Nile Corridor Research Articles

Oued Beht, Morocco: a complex early farming society in north-west Africa and its implications for western Mediterranean interaction during later prehistory

The Maghreb (north-west Africa) played an important role during the Palaeolithic and later in connecting the western Mediterranean from the Phoenician to Islamic periods. Yet, knowledge of its later prehistory is limited, particularly between c. 4000 and 1000 BC. Here, the authors present the first results of investigations at Oued Beht, Morocco, revealing a hitherto unknown farming society dated to c. 3400–2900 BC. This is currently the earliest and largest agricultural complex in Africa beyond the Nile corridor. Pottery and lithics, together with numerous pits, point to a community that brings the Maghreb into dialogue with contemporaneous wider western Mediterranean developments.

Quaternary alluvial paleosols of the Atbara River, eastern Sudan: description and paleoenvironments

ABSTRACTQuaternary climatic changes in the Nile Basin and their effects on the evolution of African mammals and vegetation are poorly understood, particularly for the last 1 Ma. Pleistocene (~230 to <17 ka) alluvial sediments exposed along the middle stretches of the Atbara River in eastern Sudan are rich in fossil vertebrates and are ideal for paleoenvironmental reconstruction during this time interval. We performed petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses on the middle Atbara paleosols to reconstruct the paleoclimate and paleolandscape. We describe Aridisols/Calcisols characterized by calcretes and containing gypsum and halite, and Vertisols with pedogenic slickensides and a relatively large amount of smectite. The paleosols indicate that the study area transitioned from an arid to semi‐arid climate during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)7/6, to a more humid climate during MIS5, and then a return to more arid conditions during MIS2. The studied paleosols likely supported a range of grassland and wooded grassland savanna habitats. Our study confirms that the Atbara River Valley provided favorable living conditions for Pleistocene large mammal communities including Homo, potentially facilitating dispersals out of Africa through the Nile corridor.

The ironworking remains in the royal city of Meroe: new insights on the Nile Corridor and the Kingdom of Kush

Abstract

Hydroclimate variability in the Nile River Basin during the past 28,000 years

It has long been known that extreme changes in North African hydroclimate occurred during the late Pleistocene yet many discrepancies exist between sites regarding the timing, duration and abruptness of events such as Heinrich Stadial (HS) 1 and the African Humid Period (AHP). The hydroclimate history of the Nile River is of particular interest due to its lengthy human occupation history yet there are presently few continuous archives from the Nile River corridor, and pre-Holocene studies are rare. Here we present new organic and inorganic geochemical records of Nile Basin hydroclimate from an eastern Mediterranean (EM) Sea sediment core spanning the past 28 ka BP. Our multi-proxy records reflect the fluctuating inputs of Blue Nile versus White Nile material to the EM Sea in response to gradual changes in local insolation and also capture abrupt hydroclimate events driven by remote climate forcings, such as HS1. We find strong evidence for extreme aridity within the Nile Basin evolving in two distinct phases during HS1, from 17.5 to 16 ka BP and from 16 to 14.5 ka BP, whereas peak wet conditions during the AHP are observed from 9 to 7 ka BP. We find that zonal movements of the Congo Air Boundary (CAB), and associated shifts in the dominant moisture source (Atlantic versus Indian Ocean moisture) to the Nile Basin, likely contributed to abrupt hydroclimate variability in northern East Africa during HS1 and the AHP as well as to non-linear behavior of hydroclimate proxies. We note that different proxies show variable gradual and abrupt responses to individual hydroclimate events, and thus might have different inherent sensitivities, which may be a factor contributing to the controversy surrounding the abruptness of past events such as the AHP. During the Late Pleistocene the Nile Basin experienced extreme hydroclimate fluctuations, which presumably impacted Paleolithic cultures residing along the Nile corridor.

