for not adequately considering the Nubian culture and community needs, resulting in dissatisfaction among residents. Here, I highlight how Nubians took matters into their own hands, making modifications to the state-built dwellings to align them with their cultural norms. Nubian women played a crucial role in these modifications and the...

Stereotypes and Negative Indexes of the Nubians in Egypt

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the stigmatized portrayal of Nubians, particularly Fadija and Kunuz speakers, in Egyptian media, focusing on negative stereotypes that continue to permeate these representations. Nubian speakers of Fadija and Mattoki are frequently depicted as unintelligible in Arabic, blackfaced, and confined to lower-class roles. Terms such as 'barbari' (barbarian), and 'bijtkalem ʕarabi mekasar' (speaking broken Arabic) reinforce social and racial biases, fostering prejudice and discrimination. As a result, some Nubians feel compelled to adopt Arabic to avoid mockery and marginalization. Nonetheless, many Nubians remain resolute in preserving their mother tongues to maintain cultural identity, linguistic heritage, and ideological values. Applying the theory of indexicality, this study explores how both linguistic and non-linguistic elements—including language, dress, occupation, skin color, and character traits—are utilized in media to perpetuate negative stereotypes....

The Use and Experience of Painting Materials in Ancient and Modern Nubia

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Homes in Nubia are decorated by their inhabitants, using materials from the landscape around them. This has been the case for thousands of years. Taking the ancient town of Amara West (c. 1250 BC--800 BC) and the modern residents of its environs as a case study, the procurement and application of painting materials and their social implications are considered, using archaeological evidence and recently conducted interviews. The ancient evidence includes paint on walls, pigments, paint palettes, grindstones, and painted coffins, samples of which were scientifically analysed to determine the pigments and binders used. Twelve interviews were conducted via translator with modern residents living near to Amara West about their use of paint in their houses, including how they collected painting materials, when painting took place, and who was responsible. Several paints were re-created with tools and materials that were used by the ancient population in order to experience...

Houses of Egyptian Nubia: West Aswan — Then and Now

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Most of the Nubians in Sudan and Egypt were relocated when the Egyptian High Dam was constructed in 1964, but not all of them were. Several Nuban villages sitting north of the High Dam were in no danger of inundation, and were not evacuated. The houses which the Nubians built and continue to build in these villages, distinctive and beautiful, continue to be cherished by their owners. Here I present photographs of the houses in the village of West Aswan, where I lived for 3 ½ years, showing traditional as well as more modern styles, to demonstrate that the extraordinary Nubian culture, ancient as it is, has not disappeared despite great change.

A Bioarchaeological Approach to Everyday Life: Squatting Facets at Abu Fatima

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Human skeletal remains adapt throughout the life course, thereby recording a lived experience. Bioarchaeologists can interpret skeletal data in light of everyday life, a crucial component to social practice, structure, and transformation. In this article, I examine tibial squatting facets, as an embodied product of repetitive squatting, to elucidate everyday life in Bronze Age Nubia. I use the site of Abu Fatima (2500-1500 BCE, Third Cataract) as a case study. At Abu Fatima, 95% of individuals (20/21) had squatting facets, suggesting the vast majority of the population repetitively engaged in a squatting position throughout their lifecourse. This included men and women of all ages. This is much higher than most other comparative studies on tibial squatting facets. Additionally, I reference previous strontium isotope analysis to speak to whether or not migrants or locals were more likely to squat. Both groups, were squatting with regularity. While we cannot speak to the exact...

Remaking Home After Displacement: A Case Study From Egyptian Nubia

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For centuries, the Nubians lived between the First and Fourth Cataracts of the Nile as an ethno-linguistic group united by their language, customs and distinctive architecture. However, the construction of the High Dam in 1964 forced the displacement of Nubians from their homeland to another location completely different to the environment in which the Nubian culture arose and developed. In this research I examine the daily life in the Nubian village Abu Hor in Old and New Nubia as a case study to explore how the Nubians tried to regain the sense og being-at-home in the aftermath of their displacement. I use auto-ethnographic tools to explore the material and social techniques they had developed to create a sense of home in New Nubia. The research demonstrates how the displacement of Nubians and the changing spatial context have deeply affected their culture, and how they used and adapted their culture to overcome alienation feelings and displacement by remaking their...

