Kulubnarti

Kulubnarti ("Kulb island") is a 1 mile (1.6 km) long island in Northern Sudan. Situated in the Nile, about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Egyptian border, it is part of the village of Kulb. Until the fifteenth century, this was a remote area. It was the last known refuge for Christians in Nubia, while Islam spread to the south. It has been inhabited since the time of the Christian kingdom of Makuria, approximately 1100 AD. Though continuously inhabited from the eleventh century to modern times, it is the only Nubian location which has demonstrated through archaeologically investigation a continuous occupation from the Middle Ages to modern history.

Kulubnarti has archaeological and anthropological significance because it has been subjected to one of the only systematic excavations of any site along the southern portion of the Nile. The primary motivation for excavation at Kulubnarti was to increase awareness and understanding of the cultural transition from Christianity to Islam in ancient Nubia. Nubia converted to Christianity by the late 6th century and Christianity prevailed as the dominant religion of the region until the 14th century when Moslems gained control of territory south of the 3rd Cataract. Christianity however, persisted into the 15th century in many regions lying north of the 3rd Cataract, including Kulubnarti. Prior to the archaeological study of Kulubnarti, this cultural transition was almost completely unknown archaeologically and only a few historical references were in existence.

Geography

Kulubnarti is an island located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Wadi Halfa. It sits just north of the Dal Cataract, which is situated between the 2nd and 3rd Cataracts. It is in the Batn-El-Hajar region, a rugged, barren, and rocky area. The usual wide zone of alluvial fertile farmland on the banks of the Nile is missing; only small sections of the island are available for agriculture. The population lives mainly in the modern village on the west (Kulb West) and east (Kulb East) banks of the Nile. The altitude is about 200 metres (660 ft) above sea level. There were several villages on this island, with castles, kourfas, houses, and churches. While Kulubnarti has not always been a permanent island, it adopted its now permanent island form following the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Prior to the dam’s construction, Kulubnarti was an island for only a few weeks each year when the Nile river was at its peak. Today, Kulubnarti is located at the head of Lake Nasser and is a 'true island' when Lake Nasser’s water level is at maximum capacity.

Expeditions

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt came on his first expedition south of the Nile to the 3rd Cataract in 1813. He was the first to view and describe the abandoned late Medieval era settlement situated on the southern end of Kulubnarti. He published his finds about the island and its small, domed church in his 1819 travelogue Travels in Nubia. The first archaeological investigation was done by Somers Clarke in the early 20th century; he explored Christian building remains along the Nile between Cairo and Soba, publishing his findings in 1912, Christian Antiquities in the Nile Valley. In 1969 and 1979, William Yewdale Adams led the University of Kentucky team's extensive excavations on the island and the neighboring mainland. There were a total of 19 Kulubnarti sites excavated by Adams and his team. Of these 19 sites, excavation uncovered 10 settlements, one church, one Christian cemetery, one pottery manufacturing locale, and six rock picture zones. Each of the 19 sites, except for the six rock picture zones, dated to the late medieval period. Approximately 1300 finds were collected and archived. The results showed a continuous history of settlement and exemplified an understanding of the changes in social structures during the gradual transition from the Nubian-Christian empire to the period of Ottoman rule. Additional research groups investigated the cemeteries, including funerary remains.

Notable landmarks

Two notable buildings are the Kulubnarti fort, a fortified house which was converted into a castle, and the 13th-14th century domed Kulubnarti church. Graffito incised into the church building is depicted in three languages, Greek, Coptic, and Old Nubian. East of the fort were four residential buildings of mud brick with stone plinth from the Christian era. There were inscriptions in the western house. Two of the houses had an upper floor, the ground floor being of brick walls and carefully hewn stones. The ceiling on the ground floor rooms consisted of three long, adjacent barrel vaults.

Prior Research at Kulubnarti

Aside from the work of Adams several other research projects have been undertaken at Kulubnarti. Paul Sandberg provided an isotopic analysis of health and illness between the two cemeteries at Kulubnarti, site 21-S-46 and site 21-R-2.

Another study conducted by Kilgore et al. assessed the Kulubnarti sample for evidence and prevalence of traumatic injury. Kilgore et al. found that when compared to other comparative samples, two from North America and two from Europe, Kulubnarti demonstrated a higher prevalence of healed fractures, proportionately greater rates of multiple injuries and severity of injury was generally higher at Kulubnarti. The high prevalence of trauma and the severity of the injuries were largely attributed to the uneven and treacherous terrain in the Batn-El-Hajar.

Finally, Kulubnarti has also been utilized as a comparative sample to assess cross –cultural discrepancies in health, stress, disease, violent interaction and mortality levels throughout Sudanese Nubia.

Archaeological Findings at Kulubnarti

The excavation of Kulubnarti, organized by Adams, was completed under the auspices of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. The main objective of the research team working at Kulubnarti was to clearly outline the cultural transition from Christianity to Islam using archaeological methods. Upon examination, the churches at Kulubnarti were all Christian in form and none of the structures showed evidence of being converted to a mosque. In fact, no mosques were uncovered in Kulubnarti, suggesting that the religious transition was not readily apparent from a study of the architectural remains. In similar vein, the artifactual remains also provided only minimal evidence of the transition from Christianity to Islam. The artifactual evidence of the cultural transition came in the form of several Islamic texts. The most informative aspect of Kulubnarti, pertaining to the religious conversion, was uncovered in the cemeteries of Kulubnarti. The two cemeteries excavated at Kulubnarti both clearly yield evidence of both Christian and Muslim graves. However, none of the graves could be dated in an attempt to pinpoint a more precise time for the religious conversion at Kulubnarti.

In 2015, Sirak et al. analysed the ancient DNA of a Christian-period inhabitant of Kulubnarti. The scientists found that the medieval specimen was most closely related to Middle Eastern populations.

Further reading

Adams, William Y. (1994). Kulubnarti I: The Architectural Remains. Lexington: Program for Cultural Resource Assessment, University of Kentucky.

• Adams, W. Y. & Adams, Nettie K. : Kulubnarti. Volume 2: The Artifactual Remains. Sudan Archaeological Research Society, London 1998, ISBN 1-901169-01-4 (Sudan Archaeological Research Society. Publication 2).

Adams, William Y., Nettie K. Adams, Dennis P. Van Gerven, and David L. Green (1999) Kulubnarti III: The Cemeteries. Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication Number 4. England: Basingstoke Press.

Edwards, David N. (2004). The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan. New York: Routledge.

Judd, Margaret (2004) Trauma in the City of Kerma: Ancient versus Modern Injury Patterns. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 13, 34-51.

Kilgore, Lynn, Robert Jurmain, and Dennis Van Gerven (1997). Palaeoepidemiological Patters of Trauma in a Medieval Nubian Skeletal Population. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 7, 103-114.

Sandberg, Paul A. (2006). An Isotopic Investigation of Health and Illness in Two Skeletal Populations from Kulubnarti, Sudanese Nubia. (Masters Thesis). Retrieved from Proquest. (Accession Number 1433487)

Soler, A. (2012). Life and Death in a Medieval Nubian Farming Community: The Experience at Mis Island (Doctoral dissertation). Michigan State University. (3498603)

Turner, B.L., J.L. Edwards, E.A. Quinn, J.D. Kingston, and D.P. Van Gerven (2007). Age-related Variation in Isotopic Indicators of Diet at Medieval Kulubnarti, Sudanese Nubia. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 17, 1-25.

Van Gerven DP, Sandford MK, and Hummert JR (1981). Mortality and culture change in Nubia's Batn el Hajar. J. Hum. Evol., 10, 395-408.