http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3477611/Ancient-grave-shows-Nubian-woman-buried-Egyptian-style-Incredible-pinpoints-moment-two-cultures-one.html
Ancient grave shows Nubian woman buried in Egyptian style: Incredible find pinpoints the moment 'two cultures became one'
- Mummified body unearthed from Egyptian tomb, buried in Nubian style
- Body was also adorned in Egyptian amulets and buried with heart scarab
- The Nubian woman shows example of 'cultural entanglement' at the time
- Researcher say colonial power and indigenous people influenced culture
An ancient grave from a middle-class tomb just east of the Nile River has revealed the complex blending of cultures that emerged when a colonizing power and indigenous people came together.
The Egyptian tomb, in what was Upper Nubia, holds a woman buried in the Nubian style, but adorned in amulets of an Egyptian god.
Researchers who uncovered the buried woman say this is an example of 'cultural entanglement,' and shows the individual choices that arose as a new cultural identity came about.
An ancient grave from a middle-class tomb just east of the Nile River has revealed the complex blending of cultures that emerged when a colonizing power and indigenous people came together. The Egyptian tomb, in what was Upper Nubia, holds a woman buried in the Nubian style, but adorned in amulets of an Egyptian god
The woman in the womb was named Weret.
She was placed in a flexed position and lain in a bed on her side for burial.
This, according to the researchers, is the Nubian style.
But, the tomb she was found in was Egyptian, and the amulets around her neck were of the Egyptian god Bes, protector of households.
Weret was also buried with a heart scarab, which indicated she was of elite status.
This symbol was believed by the Egyptians to help the dead in the time of divine judgement.
Researchers unearthed the artefacts in the ancient village of Tombos, a region in what is now northern Sudan.
Stuart Tyson Smith, a professor of archaeology and chair of the Department of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara and Michele Buzon, a bioarchaeologist in the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University discuss the findings in a paper published in American Anthropologist.
According to Smith, Tombos became an important colonial hub after the Egyptian conquer of Nubia around 1500 BCE.
During this time, the cemeteries reveal a blend of the two cultures, with variations in presentation due to individual choices.
'You get this really interesting entangled culture blending different elements in really different ways, but also there seems to be a lot of individual choice involved,' Smith explained.
'It's not just a matter of the two cultures mash up and then you get this new hybrid thing that's consistent.
'There seems to be a lot of individual choice – whether or not you want a Nubian bed and/or an Egyptian coffin and/ or to be wrapped like a mummy or whether or not you want an Egyptian-style amulet and/or Nubian ivory jewellery.'
This is the second year of a three-year study, during which time the researchers are examining graves from the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BCE) and the Third Intermediate Period (C. 1070-615 BCE).
Buzon measures the craniofacial features of the people uncovered at the site, to understand the biological relationships and the effect of mixing between the two cultures.
This is the second year of a three-year study, during which time the researchers are examining graves from the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BCE) and the Third Intermediate Period (C. 1070-615 BCE). A duck censor excavated from a tomb in Tombos in 2015
Researchers who uncovered the buried woman say this is an example of 'cultural entanglement,' and shows the individual choices that arose as a new cultural identity came about
The skeletons, along with the burial contents of the graves, reveal a shift in cultural identity in the period leading up to the Nubian conquest of Egypt and the 25th Dynasty of Egypt (Napatan Period c. 750-650).
And though the Nubians overthrew the Egyptian rulers, these new leaders presented themselves as more culturally authentic Egyptian.
'We're looking at the social dynamic from which those Nubian pharaohs emerged,' Smith said, 'and how that blended culture might have contributed to the cultural dynamic that allowed the pharaohs to come in, not just as conquerors, but as the legitimate restorers of the proper order of things in a decadent time.
'That's exactly how they presented it.'
The researchers say that the graves reveal an influence on both cultures, rather than the Egyptians imposing practices upon the Nubians.
Researchers unearthed the artefacts in the ancient village of Tombos, a region in what is now northern Sudan. The researchers say that the graves reveal an influence on both cultures, rather than the Egyptians imposing practices upon the Nubians
The Nubian pharaohs instead were born of Nubia's new identify, from intermarriage and cultural pluralism.
'What we're looking at is a more nuanced model of Egyptian and Nubian culture entangling, and how individual choices drive this kind of ethnic and cultural change, and ultimately enable these Nubian pharaohs to take over,' Smith said.
'The local people, and the colonists coming from Egypt who become locals over time, are driving the trajectory of the civilization as much as larger policies of colonial Egypt or, later on, these emerging pharaohs.
'That goes over very well with the local population. They like that idea.
'It's not just Egypt imprinting their culture on Nubia; the local people are really influencing things and making it possible for the Nubians to eventually rule Egypt.'
The researchers explain that the findings challenge conventional beliefs on the dynamics of conquest.
In the graves, the researchers say there is evidence of a cultural shift that shaped both sides, and individual choices which drove this.
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