Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter Culture

Thursday, 16 September 2021, 16:50   (virtual Cult)

Astronomical Significance of non-elite burials in the Bayuda region in late anitquity and the medieval period

Tim Karberg; Jana Eger-Karberg
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster/Forschungsstelle Alter Sudan

In the Sudanese Bayuda desert, a large number of non-elite tumulus and box grave burials with a clearly defined orientation was documented. Traditionally, the tumuli are dated to the late and post-meroitic period, and the box grave to the Christian medieval period. Recent research, however, revealed that the transitional phase between the "terrace tumuli period" and the "box grave period" has to be interpreted in a more differentiated way, and the orientation of the different types of graves could be of cultural and religious significance In this talk, possible astromomical contextualisations of these orientations, analysed by geo-statistical methods, will be discussed.