Philippa Ryan

Nubia Past and PresentAgriculture, Crops and Food

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People have been living in the Abri area for at least 10,000 years, but there have been many changes. Some of these changes are very new, with crops chosen for market, and the introduction of electricity and new roads. This book tells stories about growing, making, sharing and selling food – in the very ancient past until today. Through people’s stories and memories, we hope to remember the traditional crops and agriculture in the area. We aim to learn about life in the time of the saqia and about the old ways for growing and cooking

crops. Many crops have been grown for a long time in Sudan. This book also talks about some of the crops that have been found from archaeological sites from thousands of years ago.

This book is about agriculture in Nubia, and is especially based on Ernetta Island and the Abri area which are in the Sikoot region. Abri is a small town about 720km north of Khartoum, and the island of Ernetta is opposite and about 4km long. The Sikoot area is between the villages of Oshmiatto and Sarkamatto.

Aerial view of Amara West and Ernetta Island

Khartoum

Abri

Ernetta IslandAmara West

Abri

Sai Island

Dongola

Amara East

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Unlike in some parts of Sudan where rain makes crops grow, here the Nile makes agriculture possible. The agricultural cycle is divided into three seasons, the flood, winter and summer seasons. The river used to flood between late July to the end of August or into September. Since the Merowe Dam was finished in 2009 the river no longer floods, but the water is still high and covers low areas of the river banks.

The flood season is followed by the winter season which extends from around mid-October to April. There is a cooler climate especially in December and January. The third season is the summer season, from May until July. During this time the river is low and temperatures are very high, reaching a maximum in June. The climate is dry all year, but there can be a small amount of rain usually in August.

Crops on Ernetta’s riverbanks; including ‘lubias’, haricot beans, lupin, maize

Agriculture on Ernetta and Abri

Agriculture on the Nile

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Al-Gerf (river bank land)Many crops used to be grown after the summer flood, and the area that could be flooded is often called saluka land. Saluka is also the name of the stick which was used to make holes to sow seeds on muddy soils near the river after the flood, and it takes its name from the land (known in Nubian slightly differently as salu-uk-a). Soils on saluka land (known as qurer soils) are very fertile because of the Nile silt deposited during the flood. The river bank and lower areas were always flooded and are known as gerf land. Higher areas of the riverbanks were sometimes flooded and dried faster, and are known as qurer land. Each year the height of the flood was different, and generally the area between the river and the palm trees (which form a boundary at the inner edge of the qurer soils) could be flooded.

What do your grandparents

remember about Ernetta when they

were young?

A changing islandRiverbanks and islands have always been changing along the Nile. The amount of saluka land along the river banks of Ernetta has varied over the years. The largest areas of gerf land today are on the eastern part of the island (sab – the ‘face’ of the island looking in the direction of the Nile flow). Today, much of the northern edge of the island has steep banks but farmers recalled there was more gerf land in the past. The water in the river channel in the north of the island used to be lower and when it was not the flood season it was possible to walk to the other side to collect wood. Today the western side of Ernetta (kung – the end of the island the Nile flow first reaches) has a very wide area of cultivated plots from north to south. Until about 30 years ago the kung had no fields and instead large areas of sand banks.

Google earth image of Ernetta Island in 2017

Satellite view of Ernetta Island in the 1960s

Saluka stick

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The shaduf (Nubian - keey’a) The shaduf was first used in northern Sudan from at least three and a half thousand years ago. A shaduf can be used to lift water out of the river or canals. It was possible to water about a feddan in a day and it was most often used to irrigate the higher areas of river banks (qurer). Many farmers used shadufs up until the 1970s. One farmer on Ernetta recalled that if a farmer had a small farm he might only own a shaduf, but that sometimes he would share a neighbour’s saqia irrigated land during the summer. Some farmers explained that although the shaduf could only irrigate a small area of land, it was also good because it was straightforward to operate and could be operated by one man.

What crops did farmers grow with

the shaduf?

