A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean

Nubian and Egyptian Ethnicity 203

Period (ca. 1680–1550BC), down to the end of the New Kingdom Empire (ca.
1550–1070BC), and on into the Napatan period when Nubians ruled as pharaohs (ca.
750–650BC; Smith 1995, 2003). As is the case elsewhere in Lower Nubia, Askut’s
whitewashed walls would have provided a materialization of Egyptian dominance, and
probably of Egyptian ethnicity as well. The community’s houses and a small chapel
also signaled the inhabitant’s Egyptian identity. As with the other forts, Egyptian-style
artifacts dominate the material assemblage. As a result, Egyptologists have emphasized
the emulative character of these settlements, either characterizing them as a transplant
of Egyptian culture through colonization, and/or a complete assimilative acculturation
of native groups.
Nubian and Egyptian pottery differ dramatically in manufacture and decoration, so
it is easy to separate even body sherds along cultural lines. Careful consideration of
the social context of their use, therefore, makes it possible to use the ceramic evidence
as a proxy for ethnic identity. The ceramics from Askut were broken down into three
sub-assemblages—service, storage, and cooking pots. As is the case at the other forts,
Nubian pottery appears consistently, but overall in small numbers (see Figure 13.5).
When broken down into sub-assemblages, however, an interesting pattern emerges
(Smith 2003). The percentage of Nubian pottery in the service sub-assemblage
fluctuates, starting very low in the Middle Kingdom, increasing substantially in the
Second Intermediate Period, when Nubians controlled the area, declining sharply
in the New Kingdom, correlating with the new colonial policy of assimilation, and
increasing again in the Napatan Period when Nubia conquered Egypt. Foodways vary
both between and within cultures as a marker of status (Goody 1982). Thus, the spike
in Nubian fine wares during the Second Intermediate Period and Napatan Period

0

Service

Percent Nubian

Storage Cooking

Middle Kingdom

2nd Int. Period

New Kingdom

Napatan Period

20

40

60

80

100

a b

c

d e

f g h

i

j k l

Figure 13.5 Percentage of Nubian sherds by sub-assemblage at Askut. Sherds from a Second
Intermediate Period deposit at Askut, a–c and e are Nubian, d and f–l are Egyptian. Source:
author, photograph of sherds by the author, Fowler Museum of Cultural History at the University
of California, Los Angeles.