The Oxford Handbook of Ancient NubiaThe cultures of Nubia built the earliest cities, states, and empires of inner Africa, but they remain relatively poorly known outside their modern descendants and the community of archaeologists, historians, and art historians researching them. The earliest archaeological work in Nubia was motivated by the region's role as neighbor, trade partner, and enemy of ancient Egypt. Increasingly, however, ancient Nile-based Nubian cultures are recognized in their own right as the earliest complex societies in inner Africa. As agro-pastoral cultures, Nubian settlement, economy, political organization, and religious ideologies were often organized differently from those of the urban, bureaucratic, and predominantly agricultural states of Egypt and the ancient Near East. Nubian societies are thus of great interest in comparative study, and are also recognized for their broader impact on the histories of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia brings together chapters by an international group of scholars on a wide variety of topics that relate to the history and archaeology of the region. After important introductory chapters on the history of research in Nubia and on its climate and physical environment, the largest part of the volume focuses on the sequence of cultures that lead almost to the present day. Several cross-cutting themes are woven through these chapters, including essays on desert cultures and on Nubians in Egypt. Eleven final chapters synthesize subjects across all historical phases, including gender and the body, economy and trade, landscape archaeology, iron working, and stone quarrying. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Africa Amun Ancient appear Archaeological Barkal building burials C-Group Cataract cemeteries central century chapel Christian church communities complex continued cultural decoration Dongola Dynasty early East Eastern Desert Egypt Egyptian Eide et al evidence example Excavations Figure fortresses funerary graves Greek groups History important indicate inscriptions Institute International iron Jebel Journal Kerma king Kingdom known Kush Kushite Late later located Lower Nubia material Meroe Meroitic Middle monuments Museum Napatan Nile valley northern noted objects offering origin Papyrologie period phase Pleistocene political population pottery practices present Press probably production pyramid record References region remains Report Research royal rulers Second settlement Society sources southern stela stone Studies Sudan suggests Survey temple texts tombs Török tradition University Upper Wadi walls Welsby