The Royal African Society

The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, Vol. IV. Royal Tombs at Meroe and Barkal by Dows DunhamReview by: A. J. ArkellAfrican Affairs, Vol. 58, No. 231 (Apr., 1959), pp. 188-189Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/719394 .

Accessed: 18/06/2014 18:00

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Oxford University Press and The Royal African Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to African Affairs.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:00:21 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

188 188 AFRICAN AFFAIRS AFRICAN AFFAIRS

What of the future ? Can the gratory single or polygynous family remain a viable social and economic unit in the face of its growing depen- dence on farming and the products of the settled Hausa majority; in the face of the latter's control of local adrninistration; of intensified agricul- turalism which may limit grazing space; of growing centralisation, urbanisa- tion and the distractions that this brings; of the existence of an outside labour market which tempts young men from their herding ?

Mr. Hopen ends his study somewhat abruptly and makes no predictions. But he records the fact that individually and collectively the Fulbe feel extremely insecure, and have " an almost pathological concern (and often fear) for the future." This conditions aLI their present behaviour, and may in itself be a factor making for the continuation of their threatened way of 1ife.

Sheila Patterson

The Royal Cemeteries of Sush, Vol. n. Royal Tombs at Meron and Barkal. By Dows Dunham. Boston. Price S32.50.

Tllis fine volume is another of the factual volumes in which the Curator Emeritus of Egyptian Art in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is publishing the excavations of the Harvard-Boston Expedition at Kurru, Nuri, Barkal (near the Fourth Cataract) and Merod (120 miles N.E. of Khartoum), caxTied out nearly forty years ageo under the direction of the late Dr. George Reisner. Its appearance will be welcomed warmly by all Sudan archaeolo- vsts, who are wishing the author, Reisner s right-hand man, health and strengtll to complete the series. There is at least one more factual volume to come, that covering the greater part of the South Cemetery and the whole of the West Cemetery at Meroe, which contain mainly modest private burials ranging from the 25th Dynasty to the last royal tomb at Merod (C. A . D . 339) . There will then be the volume (s) of interpretative and com- parative studies which were promised in Vol. 1 and which will be invaluable to the historian as well as to the archaeologists of the Sudan; for no one is in a better position to evaJuate the facts disclosed by the excavations than Mr. Dunham, who not only took a leading part in that Expedition, but has been for many years giving us the benefit of his careful and thorough exami- nation of the finds. Indeed the author deserves our warm congratulations on the appearance of this volume; for we now have in print the record of a continuous series of the royal burials of Napata and Meroe, ranging over 1000 years. The relriewer wonders whether there is any parallel anywhere for such an achievement.

The present volume is intended for use in conjunction with the volumes already published, and particularly with Volume III, all of which have been reviewed in African- Affairs. Volume III records the decorations, still existing or reconstructed, in the chapels of the pyramids at Barkal and Meroe, the very monuments covered in the present volume, which start as fine masonry pyramids and end as little erections of red bnck less than 20 ft. squa>. The chronological list of rulers has been modified in places

What of the future ? Can the gratory single or polygynous family remain a viable social and economic unit in the face of its growing depen- dence on farming and the products of the settled Hausa majority; in the face of the latter's control of local adrninistration; of intensified agricul- turalism which may limit grazing space; of growing centralisation, urbanisa- tion and the distractions that this brings; of the existence of an outside labour market which tempts young men from their herding ?

Mr. Hopen ends his study somewhat abruptly and makes no predictions. But he records the fact that individually and collectively the Fulbe feel extremely insecure, and have " an almost pathological concern (and often fear) for the future." This conditions aLI their present behaviour, and may in itself be a factor making for the continuation of their threatened way of 1ife.

Sheila Patterson

The Royal Cemeteries of Sush, Vol. n. Royal Tombs at Meron and Barkal. By Dows Dunham. Boston. Price S32.50.

Tllis fine volume is another of the factual volumes in which the Curator Emeritus of Egyptian Art in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is publishing the excavations of the Harvard-Boston Expedition at Kurru, Nuri, Barkal (near the Fourth Cataract) and Merod (120 miles N.E. of Khartoum), caxTied out nearly forty years ageo under the direction of the late Dr. George Reisner. Its appearance will be welcomed warmly by all Sudan archaeolo- vsts, who are wishing the author, Reisner s right-hand man, health and strengtll to complete the series. There is at least one more factual volume to come, that covering the greater part of the South Cemetery and the whole of the West Cemetery at Meroe, which contain mainly modest private burials ranging from the 25th Dynasty to the last royal tomb at Merod (C. A . D . 339) . There will then be the volume (s) of interpretative and com- parative studies which were promised in Vol. 1 and which will be invaluable to the historian as well as to the archaeologists of the Sudan; for no one is in a better position to evaJuate the facts disclosed by the excavations than Mr. Dunham, who not only took a leading part in that Expedition, but has been for many years giving us the benefit of his careful and thorough exami- nation of the finds. Indeed the author deserves our warm congratulations on the appearance of this volume; for we now have in print the record of a continuous series of the royal burials of Napata and Meroe, ranging over 1000 years. The relriewer wonders whether there is any parallel anywhere for such an achievement.

The present volume is intended for use in conjunction with the volumes already published, and particularly with Volume III, all of which have been reviewed in African- Affairs. Volume III records the decorations, still existing or reconstructed, in the chapels of the pyramids at Barkal and Meroe, the very monuments covered in the present volume, which start as fine masonry pyramids and end as little erections of red bnck less than 20 ft. squa>. The chronological list of rulers has been modified in places

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:00:21 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

189 BOOK REVIEWS

as a result of further joint study by the author and Dr. M. L. Macadam of Durham University, an account of the changes proposed beirlg an impro tant part of the introduction to the present volume. The point of most general interest in that is that we now know snth a reasonable probability the names of the Candaces of Petronius' Roman invasion of Dongola and of the Acts of the Apostles. The pyramid of the former queen was that in which Ferlini found his famous treasure, perhaps concealed there at the time of the Roman invasion, for it was found in the body of the pyramid, whereas grave goods were normally placed in the burial chamber beneath. There they were not safe from robbers. All the tombs described here were robbed one at least during the construction of the next pyramid; but enough pots and beads and similar objects escaped the robbers to give importarlt senes to the archaeologist, and it is those towards the end of the series that will probably be of most use for dating purposes to archaeolssts in neighbounng countries. Occasional works of art too survived, such as a Roman silver goblet decorated with a scene in relief. The illustrations of this goblet have no scale, and it is too often impossible to ascertain either from the text or the illustrations the size of an object. All captions have also unaccountably been omitted from the plates. These are, however, relatively small blemishes in a work that it is a real pleasure to welcome. The next volume is eagerly awaited.

A J. Arlrell

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.86 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:00:21 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions