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Gabati 1994-5. During the survey along the course of the new road from Begrawiya to Atbara a large cemetery was discovered at Gabati set right on the line of the highway. At this late stage in the planning it was not possible to re-route the road around the site. In a rapid response to this threat the Society, through the generosity of a number of institutions, was able to mount a single season of rescue excavation before the site disappeared for ever. Within the three month project, over the winter of 1994-5, the team was able to excavate a total of 104 graves dating to the later Kushite, Post-Meroitic and Medieval periods.
Following on the collapse of the Kushite State during the 4th century AD, after a period of abandonment the cemetery was once again used for burial. These Post-Meroitic graves, of which 38 were identified, date between the mid 5th century and the 7th century. By this period all the Kushite tomb monuments must have been in a very ruinous condition and the later burials take no regard of their location.
Bibliography
Edwards, D. N. 1998. Gabati. A Meroitic, Post-Meroitic and Medieval Cemetery in Central Sudan. Vol. 1. Sudan Archaeological Research Society Publication no. 3 London.
Edwards, D. N. and P. J. Rose 1997. 'The Meroitic, Post-Meroitic & Christian Cemetery At Gabati, Central Sudan, A Preliminary Report On The Excavations Of 1994/95', Kush 17, 69-84.
Judd, M. 2004. 'Gabati: Health in Transition', Sudan & Nubia 7, 84-89.
Smith, L. M. V. 1998a. 'Post-Meroitic and Later Finds. Part I: Finds from the Test Excavations', in D. N. Edwards, Gabati. London, 112-123.
Smith, L. M. V. 1998b. 'The Post-Meroitic and Medieval Pottery', in D. N. Edwards (ed.) Gabati. London, 178-193.
