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Schlagwort-Archive: Ferka
Veröffentlicht am 23. Dezember 2022 von Julia Budka
Rock art in Sudan has become one of my favourite topics ever since I worked in the Fourth Cataract region in the 2000s. Within the MUAFS concession between Attab and Ferka, there are not many sites with rock drawings. Unsurprisingly, rock art is restricted to certain areas with fitting geology and large boulders – in our concession these are the districts of Ferka, Mograkka and Kosha (Fig. 1). Close to Mograkka, one particularly handsome engraving was chosen as the basis for the MUAFS logo.
Fig. 1: Map with rock art sites located in the MUAFS concession (status 2020).
Some of these sites are located in close proximity to Kerma funerary sites. This holds especially true for 3-P-14 (Kosha West), 3-G-18 (Ferka East) and 3-P-5 (Kosha East).
3-G-18 is located on rocky outcrops within the large plain of Ferka and directly adjacent to the Kerma cemetery 3-G-16 (Fig. 2). Kerma cemetery 3-G-19 is also not far away. These sites are of particular interest because they are the northernmost Kerma sites in our concession.
Fig. 2: Map showing the close relations between Kerma cemetery 3-G-16 and rock art site 3-G-18.
The largest rock art site is located at the border between Mograkka and Kosha East, site 3-P-5, with more than 400 individual rock art pictures (Vila 1976, 79‒87). The motifs comprise mostly cattle, antelopes, some human depictions, birds, dogs and other animals (Figs. 3-4).
Fig. 3: Example of rock engravings in 3-P-5. Cattle is the most frequent motif.
Fig. 4: Example of rock engravings in 3-P-5. This boulder shows cattle, but also birds, humans and possibly a dog.
While Vila left the dating as unclear, most of the rock art pictures at 3-P-5 seem to belong to the Kerma period (Budka 2020). Similar to 3-G-18 in Ferka, there are Kerma sites in the close proximity to 3-P-5 which support this dating.
In all phases of the Kerma culture, the dominant motif of rock art is cattle. Of course this reflects the importance of cattle herding to Kerma people – some aspects of which were recently addressed by Jérôme Dubosson at one of our DiverseNile Seminar Series 2022. In the words by Louis Chaix: "Cattle are a key constituent element of the civilization of Kerma. They played a major role in the diet of the population and as a source of secondary products such as milk, hides, and raw materials for making tools. They also contributed to agriculture as traction animals." (Chaix 2017). Within the DiverseNile project, we aim to address the local role of cattle for the Kerma people by means of a multidisciplinary approach, combining landscape archaeology with bioarchaeology and of course analysing all kinds of archaeological findings like animal bones, animal figurines and engraved figures of cattle in rock art.
Coming back to the question of rock art, the spatial proximity of rock art panels depicting cattle and Kerma funerary sites was already noted by Cornelia Kleinitz in the Fourth Cataract region (Kleinitz 2007). As tempting as it is to link these rock drawings with Kerma funerary cult, at the Fourth Cataract and also in the MUAFS concession, a precise dating of cattle depictions in rock art often remains impossible.
Nevertheless, we will soon be back in the field in Sudan – one of the goals for the 2023 season is to expand the documentation of rock art in our concession, with a special focus on possible Kerma sites. Contextualising rock art sites clearly has much potential for a closer understanding of their date and function.
Budka, Julia 2020. Kerma presence at Ginis East: the 2020 season of the Munich University Attab to Ferka survey project. Sudan & Nubia 24, 57-71.
Chaix, Louis 2017. Cattle: a major component of the Kerma culture (Sudan). Edited by Umberto Albarella, Mauro Rizzetto, Hannah Russ, Kim Vickers, and Sarah Viner-Daniels. Oxford Handbooks Online 2017 (April), 15 p.; 4 figs. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199686476.013.2
Kleinitz, Cornelia 2007. Rock art and archaeology: the Hadiab survey. Sudan & Nubia 11, 34-42
Vila, André 1976. La prospection archéologique de la Vallée du Nil, au Sud de la Cataracte de Dal (Nubie Soudanaise). Fascicule 4: District de Mograkka (Est et Ouest), District de Kosha (Est et Ouest). Paris.
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit cattle, Ferka, Kerma, Kosha, Mograkka, Rock art | Schreibe einen Kommentar
Preparing for the International Conference of Nubian Studies in Warsaw
Veröffentlicht am 26. August 2022 von Julia Budka
Four years have passed since the last International Conference of Nubian Studies in Paris and on Sunday, the 2022 edition of the 15th congress will start in Warsaw.
Rennan, Chloë and I will be attending, and I will present the MUAFS project and its main results of the last years. My paper will give an overview of our activities from 2018 until 2022, with a special focus on the ongoing subproject ERC DiverseNile focusing on the Bronze Age remains. I will introduce our landscape biography approach in the Attab to Ferka region as the investigation of encounters of humans and landscapes in a peripheral borderscape with a longue-durée perspective, considering all attested finds from Palaeolithic times until the Islamic age.
For the presentation, I updated our list of sites and processed some of the quantitative data. At present, a total of 266 sites was documented. This comprises 186 of the 219 Vila sites as well as 80 newly identified sites. This number of sites is still preliminary because parts of Kosha, Mograkka and Ferka on the West bank have not yet been surveyed.
Regarding the types of sites, the most common sites are settlements and burial grounds. However, it is also remarkable that the MUAFS concession includes one granite quarry, one gold extraction site and several rock art sites.
Main types of sites in the MUAFS concession (status 2022).
As far as the dating of the sites in concerned, the majority belongs to the Medieval time. However, Bronze Age sites, here labelled as Kerma and New Kingdom sites, which are relevant to the DiverseNile project are also well represented. There are also several multi-period sites and others were re-used in later periods (e.g. Kerma sites in Medieval times).
Dating of the MUAFS sites. Note that the total number of sites for this table is 283 since several sites were used in more than one period. The Kerma and New Kingdom sites are currently being investigated by the DiverseNile project.
I will also present some general patterns of the distribution of sites throughout the ages. This allows to highlight the importance of environmental parameters and changing landscapes in the region.
Although my last visit to Warsaw was just in May this year, I cannot wait to be back in this beautiful town. I am very much looking forward to the Nubian conference and meeting all the international colleagues working in Sudan.
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Attab, Bronze Age, Ferka, ICNS 2022, landscape, Medieval, multi-period, survey | Schreibe einen Kommentar
Surveying between Attab and Ferka: the 2021/2022 season
We have returned safely from Sudan and our short preparation season of the Munich University Attab to Ferka Survey Project (MUAFS) in its research concession between Attab and Ferka from Dec. 29 to January 9 was very successful.
Huda, our driver Saif and I getting ready to leave for another day of surveying the area (photo: C. Geiger).
Huda and I conducted a foot survey in areas of Attab East, Attab West, Ginis East, Ginis West and Ferka West. The focus was on the identification of sites already recorded by Vila. We were able to document a total of 79 sites, comprising 21 new MUAFS sites. The sites range in date from Palaeolithic times to the Medieval and Ottoman eras. The types of sites are mostly camp sites, habitations, and tombs/cemeteries, but also include rock art and stone wadi walls.
Surveyed area of the 2021/2022 season (map: C. Geiger).
Whenever possible, we collected diagnostic pottery and lithics from the sites for dating purposes. I was able to document most of them by photography and also managed to draw 35 Kerma and New Kingdom sherds. Most interesting are some newly documented New Kingdom sites, attesting to both a use in the 18th Dynasty and a Ramesside presence in the periphery of Amara West.
One example of a newly documented site, unfortunatly recently plundered (photo: J. Budka).
One particularly striking site, a cluster of cleft tombs at Ginis East, has never been documented before but was unfortunately lately plundered. And this is not an isolated example! Recent plundering, modern gold working, new electricity lines and damaged caused by car tracks, roads and new buildings are unfortunately very frequent, have increased since 2020 and stress how urgently we need to document this rich area in the Middle Nile.
The surveying campaign carried out by Cajetan resulted in the setup of new benchmarks using a GPS Antenna and a totalstation in Attab East, Ginis East and Ginis West. We will use these benchmarks as basis for future measurements during our planned excavations. Drone aerial photography was successfully conducted in Ginis East, Ginis West and Ferka West.
All in all, I am very grateful to the support of our Sudanese friends and colleagues – without them our work at site would not have been possible in these very difficult times of political changes. We collected a large amount of new data and will now be very busy processing these here in Munich – and of course we will keep you updated.
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Attab, Ferka, Ginis, gold working, New Kingdom, survey | Schreibe einen Kommentar
DiverseNile Seminar Series 2022: Perspectives from landscape and resource management
We are very pleased to announce the DiverseNile Seminar Series for 2022. As a follow up of this year's event, we will now focus on material culture and society in Bronze Age Nubia and respective perspectives from landscape and resource management.
