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🇬🇧 [1985-1990] El-Hobagi : post-Meroitic imperial tumuli between the fifth and sixth cataracts

Under the supervision of Patrice Lenoble

Team: Mahmoud el Sheikh el Tayeb, Ussama Abdelrahman el Nur, Mohamed Hassan Basha, Hassan Bandi, Abdelrahman Ali Mohamed

El-Hobagi, liturgical bronze bowl (h. 10,5 cm, d. 17,1 cm), post-meroitic period © J. Reinold et al, Archéologie au Soudan, éditions Errance, Paris 2000

The el-Hobagi site, situated on the left bank of the Nile about 70 km upstream from Meroe, was excavated between 1985 and 1990 by a Franco-Sudanese mission (SFDAS/NCAM) led by Patrice Lenoble. These post-Meroitic princely burial mounds did not display any particular features that would distinguish them from hundreds of similar sites in the region. Seven burials were identified, with two having been excavated. A wealth of material was uncovered, resembling that found in the later pyramids of Meroe, including funerary banquet crockery and warrior weaponry bearing the full insignia of Meroitic royalty such as bows, arrows, spears, archer rings, and swords. There was also a large quantity of bronze crockery engraved with numerous elements of Meroitic iconography, such as uraei, frogs, and lotus flowers. Especially notable is a bowl engraved with the image of a king. Of particular significance is a bowl inscribed in Meroitic hieroglyphs. Its presence in a post-Meroitic context demonstrates that the use of this script did not disappear with the collapse of central Meroitic power, as was previously assumed, but rather with the arrival of Christianity.

When compared with the iconography of tombs (pyramid chapels) or other royal Meroitic monuments (temples, palaces), these burials provide us with important information on the characterization of royal rites. For example, the abundance of weapons found in these two tombs can be compared with scenes from Meroitic royal iconography: massacres of prisoners, scenes of the submission of the Nine Bows (the countries subject to royal power).

The discovery of the el-Hobagi site is crucial because it demonstrates that the region did not collapse following the presumed fall of Meroe. Instead, a rich culture, deeply influenced by Meroitic traditions, continued to thrive for several centuries.

Basic bibliography

  • P. Lenoble, “El-Hobagi”, in Sudan Ancient Treasures, An Exhibition of Recent Discoveries from the Sudan National Museum (D. Welsby & J. Anderson éds.), The British Museum Press, Londres, 2004, p. 193-195.
  • P. Lenoble, “El periodo precristiano en el desierto y el Sahel nubios”, in Nubia, Los reinos del Nilo en Sudan, catalogue de l’exposition à Barcelone et Madrid, Fundacion “La Caixa”, 2003, p. 80-85.
  • P. Lenoble, “The division of the Meroitic Empire and the end of the pyramid building in the 4th c. A.D. : an introduction to further excavations of imperial mounds in the Sudan”, in, Recent research in Kushite History and Archaeology. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference for Meroitic Studies (D. Welsby éd.), British Museum Occasional Paper n° 131, Londres 1999, p. 157-197.
  • P. Lenoble, « Les tumulus impériaux des 4e, 5e et 6e siècles de notre ère », Dossiers de l’archéologie, Hors-série n° 6, février 1997, p. 82-86.
  • P. Lenoble, “From pyramids at Meroë to tumulus at el Hobagi : Imperial graves of the Late Meroitic culture (Franco-Sudanese surveys and excavations between 1983 and 1990)”, Kush n° 17, 1997, p. 289-308.
  • P. Lenoble, « Enterrer les flèches, enterrer l’empire. I, Flèches et carquois des tombes impériales d’el-Hobagi », Actes de la 8e Conférence internationale des Etudes nubiennes, Lille, 11-17 septembre 1994, CRIPEL n° 17/2, 1997, p. 135-152.
  • P. Lenoble, « A propos des tumulus d’el Hobagi et de Ballana-Qustul », MNL 25, 1994, p. 51-52.
  • P. Lenoble, R.-P. Dissaux, Abd el Rahman Ali Mohamed, B. Ronce et J. Bialais, « La fouille du tumulus à enceinte el Hobagi III, A.M.S. NE-36-O/7-N-3 », MNL 25, 1994, p. 53-88.
  • P. Lenoble, « Le rang des inhumés sous tertre à enceinte à el Hobagi », MNL 25, 1994, p. 89-124.
  • P. Lenoble et Nigm ed Din Mohamed Sharif, “Barbarians at the gates ? The royal mounds of el Hobagi and the End of Meroe”, Antiquity, 66, 1992, p. 626-635.
  • J. Reinold et P. Lenoble, “El Hobagi 1989, Tumulus VI and 4”, Nubian Letters, 16, 1991, p. 3-4.
  • J. Reinold et P. Lenoble, “El Hobagi 1990, Tumulus III”, Nubian Letters, 16, 1991, p. 5-6.

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
sfdas (5 novembre 2024). 🇬🇧 [1985-1990] El-Hobagi : post-Meroitic imperial tumuli between the fifth and sixth cataracts. SFDAS Khartoum. Consulté le 20 juin 2025 à l’adresse https://sfdas.hypotheses.org/5650


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