The History of the People's of the Eastern Desert
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The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert edited by Hans Barnard and Kim Duistermaat Monograph 73 Cotsen Institute of Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles THE COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY PRESS is the publishing unit of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. The Cotsen Institute is a premier research organization dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of archaeological knowledge and heritage. It is home to both the Interdepartmental Archaeology Graduate Program and the UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials. The Cotsen Institute provides a forum for innovative faculty research, graduate education, and public programs at UCLA in an effort to impact positively the academic, local and global communities. 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THE COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AT UCLA Charles Stanish, Director Gregory Areshian, Assistant Director Willeke Wendrich, Editorial Director Julie Nemer, Publications Manager EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE COTSEN INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY Willeke Wendrich Area Editor for Egypt, North, and East Africa Christopher Donnan Area Editor for South and Central America Jeanne E. Arnold Area Editor for North America Jeffrey P. Brantingham Area Editor for the Paleolithic and Environmental Archaeology Aaron Burke Area Editor for Southwestern Asia Lothar Von Falkenhausen Area Editor for East and South Asia and Archaeological Theory Sarah Morris Area Editor for the Classical World John Papadopoulos Area Editor for the Mediterranean Region ([2I¿FLR0HPEHUV &KDUOHV6WDQLVK*UHJRU\($UHVKLDQDQG-XOLH1HPHU ([WHUQDO0HPEHUV .XVLPED&KDSXUXNKD-R\FH0DUFXV&ROLQ5HQIUHZDQG-RKQ<HOOHQ This book is set in 10.5-point Times New Roman, with titles in 28-point Mittelschrift. (GLWHGE\%DUEDUD.RKO 7KHLPDJHRQWKHFRYHULVVKRZLQJDGURPHGDU\UDFHEHWZHHQULGHUVRIWKH%HMD.KDWPD\DKWULEHDVSDUWRIDUHOLJLRXVIHVWLYDO SKRWRJUDSKE\/XF\6NLQQHU6XDNLQ3URMHFW 2004). Such events are treasured celebrations of Bedouin life. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The history of the peoples of the Eastern Desert / edited by Hans Barnard and .LP'XLVWHUPDDW p. cm. Proceedings of a conference held Nov. 25-27, 2008 at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. (DVWHUQ'HVHUW (J\SW $QWLTXLWLHV&RQJUHVVHV'HVHUWSHRSOH(J\SW(DVWHUQ'HVHUW+LVWRU\&RQJUHVVHV'HVHUWSHRSOH(J\SW(DVWHUQ'HVHUW$QWLTXLWLHV-- &RQJUHVVHV(DVWHUQ'HVHUW (J\SW $QWLTXLWLHV5RPDQ&RQJUHVVHV([FDYDWLRQV $UFKDHRORJ\ (J\SW(DVWHUQ'HVHUW&RQJUHVVHV,%DUQDUG+,,'XLVWHUPDDW .LP ,6%1 FORWK DT137.E38H57 2012 932.3--dc23 2012023427 Copyright © 2012 Regents of the University of California All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Time line and word cloud for Michael D.S. Mallinson, Nominating Suakin a World Heritage Site. Word cloud by www. wordle.net, written by Jonathan Feinberg (IBM Research); the cloud shows the 25 words that occur most often in the text (typefont Sexsmith, all lower case), giving greater prominence to words that appear more frequently. CHAPTER 26 Nominating Suakin a World Heritage Site MICHAEL D.S. MALLINSON1 HE SUAKIN PROJECT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 20001 1995). The Red Sea Architecture of the town that made it for the purpose of creating a future for the famous was constructed of coral blocks between the 15th T important historical site of Suakin. Its aim was and 20th centuries CE and its fabric has been untouched WRSURYLGHWKHQHFHVVDU\VFLHQWL¿FUHVHDUFKDQGFUHDWHD VLQFHWKHVZKHQWKHSRUWZDVRI¿FLDOO\DEDQGRQHG suitable institutional infrastructure to help protect and in favor of the newly built Port Sudan. This architecture, preserve the site, and help the owners of the buildings however, is not all that Suakin has to offer historically. and the land to restore the site following its destruction For a thousand years, Suakin was the gateway for Islamic by earthquakes and neglect over the last century. As a culture into Sudan and the main African pilgrimage part of this process Sudan’s National Corporation of SRUWWRZDUGV0HFFD +DVVDQ,QVROO3RZHU Antiquities and Museums has been seeking to have 2009). Suakin was also a vital trading port on the route Suakin nominated for World Heritage Status since it between northeast Africa and