It is my pleasure to open the Seminar Series on January 25 with an introduction and some ideas about global networks and local agents in the Middle Nile. Middle Nile contact space biographies we are currently reconstructing for the Attab to Ferka region provide a complex picture of a social space as a home to diverse groups and actors, rather than a static landscape and the periphery of centre-oriented narratives of New Kingdom Nubia. Our aim within the DiverseNile project is to decode, through our interdisciplinary studies, the economic role of the Attab to Ferka region for the principal centres, as a production area, and as land for animal husbandry and agriculture as well as for mining activities and gold production.
Rennan Lemos managed to gather a splendid group of speakers for the talks, covering a large set of topics from pottery technology to animal husbandry, gold extraction and much more.
We are looking much forward to this event and registration for the online DiverseNile Seminar Series 2022 is already open! Hoping to see many of you there – we will keep you updated about the specific schedule of the talks (always Tuesday, 1pm CET)!
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit agriculture, animal husbandry, Attab, Ferka, gold working, landscape, Middle Nile, mining, resources | Schreibe einen Kommentar
Cemeteries between Attab and Ferka: What to expect from them?
Veröffentlicht am 29. Juli 2021 von Rennan Lemos
Before we're able to go to the field, a lot of work on the cemeteries in our concession area is currently underway from Munich. Marion's recent blog posts already discussed the potential of magnetometry for us to better understand what we are dealing with, and this is especially true in connection with Cajetan's remote sensing work. Cajetan's work has been revealing some interesting aspects of our sites and hopefully you'll be able to catch glimpses of his work soon in here.
This work provides important background regarding the specificities of our sites. Alongside an assessment of the cemeteries and comparison with other sites across Nubia, this allows us to put together an 'ideal type' (sensu Max Weber) that can guide us through future survey and excavation. The data sets produced by Vila, as well as previous MUAFS seasons, are also crucial for us to establish this ideal type, which works as a methodological tool to confirm our hypotheses (or not).
In my previous posts, I've already shared details about the assessment of sites I've been carrying out over the past months. Base on Vila's data, we can know what to expect from the cemeteries in terms of preservation, types of structures etc. For example, the Late New Kingdom "tomb of Isis" works an example of "elite" or "sub-elite" burial ground in the periphery of temple towns, where Egyptian and Nubian features mixed, probably to a greater extent than at temple towns—an example of hypothesis that we can create departing from an ideal type. This mixture occurred, for instance, in the combination of Egyptian substructures and a tumuli superstructure, remains of which were located in previous MUAFS seasons (see my previous posts). Departing from an ideal type such as the "tomb of Isis" we can approach how the ideal varies across geographical and social spaces within our concession area.
For example, Marion and Cajetan's work are shedding light on the extension of cemeteries where we can easily see from above those tumuli, some of which already explored by Vila, but also other features. It is difficult to determine from a distance what is the nature of this evidence. Comparative research then comes in handy. I've already proposed a discussion on the whereabouts of the majority of the Nubian population during the New Kingdom (a discussion that also applies to the Kerma period).
Figure 1: tomb types at Fadrus, adapted from Spence 2019, based on Säve-Söderbergh and Troy 1991.
Other Nubian cemeteries such as Fadrus in Lower Nubia add information about non-elite groups to our ideal type (figure 1). If larger tumuli such as the "tomb of Isis" are easily located based on drone and satellite imagery, simple non-elite pit graves originally with no extensive superstructures pose more challenges. Though, comparisons allow us to open up to possibilities that include, in our research framework, social groups not clearly represented by evidence accumulated from large temple-town cemeteries. These groups—which comprised the bulk of Nubian populations working in the fields, mines, and probably carrying out other work in the service of larger centres—are yet to be fully understood (and here work at the cemeteries of Amarna provide us interesting comparison points, see Stevens 2018).
Several are the challenges of doing research from the office, as we cannot yet go to the field. But work conducted so far, from various fronts, help us establish a pretty solid starting point from which to explore our sites knowing more or less what to expect. This takes into account old and new evidence, extensive comparisons with other sites and a clear theoretical framework, which is essential to formulate research questions and carry out large scale projects such as DiverseNile.
Säve-Söderbergh and Troy 1991. New Kingdom pharaonic sites: the finds and the sites.
Spence 2019. New Kingdom burials in Lower and Upper Nubia. In Handbook of Ancient Nubia, ed. D. Raue.
Stevens 2018. Death and the city: The cemeteries of Amarna in their urban context. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 28 (1): 103–126. doi:10.1017/S0959774317000592
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Amarna, Attab, Fadrus, Ferka, Ginis, Kerma, non-elite cemeteries, sub-elite | Schreibe einen Kommentar
Where's the population of New Kingdom colonial Nubia?
Veröffentlicht am 28. Mai 2021 von Rennan Lemos
David Edwards' recent publication of 'Pharaonic' remains in the Batn el-Hajar provides an important comparison point for us to understand the evidence from DiverseNile's concession area from Attab to Ferka. From a mortuary landscape perspective, Edwards criticises archaeology's traditional focus on elite tombs in the Middle Nile saying that we "should not narrow our perspectives, to the exclusion from our narratives of the vast majority of the population who were buried otherwise" in areas other than the centres of foreign colonial power in Nubia (Edwards 2020: 396).
Until recently, a similar picture could be drawn for Egypt. Despite large non-elite cemeteries being known since the early 20th century (e.g., Matmar or Gurob), a monumental/elite bias characterised historical narratives about New Kingdom Egypt (see Richards 2005). Only recently, with the identification and excavation of large non-elite cemeteries at Amarna (Kemp et al. 2013), more scholars are paying attention to other social realities beyond the imposition of elite social spaces.
The long history of archaeology in the Middle Nile has been strongly marked by colonisation, ancient and modern. Nubia's history, especially in the New Kingdom, has remained, for a long time, in the shadow of Egypt's history. This manifested as the discipline's Egyptocentric focus on sites of colonial administration, its textual sources and elite cemeteries, which yielded Egyptian-style objects interpreted as essentially 'Egyptian'—a manifestation of the alleged acculturation of passive local communities placed in lower ranks of 'civilisation'. Traditional, Egyptocentric research agendas contributed further to silencing past colonised groups, which only appear in Egyptian textual sources in inferior positions.
As a result, we still know barely anything about the majority of the population of New Kingdom Nubia, which inhabited areas other than the major colonial centres of power, e.g., Aniba, Sai, Soleb. The cemeteries at these sites house a small number of monumental tombs that, although used collectively, still represent a tiny fraction of society across the history of ancient colonial Nubia.
Who were the majority of the population of New Kingdom Nubia? Where did those people live and where were they buried? Where did they come from? Under what conditions did they live (and die)? Although research is moving forward to address new topics (see Spencer et al. 2017), these are questions that haven't been explored for Nubia yet, mostly due to archaeology's focus on acculturation/Egyptianisation in the New Kingdom.
Areas such as the Batn el-Hajar and the region south of Dal cataract, including DiverseNile's concession from Attab to Ferka, are unlikely to yield monumental elite tombs. However, peripheral, today inhospitable desert areas along the Middle Nile hold an enormous potential to impact our narratives about ancient Nubia's colonial past, shedding light on alternative histories, experiences and forms of being-in-the-world beyond Egyptological/Egyptocentric research interests grounded on sites of Egyptian colonial administration in the New Kingdom. So, where did the majority of the population live and die in New Kingdom Nubia? Likely in the geographical and social gaps along the Nile still to be fully explored.
Even at colonial administrative centres, such as Aniba, Sai and Soleb, social relations were more complex than simply being 'Egyptian'. Recent work confirmed, through isotopic analysis, that local individuals lived at those sites and worked in colonial administration; e.g., the master of goldsmiths Khnumose and other individuals close to him (Budka 2021). My previous work on the distribution and use of Egyptian-style objects in local contexts in colonial Nubia, which included subversive transformations of stylistic and use patterns, also show that things weren't homogenous in colonial Nubia (Lemos 2020).
Currently, we know very few non-elite cemeteries in New Kingdom colonial Nubia. If social relations were far from being uniform at colonial centres of power, at non-elite cemeteries there was even more room for negotiations, which resulted in the shaping of alternative material realities and experiences of colonisation. Examples from non-elite cemetery of Fadrus in Lower Nubia allow us to understand better such negotiations, which could result in alternative social relations other than imposed colonial hierarchies (e.g., collective engagement and collaboration), as I have argued in a forthcoming paper (Lemos forthcoming).
