Wadi Abu Dom Itinerary (W.A.D.I.) - An archaeological Survey in the Bayuda desert in North-Sudan
Final Report Abstract
The Wadi Abu Dom is one of the longest valleys in the Bayuda desert in northern Sudan and was considered a connecting route between the sacred capital Napata and the administrative seat of the kings of the Kingdom of Kush (8th century BC - 4th century AD) in Meroe. The initial question of the project was therefore to establish this route as well as the land use in this desert-like area in antiquity. Between 2009 and 2016, an intensive archaeological survey was carried out, during which we investigated the banks of the wadi over a distance of approx. 150 km by means of footwalking and remote sensing and mapped a total of 8376 archaeological sites. We recorded workshops as well as cemeteries, settlement sites and larger buildings. Chronologically, the sites recorded range from the Palaeolithic to the Islamic Funj period, with a dominance of the Neolithic, the local variant of the Kerma period (2nd millennium BC), the late and post-Meroitic period (first half of the 1st millennium AD) and the Christian Middle Ages (second half of the 1st millennium AD). It is astonishing that despite the situation that the lower Wadi Abu Dom represents the direct hinterland of the Napatan-Meroitic centre around Jebel Barkal (Napata), the surface features in the Wadi Abu Dom show hardly any traces of these periods. This observation leads to the question of the relationship between the desert and its inhabitants on the one hand and the Nile cultures on the other. Based on the natural landscape conditions and the archaeological remains, the Wadi Abu Dom can be divided into three major sections: The lower Wadi Abu Dom, dominated by micro-oases with irrigated fields and large-scale architecture; the middle section with large tumulus tombs and several box-grave cemeteries as well as evidence of nomadic lifestyles; and the upper wadi with a generally decreasing density of archaeological sites, but with a surprising amount of medieval remains. Especially in the lower wadi, there was a rather strict division between "land for living" with irrigated agriculture and "land for travelling" with trails and traces of only short-term presence. However, most of these communication routes indicate small-scale mobility patterns. Clear traces of long-distance caravan trade are not evident in the archaeological record. The absence of clearly identifiable Napatan or Meroitic material as well as long-range trade routes therefore raises the question of the integration of the Wadi Abu Dom region into the Kushite state and gives rise to the idea of the existence of a more or less independent cultural complex within the Bayuda.
Publications
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(2019) Medieval Presence at the Periphery of the Nubian State of Makuria: Examples from the Wadi Abu Dom and the Jebel al-Ain. Dotawo (Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies) 6 (1)
Eger, Jana; Karberg, Tim; Lohwasser, Angelika
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A Survey in the Western Bayuda: The Project Wadi Abu Dom Itinerary (W.A.D.I.), in: Sudan&Nubia 16 (2012): 109-117
Lohwasser, A.
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Tracks in the Bayuda desert. The project Wadi Abu Dom Itinerary, in: Förster, F., Riemer, H. (ed.), Desert Road Archaeology in Ancient Egypt and Beyond, Africa Praehistorica 27 (2013): 425-435
Lohwasser, A.
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Archaeological Satellite Imagery-Based Remote Sensing in the Bayuda and the Western Sudan, in: Honegger, M./ Bovet, L. (ed.), Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st- 6th September 2014; OLA 273 (2018): 873-878
Eger, J.
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Bayuda Studies – Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology of the Bayuda Desert in Sudan, Meroitica 27 (2018)
Lohwasser, A., Karberg, T., Auenmüller, J. (eds.)
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Pastoralism in the Wadi Abu Dom/Sudan. Non-sedentary economical strategies in the Central Bayuda. Ādāb Al-Neelain 3.2 (2018): 1-15
Karberg, T., Lohwasser, A.
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Wadi Abu Dom Itinerary. General overview over the first five seasons, in: Honegger, M./ Bovet, L. (ed.), Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st-6th September 2014; OLA 273 (2018): 879-886
Lohwasser, A.