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The saqia (esskalá)The waterwheel was first used in Sudan about two thousand years ago. The saqia is a water-wheel driven by cattle. Saqia is also the name of the irrigated land. Many farmers used the waterwheel until the late 1960s. The waterwheel could be used to irrigate larger areas of land than the shaduf, including areas further inland (barju land). Farmers explained that it was easy to raise water from the river whilst it was high. When the river was low, it would be possible to dig a hole near the river on flat land and a channel between the hole and the river bank. The hole and canal would then fill with water overnight (this is still done today). It was possible to use two or three shadufs or saqias to reach higher areas and wood or stones could be used to construct a suitable platform.

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Today most farms have their own diesel water pumps on Ernetta and in Abri. Water pumps were first introduced into some large agricultural schemes in Sudan early in the twentieth century, but were mostly introduced between the 1950s-1970s. Most irrigation channels in the region are small and narrow and are built around individual plots within farms. There is also a long canal in Abri which has 2 branches and a large water pump in the Nile. This larger canal was first built in 1948 to reach

a new agricultural scheme built inland of the river. There are similar agricultural schemes, constructed during the 1950s, inland of many villages. Some farmers in Abri and Ernetta remembered some of the earliest pumps used the wind or charcoal to power a little engine. Sometimes wells were also dug for the pumps. Near Dongola and Kerma there are also areas with very large canals and water pumps, and also some new agricultural schemes very far from the river.

Diesel waterpumps (babour)

Large irrigation pump, Abri

Irrigation plots, Ernetta Island

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Recent pivot irrigation sheme in the Dongola Reach about 5km east of the Nile

A well dug for an irrigation pump in Amara East (Abri area)

Old irrigation channel near Murfraka

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Cowpea (deginte) growing along the river bank

Although many of todays crops were grown in the recent past, elderly farmers said they grew a greater number of crops for food when they were younger. Farmers we spoke to remembered they and their families grew barley, wheat, and sorghum for food and to feed animals, and some families also grew pearl millet and maize. For some, barley was the most important cereal, for others sorghum was the main cereal. Some said each crop was important in its own season. Several farmers recalled that wheat was only grown from around the mid-1950s (on Ernetta) after a woman brought a sack of

wheat grains to the island. ‘Lubias’ and lupin were also eaten more than they are today for food. (Lubia is an Arabic word used for several types of bean - see glossary). The main ‘lubias’ were lablab and cowpea and are often called by their Nubian names ‘kashrengei’ and ‘deginte’. The only type of ful (broad bean) was ‘baledi’ (meaning old local variety). Watermelons and melons were grown more in the past than today on Ernetta, in the vast sandy areas that used to surround the island. Dates have always been the most important crop, but they were used more as a daily food in the past.

More sorghum, barley, pearl millet and ‘lubias’ were grown to feed animals (cattle, sheep, goat) in the past than today. Large amounts of fodder crops had to be grown to feed the cattle for the saqia. As well as crops, weeds were, and still are, routinely collected from fields to feed animals.

Crops in the time of the saqia and the shaduf

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Ful beans (broad beans) growing on Ernetta

After the waterpumps were introduced there were changes in crops grown. New types of seeds were introduced, and some became important cash crops. Before the waterpumps there was one type of ‘baladi’ (local) wheat and one type of ‘baladi’ ful. From the 1970s, many new types of wheat seeds were introduced and wheat became the most important cash crop (along with dates). Since the 1990s new types of

larger ful seeds were introduced and ful has become a more important cash crop than wheat in many villages. Berseem is an increasingly important crop grown for feeding animals. Other crops such as sorghum, barley and watermelons were grown less over time. How the land is used today is also different. Crops grown for sale take up a lot of field space. Today, many types of crops are only grown in small areas for home use.

The date harvest season is around late August or early September and is an important time within the agricultural year. Afterwards, when farmers are free, fields are prepared and winter crops like ful and wheat are sown from late October onwards. The final wheat harvests on the island used to be around April (little wheat has been grown since 2014). Today the winter months are the most important months for farming. Winter crops also include barley, peas, haricot beans, chickpeas, spices and many vegetables. Several crops that are grown in the winter months, such as sorghum, maize, lablab and vegetables like okra can also be grown in hotter months. In the past there were more crops grown in

the summer. After the winter, there are now 3 to 4 months when very little happens. Some farmers told us they still sow sorghum, maize and watermelons after April, others sow sorghum in June or July. Many crops are still grown however in small amounts along the gerf during most months of the year. In the past more sorghum, lubias and maize were grown in the flood season on irrigated barju land when the water was high. At the end of the flood, many crops like barley, lubias, lentils and vegetables would then be grown across salwka land. An old ‘baladi’ watermelon was grown before and after the flood in the low sandy areas next to the river, but. few farmers on Ernetta grow watermelons today.

