Faience workshop at the Sanam temple: ancient Nubia and royal power

A long-overlooked Nubia

Long overshadowed by pharaonic Egypt, Nubia, located in present-day Sudan, was nonetheless a major power. In the 8th century BCE, the Kingdom of Kush even went on to control Egypt. For a long time, historians regarded Kush as a mere copy of its powerful northern neighbour.

According to Rennan Lemos of Durham University, recent work calls this view into question. Questions remain, however, about how the Kushite state controlled resources, labour and the circulation of prestige goods.

A faience workshop at the heart of the temple

Excavations at Sanam, a large temple built by the Kushite king Taharqa in the 7th century BCE, have yielded the remains of a faience workshop. Researchers found hundreds of beads as well as a funerary figurine, a shabti, of the kind placed in royal tombs in both Egypt and Nubia.

Faience is a glassy material made from silica mixed with alkalis and lime, then fired at low temperature. Prized for its brilliance, it most often takes on blue, green or white hues. Its manufacture released smoke and odours, which makes its proximity to a temple surprising.

Why set the workshop near a temple

In Egypt, faience workshops were generally pushed to the outskirts of settlements. At Sanam, by contrast, the temple occupied a central place in the economy of the Nubian state. According to the study's authors, the benefit of linking this production to royal authority outweighed the inconvenience of firing.

Lemos sums up the significance of the site: the Sanam temple was not only a religious monument but also a production centre controlled by the state. The objects made there, notably the shabtis intended for the royal necropolis of Nuri, were tied to royal power.

A technique adapted to local conditions

The inspiration came from Egypt, but the methods differ markedly. Where Egyptian craftsmen used limestone as a source of lime, the Kushites seem to have used crushed shells, limestone being scarce across much of Sudan. According to Lemos, this adaptation reflects a technical innovation rather than simple imitation.

According to the study, control over the production of these objects extended to raw materials, labour and specialised know-how. In Egypt, power rested largely on mastery of land and agriculture; in Kush, it seems to have rested on mastery of prestige objects.

What the discovery changes

This work, by Rennan Lemos and his colleagues, offers direct and rare evidence of how Kush exercised its power. It invites us to view Nubian societies as creative actors, capable of selecting and adapting foreign technologies to their own needs and political symbols.

To explore the subject further, visitors can turn to Nubian sites in Sudan, including the city of Napata and the royal necropolises, as well as to the Egyptian and Nubian collections of European museums.