Gathering the dead and reusing the tombs: burial practices and funerary chaîne opératoire in Kadruka-23 Neolithic cemetery
Résumé
Excavated since 2014 (8 seasons), the Kadruka-23 burial ground in Upper-Nubia (Sudan, Northern State, Dongola Reach) counts, up to now, 158 individuals, mostly dated from the second quarter of the 5th Millenium BCE (4700-4500 cal. BCE). The burials are spread over 110 m2 but do not occupy the whole surface of the mound (kôm) which is of natural origin and was surrounded, in Neolithic times, by the paleo-channels of the Nile River, forming a kind of "island of the dead". The distribution of the graves is quite irregular with a restricted and dense occupation of only a portion of the mound, including a special zone for younger infants. The whole surface is organized as a genuine cemetery and the areas of high burial density are distributed in parallel rows. The whole funerary chaîne opératoire can now be reconstructed, including the phases of transportation of the corpses, the wrapping of the bodies, the deposition of the corpse with garve-goods, and the intentional gathering of some individuals ; many burials are cut or reopened to increase the burial density in the very same area, in order to associate or connect different dead individuals. This gathering of subjects who died at different times is part of what we can name a "funerary programme".