Fadrus alone doesn't fill the gap in our knowledge about the vast majority of the population of New Kingdom colonial Nubia, neither does the collective use of elite tombs at the centres of colonial administration. In both elite, administrative sites and non-elite sites, Egyptian-style material culture opens windows to complexity and diversity beyond previous homogenising interpretations of New Kingdom colonial Nubia that reflect disciplinary colonial traditions and interests. Therefore, turning our attention to 'peripheral' regions previously neglected holds an immense potential for us not only to detect this vast mass of population left out of historical narratives, but also to uncover alternatives to colonial homogenisation (ancient and modern) through people's diverse experiences of landscape, society and culture.
Fig. 1: non-elite graves at Ginis East (Villa 1977: 39).
Vila's survey identified several burial sites, which are comparable to non-elite cemeteries, although most of the Vila sites don't seem to be large "formal" cemeteries like Fadrus (figure 1). DiverseNile's focus on the regions where the majority of the population of the New Kingdom colonial Nubia lived and died is an important step towards understanding diversity and complexity in heterogeneous New Kingdom Nubia. Exploring such sites in comparison with other sites in Nubia holds a huge potential for us to rewrite Nubia's diverse history in the New Kingdom, which was characterised by various, sometimes competing material experiences of colonisation, especially considering the creative potential of people living and dying at the fringes of society.
Budka, J. forthcoming 2021. Tomb 26 on Sai island: A New Kingdom elite tomb and its relevance for Sai and beyond. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Edwards, D. 2020. The Archaeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia, 1963-69. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Kemp, B. J. et al. 2013. Life, Death and Beyond in Akhenaten's Egypt: Excavating the South Tombs Cemetery at Amarna. Antiquity 87: 64–78.
Lemos, R. 2020. Material culture and colonization in ancient Nubia: Evidence from the New Kingdom cemeteries. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, ed. C. Smith. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1.
Lemos, R. forthcoming 2022. Heart Scarabs and other heart-related objects in New Kingdom Nubia. Sudan & Nubia 25.
Richards, R. 2005. Society and death in ancient Egypt. Cambridge: CUP.
Spencer, N. et al. 2017. Introduction: History and historiography of a colonial entanglement, and the shaping of new archaeologies for Nubia in the New Kingdom. In Nubia in the New Kingdom: Lived experience, pharaonic control and indigenous traditions, ed. N. Spencer, A. Stevens and M. Binder, 1–61. Leuven: Peeters.
Vila, A. 1977. La prospection archeologique de la valee du Nil au sud de la cataracte de Dal 5. Paris: CNRS.
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Nubia, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Attab, Batn el-Hagar, Egyptocentric, Ferka, Ginis, non-elite cemeteries, population | Schreibe einen Kommentar
Kerma Tombs from Attab to Ferka
Veröffentlicht am 26. März 2021 von Rennan Lemos
Sudan & Nubia 24 is now out and it includes a paper by PI Julia Budka on the Kerma presence at Ginis East (Budka 2020). The paper also presents an updated overview of MUAFS fieldwork, which relates to my work in the DiverseNile Project focusing on Kerma, New Kingdom and early Napatan cemeteries in the region. In the past three seasons, the MUAFS team reidentified hundreds of sites firstly described by Vila, but also identified 40 additional sites so far, including tombs which are of interest to my subproject. In my previous posts, I have focused mainly on the New Kingdom. Here I will present a brief overview of the Kerma presence, as attested by cemetery sites and isolated tombs, in Attab-Ferka (figure 1).
Figure 1: Kerma sites in the region from Attab to Ferka (status 2020). Budka 2020, fig. 13.
I have previously mentioned that, for the New Kingdom, our knowledge is mainly based on evidence from major colonial settlements and cemeteries. There are clear geographical gaps in what we know about the Egyptian colonisation of Nubia in areas such as the Batn el-Hajjar (Edwards 2020) or the MUAFS concession area. A similar situation occurs during the Kerma Period. As Julia Budka pointed out in her recent S&N paper, evidence from Attab-Ferka is extremely relevant "to address the issue of the borders of the Kerma kingdom as well as cultural manifestations of what has been labelled as 'rural Kerma'" (Budka 2020: 63).
Veronica Hinterhuber's last post provided an overview of her general database of sites based on information published by Vila. Her work is invaluable for my preliminary assessment of mortuary sites in our concession area. Based on her database, 10 mortuary sites first identified by Vila as dating to the Kerma Period can help us to preliminarily understand the Kerma spread in the region. Recent fieldwork has identified a large degree of destruction and plundering at those sites, which makes it important to revisit previously published and archival data with a fresh mindset to extract valuable information. Comparison with other sites, especially those at the Kerma hinterland and other 'peripheral' zones across Nubia, also help us shed light onto blurred spots in our datasets from Attab-Ferka.
Besides the overall plundering, Kerma tombs in the region were tumuli with granite superstructures (usually not preserved) and oval or large rectangular pits containing bone fragments, sherds and very rarely burial goods (e.g., faience beads). Kerma tombs were either larger, aprioristically isolated tombs or part of cemeteries grouping a higher number of burials; e.g., at Ferka East and Kosha East. A few skeletons were found in situ, although plundered. They were all deposited in a flexed position, sometimes on a bed; e.g. at Ferka East. Kerma tombs were reused in the Christian Period. For instance, one wrapped body dating to this period was found inside a Kerma tomb at Kitfogga, Ferka East. Sherds usually include Kerma beakers and goblets. Due to plundering, it is difficult to determine, based on the amount of information currently available, whether these burials were characterised by a simple approach to graves goods or not. Comparison with sites such as Abu Fatima, where Stuart Tyson Smith and Sarah Schrader are currently working, should allow us to gain a better picture of continuity and variation in Kerma contact spaces between, for instance, elites and non-elites or urban and rural communities.
The region from Attab to Ferka was not only a contact space within the Kerma state. It was also an area where the Kerma 'culture' interacted with Egyptian patterns. For example, one very interesting burial was excavated by Vila at Shagun Dukki, Ginis East, where c. 10 other tombs were detected (figure 2). It consisted of a shallow, oval pit inside of which a flexed skeleton was found (disturbed). Together with the skeleton, a bone scarab was found in the right hand, a common pattern at Classic Kerma burials at Kerma city (Minor 2012: 144). Most scarabs found at Kerma city bear similarities with scarabs from Second Intermediate Period Egypt and Syria-Palestine and would have been acquired either via trade or reuse of graves in Lower Nubia (Minor 2012: 138-140). It is difficult to read the signs on the base of the scarab from Shagun Dukki. Moreover, bone was a material used to manufacture various items in the Kerma Period, as well as among other Nubian communities, and worked as a Nubian identity marker in the New Kingdom. Were bone scarabs the result of local copying practices? Looking at the evidence from Attab-Ferka holds the potential to shed light on internal contact and variability within the Kerma realm, as well as the local roles of foreign objects in local contexts in this period.
Figure 2: A Kerma burial at Shagun Dukki, Ginis East (Vila 1977: 25).
Gratien has previously pointed out how little we know about the Kerma state outside Kerma city, as well as how the Kerma state related to other 'Nubian' communities north and south of the Third Cataract (Gratien 2014: 95; 1978; Bonnet 2014). Evidence from Sai (Gratien 1986) and the Fourth Cataract (Paner 2014; Herbst and Smith 2014; Wlodarska 2014; Emberling et al. 2014) can illuminate further aspects of the spread of Kerma throughout the Middle Nile. The publication of evidence from Lower Nubia is also much expected (see Edwards 2020). Recent scholarship has also been shedding light on alternative, 'rural' experiences of the Kerma state outside of Kerma city (Akmenkalns 2018) and comparative, 'global' perspectives on specific categories of artefacts across cultural borders provide interesting avenues of inquiry (Walsh 2020). In a few years, the results of the DiverseNile Project will also contribute to our understanding of a more complex and diversified landscape beyond rigid cultural divisions.
Akmenkalns, J. 2018. Cultural continuity and change in the wake of ancient Nubian-Egyptian interactions. PhD thesis, University of California Santa Barbara.
Bonnet, C. 2014. Forty years research on Kerma cultures. In The Fourth Cataract and beyond, eds. J. Anderson and D. Welsby, 81-94. Leuven: Peeters.
Budka, J. 2020. Kerma presence at Ginis East: The 2020 season of the Munich University Attab to Ferka Survey Project. Sudan & Nubia 24: 57-71.
Edwards, D. ed. 2020. The Archaeological Survey of Sudanese Nubia, 1963-69. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Emberling, G. et al. 2014. Peripheral vision: Identity at the margins of the early Kingdom of Kush. In The Fourth Cataract and beyond, eds. J. Anderson and D. Welsby, 329-336. Leuven: Peeters.
Gratien, B 1986. Saï I. La Nécropole Kerma. Paris: CNRS.
Gratien, B. 1978. Les cultures Kerma: essai de classification. Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Publications de l'Université de Lille III.
Gratien, B. 2014. Kerma north of the Third Cataract. In The Fourth Cataract and beyond, eds. J. Anderson and D. Welsby, 95-101. Leuven: Peeters.
Herbst, G. and S. T. Smith. 2014. Pre-Kerma transition at the Nile Fourth Cataract: First assessments of a multi-component, stratified prehistoric settlement in the UCSB/ASU Salvage Concession. In The Fourth Cataract and beyond, eds. J. Anderson and D. Welsby, 311-320. Leuven: Peeters.
Minor, E. 2012. The Use of Egyptian and Egyptianizing Material Culture in Nubian Burials of the Classic Kerma Period. PhD thesis, University of California Berkeley.
