Secrets of Napata: A Study of the Royal Nubian Caches

This thesis is a study of three different statue cache deposits which were discovered at different locations in North Sudan. The three groups of statues represented colossal royal figures representing kings of Nubia, and some who also ruled over Egypt as Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty. The caches were discovered during archaeological investigations at three cult sites which were dedicated to the Nubian-Egyptian god Amun, within the main temples, at Gebel Barkal, Doukki Gel and Dangeil. The deposits are somewhat mysterious and unique as each royal statue was found fragmented into many pieces, all broken in the same way and in the same locations upon the statue, before being buried beneath the ground in a sacred place. The study explores the meaning and motivation behind image breaking and deposition in an attempt to postulate the circumstances of these burials. It will use comparisons from Egypt and the Near East to look for any parallels for such treatment of royal images, and examine...Show moreThis thesis is a study of three different statue cache deposits which were discovered at different locations in North Sudan. The three groups of statues represented colossal royal figures representing kings of Nubia, and some who also ruled over Egypt as Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty. The caches were discovered during archaeological investigations at three cult sites which were dedicated to the Nubian-Egyptian god Amun, within the main temples, at Gebel Barkal, Doukki Gel and Dangeil. The deposits are somewhat mysterious and unique as each royal statue was found fragmented into many pieces, all broken in the same way and in the same locations upon the statue, before being buried beneath the ground in a sacred place. The study explores the meaning and motivation behind image breaking and deposition in an attempt to postulate the circumstances of these burials. It will use comparisons from Egypt and the Near East to look for any parallels for such treatment of royal images, and examine the historical context of the estimated time of deposition in order to build up some form of narrative as to how and more importantly, why, these royal statues were treated in such a way. This thesis will scrutinize the popular theories which were previously proposed and return to the archaeological evidence in order to address the issue and attempt to come up with a hypothesis concerning the nature of the cachesShow less

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Secrets of Napata: A Study of the Royal Nubian Caches