1.
Ballana
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Ballana was a cemetery in Lower Nubia. It was excavated by Walter Bryan Emery along with nearby Qustul between 1928 and 1931 as a project before a second rising of the Aswan Low Dam. A total of 122 tombs were found under huge artificial mounds and they date to the time after the collapse of the Meroitic state but before the founding of the Christian Nubian kingdoms, around AD350 to 600. They usually featured one or several underground chambers, with one main burial chamber, some tombs were found unlooted, but even the robbed burials still proved to contain many burial goods. The objects found are chiefly of Nubian origin, but there were many objects imported from Byzantine Egypt. Most remarkable is a set of crowns from different tombs showing that the richest burials belong to local ruling kings, there were horses and servants buried with their masters. There are few written objects in the burials, the identification of the tomb owners is, therefore, impossible. It has been assumed that these are the burials of the kings, one important tomb discovered here was tomb 118 which consisted of three chambers. It might be described as an example of a burial at Ballana and consisted of a main burial chamber. The roof of the chamber had collapsed and the tomb, therefore. The body of the person buried here was found on a bier and it was most likely that of a king. Upon his head was found a crown, under the bier, were the remains of a large wooden gaming board, weapons and an iron folding chair. There were also skeletons of a male servant and a cow. In the two storerooms, more skeletons of servants, as well as pottery and several lamps were discovered. The Ballana tombs belong to a complex often called X-Group. Following the find of these tombs, this culture is most often called Ballana Culture, the original Ballana cemetery is now flooded by the Nasser Lake. London 1948, pp. 57–72 Nubia Museum, Ballana and Qustul Nubia Museum, The X Group or Ballana Culture
2.
Beth Alpha
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Beth Alpha or Bet Alpha or Bet Alfa is a sixth-century synagogue located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Gilboa mountains near Beit Shean, Israel. It is now part of Bet Alfa Synagogue National Park and managed by the Israel Nature, the Beth Alpha synagogue was uncovered in 1928 by members of the nearby Kibbutz Hefzibah, who stumbled upon the synagogue’s extensive mosaic floors during irrigation construction. Excavations began in 1929 under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and were led by Israeli archaeologist, a secondary round of excavations, sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority in 1962, further explored the residential structures surrounding the synagogue. In addition, a hoard of 36 Byzantine coins were found in a depression in the floor apse. Architectural remains from the Beth Alpha synagogue indicate that the synagogue once stood as two-story basilical building and contained a courtyard, vestibule, the Torah Ark within the apse was aligned southwest, in the direction of Jerusalem. The northern entryway features two dedicatory inscriptions in Aramaic and Greek, although partially destroyed, the Aramaic inscription indicates that the synagogue was built during the reign of Roman Emperor Justinus, probably Justin I, and was funded by communal donations. The Greek inscription thanks artisans “Marianos and his son Hanina, ” whom were listed as the artisans of the nearby Beth Shean synagogue. The inscriptions are flanked on either side by a lion and a buffalo, the northern panel depicts the “Binding of Isaac”. To the right, Abraham is depicted dangling Isaac over the altar as he raises his hand to perform the sacrifice. In the center, God, symbolized by the small fire- encircled hand appearing in the upper center, instructs Abraham to sacrifice a nearby ram instead of Isaac. The hand of God is aptly labeled with “al tishlah” or “do not raise, in the lower center of the composition, immediately below the hand of God, the ram that served as Isaac’s substitute is positioned standing sideways, trapped in the nearby thicket. All the figures in the scene, except for the two servants, are identified with Hebrew labels, the iconographic significance of the “Binding of Isaac” is unclear. In contemporaneous Christian church art, where the “Binding of Isaac” was also a popular theme, the central panel features a Jewish adaptation of the Greco-Roman zodiac. The zodiac consists of two circles, with the twelve zodiac signs appearing in the outer circle, and Helios. The outer circle consists of panels, each of which correspond to one of the twelve months of the year. Female busts symbolizing the four seasons appear in the four corners immediately outside the zodiac, in the center, Helios appears with his signature Greco-Roman iconographic elements such as the fiery crown of rays adorning his head and the highly stylized quadriga or four-horse-drawn chariot. The background is decorated with a crescent shaped moon and stars, as in the “Binding of Isaac” panel, the zodiac symbols and seasonal busts are labeled with their corresponding Hebrew names. Some interpret the popularity that the zodiac maintains within synagogue floors as evidence for its Judaization and adaptation into the Jewish calendar, others see it as representing the existence of a “non-Rabbinic” or a mystical and Hellenized form of Judaism that embraced the astral religion of Greco-Roman culture
3.
Nok culture
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The Nok Culture appeared in northern Nigeria around 1000 BCE and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 CE, thus having lasted for approximately 1,500 years. Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in Nok culture by at least 550 BCE, data from historical linguistics suggest that iron smelting was independently discovered in the region prior to 1000 BCE. Scientific field work began in 2005 to systematically investigate Nok archaeological sites, the function of Nok terracotta sculptures is still unknown. For the most part, the terracotta is preserved in the form of scattered fragments and that is why Nok art is well known today only for the heads, both male and female, whose hairstyles are particularly detailed and refined. The statues are in fragments because the discoveries are made from alluvial mud. The terracotta statues found there are hidden, rolled, polished, rarely are works of great size conserved intact making them highly valued on the international art market. The terracotta figures are hollow, coil built, nearly life sized human heads and bodies that are depicted with highly stylized features, abundant jewelry, and varied postures. Little is known of the function of the pieces, but theories include ancestor portrayal, grave markers, and charms to prevent crop failure, infertility. Also, based on the bases found on several figures. After some drying, the sculptures were covered with slip and burnished to produce a smooth, the figures are hollow, with several openings to facilitate thorough drying and firing. The firing process most likely resembled that used today in Nigeria, in which the pieces are covered with grass, twigs, luckily, two archaeological sites, Samun Dukiya and Taruga, were found containing Nok art that had remained unmoved. Radiocarbon and thermo-luminescence tests narrowed the sculptures’ age down to between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago, making some of the oldest in West Africa. Many further dates were retrieved in the course of new archaeological excavations, the first Nok terracotta was discovered in 1928 by Colonel Dent Young, a co-owner of a mining partnership, near the village of Nok on the Jos Plateau in Nigeria. The terracotta was accidentally unearthed at a level of 24 feet from a tin mine. Young presented the sculptures to the museum of the Department of Mines in Jos, fifteen years later, in 1943 near the village of Nok, in the center of Nigeria, a new series of clay figurines were discovered by accident while mining tin. A clerk in charge of the mine had found a head and had taken it back to his home for use as a scarecrow and this scarecrow was eventually noticed by Bernard Fagg who at the time was an administrative officer who had studied archaeology at the University of Cambridge. Fagg noticed that the head on the scarecrow looked similar to the sculpture that Young had found and he traveled to Jos where Young showed Fagg other recently uncovered terracotta figures. Eventually it became clear that the tin mining in Nok and Jemaa areas were revealing and destroying archaeological material, preliminary excavations at the beginning of January 1961 began near a remote valley named Taruga near the village of Takushara
