208 Stuart Tyson Smith
0 0.5 1 mNTrenchFigure 13.7 (a) A typical Nubian-style Tumulus at Tombos. The trench in the burial shaft was for
the feet of a bed. (b) Egyptian amulets from another similar tomb from the early Napatan Period:
from left to right, Bes, Isis suckling the infant Horus wearing different crowns, and Pataikos with
a scarab on top and winged goddess behind. Source: Author, photograph by author, architectural
drawing by Nadejda Reshetnikova, Tombos project surveyor.
seems to be rather selective, including the cow-goddess Hathor, Isis, the dwarf god Bes,
and Pataikos, a child god with a similar role of magical protection (see Figure 13.7b;
Wilkinson 2003: 123).
Conclusions
Ethnicity is only one of multiple identities that people assume in a given situation that
might be reflected in both the textual and material records. At any particular time, other
forms of identity, such as gender or social position, might play a more important role
(Meskell 1994). In order to identify ethnicity in the past, we must think carefully about
the social contexts in which ethnic identities might be particularly salient, and how that
might manifest in the textual, artistic, and archaeological records. Colonial frontiers
provide a fruitful location for an examination of the intersection of politics and ethnic
dynamics, since ethnicity is often heightened in situations where cultures come in contact
and conflict. Nubia and Egypt provide rich textual and artistic sources for the exploration
of constructions of ethnic self and other, but they ultimately prove insufficient to the task
because of their inherent biases toward the elite and the legitimating ideology of kingship
(cf. Chapter 3 in this volume, by Bernard Knapp). Here, archaeology plays a vital role.
In order to fully understand ethnic politics in the past, we must shift our focus from the