Paner, H. 2014. Kerma Culture in the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. In The Fourth Cataract and beyond, eds. J. Anderson and D. Welsby, 53-80. Leuven: Peeters.
Walsh, C. 2020. Techniques for Egyptian eyes: Diplomacy and the transmission of cosmetic practices between Egypt and Kerma. Journal of Egyptian History 13: 295-332.
Wlodarska, M. 2014. Kerma burials in the Fourth Cataract region – Three seasons of excavations at Shemkhiya. In The Fourth Cataract and beyond, eds. J. Anderson and D. Welsby, 321-328. Leuven: Peeters.
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Nubia, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit cemetery, Ferka, funerary culture, Ginis, Kerma, Kosha, tombs | Schreibe einen Kommentar
The periphery of New Kingdom urban centres in the Middle Nile
My ERC project DiverseNile focuses on the Attab to Ferka region as a peripheral zone in the neighbourhood of Amara West and Sai Island. However, I do not apply the problematic core-periphery concept for our case study of the Bronze Age, but I have introduced the contact space biography approach.
This morning, I just read a very inspiring paper I found in a new open access journal: Federica Sulas and Innocent Pikirayi wrote about "From Centre-Periphery Models to Textured Urban Landscapes: Comparative Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa".
They review the relations between ancient capital centres in Africa and their peripheries, using Aksum and Great Zimbabwe as case studies. They include a very good introduction about the history of research from central-place theory and world-system theory to network theories and stress that "archaeological research on centre–periphery relations has largely focused on the structure of integrated, regional economic systems" (Sulas and Pikirayi 2020, 67). Like DiverseNile, they advocate to take the dynamics of interactions into account, the fluidity of what is considered "centre" and what "periphery".
In Nubian studies and Egyptology, there is a considerable gap of work at sites in the periphery of major settlements (see Moeller 2016, 25). At present, despite of much progress on settlement patterns in Nubia during the New Kingdom (see e.g. Budka and Auenmüller 2018) we still know almost nothing about the surroundings of administrative centres set up by the Egyptians in the Middle Nile and the cultural processes within this periphery. The urban centres of this period in the Middle Nile are the Egyptian type towns Amara West, Sai, Soleb, Sesebi and Tombos and Kerma City as capital of the Nubian Kerma Kingdom. Very little rural settlements have been investigated up to now, creating a dearth of means to contextualise the central sites (Spencer et al. 2017: 42). Sites classified as 'Egyptian' apart from the main centres are almost unknown (Edwards 2012) and there are only two case studies for Kerma 'provincial' sites with Gism el-Arba (Gratien et al. 2003; 2008) and H25 near Kawa (Ross 2014).
If we want to understand the proper dynamics of Bronze Age Middle Nile, this bias between studies of urban centres and rural places in the so-called peripheries needs to be addressed. However, such a new study should avoid the problematic issues of a hierarchy of sites associated with the centre-periphery relations. Thus, DiverseNile intends to offer a new model focusing on the landscape and consequently human and non-human actors in a defined contact space.
Our new approach: beyond core and periphery
Within the DiverseNile project, we understand the Attab to Ferka area as a dynamic, fluid contact space shaped by diverse human and non-human actors. My main thesis is that we need to investigate cultural relations and coalitions between people on a regional level within the so-called periphery of the main urban centres in order to catch a more direct cultural footprint than what the elite sources and state built foundations can reveal. I expect that cultural refigurations reflected in material remains are partly less, partly more visible than in the centres shaped by elite authorities, where dynamic cultural developments are often disguised under an 'official' appearance. However, I completely agree with Sulas and Pikirayi that: "Peripheral settlements are always an integral part of the core, as these play a crucial part in enhancing the dynamics exhibited at the centre" (Sulas and Pikirayi 2020, 80). Thus, our new work in the Attab to Ferka region will allow us to contextualise the findings at sites like Amara West and Sai further.
There is still much work to do and data to assess, but I am positive that in the next few years, we will be able to propose a new understanding of 'centres' and 'peripheries' in Bronze Age Middle Nile (see already the stimulating article by Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos 2009).
Budka, Julia and Auenmüller, Johannes 2018. Eds. From Microcosm to Macrocosm. Individual households and cities in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Leiden.
Edwards, David N. 2012. The Third-Second Millennia BC. Kerma and New Kingdom Settlements, 59–87, in: A. Osman and D.N. Edwards (eds.), Archaeology of a Nubian frontier. Survey on the Nile Third Cataract, Sudan. Leicester.
Gratien, Brigitte et al. 2003. Gism el-Arba, habitat 2. Rapport préliminaire sur un centre de stockage Kerma au bord du Nil, Cahiers de Recherches de l'Institut de Papyrologie et d'Égyptologie de Lille 23, 29–43.
Gratien, Brigitte et al. 2008. Gism el-Arba – Habitat 2, Campagne 2005–2006, Kush 19 (2003–2008), 21–35.
Hafsaas-Tsakos, Henriette 2009. The Kingdom of Kush: An African Centre on the Periphery of the Bronze Age World System, Norwegian Archaeological Review 42, 50–70.
Moeller, Nadine 2016. The Archaeology of Urbanism in Ancient Egypt. From the Prehistoric Period to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge.
Ross, T.I. 2014. El-Eided Mohamadein (H25): A Kerma, New Kingdom and Napatan settlement on the Alfreda Nile, Sudan & Nubia 18, 58‒68.
Spencer, Neal et al. 2017. Introduction: History and historiography of a colonial entanglement, and the shaping of new archaeologies for Nubia in the New Kingdom, 1‒61, in: N. Spencer, A. Stevens and M. Binder (eds.), Nubia in the New Kingdom. Lived Experience, Pharaonic Control and Indigenous Traditions. British Museum Publications on Egypt and Sudan 3. Leuven.
Sulas, Federica and Pikirayi, Innocent 2020. From Centre-Periphery Models to Textured Urban Landscapes: Comparative Perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa, Journal of Urban Archaeology 1, 67–83 https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/epdf/10.1484/J.JUA.5.120910
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Amara West, Attab, Bronze Age, contact space, core-periphery, Ferka, Kerma, Middle Nile, Sai Island | Schreibe einen Kommentar
Cultural diversity in the Middle Nile: New media coverage for DiverseNile
Despite of the recent developments because of the crisis due to the COVID-19 virus, my new ERC project, DiverseNile, will start on April 1st 2020 here at LMU Munich. I am very grateful to the wonderful support of the administrative staff both in Brussels and in Munich – it was quite a challenge, but now all is set to go!
More information on the project, my team and our intermediate goals will follow shortly – for now I would like to share a new dissemination article in which I tried to highlight the challenges and aims of DiverseNile (read it open access or download it here as PDF).
DiverseNile will be conducted within the framework of the MUAFS project – the Attab to Ferka region in Sudan is the perfect area for our new study.
Location of the MUAFS concession in relation to the Batn el-Haggar, Amara West and Sai Island.
I believe that in order to address the actual diversity of ancient groups in the Nile Valley a new approach focusing on the periphery and hinterland of the main centres is needed, considering both landscape and people in an integrative method. This is where DiverseNile will step in with our perfect case study between Attab and Ferka. The main objective of DiverseNile is to reconstruct Middle Nile landscape biographies beyond established cultural categories, enabling new insights into ancient dynamics of social spaces. Can't wait to get started in April!
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Middle Nile, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Amara West, Attab, Ferka, landscape, Middle Nile, periphery, Sai Island | Schreibe einen Kommentar
The 2020 season in pictures
We should just have landed in Munich these minutes… but since a sandstorm in Khartoum prevented the airplanes to land yesterday, our flight was cancelled and Jessica and me are now stuck in a hotel close to the airport…
Well, we are still waiting for information when we will have the next try and thus I thought I use the time to go through some of the pictures we took this season.
The 4.5 weeks of work at Ginis East and sourroundings were intense and varied, in terms of tasks, weather, nimiti and other things. Here are some impressions with a huge load of thanks to my great 2020 team! Looking much forward to the next season!
First day in the field, setting up the trenches (photo: C. Geiger)
Veronica setting on of the posts for our trench (photo: C. Geiger).
Giulia at work (photo: C. Geiger).
Surface cleaning at GiE 001, Jessica and Huda (photo: J. Budka).
Jessica documenting the church of Mograkka (photo: C. Geiger).
Cajetan at work – image based documentation of the church of Mograkka (photo: J. Distefano).
Giulia, Veronica and Huda at GiE 006 (photo: J. Budka).
The 2020 Team at Ginis East.
The Nile and riverbank at Ginis (photo: J. Budka).
Me busy with surface documentation at GiE 001 (photo: J. Distefano).
Photographing Trench 2 at GIE 001 (photo: J. Distefano).
Jessica taking survey points with the total station (photo: J. Budka).
The landscape at Mograkka East (photo: J. Budka).
Jessica looking for diagnostic pottery sherds at one of the Christian cemeteries in Mograkka (photo: J. Budka).
Jessica taking measurements at the curch of Ferka East (photo: J. Budka).
Me photographing Post-Meroitic tumuli at Ferka (photo: J. Distefano).
Huda, Jessica and me after we finished the survey in Mograkka.
Veröffentlicht unter Archaeology, Sudan | Verschlagwortet mit Church, Ferka, Ginis, Mograkka, survey | Schreibe einen Kommentar


