Semna ( Nubia ) Located in the present day Republic of Sudan , ancient Nubia is a region along the Nile River between Aswan in the north and Khartoum in the south where Nubian languages were spoken . This region is marked by six cataracts , or rocky outcroppings , which produce shallow rapids in the Nile ( Bard , 2008 , p . 53 ) . Analogous to its northern Egyptian neighbor , ancient Nubia was divided into Upper and Lower Nubia ; Lower Nubia was between the first and second cataracts and Upper Nubia was between the second and sixth cataracts ( Bard , 2008 , p . 47 ) . The region of Semna is 15 miles south of Wadi Halfa and is situated where rocks cross the Nile narrowing its flow — the Semna Cataract ( Arriaza , Merbs , & Rothschild , 1993 ; Vercoutter , 1966 ) . Semna was a fortified area established in the reign of Senusret I ( 1965 - 1920 BCE ) on the west bank of the Nile at the southern end of a series of Middle Kingdom fortresses founded during the 12th Dynasty ( 1985 - 1795 BC ) in the Second - Cataract area of Lower Nubia . There are three forts at Semna : Semna West ( Semna Gharb ) , Semna East ( Semna Sherq , also called Kummeh or Kumma ) , and Semna South ( Semna Gubli ) ( Reisner , 1929 ) . The forts to the east and west of the Semna Cataract are Semna East and West , respectively ; Semna South is approximately one kilometer south of Semna West on the west bank of the Nile ( Reisner , 1929 ; Vercoutter , 1966 , p . 125 ) . The Semna gorge , at the southern edge of ancient Egypt , was the narrowest part of the Nile valley . It was here , at this strategic location , that the 12th Dynasty pharaohs built a cluster of four mud - brick fortresses : Semna , Kumma , Semna South and Uronarti — all covered by the waters of Lake Nasser since the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971 . Archaeology of Semna . The rectangular Kumma fortress , the L - shaped Semna fortress ( on the opposite bank ) and the smaller square fortress of Semna South were each investigated by the American archaeologist George Reisner in 1924 and 1928 . Semna and Kumma also included the remains of temples , houses and cemeteries dating to the New Kingdom ( 1550 - 1069 BCE ) , which would have been roughly contemporary with such lower Nubian towns as Amara West and Sesebisudla , when the second cataract region had become part of an Egyptian ' empire ' , rather than simply a frontier zone . The fort had several advanced features - the mudbrick walls were reinforced with logs , there were doubly fortified gates , there was a fortified corridor down to the Nile allowing ready access to water supplies . The logs increased the vulnerability to fire and traces of fires can be seen in the walls . Semna South Fort . As a 12th Dynasty fort , Semna South is one of 17 Middle Kingdom Egyptian forts in Nubia built for the purpose of controlling trade traffic along the Nile . The Egyptian state placed great importance on control of Nubia and its goods . As Reisner ( 1929 ) notes , “ the southern products , the ebony , the ivory , the pelts , the incense and resin , the ostrich feathers , the black slaves , were as much desired by the kings of the Middle Kingdom as by their forebears ” ( p . 66 ) . Thus , forts were built along the Nile to protect the waterway from nomadic tribes and to facilitate the flow of Nubian goods into Egypt ( Bard , 2008 ; Reisner , 1929 ) . Forts surrounding Semna South were excavated by the Joint Egyptian Expedition of Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the 1920s ( Reisner , 1929 ) , but Semna South was not formally excavated until the late 1950s . The initial excavation of the fort was directed by Jean Vercoutter and Sayed Thabit Hassan Thabit with the Sudan Antiquities Service in 1956 - 1957 ( Vercoutter , 1966 ) . Further excavations of the fort and an adjacent cemetery were conducted by the Oriental Institute Expedition to Sudanese Nubia , under the direction of Dr . Louis Žabkar , in 1966 - 1968 ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 ) . Today , the human remains from Semna South are curated at Arizona State University and the archaeological artifacts are curated at the University of Chicago ’ s Oriental Institute ( Arriaza , Merbs , & Rothschild , 1993 ; H . McDonald , personal communication , October 22 , 2012 ) . Site Geology and Geography . Semna South is located in the Batn el Hajar ( “ Belly of the Rock ” ) region of Nubia between the second and third cataracts . As its name implies , the Batn el Hajar is “ characterized by ‘ bare granite ridges and gullies ’ , a narrowed Nile run , and heavy deposits of wind - blown sand ” ( Alvrus , 1999 , p . 418 ) . Semna is situated above a geological formation known as the Basement Complex ; this complex is a deposit of Pre - Cambrian sedimentary rock and later igneous rock . There is only a thin layer of fertile alluvial soil overlying this complex which results in poor agricultural potential ( Alvrus , 1999 , p . 