Post-Meroitic cemetery at the Khor Shambat site in Sudan
Post-Meroitic cemetery at the Khor Shambat site in Sudan

Summary/Abstract: Archaeological research at the Khor Shambat site (in Omdurman in central Sudan) has been conducted since 2012, when a team of scientists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences (Poznań) launched a salvage exploration of a Neolithic site and cemetery damaged by road construction. Research is now conducted within the scope of a grant from the National Science Centre, Poland (No. 2015/17/D/ HS3/01492). Three seasons of fieldwork since 2016 have focused on the extensive prehistoric settlement spanning nearly 4000 years, from the early Mesolithic to the late Neolithic. As it turned out, the site had attracted not only Mesolithic hunters-gatherers and Neolithic shepherds, but was also used as a burial place for the Meroitic and post-Meroitic inhabitants of the region. A survey of about 1% of the surface of the Khor Shambat site (KSH 1) resulted in the discovery of 66 graves; 12 of these are probably post- Meroitic and of these three presented a rich and interesting array of burial goods, including imports from the Far East. At the same time, KSH 1 is one of the southernmost post-Meroitic cemeteries.

• Details
• Contents