The Prehistory of the Sudan [1st ed.] 9783030471842, 9783030471859

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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN ARCHAEOLOGY CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AFRICA

Elena A. A. Garcea

The Prehistory of the Sudan

SpringerBriefs in Archaeology Contributions from Africa Series Editor Ann B. Stahl University of Victoria Victoria, BC, Canada

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Elena A. A. Garcea

The Prehistory of the Sudan

Elena A. A. Garcea Department of Letters and Philosophy University of Cassino and Southern Latium Cassino, Italy

ISSN 1861-6623          ISSN 2192-4910 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Archaeology ISSN 2196-5455          ISSN 2196-5463 (electronic) Contributions from Africa ISBN 978-3-030-47187-3    ISBN 978-3-030-47185-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47185-9 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

Sudanese people are rightly proud of their outstanding archaeology and their country keeps attracting an increasing number of research teams. More than 30 national and international teams are currently active and new remarkable discoveries are unearthed every year. Continuous new data from Sudan, analyzed with the most up-­ to-­date scientific techniques (geochemistry, genetics, biomolecular archaeology, palynology, accurate radiometric dating, etc.), offer a prominent contribution to the general theoretical and methodological panorama of world archaeology. By contrast, very few people outside Sudan know that the archaeology of this country has been explored and appreciated since the 1700s. Because of the presence of the Nile River and the ancient region of Nubia in northern Sudan, this country’s archaeology is often associated with that of Egypt, at the same time as it is often eclipsed by the fame of Egyptian antiquities. Sudanese archaeology is still rarely involved in scientific debates on global archaeology, Middle Eastern archaeology, or even African archaeology. It is hardly ever mentioned in university textbooks and books for the general public as it is seemingly perceived as a niche topic. The media almost totally ignore it, except for the special occasions of the European exhibitions held decades ago (e.g., Munich, 1996; Paris, 1997; Amsterdam, Toulouse, Mannheim, 1998; London, 2004). This book aims to fill this gap. It is addressed to Africanist archaeologists who study other parts of Africa; to prehistorians investigating other parts of the world; to archaeology students and teachers interested in having a global view on human adaptation and behavior in ancient Sudan; to science journalists; and to antiquity admirers and learned tourists who travel to Sudan and Nubia. African archaeology, Mediterranean archaeology, Asian archaeology, and perhaps also New World archaeology could be better understood and placed if they were viewed within a comprehensive panorama on long-distance trade, convergences, and divergences. For all of these reasons, this volume is intended to fit the general scope of this book series, which aims at offering contributions “from” Africa to the outside world. The main topics comprise the Out-of-Africa dispersals of early hominins and anatomically modern humans, the last hunters-fishers-gatherers, the early food producers and users of domestic plants and animals either local or imported from the v

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Preface

Near East, and the presuppositions of the rise of the kingdoms of Kerma, Pharaonic Egypt, and Axum on the basis of the latest available data. Beside the Nile Valley, the various geographical regions of Sudan, which are an integral part of the country’s history, are attentively taken into consideration. The starting point of this book was a systematic collection of the existing literature on the prehistory of Sudan, which resulted in over 1000 articles and books, confirming the active scholarship on this topic and demanding the need for a critical review and a strict selection in order to make a reasoned synthesis. The editorial limitations of this book series in terms of word and page numbers were the biggest challenge in writing it. Readers should be aware of the ultimate purpose of this volume which intends to introduce them to the vibrant scholarship of the region by providing concise suggestions and pathways into its literature where they can learn more. Scholars working in Sudan may find this book underrepresentative as not all their research and publications could be reported. I apologize to the authors and friends I have involuntarily disappointed. Although I tried my best to include the most representative publications and sites, I beg for mercy if some were not cited or escaped my attention. All in all, I hope this volume reaches a wider audience than the same old bunch of colleagues and friends. Cassino, Italy  Elena A. A. Garcea

Acknowledgments

More than 30 years of experience in the field, analyses in laboratories specialized in various fields, discussions with colleagues and students, presentations at conferences, readings in libraries, and numerous publications have given me great opportunities to develop a wide perspective on the prehistory of Sudan. My initial and foremost gratitude goes to Isabella Caneva for her hearthy support and constant encouragement. She brought me on board as field member of her research team in the Geili area between 1986 and 1991. Together we spent days and nights looking at potsherds and lithics even in candlelight, when there was no electricity. I sincerely appreciate and value the support provided by Irene Vincentelli who took me in her team to Karima from 1992 to 2001. Without the help, encouragement, and facilities generously offered by the directors of the Sai Island Archaeological Mission, Francis Geus, Didier Devauchelle, and Vincent Francigny, and field directors, Florence Doyen and Julia Budka, I would not have been able to carry out research on the later prehistory on Sai Island between 2003 and 2013. I am also extremely grateful to Neal Spencer of the Amara West Research Project for inviting me to study prehistory in the Amara West district between 2010 and 2013. Ultimately, I wish to express my sincere appreciation of Lenka Varadzinová and Ladislav Varadzin for inviting me to be a research associate of the Charles University Sabaloka Expedition since 2014, and of the Shaqadud Project of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and University College of London since 2019, respectively. Fieldwork in Sudan would not have been either possible or pleasant without full cooperation and support from the directors of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), Hassan Hussein Idris and Abdelrahman Ali Mohammed as well as their colleagues Salah Mohammed Ahmed and El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed. In the field, the assistance of the NCAM inspectors was most valuable and the cooperation of local workers was greatly appreciated. I must also acknowledge many inspirational discussions I had with Elisabeth Hildebrand, not just a colleague and a field mate, but a sincere friend. Many colleagues supported me in various ways, but I would like to single out Steven Brandt, Louis Chaix,  Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, Maciej Jórdeczka, Veerle Linseele,  Fiona vii

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Acknowledgments

Marshall, Susan McIntosh, Anna Maria Mercuri, Marta Osypinska, Piotr Osypinski, Mehmet Özdoğan, Jennifer Smith, and Pierre Vermeersch among others too numerous to mention. I also wish to express utmost gratitude to Katie Adelsberger, Julia Budka, Isabella Caneva, Isabelle Crevecoeur, Giulia D’Ercole, Friederike Jesse, Andrea Manzo, Anna Maria Mercuri, Philip Van Peer, Ladislav Varadzin, Lenka Varadzinová, Martin Williams, and Sarah Wurz, who read preliminary chapter drafts of this book, for their most valuable and intelligent advice. I am sincerely thankful to Isabella Caneva, Elisabeth Hildebrand, Andrea Manzo, Tim Schilling, Marzena Szmyt of the Poznan Archaeological Museum, Philip Van Peer, Ladislav Varadzin, and Lenka Varadzinová, who provided photographs and drawings for this book. I am grateful to Tilman Lenssen-Erz and Eymard Fäder, who supplied high quality images from the African Archaeology Archive Cologne (https://arachne. dainst.org/project/afrarchcologne). I would also like to record my appreciation of the assistance and help I received from Bruna M. Andreoni of the Laboratory of Archaeology at the University of Cassino and Southern Latium. I owe a big debt of gratitude to Ann Stahl, the Series Editor, for editing the entire manuscript and very stimulating and thoughtful guidance throughout the development of this work and the publication process. This book benefited from a further review by two anonymous readers whose incisive comments strengthened the initial ideas and resulted in the production of a more effective outcome. I most gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Geographic Society (grant numbers 8715-09 and 9201-12) for fieldwork. Additional funding was generously granted from the University of Cassino and Southern Latium, Italy.

Contents

1 Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence��������������������������������������������������������������������������������    1 Geographical and Hydrographic Setting��������������������������������������������������     1 Past Climate and Environment����������������������������������������������������������������     5 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������    13 2 Humans, the Migrants ����������������������������������������������������������������������������   15 The Contribution from Sudan to the Out of Africa Dispersals: Not Just a Corridor����������������������������������������������������������������������������������    15 The Early Stone Age and Early Hominins����������������������������������������������    16 The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens ������������������������������������    20 Out of Africa by Anatomically Modern Humans������������������������������������    32 Pleistocene Fossil Remains of Homo sapiens������������������������������������������    34 The Later Stone Age in the Terminal Pleistocene������������������������������������    36 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������    41 3 The Last Hunter-Gatherers and Their Settlement Systems����������������   43 The Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene Cultural Complexes��������������    43 The Early/Middle Holocene Cultural Complexes������������������������������������    49 Settlement Strategy and Sedentism����������������������������������������������������������    58 Animal and Plant Management and Diet ������������������������������������������������    63 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������    66 4 The Last Hunter-Gatherers and Their Technical Knowledge Accumulation��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   67 Systematic Production of Pottery������������������������������������������������������������    67 Lithic Industries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    80 Bone, Horn and Shell Industries��������������������������������������������������������������    83 Burial Customs and Funerary Practices��������������������������������������������������    86 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������    88

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Contents

5 Food Production: Raising and Trading Domestic Animals and Plants ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   89 A Time of Changes����������������������������������������������������������������������������������    89 The Cultural Complexes��������������������������������������������������������������������������    94 Settlement Strategy and Nomadism��������������������������������������������������������   103 Scenarios of Domestic Livestock Adoption��������������������������������������������   104 Near Eastern and Other Routes of Domesticates������������������������������������   106 Faunal Spectra������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   107 Plants: Food and Rituals��������������������������������������������������������������������������   113 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   115 6 Cultural and Physical Anthropological Hallmarks of Early Food Producers����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  117 Technological Continuities and Discontinuities in Manufacturing Processes ��������������������������������������������������������������������   117 Pottery������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   117 Lithic Industries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   126 Bone Industries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   131 Human and Animal Figurines������������������������������������������������������������������   132 Ornaments������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   133 Physical Anthropological Hallmarks of Early Food Producers ��������������   135 Cemeteries������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   136 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   139 7 Epilogue or Premise? Outcomes of the Later Prehistory��������������������  141 Prehistory’s Epilogue and History’s Premise������������������������������������������   141 A-Group ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   142 Pre-Kerma������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   149 Butana and Gash Groups ������������������������������������������������������������������������   155 Late Leiterband and Handessi Cultures ��������������������������������������������������   157 Concluding Remarks��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   159 8 Final Reflections��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  161 References ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  167 Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  193

About the Author

Elena  A.  A.  Garcea  is Associate Professor in Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cassino and Southern Latium, Italy. She has undertaken fieldwork and has coordinated archaeological research in Sudan since 1986, investigating different parts of the country, namely the Khartoum province and Jebel Sabaloka (central Sudan), the Karima and Multaga-Abu Dom areas (southern Upper Nubia), Sai Island in the Nile River, and the Amara West district (northern Upper Nubia). Elena also conducted research projects in Libya for 20 years, in both the Central Sahara (Tadrart Acacus and Messak Settafet) and the northwestern part of the country (Jebel Gharbi), and was field director of the Gobero Archaeological Project in Niger in 2005 and 2006. Her research interests span from the African Middle Stone Age and the spread of early anatomically modern humans out of Africa to the shift from hunting-fishing-gathering to food production, sedentism/mobility dynamics, the emergence of complex societies, and the technology of pottery manufacturing. Elena is author and editor of 7 books (Cultural Dynamics in the Saharo-Sudanese Prehistory. Rome, Gruppo Editoriale Internazionale, 1993; Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Libyan Sahara. Florence, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2001; South-Eastern Mediterranean Peoples Between 130,000 and 10,000  Years Ago. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2010; Gobero: The No-Return Frontier. Archaeology and Landscape at the Saharo-Sahelian Borderland. Journal of African Archaeology Monograph Series 9. Frankfurt am Main, Africa Magna Verlag, 2013, among others) and over 240 journal articles and book chapters on African prehistoric archaeology.

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List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Fig. 1.2 Fig. 1.3 Fig. 1.4 Fig. 1.5 Fig. 1.6 Fig. 1.7

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2 Fig. 2.3 Fig. 2.4 Fig. 2.5 Fig. 2.6 Fig. 2.7 Fig. 3.1 Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 Fig. 3.4

The place of Sudan in Africa......................................................... 2 Present savanna environment......................................................... 3 Location of the main cataracts....................................................... 4 The Sixth Cataract of the Nile River (©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzinová, 2010)........................... 5 The Nile River Basin..................................................................... 6 Paleolakes (□), oases and wells (●)............................................... 7 The White Nile Paleolake with current White and Blue Nile flows (Redrawn from Barrows et al. 2014: Fig. 1, with permission by the Geological Society of America)............... 8 Location map of Early Stone Age sites.......................................... 17 Location map of Middle Stone Age sites....................................... 21 Middle Sangoan tools from 8-B-11: 1–2. Core-axes; 3–4. Tranchets (Courtesy of P. Van Peer)...................................... 25 Sandstone slab from the Lower Sangoan level at 8-B-11 (Courtesy of P. Van Peer)............................................... 26 Lupemban cores from 8-B-11 (Courtesy of P. Van Peer).............. 27 Late MSA tools from 8-B-11: 1. Bifacial foliate; 2–6. Levallois flakes; 7. Flake tranchet (Courtesy of P. Van Peer).......................................... 28 Location map of terminal Pleistocene sites................................... 37 Location map of the major late hunting-gathering sites................ 44 Main trench at Site 8-B-76 on Sai Island....................................... 51 Topographic map of Site 8-B-76 on Sai Island (with permission by Elsevier)........................................................ 52 Map of the settlement and burials at Sphinx, Jebel Sabaloka West (Black squares represent excavated trenches; adapted by L. Varadzin from Varadzinová Suková et al. 2015: Fig. 4)............................................................. 54

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Fig. 3.5 Fig. 3.6

Fig. 4.1

List of Figures

Map of Level 1 at Site 8-B-10C on Sai Island............................... 61 Virtual reconstruction of an architectural structure at Sphinx, Jebel Sabaloka West (©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzin, 2015)................................ 62

Map of the main ceramic cultural complexes and sites cited in the text................................................................ 70 Fig. 4.2 Khartoum Variant pottery: 1. Milled rim; 2. Notched rim; 3–5. Rocker-stamped zigzags; 6–7. Paired lines made by alternately pivoting stamping (1, 3–4. From 8-B-10C; 2, 5–7. From 8-B-76)..................................................................... 71 Fig. 4.3 Khartoum Variant dotted wavy line decorations (From 8-B-10C)............................................................................. 72 Fig. 4.4 Early Khartoum incised decorations: 1. Parallel lines; 2–9. Wavy line motifs (1–3. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2017; 4–9. From Kabbashi Haita, courtesy of I. Caneva)................................ 73 Fig. 4.5 Early Khartoum impressed dotted wavy line decorations (1–3. From Kabbashi, courtesy of I. Caneva; 4–7. From Esh-Shaheinab, Early Khartoum layers; 8–10. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015)......................................................................... 74 Fig. 4.6 Early Khartoum rocker-stamped zigzags (1. From Kabbashi Haita; 2–3. From Temeyim, courtesy of I. Caneva; 4–6. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015, 2017).................... 76 Fig. 4.7 Early Khartoum pottery: 1–2. Paired lines made by alternately pivoting stamping; 3–6. Decorations made with the simple impression technique; 7. Decorations made with the roulette technique; 8. Laqiya pottery (1. From Umm Singid, courtesy of I. Caneva; 2–7. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015, 2017; 8. From Wadi Howar, site Djabarona 84/13, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6064296, photo by B. Keding)................................. 77 Fig. 4.8 Combs for pottery decoration: 1–2. Ceramic combs; 3. Bone comb (1–2. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015 and P. Pokorný, 2015; 3. From Khartoum province, courtesy of I. Caneva)........... 78 Fig. 4.9 Early Khartoum retouched tools: 1. Simple endscraper; 2. Endscraper on a retouched blade; 3–4. Perforators; 5. Notched flake; 6. Arch-backed bladelet with rounded base; 7. Denticulated flake; 8–9. Lunates (From Geili Sharq)................ 81 Fig. 4.10 Multiple edged and concave scraper (From 8-B-10C).................. 82

List of Figures

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Fig. 4.11 1. Stone grinders and ring; 2. Quern (From Khartoum province, courtesy of I. Caneva).................................................... 84 Fig. 4.12 1. Uniserial barbed bone harpoon; 2. Engraved bone tool; 3. Engraved horn tool; 4. Bone point; 5. Engraved bone tool; 6. Ostrich eggshell beads (1. From Khartoum province, courtesy of I. Caneva; 2–6. From Sphinx ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by M. Frouz, 2012, P. Pokorný, 2015; L. Varadzin, 2018)......................................................................... 85 Fig. 4.13 Mesolithic burials (From Sphinx ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzin, 2012)................................ 87 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3

Fig. 6.1

Location map of the major Neolithic sites..................................... 96 Map of the area with high density burials at El-Kadada (Redrawn from Reinold 2007: Fig. 241)....................................... 99 Late Neolithic burial with grave goods from Kadero (Photo by L. Krzyzaniak, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)............................................................... 101

Abkan pottery: 1–2. Black-topped; 3–4. Undecorated; 5. Ripple ware with impressed decoration on the rim (1–4. From 8-B-76; 5. From 8-B-81)............................................. 118 Fig. 6.2 Caliciform beaker from Kadero (Photo by L. Krzyzaniak, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)............ 119 Fig. 6.3 Dotted (1–10) and plain (11–14) zigzags made with the rocker technique from Esh-Shaheinab............................. 121 Fig. 6.4 Zigzags with vees and dots made with the rocker technique from Esh-Shaheinab....................................................................... 122 Fig. 6.5 Parallel lines of dots (1–6) and dotted-wavy lines (7–9) made with the alternately pivoting stamp technique from Esh-Shaheinab....................................................................... 123 Fig. 6.6 Plain burnished pottery from Esh-Shaheinab................................ 124 Fig. 6.7 Funerary Late Neolithic globular jar from Geili (Courtesy of I. Caneva)................................................................................... 125 Fig. 6.8 Leiterband pottery from the Wadi Howar (Site Djabarona 80/86, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6064271, photo by B. Keding)....................................................................... 126 Fig. 6.9 Abkan lithic tools: 1–7. Groovers; 8–10. Sidescrapers; 11–15. Endscrapers; 16–26. Lunates (Redrawn from Palma di Cesnola 1960, Tables V, VII, XI, and XVIII)................. 127 Fig. 6.10 Alignment of lunates from a burial at Kadero (Photo by L. Krzyzaniak, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)............................................................... 128 Fig. 6.11 Darfur axes from the Wadi Howar (Site Rahib 80/76, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6059710, photo by E. Cziesla)....................................................................... 130

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Fig. 6.12 Gouges from Jebel Sabaloka West (©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzin, 2011)................................ 131 Fig. 6.13 Female and phallus-like figurines from Geili (Courtesy of I. Caneva)................................................................................... 132 Fig. 6.14 Pendants from Kadero of different raw materials: 1. Rhyolite; 2. Agate; 3. Zeolite; 4. Red pigment (Photo by M. Jórdeczka, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)............................................................... 134 Fig. 6.15 Zeolite lip-plugs from Kadero (Photo by M. Jórdeczka, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)............ 135 Fig. 7.1 Fig. 7.2 Fig. 7.3 Fig. 7.4 Fig. 7.5 Fig. 7.6 Fig. 7.7

Location map of the major late prehistoric sites............................ 143 Map of 8-B-52 (Drawing by T. Schilling)..................................... 151 Sketches of storage pits from 8-B-52 (Modified from Geus 2004: Figs. 4 and 5)....................................................................... 152 Pre-Kerma pottery from 8-B-52A: 1. Black-topped and ripple ware; 2. Black-topped ware; 3. Incised herringbone motif; 4, 6. Incised motifs; 5, 7–8. Geometric incised motifs....... 153 Pre-Kerma pottery from 8-B-52A: 1. Ripple ware; 2–4. Dotted zigzags; 5–7. Plain zigzags................................................ 154 Butana pottery (1, 5. From Upper Atbara site UA 113; 2–4. From KG23; with permission by Archaeopress Publishing)......... 156 Handessi pottery from the Wadi Howar (site Djabarona S96/2, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6064351, photo by B. Keding)................................................................................. 158

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Chronology of Pleistocene sapropel units and correlations with high floods of the White and Blue Nile.................................9 Table 1.2 Major Holocene dated climatic events in the Nile Basin and in the hinterland......................................................................11 Table 2.1 Table 2.2 Table 2.3 Table 2.4

Summary of MSA techno-complexes...........................................20 List of main MSA sites..................................................................22 List of Pleistocene AMH remains................................................. 35 List of terminal Pleistocene sites (dates in parenthesis refer to average measurements of calibrated ages, IntCal 13)...............38

Table 3.1 List of late hunting-gathering sites cited in the text. Dates include the earliest and latest radiometric age (calibrated with IntCal 13, 95.4% probability). Periodizations refer to those provided by the authors....................................................45 Table 4.1 Chronology of the main ceramic cultural complexes.................... 69 Table 4.2 Main sites with presence/absence of associated burials................ 86 Table 5.1 List of the major Neolithic sites. Dates refer to the earliest and latest radiometric age (calibrated with IntCal 13, 95.4% probability)....................................................................................91 Table 5.2 Proportional ratios in increasing order of domestic livestock vs. wild mammals and of cattle vs. caprines at selected sites (based on published data with absolute bone quantities)..............108 Table 7.1 List of the major late prehistoric sites. Dates refer to the earliest and latest radiometric age (calibrated with IntCal 13, 95.4% probability)................................................144 Table 7.2 Chronological sequences of the main late prehistoric cultural groups............................................................................... 147

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Chapter 1

Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

Geographical and Hydrographic Setting The geographical focus of this book is present-day Republic of the Sudan, which became independent in 1956 after which its borders were redefined following the split from South Sudan in 2011. The country’s name derives from a wider geographical region called in Arabic bilād as-sūdān, meaning “the lands of the blacks.” The entire bilād as-sūdān stretches from West to East Africa along the belt just south of the Sahara; only its eastern part is the modern-day Sudanese country and is cut across by the Nile River and its tributaries (Fig. 1.1). Except for a narrow sub-humid or swampy belt near the border with South Sudan, Sudan currently has a dry and semi-dry climate with extensive desert and savanna areas (Fig. 1.2), whereas past climate alternated between wetter and drier periods than today. The present Nile course becomes a single river in Khartoum, the country’s capital, at the confluence of the White and Blue Nile, and continues its northward flow to the Mediterranean Sea. While the White Nile mostly contributes with the low season flow and little sediment, the Blue Nile and Atbara Rivers to the east provide most of the flood flow and the sediment that enriches the floodplains to the north. A series of rocky outcrops create six main and other minor cataracts between southern Egypt and central Sudan (Fig.  1.3). The cataracts intersect the middle tract of the Nile, affecting its discharge. They extend over the historically-­ known regions of Nubia, with Lower Nubia comprised between the First and the Second Cataract at the present Egypt-Sudan’s border, and Upper Nubia stretching between the Second and the lowermost Sixth Cataract, located about 90 km north of Khartoum (Fig. 1.4). The long extent of the Nile across the cataracts is unnavigable and therefore here land routes were the only way for transport. The inception of the Blue Nile and Atbara Rivers, with its Tekezze tributary in Ethiopia, goes back to almost 30 million years ago (Williams 2019). When the Mediterranean Sea dried out during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.96–5.33 million years ago), a considerable incision, which Said (1993) had called Eonile, © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 E. A. A. Garcea, The Prehistory of the Sudan, SpringerBriefs in Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47185-9_1

1

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1  Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

Fig. 1.1  The place of Sudan in Africa

formed a deep fluvial canyon extending over 1100  km from the Mediterranean coast to Aswan. River waters filled this canyon, which became an estuary and was filled with sediment from the Nile and previously active rivers in the Red Sea Hills and the Egyptian Western Desert (Williams 2019). The river that flowed into this estuary and succeeded it had been called Paleonile (Said 1993). The White Nile only joined the main Nile about 500,000 years ago (Williams 2019) and a new river flow formed from the Ethiopian Highlands to the Mediterranean Sea under wet climatic conditions during the Middle Pleistocene (750,000–130,000 BP). Various Nile deposits alternated with regressions until the beginning of the Holocene when the modern Nile with the regime of cyclic flooding was established

Geographical and Hydrographic Setting

3

Fig. 1.2  Present savanna environment

(see below). At the beginning of the Holocene, Lakes Victoria and Albert overflowed into the White Nile and Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands became the source of the Blue Nile, contributing to the current water discharge of the Nile. Water availability has always been a recurring and critical issue for past and present inhabitants in Sudan. Its supplies originate from three sources: the Nile River system, groundwater, and precipitation. Although the climate is drier than in Egypt, the Nile Basin is more expansive in its upper, Sudanese extent due to its numerous tributaries (Fig. 1.5). The Atbara River still flows in eastern Sudan, while the Wadi Howar, also called the Yellow Nile, and the Wadi el-Melik in western Sudan became extinct about 2000  years ago, even though water and pasture are still seasonally available today. Away from the rivers and wadis, in the sandy and rocky hinterland of western and eastern Sudan, groundwater has been a valuable alternative source. Outlets springing in oases or dug through wells and boreholes (Fig.  1.6) have allowed human populations to occupy arid and semi-arid land that would have been otherwise uninhabitable (Whiteman 1971). Precipitation is the third major water source and contributes to the flow regime of the Sudanese Nile (El-Tom 1975; Macklin et al. 2013). The Northern Hemisphere summer monsoon and the equatorial precipitation mechanism of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) act as weather controls and strongly affect the country’s environment (Nicholson 2011). The ITCZ is where humid and dry air masses converge and shifts northwards during the boreal summer and southwards during the austral summer. Furthermore, high temperatures and southerly winds produce low pressure that brings in humid maritime air from the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and

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1  Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

Fig. 1.3  Location of the main cataracts

causes monsoonal rains in the central and southern parts of the country. The past rain front moved hundreds of kilometers farther north in accordance with humid intervals and retreated southward during arid spells. Given the geographical position of Sudan and its natural features, its populations could have access to multiple gateways for Out-of-Africa hominin movements. The Nile River was a direct channel to Egypt, the Mediterranean Basin, and the Near East to the north, and East Africa to the southeast. Watercourses, seasonal wadis, and groundwater in western and eastern Sudan had substantial roles in sustaining Sudanese populations and connecting them to the Sahara to the west and to the Red Sea to the east. They also offered alternative north-south ground routes, as well as east-west means of communication between drier areas and the Nile Valley. This chapter presents an outline of the climatic conditions during the Pleistocene and the early and middle Holocene in order to provide a comprehensive framework of the environment where past populations lived. Beginning from the Lower Pleistocene, early hominins started to produce archaeological artifacts and spread within and out of Africa (Chap. 2) and, in the early and middle Holocene, the last hunters-fishers-gatherers (Chaps. 3 and 4), the initial food producers (Chaps. 5 and 6), and the first complex societies (Chap. 7) succeeded and sometimes coexisted. In

Past Climate and Environment

5

Fig. 1.4  The Sixth Cataract of the Nile River (©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzinová, 2010)

order to conform to the prevailing literature, dates are indicated in years BP with regard to the earliest–Pleistocene–periods, and in years BC with regard to the later– Holocene–periods. All radiocarbon ages mentioned in this book have been calibrated with IntCal 13 (95.4% probability) in order to provide uniform results. The names of the archaeological sites in Sudan generally follow Hinkel’s geographical order described in The Archaeological Map of the Sudan (Hinkel 1977). This map has a geographical structure based on a grid system enhanced by the International Map of the World. According to this system every site is assigned an alphanumerical code (e.g., 8-B-76), allowing to identify its location within an area of 5x5 km.

