BALLANA

   Modern name for a site in Nubia on the west bank of the Nile south of Qasr Ibrim where, together with the site of Qustul on the east bank, many graves have been excavated from different phases of Nubian culture. Some 180 tombs, dating from the 4th through 7th centuries AD, were discovered, of which 40 contained material of such richness that they might be called royal, including jewelry, crowns, weapons, horse fittings, and vessels. These items are now housed in the Cairo Egyptian Museum. The site has given its name to the Ballana culture, or X-group culture, which can be identified from graves elsewhere in Nubia. Ballana was excavated by the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1931–1934 and more recently by an Egyptian expedition in 1958–1959 and the University of Chicago in the 1960s in advance of flooding caused by the Aswan High Dam.