418 ) . Archaeological Excavations of Semna South . While the fort at Semna South was described by Reisner ( 1929 ) , it was not formally excavated until 1956 - 1957 by the Sudan Antiquities Service under the direction of Jean Vercoutter and Sayed Thabit Hassan Thabit ( Vercoutter , 1966 ) . This excavation explored the majority ( four - fifths ) of the fort and “ made a limited trial digging ” in the adjacent Meroitic cemetery ( Vercoutter , 1966 , p . 125 ) . Vercoutter ( 1966 ) notes that their work was preliminary and by no means complete . He encouraged further investigation of the site : “ it seems of the utmost importance for the history of the site that new excavations are undertaken at Semna South before its flooding under the waters of the new Aswan Dam ” ( Vercoutter , 1966 , p . 131 ) . Beginning in 1966 the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago continued excavating where Vercoutter and colleagues had ended . Between 1966 and 1968 the University of Chicago ’ s Oriental Institute Expedition to Sudanese Nubia excavated the remainder of the Semna South fort and the adjacent cemetery . Detailed excavations were conducted of the fort walls , a church , a dump site , and the cemetery ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 ) . To the author ’ s knowledge , this was the final archaeological excavation conducted at Semna South . Results and Significance of the Excavations . Results from the 1950s . During the 1956 - 1957 field season , Vercoutter and colleagues were able to interpret the building plan of the fort . The building is composed of the following features : a glacis , outer girdle wall , an inner ditch , a main wall , and an open inner space ( Vercoutter , 1966 , p . 127 ) . They concluded that the fort was never inhabited permanently ; rather , it was occupied for limited periods of time by men of the garrison coming from the fort at Semna West . They found little evidence of Middle Kingdom occupation , but did discover ruins of a Christian settlement at Semna South . The Christian settlement was not fully excavated by the Sudan Antiquities Service expedition , but they did note that the houses had been reconstructed by the Christian inhabitants and that they had built a new stone girdle wall around the west side of the fort ( Vercoutter , 1966 , p . 130 ) . They concluded that the Christian settlement had been inhabited by a fairly poor community . Results from the 1960s . Architectural Findings . The 1966 - 1968 excavations at Semna South determined , contrary to Vercoutter , that the fort was permanently occupied from the reign of Sesostris ( Senusret ) I to the first few years of Ammenemes ’ s ( Amenemhat ) III reign — the 12th Dynasty , circa 1985 – 1775 B . C . ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 15 ; Bard , 2008 , p . 42 ) . Excavations of the church , sometimes called the “ Sheik ’ s tomb , ” revealed that only a portion of the original structure still remained ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 12 ) . As of 1982 when Žabkar and Žabkar published their report , they were not able to date the church due to the paucity of pottery within the church or nearby . However , they did provide a hypothetical estimate : “ the church in its final , that is apsidal , form would date to the classic Christian period in Nubia , somewhere between the ninth and the first part of the eleventh century A . D . " ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 12 ) . This expedition unearthed a great wall which connected the forts at Semna South and Semna West . This wall strengthened the view that the military fortifications in the Semna region were built by the Egyptians in response to the “ strong pressures and infiltration attempts on the part of southerners during the 12th Dynasty , allusions to which are found in the well - known Semna Stela and Semna Dispatches ” ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 13 ) . Žabkar and Žabkar ( 1982 ) speculate that perhaps there was a complex of fortifications which embraced Semna South and West , and perhaps other forts in the region , but there is no definitive evidence for such a complex . Artifactual Findings . An area located on the fort ’ s north - west side previously called a ‘ graveyard , ’ ‘ occupation site , ’ or an ‘ encampment , ’ and covered in pot sherds was also excavated during the 1966 - 1968 field seasons . Upon excavation , it was revealed to be a 12th Dynasty dump site , and was “ the most significant [ find ] for the study of the history of the Semna South fort , particularly for the study of its communications with the other forts of the first and second cataract regions ” ( Žabkarr , 1972 , p . 83 ) . The dump site was a series of holes which were initially clay quarries and later utilized as a dumping place for discarded fort objects . Some of the holes were deep and some were shallow ; the two deepest were K - 1 and K - 4 ( Žabkar , 1972 ; Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 ) . Within these holes , the discarded objects and pottery sherds were mixed into a loose mass of debris with no discernible stratigraphic layers . The finds within these holes are of great significance . The first is a well - preserved 12th Dynasty axe , which according to Žabkar and Žabkar ( 1982 ) , is a rare occurrence in Sudanese and Egyptian Nubia ( p . 