Past Climate and Environment The geographical setting where Sudan’s past populations exerted their spheres of influence varied through time and partly depended on the existing climatic and environmental conditions of the Pleistocene and the early and middle Holocene. The Pleistocene  Most available data on Pleistocene environment pertain to the last 300,000 years because younger sediments covered or obliterated earlier sequences. The Pleistocene floodplain of the main Nile was located east of the present one, on higher terraces than the Holocene alluvial plain. The White Nile also shifted west-

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1  Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

Fig. 1.5  The Nile River Basin

Past Climate and Environment

7

Fig. 1.6  Paleolakes (□), oases and wells (●)

ward and flowed at higher (386 m) elevations, forming a vast megalake covering 45,000 km, comparable to the largest freshwater lakes in the world today (Barrows et al. 2014; Williams 2019; Williams et al. 2010). It was called White Nile Paleolake and extended from just south of present Khartoum to Malakal (Fig. 1.7) where the Lower White Nile currently flows across the border between Sudan and South Sudan. It reached its maximum extent during the Last Interglacial period, about 110,000 BP, and was synchronous with sapropel S5 (see below). This megalake was created during very high peak floods in the Blue Nile with strong river flow that caused water in the White Nile to back up for hundreds of kilometres, the White Nile channel narrowing towards the northern margin of the lake (north of 14°N). Though only full during the summer monsoon, it persisted throughout the year thanks to the then humid climate and scarce evaporation that sustained a savanna-­ type of environment. Sapropels are highly organic mud formations deposited on the seafloor of the eastern Mediterranean Sea since at least 30 million years ago. They have been correlated and appeared to be contemporary with high Nile floods, providing consistent information on the chronology of the high floods in the Blue and White Nile catchments (Williams 2019; Williams et al. 2015a). Pleistocene episodes of high flow in

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1  Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

Fig. 1.7  The White Nile Paleolake with current White and Blue Nile flows (Redrawn from Barrows et al. 2014: Fig. 1, with permission by the Geological Society of America)

Past Climate and Environment

9

the Blue and White Nile coincide with sapropel units (Table  1.1). Two major Pleistocene fluvial formations were also recorded in the Atbara Valley and were dated 126,000 and 92,000 BP (Abbate et al. 2010), not differing much from those of the Nile floods. These periods of increased Nile floods were related to strong summer monsoons and northerly seasonal movements of the ITCZ with high insolation, which affected the Nile Basin and beyond. By contrast, the period between 75,000 BP and 15,000 BP featured progressive, although fluctuating cooling (Williams 2019). Times of relatively low sea levels were recorded at 75,000 BP, 55,000 BP, and 35,000 BP. The 74,000 BP super-eruption of the Toba volcano in Sumatra seemingly influenced the cooling and desiccation episode that affected the Nile Basin ca. 74,000–72,500 BP (Williams et al. 2009). The White Nile was again energetic around 27,000 BP, although it had a seasonal flow regime at this time. Later, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 23,000–19,000 BP), the Nile flow was diminished, Lakes Victoria and Albert in East Africa no longer flowed into the White Nile, and the main Nile ceased flowing all year (Williams 2019; Williams et  al. 2010). Dunes accumulated along the White Nile and the Sahara was drier, extending 400 km farther south than today (Nicoll 2004). A brief phase of relatively high flow occurred around 20,000 BP in the main river within a general period of dune building (Williams 2009) and human occupation remained sporadic and was fully re-established slightly before 12,000 BP (10,000 BC). As for the Eastern Sahara, lacustrine carbonates from southwestern Egypt and northwestern Sudan (Selima, Wadi Hussein, Oyo, and Wadi Hidwa) indicate four paleolake episodes, deriving from pluvial conditions and/or high watertable which occurred about 320,000–250,000 BP, 240,000–190,000 BP, 155,000–120,000 BP, and 90,000–65,000 BP (Szabo et al. 1995). The first two episodes may be associated with Early Stone Age (ESA) human occupations and the last two episodes relate to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) (see Chap. 2). The Early and Middle Holocene  The early Holocene (10,000–6300  BC) is marked by the onset of a moist interval and strong African summer monsoon in contrast to the hyper-arid (7500 7300 End of high flood 7000

Contraction

7000 7000 6700 6600 6300

Contraction

6150–5750

Regression

6200–5600 5900–5600 5700 5700

High lake level High flood

High flood Contraction

Area in the Hinterland

White Nile Blue Nile Blue Nile El-Atrun Selima Gureinat Western Nubian Paleolake El-Atrun Nile catchment Gureinat Kerma area

8100 8000 7800

Desiccation Desiccation

High flood

8800 8500 8300

Area in the Nile Basin White Nile

Gureinat El-Atrun White Nile Selima White Nile Western Nile tributaries Oyo Wadi Howar Western Nile tributaries Gureinat Selima Gureinat Blue Nile Western Nubian Paleolake Nile floodplain and channel system Gureinat White Nile El-Atrun Blue Nile (continued)

1  Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

12 Table 1.2 (continued) Humid Event Lake refilling

Arid Event Swampy plain termination

High lake level

Age (years BC) 5600 5300

Irregular flood Regression Diminished flow Contraction

5100 5000 5000 4600 4400–4150

Stream lowering

4300 4000

High flood

Continuous activity

4000 Contraction

4000

Contraction Contraction

4000 3700–3450

Desiccation Desiccation

2900 2800

Desiccation

2800

Contraction

2700–2250

Desiccation Desiccation

2500 2300

Desiccation Desiccation

2000 2000

Area in the Nile Basin

Area in the Hinterland Gureinat

Kerma area Gureinat Nile Valley Oyo White Nile Nile floodplain and channel system White and Blue Nile Wadi Howar and Wadi el-Melik Local wadis in the Dongola reach Western Nubian Paleolake Gureinat Nile floodplain and channel system Oyo Wadi Howar and Wadi el-Melik Local wadis in the Dongola reach Nile floodplain and channel system Oyo Western Nubian Paleolake Gureinat Selima

when the surrounding areas became desert and human populations concentrated by the wadi course (see Chaps. 5 and 6). In addition, several perennial lakes developed in western Sudan, the Sahelian savanna extended northward, and semi-arid conditions (≥300-mm annual rainfall) predominated (Haynes 2001). These lakes formed between plant-stabilized dunes and were connected to the Chad Basin through a series of swamps and marshes between the lakes, allowing animal migrations (Pachur and Hoelzmann 1991). The northernmost lake was Selima (Fig. 1.6) and formed in what is still an oasis. Around 9200 BC, a discharging groundwater aquifer formed a 14-m deep basin, although the area always remained drier than elsewhere in the Eastern Sahara. This lake underwent dry and moist intervals until it completely dried out 2000  BC (Haynes 2001; Hoelzmann et  al. 2001; Ritchie and

Concluding Remarks

13

Haynes 1987). Moving southwards, Oyo is another groundwater-fed lake that formed before 7500  BC (Ritchie 1994). A mosaic of savanna woodlands and marshes lasted until ca. 5000 BC, when groundwater dropped and hyperarid conditions were established around 2500  BC.  Southwest of Oyo, the Western Nubian Paleolake (also called Ennedi Erg) was located at the same latitude as Paleolake Chad and was the largest lacustrine formation in western Sudan, reaching a maximum extent of 5330 km2 and a depth of 28 m. It formed around 8900 BC and lasted until 6300 BC, when it progressively decreased until complete desiccation 2300 BC (Hoelzmann et al. 2001). Southeast of it, the El-Atrun depression yielded a sequence of lacustrine sediments, spanning from 9300 BC to 5700 BC (Jahns 1995; Ritchie and Haynes 1987). Further south, below the Wadi Howar, a shallow paleolake, Gureinat, formed around 9000 BC and went through a sequence of regressions and refilling until at least 4000 BC or even 2000 BC (Hoelzmann et al. 2010). This lake was located outside the drainage systems and, for this reason, only depended on shifts in groundwater levels triggered by local monsoonal rainfall, which was able to feed a minimum lake depth of 8 m. Ultimately, subfossil Limicolaria shells found near Jebel Tageru and dating to ca. 1400 BC indicate that a minimum of 300-mm precipitation persisted in the area (Haynes 2001). To sum up, a long humid period lasted from about 12,000 BC until 7000 BC, when the tropical rain front of the ITCZ shifted 700–1000  km northward. After 7000 BC, a drier, semi-desert interval was first recorded in the paleolakes and western Nile tributaries, including the While Nile, and later (6150–5750 BC) in the Nile floodplain and channel system. This period of river channel contraction fostered the establishment of human settlements in the no-longer swampy Nile floodplain. A second humid episode (ca. 5700–5000  BC) witnessed high Nile floods and lake refilling, and the tropical rain front of the ITCZ shifted 300–400 km northward (Neumann 1989). It was interrupted by another arid spell with contraction of the paleolakes and reduction of the floods of the Nile and its tributaries (ca. 5000–4000 BC). High floods in the White and Blue Nile Valleys and some continuous activity of local wadis were observed again around 4000 BC, but afterwards a period of rapid climatic deterioration began and, particularly in such vulnerable ecosystems as Sudanese ones, had severe impacts on water availability and human settlement organization (Chap. 7).

Concluding Remarks Various theoretical approaches highlight differing perspectives on human-climate interactions in this part of Africa. It is undeniable that climate changes, which caused considerable environmental fluctuations in northeastern Africa, had an inevitable impact on the social organization and subsistence economy of human communities (e.g., Honegger and Williams 2015; Macklin et  al. 2015; Nicoll 2004). Nutrient-rich Nile sediments may have favored the adoption of domestic livestock by offering extensive pastureland (Macklin et al. 2015). On the other hand, it has

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1  Paleoenvironments and Sudan’s Geographical Spheres of Influence

been argued that climate change was not the most important factor for the acquisition of food production (Zerboni 2013), which in fact was gradually and patchily introduced in the local subsistence economy (Chaps. 5 and 6). Furthermore, animal herding with trampling and overgrazing contributed to enhancing devegetation, landscape denudation, and sediment erosion (Zerboni and Nicoll 2018). Different, sometimes divergent interpretations have been proposed  on human responses to climate changes. Some authors consider climate as a direct ‘motor’ controlling intensification or contraction of human occupation in the Eastern Sahara (Kuper and Kröpelin 2006; Kröpelin et al. 2008), although even these authors point out that reoccupation occurred around 8500 BC, that is, more than a millennium after lakes formed in the region. By contrast, other authors put a nuanced emphasis on climate changes and highlight human ‘resilience,’ which involves the skills to respond to disrupting environmental events through different forms of gradual social and economic mediation and reorganization (Clarke et al. 2016). An exemplary case of resilience to rapid environmental change and drought comes from the Kerma area, where a new kingdom emerged around 2500 BC, notwithstanding the deteriorating climatic conditions (Macklin et al. 2013). The following chapters provide ample evidence and discuss human adaptations, changes, transformations that entailed major cultural developments from the Pleistocene (Chap. 2) until about 2500 BC, which marks the end of the prehistoric period and the rise of the Kerma kingdom and other polities (Chap. 7).

Chapter 2

Humans, the Migrants

 he Contribution from Sudan to the Out of Africa Dispersals: T Not Just a Corridor Archaeological records in Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula provide hints that Sudan contributed to both the northern and the southern route of the Out-of-­ Africa hominin dispersals. The northern route that led East African hominins out of their continent into Southwest Asia and onwards almost inevitably traversed Sudan. But Sudanese technological traditions also spread across the Red Sea, following the southern route. Furthermore, the large number of sites dating to the Early and Middle Stone Age shows that Sudan was not just a corridor, but a place of long-term thriving growth for hominins. The first known species in the country is Homo erectus (or Homo ergaster), the earliest hominin that migrated from Africa to Eurasia. Their spread into Sudan from East Africa 1.89 million years ago can be related to multiple intrinsic and extrinsic reasons (Carotenuto et al. 2016). Population expansion, full bipedalism, enhanced stone tool technology, and intragroup cooperation enabled these hominins to disperse over long distances. These intrinsic values matched extrinsic changes, namely a marked increase in climate variability and aridity, a major expansion of grassland habitats, and the development of large bodies of water. H. erectus changed their relationship with carnivores and modes of meat feeding by becoming direct competitors. Meat consumption occasioned constant interaction with carnivores when it derived from scavenging, whereas it involved competition when hominins became predators and hunters themselves. The biogeography of these hominins with their skills to move to different ecological niches, usually located at higher altitudes, supported the shift. This favored an increase in meat consumption and may have contributed to push H. erectus towards northern latitudes, where there were fewer carnivores, until they reached Eurasia. After ~800,000 BP, a new species evolved in Africa, Homo heidelbergensis (or Homo rhodesiensis), who was another significant protagonist of the Out-of-Africa © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 E. A. A. Garcea, The Prehistory of the Sudan, SpringerBriefs in Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47185-9_2

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spread and had the capability to settle all over Europe, as well as in Asia. Notably, this species was the common ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. They mainly  produced Mode 2 lithic industries (bifacially worked tools, Acheulean) and succeeded Mode 1 productions (pebble tool industries, Oldowan), although it is likely that Mode 2 techno-complexes were produced by multiple lineages of Homo beside H. heidelbergensis (for a discussion of the characteristic features of the African technological Modes, see, e.g., Barham and Mitchell 2008). This species had greater cognitive capacities and enhanced social learning, which may have provided abilities to develop new mobility strategies, respond to ecological challenges, and gradually develop technical skills to invent soft hammer thinning and prepared core technology. Acheulean groups used stone tools not only for hunting, but also for digging, woodworking, hideworking, and many other purposes. Finally, Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans, AMH) are the last authors of the Out-of-Africa dispersals (see below). They appeared in Africa earlier than previously thought, that is, around 300,000 BP, which is a more closely coeval stage with the full elaboration of Mode 3 technologies (tools produced from prepared cores, Levallois) (Richter et al. 2017). The combination of early AMH and Mode 3 marks the end of the Early Stone Age (ESA) and the beginning of the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Different techno-complex terminologies, reflecting diverse classificatory systems, were employed at the time of their discoveries that took place over almost a century in Sudan. Here, they are discussed and a tentative terminological uniformity is introduced.

The Early Stone Age and Early Hominins The ESA archaeological record in Sudan has a higher number of sites than commonly presumed (Fig. 2.1), but no contemporary fossil hominin remains have been found. According to Carotenuto et  al. (2016), as  the time that passed between H. erectus in East Turkana (1.89 million years) and their earliest evidence out of Africa, at Dmanisi in Georgia (1.77 million years), is rather short, the likely appearance of H. erectus in Sudan falls within this relatively brief timespan (after 1.89 and before 1.77 million years). In his first overview of ESA sites, Arkell (1949b) noted that the earliest cultural influences of East African origins, Oldowan, were via the Atbara River, rather than the White and Blue Niles. In contrast, he had not recorded any later ESA, Acheulean, site along the Atbara, suggesting that hominins associated with  Oldowan and Acheulean industries pursued different northward routes. While they preferred the route along the more eastern Atbara River connected to Ethiopia in the Oldowan, they spread along the Nile Valley in the Acheulean. However, contrary to Arkell, Acheulean sites were recorded in the Atbara Valley and represent both the earliest (late Lower Pleistocene, ~800,000 BP) and the latest (late Middle Pleistocene,

The Early Stone Age and Early Hominins

17

Fig. 2.1  Location map of Early Stone Age sites

~200,000 BP) Acheulean period with an intermediate gap of several hundred thousand years due to severe arid episodes (Abbate et al. 2010; Masojc et al. 2019). The work by Guichard and Guichard (1968) is a notorious reference for ESA and MSA industries in Nubia. These authors employed typological criteria and variability in tool type frequencies to make a relative chronological classification of the Acheulean. They distinguished three phases: Lower, Middle, and Upper. Lower Acheulean assemblages exhibit rather coarse and thick bifaces, while Middle and Upper Acheulean assemblages show a progressive increase of bifacial ovates and handaxes. Size was also taken as an indicator, shifting from larger to smaller. Levallois products, made with prepared core technology (Mode 3), also appeared in Sudanese Acheulean assemblages. Their presence was arguably taken as a fossile directeur for the Upper Acheulean and their absence for earlier Acheulean complexes (Arkell 1953a; Chmielewski 1968; Guichard and Guichard 1965), as was the case of Arkin 8, which was considered Middle Acheulean because it lacked Levallois products. Actually, the Levallois technique is not necessarily present at every Upper Acheulean site and therefore does not reflect a real cultural or specific differentiation. It should also be noted that Mode 3 appeared in Sudan before AMH reached this region. Furthermore, the sites of Arkin 14 and Dibeira 52 are associated with

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2  Humans, the Migrants

gravel deposits (Chmielewski 1968) that have been dated to 650,000–200,000 BP and therefore may be earlier than their original attribution to the Upper Acheulean. Only a precise and stratigraphically controlled chronology could allow partitioning of the Acheulean complex into different time periods. What can be tentatively said is that the Acheulean appeared around one million years ago, or slightly later, and continued until around 200,000 BP. An exceptional Developed Oldowan/Early Acheulean find was made at Kaddanarti, on Badeen Island, 12 km south of the Third Cataract, a few years ago when a very low Nile episode temporarily exposed a fossiliferous level with stone artifacts, which is otherwise underwater and is normally covered by at least 5 m of Nile silt. This level yielded a stone industry associated with faunal remains (Elephas recki ileretensis, Hippopotamus amphibius, Pelorovis, Tragelaphus, Beatragus, and wild asses) that suggested an age between 1.6 and 1.3 million BP (Chaix 2019; Chaix et al. 2000). Among other tools (choppers and bifacially retouched pebble tools), the lithic assemblage includes a supposedly unstruck Levallois core that puzzled the discoverers as this reduction technique is notably inconsistent with the suggested age of the site. Therefore, either the Developed Oldowan is an excessively early attribution for this assemblage, or the artifact in question is not a Levallois core. If the association with Lower Pleistocene fauna is correct, as it seems to be, the artifact considered as a Levallois core could be an Oldowan centripetal core instead. Its thickness and irregular flaking would speak to this. Otherwise, the attribution to the Developed Oldowan should be revised as Acheulean. In western Sudan, diatomites of lacustrine origin and a paleolake were found at Barbis and fossil oil palm leaves at Umm Mari indicate the presence of tropical rainforest in the Lower/Middle Pleistocene (Philibert et al. 2010). The associated lithic assemblages were tentatively dated to 1.2–0.8 million BP and 0.8 ± 0.3 million BP, respectively for their technological similarities with Developed Oldowan/ Early Acheulean East African complexes. Considering the proximity of the Barbis paleolake to Chad, it may have also attracted populations from western regions. Rare Acheulean tools were also recorded in the Laqiya area (site 82/40) and in the Wadi Howar region, at Jebel Rahib (site 80/88) (Idris 1994). Sudan also yielded one of the rare African sites with evidence for an ESA/MSA transition or rather overlap. Site 8-B-11 on Sai Island suggested that the ESA and the Early MSA techno-complexes were partly contemporary with interstratified Late Acheulean and Early MSA (Sangoan) industries, possibly reflecting a chronological overlap of biologically different human groups (H. heidelbergensis and early H. sapiens) (Van Peer et al. 2003, 2004). This interstratification was explained by the fact that the site would have been only intermittently occupied by one or the other group. The authors claimed that behavioral differences were related to distinct human populations. While the group associated with Late Acheulean complexes, making hand-held tools, was probably of local origin, the group with Early MSA industries, making functionally specialized tools, was not local (Van Peer et  al. 2004). An interstratification of Acheulean heavy-duty tools and Sangoan assemblages was also observed in East Africa, for example, in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya (McBrearty and Tryon 2006). However, new dates of blade and Levallois

The Early Stone Age and Early Hominins

19

prepared core technology in Acheulean assemblages earlier than 395,000 BP indicated that human behaviors may not conform to discrete typological assemblages, such as Acheulean and MSA, but were rather attributed to gradual and prolonged processes of technological and behavioral change (Blegen et al. 2018). Another exceptional cluster of ESA and MSA sites in stratigraphic context was exposed by gold mining activities, about 70  km east of the Lower Atbara River within the Eastern Desert Atbara River (EDAR) project (Masojc et al. 2019). OSL dating gave ages of the Acheulean complexes from before 231,000 BP to 181,000 BP.  One of the sites, EDAR 6, appeared as one of the largest Acheulean sites in northeastern Africa, exceeding 40 ha. Khor Abu Anga is a further site exhibiting Late Acheulean, Sangoan, and Lupemban complexes. The site was discovered in the 1940s (Arkell 1949b), excavated between 1964 and 1966, and much later published in detail (Carlson 2015). Even though the archaeological artifacts come from a bed of alluvial gravel, suggesting they are not in primary context (Williams 2019), the stratigraphy of Trenches 5 and 11 shows a succession of Late Acheulean artifacts and MSA, Sangoan, artifacts in the overlying level (Carlson 2015). Entirely Lupemban sequences in distinct levels were found in separate trenches (Trenches 4, 7 and 9). Unfortunately, the Acheulean assemblage is much less representative than the Sangoan and Lupemban ones (see below) and is documented by very few pieces in the excavated trenches. Carlson (2015) referred to surface collections to distinguish Acheulean from Sangoan techno-complexes on the basis of morphological criteria and separated Acheulean handaxes from later ones by the quality of their flaking and their width/ thickness ratio, producing larger, thinner, and finely flaked types in the Sangoan. Therefore, given the weak Acheulean stratigraphic evidence, it could be even possible that the Acheulean did not exist at all there. Finally, in eastern Sudan, a thickly stratified site around Jebel Elgrain comprising choppers, cleavers, handaxes, and later MSA tools was excavated on the margin of the Atbara paleolake about 20 km east of the Lower Atbara River (Nassr 2014, 2018). It suggested affinities with Acheulean and Sangoan industries as well as East African connections. Acheulean sites were also found on the Red Sea Hills at Gebel Karaiweb, which yielded assemblages consisting of crude handaxes and cleavers that differ from Middle Acheulean sites such as Arkin 8, Khor Abu Anga, and Abu Hugar and suggest instead an Early Acheulean character (Kobusiewicz et al. 2018). Farther south, the Hayna area is also located slightly inland (35 km) from the Red Sea coastal margin and yielded a conspicuous concentration of handaxes made by hard-hammer percussion, with few trihedral picks and rare cleavers. These handaxes were made on fine-grained volcanic rocks, which were locally available in the inland plains (Beyin et al. 2017, 2019). Other Acheulean bifaces, more refined and made by soft-hammer percussion, are probably younger as they were found in association with Mode 3, prepared core products, in the near-by Khor Baraka area. They were assigned to the ESA-MSA transition. The distance (35 km) of these sites from the coast suggested that hominins largely depended on terrestrial resources. Gebel Karaiweb and Hayna, located at the opposite ends of the Sudanese Red Sea coast, support another viable destination and dispersal artery for hominins

20

2  Humans, the Migrants

producing these industries as well as later ones as the MSA site around Bir Nurayet, just 7 km south of Gebel Karaiweb suggests (Kobusiewicz et al. 2018). Vegetated corridors connecting the Atbara and Nile river system to the Rea Sea channeled hominin dispersal.

