Dying for a Drink on the Meroitic Frontier

Imported Objects in Funerary Assemblages at Faras, Sudanese Nubia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID22014409
AutoresHenry Cosmo Bishop-Wright (British Museum, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen13
Número1
Páginas87-121
Fecha de publicación2022-12-23
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMare Nostrum (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2177-4218 • E-ISSN: 2177-4218
EditorialUniversidade de Sao Paulo, Agencia USP de Gestao da Informacao Academica (AGUIA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.11606/issn.2177-4218.v13i1p87-121
OpenAlexW4321639402
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas25

This paper examines the use of imported objects in funerary assemblages at the Meroitic cemetery of Faras in Sudanese Nubia (north Sudan). Excavated at the beginning of the 20th century by Francis Llewellyn Griffith (1862-1934), Faras was situated on the frontier between the Kingdom of Meroë (c.300 BCE – 350 CE) and Ptolemaic-Roman Egypt. Its location granted it access to wide-ranging commercial networks and imported objects were frequently utilised as grave goods. Drawing upon the author’s PhD research, this paper offers a nuanced assessment of how imports were selected and used in funerary practice at Faras. It disputes the traditional idea that the Meroitic frontier functioned as an acculturated buffer of the classical world and demonstrates that, despite centuries of material contact with Egypt, the people of Faras maintained a distinctly Meroitic identity expressed through local mortuary tradition

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Frontier · Geography · Situated · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History