Changing crops When are crops grown?

Alfafa (berseem) fields; agricultural scheme area in Abri

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Labab- ‘lubia’ (Nubian – kashrengei)

Kashrengei was eaten by some families every day, often with squash ‘gara’ . Right: before cooking, left: cooked

Pea Pigeon pea

Maize Haricot beans

Lupin (termis) Pearl millet

One type of ‘lubia’ (kashrengei) was a very important food crop in the past. The beans can be eaten green or dried. Nowadays, these crops are grown mostly in patches near the river or in small areas on barju land. Kashrengei is a special plant because it can be grown for much of the year. It was also an important saluka crop after the flood. Farmers explained lubias (certain beans) grown on saluka land taste better than those grown on barju soils. This lubia is also still grown for animals.

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Barley used to be an important winter crop in the Sikoot region, and was grown as a saluka crop as well as on saqia land. Barley is easy to grow compared to wheat as it only takes 90 days. It used to be an important for food and for animals. However, the local barley (a hulled variety, which means it has chaff stuck closely to the grain) is slow to prepare into flour. After grains are ground, the chaff has to be sieved from the flour. This process has to be repeated up to 8 times. Barley is grown today in small patches or at the edge of fields; sometimes to make flour or drinks, and sometimes just for animals.

Barley - sha’eer (seringi)

Sorghum - durra (mariie)

Sorghum can be grown in all seasons. It used to be an important food crop in the region and was especially grown more in the summer (than today) using saqia irrigation. After the diesel pumps and new cash crops were introduced some farmers concentrated more on winter than summer crops. Some farmers said they still wanted to grow sorghum for food but it is difficult because birds eat the sorghum grains. Some families still make kisra and different drinks like abre. The main type of sorghum grown in the Sikoot region is the old baladi variety. The baladi variety can be grown for food and animals. Another type Abu Sabayne is also grown for animals, but generally less sorghum is grown locally for animals than in the past. Sorghum seeds from many areas of Sudan can be bought in the market, for example feterita.

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DatesDates are still very important in Abri and Ernetta. Many of the trees are very old, going back several generations and some of these old trees have shared ownership. Several farmers said they spend less time looking after their date trees than in the past, saying they used to water them but don’t anymore and they are less productive. Trees also used to be

maintained more by the process of removing palm fronds for activities like cooking. Some farmers also say dates are negatively affected by the humidity from the Meroie and Aswan dams. Other farmers are starting new plantations, and this can sometimes depend on whether there is land available for this. There are some areas along the river away from the villages with very large plantations. Families use some dates to eat fresh (koureh), others are sundried, some are boiled to make asal (date ‘honey’) and others are kept to sell.

How many types of date trees are there?

Sesame Sesame was an important crop grown for oil. Farmers on Ernetta remembered the wooden equipment used for extracting oil (which was driven by cattle) was destroyed by termites in the 1950s and not replaced.

Trading cropsAs well as a souk in Abri, sail boats used to go to villages to trade. Farmers remembered they used to exchange the crops with other farmers and traders more in the past. Dates were

Sail boats near Kerma and Artigasha island

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always very valuable, some farmers said they were almost like a currency. Several farmers said they exchange some of their crops today, but mostly they are grown for the home or to sell. Many newer crops, introduced after the arrival of diesel pumps are especially grown for sale. Mobile phones and the new road between Wadi Halfa and Dongola have made it easier to sell crops further away in places like Dongola and Khartoum, and also for many new foods and seeds to come to the Sikoot area.

Differences between villages There are similarities and differences in agriculture amongst villages within the Sikoot area, and between Sikoot and other Nubian areas. Many of the

same crops were grown in the time of the saqia. Since then, traditional methods of harvesting and threshing, or the use of crops popular in the past, have finished in some areas more than others. In many villages people said they no longer grow barley. In other areas sorghum was still grown in larger amounts today (mostly as a fodder crop but sometimes for food). Along the riverbank, there are often schemes further inland of the original saqia and salwka land. Near Dongola and Kerma, as well as the farms on islands and close by the river, there are also very large agricultural schemes further from the river with very long and wide canals, and sometimes wells. Often these areas specialise in growing certain crops for sale.