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens With the onset of the MSA technological changes, regional cultural traditions developed across Africa (McBrearty 2007), including Sudan (Table 2.1). This variation may relate to ecological conditions and/or could reflect new communication needs by AMH to express distinct cultural identities and diversified concepts of tool-­ making by using similar, but not identical, manufacturing processes and stylistically different tools. At the time of the first discoveries of MSA sites in the 1950s and 1960s no definite terms for the Sudanese stone industries were commonly accepted. Several archaeologists participated in the salvage excavations and surveys, commissioned before the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the early 1960s, and proposed different terminologies. Even assemblages from the same site, such as those from Jebel Brinikol, were named differently: Middle Paleolithic I (Guichard and Guichard 1965) and Nubian Mousterian Type B (Marks 1968c). Table 2.1  Summary of MSA techno-complexes Stage Early MSA

Middle MSA

Late MSA

Name Sangoan

Reduction Techniques Discoidal

Lupemban

Volumetric blade cores

Nubian MSA (Middle Paleolithic) Lower Nile Valley Complex (+Denticulate Mousterian) Nubian Complex (+Nubian Mousterian Types A and B)

Levallois, Nubian (primarily Type 2) Centripetal Levallois, occasionally bidirectional, no Nubian

Aterian

Levallois, Nubian type 1

Khormusan

Recurrent centripetal and preferential Levallois, rare Nubian and bidirectional

Nubian (Types 1 and 2), centripetal Levallois

Prevailing Tools Core-axes, picks, flakes, large planes Core-axes, bifacial lanceolates, foliates, backed blades, blades, points Bifacial foliates, rare Levallois points, sidescrapers Denticulates, no points

Nubian sidescrapers, Nubian points, bifacial foliates, truncated-faceted tools, rare true Levallois points Tanged tools, bifacial lanceolates, ovoid and laminar flakes Levallois flakes, burins, denticulates, blades, small bladelets, rare points and sidescrapers

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens

21

Fig. 2.2  Location map of Middle Stone Age sites

Except for the sites mentioned above and a few in the Wadi Halfa area (e.g., Sites 502 and 503), Acheulean and MSA occupations are rarely in stratigraphic sequence. MSA sites are quite numerous (Fig. 2.2), although many of them are deflated and appear as surface scatters. In the literature, they have been described according to subjective definitions of an unnecessary diversification of techno-complexes, which are summarized here. The most representative industries and sites are discussed in the following sections (Table 2.2). Sangoan and Lupemban  Chmielewski (1965) first proposed the term Sangoan for the presence of ovate heavy-duty tools, but later doubted if it was really illustrative of Sudanese contexts (Chmielewski 1968). Van Peer (2016) reintroduced this term to refer to Early MSA techno-complexes, which he identified up to the Mediterranean coast. The Sangoan is associated with the arrival of new–anatomically modern– populations during MIS 7 (243,000–191,000 BP), who did not replace existing local

2  Humans, the Migrants

22 Table 2.2  List of main MSA sites Techno-Complex Sangoan

Site Abu Hugar Site 8-B-11, Sai Island Al-Jamrab Arkin 8 Khor Abu Anga

Lupemban

Nubian MSA (Middle Paleolithic)

Lower Nile Valley Complex (+ Denticulate Mousterian)

Jebel Elgrain Site 8-B-11, Sai Island Khor Abu Anga Arkin 5 Laqiya Arba’in Site 113A Site 400 Site 401 Site 410 Site 415 Site 420 Site 439 Site 440, Lower level Site 440, Upper level Site 503 Site 507 Site 622 Site 3-Q-34 Site N2 Site N6 Site N91 Abou Sofyan III Sambra Site 36B Site 1000 Wadi Muqadam Umm ‘Ushush

References Chmielewski (1968), Van Peer (2016) and Van Peer et al. (2003) Van Peer (2016) and Van Peer et al. (2003, 2004) Spinapolice et al. (2018) and Zerboni et al. (2016) Chmielewski (1968) and Van Peer (2016) Arkell (1949b), Carlson (2015), Van Peer (2004) and Whitemann (1971) Nassr (2014) Van Peer (2016) and Van Peer et al. (2003, 2004) Arkell (1949b), Carlson (2015), Van Peer (2004) and Whitemann (1971) Chmielewski (1968) Gabriel and Kröpelin (1997) Guichard and Guichard (1965) Guichard and Guichard (1965) and Van Peer (1991) Guichard and Guichard (1965) Guichard and Guichard (1968) Guichard and Guichard (1965) Guichard and Guichard (1965) Guichard and Guichard (1965) Shiner (1968c) and Wendorf and Schild (1992) Shiner (1968c) and Wendorf and Schild (1992) Guichard and Guichard (1968) Guichard and Guichard (1968) Guichard and Guichard (1968) Wolf (2004) Shiner (1971) Shiner (1971) Shiner (1971) Gratien (2013) Fernandez et al. (2003a, b) Marks (1968c) Marks (1968c) Hosfield et al. (2015) Fernandez et al. (2003a, b) (continued)

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens

23

Table 2.2 (continued) Techno-Complex Nubian Complex (+ Nubian Mousterian Types A and B)

Nubian Mousterian Type A

Aterian

Khormusan

Site BP 177 (Goat Mountain) Jebel Brinikol

References Masojc et al. (2017)

Guichard and Guichard (1965), Marks (1968c) and Van Peer (1991) Elagager Nassr (2014) Elkarabab Nassr (2014) Jebel Elgrain Nassr (2014) Site 7-Y-11, Jebel Spinapolice et al. (2018) and Usai and Baroka Salvatori (2007) Site 9-Y-18, Jebel Spinapolice et al. (2018) and Usai and Baroka Salvatori (2007) Site 9-Y-19a, Jebel Spinapolice et al. (2018) and Usai and Baroka Salvatori (2007) Site 1010–8 Marks (1968c) Site 1033 Goder-Goldberg (2013) and Marks (1968c) Site 1035 Goder-Goldberg (2013), Marks (1968c) and Wendorf and Schild (1992) Site 1036 Goder-Goldberg (2013), Marks (1968c) and Wendorf and Schild (1992) Site 1037 Marks (1968c) and Wendorf and Schild (1992) Site 1038 Marks (1968c) and Wendorf and Schild (1992) Jebel Kobkabba Kobusiewicz and Kabacinski (1996) Site 6 Marks (1968c) Site 121 Marks (1968c) El-Hamra Tahir and Nassr (2015) Magendohli Carlson (2015) S5, Amara West Vila (1977) 2-R-77, Amara Garcea (2015) West Site 97, Multaga-­ Garcea (2003a, b) Abu Dom Wadi Howar Gabriel and Kröpelin (1997) Site 34A Goder-Goldberg (2013) and Marks (1968b) Site ANW-3 Goder-Goldberg (2013), Marks (1968b) and Van Peer (1991) Site 34D Goder-Goldberg (2013) Site 1017 Goder-Goldberg (2013) and Marks (1968b) Site 2004 Goder-Goldberg (2013) and Marks (1968b) Station One Goder-Goldberg (2013) and Rose (2004)

24

2  Humans, the Migrants

groups associated with  Acheulean industries, but coexisted in clearly different stratigraphic contexts during a relatively short period of time (Van Peer 2016), as seen above. Major differences between Acheulean and Sangoan tools can be found at functional and conceptual levels: while the former are produced for hand-held uses, the latter are fashioned for hafting, which was performed on Sangoan core-axes (Fig. 2.3, 1–2), which substantially differ from handaxes from a morphological and technological point of view. Handaxes are made by hard hammer technique and have a retouched blunt distal end and a thick cross-section. Carlson (2015) distinguished Sangoan types for showing an asymmetric profile and being smaller and thicker than Acheulean ones. He also discriminated Sangoan assemblages from later Lupemban complexes for having a high frequency of large heavy-duty cutting and piercing tools. In contrast to the Sangoan, the Lupemban also contains long, narrow, and pointed bifacial lanceolates, foliates, and small points. Nevertheless, whether Sudan’s Sangoan and Lupemban industries actually resemble these techno-­ complexes in Central Africa (e.g., Taylor 2016) is still debated. The Nubian technique is a variation of the Levallois reduction method and follows a bipolar system of core preparation. Two types of Nubian technique are distinguished: Type 1 is used to make points or pointed flakes with bipolar preparation of the core from the proximal and distal ends; Type 2 involves creating a central ridge through centripetal preparation from the lateral edges and careful trimming of the proximal end (Guichard and Guichard 1965, 1968). While the recurrent Levallois reduction sequence can produce several Levallois flakes, Nubian Type-1 cores usually yield one flake or point (Van Peer 1991). Another component of the so-called Nubian MSA are bifacial foliates and Nubian sidescrapers, which are convex-­ convergent sidescrapers with a rounded and blunt distal end (Guichard and Guichard 1965). In addition to Late Acheulean materials, dated from 220,000 BP at 8-B-11 on Sai Island, thorough excavations brought to light two stratified Early MSA occupational levels, Lower and Middle Sangoan, an overlying Lupemban level, and a Late MSA level, earlier than the Khormusan, in the silts above the aeolian sands with Lupemban artifacts (Rots et  al. 2011; Van Peer et  al. 2003). The Middle Sangoan level was dated ~180,000 BP and the Lupemban level to 152,000 BP. The site was repeatedly occupied during a time when the Nile was an ephemeral, intermittent river. At 8-B-11, the Sangoan was distinguished from the Acheulean techno-complex for the lack of handaxes and the frequency of core-axes, which appear in both the Sangoan and Lupemban levels, but are particularly important in the Middle Sangoan. By contrast, hammerstones, used for percussion or core edge grinding, are common in all levels, but more frequent in the Lower Sangoan. Core-axes were made on various raw materials with a prevalence of local quartz, which was employed for about 80% of the tool-kit, the remaining being made of non-local rocks, particularly quartzite. Interestingly, the débitage of core-axes is solely of quartz, indicating that only the specimens of this rock were locally made, but apparently were not used and remained unfinished. Conversely, core-axes of non-local rocks were curated and

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens

25

Fig. 2.3  Middle Sangoan tools from 8-B-11: 1–2. Core-axes; 3–4. Tranchets (Courtesy of P. Van Peer)

imported to the site in their finalized form. Only few other activities were performed at the site during the Sangoan, reflecting an expedient production obtained with simple unstandardized reduction strategies. Considering the predominance of hafted core-axes, 8-B-11 must have been a specialized site for the production of quartz core-axes and for retooling those of other raw materials (e.g., quartzite). This site was part of a complex behavioral pattern and a regional settlement system involving

26

2  Humans, the Migrants

other sites where different activities were performed and core-axes of other raw materials were produced. Use-wear on the core-axes indicated that they were used for percussion of moderately hard or hard materials, possibly for the exploitation (digging) of raw materials, subterranean plant foods, or ochre. Only the pieces of non-local rocks showed traces of hafting (Rots et al. 2011). The production of the stone assemblage at 8-B-11 was related to complex behavior, which was supported by the evidence for activities of exploitation and processing of pigment minerals and vegetal materials. In the Lower Sangoan level, a sandstone slab (Fig. 2.4) with a flat surface made by pecking was used as a grinding stone, a mortar, or an anvil (Van Peer et al. 2003). Two other slabs from the Middle Sangoan level show similar cut-out depressions and were possibly used as mortars. Furthermore, traces of phytoliths and starch on quartzite polished cobbles demonstrated that this non-local raw material was employed to grind siliceous and starchy plants. Yellow and red ochre lumps were also brought to the site and ground to make pigments. Additionally, chert nodules, stained with ochre, may have been used as pestles or for other non-utilitarian purposes. Such a diversified use of ochre suggested the practice of symbolic activities (Van Peer et al. 2004). The stone artifacts from Abu Hugar are comparable to the Sangoan assemblages from 8-B-11 and were in a stratigraphically similar context (Wurz and Van Peer 2012). They came from a layer of fossiliferous limestone conglomerate which also cropped out at Singa, where a partial cranium of an early anatomically modern

Fig. 2.4  Sandstone slab from the Lower Sangoan level at 8-B-11 (Courtesy of P. Van Peer)

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens

27

human was found (Williams 2019 and see below). Sangoan artifacts were also found at Al-Jamrab, west of the White Nile (Spinapolice et al. 2018; Usai 2019). At 8-B-11, Nubian cores occur in both the Sangoan and Lupemban assemblages, but increase in the Lupemban.  The Lupemban techno-complex developed for the first time true blade reduction strategies with the production of prismatic, volumetric cores (Fig. 2.5, 1–3). Compared to the Sangoan, hafted tools increased and Lupemban core-axes were smaller and more elongated and were associated with large lanceolates. Lupemban lanceolates and bifacial foliates, truncated-faceted pieces, Nubian

Fig. 2.5  Lupemban cores from 8-B-11 (Courtesy of P. Van Peer)

28

2  Humans, the Migrants

cores and tools, and large tranchet flakes suggested continuities with the following Nubian Complex, which gradually emerged at the beginning of the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e, 125,000–110,000 BP) and expanded the use of the Levallois technology (Van Peer 2016). Bifacial foliates at different production stages were recorded in the Late MSA level (Fig. 2.6, 1), indicating that the site was a place of foliate production  at this time. Hafted foliates were used as projectiles or adzes/axes. Some

Fig. 2.6  Late MSA tools from 8-B-11: 1. Bifacial foliate; 2–6. Levallois flakes; 7. Flake tranchet (Courtesy of P. Van Peer)

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens

29

Levallois flakes (Fig.  2.6.2–6) could also be used as blanks to make projectiles. Altogether, the Late MSA level at 8-B-11 revealed more varied activities, including butchering, cutting, perforating, grooving, and scraping, although the tools for these activities were less specialized than foliates (Rots et al. 2011). Percussion continued to be practiced and was performed with small axes, and tranchets (Fig. 2.6.7) were employed for digging and woodworking activities. Another specialized activity of retooling, particularly of foliates, emerged at this time. Nubian Complex and Lower Nile Valley Complex  Two main groups of Middle MSA techno-complexes were distinguished: Nubian Complex and  Lower Nile Valley Complex  (Van Peer 1998). Other terms had been previously introduced. Marks (1968c) distinguished between ‘Nubian Middle Paleolithic,’ alternatively called ‘Nubian Middle Stone Age’ (Wendorf and Schild 1992), ‘Nubian Mousterian Type A’ (without bifaces, with low Levallois index and high proportion of ‘Upper Paleolithic types, i.e., endscrapers, borers, and burins), ‘Nubian Mousterian Type B’ (with bifaces), and ‘Denticulate Mousterian’ (with limited tool types and predominance of denticulates). While Denticulate Mousterian sites are small and have a low artifact density, suggesting either seasonal occupations or specialized sites for specific activities, Nubian Mousterian sites are larger and closer to the Nile (Marks 1968c). As the Nubian Middle Paleolithic and the Nubian Mousterian reflect technological and typological differences, that is, high vs. low frequency of sidescrapers and Levallois index, and low vs. high frequency of ‘Upper Paleolithic’ tools, respectively, the Middle Paleolithic was assigned to the Early MSA and the Nubian Mousterian to the Middle MSA. Foliates are absent in the Nubian Mousterian and Nubian sidescrapers are very rare. The Nubian Mousterian Types A and B have been later incorporated in the Nubian Complex and the Denticulate Mousterian has been included in the Lower Nile Valley Complex (Van Peer and Vermeersch 2007). The Lower Nile Valley Complex is in continuity with the Acheulean, geographically extends from the Egyptian Lower Nile Valley to Sudanese Nubia, and is concentrated along the Nile Valley, whereas the Nubian Complex was spread into the deserts and was considered an evolution of the Lupemban (Van Peer 2016, but see Groucutt 2020). According to Van Peer (2016), the Nubian Complex extends from the Eastern Sahara to the Red Sea Hills and reaches the southern Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, where it has been recorded at several sites in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen (Rose and Marks 2014; Goder-Goldberg et  al. 2016, 2017; Hilbert et al. 2017), but Groucutt (2020) contested that it can also be found in northcentral, northwestern, East, and South Africa. While the Lower Nile Valley Complex features a centripetal Levallois tool-kit with no points, the Nubian Complex developed the Nubian technique of point preparation from cores with a median distal ridge. This produced a variety of point types, suggesting that hunting was a specialized subsistence activity (Van Peer 1998). Sidescrapers, bifacial foliates, and truncated-­faceted tools are also common in the Nubian Complex. During the mid-­MIS 5, the Nile Valley itself was too densely forested to be favorable for human occupation, and dispersal to drier areas occurred. Sites had a settlement system based on residential areas in the margins of

30

2  Humans, the Migrants

the Nile floodplain and distinct special activity locations, including workshops and quarries, such as Arkin 5, which was specialized in chert extraction. The MSA industries recovered in the Eastern Desert east of the Lower Atbara River, which appeared in the upper stratigraphic unit (III) recorded at EDAR 134 and EDAR 155, were also assigned to the Nubian Complex and were dated from around 156,000 BP (Masojc et al. 2019). In spite of this and other early dates, the Nubian Complex is seemingly best represented in the final MIS 5 stage (5a, 80,000–71,000 BP), when bifacial foliates disappeared and Nubian Type-1 cores increased (Van Peer and Vermeersch 2007). At Site BP 177 (Goat Mountain), in the Bayuda Desert, a stratified settlement was excavated in a depression on top of an extinct volcano. The aeolian deposits filling the depression were dated by OSL/ IRSL from 62,000 to 17,000 BP (Masojc et al. 2017). In consideration of comparable reduction techniques, the stone industry from Site BP 177 was assigned to the Late Nubian Complex, making this and other sites in Sudan particular for the late chronology of this complex. The Affad Basin in the Dongola Reach documents a complex of exceptionally well-preserved sites, the most representative being Affad 23. These sites feature Levallois industries with neither bifaces nor blade elements. They were previously dated to 16,000 and 15,000 BP (Osypinski and Osypinska 2016), but revised calculation methods have provided ages closer to 50,000 BP (Osypinski 2020). The environmental conditions and rich faunal assemblage from Affad 23 suggest that it acted as a special hunting zone. Its occupants were highly mobile, did not practice fishing, and focused instead on activities related to meat processing, such as scavenging and butchering. The extraordinary preservation of Affad 23 revealed intrasite organization with dedicated areas of stone tool manufacturing and food processing (Osypinska and Osypinski 2016). Furthermore, Nubian cores and other prepared cores were also found inland from the southern part of the Sudanese Red Sea coast, at Grar (Beyin et al. 2019). In a nutshell, there is still a lack of consensus that the Nubian Complex is a technological entity. Disputes regard technological, geographic, chronological, and cultural issues. Technologically, it has been argued that the reliance on points has been overemphasized and that Nubian cores may not always be discrete types, involving a possible gradation between bidirectional and centripetal Levallois methods and Nubian cores (Scerri and Spinapolice 2019). Groucutt (2020) questioned the chronology of the Nubian Complex as numerous sites are undated or span beyond the Upper Pleistocene into the Middle Pleistocene (Douze and Delagnes 2016; Masojc et al. 2019) and therefore considered it as a convergent evolution rather than the result of cultural transmission. Aterian  Some authors regard the Nubian Complex and the Aterian as techno-­ complexes of different populations (Scerri 2013), whereas others (Van Peer and Vermeersch 2007) identify a link between them for the common production of Nubian Type 1 cores. It is usually believed that the Aterian is extremely rare in the Nile Valley (e.g., Kleindienst 1998), Egypt’s Wadi Kubbaniya as an exception (Wendorf and Schild 1992). Particularly with regard to the Sudanese Nile Valley, this opinion should be revised and the Aterian can be regarded as a third major

The Middle Stone Age and Early Homo sapiens

31

Middle MSA complex in Sudan, which provides hints for a reconsideration of its geographical distribution and influence in the Middle Nile Valley (Garcea 2020). The first two sites that provide consistent evidence that Aterian communities lived closer to the Sudanese Nile Valley than to the Egyptian valley are Khor Abu Anga and Magendohli. The stone assemblage from Khor Abu Anga suggested intriguing speculations on the origin of tanged tools. Arkell (1949b) considered that handaxes with thinned and narrowed butts could foreshadow stemmed tools and that they could possibly be the lowest common denominator of the Aterian and the Stillbay, in East and South Africa. Carlson (2015) observed tanged sidescrapers in the Late Sangoan and Lupemban levels at Khor Abu Anga. These tools were made on blunt flakes and show lateral retouches that end with unilateral or, mostly, bilateral notches to form the tang. Whether they were hafted or not, they were not projectile tips. In addition to an increase of stemmed scrapers from the Sangoan to the Lupemban, notches also increased in the Lupemban. Although the invention of hafting tools is not denied here, tanged tools are not a sufficient indicator by themselves to prove hafting. They suggest an additional alternative manufacturing process that involved intentional preparation of a functional morphology, the notch, which could also be used as such, regardless of its position on the proximal part of the tool. In fact, it has been demonstrated that notching or shouldering on Aterian tools was not always intended for hafting, but could also be related to longitudinal or transversal actions practiced for either cutting or scraping (Falzetti et al. 2017). Magendohli is the other exceptional site for the composition and rather significant lithic assemblage. Apart from a prevalence of unfinished tools and unstruck cores, suggesting a quarry and workshop site, the most common tools are tanged points and tanged sidescrapers. Bifacial technology is rare at this site and Levallois products are frequent. The striking abundance of tanged tools induced Carlson (2015) to assign this assemblage to the Aterian. Although the Aterian should not be identified on the basis of tanged or stemmed tools, these tools, when they occur, are unavoidably associated with this techno-­ complex (Scerri 2013). Tanged tools have been recorded at several sites along the Middle Nile Valley. One of them was reported from Arkin 5 (Chmielewski 1968, p. 142, Figs. 3a-3b). Other tanged tools were found at Site S5, a quarry and workshop in the Amara West district, together with Levallois products (Vila 1977). In the same district, a tanged sidescraper was found at site 2-R-77 and another one, on a Levallois flake, was located nearby (Garcea 2015, 2020). A few tanged pieces were also recovered during excavation at Site 97 at El-Multaga (Garcea 2003b, 2020) and at El-Hamra in the Ga’ab depression, northwest of Dongola, together with Levallois and other MSA products (Tahir and Nassr 2015). Furthermore, two tanged or shouldered pieces were recorded along Wadi Muqadam, at Site 13-O-106 (Hosfield et al. 2015), although they were considered undiagnostic of the Aterian. Finally, and most importantly, numerous Aterian finds in the Laqiya region and Wadi Howar, western Sudan (Gabriel and Kröpelin 1997; Idris 1994) add a new piece to the Aterian mosaic, suggesting interactions with Saharan regions as well. Although it is not

32

2  Humans, the Migrants

Aterian, the MSA site of Abou Sofyan III, located in Kordofan, confirms western connections, presumably to Central Africa (Gratien 2013). Although the Wadi el-­ Melik, the paleolake Gureinat, and the numerous oases that dotted western Sudan are currently only documented from the Early Holocene, it is likely that water outcrops existed also during the Pleistocene. The different stone assemblages that relate Sudan to North, East, and Central Africa place the MSA from this country in an intriguing intermediary position (Garcea 2020). Khormusan  The Khormusan is affiliated to the Nubian Complex and has been traditionally included in the Late MSA due to the frequency of burins, laminar flakes, and an increase of smaller tools (80-cm long) fish (e.g., Nile perch), and molluscs. Pollen analysis indicates that wild legumes, edible tubers, and wild cereals were part of the diet (Florenzano et  al. 2016). Remains of mammals (porcupine, African wild ass, hippopotamus, gazelle, hartebeest, and aurochs) were recorded at the terminal Pleistocene/earliest Holocene sites north of Khashm el-Girba. The presence of wild aurochs in eastern Sudan is particularly interesting (Chap. 5). It has been suggested that, in the terminal

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Pleistocene, aurochs could have migrated southwards from Egypt because mean annual temperatures were lower than in the early Holocene and annual rainfall ranged between 150 and 250 mm (Peters 1992). Beginning from the end of the ninth millennium BC, novel strategies for obtaining food include enhanced exploitation of wild cereals and other nutritional plants, increased plant processing, and better control over vegetation life cycles. In addition, the exploitation of aquatic resources with fishing and mollusc gathering and consumption could broaden people’s protein subsistence base. Riverbanks offered a wide variety of resources in limited areas and more stable environmental conditions even under seasonal or cyclic climatic changes. In these areas, land animals were more accessible as they were naturally attracted by drinking water (Garcea 2006b). Hunting was practiced in different ecological niches: the dry savanna sheltered medium-large antelopes (kobs), small antelopes (oribis), and alcelaphines; the riverine zone with permanent or seasonal marshes and woodland hosted marsh cane rats, grivet monkeys, bushbucks, roan antelopes, and waterbucks; and the Nile offered crocodiles, softshell turtles, and hippopotamus. Hunting near water resources intensified in the dry season, when animals were especially attracted. In northern Sudan, different environments, including aquatic zones, riverine forests, and deciduous savanna, were exploited for animal food resources. Aquatic and wet environments include gastropods, bivalves and fish (12 species), hippopotami, crocodiles, Nile monitors, and turtles (Chaix 2019). Riverine forests and deciduous savanna were exploited for wild bovids (medium and large antelopes, gazelles) (Chaix and Honegger 2015), revealing a higher mobility pattern than in central Sudan. Central Sudanese hunter-gatherers could rely on higher rainfall than in contemporary northern Sudan and on the resources that a mean precipitation of ca. 500 mm per year could sustain (instead of the present 60  mm). Faunal remains from Early Khartoum sites indicate a wide range of wild animals and higher dependence on water resources, including about 25 different fish species, Nile monitor, softshell turtle, Nile crocodile, and gastropods. At least three fishing techniques for different habitats have been postulated (Linseele and Zerboni 2018): (1) floodplain dwellers, comprising lungfish (Protopterus sp.), mormyrids, cyrinids, clariid catfish, and tilapia, could be caught in shallow waters at the beginning of the flood when spawning took place; (2) marsh and backwater fish, such as lungfish, African arowana (Heterotis niloticus), aba knifefish (Gymnarchus niloticus), Distichodontidae, Citharinidae, and snakehead (Parachanna obscura), although less frequent, could be easily exploited when the floodplain was drying up; and (3) open water fish, namely tigerfish (Hydrocynus sp.), catfish (Bagrus sp. and Auchenoglanis sp.), and Nile perch (Lates niloticus), required a more complex fishing technology. Technological innovations by means of navigation with rafts, dugouts, or small boats allowed the exploitation of the main Nile and dramatically increased a diet rich in open water ichthyofauna, which is present in most sites and sometimes prevails (Linseele and Zerboni 2018; Van Neer 2004). At El-Khiday, for example, fishing was the predominant subsistence activity with fish remains making up 98% of the total faunal assemblage (Linseele and Zerboni 2018; Usai and Salvatori 2019). Fish processing contributed to delayed resource management for later consumption. Techniques of storing dried

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and/or smoked fish have been postulated (Haaland 1993) and direct evidence of fish salting came from some pits at El-Khiday 2B (16-­D-­4B) on the White Nile (Maritan et al. 2018). Finally, phytoliths of wild grasses, including Panicoids and Chloridoids, and sedges were found at El-Khiday 3, which suggest the exploitation of both savanna drylands and humid areas (Usai and Salvatori 2019). Conversely, on the Blue Nile, at Mahalab, fish are rare, but gastropods are numerous. This site was at a relative distance from the Nile (17 km), but near a small wadi (Chaix 2003). Considering the diversified environments in Sudan, fish consumption was not practiced in equal proportions everywhere. Compared to the Nile, western Sudanese ichthyofaunas exhibit lower species diversity (Peters et al. 2002). Nevertheless, fish remains from sites in the Western Nubian Paleolake and site 80/87, Wadi Howar, also include Nile perch, which requires a permanent water body, and catfish and tilapia, which could be caught in the extensive floodplain. Terrapins, softshell turtles, hippopotamus, warthog, and giant buffalo also lived there (Van Neer and Uerpmann 1989). By contrast, in northern Butana, fish was completely absent from the faunal assemblages at Shaqadud, but Pila gastropods and freshwater and land turtles were consumed, together with small and large antelopes, porcupine, warthog, and giraffe (Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). The lack of fish resources did not prevent settling inland and a diversified site catchment required seasonal and spatial scheduling according to the availability and accessibility of the various resources (Caneva 1983). Information on plant management and consumption mainly comes from Early Khartoum sites. Foragers living in central Sudan collected plants that could be either eaten raw or required special processing and/or preparation before consumption. The former comprise berries and other fruits, such as Celtis integrifolia, Ziziphus spina-christi and Grewia tenax; the latter include grains and seeds of wild cereals and other grasses, such as Sorghum, Setaria, Echinochloa, and Panicum (Magid 2003). Seed imprints (Digitaria, Brachiaria, Urochloa) in Early Khartoum pottery from the Wadi Muqaddam, north of Khartoum confirmed the utilization of a range of edible wild grains (Fuller and Smith 2004). By comparing food traditions in northeastern Africa and the Near East, Haaland (2007) pointed out two different preparation techniques. Summer-growing sorghum and millet could be used also wild in Africa for making porridge and beer. Even later, they were not entirely replaced by domestic emmer wheat and barley, which are winter-growing and were used for oven-baking bread in the Near East. These different foodways have social and ritual implications: while the preparation of porridge and beer could be a household practice, bread-baking required communal activities. Although, this hypothetic specialized exploitation of wild sorghum has been questioned due to lack of consistent direct evidence (Fuller and Smith 2004), it is likely that porridge and fermented drinks were made with a variety of wild grains. Finally, evidence for the probable  consumption of wild tubers, particularly Cyperus rotundus, was recorded on dental calculus of a few individuals buried in the Pre-Mesolithic cemetery of El-Khiday 2, on the White Nile (Buckley et al. 2014). This sedge is a C4 plant that lives in moist tropical environments and could be appreciated for its high carbohydrate content and other non-dietary values (perfume and/ or medicine).