16 ) . Second , pottery sherds of the C - Group type ( indigenous Nubian inhabitants from ca . 2000 – 1500 BC ) were found which suggests a peaceful coexistence between the C - Group individuals and the Egyptians ( Žabkar , 1972 ; Bard , 2008 ; Beckett & Lovell , 1994 ) . Third , and most importantly , were seal impressions on numerous pieces of pottery . The most significant seals are those which bore the name of the fort , which until this discovery was only partially known ( Žabkar , 1972 ) . Prior to this seal being found , the Egyptian name of the fort at Semna South was written in hieratic as “ Repressing the … ” on a fragmentary piece of papyrus discovered in 1896 by J . E . Quibell near the Ramesseum ( Žabkar , 1972 ; Reisner , 1929 ) . After studying these seals , Dr . Žabkar translated the hieroglyphics as “ Subduer of the Setiu - Nubians ” or “ Subduer of the Seti - land ” ( Žabkar , 1972 ; Žabkar , 1975 ) . This find is important because it officially confirms the Egyptian name of the fort at Semna South and clarifies the fragmentary name written on the Ramesseum papyrus . Additionally it signifies the role of Egypt in Nubia : ruler . Bioarchaeological Findings . The Oriental Institute Expedition also excavated the large cemetery to the north of the fort . This cemetery contained approximately 560 graves — representing over 800 individuals — of which about 494 were from the Meroitic period ( 4th century BC – 4th century AD ) , 50 from the X - Group period ( 4th – 6th century AD ) , and 16 from the Christian period ( 550 – 1500 AD ) ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 21 ; Welsby , 2002 , p . 13 ) . The Meroitic period through the Christian period is a span of approximately 2 , 000 years , which indicates that the fort was used for an extended period of time during Egyptian and Nubian history . The Meroitic graves were oriented east to west and were of several styles : rectangular pit graves with superstructures resembling mastabas , oblong pits without superstructures , and rectangular pits with mud - brick burial vaults ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 ) . For those remains found in situ , the heads were oriented to the west and the bodies were extended on their backs with hands over the pelvis ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 21 ) . Numerous artifacts were found within the Meroitic graves : black and brown wear pottery ; copper and bronze bowls ; a finely carved wooden bowl ; a glass ointment jar ; bronze mirrors ; copper , iron , and bronze jewelry ; beads and pendants ; hunting equipment ; leather ; and fragments of shrouds ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 21 - 22 ) . The graves of the X - Group were oriented north to south and most were deep pits with a lateral chamber ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 ) . Most of the graves , according to Žabkar and Žabkar ( 1982 ) , “ had a shelf , composed of earth , mud - brick , or stones , running alongside the chamber , which supported the blocking material ” ( p . 22 ) . For the remains found in situ , the bodies were in a flexed position on their sides with the heads facing towards the north , northwest , or south . In most cases a burial shroud was present , although it was often fragmentary ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 22 ) . Objects recovered from these graves are as follows : red ware pottery ; jewelry ; personal grooming tools ; hunting equipment ; leather sandals ; and clothing ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 23 ) . The Christian period graves were oriented east to west and most were deep , narrow , oblong shaft tombs ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 23 ) . Only one grave had a superstructure . Of the remains in situ , the bodies were usually extended and supine with the hands over the pelvis with the heads oriented towards the west . One body was found on its side in a flexed position facing north ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 23 ) . Most of the bodies were wrapped in a linen or wool shroud which had been secured by a chord ( Žabkar & Žabkar , 1982 , p . 23 ) . Additional Analysis of Semna South Material . The human remains recovered from Semna South have been studied by numerous anthropologists and other specialists . Hrdy ( 1978 ) analyzed hair samples from Semna South mummies . He concluded that the hair color of these individuals was lighter than previously thought in ancient Nubia and the hair of the X - Group males was curlier than the Meroitic males ( Hrdy , 1978 , 277 ) . In 1993 , Arriaza , Merbs , and Rothschild published a study evaluating the prevalence of a pathological condition known as diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis ( DISH ) . They found that approximately 13 % of the individuals from the Meroitic cemetery were afflicted with this condition and that it was more common among males ( Arriaza , Merbs , & Rothschild , 1993 , p . 