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Q: How to Read External HDD (Ubuntu) on OS X? I do not want overwrite my OSX HDD, like the email-discussion will ubuntu 16.04 support single boot on mac air? but use instead external HDD for Ubuntu Linux on mac air.
I use USB3.0 to Sata cable with extra power supply 12V/2A.

*

*Trying to read disk on OS X.
I get a warning that the disk is not readable by OS X.
I do not understand why.
I need to run Linux often, and I would like to run it from external 3.5" HDD.

*Restart + option so boot manager successful boot. However, drivers are horrible. Network does not work over wlan, eth0 (usb tethering).

I can successfully read the disk in my cheapest Lenovo laptop in the market. (15", 250e, 2015 summer). My Macbook Air 2013-Mid, however, cannot do it, which is unbelievable.
Challenges

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*Network drivers. For 14.04 or 16.04.

*...

Comments

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*OSX thinks Ubuntu HDD is Windows at the boot manager. I think this is hilarious.

Why OS X cannot read HDD (Ubuntu)?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


George and Martha Day (Greg Mullavey, Meredith MacRae) are a typical suburban couple who live in the peaceful neighborhood of Appleton located above Los Angeles. Harvey McGraw (Garrett Morris) is the census taker who's in charge of checking the community's population. The Days willingly invite McGraw in, but the simple questionnaire turns more personal that it angers the couple and they accidentally shoot him in the forehead. They are then forced to hide McGraw's body and remove any evidence from their guests, one is an detective. Before long, the detective discovers the body and George and Martha's future is in jeopardy.
Italy's most powerful organised crime group is no longer Sicily's Cosa Nostra but the 'Ndrangheta', a shadowy Mafia from the southern region of Calabria. With unique access to the extraordinary underground bunkers the gangsters use for hiding out and to the hi-tech war being fought by the Italian authorities against this murderous criminal brotherhood, author and mafia historian John Dickie uncovers the truth about Europe's biggest cocaine traffickers.
Summer in leafy North London. Eager for a slice of the easy life they see around them, Frank and Danny pull an audacious heist worth an easy two million. Instead of lying low and waiting for the heat to cool, they go out on town to celebrate. School's out for Kristina and Alice, seventeen and out for trouble. They hook up with Frank and Danny in a bid for adventure. When they discover the proceeds of the robbery, they plot to steal it for themselves. Once in possession of the cash, the girls hide out in a local hotel... but the boys are hot on their trail. A dramatic confrontation leaves Frank fighting for his life, and Kristina having to resort to ever more ingenious measures to ensure that she ends up with the money.
Takes the viewer through one man's plot to retrieve his business partner's life insurance. Let us hope this boiling pot keeps its lid shut.
A teenager trying to help an accident victim finds himself enmeshed in political corruption and racketeering and charged with a murder he didn't commit.
Early one morning, Marcos observes Juan successfully pulling off a bill-changing scam on a cashier, and then getting caught as he attempts to pull the same trick on the next shift. Marcos steps in, claiming to be a policeman, and drags Juan out of the store. Once they are back on the street, Marcos reveals himself to be a fellow swindler with a game of much higher stakes in mind, and he invites Juan to be his partner in crime. A once-in-a-lifetime scheme seemingly falls into their laps - an old-time con man enlists them to sell a forged set of extremely valuable rare stamps, The . The tricky negotiations that ensue bring into the picture a cast of suspicious characters, including Marcos' sister Valeria, their younger brother Federico and a slew of thieves, conmen and pickpockets. As the deceptions mount, it becomes more and more difficult to figure out who is conning whom.
After going through a bitter divorce through a Caucasian wife, U.K.-based Hussain Shah now lives in a common-law relationship with another Caucasian woman. Angered that his daughter, Mary, is dating a Caucasian male, Dave, he counsels her to stop seeing him as it is forbidden for women to marry outside Islam. But when Mary persists, he relents and permits her to marry, provided she travels with him to Lahore, Pakistan, to meet his estranged mother and brother, to which she agrees. Once there, Mary is then taken to a remote area in Afghanistan and forced to marry her cousin, Sarmad Khan, a singing artiste, who has turned conservative after being influenced by Moulana Tahiri. Sarmad's brother, Mansoor, re-locates to Chicago, to enroll for music lessons with Professor Lincoln, meets with Caucasian fellow-student, Janie, and both fall in love with each other. Than the events of 9-11 will result in Mansoor's arrest by the CIA. He is isolated, humiliated, fed pork, tortured endlessly until he reveals his role within Al Qaeda and his association with Usama Bin Laden. He is then lodged in a stinking cell where he proceeds to write 'I LOVE USA' on the walls. Mary in the meantime, with the assistance of other oppressed women, manages to escape, but is captured, taken back, sexually molested by Sarmad, becomes pregnant and gives birth to a girl. While back in the USA, the torture takes a heavy toll on Mansoor, he then changes the writings on the wall to 'I LOVE USAMA', while investigators come across Arabic evidence that he may have been actually involved in the 9-11 attacks.
, generally regarded as a desperate attempt to keep the Faces of Death series alive, is a direct to video release consisting of highlights from the earlier films. It begins with the intro and opening credits from Faces of Death, before moving into more archive footage lifted whole from the earlier films, primarily from parts one and four. A noted scene involving the killing of a monkey which is then prepared and served at an exotic restaurant, is lifted entirely from the first film, as is a blatantly staged heart ripping scene by African Elephants, and the "head in a box" scene, both taken from Faces of Death IV. Adolf Hitler also is again briefly featured in archive footage.
She offered herself as a Sacrifice... To Save The Ones She Loved!
Farmer Mark Warrow lives an unhappy existence with his shrewish wife Martha. His only happiness comes from his dog. When his wife loses her temper and kills his beloved pet, Warrow snaps and murders Martha. He goes on the run and comes across a young woman in a caravan. She gives him a lift and unbeknownst to him, she recognizes him and plans to write a book called "". She unexpectedly falls for him as the police close in.
An ex-con makes for a backwoods town intending to rob the bank, and becomes involved in protecting three orphans from land swindlers instead.
A bank manager (Hoffman) with: (a) a gambling problem and (b) access to a multi-million dollar account gets into a messy situation. Based on the story of the largest one-man bank fraud in Canadian history.