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Concluding Remarks Apart from northern Sudan, where no burials have been found except for the Kerma region, late hunter-gatherers used to bury their dead within the settlements. Sites were occupied on a semi-sedentary basis and displayed various forms of planned spatial organization and considerable labor investments with huts, storage and rubbish pits, stone alignments, mud walls, and other domestic features. Constructions, especially huts, intensified during the seventh and sixth millennium BC, but postholes and remains of wattle and daub, as well as pits and dumping areas were common since the end of the ninth/beginning of the eighth millennium BC. Altogether, Sudan provides an excellent example of delayed-return economy (Woodburn 1982) beginning from the end of the ninth millennium BC. Low mobility supported intensification of resource exploitation, including wild cereals and other nutritional plants, plant processing, better control over vegetation life cycles, and accumulation of processed and stored food exceeding daily consumptions. The hunter-gatherers settled in the various Sudanese regions developed different adaptive strategies according to the local environments. While the populations settled around the central Sudanese Nile Valley and its tributaries intensively exploited riverine resources, the groups in northern Sudan were in closer relationship with Saharan populations, those in eastern Sudan were oriented toward more southern and eastern regions, and those in western Sudan profited from the Wadi Howar connecting the Nile to Jebel Marra and Chad. Relative sedentism was successfully combined with long-distance relations over hundreds of kilometers for exchange, trade, and/or security reasons, as seen in pottery productions, raw material acquisition for stone implements, e.g., Egyptian flint from the Nabta/Kiseiba area and rhyolite from the Sixth Cataract, as well as beads of cowry shell (Cypraea) from the Indian Ocean, and other gastropods (Engina mendicaria) from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Finally, due to different availability of plant foods, dietary traditions reveal considerable differences from those in the Near East, involving alternative preparation techniques as well as opposite social organizations and symbolic meanings (Haaland 2007). In Africa, summer-growing sorghum and millet could be used also in their wild form for making porridge and beer. These local cereals delayed systematic acquisition of imported domestic emmer wheat and barley (Chap. 5) because the latter are winter-growing and were used to make oven-baking bread in the Near East. While the preparation of porridge and beer could be a household practice, adjusting to a delayed-return economy, bread baking required communal activities. Accumulations of a large number of wild cereals have been recorded in the Libyan Sahara as well, where it appeared that foragers systematically gathered them for plant processing and food plant storage (Mercuri et al. 2018). These practices were possible thanks to a strong seed dormancy of the plants with no germination until the following season. Certain seeds could possibly be collected not only for consumption, but also for future seeding.

Chapter 4

The Last Hunter-Gatherers and Their Technical Knowledge Accumulation

In addition to intra-site patterning with architectural features described in Chap. 3, the last foragers adopted numerous other technological and social innovations, including systematic productions of pottery, ground stone tools, and bone and shell tools, and established recurrent burial customs. These cultural components appear throughout Sudan revealing widespread knowledge accumulation. Unlike gradual changes, such technical evolutions are regulated by social mutations and postulate cultural discontinuities from past traditions (Roux 2013). This chapter illustrates the material products (ceramic, lithic, bone, and shell industries), funerary customs, and food traditions expressing them.

Systematic Production of Pottery Pottery was independently invented in Africa and became an unequivocal cultural trait of the last foragers (e.g., Jesse 2010). The oldest ceramic-bearing site in Sudan is Sarourab 2 on the west Nile bank in central Sudan, dating from the end of the tenth millennium BC (Chap. 3). It is nearly, but not as old as the earliest African ceramic sites, which date from the mid-tenth millennium BC in Mali (Huysecom et  al. 2009) and from the late tenth/early ninth millennium BC in the Egyptian Western Desert (Connor 1984). The late Arkinian, which at 2-R-66 and other sites yielded some rare pottery, dating to the mid-ninth millennium BC (Chap. 3), was associated with the early Holocene pottery-bearing El Adam culture of the Nabta/ Kiseiba area in the Egyptian Western Desert (Schild and Wendorf 2010), corroborating the invention of pottery production also in northern Sudan during the ninth millennium BC. Typically, these ceramics are handmade with the coiling and pinching techniques, unburnished, and fired at low temperatures in open fires. They are usually sandtempered and have coarse- and medium-grained pastes with occasional finer fabrics; vegetal tempers only occur at a few sites. As most Mesolithic pottery from Sudan is © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 E. A. A. Garcea, The Prehistory of the Sudan, SpringerBriefs in Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47185-9_4

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decorated with incised or impressed designs, decorations attracted the attention of archaeologists, who initially mainly focused on describing visually detectable stylistic motifs (Arkell 1949a; Mohammed-Ali 1982), often producing rather subjective descriptions, but still more effective than the simple typological analysis based on decorative tools that Camps-Fabrer (1966) had developed for the ceramic assemblages from North Africa and the Sahara. A significant shift to objective, technological classifications established a major progress for the analysis of ceramic decorations. Chlodnicki applied a classification based on fabrics, decorative techniques and patterns to the Neolithic pottery from Kadero (Chlodnicki 1984, 1987, 1997; Chlodnicki et al. 2011) and employed it with regard to other regions in Sudan (Chlodnicki 2006; Chlodnicki and Kabacinski 2003); Nordström (1972, 2014) was the first one to propose a hierarchy of analytical elements defining different fabrics and decoration levels, starting from decorative techniques; Caneva (1988; Caneva and Marks 1990) moved away from mere subjective descriptions of decorative patterns and elaborated a hierarchical sequencing of technological attributes incorporating techniques, tools, motifs, and structures. The logic of Caneva’s hierarchy is based on the recognition of a ranked sequence of procedures or decisions that potters made during manufacturing. According to her system, techniques may be distinguished even on small sherds, and detecting them allows differentiating apparently similar motifs (e.g., impressed dots). Related classificatory systems have been extended to the entire manufacturing process, from raw material acquisition, paste production, forming, and use. They have been adapted to various regional contexts in Sudan (D’Ercole 2017; D’Ercole et al. 2017a, b; Garcea 2006a, 2012a; Gatto 2002a, 2006a, b, d; Jesse 2000a, b, 2002, 2004a; Jesse et al. 2004; Jesse and Masojc 2018; Keding 1997, 2000, 2006a; Garcea et al. 2020), as well as other parts of Africa (Garcea 2001, 2003a, 2005, 2008, 2013; Gatto 2002b, 2006a, b, d, 2011a, 2012; Jesse 2003a, 2010; Keding 2017). The analysis of decorative elements at different hierarchical levels shifted the focus from nomenclature issues to detecting variations in the behaviors and traditions of the potters and their cultural groups. Winchell (2013) applied the type-­ variety method for the classification of the Butana Group ceramics, dating to the fourth millennium BC (see Chap. 7), by creating descripting categories based on visual and tactile criteria. His types and affiliated varieties took into consideration pastes and inclusions, surface treatments and decorations, forms, and chronological significances. Winchell adapted Caneva’s (1988) classification for the descriptions of surface treatments and decorations, although he did not follow a hierarchical ordering. Differently from Caneva, Brass (2016) developed an attribute analysis, which emphasized decorative tools instead of techniques, given that the variety and types of implements, with their usage, motor actions, and motif placement, may reflect stylistic and technological diversity and/or social choice. Yet, decorations are but one of the numerous technological stages in the chaîne opératoire of pottery manufacturing, which together can provide thorough information on cultural and behavioral trends. Although it may not always be true (Gosselain 2011), distinct ceramic traditions proved to be effective indicators in Sudan to demarcate different cultural spheres and their regional interactions (Brass 2016; Caneva and Marks 1990; Garcea and Hildebrand 2009; Keding 2006a; Nordström 1972).

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Different cultural complexes are based on various characteristics of ceramic manufacturing techniques (Table 4.1). In northern Sudan, the pottery from the earliest sites (2-R-66 and Busharia I) was undecorated and was produced in small quantities, remaining at an experimental stage. Later, when the Khartoum Variant complex appeared by 8000 BC, pottery was systematically produced and decorated. Conversely, in central Sudan, Early Khartoum pottery was made in large quantities and exhibits entirely decorated surfaces since its beginnings. Northern Sudan’s Khartoum Variant represents a discrete cultural sphere (Fig. 4.1) with outposts as far as the Egyptian Western Desert (Dakhla, Abu Tartur, Abu Ballas, Great Sand Sea, Wadi el Akhdar) (Garcea 2015; Nordström 1972; Riemer and Jesse 2006). Linear seriation models proposed various phases of Khartoum Variant pottery styles (Gatto 2006a; Honegger 2012). Technologically, pastes are usually coarse and have gritty textures due to abundant mineral inclusions. Petrographic (optical microscopy), mineralogical (X-ray power diffraction), and chemical (X-ray fluorescence and instrumental neutron activation) analyses of the pottery from 8-B-10C on Sai Island indicate that it was locally made using primary clayey sediments with poorly sorted weathered fragments of angular quartz, K-feldspar, and metamorphic rocks (D’Ercole 2017; D’Ercole et  al. 2017a, b; Garcea and D’Ercole 2018). Unlike Early Khartoum wares, Khartoum Variant pottery is usually not entirely covered with decorations, showing alternating decorated and undecorated bands. The impression techniques are the same as in Early Khartoum wares, but employ some different tools (e.g., combs for dotted wavy line motifs) and produce different motifs. Decorated bowls often have milled and notched rims (Fig. 4.2.1–2), in addition to other decorations on the walls, which are decorated with rocker-stamped zigzags (Fig.  4.2.3–5) and paired lines made by alternately pivoting stamping (Fig.4.2.6–7). Incised wavy line motifs are absent. Dotted wavy line bands are typically made with small combs (3–4 teeth), separated by undecorated zones (Fig. 4.3). In general, this pottery indicates tighter relations with the Sahara (lack of wavy line decorations, coarser ware) than with central Sudan and its Early Khartoum tradition. Connecting routes should be sought toward the oases of the Western Desert and the Gilf Kebir in Egypt, which were within the latitudes of the Central Saharan mountain ranges (Caneva et al. 1993; Garcea and Hildebrand 2009). In central Sudan, petrographic (optical microscopy) and image (backed-scattered electron and elemental maps obtained by scanning electron microscopy) analyses

Table 4.1  Chronology of the main ceramic cultural complexes

Cultural Complexes cal BC Early Khartoum 8500–5000 Khartoum Variant 8000–4900 Karmakol 6500–6100 Dotted Wavy Line/Laqiya 5700–4000 Early Atbai Tradition 5300–3800

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Fig. 4.1  Map of the main ceramic cultural complexes and sites cited in the text

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Fig. 4.2  Khartoum Variant pottery: 1. Milled rim; 2. Notched rim; 3–5. Rocker-stamped zigzags; 6–7. Paired lines made by alternately pivoting stamping (1, 3–4. From 8-B-10C; 2, 5–7. From 8-B-76)

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Fig. 4.3  Khartoum Variant dotted wavy line decorations (From 8-B-10C)

show that the Early Khartoum pottery from El-Khiday is rich in poorly sorted alkali-­ feldspar, quartz, and rounded sand grains (Dal Sasso et  al. 2014). Some mineral components in this pottery are not locally available and their nearest source is located in the Sabaloka area, 80–90 km farther (Usai 2016). Petrographic and mineralogical analyses confirm that also the Early Khartoum pottery from Kabbashi Haitah was rich in quartz and K-feldspar and could include mica or limestone with angular or rounded mineral inclusions (Antonelli et al. 2018). Early Khartoum pottery is usually decorated with both the impression and incision techniques, covering the entire surface of the vessels, except for the bottom. Incised parallel (Fig. 4.4.1) and wavy line decorations (Fig. 4.4.2–9) and impressed dotted wavy lines (Fig. 4.5) are geographically sensitive. While incised wavy lines appear in central Sudan, impressed dotted wavy lines are also widely spread in

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Fig. 4.4  Early Khartoum incised decorations: 1. Parallel lines; 2–9. Wavy line motifs (1–3. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2017; 4–9. From Kabbashi Haita, courtesy of I. Caneva)

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Fig. 4.5  Early Khartoum impressed dotted wavy line decorations (1–3. From Kabbashi, courtesy of I. Caneva; 4–7. From Esh-Shaheinab, Early Khartoum layers; 8–10. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015)

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northern Sudan (Khartoum Variant) and the Sahara (e.g., Jesse 2010). Furthermore, incised wavy lines decrease in the later levels virtually everywhere, that is, on the main Nile (Caneva 1983; Caneva et  al. 1993), White Nile (David and Salvatori 2018; Salvatori 2012; Usai and Salvatori 2019), Blue Nile (Fernandez et al. 2003b), and Butana (Caneva and Marks 1990). Other common Early Khartoum impressed motifs include rocker-stamped zigzags (Fig. 4.6), alternately pivoting stamped parallel lines (Fig. 4.7.1–2), and motifs made with simple impressions (Fig. 4.7.3–6); rarely, motifs can also be made with the roulette technique (Fig.  4.7.7). Combs, double pronged, plain-edged, and cord-wrapped tools (roulette) are used as decorative implements, which could include indented potsherds (Fig. 4.8.1–2), polished bones (Fig. 4.8.3), mollusc shells, fish spines, wrapped-cord sticks, or plant stems. Vessel shapes are simple: bowls (average diameter: 15 cm), globular or cylindrical jars (diameters: 25–45  cm; Caneva 1983), and occasionally dishes (diameters: 32–38 cm; Fernandez et al. 2003a). In western Sudan, the Dotted Wavy Line/Laqiya pottery from the Wadi Howar is likened to Early Khartoum productions and appears later, from the end of the seventh millennium/sixth millennium BC. It includes rare incised wavy line and frequent impressed dotted wavy line decorations and rocker-stamped zigzags (Jesse 2004a). The stratigraphy at Conical Hill 84/24 revealed a sequence with rocker-­ stamped dotted wavy lines and zigzags at the bottom, followed by levels with a local type of pottery called Laqiya. This later ware features cross-hatched herringbone patterns (Fig. 4.7.8) and is concentrated in the Laqiya region, Wadi Howar, Jebel Tageru, and Western Nubian Paleolake, indicating that also north-south connections existed (Jesse 2004a; Keding 2000; Lange 2006–2007). Furthermore, ceramics representing Laqiya motifs were found at El-Khiday (David and Salvatori 2018;  Salvatori 2012; Salvatori et  al. 2018), strengthening the relations between western Sudan and the western banks of the Nile and White Nile. The Karmakol pottery in the Dongola Reach and Fourth Cataract (Fig. 4.1) was considered as a distinct group from the Early Khartoum with whom it only shared some, but not all features. Rocker-stamped and dotted wavy line decorations, as well as incised wavy lines, are present, but the fabrics are often vegetal tempered, particularly those with incised wavy line decorations (Gatto 2006b). In eastern Sudan, Pre-Saroba and Saroba pottery at Khashm el-Girba, south of Kassala, and the comparable Amm Adam and Malawiya Groups, in the Gash Delta north of Kassala, represent the early phase of the Atbai Ceramic Tradition (Fig. 4.1). They are only partly related to Khartoum traditions and include rocker-stamped motifs, but no incised wavy line or dotted wavy line decorations and feature a peculiar knobbed ware, which does not occur elsewhere (Fattovich et al. 1984; Marks and Fattovich 1989). Apart from general cultural spheres, certain sites, located at the peripheries of these areas, share some common features, but maintain their own peculiarities. Among them, for example, the early Holocene pottery from Jebel Moya exhibits zigzag and dotted wavy line decorations, but not the typical Early Khartoum wavy line incisions (Caneva 1991, but see Brass et al. 2018). Furthermore, the Mesolithic assemblage from Shaqadud was partly comparable with the Early Khartoum, but

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Fig. 4.6  Early Khartoum rocker-stamped zigzags (1. From Kabbashi Haita; 2–3. From Temeyim, courtesy of I.  Caneva; 4–6. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015, 2017)

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Fig. 4.7  Early Khartoum pottery: 1–2. Paired lines made by alternately pivoting stamping; 3–6. Decorations made with the simple impression technique; 7. Decorations made with the roulette technique; 8. Laqiya pottery (1. From Umm Singid, courtesy of I.  Caneva; 2–7. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015, 2017; 8. From Wadi Howar, site Djabarona 84/13, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6064296, photo by B. Keding)

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Fig. 4.8  Combs for pottery decoration: 1–2. Ceramic combs; 3. Bone comb (1–2. From Sphinx, ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by R. Ceccacci, 2015 and P. Pokorný, 2015; 3. From Khartoum province, courtesy of I. Caneva)

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also indicates connections with the Sahara, suggesting its higher independence from the Nilotic environment (Caneva and Marks 1990). In conclusion, these large social units suggest far-flung, albeit loose, social networks, which are reflected in spatial continuity and geographically extended orbits. Farther south, comparable ceramic decorative motifs with the Early Khartoum complex were recognized in East Africa, i.e., western Ethiopia (Fernandez 2006), Lake Turkana in northern Kenya (e.g., Keding 2017), western Kenya (Ashley and Grillo 2015; Dale and Ashley 2010), and northern Tanzania (Prendergast et al. 2014). The presence of dotted wavy line and/or rocker patterns suggested that local foragers adopted northeastern African ceramic traditions. Finally, in the Near East, impressed sherds were found in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C levels (e.g., Yumuktepe, Çayönü, and Mezraa Teleilat in Turkey), dating to the beginning of the seventh millennium BC  (Caneva 2012;  Özdoǧan 2014). According to Özdoǧan (2014), they are different from the local Pottery Neolithic productions and may have a western, possibly Mediterranean, origin, having been introduced as containers of certain commodities through long-distance, maritime trade. If this is confirmed, North Africa, where pottery is older, should be considered as a candidate for the origin of impressed pottery in the Near East, although independent evolution or different external origins should not be ruled out. Functions of Early Pottery  Organic residue analysis proved to be an exceptional tool for determining the functions of prehistoric ceramic vessels from other parts of North Africa and other chronological periods (Dunne et al. 2012, 2016, 2018). It has also been conducted and is currently in progress for Early Khartoum and Khartoum Variant samples (Garcea and D’Ercole 2018; Garcea et al. 2020). Before organic residue analysis was in place, Haaland (1997, 2007) made noteworthy considerations on the functions and benefits of pottery making. Considering the different shapes of Sudanese foragers’ pottery, which range from close restricted to open unrestricted vessels, she suggested a variety of functions, i.e., storage, cooking, food preparation, serving, and transporting as well as social purposes. The possibility to use ceramic vessels for cooking implied a significant change in the economic and social organization of foragers and their dietary habits. Using pots for food processing by boiling and steaming is a more efficient method of consumption in terms of digestibility and assimilation properties. Cooking allows eliminating toxins from previously uneatable plants, and boiling, softening, and preparing wet foods, such as soups, stews, porridges, and sauces. It can also expand the range of food resources and shorten infant weaning, which in turn favorably influences female fertility, the survival rate of infants, and ultimately population growth (Haaland 2007; Jesse 2010). Foods and water could also be stored for later consumption. Finally, some sherds were reused for entirely different purposes: they could be rounded on the edges, have a central hole, functioning as fishnet sinkers, or grooved, possibly serving as rubbers for bone tool making.

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Lithic Industries Microlithic tools, which characterize terminal Pleistocene assemblages, continue to be a common component of early Holocene tool-kits, together with macrolithic pieces. Small (15–40 mm) quartz pebbles are the major raw material and other pebbly materials, such as chert, fossil wood, flint, sandstone, agate, and carnelian, were used in varying percentages, higher in northern and eastern Sudan than in the central and western part of the country. Pebbles could be easily found as alluvial material along the Nile, wadi banks, and paleochannels. Rhyolite, a non-local volcanic rock outcropping in the Sixth Cataract, was occasionally employed, although it was more frequent in later periods. It was imported to Shaqadud for about 60 km (Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991), to the Khartoum area for about 80 km (Caneva 1983), and to the sites on the White Nile for 200 km (Clark 1984). Cores frequently have unprepared or plain single platforms or alternatively opposed, ninety-degree, or multiple platforms. Opposed or adjacent striking platforms resulted from adjustments of the core orientation, rather than from prearranged preparation (e.g., Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). The bipolar technique was used in addition to hard hammer knapping. Small pebbles could also be split into two halves and used separately to obtain crescent-shaped blanks, which provide adaptable pre-forms for an ample production of arch-backed pieces (Fig.  4.9.6), lunates (Fig.  4.9.8–9), and other geometrics. In addition to these types, tool-kits consist of endscrapers (Fig. 4.9.1–2), perforators (Fig. 4.9.3–4), notched and denticulated flakes (Fig. 4.9.5, 7), truncations, and burins, which occur in different proportions in the various areas (e.g., Clark 1984). In general, tools show limited morphological standardization resulting from expedient production (Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). Diagnostic Khartoum Variant tools are multiple edged and concave scrapers (Fig. 4.10), which have been reinterpreted as double, opposed notches occasionally forming a point (Usai 2005). These tools are often made of Egyptian flint, which is a light brown to dark gray opaque flint that originated from the Eocene Limestone Formations of southwestern Egypt (Shiner 1968b) and was used as far south as the Dongola Reach (Usai 2016). Although Khartoum Variant industries are considered to be essentially microlithic (Shiner 1968b), not all assemblages reflect this generalization. On Sai Island at Site 8-B-10C, for example, retouched tools are frequently non-microlithic and comprise a prevalence of denticulated and notched flakes and several perforators, whereas lunates and backed bladelets are rare. Considering that the latter tools are usually associated with hunting activities, hunting must not have been commonly practiced at every site, including 8-B-10C.  By contrast, hunting was a major occupation at other sites such as El-Barga, where lunates were the most frequent tools, followed by backed pieces, scrapers, and borers (Honegger 2008). Abrupt retouching is a characteristic feature of these early Holocene industries, unlike the later period (Neolithic) when tools with invasive bifacial retouching appear (Jakob and Honegger 2017). The sizes of lunates from El-Barga indicate two functionally different groups (Honegger 2008). Large pieces (>30  mm-long,

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Fig. 4.9  Early Khartoum retouched tools: 1. Simple endscraper; 2. Endscraper on a retouched blade; 3–4. Perforators; 5. Notched flake; 6. Arch-backed bladelet with rounded base; 7. Denticulated flake; 8–9. Lunates (From Geili Sharq)

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Fig. 4.10  Multiple edged and concave scraper (From 8-B-10C)

>9 mm-wide) exhibit mesial fractures obtained by simple bending, probably resulting from cutting, and confirm the non-exclusive microlithic production of Khartoum Variant assemblages. Small lunates (16–27-mm long, 5–8-mm wide) often display broken tips and some have projectile impacts, while others were used as burins and borers for piercing or incising. Lunates make up almost half of the tool-kit also at Site 3-Q-73, at the Fourth Cataract (Dittrich et al. 2007). The predominance of these tools and other geometric microliths, particularly triangles, suggests this site was a specialized camp for seasonal activities. In the Karmakol area, lunates are often made according to a peculiar technique, which does not occur in either northern or central Sudan. They were struck with a sort of burin blow (Usai 2004), confirming that they are not always projectile points or barbs. In the White Nile Valley, early/middle (early and mid-seventh millennium BC) and late (end of seventh/sixth millennium BC) Mesolithic sites display different industries. Backed pieces, mainly backed blades, characterize earlier tool-kits, whereas geometrics, lunates, double-backed perforators, and scrapers are more

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common in later assemblages, which consist of smaller tools (Salvatori et al. 2011). Lunates of different sizes also occur at Shabona, on the opposite bank of the White Nile. Some of them, exclusively made of rhyolite, resemble large crescents and could be closer to backed flakes, reflecting functional diversification (Clark 1984). In eastern Sudan, at KG68 in Khashm el-Girba, technological differences from earlier, terminal Pleistocene, assemblages reveal a shift from blade to flake productions and the use of bipolar cores to produce small flakes and scaled pieces. Backed tools continue to be produced, but in more irregular fashions. Further differences appear at KG14 (end of sixth-beginning of fifth millennium BC) which reveals a major disjunction from earlier assemblages with the earliest presence of pottery and larger tools, including elongated lunates, backed bladelets, perforators, and notched and denticulated flakes (Marks 1987). Due to poor preservation conditions, functional analyses have been rarely performed, although they could even produce successful results for the identification of post-depositional traces (Venditti et al. 2016). As for use-wear, cutting, scraping, and boring activities were recorded on both quartz and chert tools from 8-B-10C on Sai Island (Garcea 2011–2012). Microwear was also observed in Egyptian Nubia, on a number of arch-backed bladelets, lunates, and other backed pieces from the terminal Pleistocene Qadan Site 8905 (Becker and Wendorf 1993). Activities of bone/antler working, wood/plant processing, hide processing, and meat cutting were identified. Different tools, including unretouched flakes, were apparently used with no functional distinction. About 90% of them were used for scraping and only 10% for cutting or sawing. Some traces of hafting were also observed, confirming that terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene microlithic products were designed for composite-tools involving mounting on handles or shafts. Ground stone tools (Fig. 4.11), mostly of sandstone, are frequent in Sudanese complexes. Heavy querns (Fig. 4.11.2) were interpreted as indicators of mobility constraint. They may have been used for multiple purposes, including grinding wild seeds, but also dry meat or fish, crushing nuts, powdering coloring substances, refining bone tools, and pounding clay for pottery manufacturing. Other ground stone tools were common: stone rings were probably used as weights of digging sticks, and grooved stones suggest wood and bone polishing (Caneva 1983; Haaland and Magid 1995). Different types of sandstone were apparently selected according to the function of the grinders: while those made with coarse-grained sandstone could be preferred during the first grinding stages, fine-grained items were employed during the final stages in order to refine the quality of flour.

