Striking a balance between classic chronological presentation and topical syntheses, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia strives to provide both an updated overview of Nubian archaeology and direct commentary on the “state of affairs” of Nubiological research. Even at 1,201 pages, this volume reads as concise, and it is best suited to readers already familiar with the broader dynamics of Nubian archaeology.
This handbook adopts a three-act approach. Section I introduces the physical landscape of Nubia—namely, modern Sudan—and its implications for life in ancient Nubia. Section II adopts a chronological approach, effectively covering the pre-Acheulean to the Islamic periods, from before 600 KYA to the nineteenth century AD. Each chapter addresses a variable time frame, and chapters are not intended to be exhaustive discussions of their respective topics. Rather, chapters consider each period through a particular lens—for instance, New Kingdom Egypto-Nubian frontier interactions (Stuart Tyson Smith) or Middle Kingdom fortresses and colonization (Laurel Bestock). Section III focuses on topical syntheses, such as cattle culture (Jérôme Dubosson) and iron production at Meroe (Jane Humphris), adopting a mixture of diachronic and synchronic/site-specific perspectives.
This volume makes clear that it is not intended to be neutral. Instead, it presents numerous viewpoints that question and conflict across narrative schema, challenging readers to be active and informed in the views they develop. The contributed chapters rise above simple encyclopedic entries to problematize vexing questions and debates about them, outlining challenges and uncertainties in the field that encourage novel avenues of inquiry.
The bulk of the research presented focuses on riverine sites, reflecting the development of early Nubiological research in the first to third cataract region of the Nile River and the progressive extension of project sites farther upstream over time. The differing intensities of regional investigations is both a factor of research interest, with many early excavations focusing on the implications of Egyptian history in Nubian contexts, and investigations driven by recent and modern infrastructural impacts—namely, the construction of dams, necessitating that sites be documented before flooding or become lost forever. In some cases, as Derek Welsby notes, effectively no archaeological work was undertaken in advance of dam flooding, as was the case with the Sinnar, Jebel Aulia, Roseires, and Khashm el-Girba Dams. In other cases, as noted by Salah Mohamed Ahmed, the construction of dams has prompted research into relatively unknown areas, including the Fourth Cataract (Merowe Dam), Eastern Sudan (Upper Atbara and Siteit Dams), and the Southern Gezira Region (Roseires Dam). Although research in areas outside the Nile Valley has been comparatively limited to date, there has been some documentation of sites in adjacent areas of Sudan, as discussed in chapters about the Eastern Desert by Kate Liszka and Aaron de Souza and by Andrea Manzo, and the chapter by Friederike Jesse about the Libyan and Western Deserts.
Beyond the simple “document it or lose it” aspects of Nubiological research, the concluding chapter by Humphris, Rebecca Bradshaw, and Geoff Emberling pivots the focus onto the implications of dam construction on local communities, calling into question the ethics of local displacement in favor of infrastructure development and how archaeologists, in many cases, can be seen as the vanguard before the deluge of dam reservoir formation. Humphris, Bradshaw, and Emberling implore archaeologists to take this role seriously, calling on archaeological projects to strive to develop genuine engagement with local communities. Although opportunities for archaeological investigations associated with dam development have been important and successful, development of those dams has also resulted in the forced resettlement of as many as 120,000 people—a fact that should not be taken lightly.
Much of the research summarized here draws on relations between ancient Egyptian and Nubian cultural groups. Although many chapters synthesize aspects of the entwined histories of these two regions, the chapter by Georg Meurer most directly engages the broader social concepts of what this relationship may have meant, bringing forth questions of cultural entanglement, acculturation, and creolization in asking how identities were formed and maintained—particularly in “border” zones, where Egyptian and Nubian cultural elements most readily interacted. As discussed by Claudia Näser, Nubiology as a field has been heavily focused on interactions between Egypt and Nubia, whereas relations between Nubia and peoples in other areas of sub-Saharan Africa—including Nubian interactions with Aksum/Ethiopia, and trans-Saharan interactions with peoples of Chad and beyond—have been comparatively limited to date and are areas of significant future research potential.