Birds eating cropsIn 2014, it was difficult to grow wheat on Ernetta and Abri because grains were eaten by birds in the fields and, in 2015, few farmers grew wheat. In some other villages further away wheat is still grown and birds are not a problem. Some farmers said birds also attack sorghum crops and this is one of the reasons they no longer grow it for food. However - they noticed if lots of farmers grow wheat or sorghum at the same time it is possible to grow these crops as this makes the bird problem more manageable.

Wheat field attacked by birds on Ernetta in 2014

In the past, children would pull ropes attached between platforms. Metal cans on the ropes contained pebbles, to make

noise to scare the birds

Lubias growing on a seasonal river channel near Murfraka (February 2015): when the water is not flowing crops can be grown without irrigation

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Preparing Crops - from harvesting to cooking

Crops are still harvested by hand. A threshing machine was introduced to Ernetta in the 2000s. Before, there were two main ways of threshing crops. Wheat and barley were threshed using donkeys. On Ernetta between 5-10 donkeys were harnessed together and driven around a central pole on a specially prepared surface within a field (Darrah). In Abri and Amara East there was sometimes more space for threshing and up to 15 donkeys were used. Sometimes children rode the donkey round and round treading the cereals and men would also turn the crop so that every part was trampled.

Threshing machine: used for separating wheat grains from cereal ears and ful beans from pods (above left), harvesting ful beans (below)

The other method was by hitting crops with palm fronds. Sorghum would be gathered and laid down in double rows. Women beat the tops of the cereals. This type of threshing was sometimes used for wheat or barley if only a small amount of cereals were being threshed. After threshing women winnowed the cereals using flat baskets to finish separating the grains from chaff.

Today, farming is still an important family activity with everyone helping at important times of year. Elders recalled the way people had to work together more often in the past, and the sense of community with this. If a family needed to build a new saqia often the neighbours would help. People helped each other when preparing the land, threshing crops and using the saqia. One family told us that if you had to make flour for weddings other families would help you. There were many songs for different activities.

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“Nabi terrip anashanasoka bit teyogana gorsana

diger diger darah eskusana resugana”

These lines are from an old agricultural song. Many songs used to be sung during harvesting, threshing, using the saqia and grinding cereals. In this song, someone leads the song and the others answer back in reply.

“We carry the valuable (like gold) terrip (sickle)

take your place in line to harvestwe carry the wheat to the darrah

(threshing place)”

Two types of old tradtional sickles with wooden

handles

Nubian agricultural songs

Noreigh (threshing with donkeys) in the darrah (specially prepared surface for threshing)

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Storing crops Crops used to be stored in specially made storage containers made from mud known as guiseba (gusá). These are sometimes still used but today crops are mostly stored in sacks. To prepare guiseba a layer of salt would be placed in the bottom, then a layer of the crop followed by a handful of palm leaf ash, and then alternating layers of the crop with more ash. Sometimes clean ‘white’ sand was also added. The ash helped protect against insects. When finished, the guiseba would be covered and sealed with mud. A small hole was made to take out seeds at the bottom, and the hole could be resealed with clay, grass or cloth. There are different types and sizes with some con-taining more than 30 gerat. The largest type (called shona) can contain up to 60 gerats (one gerat is approximately 6 kilos).

Shona (above) and gusá (below)

Winnowing crops to separate the grains

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Grinding cereals. A mechanical mill was installed in Abri in the 1950s, and in Ernetta in the 1960s. Before the mills the ‘jai’ was used to grind wheat, barley and sorghum. The jai is made from two circular stones. The upper stone is turned with a wooden handle and grain is poured into the central hole. Wheat and barley can also be ground on a second type of grinding stone to make a finer flour. To make kisra, sorghum flour can be ground on the jai. Afterwards, some water is added to the sorghum flour to make a paste and then the paste is ground on the second grinding stone (esain jai). Today grinding stones are rarely used.