text:
A catastrophic year casts a pall of uncertainty across California's agricultural valleys
The Guardian picture essay
Terra Bella, Tulare county, California. Terra Bella has a population of 3,304. Photograph: Matt Black/Magnum/The Guardian
In the state's Central, Eastern Coachella and Imperial valleys, several challenges have compounded to create a tenor of uncertainty
Photographs and story by Matt Black
Main image: Terra Bella, Tulare county, California. Terra Bella has a population of 3,304. Photograph: Matt Black/Magnum/The Guardian
Mon 14 Dec 2020 06.00 EST Last modified on Wed 6 Jan 2021 10.52 EST
Nowhere are the effects of the multiple crises that hit California this year more visible than in the state's agricultural valleys.
The region faced a list of challenges almost too long to comprehend: record-breaking heat, smog and smoke from historic wildfires resulting in air quality too poor to be outside in. High rates of Covid-19 infections and the anxiety, isolation and job losses that go with it. Tensions around a divisive election. Fears and conflict over immigration policies.
In 2020, California's Central, Eastern Coachella and Imperial valleys were no longer the outlying edges, but the center of the state's troubles. A two-week reporting trip in October and November revealed that not knowing the outcome of so much, not knowing where things will go from here, has created a tenor of uncertainty that vibrated through the small towns and across the broad fields.
Map of central and southern California depicting Matt Black's journey.
Lamont, Kern county, California. Discarded shoes. The small town of Lamont has a population of 15,131, and 32.8% of residents live below the poverty level.
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Buttonwillow, California. More than 43% of Buttonwillow's 1,583 residents live below the poverty line.
USA. Taft, California. 2020. Palm tree.
Left: Taft, Kern county, California. Taft has a population of 7,294 and 24.5% of residents live below the poverty level. Like many other parts of the state, the city was under a "red-flag warning" for severe fire conditions in mid-October. Right: Mendota, Fresno county, California. Mendota has a population of 11,307 and has seen more than a 1,000 cases of Covid-19. Ninety per cent of California's 381,000 farmworkers come from Mexico. Covid-19 has disproportionately affected Latino communities, accounting for 58% of all cases in the state as of August.
Huron, Fresno county, California. Alleyway. Huron has a population of 7,019, with 45.7% of residents living below the poverty level. Fresno county, where Huron is located, has recorded41,460 cases of Covid-19, with 514 deaths.
Left: Tulare, Tulare county, California. Tulare has a population of 59,278 and 23.6% live below the poverty level. The city has had 2,848 cases of Covid-19. Tulare county, has had 23,662 cases of Covid-19, and 319 deaths. The unemployment rate is 12.2%. Right: Avenal, Kings county, California. Avenal has a population of 9,567. The nearby Avenal state prison is the most Covid-infected facility in California. The prison has had nearly 3,000 infections, and eight deaths.
Bakersfield, Kern county, California. A Trump supporter cheers on a caravan in support of Donald Trump's re-election from an overpass of Highway 99.
Ducor, Tulare county, California. Almond plantings. Over-pumping groundwater for agriculture has caused the land to sink in parts of the central valley. The Friant-Kern canal near Ducor has lost 60% of its carrying capacity due to sinking ground.
Left: USA. Traver, California. 2020. Sign. Right: USA. Mecca, California. 2020. Downtown.
Left: Traver, Tulare county, California. Traver has a population of 834 and has had 131 cases of Covid-19. Right: Mecca, Riverside county, California. High winds, swirling dust, and heightened fire risks throughout the fall led to warnings about power shutoffs in Mecca, which has a population of 7,174. Unemployment in Riverside county is 10.4%, but 39.5% of residents live below the poverty level.
El Centro, Imperial county, California. In the early months of the pandemic, Imperial county had a positivity rate of 10.32 cases per 1,000 in population, the highest rate then recorded in California. The county has had 17,733 cases of Covid-19 and 367 deaths.
Calexico, California. Since the coronavirus outbreak began, 10.21% of Imperial county's population has tested positive for Covid-19. With 21.5% of the population out of work, the county has both the highest unemployment rate and the highest rates of infection in the state.
Left: USA. Niland, California. 2020. Downtown. USA. Right: El Centro, California. 2020. Homeless encampment.
Left: Niland, Imperial county, California. A brush fire in Niland this summer killed one person, destroyed about 40 homes, and displaced 130 people. East of the Salton Sea, Niland has a population of 515, and 57.3% of people live below the poverty level. Right: El Centro, Imperial county, California. Homeless encampment.
Borrego Springs, California. Abandoned farm well. Borrego Springs is in San Diego county, which recorded a new single day Covid-19 record 1,802 cases on Thanksgiving day.
Barstow, California. A man sleeps in an empty lot. Barstow has a population of 22,750 and 36.6% live below the poverty level.
11/03/20 Calexico, California. Since the outbreak began, 7.2% of Imperial County's population has tested positive for Covid-19 and the unemployment rate is 21.5%, the highest rates of infection and joblessness in the state. USA. Calexico, California. 2020. Downtown.
Left and right: Calexico, California.
Barstow, California. A rural home.
Victorville, California. A burned and overturned car. Victorville is home to the Adelanto Ice Processing Center, where activists have regularly gathered to demand the release of detained immigrants with health conditions that make them vulnerable to Covid-19.
Left: USA. Firebaugh, California. 2020. Discarded hat.Right: USA. Fresno, California. 2020. Fire at a homeless encampment.
Left: Firebaugh, California. Firebaugh has a poverty rate of 27.7%, and its farm worker residents must continue to work picking crops despite the pandemic. The wildfires in the state exacerbated already tough working conditions for valley farm workers. Right: Fresno, California. A fire at a homeless encampment downtown. Fresno has a population of 961,820 and 24.1% live below the poverty level.
Ducor, California.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
HRH Crown Princess Katherine Foundation's projects
HRH Crown Prince Alexander Foundation for Education
Lifeline Chicago
Lifeline New York
Lifeline Canada
Lifeline United Kingdom
Lifeline Greece
Annual movie 2020
CROWN PRINCESS KATHERINE AT UNITED NATIONS WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY
Written by Stefan Milanovic on 09. 11. 2016. in News
Her Royal Highness will be a participant on the conference "Government and United Nations Policies and Programs to Support Female Economic Empowerment" in the United Nations November 18th, 2016.
As a person who inspired many women through her patronage of charitable and humanitarian organizations, including Lifeline organizations worldwide, and her work in improving the lives of women and children, Princess Katherine is invited to be a guest on the "Government and United Nations Policies and Programs to Support Female Economic Empowerment" conference at the Women's Entrepreneurship Day (WED) event on November 18th, 2016 at the United Nations, New York.
Her Royal Highness has proven to be a visionary pioneer in humanitarian activities and the United Nations recognized her achievements.
The high level conference and luncheon will be attended by an influential audience, including Change Makers, Social Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, Major Fortune 500 C-Suite Executives, UN Senior Officials, Heads of International Organizations, Ambassadors to the UN, Civil Society Leaders, CEOs, Celebrities, and Representatives of Major Media Outlets.
Stefan Milanovic
The Royal Family of Serbia | HRH Crown Prince Alexander Foundation for Education and Culture | Oplenac-Royal Family Mausoleum
Copyright © 2021 Fond NJ.K.V. Princeze Katarine


What is the best way to track individual user acquisition and behavior on website?
We have been using various tools to track customer behavior and using analytics for attribution, but still not fully satisfied with any of the cheaper options that exist in the market. Since we are a lean startup and want to minimize spend on tools - what would you suggest?
It wasn't cheap when I last looked at it but Segment Personas (https://segment.com/product/personas/) is great as an audience tool/customer behaviour! There are others like Amplitude and Mixpanel that seem to be aimed more towards PMs/Engagement teams.
On the attribution side of things, the best things I've seen where in-house models with some sort of combination with other tools, but I was never able to find a one-stop-shop that did everything – but looking forward to this discussion to see what's best out there! Great topic to bring up.
How about HubSpot (https://www.hubspot.com/)? They have a fee CRM version with quite nice lead management features. Still, more sophisticated options are paid.