Bone, Horn and Shell Industries Bone and horn tools are another important component of late foragers’ assemblages. Numerous uniserial barbed bone harpoons (Fig. 4.12.1) and fishhooks were especially found in Early Khartoum contexts, corroborating a diet focused on fish and other aquatic resources. Their proximal ends are pointed and grooved to facilitate

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Fig. 4.11  1. Stone grinders and ring; 2. Quern (From Khartoum province, courtesy of I. Caneva)

hafting of spearheads. Other tools include awls, polishers, and engraved points (Fig. 4.12.2–5). Incised slender cylindrical bones were found on the Blue Nile and at other Early Khartoum sites, and have been interpreted as hairpins (Fernandez et al. 2003a). As mentioned above, pottery combs with short, regular teeth could also be elaborated on bone and shell (Caneva 1983).  Fish bones, such as catfish spines, could also be employed to make various tools, including perforators (Usai and Salvatori 2019). Furthermore, elephant ivory, rhinoceros horns, and hippopotamus tusks were used to make bracelets and other ornaments (Usai and Salvaotri 2019). Finally, several beads made of ostrich eggshell and bone mostly occurred in habitations; fragments of ostrich eggshell were sometime incised (e.g., Caneva 1983; Clark 1989; Fernandez et  al. 2003a). The largest collection of ostrich eggshell pieces (over 500) came from the habitation area at Sphinx, on the west bank of Jebel Sabaloka. Finished and unfinished beads (Fig.  4.12.6), together with unworked pieces suggest they were produced on the spot and confirm the practice of wearing ostrich eggshell beads as lifetime personal adornments (Sůvová et al. 2018).

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Fig. 4.12  1. Uniserial barbed bone harpoon; 2. Engraved bone tool; 3. Engraved horn tool; 4. Bone point; 5. Engraved bone tool; 6. Ostrich eggshell beads (1. From Khartoum province, courtesy of I. Caneva; 2–6. From Sphinx ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photos by M. Frouz, 2012, P. Pokorný, 2015; L. Varadzin, 2018)

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Burial Customs and Funerary Practices The Pre-Mesolithic (7000 cal BC) cemetery at El-Khiday 2 (16-D-4) on the White Nile consists of more than a hundred burials (Salvatori et al. 2011). Bodies are in a prone, elongated position. No grave goods, except for an ivory bracelet, are associated with the dead. Two full-length inhumations were also found at Shabona, on the eastern White Nile Valley, but were considered to be contemporary with the Early Khartoum complex (Clark 1989). Stable isotope analysis on apatite bone samples from El-Khiday 2 indicates that Pre-Mesolithic people were rather sedentary, had a similar diet as Mesolithic populations, which was based on C4 resources, including both C4 plants, seeds, and tubers, as well as animals feeding on C4 plants (Iacumin et al. 2016). Early Holocene burials are extremely rare in the farthest north of Sudan (Table 4.2), the northernmost prominent evidence coming from the Kerma region (Honegger 2004c; Honegger and Williams 2015). A proper Mesolithic cemetery, dating from 7800–7000 cal BC, with about fifty burials was found at El-Barga and

Table 4.2  Main sites with presence/absence of associated burials

Region Northern Upper Nubia

Kerma region Fourth Cataract Jebel Sabaloka Khartoum area Northern Butana White Nile Valley

Blue Nile Valley Lower Atbara region

Eastern Sudan Western Sudan

Main Sites DIW-1 DIW-51 8-B-10C 8-B-76 Wadi El-Arab El-Barga Sphinx Fox Hill Saggai Shaqadud El-Salha El-Khiday 1 El-Khiday 2 Shabona Sheikh Mustafa El-Mahalab Abu Darbein Aneibis El-Damer Khashm el-Girba Gash Delta Laqiya Wadi Howar

Burials No No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes

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three graves were located in the main hut excavated at this site, although these are slightly later than the hut (Honegger 2006a). Early Khartoum burials (Fig. 4.13) were often placed in dedicated burial grounds within the habitations. They occur in low numbers or cover several century-long periods and often appear at a later stage in the site life. Although the limited extension of excavated areas may have affected the restricted number of recovered burials, cemeteries do not numerically reflect the entire population living at a site. No particular gender or age selection is represented and no attention was paid to body orientation. Individuals are either in flexed or hypercontracted position; in the latter case, bodies were tied or inserted by force in small perishable bags that sometimes altered the articulation of the lower limbs. Dental avulsion of the upper incisors was often practiced. Grave goods are extremely rare, but occasionally exist. Mollusc shells, particularly Aspatharia, are the most ascertained items and occur in different regions. Other offerings could be Nile oysters, bone tools, grindstones, and ostrich eggshell beads. A horned gazelle skull was found near a burial at El-Damer, on the Atbara River (Haaland 1993), and a large potsherd was placed under a skull at Khartoum Hospital (Arkell 1949a). However, uncertainties exist whether some of the apparently associated artifacts actually served as grave goods or were part of the settlement debris where the burials had been dug (Haaland 1993; Jesse and Keding 2002; Varadzinová and Varadzin 2017, 2020).

Fig. 4.13  Mesolithic burials (From Sphinx ©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzin, 2012)

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Granite cobbles on some skulls, pieces of granite weighing down the bodies, or quern fragments on or near the dead were found at Sphinx, in the western Jebel Sabaloka (Varadzinová and Varadzin 2017). Multiple superimposition and cutting of graves with redeposition of parts of the bones suggested an intensive, multi-­ generational, probably community-used burial ground. The skeletal morphology of Mesolithic populations indicates genetic continuity with previous terminal Pleistocene humans (Jebel Sahaba) showing tropically adapted body proportions (Benoiston et al. 2018; Holliday 2015). Individuals are robust and tall, with large muscle attachments, thick skulls, and developed mastoid processes; femurs could be more than 50  cm long. Craniofacial robustness was interpreted as a functional adaptation to mastication resulting from heavy muscle attachment and support of large teeth, which are capable of resisting abrasion (Crevecoeur 2012; Small 1981).

Concluding Remarks The last hunter-gatherers in Sudan systematically adopted and accumulated a technical knowledge that had been acquired earlier, at the end of the Pleistocene or very beginning of the Holocene. They did not invent funerary customs, but collectively adopted them in different regions. They continued to use microlithic tools and, once they learnt pottery manufacturing, they produced it systematically. The long period of relative cultural stability of these semi-sedentary hunter-­ gatherers gradually came to an end and sometimes endured when new economic and social factors came into play with the introduction of food production and relations with more different people. The outcome and the socio-economic implications are discussed in the next chapters.

Chapter 5

Food Production: Raising and Trading Domestic Animals and Plants

A Time of Changes Local ecosystems responded differently during the 6300-BC (8.2 ka BP) arid and cold event (Clarke et al. 2016; Zerboni 2013; Zerboni and Nicoll 2018). Although aquifer-fed environments in the Sahara deteriorated, Lake Victoria and Lake Tana dropped, and the Nile floodplain and channel systems contracted (Chap. 1), the effects of dry spells were less severe in certain areas. In Sudan, they were less strong than in Egypt due to the retreat of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone and the onset of more unstable conditions in the north. Elevated flood levels along the White Nile and Blue Nile still fed the main Sudanese Nile and humidity did not decline in step with the Sahara and was temporary, becoming irregular only  ca. 5000 BC. Furthermore, the western Nile tributaries, Wadi Howar and Wadi el-­Melik, continued to be active and stopped flowing into the Nile ca. 4000 BC (Hildebrand et al. 2018a; Macklin et al. 2013, 2015; Williams 2019; Woodward et al. 2015). On the other hand, it should also be considered that  drier conditions allowed human occupation in previously uninhabited marshy areas, such as the Middle Wadi Howar and the Kerma plain, offering large pastureland to herding newcomers. In any case, the 8.2-ka-BP event did not seem to be the most important factor of cultural and economic transition leading to food production in northeastern Africa (Adelsberger et al. 2020; Zerboni 2013). The last foragers with their low mobility, delayed-return economy, and considerable level of technical knowledge accumulation laid the foundations for the emergence of an economic system capable of raising and trading domestic animals and plants within a modifying landscape. Animal husbandry was the ultimate stage of a subsistence organization based on a delayed return of resources and labor providing food reserve on the hoof. The niche construction theory (Smith 2011; Zeder 2011) may also be applied to the Sudanese context, where hunter-gatherers had developed long experiences in increasing their resource predictability with plant and animal management. Initial herding was part of an ongoing process aiming at increasing abundance and reliability of food © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 E. A. A. Garcea, The Prehistory of the Sudan, SpringerBriefs in Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47185-9_5

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resources by managing and modifying the environment. The climate niche of herded livestock significantly expanded through time, by increasingly incorporating new environments into animal husbandry practices, and adapting livestock production strategies to novel climates (Phelps et al. 2019). Several domestic animals (e.g., sheep and goat) and plants (e.g., wheats and barley) have no wild ancestors in Africa. Domestic wheats, barley, caprines, and at least some cattle were imported in Northeast Africa from Southwest Asia through several waves of migrations and not as a package. Cattle and caprines appeared during distinct phases and domestic crops, even more than livestock, emerged gradually (Fuller et al. 2011; Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2013). Domestic species were introduced in the social and economic organization of African communities who were simultaneously increasing the exploitation of endemic wild species, such as aurochs, sorghum, pearl millet, and other plants (Fuller and Hildebrand 2013; Garcea et al. 2016a). Pastoralism prevailed over farming and herding preceded the establishment of village agriculture in Sudan (Brass 2018; Caneva 2017; Garcea 2016b; Gautier and Van Neer 2011; Honegger 2014; Honegger and Williams 2015; Jesse et al. 2007, 2013; Kuper and Riemer 2013). Higher adaptability of pastoralism has been also observed in the neighboring regions of Egypt (e.g., Linseele 2013; Linseele et al. 2016), the Sahara (e.g., Close 1984; di Lernia 2013; di Lernia et al. 2013; Dunne et al. 2012, 2018; Gifford-Gonzalez 2008), and East Africa (e.g., Grillo et al. 2020; Hildebrand et al. 2018b; Lane 2004; Marchant and Lane 2014; Marshall and Hildebrand 2002; Sawchuk 2018). Nevertheless, Salvatori and Usai (2019b) propose the introduction in Northeast Africa, at the end of the seventh/beginning of the sixth millennium BC, of a wider ‘Neolithic package’ (Salvatori and Usai 2019b), which also included domestic cereals and, according to them, was possibly driven by the 6300-BC climate change. Domestic cattle dating from around 8000  BC at Nabta Playa in the Egyptian Western Desert remains a dubious argument (Brass 2018; Garcea 2016b) and the dated faunal remains of 7200  BC at Wadi El-Arab in northern Sudan were re-­ attributed to a wild large bovid (Linseele et al. 2014). Up till now the earliest cattle in Sudan come from the El-Barga cemetery (Table 5.1) and date ca. 5750 cal BC (Honegger 2014), whereas undisputable data from the Egyptian Western Desert indicate domestic cattle not earlier than 6500 BC. Anthropological and genetic data on human remains suggest that groups with more gracile morphological features migrated and mixed with local robust hunter-­ gatherers without replacing them (Usai 2016, see also Benoiston et al. 2018). On the other hand, the reduction of robust features was also attributed to changes in dietary habits (Chap. 6). Although it is reasonable that a combination of both events concurred and that the arrival of domesticates and/or new populations did not cause a discontinuity in the local niche construction process, it is still unclear whether the adoption of domesticates occurred in Sudan through demic diffusion with herders’ migration or through cultural transmission with exchanges and incorporation of new species into the local economies by indigenous groups. Hunting-gathering populations persisted in many areas during the uneven shift toward food production until 5000–4800  BC, that is, about one millennium after domestic livestock had entered the region. Furthermore, wild game and plants and fish continued to supply food provisions of the earliest herders.

Northern Sudan

Kerma Shendi area Kadruka Sai Island Khartoum area, west bank Khartoum area, west bank Kawa Sai Island White Nile Central Sudan

Central Sudan

Central Sudan

Central Sudan

Khartoum area, east bank Second Cataract

Northern Sudan

Northern Sudan Central Sudan

Central Sudan

Khartoum area, east Central Sudan bank Kadruka Northern Sudan Northwestern Butana Central Sudan

Northern Sudan Northern Sudan

Northern Sudan Northern Sudan

Region Northern Sudan

Area Kerma

Abka Site IX, Level 5 Kadero, northern Khartoum area, east midden bank KDK21 Kadruka

KDK13 Shaqadud midden (S1-B) Zakiab

R12 8-B-81 Rabak, early phase Umm Direiwa I

Nofalab 2

Site El-Barga cemetery Wadi El-Arab El-Ghaba KDK33 8-B-76 Islang 2 6330 ± 80

7006 ± 36–6526 ± 33 6620 ± 40–4990 ± 110 6520 ± 80 6500 ± 20–5005 ± 25 6440 ± 150–6280 ± 90

5960 ± 400

4945–4617 – 4897–4540 5910 ± 60–5850 ± 70

5024–4691 – 4335–4051 5960 ± 70–5370 ± 60

5666–3995

5198–4623 – 4686–4354 5970 ± 80–5660 ± 80

5020–4726 – 4799–4517 5990 ± 60–5810 ± 60 5511–4267 – 4591–4268 5970 ± 290–5584 ± 74

5209–4714 – 4325–3962 6010 ± 90–5280 ± 80

5319–5076 – 4531–4331 6260 ± 40–5570 ± 60 5041–4855 – 4361–4263 6060 ± 25–5475 ± 25 5219–4722 – 4934–4536 6050 ± 100–5860 ± 80

5476–5076

5987–5803 – 5559–5384 5621–5491 – 4038–3533 5619–5338 5515–5382 – 3935–3707 5646–5054 – 5469–5035

Years cal BC Radiocarbon Years BP 6048–5766 – 5632–5476 7045 ± 70–6605 ± 60

(continued)

Cemetery

Habitation

Habitation

Habitation

Cemetery Habitation

Habitation

Cemetery Habitation Habitation

Habitation

Habitation Cemetery Cemetery Habitation Habitation

Type Site Cemetery

Table 5.1  List of the major Neolithic sites. Dates refer to the earliest and latest radiometric age (calibrated with IntCal 13, 95.4% probability)

A Time of Changes 91

Northern Sudan Northern Sudan

Northern Sudan

4448–4235

Central Sudan

5470 ± 50

4519–4270 5555 ± 60 Habitation 4678–4047 – 4346–3848 5520 ± 130–5290 ± 100 Habitation

Central Sudan Central Sudan

Habitation

Cemetery

4458–4346 – 4341–3800 5565 ± 35–5260 ± 120

Central Sudan

Cemetery Cemetery Cemetery

Habitation Cemetery

Cemetery

Cemetery

Cemetery

Cemetery

Type Site Habitation

Central Sudan

4908–3990 5600 ± 200 4486–4354 – 4251–3996 5590 ± 30–5300 ± 40

4546–4366 – 4444–4257 5640 ± 40–5480 ± 35

4701–4359 – 3971-3714 5680 ± 80–5070 ± 55

4604–4456 – 4551-4239 5690 ± 30–5550 ± 80

4727–4368 – 4612–4179 5720 ± 80–5550 ± 90

Years cal BC Radiocarbon Years BP 4826–4522 – 4355–4258 5815 ± 60–5458 ± 30

4541–4338 – 4314–3978 5590 ± 60–5290 ± 60 4578–4268 – 4460–4072 5580 ± 70–5470 ± 70 4683–4236 5570 ± 100

Central Sudan

Central Sudan

Central Sudan

White Nile

Northern Sudan

Central Sudan

Region Northern Sudan

Khartoum area, west bank

Area Kerma

Northern Upper Nubia El-Multaga Southern Upper Nubia DIW-50 Second Cataract Khor Shambat 1 Khartoum area, west bank KDK1 Kadruka KDK18 Kadruka Geili Khartoum area, east bank Kadero cemetery Khartoum area, east bank Sheikh el-Amin Blue Nile Nofalab 1 Khartoum area, west bank 16-D-5 White Nile (El-Khiday 1)

Site Kerma settlement (S.8) Esh-­Shaheinab, Haaland’s excavation 16-D-4 cemetery (El-Khiday 2) Sedeinga

Table 5.1 (continued)

92 5  Food Production: Raising and Trading Domestic Animals and Plants

Northern Sudan Central Sudan

Central Sudan

Central Sudan

El-Kadada Shendi area settlement DIW-4 Second Cataract Abu Tabari S02/1 Lower Wadi Howar

El-Kadada Shendi area cemetery Abka Site IX, Second Cataract Level 4 Rabak, late phase White Nile

Central Sudan Central Sudan

Shendi area Khartoum area, east bank Middle Wadi Howar

Northern Sudan

Central Sudan

White Nile

Central Sudan

16-D-6 (El-Khiday 6) Es-Sour Kadero, southern midden Djabarona 84/19

Region

Area Khartoum area, west bank

Site Esh-­Shaheinab, Arkell’s excavation

Western Sudan

Western Sudan

5360 ± 80

Habitation Habitation

Habitation

Cemetery

Habitation Habitation

Habitation

3498–2909

4490 ± 100

Habitation

4041–2235 – 3946–2351 4500 ± 350–4470 ± 300 Habitation

3777–3381 – 3338–2880 4840 ± 70–4370 ± 80

4230–3955 5220 ± 50 3958–3773 – 2858–2474 5055 ± 35–4060 ± 45

4257–3819 – 4252–3712 5230 ± 70–5170 ± 110

4682–3522 – 3498–2704 5240 ± 260–4410 ± 120 Habitation

4326–4001 – 4225–805 5330 ± 54–5180 ± 48 4331–3956 – 3965–3665 5280 ± 90–5030 ± 70

4346–3995

Years cal BC Radiocarbon Years BP Type Site 5225–3386 – 4984–2760 5446 ± 380–5060 ± 450 Cemetery

A Time of Changes 93

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The Cultural Complexes During the fifth millennium populations underwent a rather fast evolution of their social pattern and expressed visual social differentiations in their cemeteries: grave goods include peculiar ceramic vessels, rich personal ornaments (e.g., hippo ivory bracelets, lip-plugs), specific tools (e.g., polished stone axes, bone harpoons), and shells (e.g., Aspatharia). Different terms were proposed to define early food producing cultural complexes in Sudan. Arkell (1949a) distinguished the Early Khartoum period from the later phase, the Gouge Culture, for the presence of flaked and polished celts (gouges) often made of rhyolite, associated with remains of domestic animals (Chap. 6). In order to elucidate this culture, he excavated the site of Esh-Shaheinab, north of Khartoum (Arkell 1953b), and replaced the term Gouge Culture with Khartoum Neolithic, alternatively called Shaheinab Neolithic (5000–3800 BC), which is generally later than the Neolithic in northern Sudan dating from the sixth millennium BC.  With a test excavation at El-Qoz, he was able to establish that the Early Khartoum culture stratigraphically preceded that of Esh-Shaheinab (Arkell 1953b). While the upper, Neolithic levels include finer and burnished wares, which could be undecorated or decorated with new motifs, black-topped vessels, and other artifacts (Chap. 6), the lower, Early Khartoum deposit contained coarser and unburnished ceramics, among other characteristic artifacts (Chap. 4). In addition to different decorations and surface treatments, the repertoire of ceramics consists of new forms, caliciform beakers being the most remarkable (Chap. 6). North of Khartoum, Marks et al. (1967–1968) classified the sites they surveyed in the Dongola Reach into three discrete groups, Tergis, Karat, and El-Melik. Although no radiocarbon dates are available, the Tergis Group was chronologically correlated to the Shaheinab Neolithic for the presence of gouges and stone rings and was distinguished from the previous Early Khartoum for being primarily a flake industry. The Karat Group was considered later than the Tergis Group and represents the most numerous sites, including burnished, thin pottery. Ultimately, the El-Melik Group shows a decline in stone and ceramic technology and was considered the latest of the series. No graves were found in this area until a burial ground dated to the mid-fifth millennium BC was found near-by at El-Multaga (Geus and Lecointe 2003, see below). Farther north, another distinct complex in the Wadi Halfa-Second Cataract area was first found around the village of Abka (Site IX) and therefore called Abkan (Myers 1960; Shiner 1968a). According to Shiner (1968a), the Abkan was contemporary with the Khartoum Variant, although it featured different material cultures and settlement organizations. Nordström (1972) revised it and found more similarities with the Shaheinab culture than with the Khartoum Variant, even though the two complexes–Abkan and Shaheinab Neolithic–remained in distinct spheres of cultural influence of independent herding groups (Garcea and Hildebrand 2009). This interpretation corresponds to the Abkan’s current chronology (5500–3700 cal BC), which only partly overlaps with the Khartoum Variant (Garcea et  al. 2016b) and

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95

lasts a long time period that was divided into different phases (Gatto 2011b; Chap. 6). Geographically, the Abkan was spread around the Wadi Halfa-Second Cataract, reached the Western Egyptian Desert at Nabta-Kiseiba, captured the Laqiya region in northwestern Sudan, and extended to the Karat Group (Lange and Nordström 2006). All Abkan sites are habitations with no cemeteries, which was rather unusual compared to the rest of Sudan’s Neolithic. Finally, the Post-Shamarkian, following the earlier Shamarkian microlithic industry and dating to 4800–4100 BC, was distinguished from the partly contemporary Abkan, although it was recognized at only two sites (see below) (Gatto 2011b; Schild et al. 1968). In western Sudan, the early pastoral period is represented by the Leiterband complex (4200–2200 cal BC), which was defined for its characteristic ceramic decorative patterns showing ladder-like impressions (Jesse 2004a; Keding 2006a; Chap. 6). Thousands of Neolithic sites are spread across Sudan. A selection of them is presented here in order to offer a general overview. Not all regions could be mentioned, but this does not mean that sites, maybe in the form of surface scatters, exist. Although Neolithic habitations were recorded, they are less ostentatious than cemeteries, and were unjustly often neglected by archaeologists. Their features are discussed in this chapter and those of cemeteries in Chap. 6. Northern Upper Nubia and Sai Island  DIW-4 and DIW-50 (Fig. 5.1) in the Wadi Halfa-Second Cataract area are the only two Post-Shamarkian sites (Schild et al. 1968). These settlements are 4–5 times larger than Shamarkian ones and display smaller subunits with concentrations of stone artifacts and fireplaces (4–5  m in diameter). They feature a significant import of Egyptian flint and the production of flake industries, adzes, and pottery. All other sites in northern Upper Nubia were assigned to the Abkan. Some are campsites used on a temporary, but repetitive basis, such as 5-S-25 on Shagir Island (Nordström 2014) and Site 1001 (Shiner 1968a), where thick concentrations of fish bones were mixed with charcoal, ash, and potsherds. Other sites, such as 8-B-76 and 8-B-81, on Sai Island, show deep deposits, 100 cm and 134 cm respectively, indicating prolonged occupations by low-mobility herders. 8-B-76 includes a stratigraphic succession with the Abkan deposit above the Khartoum Variant occupation, which was also horizontally confirmed: the Khartoum Variant settlement lied inland with respect to the present Nile and the Abkan occupation was closer to the river (Garcea et al. 2016b). The Abkan occupational phase at 8-B-76, beginning in the second half of the sixth millennium BC, overlaps for several centuries with the late Khartoum Variant phase at Site 8-B-10C, end of sixth/beginning of fifth millennium BC (Chap. 3). Pollen analyses from these two sites demonstrate that even a small island (12  ×  5.5  km) such as Sai offered a mosaic of habitats, including swamps and marshes, wooded savannas, grasslands and desert savannas with a diversity of useful plants within short distances (Florenzano et  al. 2019). Different plant covers existed on the western and eastern sides of the island: while trees and permanent woody vegetation with higher plant diversity grew on the western side and were

