Traditional models of interaction in northern Sudan have innate Egyptological, elite, and urban b... more Traditional models of interaction in northern Sudan have innate Egyptological, elite, and urban biases which have relegated certain areas to mere peripheries of more 'established' and 'central' sites. In order to reach a higher resolution understanding of cultural dynamics and diversity of ancient Nilotic groups, the DiverseNile project has established the bespoke concept of Contact Space Biography which we present in the following article. We challenge existing approaches to cultural contact in the region by adopting a bottom-up approach which moves away from well-established categorisation of sites in our study area. In particular by reconstructing landscape biographies of the Bronze Age in the Middle Nile beyond established cultural categories in order to provide new insights into the ancient dynamics of social spaces, which include landscape features and non-human activities. In the following we instead consider such areas as complex social spaces intertwined with, an often changing, landscape by presenting our findings from the study of cemetery and settlement sites. Overall, the concept of Contact Space Biography effectively combines models of contact spaces, the idiosyncrasies of a changing landscape and the technological and industrial prerogatives of those living in and accessing this region.
Archaeology in the Nile Valley as a whole has long been skewed to mortuary and funerary archaeolo... more Archaeology in the Nile Valley as a whole has long been skewed to mortuary and funerary archaeology, in part due to mono-focused Egypto-centric perspectives and the influence of European colonialism in the region. While the long-standing bias towards mortuary data is less emphatic in the archaeology of northern Sudan than that seen in certain parts of Egypt, and in spite of significant work having sought to redress the balance between funerary and settlement archaeology, less work has focused on combining methodological and interpretative frameworks between the two. This paper draws on evidence from the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC, at which time northern Sudan was a complex interaction and border zone region between competing political powers. Cultural entanglements manifest in subtly different ways at mortuary and domestic sites, and only by exploring how cross-cultural interactions affected different spheres and contexts is it possible to move towards a more nuanced understanding of social dynamics in the region.
This article considers the use and potential of historical survey data through the case study of ... more This article considers the use and potential of historical survey data through the case study of a region in northern Sudan being investigated by the DiverseNile project. The focus is on the usability and integration of archaeological legacy data in current archaeological research and methodologies. This is not always straightforward but such data remain an invaluable resource for current and future archaeological research. The article concludes with the different ways that historical survey data is being used, assessed and changed in order to be fully integrated it into a current research project and the implications that this can have.
The archival encounter is an often-neglected consideration in the use of archaeological archives ... more The archival encounter is an often-neglected consideration in the use of archaeological archives and field records. However, this encounter can have significant impacts on the interpretation of archaeological evidence and the way that knowledge is produced. This is particularly apparent when exploring fundamental differences between the materiality of archaeological evidence in the field and in the archive and how this impacts engagement and interpretation. By drawing on practical examples, the following article considers different aspects of materiality in archaeological archives and how they influence the interpretation of archaeological data and the production of archaeological knowledge. Each excavation archive is unique and the product of a particular combination of excavation, recording, curation, research, and interpretive methods which all must be acknowledged. The below argues that the archival encounter is a material encounter which directly influences the interpretation and original creation of records.
This article focuses on the production of archaeological knowledge within the fieldwork archive. ... more This article focuses on the production of archaeological knowledge within the fieldwork archive. Archaeological archives do not always reflect the reality of evidence uncovered during fieldwork processes or even the fieldwork processes themselves. This includes the many different agents and agencies, which are crucial to the construction of archaeological knowledge and their representation—or lack of representation—in the archive. Archaeological archives impose restrictions on how knowledge is included in a collection, the way it is recorded, and the fieldwork processes used. Therefore, this article considers the way in which the processes of archival documentation produce, transform, and construct archaeological knowledge. The main examples are from the British School of Archaeology in Egypt's excavations at Abydos between 1921 and 1922, often referred to as the Tombs of the Courtiers and directed by Flinders Petrie. Looking at the different contexts of an excavation archive, from before its creation to its ongoing curation and use, can reveal significant aspects not just of the history of archaeology but also on many of the ongoing recording methods and processes still used in the field today.
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Papers by Chloë Ward