Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara PDF

Author: Fred Wendorf

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780306466137

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A report on the ceramic evidence from the site of Nabta Playa in the eastern Sahara. The site is important in defining the cultural sequence and chronology for the area, the earliest examples of which reaches back 6000 years. The methodology for analysing and interpreting the evidence is outlined.

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara PDF

Author: Fred Wendorf

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-11

Total Pages: 718

ISBN-13: 1461506530

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by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild The Eastern Sahara is a fascinating place to study structures. These larger, more complex sites are almost prehistory. Confronted with the stark reality of a hyper always in the lower parts of large basins, most of which arid environment that receives no measurable rainfall, were formed by deflation during the Late Pleistocene lacks vegetation, and is seemingly without life, it would hyper-arid interval between about 65,000 and 13,000 seem to be an unlikely place to find a rich and complex years ago. Their location near the floor of these basins mosaic of archaeological remains documenting past was influenced primarily by one factor - water. During human presence. Despite this impression of a hostile wet phases, runoff from extensive catchment areas environment, there is widespread and abundant caused the development of large, deep, seasonal lakes, archaeological evidence. or playas, in the lowermost parts of these basins. This It is obvious that this area was not always a lifeless surface water would last for several weeks or months desert. Faunal and plant remains found in the excavations after the seasonal rains, and by digging wells after the at Holocene-age settlements, dating between 9500 and playa became dry, water could still be obtained during 5000 radiocarbon years ago, indicate that rainfall during most, if not all, of the dry season.

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara PDF

Author: Fred Wendorf

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2001-12-31

Total Pages: 707

ISBN-13: 9780306466120

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by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild The Eastern Sahara is a fascinating place to study structures. These larger, more complex sites are almost prehistory. Confronted with the stark reality of a hyper always in the lower parts of large basins, most of which arid environment that receives no measurable rainfall, were formed by deflation during the Late Pleistocene lacks vegetation, and is seemingly without life, it would hyper-arid interval between about 65,000 and 13,000 seem to be an unlikely place to find a rich and complex years ago. Their location near the floor of these basins mosaic of archaeological remains documenting past was influenced primarily by one factor - water. During human presence. Despite this impression of a hostile wet phases, runoff from extensive catchment areas environment, there is widespread and abundant caused the development of large, deep, seasonal lakes, archaeological evidence. or playas, in the lowermost parts of these basins. This It is obvious that this area was not always a lifeless surface water would last for several weeks or months desert. Faunal and plant remains found in the excavations after the seasonal rains, and by digging wells after the at Holocene-age settlements, dating between 9500 and playa became dry, water could still be obtained during 5000 radiocarbon years ago, indicate that rainfall during most, if not all, of the dry season.

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara PDF

Author: Kit Nelson

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2011-06-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781441933652

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The ceramic assemblages from the Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba area have played an important role in recognizing and defining the cultural sequence in the Egyptian Western desert. The exploration of the desert sites has yielded a ceramic chronology for the area that reaches back 6000 years to the earliest discovered pottery. By taking a comprehensive approach to ceramic analysis, researchers were able to categorize pottery by scheme, construction, and distribution. This methodology allows for: describing the types of pottery uncovered; discussing the attempts at sourcing pottery; highlighting new methods of identifying types of pottery; and detailing the distribution of the various types from that region. This work presents a first look at the Egyptian ceramic sequence in the light of the new archaeological evidence and will be of interest to archaeologists, ceramics specialists, and historians working in northern Africa.

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara PDF

Author: Fred Wendorf

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2001-12-31

Total Pages: 707

ISBN-13: 9780306466120

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild The Eastern Sahara is a fascinating place to study structures. These larger, more complex sites are almost prehistory. Confronted with the stark reality of a hyper always in the lower parts of large basins, most of which arid environment that receives no measurable rainfall, were formed by deflation during the Late Pleistocene lacks vegetation, and is seemingly without life, it would hyper-arid interval between about 65,000 and 13,000 seem to be an unlikely place to find a rich and complex years ago. Their location near the floor of these basins mosaic of archaeological remains documenting past was influenced primarily by one factor - water. During human presence. Despite this impression of a hostile wet phases, runoff from extensive catchment areas environment, there is widespread and abundant caused the development of large, deep, seasonal lakes, archaeological evidence. or playas, in the lowermost parts of these basins. This It is obvious that this area was not always a lifeless surface water would last for several weeks or months desert. Faunal and plant remains found in the excavations after the seasonal rains, and by digging wells after the at Holocene-age settlements, dating between 9500 and playa became dry, water could still be obtained during 5000 radiocarbon years ago, indicate that rainfall during most, if not all, of the dry season.

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara

Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara PDF

Author: Fred Wendorf

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2001-12-31

Total Pages: 707

ISBN-13: 9780306466120

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

by Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild The Eastern Sahara is a fascinating place to study structures. These larger, more complex sites are almost prehistory. Confronted with the stark reality of a hyper always in the lower parts of large basins, most of which arid environment that receives no measurable rainfall, were formed by deflation during the Late Pleistocene lacks vegetation, and is seemingly without life, it would hyper-arid interval between about 65,000 and 13,000 seem to be an unlikely place to find a rich and complex years ago. Their location near the floor of these basins mosaic of archaeological remains documenting past was influenced primarily by one factor - water. During human presence. Despite this impression of a hostile wet phases, runoff from extensive catchment areas environment, there is widespread and abundant caused the development of large, deep, seasonal lakes, archaeological evidence. or playas, in the lowermost parts of these basins. This It is obvious that this area was not always a lifeless surface water would last for several weeks or months desert. Faunal and plant remains found in the excavations after the seasonal rains, and by digging wells after the at Holocene-age settlements, dating between 9500 and playa became dry, water could still be obtained during 5000 radiocarbon years ago, indicate that rainfall during most, if not all, of the dry season.

