Project: Unravelling Nubian funerary practices

Unravelling Nubian funerary practices. Textiles and body wrappings in ancient Sudan

This project aims to bridge the gap between textile studies and funerary archaeology, using interdisciplinary approaches to renew our understanding of funerary practices in Late Antiue Sudan (c. 350 BCE–550 CE). Using methods from physical anthropology, archaeology, conservation, and textile studies, the project will lead to the creation a protocol for the best practices in the excavation, conservation, and analysis of funerary textiles, from the in-situ find all the way to advanced testing in laboratories.

Led by Dr. Elsa Yvanez in close collaboration with Dr. Magdalena M. Woźniak and other PCMA UW colleagues, the project will be composed of multi-disciplinary training events, research in archives and in the field, and dissemination of research results (publications, seminars, etc.). Our collective aim is to rethink our approach to funerary remains: not as a disjointed group of scattered artifacts, but as the result of a multi-step and complete practice where textiles conceal, dress, shape, and protect the body of the deceased, while giving the individual a clear identity in the worlds of both the living and the dead.