Chronology and Connectivity at Meroitic Faras

Abstract

The Meroitic cemetery of Faras was excavated by Francis Llewellyn Griffith (1862-1934) during the Oxford University archaeological campaign in Sudan and Egypt (1910-12). Located in Lower Nubia (northern Sudan), it is the largest cemetery known from the Meroitic kingdom (c.300 BCE – 350 CE) and is of immense importance to the understanding of Meroitic chronology, material culture and connectivity. Griffith’s excavation was only partially published and the vast potential of the site to Meroitic studies was never realised. The construction of the High Dam at Aswan (1960s and 70s) eventually led to the flooding of Lower Nubia and the creation of the enormous reservoir that now stretches between the First and Second Cataracts. The result was the destruction of all the archaeology along a c.350 km length of the Nile between Wadi Halfa and Aswan, including Faras. Fortunately, the original field records of Griffith’s excavation were deposited in the Oxford Griffith Institute where they now reside, unpublished but available for study.

This thesis uses the archived field records of Griffith’s excavation to offer a comprehensive reassessment of the cemetery that focusses on its chronology and material connectivity. The discussion of connectivity is fuelled by the examination of hundreds of objects and demonstrates a close commercial relationship between Faras, the Meroitic Butana and Ptolemaic-Roman Egypt. The traditional notion of a Meroitic “North” – “South” divide is rejected, as is any model whereby Lower Nubia functioned as an “acculturated” buffer zone of Egypt. The chronology is based on seriation by correspondence analysis and offers a new model of Lower Nubian settlement in the Meroitic period. It demonstrates that Faras was in use from the early 3rd century BCE, identifies a hitherto unknown Lower Nubian cultural group, and challenges the deeply problematic, but commonly accepted, notion that the territory was only “resettled” in the 2nd century CE.