Site 117: Reconstructing The Lives And Deaths Of The Deceased At Nubia's Earliest Known Cemetery (original) (raw)

Site 117 is Nubia’s oldest known cemetery and is most famously believed to be the world’s earliest possible evidence of large scale violence (or perhaps warfare). Excavation of this Upper Paleolithic cemetery revealed many skeletons with evidence of trauma, some with embedded lithics, and a total of 189 lithic artifacts found in direct or possible association with the burials. Site 117 was excavated through salvage archaeology by the ‘Combined Prehistoric Expedition’ prior to the completion of the Egyptian High Dam in 1970, which submerged the site in the resulting reservoir. This study explores the lives and deaths of the individuals interred at Site 117 through a macroscopic analysis of the skeletal collection and a re-examination of archival materials stored at The British Museum. This re-analysis and reinterpretation of the available evidence focusses on archaeological and paleopathological factors indicating possible settlement patterns, subsistence methods, burial traditions, population morbidity and possible causes for the observed evidence of trauma. The low prevalence of dental and skeletal indicators of physiological stress and malnutrition observed in this study does not support the hypothesis asserting that there was a long-term depletion of nutritional resources, which may have resulted in violent competition between tribes. More technologically advanced studies may, however, reveal additional evidence of physiological stress than that which is observable through macroscopic analysis. While it remains possible that the majority, if not all, of the individuals interred at the site were fatally injured, this study supports the hypothesis that this cemetery was revisited and reused.