Early Makuria (Sudan)
Dates of work: 12 February – 15 March 2012
Team:
Director: Mahmoud El-Tayeb, archaeologist (PCMA UW)
NCAM representatives: Huyam Khalid, Neamat Mohamed El-Hassan
Archaeologists: Ewa Skowrońska (independent), Roksana Hajduga (independent), Katarzyna Solarska (independent), Jakub Brochocki (independent), Aleksandra Głąb (independent), Sebastian Mailot (independent)
Photographer: Tomasz Wojtczak (freelance)
(Joint description of seasons 2012 and 2013)
Excavations in the El-Zuma Tumuli Field Project over two successive seasons in 2012 and 2013 focused on the exploration of three tumuli representing types II and III in the site classification system. Type II, a middle-sized flat-topped mound, is represented by tumuli T.12, T.14, T.15 and T.24, whereas Type III, the smallest in size, by tumuli T.21 and T.28. Type II mounds are built of pure gravel and sand, surrounded by a stone ring made of rough chunks of sandstone. Crater-like depressions are observed on the center top of these mounds, indicating as a rule rifling of the burials in antiquity. Burials of Type III also appeared to be plundered in the past. Limited exploration was undertaken of tumuli T.7, belonging to Type I (the largest of the mounds), in an effort to unveil the entrance to an underground tunnel leading to the main burial chamber, the nature of which remains unexplained.
[Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 24/1]