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Pharaonic Egypt ruled Upper Nubia (now northern Sudan) from around 1450 to 1070 BCE: previous research has demonstrated how co-opted local elites and descendants of earlier immigrants held senior administrative positions following the initial conquest. Strontium isotope data from 39 individuals buried at the colonial centre of Amara West, combined with archaeological and epigraphic evidence, enable us to demonstrate that elites continued to arrive from outside Nubia in the last 150 years of pharaonic rule, settling amongst long-standing communities. Migration to the occupied territory clearly remained a key component of the colonial project, at a time when indigenous Nubian material culture and practice had become more visible within the pharaonic towns. This pattern of immigration seems to have ceased following the pharaonic state losing control of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paints and plasters from two pharaonic settlement sites in Nubia (northern Sudan) were analysed to investigate the presence and origin of organic binding materials. The town of Sai was founded around the time of the pharaonic conquest of Kush (Upper Nubia) around 1500 BC, with Amara West created as a new centre for the pharaonic administration of the region around 1300 BC. Recent fieldwork at both sites yielded examples of paint palettes, including several from houses. These provide a different economic and social context to funerary contexts upon which most previous research has been conducted, making this study the first to report on binding media for vernacular architecture in the Nile Valley. It is also the first study of binding media from Nubia. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of methanolysed and silylated paint and plaster samples revealed a range of monosaccharides present in eight of the seventeen samples from Amara West, and in six of the seven samples from Sai. Interpretation of the data was supported by field collection and study of locally available botanical gums. The results indicate that mixtures of gums were in use as a pigment binder at both sites during the mid- to late-second millennium BC. The possibility that some of these plant gums could have been imported from the Mediterranean is also posited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bitumen has been identified for the first time in Egyptian occupied Nubia, from within the town of Amara West, occupied from around 1300 to 1050 BC. The bitumen can be sourced to the Dead Sea using biomarkers, evidencing a trade in this material from the eastern Mediterranean to Nubia in the New Kingdom or its immediate aftermath. Two different end uses for bitumen were determined at the site. Ground bitumen was identified in several paint palettes, and in one case can be shown to have been mixed with plant gum, which indicates the use of bitumen as a ground pigment. Bitumen was also identified as a component of a friable black solid excavated from a tomb, and a black substance applied to the surface of a painted and plastered coffin fragment. Both contained plant resin, indicating that this substance was probably applied as a ritual funerary liquid, a practice identified from this time period in Egypt. The use of this ritual, at a far remove from the royal Egyptian burial sites at Thebes, indicates the importance of this ritual as a component of the funeral, and the value attributed to the material components of the black liquid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amara West, built around 1300 BC, was an administrative centre for the pharaonic colony of Upper Nubia. In addition to producing hand- and wheel-made pottery, respectively, in Nubian and Egyptian style, Amara West also imported a wide range of ceramics from Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. A scientific study of 18 Mycenaean-style ceramics was undertaken to study provenance and aspects of production technology. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) results show that the pots were imported from several workshops in Greece and Cyprus. Thin-section petrography and scanning electron microscopy, used with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), show that different recipes were used to make the fabrics and paints of Mycenaean ceramics, reflecting both technological choices and the range of raw materials used in the different workshops. The petrographic and SEM-EDX results support the NAA provenance attributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer, one of the world’s leading causes of death today, remains almost absent relative to other pathological conditions, in the archaeological record, giving rise to the conclusion that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity. This paper presents a male, young-adult individual from the archaeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan (c. 1200BC) displaying multiple, mainly osteolytic, lesions on the vertebrae, ribs, sternum, clavicles, scapulae, pelvis, and humeral and femoral heads. Following radiographic, microscopic and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imaging of the lesions, and a consideration of differential diagnoses, a diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma secondary to an unknown soft tissue cancer is suggested. This represents the earliest complete example in the world of a human who suffered metastatic cancer to date. The study further draws its strength from modern analytical techniques applied to differential diagnoses and the fact that it is firmly rooted within a well-documented archaeological and historical context, thus providing new insights into the history and antiquity of the disease as well as its underlying causes and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of elemental and lead isotopic analysis of copper alloys, copper-based pigments and an extremely rare tin-based alloy from the town of Amara West (Sudan), the centre for pharaonic control of occupied Upper Nubia between 1300 and 1070 BCE. It is the first assemblage of its kind to be analysed for Upper Nubia during this period. This research examines the selection and consumption of alloys in a colonial context, in light of earlier and contemporaneous practices and patterns in both Egypt and Nubia, to assess broader systems of resource management and metal production. Drawing on the complementary information obtained from pigment analysis, novel insights into interactions between different high-temperature crafts are obtained, particularly in terms of shared provisioning systems. From this unique perspective, pigment analysis is used for the first time to illuminate copper sources not reflected in metal assemblages, while scrap copper alloys are identified as a key colourant for Egyptian blue manufacture. The integrated application of strontium isotope analysis further highlights the potential for identifying links between glass, faience and Egyptian blue production systems within Egypt and for distinguishing these from other manufacturing regions such as Mesopotamia. The analysis of a tin artefact further expands our understanding of potential tin sources available during the New Kingdom and their role in shaping copper alloy compositions. Overall, this holistic approach to copper alloys and their application in other high-temperature industries ties together different strands of research, shaping a new understanding of New Kingdom technological practices, supply networks and material stocks circulating throughout the Nile Valley. • New Kingdom copper provisioning and alloying at a colonial settlement in Nubia. • Novel cross-craft approach to copper alloys, pigments and faience in the Nile Valley. • Integrated trace element and Pb & Sr isotopic analysis of Egyptian blue. • Rare tin-based artefact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]