A Conversation with Khalid Shatta

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Anna Boozer interviewed visual artist Khalid Shatta about his artwork and its relationship to homelife over Zoom on August 22nd 2024. The following interview offers a transcript of that conversation, while smoothing over side comments and transitions.

Nubian Women’s Bridal Rooms

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The article discusses the decoration of wedding rooms in Egyptian Nubia before the resettlement of the population due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1964. In the former Nubian villages, it was the task of a bride to decorate a special place, the so-called bride’s room, before the marriage. This activity was part of the extensive house-decoration, consisting foremost of wall paintings, which the women painted with earth colors on their home’s outer and inner walls. Their rich and often opulent adornment with three-dimensional objects made the Nubian bridal rooms particular. Homemade handiwork hung up on the walls or suspended from the ceilings formed the main feature of the room’s design. On top of this, a mixture of peculiar items was displayed. These could be anything the brides considered valuable and composed inventively into an artistic design, whether as an assemblage or as “objets trouvés”. The custom to furnish a bridal room in this manner was discontinued...

Textiles Activities in Context: An Example of Craft Organization in Meroitic Sudan

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In Sudan and Nubia, textile implements such as spindle whorls and loom weights are common finds, especially in the excavations of both rural and urban Meroitic settlements. This paper will focus on restoring the textile implements to their archeological locations in order to identify and understand the context of textile activities within the two settlements of Tila Island and Meroe-city. The two sites - a small rural settlement on one hand and the royal capital city on the other hand - offer various examples of how craft production was integrated amidst the Meroitic urban landscape. From domestic production inside living quarters to the creation of multi-tasking industrial areas, the making of textiles was tightly woven into the economic fabric of the Meroitic kingdom.

An Obituary for Professor “Makuria” El-Sheikh Mahmoud El-Tayeb (1957-2024)

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An obituary for Mahmoud El-Tayed, a leading Sudan archaeologist who was also member of the Editorial Board of Dotawo.

A Review of: Ivan Miroshnikov, Antti Marjanen, and Francesca Iacono, The Coptic Versions of the Martyrdom of Saint George: A Study of the Coptic Transmission of the George Legend, with an Edition of Eight Fragmentary Manuscripts in Sahidic, Bohairic, and Fayyumic. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 710. Peeters : Leuven — Paris — Bristol, CT 2024, pp. lxxiv + 176.

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A book review of CSCO 710 with a Nubiological focus.

A Review of: Alain Delattre, Jitse Dijkstra, and Jacques van der Vliet (eds), Christian Inscriptions from Egypt and Nubia. A Critical Bulletin (2013-2022). Papyrologica Bruxellensia 43. Association Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, Bruxelles. Peeters : Leuven — Paris — Bristol, CT 2024, pp. xi + 291.

Fri, 6 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A book review of CIEN 2013-2022 with a Nubiological focus.

The Archers of Kerma: Warrior Image and Birth of a State

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A research programme conducted by the Swiss archaeological mission in the oldest sectors of the Eastern Cemetery of Kerma has uncovered the tombs of several dozen archers. The appearance of these armed warriors dating from ca. 2300 BC onwards can be put in parallel with the resumption of commercial activities between Egypt and Nubia, illustrated by the Harkhuf expeditions. The archers and their warrior attributes probably participate in the emergence of kingship ca. 2000 BC, which takes control of the commercial axis along the Nile and is illustrated by the accumulation of wealth and the development of servitude. This article proposes to describe these Kerma archers and then to look at the evolution of funerary rites that show in their own way how a social hierarchy emerges that will lead to the birth of a state, in this instance the kingdom of Kerma.

