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🇬🇧 [2009-2013] Sedeinga

Excavations at the Meroitic necropolis (Sector II)

Team: Agathe Chen (anthropologist), Vincent Colard (archéologist, topographer), Romain David (céramologist), Hélène Delattre (pre- and protohistorian, archaeologist), Sandra Porez (draughtswoman), Elsa Yvanez (archaeologist), Haitham Mohamed Abdelrahman (NCAM inspector).

Under the direction of Claude Rilly (mission director and epigraphist) and Vincent Francigny (deputy director and archaeologist), the team working at Sedeinga included Agathe Chen (anthropologist), Vincent Colard (archaeologist and topographer), Romain David (ceramologist), Hélène Delattre (pre- and protohistorian, archaeologist), Sandra Porez (draughtswoman), Elsa Yvanez (archaeologist), and Haitham Mohamed Abdelrahman (NCAM inspector).

Sedeinga is located between the Second and Third Cataracts, on the left bank of the Nile, approximately thirty kilometres south of Sai Island. The site was initially known for the remains of the temple dedicated to Queen Tiye, Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III. This picturesque ruin, with its single standing column, remains too fragile for excavation due to the delicate and heavily weathered sandstone, which would require costly restoration.

In addition to the temple, the site features the remains of a 10th-century Christian church.

Between the temple and the sweeping desert rising westward into the Gebels lies a vast Napatan and Meroitic necropolis extending across nearly 40 hectares—the largest of its kind currently known and preserved in Nubia. Excavations at Sedeinga were initiated in 1963 by Michela Schiff Giorgini of the University of Pisa, as an extension of her work at Soleb. Her work concentrated on the upper western sector, where richly furnished tombs of local elites dating to around 200–250 AD were uncovered. The mission was subsequently led by Jean Leclant from 1979, and later by Catherine Berger-El Naggar until 2008.

A child’s tomb © SEDAU / V. Francigny

The Sedeinga Archaeological Unit (SEDAU), a French mission funded by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne (CNRS/UMR 8152, Orient Méditerranée, Mondes pharaoniques component), resumed its work in 2009 under a new director, with a renewed team and research programme focused on the Meroitic cemetery. This four-year project concentrates on Sector II of the necropolis, aiming to better understand the chronology of the burials and the development of this area of the cemetery.

In the 1990s, two perpendicular rows of Meroitic pyramids were uncovered at Sedeinga. After defining the northern boundary by a wadi and the eastern boundary by a sand quarry, the current team continues to excavate and explore the interior of this funerary complex. So far, twenty-six pyramids and fifty-seven associated tombs have been discovered. Notably, two of the pyramids display the highly unusual internal architectural design referred to as the “French formal garden” style. This consists of an empty internal dome with lateral reinforcements arranged diagonally within the monuments. At Sedeinga, six pyramids now exhibit these internal domes (with or without crosspieces), a structural feature found elsewhere only in a single example at West Meroe.

Sedeinga: a glazed faience pendant © SEDAU / V. Francigny

Unfortunately, the tombs were systematically and almost entirely emptied by repeated looting, sometimes indicated by the presence of a Christian sherd. Only a few rare, identifiable ceramics remain, allowing the dating of the initial use of these tombs to the classical Meroitic period, around the beginning of our era. The monuments were later reused during the late Meroitic period, approximately in the mid-3rd century AD, as evidenced by palaeographic studies of inscriptions found in this area.

The spatial organization of the burials suggests a new interpretation of the necropolis’s development: rather than spreading uniformly from west to east, as previously thought, the cemetery appears to have formed separate groups, sometimes contemporaneous, radiating from one or two central tutelary pyramids. Upcoming excavation campaigns, alongside further anthropological, ceramological, and epigraphic research, are expected to provide more evidence to support this hypothesis as new discoveries emerge.

Meroitic stela and its facsimile © SEDAU / V. Francigny

In addition to the objectives of the current four-year period, a number of surveys and test pits were carried out in 2010 and 2011. Half a dozen Neolithic and protohistoric sites were uncovered on the western margins of the site by Hélène Delattre. These included the discovery of a ceramic horizon close to the Pre-Kerma culture, associated with a series of storage pits.

Bibliography

  • Berger el-Naggar, C., « Contribution de Sedeinga à l’histoire de la Nubie », dans W. Godlewski et A. Atjar (eds.), Between the Cataracts, Proceedings of the 11th Conference for Nubian studies, Warsaw University, 27 August – 2 September 2006, Part One : Main Papers, PAM Suppl. Series 2.1., Varsovie, 2008, p.179-194.
  • Carrier, C., « Quelques inscriptions provenant du secteur II de la nécropole de Sedeinga », Meroitic Newsletter 28, 2001, p. 55-56.
  • Janot, F., F. Cartier, « Un enfant de l’époque napatéenne à Sedeinga », BIFAO 98, 1998, p. 215-222.
  • Janot, F., et alii, « Observations sur la phase d’activité napatéenne de la nécropole de Sedeinga », CRIPEL 17/2, 1997, 129-135.
  • Leclant, J., « Taharqa à Sedeinga », dans F. Junge (éd.), Studien zu Sprache und Religion Ägyptens, Festschrift W. Westendorf, Göttingen, p. 1113-1119.
  • Leclant, J., « Glass from the Meroitic Necropolis of Sedeinga (Sudanese Nubia) », Journal of Glass Studies, Corning, N.Y. 15, 1973, p. 52-68.
  • Leclant, J., et G. Soukassian, « L’église de Nilwa à Sedeinga », dans P. Plumley, Nubian Studies, proceedings for the symposium for Nubian studies, Cambridge, 1982, p. 155-161.
  • Reinold, J., « Les sépultures primitives de Sedeinga », dans C. Berger, G. Clerc et N. Grimal (eds.), Hommages à Jean Leclant 2, Le Caire, 1994, p. 351-369.
  • Rilly, C., V. Francigny, « The Late Meroitic Cemetery at Sedeinga. Campaign 2010 », Sudan & Nubia 15, 2011, p. 72-79.
  • Rilly, C., V. Francigny, « Excavations in Sedeinga. A New Start », Sudan & Nubia 14, 2010, p. 62-68.
  • Schiff Giorgini, M., « Soleb-Sedeinga. Résumé des travaux de la Mission pendant les trois campagnes automne 1965-printemps 1968 », Kush 15, 1967-1968, p. 251-268.
  • Schiff Giorgini, M., « Sedeinga 1964-1965 », Kush 14, 1966, p. 244-261.
  • Schiff Giorgini, M., « Première campagne de fouilles à Sedeinga,1963-1964 », Kush 13, 1965, p. 112-130.

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
sfdas (5 novembre 2024). 🇬🇧 [2009-2013] Sedeinga. SFDAS Khartoum. Consulté le 12 mai 2026 à l’adresse https://sfdas.hypotheses.org/5724


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