Amara West, Sudan
Project leader: Neal
Spencer
Department: Ancient Egypt
and Sudan
Project start: 2008
End date: tbc
External partners:
National Corporation
for Antiquities and Museums, Sudan
Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton, http://apss.soton.ac.uk/
British School at Rome, www.bsr.ac.uk
Description:
Amara West is an extensive Ramesside settlement
(thirteenth-twelfth century BC), located on the north bank of the
River Nile opposite the modern town of Abri. Originally located on
an island, the remains of th
e town are now largely buried under windblown sand.
Amara West was the seat of the Egyptian
administration of upper Nubia, or Kush, from the reign of Seti I
(1306-1290 BC) onwards, and came to be known as the ‘house of
Ramses beloved of Amun’.
Excavations by the Egypt Exploration Fund in
1938-1939 and 1947-1950 uncovered a stone temple decorated in the
reign of Ramses II, with later additions. Two areas of the
surrounding town, set within a mudbrick enclosure wall, were also
excavated. The key building in the western part of the town was the
‘governor’s palace’, with the doorjambs identifying one resident
official as the ‘governor Sabau-khau’. The latest phase of
occupation was not securely dated, though in places structures had
been built above one metre of sand which had accumulated above
the 20th Dynasty occupation levels. Elsewhere, parts of the temple
were modified for domestic use. A badly disturbed cemetery, with
burials both contemporary and later in date than the settlement,
was also partly excavated.
In 2008, the British Museum conducted the
first season of a new fieldwork project at the site, in
co-operation with the National Corporation for Antiquities and
Museums. A magnetometry survey of the settlement mound was
completed, revealing that the ancient town extends some way beyond
the western town wall. In this area large buildings, perhaps elite
houses, are visible in the survey data. There is clearly potential
for further research excavations at this settlement.
Objectives:
- To investigate an Egyptian garrison town and associated
cemetery, largely unaffected by significant later building work,
modern occupation, or extensive irrigation projects. Careful
attention to phasing, allied with scientific analyses and
consideration of landscape, can improve our understanding of the
shifting nature of human activity at the site across time.
- To question the degree of interaction between the local
population and Egyptian inhabitants, using scientific analysis
(notably analysing residues in cooking vessels, the study of
skeletal material, charcoal and botanical remains) to balance the
bias found in official Egyptian sources.
- To re-assess the process of abandonment and later re-use,
perhaps by both Egyptian and indigenous populations. Can we
identify evidence for Egyptians remaining at Amara West, living
under a different authority, following the end of the New Kingdom?
Is there post-New Kingdom building activity and occupation levels
at the site, as the cemetery suggests there might be? Such evidence
may help elucidate the emergence and authority of the Kushite state
in the centuries following the New Kingdom.
More information:
Download a topographic survey and
magnetometry map – pdf (947kb)
Images (from top):
- Leonie Pett (British School at Rome)
undertaking magnetometry survey using a Bartington Grad 601-2 Dual
Array Twin Fluxgate Gradiometer.
- Sandstone stela depicting Ramses II
offering to the goddess Satet, discovered during the EES
excavations of a house south of the temple (1947-1948). Height:
50cm. British Museum EA 68675.
- View south-east across the West Gate of
the town at Amara West, now partly re-buried in sand.