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Fig. 5.1  Location map of the major Neolithic sites

interrupted by seasonal dry periods with low watertable, rapid water flow with flooding and inundations characterized the eastern side. The cultural relations of the Laqiya area, which was within the western Sudanese sphere during the Pre-Pastoral period (Chap. 3), shifted direction. Around 4700 BC, a new pottery style appeared in the Wadi Shaw and Wadi Sahal (Chap. 6), showing more similarities with the Abkan and the locally called Late Neolithic in the Nabta Playa-Kiseiba area than with the Wadi Howar further south in western Sudan (Lange 2006a). This shift was possibly due to the spread of domestic animals, which triggered new relations with northern Nubia and the Egyptian oases (Riemer et  al. 2013). On the other hand, these similarities are limited and some different decorations, such as oblique fingernail or spatula impressions, suggest related, but culturally distinct groups (Lange 2006a). Kerma Region  The earliest domesticated livestock in Sudan (5750 cal BC) come from a cemetery with more than 100 burials in the southern part of El-Barga (Honegger 2005, 2006a, 2014; Honegger and Williams 2015). Its chronology is an exceptional evidence of the cultural changes that occurred since the onset of the Neolithic period. One of the burials was furnished with a cattle skull, showing that

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these animals were symbolically significant since the beginning of livestock rearing (see below and Chap. 6). The earliest Neolithic habitation remains were found at Wadi El-Arab in the same Kerma area. Between 5500 and 5000 BC, human groups abandoned the desert and moved in the Nile alluvial plain, which was previously a marshland. Another outstanding Neolithic settlement (S.8) was found near the Kerma cemetery. It is later (fifth millennium BC, Table  5.1) and consists of hut floors, postholes, fences, enclosures, and hearths with possible protecting windbreaks. Two unprecedented rectangular buildings, possibly serving as shelters or animal enclosures, were added in the site plan, which was considered a proto-­ village. These first rectangular constructions did not replace circular or oval dwellings, but appeared side by side with them. Another rectangular area was found at El-Ghaba (Reinold 2000). The area just south of Kerma was intensively investigated in the 1980s–1990s with particular attention to Kadruka, a large archaeological area elongated for 25  km along Wadi El-Khowi, an ancient Nile branch (Reinold 2000, 2001, 2003–2008). Reinold identified over thirty habitation remnants, which were severely eroded and deflated, and seventeen better-preserved cemeteries, unearthing over 700 burials, dating to the fifth millennium BC (Table 5.1). Except for one cemetery (KDK13), the others lied on natural mounds, which were funerary hills or islands. Three of them (KDK1, KDK13 and KDK18) were fully excavated and others were tested (i.e., KDK2 and KDK21). KDK2 was estimated to contain more than a thousand burials and about a hundred were excavated. Excavations were resumed in 2014 (Maines et al. 2017, 2018). They focused on funerary mound KDK23 and the nearby habitation KDK23H. Numerous new burials and habitation structures were uncovered. The preserved habitations are later than the cemetery as the current Nile flow destroyed the domestic installations contemporary to the cemetery. The Kadruka cemeteries show that communities were organized according to an increasingly stronger hierarchy implying the establishment of complex social organizations (Chap. 6). Near Kadruka, another cemetery was excavated at Site R12, located on a mound-­ like formation resulting from strong erosional processes (Salvatori and Usai 2006, 2008, 2019a, b). Excavations brought to light 166 tombs with about 200 individuals, often intersecting each other. As this burial ground was in use for several centuries, being dated since the end of the sixth millennium BC and mostly covering the first half of the fifth millennium BC (4800–4300 BC), no memory seems to have existed of the location of older burials. Nevertheless, some earlier grave pits were intentionally reopened for new burials. The composition of the community buried at R12 suggested incipient social stratification with no sex or age differentiations. Grave goods were not always present in the burials, but they could be also associated with children. Symbolic items of power, such as mace-heads, although scarcely represented, occurred in both adult and children graves. In addition to ceramic vessels and various types of stone tools, bucrania and cattle skins were part of the funerary goods, emphasizing the role of cattle in the economic and ideological spheres (Salvatori and Usai 2008, see also Chap. 6 for further discussion). In the same area

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of the northern Dongola Reach, at least 28 other cemeteries and 59 occupation scatters were located during surface surveys (Welsby 2001). Southern Upper Nubia and Fourth Cataract  Although Neolithic settlements in the Fourth Cataract area are in rather poor preservation conditions, they occur in remarkable numbers with several hundred sites on different elevations (hills, slopes and tops of rocky outcrops, ridges), overlooking the surroundings (Chlodnicki 2006; Lange 2012; Petrick 2012). They occasionally include sub-circular stone structures used as dwellings or hearths. As in northern Upper Nubia, burials are unusual. The small size of the settlements and paucity of burials were related to higher mobility of the occupants who only exploited this area for temporary camps (Chlodnicki 2006). The area of El-Multaga, located on the left Nile bank at the southern bend of the Nile, revealed 65 poorly preserved Neolithic burials with peculiar funerary customs, differing from all other contemporary cemeteries. Graves were not concentrated in a large burial ground, but were spread in numerous small and shallow mounds including between one and six individuals. Grave goods existed only in some burials and were generally poor. They could be typologically related to the Karat Group, but also to Kadruka. El-Multaga was interpreted as a cemetery of nomadic people (Geus and Lecointe 2003; Peressinotto et al. 2004). Shendi Area  Central Sudan includes significant Neolithic sites along the main Nile Valley around the Shendi area. Es-Sour, 35 km north of Shendi, is one of the rare Neolithic occurrences of a habitation without a proper cemetery, but with four infant burials inside ceramic pots (Sadig 2010, 2015). This funerary tradition was reserved to infants and small children and was recorded at other nearby sites, namely El-Kadada (Reinold 2007; see below) and Qalaat Shanan (Hamd 2012). At Khor Shambat, this practice was reserved to fetuses (Jórdeczka et al. 2020a, b; see below and Chap. 6). The other sites in the area are mostly known for their remarkable funerary concentrations. El-Kadada consists of two poorly preserved habitations on the top, dating to the end of the fifth millennium BC, and three later cemeteries, dating to the first half of the fourth millennium BC and characterizing the local Late Neolithic (Reinold 2007). The site is located around the slopes of a gravel mound. Scatters of Early Khartoum materials also suggest an earlier occupation. Although only the lower part of the burial pits was preserved due to strong erosion and modern constructions, over 300 burials were excavated. Graves include secondary and superimposed burials with differentiated and recurrent funerary goods and human and animal sacrifices (Fig. 5.2). El-Ghaba is another large cemetery, which yielded 265 burials from only a part of the low mound where the cemetery was installed. According to Williams (2006), the size and wealth of this cemetery indicates the existence of a substantial population on a scale that compares with Upper Egypt. Most radiocarbon dates and associated grave goods indicate it was used for about 1300 years from the very beginning of the fifth to the beginning of the fourth millennium BC, leaving aside a single date

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Fig. 5.2  Map of the area with high density burials at El-Kadada (Redrawn from Reinold 2007: Fig. 241)

to the mid-sixth millennium BC (Salvatori and Usai 2019a, b; Salvatori et al. 2016). The chronology of the El-Ghaba cemetery suggests two main periods of use. An earlier one, dating to the first half of the fifth millennium BC, was contemporary to Kadruka in Upper Nubia, and a later one, dating to the second half of the fifth

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millennium BC, was related to the Shaheinab traditions in central Sudan (Salvatori and Usai 2019b). The burials revealed an exceptional management of domestic Near Eastern plants (wheat and barley) that open unforeseen evidence on consumption of these species in the Sudanese Neolithic (see below). Furthermore, an empty rectangular place of about 30 sq. m and no preserved structures was located in the western part of the cemetery. Some tombs surrounding it suggest it may have been a funerary monument for dedicated rituals or ceremonies (Reinold 2000, 2006). Jebel Sabaloka  On the west bank of Jebel Sabaloka at the Sixth Nile Cataract, human occupations abandoned the Early Khartoum areas farther from the Nile and settled closer to the river in the so-called Lake Basin area (Suková and Varadzin 2012). In general, apart from a few exceptions, sites in the Neolithic are much rarer than in the Early Khartoum period at Jebel Sabaloka.  Fox Hill (SBK.W-20) was intensively occupied in both the Early Khartoum and Neolithic periods, although the Neolithic occupation was confined to a smaller area that extended at lower elevations. The site of Rhyolite (SBK.W-58) became significant during the Neolithic as it exhibits rhyolite outcrops, which was a highly valued raw material particularly in this period (Chap. 6). On the opposite, eastern bank of the mountain range, a partly stratified settlement with Mesolithic and Early and Middle Neolithic levels was found on the slopes and at the foot of a mound at SP07 (Nassr 2016). The Neolithic graves cut parts of the Mesolithic features. Khartoum Area  The eponymous site of the Shaheinab Neolithic is located on an ancient left bank of the Nile 50 km north of Omdurman, the western twin city of Khartoum (Arkell 1953b). Arkell’s excavation brought to light an Early Neolithic (dating to the fifth millennium BC in central Sudan) settlement with numerous hearths which were the only habitation remnants. After this occupation, the site was used as a burial ground in various periods, including the Late Neolithic (fourth millennium BC). The first two radiocarbon dates were obtained in the 1940s by the founder of the radiocarbon dating method, W.F. Libby. Thirty years later, the site was re-excavated and provided further evidence on its economic and settlement organizations, as well as new radiocarbon dates that yielded a more precise chronology spanning from 4727–4368 and 4612–4179 cal BC (Haaland 1987), supporting the beginning of the Early Neolithic in central Sudan in the beginning of the fifth millennium BC. A habitation was excavated just south of Shaheinab, at Nofalab, which yielded artifactual materials resembling those from Shaheinab. This site was tested by different authors and the excavated areas were called Nofalab 1 (El-Anwar 1981) and Nofalab 2 (Khabir 2006). Considering the large size of the site and depth (70 cm) of the anthropic deposit, huge amount of artifacts, vicinity of stone raw materials, and variety of animal species, Nofalab was interpreted as a permanent site, but could also be a semi-permanent location for repeated seasonal visits. On the same left Nile bank, in Omdurman, investigations at Khor Shambat revealed a stratigraphic sequence spanning from the Early Khartoum to the Late Neolithic period (Bobrowski et al. 2016; Jórdeczka et al. 2020a, b). The Neolithic

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evidence consists of both a habitation and an unexpectedly large cemetery with the earliest pot burials in Sudan (see also Chap. 6). Children burials made up over 43% of the graves. One grave contained a woman with her unborn baby, who must have died during pregnancy. While fetuses were laid in pots, children were buried in graves. Most artifactual material was likened to that from Shaheinab. On the right bank of the Nile, an Early Neolithic habitation and a Late Neolithic cemetery were unearthed at Geili, on another low mound (Caneva 1988). The burials were established on the top of the mound after the Early Neolithic settlement was abandoned. Artifactual material from the habitation was found in the deposit between and below the graves. The chronology of the site (4683–4236 cal BC) and the ceramic assemblage closely resemble that from Shaheinab. Like the evidence from the west bank of Jebel Sabaloka, Geili is the only Neolithic site in contrast to the numerous Early Khartoum sites identified within an extensively surveyed area (Caneva 1988; Caneva et al. 1993; Caneva and Santucci 2006). Kadero, 17  km north of Khartoum, consists of an elevated mound with two Neolithic middens and a cemetery (Chlodnicki et al. 2011; Krzyzaniak 1991). The middens were considered as waste accumulations associated with a habitation and remained in use for a longer time period (northern midden: 5000–3900 BC; southern midden: 4700–3900  BC) than the cemetery (4450–3900  BC; Chlodnicki and Kabacinski 2015). Excavations in the cemetery brought to light about 70% graves (out of 218 excavated graves) dating to the Early Neolithic and about 30% of the Late Neolithic (Fig. 5.3). The settlement was considered as a permanent base-camp used Fig. 5.3  Late Neolithic burial with grave goods from Kadero (Photo by L. Krzyzaniak, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)

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all year round. The area between the middens includes only a few artifacts and was used as burial ground, dwellings, and possibly also as cattle kraal. An Early Khartoum seasonal camp was also found at the site. Kadero shows that Early Neolithic funerary traditions gradually changed during the second half of the fifth millennium BC. Zakiab is located along an ancient Nile bank just south of Kadero. In comparison, it is much smaller (2000 sq. m vs. 30,000 sq. m), but shows the same artifactual material and was put in relation with the larger site (Haaland 1987). The proximity of these two sites and  the size and composition of the faunal assemblage from Zakiab support the hypothesis that this site was a small fishing and herding camp inhabited during the dry seasons within a larger settlement system centered on Kadero, which acted as base-camp. Near Zakiab, 7 km east from the Nile, Umm Direiwa was another slightly larger site (9000 sq. m), connected to the same settlement system, where savanna resources were exploited during seasonal movements. Northern Butana  In northwestern Butana, the deeply stratified deposit at Shaqadud midden (S1-B), 50 km east of the Nile, revealed a Neolithic occupation above Early Khartoum levels (Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). The ceramic assemblage shares a few general decoration techniques and a range of stone tool types with contemporary Nilotic sites, but also reveals independent cultural traditions, originating from eastward movements of Saharan pastoralists (Caneva and Marks 1990). Together with the southern Atbai, the Butana was in a strategic ­position in the wider trading system connecting East Africa to southern Arabia (Fattovich et al. 1984; Winchell 2013). White Nile Valley  On the western bank of the White Nile, about 20 km south of the confluence of the two Niles, three sites in the El-Khiday area were related to the Shaheinab Neolithic and dated to the second half of the fifth millennium BC. A residual Neolithic layer was found above the Mesolithic settlement at El-Khiday 1 (16D-5), 39 Neolithic graves were excavated at El-Khiday 2 (16-D-4), and a Neolithic seasonal settlement was located at El Khiday 6 (16-D-6) (Salvatori et al. 2011, 2014; Salvatori and Usai 2019b; Williams et al. 2015b). Most burials excavated at El-Khiday 2 have no grave goods, whereas the others have pottery vessels and/or ornamental items, including shells, lip-plugs, and ostrich eggshell pendants (Salvatori et al. 2014). Farther south, Rabak was interpreted as a kitchen midden due to the frequency of burnt food waste including fish-bones (Haaland 1987). Chronologically and culturally, it spanned from the Shaheinab Neolithic to the later Jebel Moya tradition (Chap. 7). Blue Nile Valley  Sheikh el-Amin was part of the investigations conducted along the Blue Nile, but was located in the Butana plain 18 km from the Nile (Fernandez et al. 2003a, b). It was occupied during a period (4519–4270 cal BC) that overlapped with the late Mesolithic phase at Sheikh Mustafa (4503–4237 cal BC) on the Blue Nile River. Sheikh el-Amin is a large site consisting of a concentration of occupational remains on eight low mounds. Its position was logistically located for intensive exploitation of the rich wild resources in the savanna, which integrated a small herding component. Its economic and artifactual features are similar to those identified at Shaqadud,

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but its settlement organization differs as Sheikh el-Amin was not a base-camp, but a seasonal camp, probably focused on multi-resource food procurement by mobile groups. Eastern Sudan  Food production in eastern Sudan was later, dating from the middle/late fourth millennium BC (Chap. 7). The early Kassala phase and the  early Butana Group, farther north, were initially contemporary and show occasional similarities with the Late Neolithic in central Sudan, although the Atbai Ceramic Tradition, to which they belong, was a local development (Marks and Fattovich 1989; Sadr 1991; Winchell 2013). Western Sudan  Pastoralism appeared in the Wadi Howar from the end of the fifth millennium BC, but cattle became important only after the mid-fourth millennium BC (Chap. 7). It was not preceded by a pastro-foraging economy as in the Egyptian Western Desert and northwestern Sudan (Jesse et al. 2013). As mentioned in Chap. 3, the stratigraphy at Conical Hill 84/24, Abu Tabari S95/2 and S97/1 revealed the reoccupation of foragers’ sites by pastoralists in the dune habitats of the Lower Wadi Howar (Keding 2000). Herders exploited a mosaic of different environments including aquatic resources and wild fauna, as well as a few caprines, and only seasonally used the area during transhumance cycles. They settled in this part of the wadi, which was closer to the Nile Valley. Contacts with Shaheinab Neolithic and Abkan groups are visible in their similar ceramics and cattle morphology, contrasting the Leiterband complex further west in the Middle Wadi Howar, west of Jebel Rahib (Jesse 2004a; Keding 2006a). The Middle Wadi Howar, which was too swampy for long-lasting Pre-Pastoral settlements, became the main center for cattle herding (Keding 1997). Cattle dominated the faunal assemblage in the over 800 explored sites found in the area, including Djabarona, Jebel Tageru, and Ennedi Erg (Western Nubian Paleolake). Some habitations were associated with burials, but no isolated cemetery was recorded. Grave goods occasionally occurred in Leiterband burials, but were limited to personal ornaments and did not exhibit the social hierarchy recorded in the Nile Valley (Jesse 2006a; Jesse and Keding 2002).

Settlement Strategy and Nomadism Archaeologists working in Sudan largely neglected the habitations and human landscapes of the first food producers (sensu Marchant and Lane 2014). Full-fledged herding required nomadic settlement strategies by dispersed groups who left ephemeral habitation remains, but reunited in large and highly visible community-based cemeteries. Also, the earliest farming, involving seasonally rain-fed cultivation, did not produce highly visible vestiges. This does not mean that evidence for habitations did not exist or was not recorded. It simply did not receive equal attention to the point that a narrative arose that habitation sites were even more evanescent than they actually are in the archaeological record. Contrarily, a number of settlements

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are large and have thick deposits, suggesting long periods of occupation and the formation of hierarchical settlement systems anticipating a complex political organization. The continual use of the same sites by foragers and food producers (e.g., 8-B-76, Kadada, Kadero, El-Qoz, SP07 on Jebel Sabaloka, Shaheinab, Khor Shambat, El-Khiday, Shaqadud midden, Conical Hill, Abu Tabari) indicates no immediate shift to nomadism and a low-mobility organizational system, as in the previous foraging period. Initially, herding could be practiced without mobility, as early herders were likely to only have a few animals, which were easier to manage. The occupants of the different regions developed new interrelations and diverse routes along east-west axes. In the north, Abkan groups extended their influence to the Laqiya area, including Wadi Shaw and Wadi Sahal (Lange and Nordström 2006). Along the Wadi Howar, Leiterband pottery spread east-west and did not occur north of the Ennedi Erg (Western Nubian Paleolake) (Jesse and Keding 2007). The sites in the Butana and eastern Sudan also corroborate west-east connections. During the fifth millennium BC, pastoralists spread from the Butana toward the Nile Valley and started transhumant migrations from less favorable regions in the Sahara to the Nile alluvial plain and from the plain towards the Butana grasslands and farther south-east. They reached these areas with their livestock and contributed to the shift to food production with animal herding. Shaqadud was part of this long-term steppe-oriented adaptation with long-distance contacts with both the Nile Valley and the Sahara (Caneva and Marks 1990; Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). In the Leiterband period, western Sudan was marked by increasing aridity with a continuing drop of the Western Nubian Paleolake with humans exploiting the lower shores (Hoelzmann et al. 2001). The sites around the lake became smaller and were used as seasonal grazing camps, whereas in the Middle Wadi Howar they were larger and constituted the main base-camps from where transhumant herders moved toward the south (Jebel Tageru) and the west. Some of these large camps include dozens or hundreds pits filled with cattle bones and almost complete pottery vessels, which do not exist in the sites of the early Leiterband period in the Lower Wadi Howar (Jesse and Keding 2002; Jesse et al. 2013). Anyway, in spite of the increasing mobility strategies of Neolithic pastoralists, their customary territorial range was likely to be limited. Biological comparisons were carried out between contemporary populations from the cemeteries of Gebel Ramlah, in the Egyptian Lower Nubia, and R12, in the Sudanese Upper Nubia (Irish 2008). The two sites are located about 400 km apart and suggested no biological affinity. These two populations in Lower and Upper Nubia appeared to be regionally and genetically isolated. 

Scenarios of Domestic Livestock Adoption It is well known that archaeological records do not mirror all the evidence of consumption and use of domesticated animal by-products, such as milk, blood, and urine, and that, even among herders, plant resources typically provide a large part of

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caloric requirements (Wright 2011). It has also been noted that migrating groups with novel subsistence economies adopt indigenous cultural traditions and, at the same time, retain attributes of their ancestral identity (Lane 2004). In the same way, indigenous populations interact with them and can respond to new challenges, by rejecting, adopting, modifying certain cultural, economic, ritual, and/or social attributes. With regard to the adoption of domestic animals in Sudan, a multi-stage dispersal of Southwest Asian domestic livestock with different economic solutions, embracing herding as an incipient supplement until full-fledged nomadic pastoralism, has been envisaged (Garcea 2016b). It includes four non-consecutive and non-­unidirectional scenarios for the adoption of livestock herding: (1) contemporary, independent settlements of hunter-gatherers and herders in the same areas; (2) hunter-gatherers adopting a few domestic animals with no visible cultural changes; (3) early herders with some, but not all, visible cultural changes; and (4) full nomadic pastoralists. These four scenarios are related to mobility patterns and settlement systems. A several-century long overlap between independent Khartoum Variant/ Mesolithic and Abkan/Neolithic sites, illustrated in Scenario 1, was recorded, for example, on Sai Island at Sites 8-B-10C and 8-B-76, and on the Blue Nile at Sheikh Mustafa and Sheikh el-Amin. Scenario 2 only regards northwestern Sudan, which was connected to the Egyptian Western Desert. Here, during the sixth millennium BC, local hunter-gatherers adopted a negligible number of domesticates (less than 1%) and underwent minimal changes in their subsistence and material culture within substantial continuity before and after the appearance of domestic caprines. This form of adaptation was defined as ‘pastro-foraging’ economy (Kuper and Riemer 2013) and preceded full pastoralism. Scenario 3 is particularly evident, but not solely, in the many under-investigated Neolithic settlements with no cemeteries, such as the Abkan sites, most sites in the Dongola Reach, Es-Sour, Nofalab, Zakiab, Umm Direiwa, Shaqadud midden, El-Khiday (16-D-5, 16-D-6), Rabak, Sheikh el-Amin, and most sites in the Wadi Howar. They were systematically used for prolonged periods of time, substantiating a low-mobility settlement strategy, and often developed a settlement system organized around base-camps and task-specific localities. Especially in an environment like that of Nubia, where the Nile offered permanent resources, the shift to mobility was a consequence, rather than a pre-requisite of pastoralism. The leading factor that slowed down the process of domesticate adoption by incipient herders living in desert areas was to minimize the risks of becoming dependent on livestock. On the other hand, changes particularly occurred in the production of artifactual materials (Chap. 6) and in settlement organization with the establishment of seasonal residential base-camps near increasingly contracting water pools together with task-­specific short-term camps for the exploitation of important resources (raw materials, wild game). Long distance movements of over 100 km between base-camps still occurred, but became less frequent and more task-oriented. Finally, Scenario 4 of specialized pastoralism is the ultimate step of the multi-­stage path to herding (see Chaps. 6 and 7). As herds increased, mobility became a necessary condition, as the frequency of large cemeteries and ephemeral settlements indicates. Only mobility of large-scale pastoralists was an efficient system for both animals and humans. Nomadism proved to be a resilient adaptive strategy especially in arid and

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semi-arid, poorly productive environments which, for their nature, produce scanty, diffuse and unpredictable resources that cannot sustain permanent settlements. Demographic growth, diminishing natural resources, and increasing need for pastureland led to high mobility by groups who needed more stable alliances with their neighboring dwellers with whom they inevitably came in contact. As social complexity increased, social networks became stronger and social units contracted in smaller areas. Despite the formation of regionally diverse and specialized cultural enclaves, nomadic pastoralism was able to stimulate a system of long-­distance trade and exchange.

Near Eastern and Other Routes of Domesticates Southwest Asian domesticates reached Africa through multiple, maritime and terrestrial, routes. Egypt could offer both overland (Linseele et al. 2016) and maritime corridors from the northern Levant to the Nile Delta (Bar-Yosef 2013) and land and sea routes were used in both directions for several millennia. In addition to the Delta route, the Sinai Peninsula contributed to the spread of cattle to the central Nile Valley (Boivin and Fuller 2009). Also goats and sheep were moved across the southern Sinai and reached the Egyptian Red Sea coast by the end of the seventh millennium BC (Close 2002; Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2013). Domestic cereals, which appeared in Sudan towards the end of the sixth millennium BC, seemingly followed the same routes as livestock, through the Nile Valley, the Sinai desert, and the southern Red Sea Hills (Out et al. 2016; Salvatori et al. 2016). Imported items made of Red Sea shells, ivory, malachite, or amazonite used as grave goods substantiate long-distance networks. Chemical analysis shows that the amazonite beads from the R12 cemetery originated from southern Ethiopia (Zerboni et al. 2018), corroborating relations with East Africa as well. Domestic livestock moved also longitudinally, supporting both west-east and east-west directions. While some scholars favor movements from east to west into the Sahara (e.g., Close 2002; di Lernia 2013; Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2013), others claim west-east directions toward the Sudanese Nile Valley (e.g., Caneva 1988; Kuper 2006; Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991; Marshall and Hildebrand 2002). However, bidirectional and multidirectional movements should not be ruled out. According to those supporting west-east directions, at the beginning of the sixth millennium BC, herding groups spread across the Sahara, seeking more favorable environments in the central Sudanese savanna and in the Nile Valley and pushing previous hunter-gatherers to marginal zones on the fringes of the desert. On the other hand, eastward dispersions of Saharan groups were not recorded everywhere, such as for example the Wadi Howar (Jesse 2004b). Here, cultural connections existed with Shaheinab, suggesting that pastoralists in the Nile Valley also dispersed among hunter-gatherers westward. Furthermore, the producers of the Leiterband and the later Halbmond-Leiterband pottery, who developed in the Middle Wadi Howar, extended as far as the Ennedi Erg (Western Nubian Paleolake) (Hoelzmann et al. 2001). It is reasonable to believe that the inhabitants of western Sudan also sustained contacts with Saharan groups even farther west (Keding 2006a).