Although not addressed outright from a diachronic perspective in any single chapter, burial excavations are discussed to some extent in almost all of the period-oriented chapters, allowing for the development of a longue durée perspective on the changing eschatology of past Nubian groups. Collectively, these discussions develop an appreciation for how burials were conceptualized within changing social contexts throughout Nubian history, including considerations of early examples of formal burials in the remote past; questions of identity in the Neolithic (Donatella Usai); unequal access to grave goods among C-Group graves (Henriette Hafsaas); large tumuli with hundreds of bucrania in the Kerma Moyen (Charles Bonnet and Matthieu Honegger); monumental tombs of the mid-third-century BC elite and royal cemetery at Meroe (Janice Yellin); the X-Group tumuli (Rachael Dann); and Post-Meroitic beehive, cave-like, and lateral burials (Mahmoud El-Tayeb), dating before the entire funerary landscape drastically changed to austere east–west rectangular graves with the advent of Christianity in Nubia in the sixth century AD (Artur Obłuski). A similar transition to north–south-oriented graves subsequently defines the introduction of Islam into Nubia beginning in the seventh century AD, with increasingly widespread adoption from the fourteenth century AD onward—a period that also saw the construction of numerous monumental domed tombs (qubba), which Intisar Soghayroun notes as the unique artifact of Sudanese Islamic culture.
Using a series of vignettes, Giovanni Ruffini adopts an interesting approach to reconstructing aspects of daily life in medieval Nubia in his chapter, “Nubian Texts, Nubian Lives.” Each vignette is crafted from disparate textual and archaeological data and presented in an engaging literary tone. Although Ruffini informs the reader that “most of what you are about to read is imaginary” (p. 773), the imaginative interpretations are well grounded in Nubiological discourse. The reader learns of the plight of Petro, a Nubian church man who encounters dismay in Egypt and a daydreaming wharfinger/longshoreman, about whom Ruffini notes, “he has met Markos only once, years before, and Markos has no connection at all to the monastery itself . . . he works on a dock at a small village . . . he sees the large jars of wine heading for one of the bishops, or the cathedral at Faras, and brings himself there in his mind” (p. 774). Such an approach to the abundant documentary evidence of Nubian history—here, for the medieval period but no less viable for other eras—is a captivating approach to humanizing archaeological research while also making it increasingly accessible and relatable.
Although this volume is to be commended for its breadth of research coverage, one area that (although not entirely absent) is noticeably limited is the integration of bioarchaeological research. The chapter by Michele Buzon capably synthesizes bioarchaeological research in Nubian contexts, although hers is the only explicitly bioarchaeological chapter in this volume. Yet, to varying degrees by time period within Nubian history, there are substantial contributions from research in biological anthropology, which could be included among the chronologically focused chapters within Section II. Understandably, not all topics can be covered in a single volume, but where possible, it would be worthwhile to integrate bioarchaeological data about the people who lived in the past into discussions of their material culture and settlements.
Despite the massive amount of research undertaken to date, as Mahmoud El-Tayeb notes in his discussion of the Post-Meroitic period, “After almost more than a century one would dare to say that study of the Post-Meroitic period in Upper Nubia is still in its childhood if not in its infancy, for we still know very little about this period” (p. 754). This statement holds true for many aspects of Nubian history. Although future research avenues abound, there is a particular need for increased research south of Khartoum and in areas outside the Nile Valley. Research in these regions is not entirely absent, but it has often been limited by environmental realities, including ephemeral dwellings and limited stratigraphy. Recent research in the Bayuda Desert and North Khordofan (e.g., WADI, InterLINK) has, however, demonstrated the potential of these regions for refining our knowledge of the cultural landscapes of Nubia, particularly in regard to writing “rural histories,” as called for by Salah Mohamed Ahmed.
This volume provides an excellent starting point for researchers looking to engage with various time periods and topics in Nubian history. A welcome addition to any archaeological library, this handbook is poised to remain an authoritative tome for researchers for a long time to come.
