Preliminary Report about the Survey at Jebel El-Hammam near Meskene 200 (original) (raw)
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Excavations at Wadi El-Arab and in the Eastern Cemetery of Kerma
Documents de la Mission Archéologique Suisse au Soudan, 2012
As every year at Wadi El-Arab, we noticed that the site was partially destroyed by people looking for gold. The main stratigraphic trench had been emptied, enlarged and dug down to the bedrock. Other surfaces cleaned down some centimetres had been destroyed. These regular destructions are problematical. We have tried various methods to protect or camouflage the sections excavated, and have set up panels in Arabic and English nearby. These measures have however proved ineffectual, and the best method of protecting the site will be, in the final resort, to discontinue the excavations. This should occur within a few seasons, given that we have accumulated a wealth of information regarding the main characteristics of the site.
When the prospected and spotted Roman sites in the central eastern areas of Jebel Bishri near Ash-Shujiri are added, the seasons 2005 and 2006 resulted in the discovery of 50 sites. Of the 50 sites, 34 sites belonged to the systematically surveyed stretch covering 7.5 km at the northeastern edge on the Euphrates side between the villages of Ayyash and El Kharita. The others were Tell Tibne, Tell Kharita and the possible graveyard J 22: they were studied as separate entities. The categories of the 34 sites and their numbers are presented as a column chart below (Table 1). Most of the sites were open accumulated ones on old fluvial terraces at the mountain edge. Of the finds recovered at the terraces and edges the majority date from the Palaeolithic era, whereas some sites provide Bronze Age and Roman pottery. In the graveyard categories there are cairn/tumulus tombs, clay bulb type tombs and Islamic graves. The first two grave types generally offered Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age pottery. What strikes the eye here is the scarcity of ancient structural remains at the edges facing the Euphrates. However, one has to take into account the fact that we passed the village of Ayyash that provides a tell and the Roman fort of Qreiye which have been under the study of a German mission. In the years 2000-2004 surveys concentrated on Tar al-Sbai: the western edge and Nadra in the central eastern area of the steppe had provided more visible ancient structures than the edges at the Euphrates. The reason for the scarcity of the visible structural remains at the edge of the Euphrates seems to be due to flooding and sedimentation that have buried possible structures, but also rebuilding at old sites which hinders studies at courtyards of private houses. However, as expected the variety of the types of the sites on the Euphrates side of Jebel Bishri is more manifold than on the mountain as the ridges along the river are providing different degrees of mobility and sedentism from hunter-gatherer sites to semi-sedentary and sedentary types of sites including monumental structures.