Jai (above), esain jai (below right), mill on Ernetta (left)

After storage, small stones and weeds need to be removed before grinding

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Kisra is most often made from sor-ghum. Some families who do not grow sorghum anymore said they still buy grains in the market in Abri. Many people remembered that kisra used to be eaten more much often than today. It was also sometimes made from different grain or pulse flours, or using mixtures of flours, including barley, sorghum, pearl millet and lupin (termis). Thicker gurassa pancakes are often made

Cooking kisra

Typical Nubian breakfast, with kisra (left), ful (top),

and gurassa (right)

with wheat, and are eaten more of-ten today than kisra. In traditional kitchens kisra can be cooked on a special metal plate above a fire. Kisra can be cooked in a few minutes. The fire could be made from palm fronds because cooking was so quick. Meat dishes or balilea (boiled lubias) are cooked over another fire in a pot using acacia wood, which burns for longer. Traditional kitchens are rare-ly used today.

Traditional kitchens and food

Arabic Nubian Descriptionbelila argae boiled lubias (certain beans, see glossary),

sometimes with squash/pumpkin(similar to)

asidatoijin geira made from boiled cereals (sorghum, wheat or

other), milk and sugar. (similar to)

asidabojie geira made from boiled cereals (sorghum, wheat or

other), milk and sugar and squash/pumpkinmadida sefae jede made from fenugreek boiled in water, with added

flour and milk (wheat, sorghum, pearl millet or other) and local mineral rich clay (jede)

madida fenti jede made from fenugreek boiled in water, and local mineral rich clay, with added dates (no cereals or

milk)gurassa kabid thick spongy flatbread made mostly from wheat

today, and in the past also from different cereal or pulse flours

gurassa booka thick spongy flatbread made from sorghum flour, and sometimes with dates and milk

gurassa salaba thick spongy flatbread made from pearl millet and is used for travelling as it has a longer life

fateer eddeira thin flatbread from several flours, including wheat, barley, maize or pulses (termis or cowpea)

kisra kabineri thin flatbread made from sorghum flourwarreg or

molokheya - and then the name of the

plant

ettir dessi (means

green meal)

cooked young leafs of pea (warreg/ basilla), molokheya or other plants such as cowpea

(deginte), and sortonja (a weed).

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Madida (sefae jede)

Bread ovensBread ovens (foron) are not often used today in the home. Some families however also said these ovens were not used much before the middle of the twentieth century and that they were used more when baking wheat bread became popular. Today bread is mostly bought in the market. There is both an old wood oven bakery as well as more modern bakeries using electricity in Abri.

What do your families remember about bread ovens?

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Learning from the past

Agriculture at Amara West At Amara West – an ancient pharaonic town on the Nile founded around 1300BC – archaeologists are studying the houses to understand what life was like for the ancient inhabitants. As part of this, we are studying what crops were grown and how crops and wild plants were used for food. We are studying which crops were most important in the past, how people grew crops, and how this compares to today. Animals, such as sheep, goat, pig and cattle - as well

as fish - were also a very important part of the diet. Amara West is in the desert, but it was once on an island like Ernetta Island. When the climate became dryer around 1200 BC one of the river channels began to dry up and agriculture would have become difficult. When people lived at Amara West they only had the shaduf to irrigate the land and the saqia was only introduced hundreds of years later. Farmers at Amara West may have grown most

Villa E12.10, Amara West. It is possible to see a hearth, storage areas, a room for grinding cereal and a room with ovens for baking bread

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of their crops in salwka soils close to the river after the summer flood. The houses at Amara West have grinding stones, storage bins, hearths and ovens. Mostly things made from stone or clay survive. An area of small garden plots, perhaps for vegetables, fruit and herbs, were found at the edge of the town. Excavations of houses at Amara West are telling

us about what foods people ate and how they prepared food. We have found grinding stones to make flour, pottery for storing and cooking food, storage bins and bread ovens. There are also hearths in some rooms that were used for heating houses and possibly for cooking food. In some rooms, pots were buried in the floor, perhaps to keep the contents cool.

Storage Storage areas built in ancient houses were made from mud, mudbrick and schist slabs collected from the desert. The slabs raise the storage area above the ground. Raising guiseba from the ground helps to protect crops from being eaten by insects and animals. Do you think the people who lived in ancient houses also had to protect their crops from being eaten by insects and animals?

Do you think these look a bit like Nubian guiseba?