Preface by the Editor

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this thematic collection is to offer new insights on wars and violent conflict in the Sudan either as case-studies or as broader historical patterns.

The Art of Revolution: The Online and Offline Perception of Communication during the Uprisings in Sudan in 2018 and 2019

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article deals with art from the Sudanese revolution in 2018 and 2019 (the December Revolution). The focus is on the most recognizable and widespread images from the uprising and their presence on the streets of Sudanese cities and social media. The article shows how freedom of expression exploded on the Sudanese streets after years of censorship, suppression, and violations of freedom of speech, media, and civil rights. Art and social media had significant roles in covering the uprising. Issues related to the importance and value of art in transmitting social discourse and dissent in a tightly controlled society are raised. These issues should be the subject of wider research on conflict and social media in Sudan. This article focuses only on a small part of this vast and important topic.

The Role of Warfare and Headhunting in Forming Ethnic Identity: Violent Clashes between A-Group and Naqada Peoples in Lower Nubia (mid-4th millennium BCE)

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article reassesses the earliest cemeteries dating to the 4th millennium BCE in northern Lower Nubia. Remains from two cultural groups have been found in the region – native predecessors of the A-Group people and Naqada people arriving from Upper Egypt. The evidence presented suggests that Naqada people from the chiefdom at Hierakonpolis conducted a violent expansion into Lower Nubia in the mid-4th millennium BCE. The violent encounters with the natives are testified through evidence of interpersonal violence in five cemeteries of the predecessors of the A-Group people, young males buried with weapons in a Naqada cemetery in A-Group territory, and a settlement pattern shifting southwards. The author argues that the violence led to an ethnogenesis among the native population of northern Lower Nubia, and the ethnic boundary between the two groups became even more defined through headhunting provoking a schismogenesis. This case study provides new insights into warfare in ancient...

Words on Warfare from Christian Nubia

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article is an attempt to assemble the vocabulary related to war found in Nubian written sources (primarily manuscripts) and discuss the insights it offers about warfare in Christian Nubia. All four languages used in medieval Nubia are examined, but the focus is on Old Nubian. Saint Epimachos, Saint Mercurios, Saint George, and the Archangel Michael are the personae around which pivot the narratives that offer insights into weapons, offices, and practices in the otherwise very scarcely documented military of Christian Nubia.

Gender as Frame of War in Ancient Nubia

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Gender research in Sudan archaeology and Meroitic studies is a nascent field. Studies of gender are especially lacking in investigations concerning war and violence, which are usually written from an androcentric perspective, and often focus solely on soldiers, army, weaponry, and images of battles and enemies. The experiences of non-combatants in the context of war in ancient Nubia are rarely considered; nor is the gender background of war. This paper deals with gender structure in the lists of spoils of war, women and children as prisoners of war, feminization of enemies in royal texts, participation of royal women in war, and depictions of royal women smiting enemies. In gender as a frame of war, Kushite kings were represented as masculine and their enemies as feminine. This binary opposition has also been observed in ancient Egyptian and Neo-Assyrian sources, and was clearly a shared vocabulary of the great powers of the second and first millennium BCE. Such a frame of war...

'In the Bosoms of Abraham': A Christian Epitaph from Nubia in the Brooklyn Museum

Tue, 9 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

First edition of a Christian epitaph in Greek of a woman, Timothea, brought by Henry J. Anderson to the United States in 1848 and now in the Brooklyn Museum. Analysis of the form and text of the monument allows its epigraphic context to be reconstructed, as part of a dispersed funerary assemblage of northern Nubia, including a distinctive textual formula wishing the deceased repose in the “bosoms of Abraham.”

An Obituary for George Pagoulatos

Wed, 5 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

An obituary for one of the most influential Greeks of Sudan whose contributions to Sudan archaeology and Nubian Studies have been priceless.

