Early Makuria Research Project. Beads and pendants from the tumulus cemetery in Nubian Tanqasi, Sudan

• Authors: Then-Obłuska, Joanna

Abstracts

EN

An assemblage of 1687 beads and pendants was recovered from the excavation of five tumuli (16, 23, 46, 52, 179) in the cemetery of Tanqasi in Sudan. The assemblage is dominated by faience beads (n=920). The remaining beads and pendants are made of glass (n=422), stone (n=241), ostrich eggshell (n=102), and metal-in-glass (n=2). Morphological estimation based on material, technique of manufacture and shape provides a preliminary overview of types that are encountered at Tanqasi cemetery. In addition to beads made of locally available materials (ostrich eggshell, quartz and faience), glass beads of Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific provenance were found. In general, the assemblage is dated to the period between the late Meroitic and post-Meroitic. A few bead types: small faience, bichrome glass and gold-in-glass, are late Meroitic in date. One stone bead may be Napatan in origin.

Keywords

EN

beads; pendants; ostrich eggshell; stone pendants; Meroitic beads; Indo-Pacific glass beads; Nubia; Sudan

• Publisher: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 27(1)
• Pages: 303-316

Dates

published

2019-05-14

Contributors

author

Then-Obłuska, Joanna

Identifiers

DOI

10.5604/01.3001.0013.2006