The Archaeology of Pottery and Chronology at Jebel Tomat, a 3rd Century BCE Settlement in Modern-Day Sudan

FAIN: FT-265217-19

Kevin Gibbs
University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA 94704-5940)

Collections research and preparation of book on the archaeological finds at the site of Jebel Tomat in southern Sudan.

In the early third century BCE the Meroitic kingdom emerged as the most significant and influential state in sub-Saharan Africa. The site of Jebel Tomat (Sudan) sits at the southern margin of the Meroitic world, where little archaeological research has taken place. The site was excavated by the late archaeologist J. Desmond Clark during the early 1970s but much of the recovered material remains unstudied. This project will examine the pottery from the site to understand how it was used by the ancient residents of Jebel Tomat and to investigate potential interaction with other communities, including people living to the south. The project will also generate a detailed chronology of Jebel Tomat by radiocarbon dating unanalyzed charcoal samples that Clark collected during his excavations. The project will result in a chapter of book that examines Jebel Tomat and other sites excavated in the Sudan by Clark in the broader context of African archaeology and the Meroitic kingdom.