Neal Spencer, British Museum
Work on converting parts of the expedition house has seen us create more working rooms in a western annex of the main house. As the artefact stores are also located here, it will create an area of the house for study, away from the eating and washing areas, but also the bedrooms.
Thankfully, mudbrick houses can be easily modified, as doors and windows can be inserted into walls, or blocked up.
One of the rooms had been locked since we moved to this house, and used as a storage space for the owner’s possessions. There are many houses on the island that are unoccupied, with windows and doors blocked up – as the owner has travelled to Khartoum or abroad for work, or has passed away. In many such houses, a room is kept locked to store all manner of tools, clothing, furniture and other possessions.
When we opened Kawsir’s storeroom it provided a fascinating glimpse of local life for over a century (the house itself is perhaps 70 years old). Some objects were relatively recent – plastic jerry cans for diesel, printed school books, plastic flasks for tea, and a wide selection of aluminium kitchen ware, mattresses and blankets.
A photo album provided a fascinating glimpse at the people who owned these objects, their relatives and friends: colleagues on a construction site in January 1983, families in traditional houses much like ours, wedding photos, and studio portraits – something of a kaleidoscope of changing fashions.
Metal crates, one from the Second World War embossed with “F&L I 1942”, were used to store books and clothing and, while a more traditional carved wooden chest also held a TV and digital satellite receiver. Such chests are typically given to women upon marriage.
We also found more traditional objects, of types in use for centuries. Two wooden beds (anagareeb) with their distinctive carved legs are not dissimilar to ancient examples, fragments of which are found in the cemetery at Amara West.
A wide range of woven matting – for the floor (brish), but also used as prayer mats or to lay on beds prior to the arrival of mattresses – was found, alongside shallow basketry containers for wheat and other foodstuffs, and 12 food-covers (tabag).
Dating these objects is almost impossible as many are still used today alongside plastic and aluminium products. The use for individual objects has also changed across time – thus an aluminium barrel originally used to transport 70lbs of insecticide from Philips Suphar, a Dutch company, to Port Sudan, is now typically kept to store flour.
Two traditional wooden serving dishes (gadha) were also found, with incised decor around the rim. These could date to the late nineteenth century, or even earlier.
Unsurprisingly, on an island where date production is the major source of income, several containers for dates were found in the store: a traditional clay guseeba, pottery zirs, and plastic barrels – a familiar mix of modern and traditional. The dates are often stored in houses for up to a year after harvest – a copper and bone date measure was also found.
Our inspector Shadia Abdu Rabo has been helping us interpret some of the objects. The potential for anthropological research on material like this is vast, especially in a village environment that is changing so quickly.