Storage area built on stones at Amara West

CookingBread was cooked by putting the dough on the inside wall of the ovens. Most of the houses had ovens for cooking bread, but there were also shared spaces where people could cook with their neighbours. Bread does not survive at Amara West. But some examples of bread have survived at other archaeological sites along the Nile.

Nubian cooking pot from Amara West

View down the Nile, with Amara West in desert to left

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Bread ovens from Amara West

Grinding stones at Amara West are similar to some

used today

Modern hulled barley from Ernetta (left) and

charred barley grain and rachis (stem within the cereal ear) from Amara

West (right)

Studying ancient seedsThousands of seeds can be found on archaeological sites by careful sieving of the sand and rubbish found in the houses, rooms and alleys. These seeds can tell us about the types of food people ate. Seeds can get burnt when they fall into hearths and ovens. Burnt seeds are found at Amara West in ovens and hearths.

Crops grown at Amara WestPeople at Amara West grew most of their crops in the winter and these included an ancient type of wheat called emmer, barley, peas and lentils and fenugreek. They grew watermelons and melons in the summer. Some dates stones are found at Amara West. They also ate fruits from trees that grew nearby including the doum palm, sycomore fig, and Christ’s thorn trees (nabak). These trees grew wild and were much more common in the past than they are today.

Ancient WheatThe ancient type of wheat (known as emmer wheat) is easier to grow than the wheat grown today because it needs less water. It would have been grown on saluka land. Emmer wheat is difficult to process because the chaff is difficult to remove from the grain. This type of wheat is not grown in many places in the world today.

Modern emmer wheat from Turkey

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Farming along the Nile; from the past to the presentWe are interested in how crops and other plants are affected by the climate/weather today and in the ancient past. Many crops grown today have a very long history in Sudan. Some crops used more during the time of the saqia - for example hulled barley, sorghum and lablab - were grown thousands of years ago and are found at archaeological sites. It is possible some crops were grown for so long as they are easy to grow in this climate - they do not need as much water to grow as some other crops. Sorghum was first grown in eastern Sudan around 4000 years ago, and along the Nile around 2500 years ago. After the introduction of the saqia sorghum became the most important cereal in Sudan until recent decades. Sorghum is still one of the most important crops

today in parts of Sudan where there is more rainfall. Wheat has a long history in Sudan. The original type of wheat was emmer wheat. This ancient wheat was grown in Sudan from 7000 years ago, but very little after 2000 years ago. The species of wheat used today (bread wheat) was first grown around 2000 years ago (in Sudan) but in smaller amounts than today. This is possibly because it was difficult to water adequately before the diesel pumps. Barley has been grown for 7000 years. Wheat, barley, lentils and ful were first grown in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. Sorghum, lablab and cowpea were first grown in Africa. It is possible sorghum comes from Sudan. Newer crops including maize and phasolia arrived to Sudan from the Americas after about 1500.

