Living on the Border

Abstract

Tombos is located at the Third Cataract of the Nile River in modern-day Sudan and marks an important literal and figurative boundary between Egyptian and Nubian interaction. During the New Kingdom Period (1400–1050 BCE), the cemetery at Tombos in Upper Nubia exhibits the use of Egyptian mortuary practices, including monumental pyramid complexes, likely used by both immigrant Egyptians and local Nubians. Despite the influence of Egyptian culture during this colonial period, there are several public displays of Nubian identity in burial practices found at Tombos. This mixture of Egyptian and Nubian burial practices extends into the postcolonial period at Tombos. Paleopathological analyses indicate that the Nubian and Egyptian individuals living at colonial Tombos enjoyed access to nutritional food resources and displayed low levels of skeletal markers of infection, traumatic injury, and strenuous physical activity. While the Tombos sample is likely not representative of all Egyptian-Nubian interaction during the New Kingdom, the individuals examined appear to have benefited from the relationship. In contrast with many situations of frontier interaction, the bioarchaeological evidence indicates a relatively peaceful coexistence between Egyptians and Nubians at Tombos, and the construction of a new biologically and culturally entangled community.