Booker T. Washington’s Challenge for Egyptology: African-Centered Research in the Nile Valley

Tue, 4 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In 1909, Egyptologist James Henry Breasted sent a letter to Booker T. Washington, along with a copy of an article Breasted had recently published in The Biblical World. To fully understand the short correspondence between the two scholars, this article delves into three related topics: Washington’s philosophy of industrial education and its complementarity with the educational program of his contemporary W. E. B. Du Bois; Washington’s prominent standing in educational, political, and social circles, including his professional relationship with the president of the University of Chicago William Rainey Harper and his advisory role to US president Theodore Roosevelt; and Breasted’s perspective on race and Egyptology. Washington, unlike Breasted, considered connections between ancient Nile Valley cultures and cultures elsewhere in Africa, a point of inquiry that has recently gained momentum in a variety of fields. In the correspondence between Washington and Breasted, we see demonstrations...

A Short Note on Queen Gaua: A New Last Known Ruler of Dotawo (r. around 1520-6)?

Tue, 4 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Nubian Christian kingdom of Dotawo is attested in Old Nubian sources from the eleventh to the late fifteenth centuries. The reign of Dotawo’s last “king” is dated to the period between 1463 and 1483 (at least). This short note wishes to highlight another ruler, a Queen Gaua (or Jawe), who is mentioned by the Portuguese historian João de Barros in his imperial history entitled the Terceira Década da Ásia (“Third Decade of Asia”), published in 1563. Her reign can be dated to encompass the early 1520s and knowledge thereof challenges certain narratives regarding the latter period of Dotawo and this note poses questions for further research to explore regarding Christian Nubia in the sixteenth century.

Personal Markers and Verbal Number in Meroitic

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks to the use of linguistic comparison and analyses of new inscriptions, Meroitic, the extinct language of the kingdom of Meroe, Sudan, has become increasingly well known. The present article deals with the identification of personal markers and verbal number. It shows how Meroitic, like many other languages, used a former demonstrative, qo, as a 3rd person independent pronoun. An in-depth analysis of the royal chronicles of the kings and princes of Meroe, compared with their Napatan counterparts written in Egyptian, further yields the 1st person singular dependent pronoun e- (later variant ye-), which can be compared with 1st person singular pronoun found in related languages. A stela of Candace Amanishakheto found in Naga is the starting point for identifying the 2nd person singular and plural independent pronouns are and deb. These two morphemes are linked with the most recent reconstructions of Proto-Nubian pronouns and conrm...

Preface by the Editor

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Since its inception, the Union for Nubian Studies has been committed to opening up Nubiological research to a wider audience and broadening access to source materials. Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies was launched in 2014 as an open-access journal, with free access for both authors and readers. …

Morphological Evidence for the Coherence of East Sudanic

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

East Sudanic is the largest and most complex branch of Nilo-Saharan. First mooted by Greenberg in 1950, who included seven branches, it was expanded in his 1963 publication to include Ama (Nyimang) and Temein and also Kuliak, not now considered part of East Sudanic. However, demonstrating the coherence of East Sudanic and justifying an internal structure for it have remained problematic. The only signicant monograph on this topic is Bender’s The East Sudanic Languages, which uses largely lexical evidence. Bender proposed a subdivision into Ek and En languages, based on pronouns. Most subsequent scholars have accepted his Ek cluster, consisting of Nubian, Nara, Ama, and Taman, but the En cluster (Surmic, E. Jebel, Temein, Daju, Nilotic) is harder to substantiate. Rilly has put forward strong arguments for the inclusion of the extinct Meroitic language as coordinate with Nubian. In the light of these difficulties, the paper explores the potential for morphology to provide...

Ama Verbs in Comparative Perspective

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Ama verbs are comparable with Nubian and other related languages in their clause-final syntax, CVC root shape, and some affixes. However, there is also considerable innovation in adjoined relative clauses, a shift from number to aspect marking traced by T/K morphology, and other changes in the order and meaning of affixes. These developments show a unique trend of concretization of core clause constituents, and internal growth in the complexity of verbs in isolation from other languages. On the other hand, Ama’s stable distributive pluractional represents a wider Eastern Sudanic category. The late loss of pronominal subject marking supports a hypothesis that the Ama language was used for inter-group communication with Kordofan Nubians.