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HomeFeaturesMy big 'frat' Greek Life
My big 'frat' Greek Life
As rush week comes to an end, it's important to know what accepting that bid really means.
20 September 2010 Kenny Thapoung Features, People You Should Know
As students see portrayals by ABC Family's television show "Greek" and countless other fraternity life-focused shows and films, many assume Greek life on U.S. college campuses must live up to the meat-headed, beer-guzzling and valley-girl stereotypes. But life doesn't always function like a TV program.
Although Temple's 36 fraternities and sororities on Main Campus do not compare to the 89 at Penn State's University Park campus, Greek life here carries the same morals and responsibilities as any fraternity or sorority elsewhere.
With rush week coming to a close, some freshmen and a few upperclassmen are debating whether going Greek is in the cards. While many people are afraid to pay dues, others appreciate the family feel Greek life can offer.
"I wanted to be part of a group, and I wanted to be able to know a bunch of people that I had something in common with," Cady Hurtzig, an undeclared freshman, said.
But as much as Hurtzig said she would have enjoyed the bonds of sisterhood, she needed time to focus on picking a major instead of going out for a sorority.
"It's just a lot of time and a lot of money to participate in events and be part of the sorority," Hurtzig said. "And I thought for my first semester, I should concentrate on my school work."
Alisa Ustayeva, a sophomore biology major and a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon, said being Greek is time-consuming between her schoolwork and sorority activities, such as fundraisers and meetings.
But Delta Phi Epsilon was willing to plan around her class schedule when she found her grades were slipping. she said.
The deterrent of time commitment aside, there's the old saying that going Greek is just a way for people to "buy their friends." But Dan Lyons, the president of the Temple University Greek Association and Alpha Epsilon Pi brother, said the phrase doesn't hold true on Main Campus.
"You're not buying your friends," Lyons, a junior marketing major, said. "You're buying to do activities with your friends, socials with sororities – we go to Phillies games together. That's what our dues pay for."
For those curious enough to venture into Main Campus' Greek life, rush week is packed with all sorts of meet-and-greet events.
"[Fraternities and sororities] always will start with an open house or a general interest meeting where anyone who's interested can come and learn more about the fraternity or sorority," said Jayne Appley, the program coordinator for Greek life and student activities.
"It's really low-key, and it's just a way to learn more about the organization before really starting the recruitment process," she added.
The walls and corkboards on Main Campus are usually littered with Greek rush fliers at this time. Most fraternities and sororities use these fliers to advertise events the groups have planned.
Some fraternities test potential recruits' reflexes in the latest version of Madden NFL, while other fraternity members showcase their athleticism in a game of real-life football.
Young women who consider joining a sorority in the Pan-Hellenic Association have the chance to meet sisters from all four sororities in the Student Center to find out which group they click with best.
If a male is invited back to the fraternity house or if a female receives a bid from a sorority and he or she decides to join or pledge, then the arduous journey to become a full-fledged brother or sister begins.
It's not uncommon for students to be reluctant to rush or join Greek life out of fear that they may be hazed. Hurtzig said she heard about people being hazed during their pledge period.
Other Greek brothers and sisters said some level of hazing does exist on Main Campus.
"[Hazing] does not build a better fraternity," said Alpha Tau Omega brother Taylor Whitson, a sophomore international business administration and Italian major. "Because you can embarrass somebody, because you can break somebody down, does not mean that they're going to be a better person afterward."
While hazing could be another factor in why some people refuse to pledge, others don't want to be associated with the images often connected with the term "frat boy."
"Greek life is not for everybody," Lyons said. "And if you're too stubborn not to check it out, then you're too stubborn to be in Greek life. It could never hurt to come check it out."
Lyons and others cited the benefit of networking with current and former members of their fraternities.
"I want to get more out of college than going to class every day," Lyons said. "I want to make connections."
Former brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, CNN Correspondent Wolf Blitzer and former ESPN President Chet Simmons.
"You benefit a lot by connections, especially after graduation because you have some [graduates] who can hook you up with other jobs, accounting jobs and internships," Lyons said. "It's a huge perk in joining a fraternity."
"I didn't pledge until my second semester of freshman year," said Alpha Epsilon Pi brother Ryan Josephs, a sophomore business major. "I went out and saw what the difference between not being Greek and being Greek [is]. It's a huge difference. It opens up different kinds of paths."
While most fraternities and sororities encourage people to rush and become a member of Greek life, there's still the matter of dues. However, most fraternities and sororities are willing to work with someone if funds are running low.
Whitson said his parents paid his dues because they want him to focus on schoolwork and that he shouldn't worry about finding a job.
When Whitson's mother needed a $13,000 surgery last summer to treat cancer, the brothers of Alpha Tau Omega worked with Whitson on a payment plan so that he wouldn't have to drop out of the fraternity.
"I think the positives far outweigh the negatives and that someone who is in the Greek experience will recognize that too," Appley said. "That they're getting more out of it."
Kenny Thapoung can be reached at kenny.thapoung@temple.edu.
Kenny Thapoung
Old-time farming no longer a reality
People You Should Know: Dr. Benjamin Seibold
Hitching a ride on a 20th century dining car
27 September 2010 Tracy Galloway Features, Food
Owner Ibrahim Aly maintains the car to preserve history for generations to come.
Fan Firsts
20 September 2010 Editorial Board Opinion
The football team's undefeated record warrants fan and student support. On Saturday afternoon, the football team clinched its third win of the season, defeating the Connecticut Huskies, 30-16, for the first time since 2002. ["Football
Kappa Sigma fraternity suspended from campus for three years
08 May 2019 Will Bleier News
The fraternity will no longer be recognized as part of the university's Interfraternity Council for violating the Student Code of Conduct.


text:
Palestinian youth tell the human stories behind the numbers in the news
Gaza Electricity
Gazavision: one winner; unified people
Gaza artists call for Gazavision not Eurovision
غزة تناهض اليوروفيجن Gaza sings back to Eurovision
Partnership forged with Rebuilding Alliance
First 'class' graduates from journalism training
Six Miles Out film wins four awards
Omnia Ghassan
Renaissance man in the making
Ahmed with an example of his street art
An example of Ahmed's cinematic (special-effects) makeup
Ahmed creates high realism in his charcoal portraits
Ahmed uses his glue-and-glitter technique to create a portrait of poet Mahmoud Darwish
Ahmed (right) and his fellow artist Bashar
Youths who create art use their preferred medium—whether writing, singing, poetry or painting—to express their feelings. Art also can simply be a constructive way to fill time, as it is for the young Gazan artist Ahmed Elhams.
Ahmed, a 17-year-old high school student, discovered his drawing talent two years ago. He used to draw only occasionally until one day he created a charcoal portrait that, he says, was "surprisingly really good." He worked to perfect his skill, and ultimately entered a UN competition that earned him third place.
What captured my attention the first time I saw Ahmed's third-place-winner portrait was his rendering of wrinkles. At first glance, you see an old man. As you look closer, you see a vast network of wrinkles that make you think, "How much patience the artist must have!"
Ahmed also is developing his painting skills. For example, he used materials such as glue and glitter to create the image of the great Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish. At first, Ahmed wasn't sure if he had the nerve to display this unusual way of painting, but as you can see, he nailed it!
Another type of art Ahmed excels at is special effects (cinematic) makeup. Because he likes to create this type of art with an audience, he recently demonstrated SFX makeup on volunteers at the Gaza seaport.
Ahmed says, "Whenever I discover a new type of art, I like to know everything about it. I keep practicing it until I perfect it. Then, I turn to something new to learn." He learns his new techniques through YouTube. "I don't depend on people to teach me," he explains. Ahmed notes that if the materials he needs are not available in Gaza, he tries to find substitutes. "My joy is learning something I love, and the unavailability of the materials doesn't stop me."
He adds that because drawing takes a lot of concentration, he takes a break when he feels sad because being distracted keeps him from producing to his satisfaction. But when he is in the mood, creating art brings him great joy. "There is an indescribable feeling that makes me grab a pen and a paper to draw," he explains. "It just pushes me forward to be more productive, more creative."
Supporting other budding artists also is important to Ahmed. One of them is Bashar Eldaya, also 17. Bashar is a student at the same school and their shared passion is what unites them in friendship. Bashar even learned how to do glue-and-glitter paintings from Ahmed, and they created a painting of deceased Palestinian President Yasser Arafat together at an event.
These two young artists share a dream: being sought after for their autographs on the streets someday. "I don't care about the rest of the world," Ahmed says. "I want it to happen here, in Gaza!"
Unfortunately, Ahmed now is in his final year of high school, called tawjihi, and he needs to focus on his studies to get the high marks that will help him go to university abroad. This, he says, requires him to abandon drawing for a year to focus on school. But while he hopes his future will include creating art in an international location, Ahmed insists he will never turn his back on Palestine. As he wrote on his Facebook page, "Despite oppression, suffocation and pain, I won't let go of any paint brush that speaks of Palestine."
Mentor: Mimi Kirk
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As there is no standard "round" function available in awk, some of the ways to round float values to the rounded integer.
Lets make this a function named round.
The reason I tried with awk (using printf though), as my original intention was to round only one field(column) out of several columns of a delimited file(as shown in the related post link in the post). Thanks for posting.
Note that this solution does not work with negative numbers. Use JP's suggestion in awk to cover both positive and negative numbers.
@stinkinrich88, thanks for pointing this.
I am having some trouble on rounding to nearest minute.
I have a file with different values. One of the columns is time.
What I need to do is rounding up and down depends on the number of seconds (if up to 30 then rounding down, if more then 30 rounding up). So 0:0:17 will become 00:00 and 0:26:49 will become 00:27.
I mention that I am on a bash shell.
Hi, thank you for you quick response, Yes, that was very useful. Thanks again.


