This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Haaland, G. Articles by Haaland, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

God of war, worldly ruler, and craft specialists in the Meroitic Kingdom of Sudan

Inferring social identity from material remains

Department of Social Anthropology, Bergen University, Norway, gunnar.haaland{at}sosantr.uib.no

Randi Haaland

Department of Archaeology, Bergen University, Norway, randi.haaland{at}ark.uib.no

Interpreting the archaeological remains from the Kushite civilization of Sudan is fraught with methodological difficulties. Egyptian, Greek, and Roman written sources give some clues, but the Meroitic script is still not interpreted. The large slag mounds in the ancient capital of Meroe indicate that iron production played an important role, but this cannot serve as a sufficient explanatory cause for the maintenance of centralized power. In addition to its iron production, written and archaeological remains both testify to the importance of the strategic location of Meroe in the trade networks between Africa and Egypt. However, maintenance of state power over a thousand years requires more than control over material resources. The stability of political centers is significantly dependent on a legitimating ideology. Here, we draw particular attention to the images and temples dedicated to the war god Apedemak; he is symbolically associated with rulers, as well as with iron production. Drawing on comparative ethnography and the sociology of caste we suggest that the material remains are consistent with a redistributive political economy based on caste-like principles.

Key Words: caste • iron working • Meroitic kingdom • social identity • war god Apedemak