Restoring “Nile-Nubian”: How to Balance Lexicostatistics and Etymology in Historical Research on Nubian Languages

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The paper offers a critical analysis of the proposal to dismantle the genetic unity of the so-called Nile-Nubian languages by positioning one of its former constituents, the Nobiin language, as the earliest oshoot from the Common Nubian stem. Combining straightforward lexicostatistical methodology with more scrupulous etymological analysis of the material, I argue that the evidence in favor of the hypothesis that Nobiin is the earliest offshoot may and, in fact, should rather be interpreted as evidence for a strong lexical substrate in Nobiin, accounting for its accelerated rate of change in comparison to the closely related Kenuzi–Dongolawi (Mattokki–Andaandi) cluster.

Nubian Verb Extensions and Some Nyima Correspondences

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Having a historical-comparative approach this paper is concerned with the reconstruction of some Proto-Nubian derivational morphemes comprising two causatives, two applicatives, and two suffixes deriving verbal plural stems, as well as a now defunct causative prefix. When discussing applicatives in the Nile Nubian languages, it is argued that they involve converbs, i.e., dependent verbs, which in Old Nubian and Nobiin are marked by the suffix -a. This verbal suffix is considered to be distinct from the homophonous predicate marker -a which occurs as a clitic on various other hosts. The paper also points out that some of the Nubian verb extensions correspond to Nyima (mostly Ama) extensions, thus providing strong evidence of the genetic relationship between Nubian and Nyima. Perhaps the most striking evidence of Nubian–Ama relations and the coherence of the Nilo-Saharan phylum as a whole is provided by the archaic Nilo-Saharan *ɪ-. The reflexes of...

The Nubian Frontier as a Refuge Area Warrior Society between c. 1200 and c. 1800 CE: A Comparison between Nubia and the Ottoman Balkans

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The period from the Ayyubid invasion of Lower Nubia by Salah ad-Din’s brother in 1172–1173 to Mohammed Ali’s conquest of northern Sudan in 1820–1821 has been termed the Feudal Age by William Adams, the nestor of Nubian archaeology. The characterizing feature of the Feudal Age was the disappearance of centralized government, and in its place “a growing spirit of military feudalism […] manifested itself in the appearance of castles and military architecture, in the rise of increasingly independent local feudatories, and in dynastic quarrels within the ruling houses.” The rocky and isolated region of Batn el-Hajar has been considered as an area of refuge during these tumultuous times. For the people living in Nubia, this period was marked by the emergence of tribal societies. Some inaccessible tracts, like Batn el-Hajar, were also characterized by religious resilience where Christianity prevailed, although there was a religious shift from Christianity to Islam among their neighbors.

A Note towards Quantifying the Medieval Nubian Diaspora

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Throughout the Christian medieval period of the kingdoms of Nubia (c. sixth–fifteenth centuries), ideas, goods, and peoples traversed vast distances. Judging from primarily external sources, the Nubian diaspora has seldom been thought of as vast, whether in number or geographical scope, both in terms of the relocated and a non-permanently domiciled diaspora. Prior to the Christianisation of the kingdoms of Nobadia, Makuria, and Alwa in the sixth century, likely Nubian delegations, consisting of “Ethiopes,” were received in both Rome and Constantinople alongside ones from neighbouring peoples, such as the Blemmyes and Aksumites. Yet, medieval Nubia is more often seen as inclusive rather than diasporic. This brief discussion will further show that Nubians were an interactive society within the wider Mediterranean, a topic most commonly seen in the debate on Nubian trade.

The Memories of Byzantium as Preserved in Nubia’s Political Ideology after the 7th Century CE

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This study mainly focuses on the formation of the dominant ideology that Nubian rulers conveyed to the Nubian people and aims to show how the ideological influences from Byzantium integrated with the indigenous background into Nubia’s political system and created a unique Afro-Byzantine state.

