PCMA Seminar: Robert Mahler - BONES from the Cemetery A in Naqlun

The talk is entitled: “Textiles, coffins, and bones from Cemetery A in Naqlun: Research in progress”. Its authors are Dr. Robert Mahler, Barbara Czaja, and Iwona Zych.
Abstract: “The so-called Cemetery A is one of the most prominent features discovered in Naqlun since the beginning of the archaeological works undertaken on the site in 1986. Located on the upper plateau at the foot of the Jebel el‑Naqlun, the cemetery intertwined with the ruins of the central complex of the semi-anachoretic monastery established there most probably in the 5/6th century CE. The first graves appeared on the plateau most probably in the 11th century CE and the upper horizon for the last burial there is now provisionally set to the 13th century. A substantial part of the cemetery was excavated along the remains of the buildings constituting the focal point of the research at the site hence the relatively high number of more than five hundred graves unearthed so far.
In our research we aim to reconstruct the history of Cemetery A and the community that buried its dead there. We would like to present the current state and potential of the work conducted by combining the results of studies of the most numerous categories of finds which are: textiles, coffins, and human skeletal remains.”
Current in-the-field studies of the Cemetery A at Naqlun are financed within the scope of the SONATA grant of the National Science Centre, Poland (2022/47/D/HS3/02162).