Asia, through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, established in Pharaonic Egyptian was placed on the tentative list in 1994. This chapter times and maintained by Graeco-Roman, Byzantine and explains why despite the evident destruction of many Arab traders ever since. The project’s archaeological of the buildings for which Suakin is famous, the site investigations have now shown that the entire island still has a claim to such a role, and how its story is is a 2- to 3-m high archaeological mound with cultural DQLQWHJUDOSDUWRIZRUOGFXOWXUH 6FKZHLQIXUWK remains from the level of the water to the existing ground &URZIRRW5RELQVRQ%ORVV level. Geographically Suakin is a unique example of a 5RSHU1HZEROG)RVWHU ODJRRQKDUERU )LJXUH 2YHUWKHFHQWXULHVWKHWRZQ 6XDNLQLQQRUWKHDVWHUQ6XGDQ 1 ( and port developed on a circular island site in the middle 870=RQH4(1 LV of a lagoon that was later connected to the mainland by a the last remaining example of a city built in the Red Sea short causeway. The beauty of the port, its building and DUFKLWHFWXUDOVW\OH 0DWWKHZV*UHHQODZ VHWWLQJZDVUHQRZQHG6XDNLQZDVWKH9HQLFHRI$IULFD 1 The National Corporation of Antiquities and Museum’s Suakin *UHHQODZ 6XDNLQLVDWDXQLTXHFURVVURDGV Project is directed by Hussan Hussein Idris, the head of NCAM, of Islamic, Sudanese, Ottoman and other cultures. This and comprises a team co-directed by Dr Laurence Smith, of the is expressed in the Red Sea architectural style and the Cambridge Macdonald Institute of Archaeological Research traditions of the island, which ethnographic research 8. DQG0LFKDHO0DOOLQVRQRI0DOOLQVRQ$UFKLWHFWV 8. ZLWK reveals remains preserved in the populations surrounding UHVHDUFKHUVIURP1&$0 6XGDQ &DPEULGJH8QLYHUVLW\ 8. the town. Annual festivals include processions through .KDUWRXP8QLYHUVLW\ 8. 8OVWHU8QLYHUVLW\ 1RUWKHUQ,UHODQG and a team of specialist conservators trained at the British Museum the town by Beja tribesmen, traditional music festivals 8. 7KHSURMHFWLVDOVRJUDWHIXOIRUWKHVXSSRUWRI+(7DKD(LOD and dromedary races along the walls of Suakin. The JRYHUQRURIWKH5HG6HD6WDWHDQGKLVRI¿FH Suakin Red Sea style has been acknowledged throughout 373 374 The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert Figure 26.1. Satellite image of northeast Sudan, showing Suakin on an island in a bay with a very narrow inlet. The asphalt road between Port Sudan to the north and Khartoum to the west, turning from the coast into the Red Sea Mountains near Suakin, is clearly visible. the region as the best example of this creative style, Power 2009), and it suffered with them from occasional comparable only to Massawa, in present-day Eritrea, invasions from Egypt. Suakin was a prominent city which was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake GXULQJWKHHDUO\&KULVWLDQ.LQJGRPVRI6XGDQ WK±WK in 1921. The ancient written records on the Red Sea are centuries CE), when Suakin formed a hub in the Red Sea redolent with references to Suakin, including in the works WUDGH$FFRUGLQJWRDO0DTUL]L Khitat III, 257), the Arab of Ptolemy, Mas’udi, Maqrizi, Ibn Said, Abulfeda, Ibn ZULWHU,EQ6XOD\PDO$VZDQL &( GHVFULEHG )DGODOODKDO8PDUL,EQ%DWWXWD,EQ.KDOGXQ)UDQFHVFR Suakin as linked to the Nile Valley by a caravan route Suriano, Zorzi, Alvarez, Joam de Castro, Almeida, Lobo, IURP6KDQNLUQHDU%HUEHU6XDNLQZDV¿UVWPHQWLRQHG Dapper, d’Anville, Lapanouse, Seetzen, Bruce, Burchardt E\QDPHLQWKHWKFHQWXU\&(E\DO+DPGDQL Sifat I, DQG9DOHQWLD +LQNHO DQGLWIHDWXUHVLQ 40, Jawaharatayn ), who says it was an ancient many songs and other oral traditions of the Beja people. town. At that time, Suakin must have been a small Beja It was the focus of the historic struggles between the settlement, but it began to expand after the abandonment Sudanese people and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th of the port of Badi to its south. The Crusades and Mongol century CE, and is considered by most Sudanese, and LQYDVLRQVGURYHPRUHWUDGHLQWRWKHUHJLRQWKHUHDUHD many other North African people, as a symbol of their number of references to Venetian merchants residing at link to Islam and their personal pilgrimage to Mecca. The Suakin and Massawa as early as the 14th century CE. For biological diversity of the Suakin reefs and the lagoon most of its early history, the port was in joint control of ZHWODQGVDUHXQLTXHLQWKHLURZQULJKW &KHNFKDNDQGWKH both the traders and local Beja tribes. The writers Masudi Equipe Cousteau in press). DQG,EQ6DLG ±&( UHIHUWRDWULEHFDOOHG DO.KDVDZKLFKFRPHVIURPQHDU$VPDUDLQPRGHUQ