The successful ‘recipe’ for a long-lasting tradition: Nubian ceramic assemblages from Sai Island (northern Sudan) from prehistory to the New Kingdom

Sai Island, in the Nile in northern Sudan, has a series of settlement sites spanning the entire period from the eighth millennium BC through to the Eighteenth Dynasty of the Egyptian New Kingdom. This long sequence provides an excellent opportunity to study continuity and discontinuity in long-term...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2017-02, Vol.91 (355), p.24-42
Main Authors: D'Ercole, Giulia, Budka, Julia, Sterba, Johannes H., Garcea, Elena A.A., Mader, Dieter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Ancient Egyptian
Anthropological research
Archaeology
Ceramic industry
Ceramics
Cultural anthropology
Cultural change
Cultural history
Cultural identity
Cultural transmission
Diachronic analysis
Discontinuity
Egyptian civilization
Excavation
Historic artifacts
Material culture
Microscopy
Neolithic
Petrography
Pottery
Prehistoric archaeology
Prehistoric era
Social aspects
Social change
Social identity
Traditions
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Summary:Sai Island, in the Nile in northern Sudan, has a series of settlement sites spanning the entire period from the eighth millennium BC through to the Eighteenth Dynasty of the Egyptian New Kingdom. This long sequence provides an excellent opportunity to study continuity and discontinuity in long-term pottery traditions. Ceramics from the varying cultural phases of the occupation reflect changing dynamics between broader regional social identities, notably Kerma to the south and Egypt to the north. Combining studies of petrography with trace element composition and chaîne opératoire analysis, the authors present the first diachronic study of ceramic manufacture throughout the extended cultural history of Nubia, highlighting the varying manifestations of change and continuity.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.15184/aqy.2016.262