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Faunal Spectra Hunting, fishing, and plant gathering complemented early herding in varying amounts. Wild animals were procured according to their seasonal availability. Freshwater shells (Pila wernei, Lanistes carinatus) and lungfish were harvested in dry seasons when swamps lowered. Clariid catfish could be caught during spawning at the beginning of the floods; fish living in vegetated swampy areas (Polypterus, Gymnarchus, Heterotis) were exploited during their reproduction season. Nile perch, bagrid catfish, and Synodontis indicate that fishing was also practiced in the main Nile channel before the floods, when the water level was low (Gautier et al. 2002; Linseele and Zerboni 2018). Furthermore, fish drying or salting could guarantee supplies throughout the year (Maritan et  al. 2018). Other freshwater shells (e.g., Chambardia, Etheria elliptica) were used for tool making. Crocodile, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, monkey, warthog, giraffe, red-­ front gazelle, alcelaphines, and greater kudu were eaten, but not frequently. Conversely, remains of small antelopes, mainly oribi, were numerous. Hare, which was previously uncommon, was added in the diet probably due to a general decrease of wild game biomass as a result of destructive effects of domestic herding animals on a naturally deteriorating ecosystem (Gautier and Van Neer 2011). Birds (guinea fowl) were only occasionally used as food and the feathers of some of them (green-­winged teal) could have been desired for adornment. Nile monitor and python were mainly killed for their skins. In fact, they usually occur with articulated vertebrae, suggesting that their carcasses were discarded after skinning. The same practice was seemingly conducted on carnivores (e.g., golden jackal, Egyptian mongoose, wild cat, caracal). Varying frequencies of domestic livestock were recorded in the faunal assemblages. In some cases, such as at Shaqadud, and to a less degree at Esh-Shaheinab and Geili, a few domestic animals were added to a faunal spectrum basically consisting of wild species, just to mention some of the sites where osteological remains were numerically quantified (Table 5.2). Their low frequency may reflect gradual introduction of livestock, exploitation for other purposes than meat, seasonal occupation, or restricted killing. Geomorphological features also affected herding opportunities and required different economic adaptations. On the western Nile bank, for example, alluvial soils were restricted in a narrow strip with hilly slopes, whereas the eastern Nile bank offered good grazing land in its wide alluvial plain. Nile islands also offered limited pastureland (Peters 1986). On the other hand, domestic animals predominate in the faunal assemblages, such as Kadruka, R12, Nofalab, Umm Direiwa, Kadada, Kadero, Zakiab, and Abu Tabari S02/1 (Table 5.2). The ratio between cattle and caprines can also be variable, but usually, apart from Shaqadud, cattle prevail (Table 5.2). In the Wadi Howar region, cattle are over 90% of the total faunal assemblages, including both wild and domestic animals, at some sites, such as Djabarona 84/13 and 84/19, Abu Tabari 02/28 and Conical Hill 02/3, but can be between 50 and 60% at other sites, such as Abu Tabari 02/1, Djabarona 84/1, 96/3, 96/5, and 96/19, and Wadi Hariq 01/1 (Jesse et al. 2007).

Domestic: wild mammals Cattle: caprines 75 : 25

0 : 100

85 : 15

Esh-­ Shaheinab 16 : 84

Sheikh Shaqadud el-Amin 0.6 : 99.4 13 : 87 Geili 24 : 76 52 : 48

R12 59 : 41 80 : 20 52 : 48

82: 18

Umm Nofalab Direiwa 62 : 38 64 : 36

70 : 30 87 : 13 82 : 18 90 : 10

Abu Tabari Kadada Kadero Zakiab S02/1 76 : 24 81 : 19 82 : 18 82 : 18

Table 5.2  Proportional ratios in increasing order of domestic livestock vs. wild mammals and of cattle vs. caprines at selected sites (based on published data with absolute bone quantities)

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Ultimately, domestic livestock were used not just for food, but could also represent a source of wealth, power, and prestige. Livestock ownership was a means of wealth accumulation and an indicator of status differences implying property and inheritance (e.g., Caneva 2017) and possibly their ritual use might have anticipated regular dietary consumption. Cattle  Cattle are the only domestic mammals with an African indigenous wild ancestor, the aurochs (Bos primigenius). Wild aurochs were reported in Upper Egypt until the Predynastic period (prior to 3100 BC) and were thought to live in the Mediterranean zone and the Egyptian Nile Valley, but their remains were found also in Sudan, at Affad in the Dongola Reach, dating to about 50,000 BP (Osypinski 2020), and at Khashm el-Girba in eastern Sudan, dating from 10,000 BC (Marks et  al. 1987). They lived in riverine woodlands and open grasslands, which were reduced with the adoption of husbandry. Competition with domestic cattle may have been one of the causes for their extinction (Linseele 2004). There is no evidence of local domestication of cattle in Sudan, but the presence of wild aurochs could theoretically support it. On the other hand, genetic data denies indigenous domestication in Africa. Two major centers of cattle domestication were recognized, one in Southwest Asia for taurine cattle (Bos taurus) and the other in the Indus Valley in the northern Indian subcontinent for humped indicine cattle (Bos indicus) (Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2013). Bos taurus reached Africa much earlier than Bos indicus, which was probably introduced in Sudan during the Meroitic period (third century BC-third century AD) (Chaix 2011). The matrilineal lineage (T1 haplotype) of modern-day African cattle confirms that it was domesticated in the Near East and there was no indigenous African domestication. However, the African taurine Y-chromosomal haplotypes hint at a local contribution to domestic cattle from regional wild males (Stock and Gifford-Gonzalez 2013), suggesting that  African domestic cattle resulted from cross-breeding with African aurochs (Decker et al. 2014). Morphologically, cattle from both northern and central Sudan are long-horned (Chaix 2011). Paleobiogeographical and paleoecological arguments were claimed to support cattle putative domestication at Nabta Playa, around 8000 BC (Gautier 1984, 2001, 2002). Although this view has been more recently confirmed (Jórdeczka et al. 2013), the evidence remains isolated in that area and is still controversial (Linseele et al. 2014, 2016; Riemer 2007). More consistent dates of domestic cattle, which appear in low numbers and in combination with domestic caprines, are from 6100  BC (Linseele et al. 2014, 2016). Brass (2018) is of a different opinion and considers reduced anatomical body size to argue that the bone remains from the cultural phases dated until the mid-sixth millennium BC should not be assigned to Bos, but to small wild aurochs. He also claims that cattle were later than caprines, with the former appearing ca. 5600 BC and the latter by 5900 BC. According to the archaeological record, only cattle were present at the earliest Neolithic site in Sudan, El-Barga, dating to the very beginning of the sixth millennium BC, and remained predominant (Chaix and Honegger 2015). Cattle were the only domesticate also at other sites (e.g., Es-Sour) and prevailed over caprines in

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most sites (Table  5.2). In central Sudan, domesticates appeared from around 5000 BC and in western Sudan, cattle were systematically adopted even later, from 4200 BC. Here, they were introduced by either assimilation of local hunter-­gatherers by external herders, or by adoption by local groups through contacts with cattle keepers (Jesse et al. 2013). Aurochs/Cattle Cult  In North Africa, the cult of cattle was practiced since the first introduction of domestic livestock and pastoralists may have used these animals for ritual purposes before dietary ones. Different regional manifestations including architectural features associated with cattle burials, cattle representations, and disposal and treatment of cattle remains, exist in different parts of North Africa (e.g., Applegate et al. 2001; di Lernia et al. 2013; Gifford-Gonzalez 2008). They were considered as highly structured and symbolically meaningful depositions linking household and community through the enactment of formalized repetitive actions (Gifford-Gonzalez 2014). As rituals are special acts that consolidate cultural meanings in demarcated locales (Stahl 2008), these occurrences bring the origin of the concept of aurochs/cattle cult back to at least the final Pleistocene, before cattle were domesticated. In fact, also in Sudan aurochs entered the human spiritual world since at least the final Pleistocene and embodied symbolic meanings in funerary customs. For example, burials displaying bucrania were reported at Jebel Sahaba, dating to the Qadan period (Wendorf 1968; Chap. 2). They became a common practice in the mid-Holocene and acquired an impressive symbolic meaning in the Kerma period (2450–1480 BC) (Bonnet 2000; Welsby 2003). In the Neolithic, a cattle skull was found beside a child facing an adult male in a burial at El-Barga and several graves containing one or more bucrania were found at R12, Kadruka, Ghaba, Kadada, and Kadero, among other sites (Chaix 2019; Chaix and Honegger 2015; Salvatori and Usai 2008). At R12, bucrania often occur in the graves of children and infants (Salvatori and Usai 2019b); at Kadruka, cattle skins were sometimes used to cover the body of distinguished human individuals (Reinold 2001); and at Ghaba, seven of the eight graves containing bucrania were clustered in the northwestern sector of the main excavated trench and dated to the first period of use of the cemetery, that is, the first half of the fifth millennium BC (Salvatori and Usai 2019b). Kadero, where domestic livestock (81%) almost entirely replaced wild animals, exhibits an extraordinary quantity of cattle (Chlodnicki et al. 2011). This, combined with the presence of bucrania as offering funerary goods, suggests that this site could have been a ritual center in central Sudan where great quantities of cattle were sacrificed (Haaland 2012). Finally, the sites in the Ennedi Erg and in the Middle Wadi Howar exhibit ritual areas with hundreds of pits containing cattle bones and almost complete vessels. Among stone tools, microliths were not regarded as hunting projectile points, but as tools for bleeding cattle (Hoelzmann et al. 2001). Furthermore, clay cattle figurines were discovered at site S02/1 in the Abu Tabari region in the Lower Wadi Howar

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(Jesse et  al. 2013). Considering the predominance of cattle bones in the faunal remains at this site, these animals appeared to be the most important source of food. Caprines  Domestic sheep and goat had no wild indigenous ancestors in Africa and were introduced from Southwest Asia appearing almost simultaneously as cattle (Linseele 2013). Current genetic data on goat domestication demonstrated that African goats have more affinities with the Levant than the rest of Southwest Asia (Daly et al. 2018). The earliest African evidence comes from a feature at Sodmein cave, in the Red Sea Hills of Egypt, which is undated, but is stratigraphically earlier than another feature dated 6200  BC (Vermeersch et  al. 2015). In the Sinai Peninsula, also in Egypt, domestic caprines have been dated from about 6250  BC (Linseele et  al. 2014). Initially, they were of the thin-tailed type (Muigai and Hanotte 2013). In Sudan, domestic sheep and goat appeared in significant numbers from the beginning of the sixth millennium BC in the Kerma Basin and spread to central Sudan (Linseele 2013). Sheep are usually more frequent than goats, although there are exceptions. At Shaqadud, only remains of goat were recorded and their herding was not associated with that of cattle (Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). Although small livestock were mostly exploited for food, they could also be part of funerary rituals. At R12, a few sacrificial lambs and rare goat skulls were deposited in the tombs (Pöllath 2008). Caprines appear in seven burials at Kadada (Bonnet et al. 1989) and sheep teeth were associated with burials at El-Multaga (Peressinotto et al. 2004), while bodies of sheep were buried at Kadruka, one of them displaying a necklace of amazonite beads around the neck (Reinold 2000). Meat or Milk?  Killings of small livestock were more frequent than cattle, probably due to demands for reduced quantities of meat. Conversely, cattle were more often related to ritualized killings associated with funerary ceremonies and the consumption of their meat was possibly part of social events with sacrificial slaughtering. By contrast, consumption of cattle milk, as well as blood, was seemingly preferred to their meat in everyday meals (Jesse et al. 2013). Different lines of evidence demonstrate that milking was practiced during the African Neolithic. Saharan rock art depicts milking scenes possibly dating from 5500  BC (Simoons 1971), linguistic data support milking (Blench 1993; Ehret 1997), and organic residue analyses of pottery point to extensive processing of dairy products in different parts of North Africa (Dunne et  al. 2018)  and East Africa (Grillo et al. 2020). However, no direct evidence for milk processing appears in the early phases of stock breeding in either the Sahara (Dunne et  al. 2012, 2018) or Egypt (Linseele et al. 2014), but it did in the Sudanese Nile Valley. Organic residues on pottery from Kadero indicate that dairying was systematically practiced since the early stages of domesticate adoption, with 47% samples containing dairy residues (Dunne et al. 2018). Proteomics corroborate consumption of goat milk at Kadruka (Bleasdale et al. 2018).

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As a matter of fact, milk could provide nutritional benefits, namely carbohydrates, fat, protein, and calcium, as well as an important source of water in arid regions. Adult pastoralists developed the ability to digest lactose in milk with lactase persistence (Stock and Gifford-Gonzalez 2013; Tishkoff et al. 2007). Lactase is the intestinal enzyme responsible for digestion of lactose in milk, which naturally declines after weaning in non-pastoral societies. Therefore, humans and livestock underwent a convergent genetic coevolution involving strong natural selection of human populations with lactase persistence enabling adult milk consumption (Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2011). Dogs  The ancestor of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) is the Eurasian gray wolf (Canis lupus) and was thought to have a geographical range that did not extend beyond the Mediterranean coastal fringes of Egypt. Conversely, recent genetic evidence opened up to the possibility of local domestication in Africa of the so-called Egyptian ‘jackal’ (Canis aureus lupaster), which proved to be a wolf instead of a jackal (Linseele 2013). Domestic dogs are later in Sudan than in Egypt, where they continued to be in high consideration even in Dynastic Egypt (Larson et al. 2012). They appear in the Kerma Basin from the beginning of the sixth millennium BC, and spread to central Sudan at the same time as caprines (Linseele 2013). Elsewhere, their remains were only found at Esh-Shaheinab and Abu Tabari (S02/1), in the Lower Wadi Howar (Pöllath 2011), where they may have arrived from the Nile Valley. Gautier (2002) claimed that domestic canids arrived to Africa together with small livestock, possibly as herding dogs. Other authors (Linseele et al. 2014) contended that, if they actually were shepherd dogs, they should have regularly accompanied early livestock, which is not the case. In fact, dogs also have considerable roles in the economy and status of hunters (Boyko et al. 2009; Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2011, 2013; Lupo 2011, 2017). Moreover, these domesticates may have been kept as food reserves and certainly constituted funerary ritual elements. At Kadada, they are more frequent than sacrificed caprines with 16 dog skeletons appearing in the burials (Bonnet et al. 1989; Chaix and Reinold 2018; Reinold 2011). One of them is a multiple burial with four human individuals, four bucrania, and two dogs. Furthermore, excavations in the Kadruka cemetery revealed pits with double burials of dogs placed according to the cardinal points. Their position seems to delimit and protect the funerary area (Chaix 2019; Reinold 2000). Ages of funerary dogs varied from puppies (4 months old) to adults (>3 years old) (Chaix and Reinold 2018). Reasons for the scarcity of dogs at archaeological sites may be found in the fact that they likely died away from human communities (Gifford-Gonzalez and Hanotte 2013) and were subject to a variety of disease constraints (Mitchell 2015).

Plants: Food and Rituals

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Plants: Food and Rituals Like caprines, wheats and barley had no wild ancestors in Africa and were among the imported species from Southwest Asia. Their regular cultivation became established in northern Egypt (Fayum and Merimde) in the mid-fifth millennium BC and in Sudan around 2700 BC (Hildebrand 2006–2007; Chap. 7), although full farming became evident later in Sudan, ca. 200 BC at Meroe (Fuller and Hildebrand 2013). On the other hand, botanical macroremains, pollen, phytoliths, and starch remains on dental calculus in Neolithic burials indicate that special uses of domestic cereals for both food and rituals were in place in Sudan from the second half of the sixth millennium BC. It is possible that domestic cereals of Southwest Asian origin were locally farmed at this time (Salvatori and Usai 2019b), but it has also been claimed that they were imported as exotic items and primarily used for ritual purposes like early cattle (Hildebrand et  al. 2018a). Also Sudanese environmental conditions could have initially hampered local farming of Near Eastern crops as they are drier than in the Near East and Egypt and are characterized by summer precipitations, which offer a limited agricultural potential. Yet, even in Egypt, early cattle and caprines are not associated with cultivated crops (Linseele et al. 2016). The earliest evidence for consumption of domestic plants comes from the El-Ghaba cemetery (second half of the sixth millennium BC), which even predate crop cultivation in the Fayum and Merimde in Egypt (mid-fifth millennium BC). Small quantities of Hordeum/Triticum starch were found in the dental calculus of some of the dead. Although this suggests their consumption in the Neolithic (Madella et al. 2014; Out et al. 2016; Ryan et al. 2016), the phytoliths record was still dominated by wild C4 grasses, representing different taxa of millets (Paniceae) with a prevalence of Echinochloa and Brachiaria, as well as Panicum/Setaria, Sorghum, and Digitaria. Furthermore, the panicoid phytoliths in the burials were reduced in small fragments suggesting repetitive cutting movements for processing these plants to produce chaff (Out et al. 2016). At another cemetery, R12, phytoliths derived from plant depositions were found in the burials and are dominated by C3 grasses, including Hordeum sp. (possibly hulled barley) and Triticum sp. (possibly emmer wheat). These cereals were thought to be domestic as there are no wild ancestors in the region (Madella et al. 2014; Out et al. 2016; Ryan et al. 2016). They were possibly regarded as prestige items and their inflorescences may have been used for ritual purposes as funerary offerings or pillows. Furthermore, starch remains on dental calculus of some of the buried individuals indicate consumption of panicoid grasses, Faboideae (leguminous seeds), as well as Triticeae (Hordeum sp./Triticum sp.). Phytoliths in the calculus also confirm that wild seeds, grasses and millet were still part of these people’s diet (Ryan et al. 2016). Hordeum ears were also recovered in at least one burial at Kadruka (KDK1). They were placed below the head of the dead and were therefore interpreted as the filling of pillows, possibly made of cattle skin (Reinold 2000). On the other hand, for the moment, only two edible plants could be identified from the phytoliths and

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non-pollen palynomorphs in the sediment contained in the pots from some of the graves at KDK23. They are both wild, not grasses, species: yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) and hairy cowpea (Vigna luteola) (Chambon et  al. 2020). Therefore, the evidence of domestic cereal consumption and use in funerary rituals at Neolithic sites dating to the fifth and fourth millennium BC is still unable to establish whether people locally cultivated these crops (Salvatori and Usai 2019b) on a small-scale basis or were in contact with other groups and traded different exotic items with cereals as part of the exchanged commodities (Hildebrand and Schilling 2016). For the time being, it appears that the dietary traditions were not substantially modified and continued to intensively exploit native wild C4 grasses by basically pastoral communities. Stable isotope analysis of apatite bone of humans and mammals from El-Khiday substantiates a prevalent consumption of C4 grasses, contrasting contemporary, seemingly domestic, mammals, which seem to have mainly fed on C3 plants (Iacumin et  al. 2016). Cultivation, management, and preparation of wild Sorghum and other wild millets, such as Pennisetum, Echinochloa, Panicum, and Setaria, were common activities. All these sites in the Nilotic region corroborate the exploitation of domestic wheat and barley, which are crops domesticated in the Near East, together with the use of  wild sorghum, wild millet and domestic livestock (cattle and caprines) (Brass et al. 2019). It was suggested that Sorghum seeds were prepared in pots (instead of ovens for baking bread used in Egypt and the Near East) and consumed as porridge, whereas the stems could be used as construction material, fuel, or fodder for herd animals (Dittrich 2017; Haaland 2007). Furthermore, wild grasses could be employed for brewing beer for its  consumption on social occasions. Direct evidence for plant processing in pottery vessels came from lipid biomarkers contained in food residues from the Libyan Sahara (8200–6400  BC), which pointed to an even higher frequency of plant than animal processing during both the Pre-Pastoral and Pastoral periods (Dunne et  al. 2016). In the Libyan Sahara, edible wild cereals, i.e., Panicoideae (probably Setaria and Panicum), were used for a variety of purposes, including the production of basketry (di Lernia et al. 2012). Finally, the broad spectrum of wild plant foods observed in the Sudanese Mesolithic period, including fruits in addition to wild native cereals, continued to be exploited without significant changes after the adoption of domesticates. At Kadero, fruits of Ziziphus and hackberry (Celtis integrifolia) were found in both the cemetery and the middens and fruit stones of dum palm (Hyphaene thebaica) were collected from a burial (Chlodnicki et al. 2011). Furthermore, positive casts in pottery from Sheikh el-Amin show the presence of seeds of Solanaceae, Fabaceae, and Cyperaceae in the Butana plain (Magid 2003) and phytoliths on querns from Conical Hill corroborate the exploitation of chloridoid and panicoid grasses around the same period also in western Sudan (Radomski and Neumann 2011). Comparable subsistence strategies were observed in the Libyan Sahara (Mercuri et al. 2018).

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Concluding Remarks The path toward food production in Sudan was a much more complex process than a mechanical evolution implying that social groups naturally opted for it once domesticates became locally available. Symbiotic relationships between various communities specialized in different subsistence strategies emerged and became part of an articulated network, which gradually expanded. Between 4000 and 3500 BC, when the first signs of power centralization appeared in Egypt and spread southward into Sudan, the nomadic Nubian groups grew as local elites and became the most important intermediaries in long-distance trade. Visible cultural changes appeared in three of the four scenarios of early food production illustrated above. Their cultural hallmarks became prominent in settlement patterns, social relations, and artifactual productions, as is discussed in the next chapter.

Chapter 6

Cultural and Physical Anthropological Hallmarks of Early Food Producers

 echnological Continuities and Discontinuities T in Manufacturing Processes Manufacturing processes mirror ongoing phases of technological continuities and discontinuities that became cultural hallmarks expressed in pottery, lithic industries, ground stone tools, bone tools, figurines, ornaments, and funerary customs, including grave goods. Continuities imply maintenance and reiteration of certain traits of artifactual assemblages. Conversely, discontinuities or changes involve new ways of learning and represent an interruption of stylistic or technological traditions and a break in cultural transmission, entailing new skills and practices (D’Ercole et al. 2017a). Domestic species could have been incorporated with or without major organizational adaptations in the communities, but most Neolithic groups in Sudan signal rather substantial changes with discontinuities from the previous Mesolithic period. Three of the four scenarios (1, 3–4) for the adoption of livestock herding, discussed in Chap. 5, involve technological discontinuities, whereas Scenario 2 features no visible cultural changes in artifactual productions or traditional customs.

Pottery With respect to previous Mesolithic ceramics, substantial changes occurred at various stages of the chaînes opératoires of Neolithic pottery manufacturing throughout Sudan, particularly in the raw materials, decorative motifs (e.g., made with unevenly serrated combs) and surface treatments (Garcea and D’Ercole 2018). On the other hand, other characteristics were long preserved, such as the use of certain decorative techniques (e.g., rocker, alternately pivoting stamp, simple impression) (D’Ercole et al. 2017b; Garcea 2005, 2006a). Ceramics acquired a central role in both domestic and funerary traditions and became currently used for several functions. In © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 E. A. A. Garcea, The Prehistory of the Sudan, SpringerBriefs in Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47185-9_6

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addition to storing, processing, cooking, and serving food, they were used for ceremonial funerary offerings and/or libations. A large assortment of shapes, decorations, and surface treatments seemingly implied the emergence of specialized potters (Salvatori et al. 2016). In northern Sudan, Abkan ceramics (5500–3700 BC) exhibit raw material procurement strategies different from Khartoum Variant productions: Holocene silty Nile alluvial clay, rich in quartz and plagioclase, replaces previously used Pleistocene primary clay; paste preparation incorporates organic tempers (charcoal particles and herbivore dung) in addition to mineral tempers; and production sees the introduction of new shapes and different surface treatments (D’Ercole 2017). Surfaces are burnished, often black-topped (Fig. 6.1.1–2), but mostly undecorated (Fig. 6.1.3–4). When present, decorations may be limited to the rim and exhibit distinct decorative techniques/motifs with plain zigzags made with the rocker technique, paired dots made with the alternately pivoting stamp technique, simple impressions, and occasional ripple ware (Fig. 6.1.5). Rippled surfaces were produced by either treating them with a pebble, or by burnishing zigzag decorations. Vessel types include a majority of small bowls instead of large jars (Nordström 1972).

