Sudan & nubia 23 Sabaloka (West bank) Research Project Exploration of the site of Sphinx (SBK.W-60): fndings of the 2014 and 2015 feld seasons Lenka Varadzinová and Ladislav Varadzin 1 Background and aims in the autumn of 2014 and 2015, the expedition of the Czech institute of Egyptology (Faculty of arts, Charles univer- sity) continued its interdisciplinary exploration of the late prehistoric occupation on the west bank of the nile at Jebel Sabaloka and the Sixth nile Cataract. 2 In both feld seasons, attention was focused on further investigation of the promis- ing site of Sphinx (SbK.W-60) located in the north-western foothill zone of the jebel c. 3.5km from the nile (Plate 1). The site is situated c. 425m above sea level at the top of a granite outcrop. its elevated position c. 15m above the surrounding terrain, the clear view it commands, and the ‘rampart’ of rocks that encircles and protects the site, make its location of some strategic importance. The roughly crescent-shaped settlement platform (approx. 940m 2 ) is divided naturally into southern, central and northern parts. Perpendicular to the central part are two tongue-shaped areas gently sloping from east to west: the northern and southern shelters (Plate 2). Following its discovery by the Czech mission in the autumn of 2011, a brief surface survey was performed and two test pits (Trenches 1 and 2) were excavated in the central and southern parts of the settlement platform respectively, to ascertain the character and thickness of subsurface depos- 1 Unless specifed otherwise, all photographs and drawings are by Ladislav Varadzin. 2 In 2014, the feld season lasted from the 15 th October until the 4 th november. The research team consisted of aleš bajer (geologist), Murtada bushara (nCaM inspector), Kristýna Kuncová (archaeobota- nist), Lenka Lisá (geologist), Jon-Paul McCool (geologist), Jan novák (archaeobotanist), Jan Pacina (surveyor), adéla Pokorná (archaeobota- nist), Petr Pokorný (palaeoecologist), Lenka Suková (research director), Ladislav Varadzin (excavation director), and four trainees – Safaa ahmed Mohamed and Reemah abdelrahim Kabbashi (nCaM) and Hanaa Mohamed Hamid and Huyam Mohamed alamin (university of bahri). in 2015, the season lasted from the 5 th -29 th november. The feldwork was performed by Katarína Čuláková (lithics specialist), Marie Peterková Hlouchová (fnds registrar), Petr Pokorný (palaeoecologist), Jaroslav ídký (ground stones specialist), Sarah Abdulatif esh-Sheikh (NCAM inspector), Zdeka Svová (archaeozoologist), Ladislav Varad- zin (excavation director), Lenka Varadzinová Suková (research director), and four trainees – abud adam Hamid, bella Hajj Mohamed and Tafa‘u Raf‘ Ahmed (NCAM) and Saba Suleiman Murkez (University of Bahri). during both campaigns, the logistics was arranged by Tumbus Tourism Co., Ltd., with Saleh Mohamed Saleh and Osman abdalla as drivers and Mahmoud almahi altayeb and El nour abdalla Galab as cooks. its and general potential of the site for exploration (Plate 3). during the 2012 season, Trench 2 in the southern part of the platform, where a human burial (b.1) had been de- tected in 2011, was extended to 20m 2 in order to explore the broader context of the grave. in addition to attesting to the presence of thick settlement deposits, 24 burials (b.1- b.24) were unearthed. based on the burial rite, presence of a carbonaceous crust (or kankar) on the bones, and aMS 14 C dating of bivalves found in direct contact with three of the skeletons (b.1, b.4 and b.5), the burial activities at the site were tentatively dated to the Mesolithic. Furthermore, Trench 1 of 2011 (500 × 400mm) was extended by 500 × 500mm to obtain another sample of the subsurface concentration of molluscs uncovered in the previous season, and another two trenches, each measuring 1m square, were excavated in the central (Trench 3) and northern (Trench 4) parts of the site. The results of these excavations were briefy published in this bulletin (see Suková and Varadzin 2012a) and elsewhere (see Suková and Varadzin 2012b; 2013; Suková et al. 2014; Svová and Suková 2014). The next phase of exploration of the site in 2014 and 2015 focused on a detailed study of post-depositional processes as the previous seasons made it clear that the stratigraphic picture of the deposits had been obscured by secondary homogenization. in connection with this we aimed at es- tablishing a suitable set of methods for direct as well as indirect identifcation of stratigraphic units (SUs). We also concentrated on further excavation of the burial ground in the southern part of the site to ascertain its size, internal layout, and dating. at the same time, we wished to test a hy- pothesis, formulated on the basis of the previous sounding, that the central and northern parts of the site had not been used for burials. Parallel to these tasks, we planned to collect other evidence to further our understanding of the former human activity at the site. 3 Methods and approaches To address these issues, six trenches with a total area of 26.5m 2 were excavated in 2014 and 2015 in the southern and central parts of the site and in the northern shelter (Plate 3). The trenches were divided into squares 1 × 1m in size (or smaller) and the deposits were excavated in subtle horizontal sections (mechanical units, Mus) of no more than 50mm in thickness. Where stratigraphic units (Sus) – layers or any fxtures (features, structures) – could be detected, the stratigraphic excavation method was employed. Most of the excavated soil was dry-sieved using a 4mm mesh, with a 2mm mesh used for selected contexts in Trench 8. Concurrently, systematic collection of samples for archaeobotanical (pollen, macro-remains, phytoliths) and geoarchaeological (chemical, micromorphological) analyses was pursued. detailed photo- 3 in 2014, extensive (palaeo-)pedological and (archaeo-)botanical surveys were performed alongside the excavations at Sphinx. For overviews and results of these surveys, see Lisá et al. (2017) and Pokorná and Kuncová (2015), respectively.