Archaeologists conducting research in northern Sudan have documented nearly 300 archaeological sites spanning thousands of years of human activity, including a mysterious life-sized petroglyph that may depict an ancient ruler.
The research focuses on the Miseida region in Mahas, near the Third Cataract of the Nile, and was conducted by researchers from the University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The Third Cataract is a rocky section of the Nile that historically presented an obstacle to navigation. Its location also made the surrounding landscape an important contact zone between communities occupying regions to the north and south.
Archaeologists combined field surveys with studies of ceramics, rock art and settlement patterns, documenting almost 300 sites associated with habitation, stone-tool production and other forms of human activity.
The earliest evidence dates from the Mesolithic period, approximately 12,000 to 8,200 years ago, when communities exploited the varied resources of the Nile Valley and surrounding landscape.
A subsequent concentration of archaeological material dates from the Late Neolithic Pre-Kerma period, between approximately 3000 and 2500 BC, with evidence indicating increasingly extensive settlement and economic activity.
In comparison, the period between the classical Kerma era and the collapse of the Kingdom of Meroë, spanning approximately 1700 BC to the 4th century AD, is less extensively represented in the archaeological record at Miseida.
Researchers stress that the relative scarcity of material from this period does not necessarily indicate that the region was abandoned.
One of the most distinctive discoveries documented during the project is a large petroglyph carved into a granite boulder.
The approximately life-sized image depicts a human figure and has previously been interpreted as a representation of a Nubian ruler.
Researchers suggest that the carving could date from either the Kerma or Kushite periods, although its precise chronology and identification remain uncertain.
If the interpretation as a ruler is correct, the location of the petroglyph may be significant. Miseida occupied a landscape connecting different regions of ancient Nubia, and monumental representations of political figures could potentially have communicated authority or territorial presence.
However, without a secure date or accompanying inscription identifying the figure, this interpretation remains provisional.
Other carvings preserved on the surrounding rock formation include representations of a lion, rhinoceros, elephant and cattle, demonstrating repeated use of the landscape for rock art over an extended period.
The site continued to attract activity centuries later
Around the 7th century AD, during the Christian period of Nubian history, a church was constructed immediately beside the boulder bearing the monumental human figure.
Additional carvings around the church include crosses and representations of ships, some of which may have been associated with Christian visitors or pilgrims.
The construction of the church demonstrates that the location continued to hold importance long after the creation of the earlier rock art. Whether its builders deliberately selected the site because of the ancient petroglyph, however, cannot currently be determined.
Ceramics recovered near the church provide further evidence for connections between Miseida and other centres across medieval Nubia.
The assemblage includes material associated with the emergence of the Nobadian kingdom as well as pottery belonging to early traditions of the Makurian Kingdom centred on Dongola, dating between the late 5th and 7th centuries AD.
Together, the archaeological sites reveal a landscape repeatedly occupied and reinterpreted from the Mesolithic through the development of Nubian kingdoms and into the Christian period.
The study, published in the journal Antiquity, provides new evidence for how settlement, political landscapes and religious activity developed around the strategically important Third Cataract of the Nile over thousands of years.
Sources : PAP