On a Nubian frontier — landscapes of settlement on the Third Cataract of the Nile, Sudan

Abstract

Through the twentieth century much of the Nubian Nile Valley has seen archaeological survey and excavation, largely in response to its destruction by successive dams built at Aswan. The Mahas Survey Project of the University of Khartoum has continued this work on the Third Cataract approximately 700 km upriver of the First Cataract, within a survey concession extending over some 80 km of the Nile and its immediate hinterlands, an area now under threat by the construction of a dam at Kajbaar. We present here an outline of the long-term development of the region's settlement landscapes, broadly conceptualised, and their relation to those encountered in adjoining regions. It is possible to draw out some aspects of its cultural distinctiveness at a regional or larger scale, as well as the varying rôle of the Third Cataract as a cultural and political frontier in different periods. A contextual approach to its rock art suggests some fresh insights into the latter's likely significance. A complex and varied settlement history is beginning to emerge which both challenges representations of a uniquely timeless and ancient occupation of the land by autochthonous ‘Nubians’, while raising many new questions concerning the history of this frontier land.