Take it from the bottom: 1500 years of Nubian history… Prof. William Y. Adams (University of Kentucky)

Take it from the bottom: 1500 years of Nubian history revealed through stratigraphy

Professor William Y. Adams (University of Kentucky)

September 13, 2017 • 6:00 PM • Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library, (University of Louisville)

 The archaeological site of Meinarti, destroyed by flooding from the Aswan High Dam, was situated on an island in the Nile just to the south of Egypt, in the region known historically as Nubia.  Before excavation it was an artificial mound more than 40 feet high.   Excavation revealed no fewer than 18 occupation levels,  covering a span from about AD 1 to AD 1500.  The remains were those of six separate episodes of occupation, separated in each case by considerable periods of abandonment.  As a result, each occupation phase witnessed a total rebuilding, and was markedly distinct from both its predecessor and its successor.  Each reflected the cultural, social, and religious traditions of its times.

 In this lecture, Professor Adams, the excavator of Meinarti in 1963-64, will conduct viewers through the successive occupation phases not in stratigraphic but in historical order; that is, from the bottom up.  In that way the markedly different architectural and artifactual remains will illustrate the dynamically evolving story of Nubian history from pagan to Muslim times, reflecting influences from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Islamic caliphate, grafted onto a strong, persisting local tradition.

About the speaker: William Y. Adams is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. The author of Nubia, Corridor to Africa, which has been acclaimed by the Nubian people as their national epic and translated into Arabic, he has been decorated with the Order of the Two Niles by the government of Sudan.

More information about this event…

Wednesday, September 13, 2017 at 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Ekstrom Library, Ekstrom Library
2215 S. 3rd Street , Louisville, Kentucky 40208

Event Type

Talk

Audience

Students, Faculty/staff, Alumni, Public

Departments

Arts & Sciences, Anthropology

Website

http://www.kyarchaeology.com/events.html

Contact Name

Anna T. Browne Ribeiro, Ph.D.

Contact Phone Number

(502) 852-8303

Contact Email

atribe01@louisville.edu

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