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| [[File:Gruppefoto.JPG|right|250px]]
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| [[File:Sai_Stela.JPG|right|250px|The Gravestone of Bishop Dioskoros]]
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| '''Sai Island'''
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| Sai, the second largest island on the Nile, is situated
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| approximately 600 km north of the Sudanese capital
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| Khartoum and 200 km south of the border between
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| Sudan and Egypt. Sai has thus a strategic position on the
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| river between Egypt and the Mediterranean world to the
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| north and Sudan and the African heartlands to the
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| south. This location has made the island an important
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| centre since the Bronze Age (2500-1500 BCE), when one
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| of the earliest chiefdoms on the African continent was
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| founded on the island, until today that Sai is the core
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| area of the Sukkot, a Nubian-speaking sub-tribe. The
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| monumental heritage of the island bespeaks of its
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| importance through time: the Bronze Age tumuli, a
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| Pharaonic temple, Meroitic pyramids, the columns of the
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| so-called Cathedral of Sai, and the fortress of the
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| Ottomans that was built on the ruins of their Christian
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| and Pharaonic predecessors.
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|
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| '''The Greek-Norwegian Mission
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| '''
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| Sai Island belongs to the archaeological concession of the
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| French University Charles de Gaulle, Lille 3. The Greek-
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| Norwegian Mission (GNM) to the Sudan is an
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| independent archaeological mission although working
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| under the auspices of the French mission to Sai and the
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| National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums in
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| Sudan. Our activities started in 2008 with general
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| bibliographical research on the Medieval Period on Sai.
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| The first field season took place in January and
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| February 2009. It focused on a thorough archaeological
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| survey of the island, which produced the first
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| comprehensive map of sites from the Medieval and post-
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| Medieval centuries of Sai (c. 500-1800 CE). Furthermore,
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| we made a catalogue of all the
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| medieval objects already
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| uncovered on the island and
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| stored in the dig-house of the
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| French Mission. This has already
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| resulted in the publication of all
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| the known Christian grave stelae
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| of the island with the revelation
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| of two hitherto unknown
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| medieval bishops of Sai.
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| The second field season took place in January and
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| February 2010. Then the epigraphic survey culminated
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| by the recording of very interesting graffiti carved on a
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| cliff overlooking the Nile immediately north of the
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| fortress. On the site, GNM discovered remains of buoys
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| for mooring boats and ships at levels of both high and
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| low waters of the river. This identifies the site as one of
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| the ports of the inhabitants of the island during the
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| Middle Ages, and the graffiti seem to be associated with
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| river and port activities.
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| The main focus of the season, however, was the
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| beginning of excavations of the site with the granite
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| columns, which has been suggested as the locality of the
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| Medieval Cathedral of Sai – since we know from
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| historical sources that there was a bishopric on Sai. This
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| site is actually the main target of the Medieval Sai Project
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| of the GNM. The excavations at the so-called Cathedral
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| site started in 2010 and will continue until 2014.
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|
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| '''The Excavations of the Cathedral Site
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| '''
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| The archaeological investigations are based on the
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| principles of an open area excavation, which means that
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| work follows the stratigraphic development of the site
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| during the excavations. The work process is documented
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| by using the single-context recording system. All
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| diagnostic potsherds are catalogued.
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| Thorough archaeological investigations of any site
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| aiming at the full recovery of its history with respect to
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| all the cultural remains of its past have to last over
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| several years. We decided to start the investigations of
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| the main mound of the site from the north for two main
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| reasons: First, this area seems to have traces of the last
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| phase of activity on the surface, namely three granite
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| column bases and many large (quartzite and calcareous)
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| stones; and second, the prevailing wind direction is from
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| the north, so we will rather work with the wind than
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| against it. The excavations will proceed towards the focal
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| point of the columns in the coming years.
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| The location of three column bases at the cathedral site
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| and one at the fortress raises a set of intriguing questions:
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| What is the relationship between the four bases and the
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| four columns, given that both are made of the same
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| material? Have they all originally belonged to the
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| building with the standing columns, or have they
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| belonged to another building – whether at this site or
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| elsewhere? If they originally belonged to the building
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| with the standing columns, then the now standing
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| columns must have been reused in a second building
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| phase without the bases. The results from 2010
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| demonstrated that the column bases are ex situ and no
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| building remains were found associated with them.
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| The largest surprise of the excavations was the
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| uncovering close to the column bases of a burial made
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| according to Muslim traditions. This, however, reveals an
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| interesting continuation in use of the site, as there are
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| also Christian graves nearby. Other findings of the season
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| were a series of storing pits filled with architectural
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| rubble and potsherds. The masses of broken pots found
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| in them, as well as scattered all around the site demand
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| explanations.
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| The continuation and completion of our excavations
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| will elucidate all these points and set the site in its
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| appropriate historical framework in the Medieval period
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| of Sai island.
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| '''Protection and Promotion of the site'''
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| An archaeological project involves inevitably landscape
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| formation, since excavations at any site cause an
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| irreversible alteration to the environment. The presence
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| of a thriving local community does not excuse attitudes
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| of antiquarian collection methods of the past. Rather it
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| demands a sincere commitment to promoting the
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| community’s interests. In terms of archaeological
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| contribution, this signifies the preparation of a
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| monument as an archaeological site meaningful for both
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| local and foreign visitors.
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| Especially in an area like Nubia, this demand becomes
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| even more acute, since the people of Sai as well as its
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| cultural heritage and natural landscape are threatened by
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| obliteration: Sudan is currently experiencing a period of
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| rapid development, and there are plans for constructing a
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| dam on the Dal cataract just downstream of Sai that will
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| submerge the wide floodplains of the island, where both
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| the present and the past populations made their living.
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| '''Internal Links:'''
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| [[Alexandros Tsakos]]
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| [[Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos]]
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| '''External Links:'''
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| [http://medievalsaiproject.wordpress.com/ Medieval Sai Project Blog]
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