HARDEN, Donald B.

SHINNIE, Peter L.

Excavations at Soba

Sudan Antiquities Service Occasional Papers 3

, Khartoum, 1955, p. 60-76

Khartoum Museum (Khartoum)

fouilles excavations prospection survey

[501, 1600]

bol bowl boîte box flacon flask gobelet beaker lampe lamp pot jar vase vase vitre window glass

abrasion abrasion décoration appliquée applied decoration facette facet-cut filets marbrés marvered trails incisé incised lustré stained, lustre-painted soufflé dans un moule mould-blown taillé cut émaillé enamelled

• Examples of Soba glass (6th–12th century):

– Mound A I, level 1 (6th–9th century):
- flasks fragments (nos 13, 25),
- fragment of a stemmed lamp (no. 8).

– Mound A, cutting 3, level 1 (6th–9th century):
- fragment of piriform flask, dark blue with opaque white trails (no. 18),
- fragments of a “crown” pane of window glass (no. 36),
- fragments of flasks with pre-moulded pattern (nos 22, 23).

– Church (9th–12th century):
- fragment of a “crown” pane of window glass (no. 35),
- rim of a stemmed lamp (no. 7).

– Mound B, AB 13, Room III, level 1 (9th–12th century):
- fragment of a “crown” pane of window glass,
- body of flask or vase with pre-moulded diamond pattern (no. 27).

– Mound B, Z 14, Room I, level 1 (9th–12th century):
- squat jar with pre-mould and optic-blown corrugations (no. 12),
- fine box-lid with cut pattern (no. 33),
- bowl fragment with fold making a flange (no. 2).

– Mound B, level 1 (9th–12th century):
- body fragment with opaque sky blue trails on dark blue (no. 4),
- bowl fragment with lustred decoration (no. 3),
- numerous fragments with pre-moulded decoration and/or optic-blowing.

– Mound B, level 2 (9th–12th century) :
- fragment of hexagonal flasklet with marvered blobs of yellow, red, pale blue and white in mottled pattern (no. 30),
- fragment of a dark blue flask with optic-blown rib.

• Material said to come from Sennar - example:

- flask with applied blue trails and vertical optic-blown ribs from shoulder to base (13th–16th century; fig. 38).

• ʿAydhab material - surface-finds (8th–15th century) - examples:

a) Islamic enamelled wares - uncertain shapes (13th–14th century):
- rosette of white spots within a border of blue spots,
- white linear pattern, perhaps part of cufic inscription,
- concentric circles of red and white surrounding a central blue spot,
- two fragments with traces of blue enamel.

b) Colourless wares (12th–15th century):
- fragment of beaker with solid knobs or “prunts” on lower part (fig. 40).

c) Bowls and bottles of dark coloured glass with opaque white trails (9th–12th century):
- colours of vessels: light or dark blue, purple and green,
- trails: white, in one or two instances red colour added,
- technique of decoration: applied in relief or marvered,
- pattern: horizontal lines, spirals, festoons, feathers.

d) Colourless or greenish vessels with blue or green coloured trailing (10th century and later):
- trailing is usally at the rim and neck only.

e) Dark blue vessels with incised or cut patterns (8th–10th century):
- tall neck of bottle with rough abraded lines (fig. 41a),
- body fragment with facet-cut and incised pattern (fig. 41b).

f) Mould-blown honeycomb and ribbed vessels (9th–13th century).

g) Fragments with ribbing made other than by mould-blowing (Islamic):
- neck fragment of flask with horizontal free-blown ribs (fig. 42).

h) Rims of plain vessels (10th–14th century; fig. 43 and 44).

i) Bases of plain vessels (10th–14th century; fig. 45 and 45).

j) Rim of window pane, purplish (Islamic; fig. 47).

habitat
settlement  contexte urbain
urban context lieux de pratiques religieuses
places of religious practices   église
church

	Mer Rouge Red Sea	ʿAydhab	consommation
Soudan Sudan		Sennar	consommation
		Soba	consommation