Fig. 6.1  Abkan pottery: 1–2. Black-topped; 3–4. Undecorated; 5. Ripple ware with impressed decoration on the rim (1–4. From 8-B-76; 5. From 8-B-81)

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Abkan ceramic traditions with sand-tempered black-topped vessels are a typical Nubian production and appear as far as Nabta Playa (4900 BC) and Ramlah Playa (4500 BC) in the Egyptian Western Desert, Kadruka, R12, Laqiya, and the Karat Group in the Dongola Reach (Gatto 2002b; Kobusiewicz et  al. 2010; Lange 2006–2007;  Lange and Nordström 2006; Salvatori and Usai 2008). From 4500–4000 BC, a Developed Abkan phase emerges featuring an increase of scraped, incised, burnished, and slipped wares. These productions continue to be made in later periods and become very common in A-Group assemblages (Garcea and Hildebrand 2009; Gatto 2006d). Technological innovations in raw material procurement may be also observed in central Sudan and were particularly exemplified at El-Kadada and El-Khiday. They reveal more standardized productions of fabrics, which are tempered with fine sand-size inclusions (e.g., Dal Sasso et al. 2014). The earliest Neolithic pottery at Kerma (first half of the sixth millennium BC) is also burnished for the first time and is decorated with the rocker stamp technique. This type only occurs in the Neolithic cemetery, but is rarer than other funerary grave goods (Honegger 2004b, 2012). Later productions in the region are well represented at Kadruka (fifth millennium BC), among other sites, where typical black-­ topped, brown burnished vessels are rippled pointed bowls, large carinated bowls, and ochre-painted goblets (Reinold 2000, 2001). In addition, caliciform beakers (Fig. 6.2), which are of Egyptian origin, become the most characteristic funerary offerings in Nubia. They are tulip-shaped, flared vessels, decorated with impression, incision, and ripple techniques. Comparable vessel shapes were found in the burials at another emblematic site, R12, in addition to open and closed bowls and jars. They Fig. 6.2 Caliciform beaker from Kadero (Photo by L. Krzyzaniak, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)

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are mostly decorated with rocker stamping and occasionally simple impressions or the ripple technique (Salvatori and Usai 2008). Formal differences exist between northern and central Sudanese ceramic productions. In general, decorations often cover only the rims or the band below them in northern Sudan, as in the Abkan assemblages. Conversely, in central Sudan, rocker and alternatively pivoting stamped techniques are more common and motifs are extremely variable with zigzags applied in all directions, horizontal, vertical, oblique, or even forming concentric, curvilinear lines (Reinold 2006). Significant examples come from Ghaba (dated from ca. 5300 BC), such as caliciform and cylindrical beakers, hemispherical, conical, globular and composite bowls, ovoid, globular and biconical jars, dishes, and spoons (Salvatori et al. 2016). Some bowls have an elliptic horizontal cross-section and are a common shape in central Sudan. Caliciform beakers are usually more flared and show more elaborated decorations than in the north. They usually symbolize funerary productions, but at Multaga they occur in the habitation (Geus and Lecointe 2003). At Esh-Shaheinab, also in central Sudan, over 60 decoration types were recorded (Garcea 2006a): impressed decorations prevail and are mostly made with the rocker technique, forming dotted zigzags (Fig. 6.3.1–10), plain zigzags (Fig. 6.3.11–14), and zigzags with “vees and dots” (Fig. 6.4), the latter made with unevenly serrated edged combs. The alternately pivoting stamp technique is employed to make parallel lines (Fig. 6.5.1–6) and dotted wavy lines (Fig. 6.5.7–9), which are only made with this technique in the Neolithic. Plain black, brown and bright red-burnished pottery (Fig. 6.6), which is usually thinner (3-mm thick), is also characteristic. Fine red-burnished vessels occasionally exhibit series of black triangles or dots below the rim (Figs. 6.5.4, and 6.6.8) and can be either plain or decorated with impressions. Also at Geili, a large proportion of ceramics is decorated on the entire surface with the rocker technique, but the surfaces are burnished and new tools are added, i.e., combs with plain and unevenly serrated edges. Alternately pivoting stamping (also used to make dotted wavy line motifs) and simple impressions (typically making stippled lines within geometric patterns) as well as incisions are quite common, whereas ripple ware is rare (Caneva 1988). Differences between domestic and funerary productions clearly appear, for example, at Kadero. The former more commonly include closed vessels and a higher frequency of decorated pottery as at Geili. Cooking ware, mainly comprising pots with impressed decorations and undecorated brown types, is distinct from fine ware. By contrast, the cemetery has higher frequencies of black-topped vessels, which are not common in central Sudan and therefore considered of northern origin (Gatto 2006d). Chronological differences could be also observed in Late Neolithic productions: the repertoire of shapes is considerably increased and new forms appear, including ripple ware, ladle-pots decorated with geometric motifs, and caliciform beakers, which nevertheless occur in only two burials (Chlodnicki et  al. 2011). Late Neolithic burials not only at Shaheinab, but also for example at Geili, contain different types of pottery, namely globular jars with geometric impressions

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Fig. 6.3 Dotted (1–10) and plain (11–14) zigzags made with the rocker technique from Esh-Shaheinab

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Fig. 6.4  Zigzags with vees and dots made with the rocker technique from Esh-Shaheinab

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Fig. 6.5  Parallel lines of dots (1–6) and dotted-wavy lines (7–9) made with the alternately pivoting stamp technique from Esh-Shaheinab

(Fig. 6.7), ladle-pots, bowls with inward rims, jars with low necks, in addition to plain, burnished bowls.  A large variety of elaborate shapes, such as egg-shaped vases, ladle-pots, plates, and pot-bottles also occur at the Late Neolithic cemetery of Kadada, in the fourth millennium BC (Reinold 2000). Moving away from the Nile Valley, the pottery in the Neolithic levels at Shaqadud midden (first half of the fifth millennium BC) is decorated with the rocker technique employing tools with plain, evenly spaced and unevenly spaced edges, and with the alternatively pivoting stamp technique displaying triangular elements and smocking patterns. Fine burnished ware occurs in high percentages. Although the decorative techniques are apparently similar to contemporary pottery in the Nile Valley, this

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Fig. 6.6  Plain burnished pottery from Esh-Shaheinab

assemblage indicates stronger relations with the Sahara. For example, smocking patterns are a typical Saharan, not Nilotic, feature and rocker motifs made with unevenly serrated tools, which are characteristic in central Sudan, are few at Shaqadud (Caneva and Marks 1990). In the Wadi Howar region of western Sudan, the pottery of the Leiterband complex (4200–2200 BC) borrowed Nilotic techniques and gave them local interpretations. Surfaces are mostly of red-ochre or red-brown color and are usually entirely decorated (Keding 2006a). Decorated vessels show rocker impressions made with tools with plain, evenly serrated, and unevenly serrated edges. The latter produce the typical Leiterband motifs (Fig.  6.8), which are similar to the vees and dots recorded in central Sudan, but are applied with the return technique and produce a ladder-like pattern. The Halbmond/Leiterband is a variant of the Leiterband, using curved, instead of straight, tools (Jesse 2004a; Keding 2006a). These ceramics are

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Fig. 6.7  Funerary Late Neolithic globular jar from Geili (Courtesy of I. Caneva)

often found in ritual pits together with cattle bones. Another local interpretation regards alternatively pivoting stamping, which produces motifs with paired juxtaposed triangles. The recurrent presence of caliciform beakers associated with domestic, instead of funerary, contexts is a further local variant in the Lower Wadi Howar (Abu Tabari) and Jebel Abyad (Jesse 2006–2007), that was only recorded at Multaga in the Nile Valley (Geus and Lecointe 2003). Cultural relations between western and central Sudan changed direction: early Leiterband groups were connected with the Shaheinab culture in the Nile Valley, whereas later groups shifted westward and were related with the Hohou ceramic traditions in the Ennedi highlands and stretched as far as Mali (Jesse et al. 2013; Keding 2006a).

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Fig. 6.8  Leiterband pottery from the Wadi Howar (Site Djabarona 80/86, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6064271, photo by B. Keding)

Lithic Industries Stone assemblages with both débitage and finished tools occur in both habitations and cemeteries. Abkan tool-kits typically include high proportions of groovers (Fig. 6.9.1–7), which are distinguished from borers for being chipped from one face instead of being bifacially retouched, denticulates, notched pieces, sidescrapers

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Fig. 6.9  Abkan lithic tools: 1–7. Groovers; 8–10. Sidescrapers; 11–15. Endscrapers; 16–26. Lunates (Redrawn from Palma di Cesnola 1960, Tables V, VII, XI, and XVIII)

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(Fig. 6.9.8–10), simple and carinated endscrapers (Fig. 6.9.11–15) and broad lunates often made on poorly shaped flakes (Fig. 6.9.16–26). Scrapers may have been used for preparing hides (Shiner 1968a). Quartz is the most abundant raw material, but other rocks are used, such as agate, carnelian, and chalcedony. Locally outcropping quartz was mainly employed to make irregular macrolithic tools, while other rocks were preferred for microlithic and bladelet tools (Palma di Cesnola 1960). Although lunates are generally less represented in the Neolithic, they can occasionally prevail at sites such as at Shaheinab and Sheikh el-Amin in central Sudan, but are irregularly made and have broader widths (Arkell 1953b; Fernandez et al. 2003a). Beside their common use as arrowheads, they are seemingly associated with new functions including plant harvesting (Honegger 2008). Large lunates with traces of gloss on the sharp edge were found in the habitation in Kerma. Some burials yielded lunates still inserted in a bone shaft at Kadruka (Reinold 2000; Sellier Fig. 6.10  Alignment of lunates from a burial at Kadero (Photo by L. Krzyzaniak, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)

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et al. 2019) and several alignments of up to a dozen pieces (Fig. 6.10) were discovered at Kadero, where only the richest burials contain chipped stone artifacts (Chlodnicki et al. 2011). The Neolithic occupational phase at El-Barga indicates the appearance of points made by invasive bifacial retouching, which is suggestive of contacts with Egypt, where this type of points is frequent (Jakob and Honegger 2017). Numerous, selected stone pieces are part of the grave goods at R12 (Salvatori and Usai 2008). Cores are over-represented (12.9%) and Nile pebbles are the prevailing raw materials, possibly holding some kind of symbolic meaning or value. Additionally, tools resembling stone axes or planes with scalar invasive retouch on one side and cortex on the other are present. Most lithic assemblage recovered in the R12 cemetery have no usewear traces and were specially produced for the burials. Different items seem to be in fashion further south. At Kadada, retouched tools are exceptional in both the habitation and the cemetery. Among funerary goods, only one burin and three microliths were located in the burials, and numerous microliths, but only two endscrapers, one burin, and a few notched pieces came from the habitation (Reinold 2007). A comparable paucity of chipped stone pieces, except for a probably imported finely made flint knife, was observed at Ghaba, the only similarity with R12 being an over-representation of cores (Salvatori et al. 2016). A scarcely diversified lithic tool-kit was also recovered in the habitations in central Sudan. Compared to Early Khartoum assemblages, Neolithic industries document a decrease in the number and quality of microliths in favor of large tools on a flake with extended working edges, such as denticulates and scrapers, made from rocks other than quartz due to the small sizes (13 cm) (Reinold 2007). At Ghaba, grinders are the most numerous pieces and palettes are well represented, while axes, mace-heads, and querns are uncommon; one rhyolite gouge was related to a tomb dating to the later use of the cemetery (ca. 4600 BC) (Salvatori et al. 2016).

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Fig. 6.11  Darfur axes from the Wadi Howar (Site Rahib 80/76, African Archaeology Archive Cologne, ID: 6059710, photo by E. Cziesla)

Gouges (Fig.  6.12), the characteristic tool of this culture, are plentiful in the Shaheinab Neolithic. They feature flaked or polished and flaked dorsal and ventral faces, and a working hollow end obtained by oblique flaking from the dorsal face. Gouges from habitations often show usewear traces, whereas those from cemeteries could be unused. Arkell (1953b) distinguished between gouges and celts, the latter being neither as numerous nor as standardized as gouges and could be entirely flaked or flaked and polished. He maintained that gouges were hafted at an angle to the handle, like adzes, and functioned as hollow-cut adzes. While Arkell did not elaborate any classification of gouges, Magid (1989) provided the first typology based on the position and degree of polishing and Kapustka et al. (2019) elaborated a comprehensive technological analysis of the reduction sequence, use, and maintenance of rhyolite gouges from Jebel Sabaloka, Sudan’s source of rhyolite, and from other sites at different distances from Jebel Sabaloka. Kapustka et al. (2019) demonstrated that these tools were entirely produced by flaking with high technical skills, according to standardized sizes and proportions of 10–12 cm in length and 2–4 cm in width. They also observed that polishing was an additional reworking operation that was applied to resharpen or repair the tools, resulting in pieces of variable sizes. Typically, the greater and more intensive reworking they show, the farther from the source of raw material they are. They concluded that, instead of different types of gouges, only one type existed with several levels of rejuvenation and retooling and intentional or accidental breakages. Gouges are absent in northern Sudan. In the Butana, they occur at sites close to the Nile, such as Sheikh el-Amin (Fernandez et  al. 2003a), but are lacking at Shaqadud, although exotic raw materials (rhyolite and Nile pebbles) were brought to the site, often as finished tools (Marks and Mohammed-Ali 1991). During the Neolithic, new forms of social power developed through not only the control or ownership of domestic livestock, but also through the procurement and

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Fig. 6.12  Gouges from Jebel Sabaloka West (©Charles University, Faculty of Arts, photo by L. Varadzin, 2011)

exchange of certain items, including polished stone tools made of valued raw materials, such as rhyolite.

Bone Industries  Numerous artifacts were made from animal bones (caprines, dogs, cattle, gazelles, monkeys, cheetahs) and elephant and hippopotamus ivory: bracelets, combs, necklaces, spoons, awls, chisels. Other objects, such as a cosmetic container made from a hippopotamus incisor and another one made from a hippopotamus tusk came from Kadruka and other containers made out of ostrich eggs were found at Kadada (Chaix and Reinold 2018; Reinold 2006, 2007; Sellier et al. 2019). Hippopotamus teeth were employed to make containers also in the R12 cemetery and bones of cattle, caprines, gazelle, monkeys, and dogs were used to make spatulas, perforators, polishers, combs, and beads. Ivory bracelets, bangles, and pendants were also found in this cemetery (Salvatori and Usai 2008). At Multaga, bone hafts

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of three sickles had been grooved on one side for inserting microlithic tools (Geus and Lecointe 2003), as seen at Kadruka and Kadero. Axes and celts of bone were also found in central Sudan and were commonly used for their easy availability and workability. A few bone tools (harpoons and points) were found in the burials at Kadero and more were discovered in the settlement: axes, awls, perforators, chisels, and points (Chlodnicki et  al. 2011). Furthermore, several artifacts made of bone and ivory, such as harpoons, flaked and partly polished axes (with a symmetrical profile) and adzes (with an asymmetrical profile), chisels, awls, and needles, were recovered from the settlement at Shaheinab, together with fish hooks made from Aspatharia and Aetheria elliptica (Nile oyster) (Arkell 1953b).

Human and Animal Figurines Figurines are another typical item of the Sudanese Neolithic (Haaland and Haaland 2017). Several anthropomorphic statuettes were found at Kadruka, Kadada, Shaheinab, and Geili (Arkell 1953b; Caneva 1988; Reinold 2006, 2007). They are mostly made of terracotta, but a few are of sandstone and unfired clay. Anthropomorphic figurines depict female traits; others are shaped in phallus-like forms (Fig.  6.13). Clay female figurines sometime occur as fragments, possibly

Fig. 6.13  Female and phallus-like figurines from Geili (Courtesy of I. Caneva)

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intentionally broken. A grave in Kadada contained six heads of female figurines. Fragments were also recovered at Es-Sour (Sadig 2010). At Kadruka, two figurines made of veined Nubian sandstone were found in two burials. One was inside the burial of an adult male who had the richest funerary equipment at KDK1, but it was not in close spatial relation with the dead. Conversely, the other figurine was closely related and came from the grave of an adolescent, representing the only funerary offering. Outcrops of veined Nubian sandstone are located between Dongola and Laqiya Arba’in more than 150 km west of the Nile (Reinold 2003–2008). These figurines indicate that non-utilitarian objects made of exotic materials with particular esthetic and symbolic value were chosen to distinguish certain individuals and/or a particular living group or community in the cemeteries (Suková 2011). Other figurines suggest that bodies could have been tattooed or scarified exhibiting other forms of symbolic visual meanings and communication of distinctive status and identity (Edwards 2004). Finally, cattle figurines were mainly found in settlement contexts. In the region of the Middle Wadi Howar, for example, clay cattle figurines were found at Abu Tabari S02/1, where cattle were the most important source of food (Jesse et al. 2013).

Ornaments Apart from bracelets made of ivory or hippopotamus canines mentioned above, ornaments are of various types and raw materials, including pendants of agate, rhyolite, zeolite, red pigment or amazonite (Fig. 6.14), necklaces made with beads of ostrich eggshell, carnelian, amazonite, obsidian, fluorite, or chlorite, lip-plugs of ivory, amazonite, agate, rhyolite, or zeolite (Fig. 6.15), and earrings of zeolite or amazonite. Lip-plugs, earrings, and cosmetic palettes with their pestle almost exclusively come from adult burials. Red Sea shells (Glycymeris pectunculus, Cypraea, Engina mendicaria, Nerita) and Nile shells (Aspatharia/Chambardia), some perforated, were frequently recovered as well. Amazonite was imported from southern Ethiopia, but the presence of beads, pendants as well as unworked and unfinished pieces at R12 (Salvatori et al. 2016) and Esh-Shaheinab (Arkell 1953b) suggests local craft specialization of a number of raw materials employed for ornaments, including carnelian, zeolite, and ostrich eggshell. However, such a specialized manufacturing was peculiar to certain localities, as it was common at R12, but was rare at Ghaba and Kadero (Zerboni et al. 2018). Numerous ornaments accompany the burials, for example, at Kerma, Kadruka, Kadada, Ghaba, Geili, and Kadero, although not all of them are richly furnished (Caneva 1988; Chlodnicki et al. 2011; Honegger 2004b; Reinold 2000, 2007; Sellier et  al. 2019). For instance, burials with beads account for 25.9% at R12, 15% at Kadero, and 11.7% at Ghaba (Salvatori et al. 2016). Finally, body decorations, in addition to tattoes and scarifications, are attested as green traces of malachite

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Fig. 6.14  Pendants from Kadero of different raw materials: 1. Rhyolite; 2. Agate; 3. Zeolite; 4. Red pigment (Photo by M. Jórdeczka, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)

occasionally present on the teeth and skulls at Ghaba and red traces on human bones resulting from ochred clothes and wraps. The production of ornaments and body decorations corroborate an increasingly complex economic and social system. All manufacturing stages, from procurement of raw materials, often non-local, to skilled handicraft, advocate customary, specialized productions of non-utilitarian prized goods dedicated to only a distinguished segment of the community.

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Fig. 6.15  Zeolite lip-plugs from Kadero (Photo by M. Jórdeczka, with permission by the Poznan Archaeological Museum)

Physical Anthropological Hallmarks of Early Food Producers As in other parts of Africa (e.g., di Lernia and Manzi 1999; Stojanowski 2013), also Sudanese Neolithic populations feature skeletal changes with progressive decrease in cranio-facial robusticity and relative increase in cranial height (Benoiston et al. 2018; Crevecoeur 2012). Alternative interpretations of these different anthropological features exist, arguing for either cultural evolution with economic and dietary changes by local populations, or population replacement by incoming migrants. Twofold causes for morphological changes and cultural evolution were first  supposed, one supporting masticatory changes, the other advocating dental reduction. According to the former, changes in subsistence patterns induced a decrease in muscular stress involved in chewing. Reduced neuromuscular activity would have decreased the mechanical stimulation of the jaw and teeth (Carlson and Van Gerven 1977). Conversely, the latter assumed that dental reduction resulted from dietary changes with an increase in cariogenic foods that accelerated selection of smaller teeth and consequent reduction in facial architecture (Armelagos et al. 1981).

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Recently, morphometric analysis of the dental remains from Mesolithic and Early Neolithic populations from El-Barga demonstrated that biological differentiation could not be related to dietary changes in the beginning of pastoralism, given the short timescale, and argued for a certain level of continuity in the diet (Benoiston et al. 2018). In fact, the diet of Early Neolithic populations only partly changed and continued to rely on wild Nilotic and savanna resources as before. Benoiston and others (2018) observed closer affinities of the Mesolithic community from El-Barga with the terminal Pleistocene populations from Jebel Sahaba, than with the Neolithic group from the same El-Barga area. Irish (2016) also noted that the Neolithic people from Ghaba did not directly descend from the Jebel Sahaba populations. In turn, reduced dental features in the Neolithic El-Barga group were more likened with the Late Neolithic population at KDK1  (Benoiston et  al. 2018). Therefore, although these authors did not rule out a certain degree of continuity between the Mesolithic and Neolithic populations from El-Barga, they acknowledged some kind of population replacement. If replacement did take place, another question regards the time of this event. Irish (2005) argued that dental morphology supports population replacement ca. 4600 BC, not at the beginning of the Neolithic. Conversely, Holliday (2015) used body proportions to confirm a replacement, but placed it at a later time, after ca. 2000 BC. It seems likely that replacement or admixture occurred gradually and was biologically evident much later, with a delay of at least one millennium from the beginning of the shift to food production. Additionally, continuity and coexistence of pastoralists and foragers were archeologically and genetically evident south of Sudan. Ancient DNA of Pastoral Neolithic individuals from East Africa inferred a multistep spread with a series of small movements of pastoralists from northeastern Africa with an initial minimal genetic admixture with local East African foragers during the fifth millennium BC, possibly through South Sudan and/or Ethiopia (Chritz et al. 2019; Prendergast et al. 2019).

Cemeteries Socially differentiated funerary customs could be observed since the establishment of Neolithic cemeteries  and considerable attention was paid to the bodies of the deceased. Burial grounds usually comprise adults and children of both sexes with no evident age or sex correlation with burial richness. Females could have equally important roles in the community as males. Bodies could be laid in flexed or hyper-­ contracted positions resulting from bonding or insertion in bags. Two major types of cemeteries are distinguished in both northern and central Sudan. Some are very large, including hundreds of burials and exhibiting a carefully planned spatial organization. They were used over long time periods. Others, smaller, consist of more homogeneous goods, indicating their use by a small community for a relatively short time. This type of smaller cemeteries include, for example, Sedeinga and cemetery A at Kadada. On the other hand, the earliest Neolithic cemetery at El-Barga was used for several centuries (first half of the sixth

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millennium BC), although it comprises a low number of burials. Here, the deceased could be surrounded with a series of stones or covered by sandstone slabs (Honegger 2004c). Stone slabs covering the burials were also recovered in the cemetery at Sedeinga, although this practice is unused in the rest of Sudan (Reinold 2006). The large cemeteries at Kadruka exhibit rich tombs that were assigned to local chieftains, testifying to an organization where social inequality and ranking became increasingly marked (Reinold 2001, 2006). Variability of the cemeteries (e.g., KDK1, 18, 21, 23) also suggests that they were used by several communities rather than by the inhabitants of a nearby village. At KDK1 (second half of the fifth millennium BC), tomb density could comprise up to five individuals buried successively in a space barely greater than one sq. m. The majority of tombs were installed on the top of the mound and the remainders were distributed at the bottom of the slope. Males were preferentially grouped towards the top and women in the lower part. In this particular cemetery, children and sub-adults appear in both groups and were subject to a ritual similar to that of adults. The graves were arranged in concentric circles from a central tomb, where a male individual was covered with a cattle skin tinted with yellow and wearing seven ivory bracelets on both arms, along with other rich funerary goods. The individuals of the first two circles display richer funeral equipment. Spatial organization at the contemporary KDK18 (second half of the fifth millennium BC) suggests two main construction phases. The early phase developed according to two parallel axes across the mound with an empty area in the middle, possibly intentionally left for ceremonial purposes. During the late phase, another important person, previously interpreted as a female, but later as a male (Maines et al. 2018), endowed with a rich material, was buried in the center of the cemetery in an empty space with another dozen graves subsequently buried in a circle around him. The graves frequently cut one into another and certain bones (cranial and long bones) from earlier skeletons were placed in a bundle on one side of the succeeding pits. Another main tomb was discovered at the earlier KDK21 (first half of the fifth millennium BC). Stone slabs were set at the edge of the burial pit and were interpreted as funerary stelae, which were unusual in this period. Two individuals were buried in it, a male and a female, the latter having a more important status and the former having been possibly sacrificed when the woman died. This tomb was surrounded by a series of children burials. KDK23, tentatively also dated to the first half of the fifth millennium BC, is a further cemetery on a terrace that formed a natural mound surrounded by paleochannels of the ancient Nile forming a sort of “island of the dead” (Sellier et al. 2019). The burials were organized in rows, separated by narrow corridors, and included individuals of both sexes and all ages, with no particular spatial distinctions, apart from the youngest (newborn babies and infants), who were concentrated at the top of the mound, and the richest individuals, who were laid within a small area near the top of the mound. Young children also exhibited different burial positions and specific grave goods (Maines et al. 2017). Finally, four individuals showed blunt-­force traumas deriving from interpersonal violence (Sellier et al. 2019). At R12 (dating from the end of the sixth millennium BC and mostly covering the fifth millennium BC), spatial distribution does not show any distinction based on

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sex or age, between males and females or adults and children (Salvatori and Usai 2008). On the other hand, in terms of wealth of the grave goods, the deceased were buried according to standardized social codes and represent three discrete socio-­ economic groups with different status, based on the quantity of grave goods rather than their quality with no emphasis on exotic goods. The majority (68%) had no or few grave goods, an intermediate level (20%) had some goods, and a minority (12%) displayed an increasing number of goods in a decreasing number of graves. Funerary rituals involved sacrifice and consumption of cattle. Individuals over the age of 25 show a progressive increase in the value of grave goods, which declines again in the burials of over 50-years-old males and females (Salvatori and Usai 2008). At Kadero (first half of the fifth millennium BC), the tombs were organized into ten clusters and contain between six and 33 graves with differentiated equipment, presumably indicating family or social units (Chlodnicki et al. 2011). As at other cemeteries, the majority of the graves have no funerary goods (59.3%), 18.3% have only one ceramic vessel, 14.2% contain a few vessels and personal adornments, and 8.2% display numerous and diversified offerings. The richest graves are located in the central part of the cemetery. Out of a total of 218 burials, double interments are few and comprise a female and a child (3 cases) and a male and a female (1 case). There is no clear evidence that these double burials represent sacrificial killings. At the later Kadada cemeteries (first half of the fourth millennium BC), funerary customs flourished with varied and numerous goods (Reinold 2000, 2001, 2007, 2011). Cemeteries A and B were established on the perimeter of the mound and cemetery C was on the southern part of the terrace where the habitation was situated. In cemetery A, some graves were cut into each other, suggesting that several generations used it without knowing the location of previous ones. Five or six groups of burials containing 10–12 individuals are separated by a narrow empty strip. Each group includes one or two graves with very rich offerings, some with less varied and less numerous goods, and others with no objects at all. Finally, children burials (