Daily LifeDiet and WaterDiet:Agriculture along the narrow strip of the Nile valley provided Nubians with their necessary food supply. Therefore most of the Nubian populations were farmers. Each year the Nile flooded Upper Nubia providing silt for the agricultural lands. The Kushites used the Shaduf (a traditional device operated manually for raising water from a lower depression that is connected to a source of water, to a higher depression where the water is distributed to farther depressions to irrigate the field/s) for watering their farms.1 Sometime in the late Meroitic period, they transfered to the use of Saquia (a water wheel), which was brought to Nubia from Southwest Asia.2
There are numerous hafirs (a depression dug on flat ground to collect rain water) discovered in Nubia including many at Musawwarat es Sufra.3 However hafirs would not have provided enough water for watering the farms. The only Kushite dam used for water storage was found at Shaq el Ahmar.4 The main food crop seems to be sorghum; evidence for this is found in Kushite pottery. Dates are one of the available crops grown along the Nile, especially in Upper Nubia. In the sixth century AD, the Nubians were well known by the Arabs for their good date-wine production.5 Date-wine is a common traditional drink in Sudan today. The extensive production of doam (palm fruit) is also evident from the New kingdom Egyptian relieves, as Nubians are often depicted carrying doam as gifts to the Egyptian pharaohs. A realistic description was provided by Strabo in the Roman Geographer Strabo in the second century CE:
A concern for food might have triggered the Kushite control for other regions like the Buttana in the east, where sorghum was easily grown depending on rain. As a matter of fact, it is evident from the haffirs dug there in the Meroitic period that Kush had certainly practiced considerable powers over the Buttana during that period.
One non-dietary crop that is widely grown in Nubia was cotton. It was used for domestic cloth making and was possibly transported to other kingdoms. Cotton cloth was found abundantly at Kushite graves, including the cemeteries at Kerma. In the first century CE, a Roman geographer wrote that the Nubians, "use meats, blood, milk, and cheese"(Strabo xvii Ch. 2: 2) for food. Unlike the Egyptians and beside agriculture, the Nubians heavily domesticate cattle and sheep for their food and other sources. Extensive left over of sheep bones were found at the offering chapels and temple kitchens in Kerma.7 Cattle were also sacrificed in great numbers in the Kerma graves, indicating the importance of their presence in the Nubian life. Nomads wondered the semi-arid regions on both sides of the Nile with their flocks in search of good pastures. The Kushites were in continues warfare with these hostile nomads. However both the nomads and the farmers have in many cases benefited from each other; an exchange of animal and agricultural products was probably a usual practice. Also, the Nubian farmers allowed the nomads to herd their flocks on harvested farms in return for the dung of the animals which fertilized the farms.8 Drinking:A wall painting at Kerma dating to 1600 BC depicts a well in profile with a robe pulling a buck of water. Hafirs have been discovered in various locations in Nubia. At every excavated Nubian settlement, hafirs were present. At Kawa and Musawwarat es Sufra there were large numbers of hafirs. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the Kushite main source of water was from wells. Wells would be shallow if the settlements were by the Nile, and would be deep if they were on regions far from the river.
Since the people of Nubia had domesticated animals, milk would have been a common drink. Strabo, a Roman geographer who lived in the first century BC writes that Kushites live on the "meats, blood, milk, and cheese.”(Strabo xvii Ch. 2: 2) Traces for milk have also been found on the teeth of Nubian mummies and pots.9 Wine was, one the most flourishing product in Nubia. Pottery containing wine was contained in almost every grave. At Kerma, dating to about 1600 BC, 250 jars of wine were found deposited in a ground depression.10 The jars were turned upside down to prevent the odor of alcohol from spreading. About fourteen vine presses for producing wine were discovered in Sudan. Although vines were not apt for growth in arid and semi-arid environments like that of Northern Sudan, a limited production is possible. Other types of diet:One prominent diet was ostrich eggs. An ostrich egg was found in almost every grave at Kerma. Fruits may have included oranges and grape-fruits which are extensively grown in Sudan today. Pigs may have been eaten in limited amounts. (Like the Egyptian and other Near Eastern religions, Kushite religion is likely to have forbidden the eating of pigs).
Edited: Marc. 2009. |