Changing rainfall, seasonality and erosivity in the hyper‐arid zone of Sudan

AbstractA primary cause of soil erosion is the impact of rain. Therefore, understanding the altering rainfall characteristics and their effect on soil erosion is an issue of main concern. This is of utmost importance to contribute to developing suitable adaptation and mitigation strategies for soil and water resources conservation and crop management practices.The rainfall seasonality index (SI), precipitation concentration index (PCI) and modified Fournier index (MFI) for rainfall erosivity have been calculated and analysed in this study for the hyper‐arid region of Sudan. The data used consist of monthly rainfall measurements spanning over 60 years for three index meteorological stations, two on the Nile corridor and one on the Red Sea coast. The region is characterized by high year‐to‐year variability in rainfall leading to extreme seasonality/irregular distribution of rainfall over the year. Although prevalent diminishing rainfall amounts have been witnessed, there are marked tendencies for some months to become wetter, indicating changing intra‐annual rainfall variability and thus monthly rainfall erosivity. No statistically significant trends were observed in rainfall seasonality and concentration during the common data period of 1945–2007. Cases of high and very high erosion powers were detected. A significant decreasing trend in erosivity is shown for one inland station. A brief discussion on the implications of these results for risk of soil erosion, freshwater quality and agriculture is also given. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert

Evidence increasingly suggests that sub-Saharan Africa is at the center of human evolution and understanding routes of dispersal "out of Africa" is thus becoming increasingly important. The Sahara Desert is considered by many to be an obstacle to these dispersals and a Nile corridor route has been proposed to cross it. Here we provide evidence that the Sahara was not an effective barrier and indicate how both animals and humans populated it during past humid phases. Analysis of the zoogeography of the Sahara shows that more animals crossed via this route than used the Nile corridor. Furthermore, many of these species are aquatic. This dispersal was possible because during the Holocene humid period the region contained a series of linked lakes, rivers, and inland deltas comprising a large interlinked waterway, channeling water and animals into and across the Sahara, thus facilitating these dispersals. This system was last active in the early Holocene when many species appear to have occupied the entire Sahara. However, species that require deep water did not reach northern regions because of weak hydrological connections. Human dispersals were influenced by this distribution; Nilo-Saharan speakers hunting aquatic fauna with barbed bone points occupied the southern Sahara, while people hunting Savannah fauna with the bow and arrow spread southward. The dating of lacustrine sediments show that the "green Sahara" also existed during the last interglacial (∼125ka) and provided green corridors that could have formed dispersal routes at a likely time for the migration of modern humans out of Africa.

The Archaeology of Sudan and Nubia

This review explores recent research within the territory of the modern Sudan and Nubia. One special interest of this region's history and archaeology lies in its role as a zone of interaction between diverse cultural traditions linking sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt, the Mediterranean world, and beyond. The exceptionally early development of large-scale polities in the Middle Nile also offers remarkable opportunities for exploring the archaeology of the development of political power as well as for exploring research topics of a wide significance, both within and beyond African archaeology, such as the development of agriculture, urbanism, and metallurgy. The unique opportunities offered by the Nile corridor for trans-Saharan contacts have also ensured that the region's archaeology provides an extraordinary scope for exploring the interplay and interaction of indigenous and external cultural traditions, often very obviously manifested in the material worlds of the region: from their encounters with Pharaonic Egypt to the incorporation of Nubian kingdoms into medieval Christendom and the creation of new Arab and Muslim identities in the postmedieval world.

History in the interpretation of the pattern of p49a,fTaqI RFLP Y-chromosome variation in Egypt: A consideration of multiple lines of evidence

The possible factors involved in the generation of p49a,f TaqI Y-chromosome spatial diversity in Egypt were explored. The object was to consider explanations beyond those that emphasize gene flow mediated via military campaigns within the Nile corridor during the dynastic period. Current patterns of the most common variants (V, XI, and IV) have been suggested to be primarily related to Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom political actions in Nubia, including occasional settler colonization, and the conquest of Egypt by Kush (in upper Nubia, northern Sudan), thus initiating the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty. However, a synthesis of evidence from archaeology, historical linguistics, texts, distribution of haplotypes outside Egypt, and some demographic considerations lends greater support to the establishment, before the Middle Kingdom, of the observed distributions of the most prevalent haplotypes V, XI, and IV. It is suggested that the pattern of diversity for these variants in the Egyptian Nile Valley was largely the product of population events that occurred in the late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene through the First Dynasty, and was sustained by continuous smaller-scale bidirectional migrations/interactions. The higher frequency of V in Ethiopia than in Nubia or upper (southern) Egypt has to be taken into account in any discussion of variation in the Nile Valley.

