DENNIS P. VAN GERVEN, SUSAN G, SHERIDAN AND SANDRA L. KARHU
University of Colorado

Human remains form the Medieval site of Kulubnari in Sudanese Nubia present an ideal opportunity to assess the biological impact of political change in prehistory.  Preserved in one of the dryest of the earth's environments, naturally mummified individuals exhumed from two cemeteries at the site document patterns of mortality, growth and development as well as nutrition and disease spanning the Christian era.

Most notably, remains form the early cemetery represent inhabitants of the site during Nubia's Medieval period.  At this time villages such as Kulubnarti were part of a far-fling peasantry politically united by an absolute monarchy. In the larger sense Nubia and its monarchy enjoyed a period of cultural fluorescense marked by a political unification as well as important achievements in art and architecture.  In contrast, remains from the later, cemetery represent life during the Feudal age that followed.  With the collapse of Nubia's monarchy, villages such as Kulubnarti became a part of a political system dominated by regional isolation and political-economic autonomy.  What, then, were the consequences of this shift in patterns of mortality, health and disease in this ancient Nubian community?

Patterns of mortality, growth and development , nutritional and age-related diseases converge on one inescapable conclusion.  While Nubia's Feudal age has been characterized as a period of cultural decline--a virtual dark age-- health at Kulubnarti improved.  In our paper, we will review the evidence for this interpretation from the perspectives of skeletal biology as well as the interaction between human health and economic development in ancient Nubia.