The X-Group Period in Lower Nubia

Abstract

The X-Group (or Post-Meroitic) Period in Lower Nubia is a period of cultural continuity from the previous Meroitic Period, while also being a period of significant change and innovation. X-Group culture is characterized in the elite sphere by forms of material culture that frequently combine motifs with Egyptian, Classical, and Kushitic antecedents in inventive ways, long-distance trade relationships and monumental building projects in the mortuary domain. In both elite and non-elite circles a distinctive pottery tradition endures, and ritual practices focused at sites with long genealogies continued. The introduction of the waterwheel in Lower Nubia enabled an expansion of agricultural cropping regimes and supported settlement in the region, which was frequently based at sites that had seen Meroitic Period activity, although there is frequently a gap in the chronology rather than direct temporal continuity.