Miniature Nautical Figures 1" (12PCS). 2 Red Anchors, 2 Blue Anchors, 2 Blue Ship Wheel, 2 Red Sheep Wheel, 2 Red Buoys, 2 White Buoys.
Mini Nautical Pick 12PCS. Six designs two of each. 2 Lifebuoys, 2 Crabs, 2 sailboats, 2 octopus's, 2 whales, 2 anchors.
Mini Anchor Pick 12PCS. Pieces are 4".
Anchors and Lifebuoys 12PCS. Anchors: 2" and Lifebuoys: 1.6"
Pink Nautical Flat Set 12PCS. 6 different designs and two of each. 2 Crabs, 2 Boats, 2 Whales, 2 Lifebuoys, 2 Octopus's, and 2 Anchors.
Sailboat 12PCS. Pieces are 2".
Stripe Sailboat 12PCS. Pieces are 2"
Baby on Sailboat 12PCS. Pieces are 2".
Baby Mermaid 12PCS. Pieces are 2.5".
Blue Anchor 12PCS. Pieces are 2.5"
Whale 12PCS. Length: 1.5" Width: 2"


I've had several questions about my FABULOUS Form Tips offering so I thought I'd explain it in more detail. If you've never taken my Beautiful YOU online course, then it can be quite confusing!
There are typically 4 in-depth tips that build upon each other for each move–or in this case, mini-workout. Sometimes there are 3 and sometimes there are 5 tips but 95% of the time there are 4. I spread these over 4 days so you can really "get" the increased muscle activation and connection to get more out of the move. Think of this as an intense form focus for the workout/move!
For Cyber Weekend I am making these sets of tips available for 5 workouts that I have done in Beautiful YOU. So there are sets of tips for 4 moves each for MORE, Basic Tempo (can be used for Basic Workout as well), Healthy Hormones Menopause Management, Senior Fit and a set of tips for 5 moves of LadyBug workout.
In addition to that, I am offering individual move tips–still 4 tips but for just that move vs a set tips for 4 moves. I picked 7 moves that I have heard T-Tappers say they would like to understand more about.
If you purchased the set for MORE, in our example, you would receive 16 tips–4 for each move/mini-workout. You would pace yourself to do these over 4 weeks just like we do in class! Of course you could do one per month if you like and REALLY dig in by focusing 1 week on each tip!
If you picked the individual moves, let's say T-Tapp Twist, you would receive 4 in-depth tips on that move alone that you could incorporate into your routine as above–over the course of a week or spend a month on it.
This is similar to what I did when I first started T-Tapp. I read in the Must Read Threads about different moves and I would apply those tips to that move in my workout over 1-2 weeks. I really feel that gave me a great foundation!
Okay, I think I'm getting it! But what's with all the options?!
Option 2 is the set of tips for each workout. If you wanted to get sets for Senior Fit this is what you would select. And as in Option 1, if you wanted 2 sets, you select quantity as 2 then tell me in your e-mail what workouts you want your sets for.
Option 3 is JUST the mp3 of the call that I did for that workout. If you don't want the written tips but would love to hear the call and work out with it (yes you can and yes many have!) this is your choice. Calls are 1 hour in length plus Q&A if there was any and I dive into several moves from the workout, different moves from the Bonus Focus tips.
Option 4 is if you want the call AND the Bonus Focus tips. I recommend this because it will round out your form focus for the chosen workout.
Option 5 adds a transcript to the call. This is great if you want to follow along with the call, especially if I am describing what I'm doing and it's not quite clicking. You can read through the transcript and get clarity.
Option 6 is the Bonus Focus tip, the call AND the transcript at a discount from the already discounted price!
Option 7 keeps adding from there 🙂 by adding the schedules to Option 6 (tips, call & transcript) that we used for that workout. With this option you are getting most of the Beautiful YOU class. Of course you're not getting the interaction nor all the questions that were asked, but you are getting the elemental components of the course with this option. GREAT for a focus on that workout for a month at your convenience!
Option 8 is for you die-hard T-Tappers that want it ALL! 🙂 You can purchase THREE sets of option 7 (tips, call, transcript and schedules) for three different workouts and get an even deeper discount! If you want ALL 5 workouts, you would want to purchase one Option 8 and then the remaining 2 workouts as option 6, quantity 2. If you purchase all 5 I will give you the 7 individual move tips for FREE!
If you were to work out with me in person, it would be $75 for 1 1/2 hours, and you'd have to take your own notes! 🙂 Skype/virtual sessions usually run $55-$67 per hour session, depending upon the sale I'm having. And again, you'd have to take your own notes! These prices enable you to have parts of my brain on FIVE workouts and SEVEN moves, notes already done for you and a recording of what I taught so you can go over it as often as you like! If you LOVE a particular workout, you could do this as a form intensive 2-3 times per year to get even more out of that workout. If you have a workout you'd like to dive into more but don't quite understand, this will help! If you know you aren't "getting it" on several moves, these options are for you!
Which workout (moves)–what one(s) do you like? Or which one gives you trouble?
That will help you decide which option might be best for you!
If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will do my best to help you find the right fit for YOU!


As a kid, trifle pudding used to be something I loved. I mean, it's cake with custard and just enough fruit to justify eating a second helping. What's not to like? It's an incredibly nostalgic dessert for me because the fruity custard in particular used to be served in a watered down version during my hostel days. Not the most delicious, but definitely still packed with a lot of "oh my god I'd forgotten about this" feelings.
Trifle pudding is made with pound cake, syrup soaked sponge cakes, or basically, any cake you love. For this one, I had to use my favourite butter cake recipe and make a scaled down version so that I didn't have kilos of trifle pudding lying around. The recipe still makes about 3 large servings though.
The cake is crumbled up so that it soaks in (wait for it), fresh strawberry compote. YAAAAY! So not only do you get a pretty pink layer of fruit, the juices from it make the perfect accompaniment for the buttery cake. Then you dollop over the custard and if you like, add chopped bananas or any other fruit here too. I left this particular version with just strawberries, but leftover custard is great to play with more fruitiness.
Trifle pudding is traditionally layered, so it's more fun to dive into with a spoon. Cake, strawberries, custard, repeat. I thought of adding almonds for texture, but decided to leave them off at the last minute. I didn't want to mess with something that didn't need messing. Although, feel free to do so!
Though the recipe has a couple of different elements, they all come together quite quickly if you multi-task. You can also make the cake and custard the day before and assemble it all with the compote when ready to serve. Once assembled, it tastes best on day one, but even after that, you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days. The fruit may darken a little and the cake will soften quite a bit, but I promise it still tastes delicious!
For an eggless version of the cake, see here. Since this is a smaller amount of batter, start with a couple of tablespoons of milk, and add just enough to make a smooth, spreadable batter.
Easy trifle with layers of butter cake, eggless custard and strawberry compote!
First, make the cake. Preheat the oven to 175 C. Grease a 6" round cake tin. A square tin is ok too as long as it's not very large because we're only making a small amount of batter.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, using a hand mixer for best results. Add the egg and vanilla, beat to combine.
Fold in the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and smooth it out. The batter is fairly thick but will spread easily.
Bake for 20 minutes, then an additional 5 to 10 minutes until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.
Next, make the custard. I followed the instructions on the back of the box itself and found it worked quite well with a few tweaks to the steps. First, dissolve the custard powder in ½ cup milk in a small bowl and set aside. Then in a saucepan, stir the sugar into the remaining 2 and ½ cups milk and bring to a simmer on low heat.
Into this, pour in the custard powder+milk mixture slowly and whisk constantly. In a few seconds the mixture will begin to thicken. Cook for about 2 minutes till it coats the back of a spoon and when you run your finger down the spoon, it should leave a trail.
Turn off the heat and let the custard cool for about 30 minutes, before transferring to the fridge till completely chilled. A skin will inevitably form on top so you can skim off the top just before serving.
Finally, make the strawberry compote. Simply combine the strawberries and sugar in a saucepan on low heat. Stir frequently until the fruit has softened but not gone completely mushy, and the juices are bubbling. Turn off the heat and let cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then give it a quick chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. It shouldn't be too hot when you assemble the trifle.
Now it's time to assemble! Layer the cake, compote and custard one by one, repeating to make as many layers as you like depending on how you're serving this. Either divide into individual bowls, glasses or jars, or assemble it all in one large glass dish so that you can see the pretty layers. Feel free to add more fresh strawberries, sliced bananas or any other fruit between the layers and whipped cream or chopped nuts to the top!
The trifle pudding is best eaten immediately but it will keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, though the cake will soften quite a bit. If you have any leftover custard, add various chopped fruit to it and store it in the fridge as well. Happy trifling!
*For the custard, you can reduce the sugar to 2 tbsps if your strawberries are quite sweet. If you feel it has a few lumps after it's cooked, run it through a sieve into a large bowl, before setting aside to cool.
Check out a full list of my baking essentials here!
Hi.. substitute for egg in the recipe? If any..