Philippa excavating a hearth

Small garden plots were probably used to grow vegetables and spices

Diesel pumps

2000 1950 1500 1000 0 1000 2000 5000

BC AD saqia shaduf

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English Botanical name

Nubian in Latin

script

Nubian in Arabic

script

Arabic in Latin script Arabic

barley Hordeum vulgare

seringi سينجى sha’eer شعري

bread wheat Triticum aestivum

ile إلىل gemeh قمح

sorghum Sorghum bicolor

mariie مرى durra ذرة

maize Zea mays makada مكادا durra shami الذرة الشامية

pearl millet Pennisetum glaucum

foto فوتو dukhn الدخن

broadbean Vicia faba ful فول ful فول

cowpea Vigna unguiuclata

deginte دقينتى lubia hilu لوبيا حلوة

chickpea Cicer arietinum

kapkabeh حمص

lablab Lablab purpureus

kashrengei كرشينقى lubia afin لوبيا عفن

pea Pisum satiivum

orrey أورى basilla, woreig بسله / بازال

lupin Lupinus albus akinday أكيندى termis ترمس

fenugreek Trigonella foenum-graecum

karim كرم helba حلبة

haricot bean Phaseolus vulgaris

fasulia فاصوليا

pigeon pea Cajanus cajan lubia adassi لوبيا عديس

lentil Lens culinaris adis baladi عدس

alfalfa Medicago sativa

berseem برسيم

watermelon Citrullus lanatus

battikh بطيخ

melon Cucumis melo shammam شامم

dom Hyphaene thebaica

ambo أمبو Dom دوم

dates Phoenix dactylifera

fenti فنتي baleh بلح

English Nubian in Latin script

Nubian inArabic script

Arabic in Latin script

Arabic

river banks gerf الجرف gerf الجرف

higher river banks qurer قورير qurer القرير

permanent land barju برجو barju الربجوك

storage bin gusá قوسا guiseba قسيبة

large storage bin shona شونا

basket shibir شرب selal السالل

flat basket adda أدا/ بوجى tabac طبق

flatbread* kabanari كبرني kisra كرسه

sickle treep ترب minjel منجل

winnowing sileh سىل gharbala غربلة

hoe tobro توبرو torea مجرفة

grindingstone jai جاى rahai رحاية

tool for making canal wassou واسوق al wassou الواسوق

saqia eskale أسكىل saqia الساقية

shaduf keeyá كيي shaduf الشادوف

field plot fa فا hode حوض الزراعه

place for threshing darrah دار

threshing with donkey noriegh نوريق

An erbil, torea and wassou (from left to right)

Glossary of plant and agricutural terms

*- for further detail on foods see page 36

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The writerI study ancient and modern plants and crops. I am an archaeologist working as part of the team at the archaeological site Amara West near Ernetta Island. I became interested in learning about agriculture and how it had been changing.

Writing this bookIn 2014 and 2015 I visited many families in their homes and farms. I talked to farmers about what crops were grown in the past, how they grew them, and what sorts of food they made. I hoped to study the recent and ancient history of these crops.

I interviewed farmers and their families with the help of Katherine Homewood (UCL), Mohammed Hassan, Mazar Mahir, and Musa Alfdul. In 2017 I began a new project to write this book based on the interviews.This book is for school children and their families. In 2018 I came back to Ernetta and Abri to talk to people about the book and to check its contents before printing in Khartoum. Mohamed Saad, Mohammed Hassan and Najat Abdulhaq helped me with the translation, and Hasan Sorta, Kamil Gundi, Ahmed Mustafa, Mirgani Saleh, Ali Jalal, Ali Ahmed, Abdul Halig and Nora Shalaby with editing.

Acknowledgements: Many thanks to all of the farmers and their families on Ernetta and the Abri area that we interviewed and that helped with this project. This research forms part of the Amara West Research Project, undertaken with the support and permission of the National Corporation of Museums and Antiquities and its Director General Dr Abdelrahman Ali Mohamed. Many thanks also to Shadia Abdu Rabo and Mohamed Saad from the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums of Sudan (NCAM). Thanks to the director of the British Museum Amara West Research Project, Dr Neal Spencer, and the project team, and Caroline Cartwright (the British Museum) for their support and advice, and also to my interpreters and those that have helped with editing the Arabic. Thanks to Carla Turchini for her advice on design. Thanks also to Maha Kordofani (Khartoum University), and Elrashid Abdallah Fageer (Agricultural Research Centre Dongola). This book is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Global Challenges Research Fund as part of the ‘Learning from the past: Nubian traditional knowledge and agricultural resilience, crop choices and endangered cultural heritage’ project [AH/R004536/1] and is based on work undertaken as part of the ‘Subsistence and sustainability in a changing Sudan’ project [AH/K006193/1], which was funded under the AHRC Care for the Future research theme. Further funding for research on agriculture past and present was received through the Leverhulme Trust and the Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project.

www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/sudan/amara_west_research_project/sustainability_and_subsistence.aspx

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/all_current_projects/sudan/amara_west_research_project/nubian_agricultural_knowledge.aspx

Contents and book design for English and Arabic versions: Philippa RyanPhotographs:[page 3, 40-46] Amara West Research Project, the British Museum[page 2, 7] Google Earth, [page 7] Corona satellite imagery.All other photographs by Philippa Ryan.Illustrations: by Claire Thorne (colour), Aurelie Baudry Palmer and Mohamed Saad (line drawings)

First published 2018 by the Trustees of the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG.All rights reserved.Printing: Khartoum, London.British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.ISBN: 978 0 7141 8227 8

ISBN: 978-0- 7141- 8227- 8