Kulubnarti
Kulubnarti has archaeological and anthropological significance because it has been subjected to one of the only systematic excavations of any site along the southern portion of the Nile.
[2] The primary motivation for excavation at Kulubnarti was to increase awareness and understanding of the cultural transition from Christianity to Islam in ancient Nubia.
The usual wide zone of alluvial fertile farmland on the banks of the Nile is missing; only small sections of the island are available for agriculture.
He was the first to view and describe the abandoned late Medieval era settlement situated on the southern end of Kulubnarti.
In 1969 and 1979, William Y. Adams[3] led the University of Kentucky team's extensive excavations on the island and the neighboring mainland.
The results showed a continuous history of settlement and exemplified an understanding of the changes in social structures during the gradual transition from the Nubian-Christian empire to the period of Ottoman rule.
[4] The high prevalence of trauma and the severity of the injuries were largely attributed to the uneven and treacherous terrain in the Batn-El-Hajar.
[15] 13 individuals from both cemeteries belong to H2a, a European-centered mtDNA haplogroup not previously found in ancient contexts in Africa to our knowledge.
17 males belong to haplogroups on the E1b1b1 (E-M215) branch that originated in northeast Africa ~25 kya and is commonly found in present-day Afro-Asiatic speaking groups.
[20] Moreover, the S and R cemeteries plot separately in biological distance graphs, demonstrating some genetic differentiation between the island and mainland.
[20] Finally, Kulubnarti has also been utilized as a comparative sample to assess cross –cultural discrepancies in health, stress, disease, violent interaction and mortality levels throughout Sudanese Nubia.
[4] [21][22] The excavation of Kulubnarti, organized by Adams, was completed under the auspices of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.
[3] The main objective of the research team working at Kulubnarti was to clearly outline the cultural transition from Christianity to Islam using archaeological methods.
[8] In fact, no mosques were uncovered in Kulubnarti, suggesting that the religious transition was not readily apparent from a study of the architectural remains.
Further excavations of two Early Christian period (AD 550-800) cemeteries at Kulubnarti, one located on the mainland (R) and the other on an island (S), revealed the existence of two reportedly socioeconomically distinct local populations.