Mobility and pastoralism in the Egyptian Western Desert. Steinplätze in the Holocene regional settlement patterns

Mobility and pastoralism in the Egyptian Western Desert. Steinplätze in the Holocene regional settlement patterns PDF

Author: Marina Gallinaro

Publisher: All’Insegna del Giglio

Published: 2018-03-15

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 8878148628

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This volume presents the results of a long study begun in 2004 within the framework of the Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis of Egypt directed by Barbara Barich and Giulio Lucarini, of the Sapienza University of Rome (now under the auspices of ISMEO). The book focuses on the features known as “Steinplatz-type hearths” and their role in the settlement patterns of the human groups living in the Egyptian Western Desert during the middle and late Holocene. Steinplätze are concentrations of burned and fire-cracked stones that vary in shape and size, and have often been slightly elevated above the present ground level by post-depositional erosion processes. Occurring both as isolated features and in clusters, they are often the only visible structures – or even traces – of ancient settlements. The study of these features is closely interconnected with the mobility strategies of the communities that inhabited this desert region during a period of higher average rainfall than at present but also characterised by significant climate fluctuations, with humid periods interrupted by dry spells and eventually ending in an overall trend towards greater desertification. The use of the Steinplatz-type hearths was most widespread in the second half of the sixth millennium BC, when mobile occupation strategies replaced a more sedentary model. An analysis of the Farafra Oasis Steinplätze is coupled with a general reassessment of the subsistence and mobility models hitherto proposed for the Eastern Sahara, suggesting an integrated occupation system for Farafra itself. The economy of the forager-herders of the middle Holocene, during the climate optimum (6900-5550 cal BC), seems to have relied significantly on herding small livestock, but also on hunting, and likely concentrated on the gathering of wild cereals such as sorghum. During the climate optimum, forms of seasonal stabilisation of the settlement strategy seem to emerge, with the alternating occupation of two different winter and summer villages consisting of clusters of stone-slab huts; short-term task-specific camps, using Steinplätze, logistically completed the system. After this phase, only short-term camps with Steinplätze were occupied. These were probably directly dependent on the wettest areas at the centre of the oases and made use of a tethered exploitation strategy, with brief movements from the central oasis (“daisy-chain” movements). The use strategies of the Steinplatz-type hearths within the mobile settlement system are outlined adopting a clear and immediately assessable model. “Yet although they are among the most distinctive of the Sahara’s archaeological features, Steinplätze have received little systematic attention in recent decades. Marina Gallinaro’s work thus marks a new phase in their study, one that draws them back into discussions of how early livestock-keeping populations in Northeast Africa used the resources and landscapes to the west of the Nile along a trajectory of increasing aridification that eventually culminated in the desert we see today (…) Lucidly written, Gallinaro’s volume will, I believe, help inspire individuals to take up the research agenda she sets out. At a time when so much of the Sahara is off-limits to archaeological fieldwork, it is deeply gratifying to see here yet more evidence of the thoroughness and high quality that have characterized the work of Italian archaeologists in this region of Africa over many decades. The continuing publication of their research, Marina Gallinaro’s included, in the Arid Zone Archaeology monograph series will surely help sustain widespread interest in Saharan archaeology until it becomes possible to excavate and survey again free of current geopolitical restrictions. May that day come soon!” Prof. Peter Mitchell, University of Oxford, UK.

Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Libyan Sahara

Uan Tabu in the Settlement History of the Libyan Sahara PDF

Author: Elena A. A. Garcea

Publisher: All’Insegna del Giglio

Published: 2001-07-01

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 8878141844

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Uan Tabu is a rockshelter on the left bank of the central valley of the Wadi Teshuinat, which is a main ancient water course in the Tadrart Acacus mountain range. It is located in the Fezzan region, south-western Libya (Great Jamahirya). The site was discovered by Fabrizio Mori in 1960 and was re-excavated and studied by a multi-disciplinary team at the beginning of the 1990s. It has also remarkable rock art that includes paintings from the Round Head and Pastoral phases. Between 1960 and 1963, a trench was dug into the archaeological deposit at the foot of the rock wall. The results of the 1960s’ excavation have never been published before, apart from some brief notes. They are thoroughly described and discussed in the present volume. Between 1990 and 1993, the excavation was resumed and extended. The 1990s’ excavation has been preliminarily published. Further information and details are now presented and commented. A stratigraphic and cultural correlation between the two excavations is also attempted in this volume. Four main archaeological and paedological units were identified and dated. They spanned from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. The earliest one, dating to the Pleistocene, included an Aterian techno-complex and was dated to around 61,000 years BP. Later, during the Early Holocene, a ‘pre-pastoral’ occupation occurred since the 10th millennium bp. This period was differentiated in two phases characterised by different socio-cultural systems: 1. during the Early Acacus (around 9800-8800 years bp), the site was used on a seasonal basis, probably during the dry season, for practising hunting activities; 2. during the Late Acacus (around 8800-8600 years bp), a more sedentary lifestyle was hypothesised for the inhabitants of the site. These two cultural facies comprised the upper three units. The fourth phase of occupation of the shelter was only attested to the surface of the site, but it could be still considered as an indication of the use of the site during the Late Holocene, as late as the 4th millennium bp. A dung fill in the wall of the rockshelter dated to the end of this, Late Pastoral, phase and is the only evidence for domesticated animals.