The Prehistory of the Sudan

208 Pages·2020·10.523 MB·English

by  Elena A.A. Garcea

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN ARCHAEOLOGY
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AFRICA
Elena A. A. Garcea
The Prehistory
of the Sudan
SpringerBriefs in Archaeology
Contributions from Africa
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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
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Preface
Sudanese people are rightly proud of their outstanding archaeology and their coun-
try 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 pro-
ducers and users of domestic plants and animals either local or imported from the
v
vi 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 litera-
ture 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 sugges-
tions 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 publi-
cations could be reported. I apologize to the authors and friends I have involuntarily
disappointed. Although I tried my best to include the most representative publica-
tions 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 col-
leagues 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 confer-
ences, readings in libraries, and numerous publications have given me great oppor-
tunities 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 elec-
tricity. 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, encour-
agement, 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 col-
leagues 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
viii Acknowledgments
Marshall, Susan McIntosh, Anna Maria Mercuri, Marta Osypinska, Piotr Osypinski,
Mehmet Özdoğan, Jennifer Smith, and Pierre Vermeersch among others too numer-
ous 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 develop-
ment 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
ix