Abstract

Global climatic changes which occurred at the beginning of the Holocene had a huge impact on cultural development in northeast Africa. The shift of the tropical rain zone to the north led to the transformation of the desert into a savannah. The appearance of vegetation and animals also attracted people to considerable areas of the southern part of the Western Desert in Egypt. Settlement was concentrated around natural depressions or deflation troughs, which during periods of rain would fill with water creating seasonal lakes or playas. One such place is the playa located in Bargat El-Shab. Particularly intense traces of settlement dated to the climatic optimum of the Holocene was discovered on the eastern shore of the palaeolake (site E-05-1). Artefacts are dispersed over an area of over 2 ha. Excavation conducted in a few locations also uncovered the remains of storage pits, hearths, wells, etc., the fills of which are characterised by an enhanced magnetization of features in the ground. The geophysical survey conducted during the last season of research provided exceptionally interesting data allowing the partial recreation of the actual extent of the site and its relation with the lake basin.

Highlights

  • In 2019, a survey was conducted at the Bargat El-Shab site using a gradiometer to define the range and spatial structure of early Holocene settlement of the El Nabta / Al Jerar phase

  • As mentioned above, at Bargat El-Shab gradiometer data were collected within three adjoining grids with dimensions of 40 × 30 m. This 120 m long strip partially covers the littoral zone of the early Holocene basin and the northern part of the El Nabta / Al Jerar phase settlement marked as E-05-1 and oriented on the NE–SW axis (Fig. 5)

  • The geophysical survey conducted at Site E-05-1 which took advantage of the enhanced magnetization of features in the ground allowed us to recognize the structure of Holocene settlement within the site and define its actual scope

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Summary

Introduction

In 2019, a survey was conducted at the Bargat El-Shab site using a gradiometer to define the range and spatial structure of early Holocene settlement of the El Nabta / Al Jerar phase. Within a morphologically homogeneous layer, the presence of artefactual material from a variety of settlement phases was recorded, beginning with the oldest phase associated with the El Adam population, through artefacts associated with settlement of the climatic optimum of the Holocene of the damp El Nabta / Al Jerar phase to younger Neolithic settlement phases, referred to as Middle and Late Neolithic (Schild and Wendorf 2013: 128). The creation of this layer is associated with the exceptionally heavy deflation of the site and post-depositional processes. The typological analysis of the artefactual material, confirmed by absolute dating of the macroremains of plants, allows us to associate these features with the Late early Holocene El Nabta / Al Jerar settlement phase (Bobrowski et al, 2010; 2020; Bobrowski 2019: 120)

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