Jebel Moya
Jebel Moya is an archaeological site in the southern Gezira Plain, Sudan, approximately 250 km south southeast of Khartoum. Dating between 5000 BCE-500 CE and roughly 104,000 m2 in area, the site is one of the largest pastoralist cemeteries in Africa with over 3,000 burials excavated thus far. The site was first excavated by Sir Henry Wellcome from 1911 to 1914. Artifacts found at the site suggest trade routes between Jebel Moya and its surrounding areas, even as far as Egypt.
Environment
The Gezira Plain is a megafan created by the Blue Nile. Present day flood levels were in place by 3500 BCE, as the area transitioned from swampy conditions to a savanna as the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone moved south. The environmental transition from swamp to savanna and semi-desert steppe was complete by 3000 BCE. By the early centuries CE, few swampy conditions remained; one notable wet site that remained is Jebel et Tomat, another early pastoralist site, northeast of Jebel Moya.Environmentally, the Southern Gezira can be separated into categories of swamp vegetation, riverine woodland, grassland, and jebel vegetation. This places the environment of Jebel Moya close to transitional belts, in both modern day, and likely the Classic and Meroitic periods.
Jebel Moya refers to a massif which includes a group of granite hills connected by ridges and valleys; the name has become associated with the archaeological site within the north-easternmost of these valleys. The Jebel Moya massif is a geological granite outcrop of the Gezira Plain's underlying Basement Complex, which breaks through the above Sandstone Formation. The Basement Complex contains an underground aquifer, which results in fresh water rising to the surface/ground level around outcrops like Jebel Moya.
This established Jebel Moya as a potential fresh water source, which is important in a plain without permanent surface water sources for maintaining animal herds. The aquifer is replenished by both the Blue and While Niles. This establishes that the ecological conditions in the region were suitable for pastoralism from 1000 BCE-1000 CE.
Excavation history
Excavations at Jebel Moya began 29 January 1911 and continued until April 1914 when further plans were abandoned due to the onset of World War I. During those four seasons, approximately a fifth of the 10.4 hectare site was excavated. 2883 graves were reported during the excavation, and 2792 of the graves were cleared, the rest remained undisturbed. Some graves, devoid of burials, contained only pottery; others contained multiple inhumations. 25 of the graves contained animal burials. In total, 3137 individuals were excavated, which marks Jebel Moya as the largest burial complex yet found in sub-Saharan Africa.Season 1
Wellcome supervised the first field season, from 29 January - April 1911. An unrecorded number of graves were excavated during the first field season, but it was evidently enough for Wellcome to apply and receive a concessions license.Season 2
Wellcome appointed Oric Bates as field director for the second field season. He also appointed Douglas Derry as the first chief medical officer and field bioanthropologist. A total of 709 graves were excavated in the East and South Jebel sectors. During the second season, construction began on the “House of Boulders”, designed to absorb laborers not required for excavation work; they worked to erect workshops and iron shed stores.Season 3
Field directorship was handed to James Dixon and G.A. Wainwright for the third field season, from November 1912 - April 1913, assisted by M.B. Ray and L. Dudley Buxton, who replaced Derry. A total of 310 graves were excavated in the Southwest, West, South and Northeast, but not East, sectors during the third season.Season 4
The final season, from Nov 1913 - April 1914, yielded 1772 graves. The onset of the first World War disrupted any plans for future seasons. Work did not resume after the war ended, and Wellcome died in 1936.Post-excavation
Due to a variety of setbacks, including two world wars and Wellcome's death in 1936, the first official report on Jebel Moya was not published until 1949 by Frank Addison, who was appointed by the Wellcome Trust. The Trustees of the Wellcome Trust also appointed G.M. Morant, assisted by Otto Samson, to examine the remains from Jebel Moya. Unable to continue after the Second World War, the project to complete osteological work was transferred to J.C. Trevor, who employed R. Mukherjee and C.R. Rao to conduct the majority of analyses. They published their analysis in 1955.During the 41 years in between excavating and the 1955 study re-examining the remains from Jebel Moya, a significant amount of material was lost due to poor storage conditions. Materials from Jebel Moya had been shipped to a depot in Maryleborne, and a warehouse in Dartford, London. The Dartford warehouse flooded in 1928; surviving materials, along with the Maryleborne materials, were shipped to Stamore in Middlesex, where Addison and his assistant L. P. Kirwan began their work, in 1937. During this time, undecorated pottery sherds were discarded as waste, as they were considered to lack any diagnostic properties.