References

• Abdu, B. and R. Gordon (2004) `Iron Artifacts from the Land of Kush', Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 979—98.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Adams, W.Y. (1977) Nubia: A Corridor to Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Adams, W.Y. (1981) `Ecology and Economy in the Empire of Kush', Sudan Archaeological Society 108: 1—11.
• Arkell, A.J. (1961) A History of the Sudan — from the Earliest Times to 1821, 2nd edn. London: Athole Press.
• Arkell, A.J. (1966) `The Iron Age in the Sudan', Current Anthropology 7: 451—2.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Barth, F. (1960) `The System of Social Stratification in Swat, North Pakistan', in E. Leach (ed.) Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon, and North-West Pakistan, pp. 50—9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Beshir, M.S. (2006) `Iron Objects from Meroitic and Post-Meroitic Periods. Discussion on Chronology, Contexts, and Ritual', MA Thesis, Dept of Archaeology, University of Bergen.
• Carter, P. and R. Foley (1980) `A Report on the Fauna from Excavations at Meroe 1967—72', in P. Shinnie and R. Bradley (eds) The Capital of Kush 1 (Meroitica 4). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
• Childs, T. (1991) `Style, Technology, and Iron Furnaces in Bantu-Speaking Africa', Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 10: 332—59.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• De Maret, P. (1985) `The Smith's Myth and the Origin of Leadership in Central Africa', in R. Haaland and P.L. Shinnie (eds) African Iron Working: Ancient and Traditional, pp. 73—87. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
• Dumont, L. (1980) Homo Hierarchus. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
• Edwards, D.N. (1999) `Meroe in the Savannah — Meroe as a Sudanic Kingdom?', Meroitica 15: 312—20.
• Edwards, D.N. (2004) The Nubian Past. An Archaeology of the Sudan. London: Routledge.
• Garstang, J., A. Sayce and F.L. Griffith (1911) Meroe, the City of the Ethiopians. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gellner, E. (1968) `A Pendulum Swing Theory of Islam', Annales Marocaines de Sociologie 1: 5—14.
• Godelier, M. (1999) The Enigma of the Gift. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Haaland, G. (1972) `Nomadization as an Economic Career among Sedentaries in the Sudan Savanna Belt', in I. Cunnison and W. James (eds) Essays in Sudan Ethnography, pp. 149—72. London: C. Hurst & Company.
• Haaland, G., R. Haaland and S. Rijal (2002) `The Social Life of Iron. A Cross-Cultural Study of Technological, Cognitive, and Political Aspects of Iron Symbolism', Anthropos 97: 35—54.[Web of Science]
• Haaland, G., R. Haaland and D. Dea (2004) `Smelting Iron. Caste and its Symbolism in South-Western Ethiopia', in T. Insoll (ed.) Belief in the Past, pp. 75—86. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
• Haaland, R. (1985) `Iron Production, its Socio-Cultural Context and Ecological Implications', in R. Haaland and P.L. Shinnie (eds) African Iron Working: Ancient and Traditional, pp. 50—72. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
• Haaland, R. (2004) `Iron Smelting — a Vanishing Tradition: Ethnographic Study of this Craft in South-West Ethiopia', Journal of African Archaeology 2(1): 65—79.
• Hakim, M.A. (1988) Meroitic Architecture. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press.
• Herbert, E. (1993) Iron, Gender and Power. Rituals of Transformation in African Societies Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Hintze, F. (1962) `Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Musawwarat es-Sufra 1960—61', Kush 10: 170—202.
• Horowitz, M. (1966) `A Consideration of the Eastern Sudan', Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines VII(3): 381—98.
• Kense, F. (1985) `The Initial Diffusion of Iron to Africa', in R. Haaland and P.L. Shinnie (eds) African Iron Working: Ancient and Traditional, pp. 11—27. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
• Lenoble, P. (2004) `The Pre-Christian Empire and Kingdoms', in D.A. Welsby and J. Anderson (eds) Sudan Ancient Treasures, pp. 186—92. London: British Museum Press.
• Mapunda, B.B. (1997) `Early Metal Working in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Recent Research', African Archaeological Review 35: 1—16.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Miller, D. and N.J. van der Merwe (1994) `Early Metal Working in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Recent Work', Journal of African History 35: 1—36.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Millet, N.B. (1980) `Meroitic Religion', Meroitica 7: 11—121.
• O'Fahey, S. and J.L. Spaulding (1974) Kingdoms in Africa. London: Methuen.
• Rehren, T. (2001) `Meroe and Iron in Africa', Der Antike Studien 12: 102—9.
• Reid, A. and R. MacLean (1995) `Symbolism and Social Contexts of Iron Production in Karagwe', World Archaeology 27: 144—61.[Web of Science]
• Sassoon, H. (1983) `Kings, Cattle and Blacksmiths; Royal Insignia and Religious Symbolism in the Interlacustrine States', Azania 18: 93—107.
• Schmidt, P. and B.B. Mapunda (1997) `Ideology, and the Archaeological Record in Africa: Interpreting Symbolism in Iron Smelting Technology', Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 16: 73—102.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Shinnie, P.L. (1967) Meroe: A Civilization of the Sudan. London: Thames and Hudson.
• Shinnie, P.L. (1985) `Iron Working at Meroe', in R. Haaland and P.L. Shinnie (eds) African Iron Working Ancient and Traditional, pp. 128—35. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.
• Shinnie, P.L. and F. Kense (1982) `Meroitic Iron Working', in N. Millet and A.L. Kelley (eds) Meroitic Studies 6, pp. 17—28. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
• Smith, M.G. (1960) Government in Zazzau 1800 — 1950. London: Oxford University Press.
• Tamari, T. (1991) `The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa', Journal of African History 32: 221—50.[Web of Science]
• Torok, L. (1979) `Meroitic Religion: Three Contributions in a Positivistic Manner', Meroitica 7: 156—82.
• Torok, L. (1987) The Royal Crowns of Kush. A Study in Middle Nile Valley Regalia and Iconography in the 1st Millennia BC and AD, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 18. Oxford: BAR International Series.
• Torok, L. (1989) `Kush and the External World', in S. Donadoni and S. Wenig (eds) Studia Meroitica 10, pp. 117—50. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
• Torok, L. (1990) `The Costume of the Ruler in Meroe: Remarks on its Origins and Significance', Archaeologie Nil Moyen 4: 151—202.
• Torok. L. (1997) The Kingdom of Kush. Leiden: Brill.
• Torok, L. (2002) The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient Nubian Art. Leiden: Brill.
• Trigger, B.G. (1969) `The Myth of Meroe and the African Iron Age', African Historical Studies 11(1): 23—50.
• Tylecote, R.F. (1970) `Iron Working at Meroe, Sudan', Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group 2: 23—50.
• Tylecote, R.F. (1982) `Metal Working at Meroe, Sudan', Meroitica 6: 29—42.
• Van der Merwe, N.J. (1980) `The Advent of Iron in Africa', in T.A. Wertime and J.D. Muhly (eds) The Coming of the Age of Iron, pp. 463—506. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Wainwright, G.A. (1945) `Iron in the Napatan and Meroitic Ages', Sudan Notes and Records 26: 23—50.
• Walters, B.B. and A.P. Vayda (in preparation) `Event Ecology in the Philippines: Methods and Explanations in the Study of Human Actions and Their Environmental Effects.'
• Welsby, D. (1996) The Kingdom of Kush. London: The British Museum Press.

Journal of Social Archaeology, Vol. 7, No. 3, 372-392 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1469605307081397


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Haaland, G. Articles by Haaland, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?