Maintaining the Ramesside Empire: Isotopic Evidence for Elite Migration to Upper Nubia under Pharaonic Rule

Abstract

Pharaonic Egypt ruled Upper Nubia (now northern Sudan) from around 1450 to 1070 BCE: previous research has demonstrated how co-opted local elites and descendants of earlier immigrants held senior administrative positions following the initial conquest. Strontium isotope data from 39 individuals buried at the colonial centre of Amara West, combined with archaeological and epigraphic evidence, enable us to demonstrate that elites continued to arrive from outside Nubia in the last 150 years of pharaonic rule, settling amongst long-standing communities. Migration to the occupied territory clearly remained a key component of the colonial project, at a time when indigenous Nubian material culture and practice had become more visible within the pharaonic towns. This pattern of immigration seems to have ceased following the pharaonic state losing control of the region.