Out of the 3000-plus skeletons excavated, 98 crania and 139 mandibles, as well as a small number of other post cranial bones, survived. However, the original field cards for all of the skeletons remained. Unfortunately, only 326 of the 2903 field cards contained complete information of observations and measurements made on site during the excavation. Only 25% of the cards contained accurate or useful information. Like the skeletal remains, only a small number of excavated artifacts survived their time in storage.
Despite the setbacks caused by these conditions, the 1955 report was groundbreaking for its use of the now common Mahalanobis D2 distance to craniometric data; according to the Mukherjee, “The result was a measure of group divergence between Jebel Moya and 19 other African samples.”
Dates
Frank Addison's dating
Due to errors with stratigraphic information from the original excavations, Addison's original dating for occupation and use of the site was inaccurate. He later modified the dates to between 400 BCE-400 CE, coinciding with the Meroitic kingdom to the north.Rudolf Gerharz' dating
In 1994, Rudolf Gerharz’ reinterpretation of the dating of Jebel Moya, based on Addison's data, included three more accurate time phases for the site. Phase I included occasional occupations at the site, and Dotted Wavy Line pottery. Phase II included the majority of the graves at Jebel Moya, including burials in the western half, and many unspecified burials with no or few associated funerary objects from the eastern half. Phase III is potentially the first to feature trade items from the north, particularly metals, ceramics and glass. Phase III encompassed the remainder of the graves in the eastern half of Jebel Moya. Gerharz’ estimates for the second and third phases were incorrect; the absence of Meroitic wheel-made pottery at Jebel Moya does not indicate the site's abandonment by 100 BCE, given the appearance of locally manufactured wheel made pottery.Current dating
Current hypotheses posit that a network of craft communities allowed the spread of ideas and animals into central/south-central Sudan between 6000 and 5000 BCE.All surviving site features, including graves, date in Phase II and Phase III. The main occupation at Jebel Moya is dated to 2300 BCE. The first conclusive evidence for burials at Jebel Moya dates to the mid-first century BCE.
Period 1, following Gerharz' Phase I, dates to the late sixth or early fifth millennium BCE. Period 2 dates between 2500 and 1500 BCE. It is inferred from surrounding economies to the north that during this period, the inhabitants of Jebel Moya were pastoral or agro-pastoral. Period 3 dates between 100 BCE and 500 CE, during which the majority of the burials were interred. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dating of bone samples from Jebel Moya were unsuccessful due to lack of collagen. OSL dating of pottery is the first absolute date from Jebel Moya.
Habitation
Because of the permanent source of water, there were multiple habitation sites as well as grave sites at Jebel Moya used by pastoralists in the area.During the Wellcome Excavations, evidence of habitation sites were found. Most field notes concerning the habitation sites did not survive. Human-made features at Jebel Moya include three hearths, three hardened mud floors, one of which contained post-holes, and a second contained a hearth. These finds are consistent with habitation activity and possibly contemporary with Phase I. Located above these works were three ovens, as well as post-holes. Mud plaster was found in one of the strata, and a patch of burnt clay flooring in another. These findings support the theory of habitations remaining through all three phases of occupation.
During the second field season, a series of stone structures were found and recorded by Oric Bates. On 20 January 1912, a series of small stone structures in the East sector of the cemetery were recorded. On 24 January 1912, a seventh semi-circular stone 7 meters in length was found 30 cm below surface level. Bates believed the structures, composed of small stones, were not associated with any specific burial, and were perhaps parts of shelters, or stone platforms for sacrificing or feasting. Nineteen ovens were found in the Southwest sector of Jebel Moya. The ovens were barrel shaped pits plastered in mud, 40–50 cm in depth, 70–80 cm in diameter. The oven pits contained burnt animal bones, stones, pottery sherds, and fragments of querns. Addison posited that the stones were heated in an external area and then placed in the oven, with food placed over it, to slowly cook.
The available data suggests that settlement at Jebel Moya during Phase I was likely episodic. The lack of data from the rest of the valley prevents a concrete answer pertaining to the potentiality of a permanent settlement or a seasonal one during Phase II. The presence of ovens, co-occurring with mortuary activity, suggests that the site was permanently occupied during Phase III.