FOURTH CATARACT. SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS IN SHEMKHIYA, DAR EL-ARAB AND SAFFI ISLAND
FOURTH CATARACT. SURVEY AND EXCAVATIONS IN SHEMKHIYA, DAR EL-ARAB AND SAFFI ISLAND

Summary/Abstract: The following is a brief note aimed at providing readers with a full picture of the current work carried out in the Polish concession as part of the Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project. The second season of the expedition with its various subunits was organized by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw in association with the Research Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Poznań Archaeological Museum. Topmost on the agenda were: survey and excavation on the left bank (Shemkhiya, Gamamiya, Kehellia, Hagar el-Beida and Es-Sadda, that is the Polish concession within the framework of the MDASP project); measurements and excavations in Dar el-Arab (Swueqi el-Gharb); excavations on Saffi Island, where new sites registered during the fieldwork of 2005 brought the site gazetteer to a total of 109. It did not, however, affect the statistics and the cultural profile of the island produced after the 2004 seasons. Most of the sites belonged to the Kerma Horizon, followed by an ample category of Dongola period sites. The number of sites does not say much of their potential and size. Qualitatively, the Dongola period predominates. And just one Christian burial site, Saffi 11, contains more graves than the total of Kerma tombs registered on the island.

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