An Ethiopian Fugitive Allied with a Nubian King? Ēwosṭātēwos and Sābʾa Nol at Nobā through Hagiographical Narrative

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Around the year 1337, the Ethiopian monk Ēwosṭātēwos left his kingdom. If his vita depicts his journey as a pilgrimage, one must admit that it was actually an exile. As a staunch advocate of the double Sabbath as well as an opponent of lay authorities, the monk held highly controversial views. At the beginning of the 14th century, he created a powerful, yet dissenting, movement in northern Ethiopia with his disciples, called the Eustatheans. Nevertheless, this success led him into trouble. The newly appointed Metropolitan Yāʿeqob, head of the Ethiopian Church, deprived him from all support. Moreover, king Amda Ṣeyon (1314–1344) banished the rebellious monk, and Warāsina Ἐgzi, a local governor, cast him out.

For Sale: Geography in Old Nubian Land Sales

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In this article I want to focus on the way in which land property is described within the Makuritan kingdom, based on a grammatical analysis of Old Nubian land sales. I will argue that such descriptions are always relative in nature, referring to adjacent plots oriented from south to north on the banks of the Nile. South is thus considered the “up/forward” direction. I will also discuss the multiple ways in which the function and ownership of land can be described.

From Nub to Dahab: The Lexical Shift of Fadija Nobiin to Arabic in Egypt

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A language shift occurs in a minority language if the dominant language is widely used in various domains. A shift has occurred, and is still occurring, in Fadija Nobiin because of contact with the Arabic language, which is used by the majority. In this paper, I will investigate language shift in the Nobiin language, particularly lexical change in Fadija Nobiin. More specifically, this paper analyzes heavy lexical borrowing from Arabic into Fadija Nobiin, using a Nobiin folk song as an example. Factors that influence language maintenance and shift are discussed to reflect on the Arabic language influence on a minority language. Nubians, including the speakers of Fadija and other vernaculars, are concerned about their language endangerment and many are showing commitment and cooperation to revitalize it and save it from extinction.

Medieval Presence at the Periphery of the Nubian State of Makuria: Examples from the Wadi Abu Dom and the Jebel al-Ain

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents some medieval material from remote areas within the Bayuda and the Western Deserts in Sudan, and draws several conclusions about the presence of Christianity and the Makurian administration within them. First, the general topographical setting of the different areas are described in order to define the geographical frame of the paper. The Wadi Abu Dom is an ephemeral fluviatile valley situated within the central and western Bayuda between the Sudanese provinces River Nile State and Northern State. It drains several dendritic khors in volcanic mountains of the central Bayuda – the most prominent of them named “Ras ed-Dom,” whose name refers to its role as the uppermost offspring of the (Wadi Abu) Dom. It flows at its very beginning from north to south, and later in western or northwestern direction. North of the modern town of Merowe directly opposite the Gebel Barkal, it meets the River Nile.

The Land of the š3sw (Nomads) of yhw3 at Soleb

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The temple of Amun-Ra at Soleb, constructed in Kush (Nubia) during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty and “rediscovered” in 1813 by Burckhardt, is famous for its status as the southernmost temple and its scenes of the Heb-Sed Festival of Amenhotep III. Located about 185 kilometers southwest of Wadi Halfa, the partially preserved Soleb temple of Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile, just south of the Third Cataract, can be difficult to access. According to the building inscription of Amenhotep III from Thebes, the Soleb temple was named Khaemmaat and was dedicated to Amun-Ra and to Amenhotep III as a deity. A New Kingdom cemetery was nearby to the west, and subsequent rulers Akhenaten, Ay, and Tutankhamun also had modifications made to the temple. Even as early as 1829, the expedition of Major Felix which visited the site recognized that the prisoner inscriptions on visible columns were commemorating the victories of Amenhotep III, but after the centuries,...

Looking at Nubians in Egypt: Nubian Women in New Kingdom Tomb and Temple Scenes and the Case of TT 40 (Amenemhet Huy)