243 ) . Alvrus ( 1999 ) assessed the skeletal fracture patterns for almost 600 individuals from the Semna South site . She analyzed healed fractures of the skull and appendicular skeleton and found that almost 21 % of adults had at least one healed fracture and that the skull was the most frequently injured region of the body . She attributes much of the trauma to the rocky physical environment , but also notes that craniofacial trauma may be the result of interpersonal violence ( Alvrus , 1999 , p . 417 ) . Dissertations and theses which used the Semna South remains are numerous . They include topics such as the sexual dimorphism of dental pathology ( Burns , 1982 ) , the presence of schistosomiasis in ancient Nubia ( Alvrus , 2006 ) , non - metric biological distance analysis ( Moore , 1996 ) , and a craniometric analysis ( Sandy - Karkoutli , 1989 ) . Conclusions . Excavated between 1956 - 1957 and 1966 - 1968 , Semna South is a 12th Dynasty fort located in Nubia — the present Republic of Sudan — on the west bank of the Nile . These excavations revealed the building plan of the fort , a church , a cemetery , and numerous other settlement - related features . Some of the most important discoveries were found within dumps near the fort . In particular , Žabkar recovered pottery seals which provided the Egyptian name of the fort ( “ Subduer of the Setiu - Nubians ” or “ Subduer of the Seti - land ” ) which was unknown until the 1966 - 1968 field seasons ( Žabkar , 1972 ; Žabkar , 1975 ) . The artifacts recovered from these excavations , including pottery sherds , textiles , jewelry , an axe , and additional seals , indicate that the fort at Semna South was utilized during the Middle Kingdom . The adjacent cemetery with burials from the Merioitic , X - Group , and Christian periods suggests a much longer habitation of the region : from the Middle Kingdom until the Middle Ages . Archaeological excavations of Semna South have contributed to the overall understanding of the Middle Kingdom Egyptian fort system . These forts established military control over Upper and Lower Nubia and the Nile river transport of commodities , and were integral parts of the Egyptian empire . Works Cited . Alvrus , A . ( 1999 ) . Fracture patterns among the Nubians of Semna South , Sudanese Nubia . " International Journal of Osteoarchaeology " , 9 , 417 - 429 . Alvrus , A . B . ( 2006 ) . " The conquerer worm : Schistosomiasis in ancient Nubia " ( Doctoral dissertation ) . Retrieved from ProQuest . ( 3210094 ) Arriaza , B . T . , Merbs , C . F . , & Rothschild , B . M . ( 1993 ) . Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis in Meroitic Nubians from Semna South , Sudan . " American Journal of Physical Anthropology " , 92 , 243 - 248 . Bard , K . A . ( 2008 ) . " An introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt " . Malden : Blackwell . Beckett , S . , & Lovell , N . C . ( 1994 ) , Dental disease evidence for agricultural intensification in the Nubian C - Group . " International Journal of Osteoarchaeology " , 4 , 223 - 239 . Burns , P . E . ( 1982 ) . " A study of sexual dimorphism in the dental pathology of ancient peoples " . ( Doctoral dissertation ) . Retrieved from ProQuest . ( 8216427 ) Hrdy , D . B . ( 1978 ) . Analysis of hair samples of mummies from Semna South ( Sudanese Nubia ) . " American Journal of Physical Anthropology " , 49 , 277 - 282 . Moore , C . M . ( 1996 ) . " Semna South , Sudan : A nonmetric biological distance study " . ( Unpublished masters thesis ) . Arizona State University , Tempe , Arizona . Reisner , G . A . ( 1929 ) . Egyptian forts at Seman and Uronarti . " Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts " , 27 , 64 - 75 . Sandy - Karkoutli , M . L . ( 1989 ) . " Perspectives on the Nubians of Semna South , Sudan : A craniometric analysis " ( Unpublished masters thesis ) . Arizona State University , Tempe , Arizona . Vercoutter , J . ( 1966 ) . Semna South fort and the records of Nile levels at Kumma . " Kush " , 14 , 125 - 164 . Welsby , D . A . ( 2002 ) . " The medieval kingdoms of Nubia : Pagans , Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile " . London : The British Museum Press . Wright , G . R . H . ( 1968 ) . Tell el - Yehūdīyah and the glacis . " Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina Vereins " , 84 , 1 - 17 . Žabkar , L . V . ( 1972 ) . The Egyptian name of the fortress of Semna South . " The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology " , 58 , 83 - 90 . Žabkar , L . V . ( 1972 ) . Semna South : The southern fortress . " The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology " , 61 , 42 - 44 . Žabkar , L . V . , & Žabkar , J . J . ( 1982 ) . Semna South : A preliminary report on the 1966 - 68 excavations of the University of Chicago Oriental Institute Expedition to Sudanese Nubia . " Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt " , 19 , 7 - 50 .