Political Transformation of Nubia from the Fourth to the Sixth Century according to Archaeology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52575/2687-0967-2026-53-3-544-551Keywords:
Late Antiquity, Nubia, X-Group, Blemmyes, Nobades, post-Meroitic period, archaeologyAbstract
The article examines the political and socio-economic transformations in Nubia from the fourth to the sixth century A.D. based on archaeological data. The cultural materials of the X-group (funerary monuments of Ballana and Kustula, settlements of the post-Meroitic period) are analyzed, indicating the transformation of the power structure: the emergence of local elites, new forms of political identity. Special attention is paid to the signs of social mobility, economic restructuring and cultural contacts of the post-Meroitic period. Nubia's political landscape is viewed through the prism of the concept of the "contact zone" as a frontier space of interaction between late Antique civilizations (Byzantium, Aksum) and local societies, where synthesized political structures were formed in conditions of mutual influence. Archaeological evidence suggests that during the period under study, Nubia was experiencing not a decline, but rather a transitional period, which was a prerequisite for the formation of the Early Medieval Nubian kingdoms.
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Cooper J. 2020. A Nomadic State? The ‘Blemmyean-Beja’ Polity of the Ancient Eastern Desert. In: The Journal of African History. 61(3): 383–407.
Dahl G. Hjort-af-Ornas A. 2006. Precolonial Beja: A Periphery at the Crossroads. Nordic Journal of African Studies. No. 15(4): 473–498.
Dann R. J. 2007. Changing Patterns of Violence at Qustul and Ballana in the Post-Meroitic Period. Part One: The Humans. In: Der Antike Sudan: Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin. Vol. 18: 189–200.
Edwards D.N. 2004. The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan. London; New York, Routledge, 304.
Emery W.B. 1938. The Royal Tombs of Ballana and Qustul. Cairo, Government Press, 407.
Emery W.B. 1948. Nubian Treasure. An Account of the Discoveries at Ballana and Qustul. London, Methuen, 72.
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. 1998. Textual Sources for the History of the Middle Nile Region between the Eighth Century B.C. and the Sixth Century A.D. Vol. III. Bergen, University of Bergen: 751–1216.
Hägg T. 1990. Titles and Honorific Epithets in Nubian Greek Texts. In: Symbolae Osloenses, 65: 147–177.
Harrell J.A. 2006. Archaelogical Geology of Wadi Sikait. In: PalArch’s Journal of Egypt/Egyptology. Vol. 4: 11.
Kirwan L.P. 1982. The X-Group Problem. In: Meroitic Studies. No. 6: 191–204.
Lenoble P. 1996. Les "sacrifices humaines" de Meroe, Qustul et Ballana, I. Le massacre de nombreux prisonniers. In: Beiträge zur Sudanforschung. 6: 59–87.
Munro-Hay S. 1991. Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 256.
Török L. 1988. Late Antique Nubia: History and Archaeology of the Southern Neighbour of Egypt in the 4th–6th c. A.D. Budapest, 279.
Török L. 2009. Between Two Worlds: The Frontier Region between Ancient Nubia and Egypt 3700 B.C. – A.D. 500. Leiden, Brill, 628.
Williams B. 1991. Noubadian X-Group Remains from Royal Complexes in Cemeteries Q and 219 and from Private Cemeteries Q, R, V, W, J, and M at Qustul and Ballana. Chicago, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 409.
Williams B. 1994. Excavations at Serra East: Parts 1–5, A-Group, C-Group, Pan Grave, New Kingdom, and X-Group Remains from Cemeteries A-G and Rock Shelters. Chicago, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 236.
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