Gebel Adda Cemeteries 3 and 4 (1963-1964)

The excavation team of the American Research Center in Egypt, under the direction of Dr Nicholas B. Millet, first arrived at Gebel Adda in January 1963, for what were to be four excavation seasons. Excavations started in Cemetery 1, which included numerous tumuli, extending over c. 450m from the southern end of the concession to north east of the Citadel (Millet 1963). Work began in the south of the cemetery and excavated c. 127 tumuli, dated to the later post-Meroitic (X-Group) period. In the same area, amongst the tumuli, c. 30 medieval (Christian) graves were also found, thought likely to date to the earliest period of Christianization at Gebel Adda. Four examples of the double domed mud-brick tombs of the post-medieval (Islamic) period were also excavated in Cemetery One. In March 1963 excavations were also begun in Cemetery 3, lying some 160m south east of the Citadel hill (Figure 1, Plate 1), an area covered with much wind-blown sand, exposing c. 400 tombs during the first season (Millet 1963, 154). This work was continued in the second (1963-1964) season (Millet 1964) and the third season, for which no preliminary report was published (see also Millet 1967b; 1968; 2005; Grzymski 2010). Some preliminary observations of this area were published as the excavations were still underway by Millet (Millet 1963; 1964), but little else relating to this important work has yet been published. However, the first author (RH), as a member of the ARCE team, can throw some further light on some features of the excavations. Most importantly, having carried out much of the original preparation of site plans, it has been possible to reconstruct here some partial plans of Cemetery 3, which together with personal photographs of the site provide some useful new information concerning this part of the Gebel Adda excavations. Until the surviving site archives are more fully studied, and hopefully published, this brief report, as with previous reports (Huber and Edwards 2009; 2010), can provide a few further insights into the fascinating and clearly complex history of the Gebel Adda cemeteries.