GRAVES WITH CALICIFORM BEAKERS AT THE NEOLITHIC CEMETERY OF R12 IN THE NORTHERN DONGOLA REACH (KAWA, SUDAN). SANDRO SALVATORI - DONATELLA USA! Abstract The second season of excavations has allowed to bring to light a group of graves in the cemetery hill core with impressive furniture and the discovery ofa possibly earlier group of graves furnished with elegantly decorated tulip beakers. A secbnd excavation season has been carried out at the R12 Neolithic cemetery in the Northern Dongola Reach between December 2001 and January 2002 1 • The site, which lies few kilometres to the east of Kawa, in the Seleim basin, was located by the SARS regional survey2 on a natural hillock of ca. 1400 m 2 along the west bank of a Nile palaeochannel. The cemetery covers an area of ca. 800 m 2 of which ca. 206 have been investigated up to now (Fig 1). During the last season 33 graves were excavated for a total of 44 individuals 3 . The total amount of individuals discovered in the area so far excavated allow to infer a density of 0.32 graves per m and thus an expected population of about 260-300 graves. Generally speaking the new data confirm the trends observed during the previous season both for the dead position and orientation 4 • The majority of the bodies were lying crouched on their left side (70.15%), oriented W-E (43.94%) with the face to the north or north-east (80.09%) while a limited number of right side depositions (22.39%) with face to the south have been recorded. The prevailing body orientation (the axis skull/spinal column) is W-E and NW-SE (63,20%) (Fig. 2). The most impressive result of the second campaign was the discovery of a group of graves containing specimens of pottery vessels which for their elegant shape have been named tulip or caliciform beakers. They usually bear a distinctive impressed geometric or banded decoration on the whole external surface and the inner surface of the flaring rim. This group of graves could represent an older cultural phase in the use of the cemetery ground or a population subgroup. Further research will hopefully clarify the topic. Some of the graves with caliciform beakers have been disturbed or destroyed by later graves and/ or by a much later pitting activity consisting of usually circular or ovoid deep pits refilled with medium and small sized gravel. Grave 36 produced an almost complete caliciform beaker found still in situ while another one has been collected in fragments in the filling of an ovoid pit which intercepted the grave's one. The two beakers, decorated with bands of parallel comb impressed lines, have a relatively large body and a not much extended flaring rim (Fig. 3.4-5). Their shape is of a type already known in the Northern Dongola Reach from the Neolithic cemetery L14 5 . The decoration pattern on the first of the two beakers reminds us of the above cited example from L14 cemetery, while that on the second one is of an unusual type. The decoration in this case consists of parallel horizontal bands alternately filled with oblique comb impressed parallel segments and rocker stamped plain zigzag. The only other object found on the residual 1 The R12 excavation is a SARS and Ce.Ve.S.C.O. project granted by the Italian Ministry of Scientific Research and University. The Italian team, leaded by Sandro Salvatori and Donatella Usai consisted of Agnese Cavallari, Roberto Pedrelli and Susi D' Amato (archaeologists), Federica Crivellaro (anthropologist). 2 WELSBY 2001:146. 3 12 males, 7 females, 13 unsexed adults, 7 children and 4 infants. Sex and age determinations were provided by Dr. F. Crivellaro. 4 SALVATORI & USAI 2001a, 2001b. 5 WELSBY 2001:86-8; WELSBY SJOSTROM 2001: Fig. 5.1 -CA3.1.