Burial Sites Show How Nubians, Egyptians Integrated Communities Thousands of Years Ago

Ancient Origins

New bioarchaeological evidence shows that Nubians and Egyptians integrated into a community, and even married, in ancient Sudan, according to new research from a Purdue University anthropologist.

"There are not many archaeological sites that date to this time period, so we have not known what people were doing or what happened to these communities when the Egyptians withdrew," said Michele Buzon, an associate professor of anthropology, who is excavating Nubian burial sites in the Nile River Valley to better understand the relationship between Nubians and Egyptians during the New Kingdom Empire. The findings are published in American Anthropologist, and this work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. Buzon also collaborated with Stuart Tyson Smith from the University of California, Santa Barbara, on this UCSB-Purdue led project. Antonio Simonetti from the University of Notre Dame also is a study co-author. Michele Buzon, a Purdue University associate professor of anthropology, is excavating pyramid tombs in Tombos, Sudan to study Egyptian and Nubian cultures from thousands of years ago in the Nile River Valley. Image credit: Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke Egyptians colonized the area in 1500 BCE to gain access to trade routes on the Nile River. This is known as the New Kingdom Empire, and most research focuses on the Egyptians and their legacy. The Mystery of the Miniature Pyramids of Sudan Tomb of Huy, ruler of Nubia under Tutankhamun, to be opened to the public Location of New Kingdom (CC BY-SA 3.0) "It's been presumed that Nubians absorbed Egyptian cultural features because they had to, but we found cultural entanglement? That there was a new identity that combined aspects of their Nubian and Egyptian heritages. And based on biological and isotopic features, we believe they were interacting, intermarrying and eventually becoming a community of Egyptians and Nubians," said Buzon, who just returned from the excavation site. During the New Kingdom Period, from about 1400-1050 BCE, Egyptians ruled Tombos in the Nile River Valley's Nubian Desert in the far north of Sudan. In about 1050 BCE, the Egyptians lost power during the Third Intermediate Period. At the end of this period, Nubia gained power again and defeated Egypt to rule as the 25th dynasty. Nubian Pharaohs. (Public Domain) "We now have a sense of what happened when the New Kingdom Empire fell apart, and while there had been assumptions that Nubia didn't function very well without the Egyptian administration, the evidence from our site says otherwise," said Buzon, who has been working at this site since 2000, focusing on the burial features and skeletal health analysis. "We found that Tombos continued to be a prosperous community. We have the continuation of an Egyptian Nubian community that is successful even when Egypt is playing no political role there anymore." Human remains and burial practices from 24 units were analyzed for this study. The tombs, known as tumulus graves, show how the cultures merged. The tombs' physical structure, which are mounded, round graves with stones and a shaft underneath, reflect Nubian culture. Ancient Tomb Reveals Cultural Entanglement between Egypt and Nubia The rich history of the ancient Nubian Kingdom of Dongola "They are Nubian in superstructure, but inside the tombs reflect Egyptian cultural features, such as the way the body is positioned," Buzon said. "Egyptians are buried in an extended position; on their back with their arms and legs extended. Nubians are generally on their side with their arms and legs flexed. We found some that combine a mixture of traditions. For instance, bodies were placed on a wooden bed, a Nubian tradition, and then placed in an Egyptian pose in an Egyptian coffin." Aerial view at Nubian pyramids, Meroe (CC BY-SA 1.0) Skeletal markers also supported that the two cultures merged. "This community developed over a few hundred years and people living there were the descendants of that community that started with Egyptian immigrants and local Nubians," Buzon said."They weren't living separately at same site, but living together in the community."

Top image: Nubians bringing tribute to the Pharaoh, from the tomb of Huy. Photo Source: (Exploring Africa)

The article ‘Burial sites show how Nubians, Egyptians integrated communities thousands of years ago ‘was originally published on Science Daily.

Source: Purdue University. "Burial sites show how Nubians, Egyptians integrated communities thousands of years ago." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 May 2016. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160518165301.htm

Ancient Origins

Star charts reveal how ancient Egyptians planned to navigate the sky after death

Like others in the ancient world in the Americas, Asia, Europe and around the Mediterranean, Egyptian pharaohs and nobles associated stars with their gods or thought they could be deified by becoming immortal stars in the night sky. They tried to ensure their ascension and navigation of the night skies by having elaborate star charts and calendars painted in their tombs. They also had eyes painted on their coffins so they could see what was going on in the world.
Sarah Symons, a researcher from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, says she believes the stars painted on the outsides of coffins were like a map for the dead to navigate the night skies. Scholars previously thought they were like clocks for keeping time, which would have been important for certain rituals, says Scientific American in an article about Symons’ research.
The article states:

“Her conclusions are based on years of research into ancient Egyptian beliefs, extensive surveys of the 27 known star tables or fragments of tables in the world and, using planetarium software, the ability to easily recreate the nighttime sky as it appeared more than 4000-odd years ago along the Nile. Symons and co-author Elizabeth Tasker of Hokkaido University in Japan describe the work in the October issue of Scientific American.”

The star charts’ layout has been understood for decades, Symons and Tasker write. The ancient astronomers’ paintings on some of the tombs divided a table into quarters with a vertical and a horizontal stripe. Along the horizontal stripe is a line invoking a number of Egyptian gods with an offering. Along the vertical stripe they painted images of four of the gods.
The Scientific American article examines the star table of Idy of Asyut, which has one of the best-preserved star tables. It is housed at the University of Tübingen Museum in Germany.

The sky goddess Nut in an ancient Egyptian star chart that differs from the one studied by Sarah Symons and Elizabeth Tasker. (Photo by GoldenMeadows / Wikimedia Commons)

Across the top of the table is printed the civil Egyptian calendar of 10-day weeks and 12 months of 30 days, for a total of 360 days. They painted on the “half week” of five odd days at the year’s end in a column at the table’s end.
They printed the star names in hieroglyphics in columns with 12 rows. Every cell depicts the rising or setting of a certain star over the horizon, Scientific American says.

The star chart of Senemut, which differs from the one detailed in the Scientific American article. (Photo by SenemmTSR/Wikimedia Commons)

Idy’s star chart depicts the goddesses Nut, the god Sahu and the leg of an ox, among other deities. Nut was the goddess of the sky, and she is seen holding up the heavens on the star chart. Meskhetiu, or the ox leg, shows seven stars, which scholars think represent the constellation of the Big Dipper.
Idy’s star chart also shows Sopdet or Sirius rising above the horizon. Sirius was absent for the sky for about 70 days in ancient Egypt. Its rise after the absence every year signaled the vitally important Nile flood.
The star table of Idy does not show all of the columns of the ideal star table. “Even partial representations were apparently powerful enough to allow the dead to access the complete chart in the afterlife,” Scientific American says.
Featured image: A detail of the star chart of Idy of Asyut showing the sky goddess Nut holding up the heavens at the top. (Photo by Einsamer Schütz / Wikimedia Commons) 
By Mark Miller