Chapter 11 The Bioarchaeology of Amara West in Nubia Investigating the Impacts of Political , Cultural and Environmental Change on Health and Diet

Egypt and Kush The pharaonic state defined itself as the ‘Two Lands’, the union of the Nile valley between modern Cairo and Aswan (Upper Egypt) with the fertile Nile Delta (Lower Egypt). Beyond lay chaotic, dangerous lands to the west (Libya) and north-east (a succession of city states and greater powers in Syro-Palestine and beyond) and to the south, Nubia. Throughout much of the 3rd and 2nd millennia bc, Egypt occupied parts of Nubia (Smith 2003; Edwards 2004) where areas of broad, fertile floodplain are interspersed with Nile cataract regions framed by outcrops of granite where the bedrock is visible on the surface or in the river, making river navigation and large-scale agriculture rather difficult. These periods of pharaonic control are attested through the inscriptions, monuments, chapels and tombs left by individuals in the area between Aswan and Kurgus at the Fifth Nile Cataract, but also through a network of towns, fortifications and cult temples. The New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 bc) control of Nubia was characterized by the construction of Egyptian towns with temples and cemeteries, such as those at Sai, Kerma (Dokki Gel), Soleb, Sesebi and Tombos. These towns housed Egyptian administrators, priests and military men (Pl. 1). Amara West is one of these Egyptian towns, founded in the early 13th century bc, and partly excavated by the Egypt Exploration Society in the 1930s and 1940s (Spencer 1997; 2002). Further upstream, Gebel Barkal and Kurgus feature Egyptian inscriptions and monuments, but it is unclear whether a considerable Egyptian population was ever present. The archaeology of Nubia was long subservient to the discipline of Egyptology. The modern perspective of the conquest, settlement history and culture of the region was effectively viewed through the prism of pharaonic ideology: depicting Kush as ‘wretched’, an outpost of the pharaonic state with local populations ‘Egyptianized’ (particularly local elites; Säve-Söderbergh 1991), while the riches of the desert gold mines were exploited and exotic goods traded from further south. Fieldwork in the last four decades has prompted a considerable reassessment, with the realization that Egyptian cultural impact outside certain key centres may have been minimal. Within the pharaonic settlements, a model of cultural entanglement (Smith 2003), rather than domination, is increasingly accepted. Furthermore, it is now evident that the loss of Egyptian control of the area in the 11th century bc did not lead to the abandonment of these settlements. Indeed, a number of cemeteries house burials spanning the era between Egyptian occupation and the rise of the next great Nubian polity (the 25th dynasty that would conquer and control all of Egypt) reflecting the persistence of indigenous funerary cultures. The British Museum instigated a research project at Amara West in 2008, in both the town and its cemeteries. Fieldwork provides the opportunity to place the collection within the context of the latest archaeological research; all artefacts remain within Sudan, with a selection entering the collection of the Sudan National Museum. The human and animal remains, in addition to selected samples of organic and inorganic materials, are exported to the British Museum for further scientific analysis. Arguably the best Chapter 11 The Bioarchaeology of Amara West in Nubia Investigating the Impacts of Political, Cultural and Environmental Change on Health and Diet