Soba Expedition: The preliminary report on the season of fieldwork conducted in 2021-2022

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31261/SEIA.2022.22.01.01

Keywords:

Sudan, Nubia, Alwa, Soba, archeology, geophysics, ethnology

Abstract

The preliminary report covered the results of the fieldwork conducted in Soba (Sudan, Khartoum State) in 2021-2022. It includes a general description of the idea behind the project as well as results of geophysical surveys, archaeological excavations, pottery studies, analysis of macro organic remains and stone tools, ethnological research, and training program. 

Author Biographies

Mariusz Drzewiecki, University of Warsaw

Mariusz Drzewiecki is a researcher at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw. Has been working in Sudan since 2005. Author and co-author of publications on the defensive architecture in the Middle Nile region.

Robert Ryndziewicz, Polish Academy of Sciences

Robert Ryndziewicz is an archaeologist who specialised in the near-surface geophysics (mainly GPR, Magnetometry and Earth Resistance) applied for the archaeological prospection. Co-investigator in numerous research projects in Sudan, Egypt, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Jordan and Poland. Since 2015 member of the International Society of Archaeological Prospection.

Tomasz Michalik, University of Warsaw

Tomasz Michalik, PhD is an archaeologist and cognitive scientist. He works in the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw. As a part of his research work he tries to answer two questions: (1) how were people thinking in the past and (2) how the construction of the human mind shapes our knowledge about the past.

Joanna Ciesielska, University of Warsaw

Joanna Ciesielska, PhD is an archaeologist and bioarchaeologist in the field of Nubian studies, with special focus on the funerary archaeology of the medieval Nile valley. She has received her doctoral degree from the University of Warsaw in 2022. Dr. Ciesielska was a participant in multiple archaeological projects, incl. Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and China. She is a member of the project “Soba - the heart of the kingdom of Alwa” as an archaeologist and anthropologist

Ewa Czyżewska-Zalewska, University of Warsaw

Ewa Czyżewska-Zalewska is a researcher at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw. She has been working in Sudan and Egypt, and she has published articles on pottery from the post-Meroitic Nubia and Late Roman Egypt.

Agnieszka Ryś, University of Warsaw

Agnieszka Ryś is an archaeologist with research interests focused on the household economy, craft, and technology in ancient Egypt and Nubia. She is a PhD student at the University of Warsaw with a project dedicated to the study of household production in Egyptian settlements and its socioeconomic aspect.

Agata Bebel-Nowak, University of Warsaw

Agata Bebel-Nowak graduated in Egyptology and Archeology at the University of Warsaw. Currently, a PhD student at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School of the University of Warsaw. The main subject of her interest is the ancient diet and food economy. The topic of her PhD thesis is “Researches on grain use and processing methods in the Ancient Near East. Comparison of data from Egypt and Mesopotamia”

Maciej Kurcz, University of Silesia in Katowice

Maciej Kurcz, PhD, Hab., cultural anthropologist assoc. prof. at the University of Silesia in Katowice. His research interests lie in cultural dynamics in modern Africa both in the context of rural societies and urban centres. He has been engaged in researching Sudan since 2000. His works include the books: Beyond the Third Cataract (PTL, 2007) based on field research in northern Sudan in 2003 and 2004, and How to Survive in an African City. A Man Faced to Borderness and Urbanization Processes in South Sudanese Juba (University of Silesia Press 2012).

Włodzimierz Rączkowski, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan

Włodzimierz Rączkowski is a professor of humanities, archaeologist, and a specialist in the use of remote sensing methods in archaeology, especially aerial photography. His focus is on theoretical approaches to archaeological research. He works at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań.

Lidia Żuk, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan

Lidia Żuk, PhD is a researcher at the Faculty of Archaeology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She specializes in the use of remote sensing methods in archaeology with a focus on satellite imagery.

References

Drzewiecki M., Ryndziewicz R., 2019, Developing a new approach to research at Soba, the capital of the medieval kingdom of Alwa, “Archaeologies”, vol. 15, s. 314–337, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-019-09370-x.

Drzewiecki M., et al. 2020a, Soba expedition: preliminary report on the season of fieldwork conducted in 2019–2020, Khartoum, Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12023022.v2.

Drzewiecki M., et al. 2020b, New fieldwork in Soba East (season 2019–2020), “Sudan and Nubia”, [vol.] 24, s. 233–246.

Drzewiecki M., et al. 2021, Interdisciplinary research into the legacy of the medieval metropolis of Soba in a modern Khartoum Suburb, “African Archaeological Review”, vol. 38, s. 597–623. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-021-09459-1.

Jacomet S., 2006, Identification of cereal remains from archaeological sites, Basel, Basel University.

Neef R., Cappers R.T.J., Bekker R.M., 2012, Digital atlas of economic plants in archaeology, Groningen, Barkhuis.

Welsby D.A., Daniels C.M., 1991, Soba. Archaeological research at a medieval capital on the Blue Nile (Memoirs of the British Institute in Eastern Africa number 12), London, Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Zeist W. van, Bekker-Heeres I.A.H., 1984, Archaeobotanical studies in the Levant. 2. Neolithic and Halaf levels at Ras Shamra, “Paleohistoria”, [vol.] 26, s. 151–170.

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Published

2022-06-25

How to Cite

Drzewiecki, M., Ryndziewicz, R., Michalik, T., Ciesielska, J., Czyżewska-Zalewska, E., Ryś, A., … Żuk, L. (2022). Soba Expedition: The preliminary report on the season of fieldwork conducted in 2021-2022. Studia Etnologiczne I Antropologiczne, 22(1), 1–59. https://doi.org/10.31261/SEIA.2022.22.01.01

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Artykuły

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