Several twentieth century archaeological expeditions to Lower Nubia recovered the skeletal and cultural remains of C-Group populations mainly from cemetery sites between Shellal and the Second Cataract. Along with the remains of the more or less contemporary Pangrave and Kerma peoples, the C-Group archaeological sequence was assigned to the Middle Nubian Period which lasted from the Sixth to the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasties and is dated from ca. 2200 B.C. to ca. 1500 B.C. Conflicting interpretations of C-Group socioeconomic conditions are inevitable since no systematic analysis of the data resulting from the excavations of Middle Nubian cemeteries has ever been undertaken. In an attempt to assess the extent of C-Group economic contact with the Egyptians and to resolve the issue of possible growing social differentiation within the C-Group community, a quantitative analysis of the mortuary remains from fifteen C-Group cemeteries was undertaken. The results indicate that the flow of a small number of Egyptian artefacts into Lower Nubia was relatively constant and that contact between Lower Nubians and Egyptians was probably quite limited. Egyptian portrayals of constant fluctuation in Egyptian-Nubian political relations do not correspond with the evidence from the Nubian archaeological record. The analysis also indicated that economic inequality amongst the Middle Nubian population was present in each date category and tended to increase over time. Socioeconomic differences were greatest during the middle of the Second Intermediate Period. These findings indicate that the Middle Nubian socioeconomic system tolerated increasingly conspicuous differences amongst its members. They are not consistent with the hypothesis that no increase in differential access to burial resources occurred between ca. 2100 and ca. 1550 B.C. and that C-Group social and economic conditions remained virtually unchanged throughout their 800-year history.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.41966 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Anderson, Wendy R. M. |
| Contributors | Bisson, Michael S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Anthropology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001555493, proquestno: NQ29875, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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