On the Nile Corridor and the Out-of-Africa Model

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiscussion and CriticismOn the Nile Corridor and the Out‐of‐Africa ModelM. R. KleindienstM. R. KleindienstDepartment of Anthropology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Ont., Canada L5L 1C6. 4 v 99 Search for more articles by this author Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Ont., Canada L5L 1C6. 4 v 99PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 41, Number 1February 2000 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/300108 Views: 76Total views on this site Citations: 17Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Elena A.A. Garcea Aperçu critique du Middle Stone Age en Afrique du Nord, L'Anthropologie 126, no.22 (Apr 2022): 103022.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2022.103022Alice Leplongeon Le peuplement paléolithique de l’Afrique du Nord-Est dans son contexte macrorégional, L'Anthropologie 126, no.22 (Apr 2022): 103015.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2022.103015Emily Hallinan “A Survey of Surveys” Revisited: Current Approaches to Landscape and Surface Archaeology in Southern Africa, African Archaeological Review 39, no.11 (Jan 2022): 79–111.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-021-09469-zEmily Hallinan, Matthew Shaw, Michael D. Petraglia Nubian Levallois reduction strategies in the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa, PLOS ONE 15, no.1010 (Oct 2020): e0241068.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241068Emmanuelle Stoetzel, Workalemahu Bekele Sime, David Pleurdeau, Asfawossen Asrat, Zelalem Assefa, Emmanuel Desclaux, Christiane Denys Preliminary study of the rodent assemblages of Goda Buticha: New insights on Late Quaternary environmental and cultural changes in southeastern Ethiopia, Quaternary International 471 (Mar 2018): 21–34.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.08.050Kathleen Nicoll A revised chronology for Pleistocene paleolakes and Middle Stone Age – Middle Paleolithic cultural activity at Bîr Tirfawi – Bîr Sahara in the Egyptian Sahara, Quaternary International 463 (Jan 2018): 18–28.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.037Shumon T. Hussain, Harald Floss Streams as Entanglement of Nature and Culture: European Upper Paleolithic River Systems and Their Role as Features of Spatial Organization, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 23, no.44 (Oct 2015): 1162–1218.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9263-xPhilip Van Peer Technological Systems, Population Dynamics, and Historical Process in the MSA of Northern Africa, (Mar 2016): 147–159.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_8Eleanor M.L. Scerri The Aterian and its place in the North African Middle Stone Age, Quaternary International 300 (Jun 2013): 111–130.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.09.008E. A. A. Garcea Modern Human Desert Adaptations: A Libyan Perspective on the Aterian Complex, (Mar 2012): 127–142.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2929-2_9Alice Leplongeon, David Pleurdeau The Upper Palaeolithic Lithic Industry of Nazlet Khater 4 (Egypt): Implications for the Stone Age/Palaeolithic of Northeastern Africa, African Archaeological Review 28, no.33 (Sep 2011): 213–236.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-011-9100-xAmanuel Beyin Upper Pleistocene Human Dispersals out of Africa: A Review of the Current State of the Debate, International Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2011 (May 2011): 1–17.https://doi.org/10.4061/2011/615094Katherine A. Adelsberger, Jennifer R. Smith Paleolandscape and paleoenvironmental interpretation of spring-deposited sediments in Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt, CATENA 83, no.11 (Oct 2010): 7–22.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2010.06.009Deborah I. Olszewski, Harold L. Dibble, Shannon P. McPherron, Utsav A. Schurmans, Laurent Chiotti, Jennifer R. Smith Nubian Complex strategies in the Egyptian high desert, Journal of Human Evolution 59, no.22 (Aug 2010): 188–201.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.06.001Romuald Schild, Fred Wendorf Palaeolithic Living Sites in Upper and Middle Egypt: A Review Article, Journal of Field Archaeology 29, no.3-43-4 (Jul 2013): 447–461.https://doi.org/10.1179/jfa.2004.29.3-4.447David Pleurdeau Le Middle Stone Age de la grotte du Porc-Épic (Dire Dawa, Éthiopie) : gestion des matières premières et comportements techniques, L'Anthropologie 107, no.11 (Jan 2003): 15–48.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-5521(02)00003-1Sally Mcbrearty, Alison S. Brooks The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior, Journal of Human Evolution 39, no.55 (Nov 2000): 453–563.https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0435

The Nile Corridor and the Out‐of‐Africa Model An Examination of the Archaeological Record

This paper addresses the question of whether archaeological data—especially data from the Middle Palaeolithic—are relevant to current discussion on the origin and dispersal of modern humans. The structure of the Middle Paleolithic record of the Lower Nile Valley and adjacent deserts, a key region in the Out‐of‐Africa model, is examined. On the basis of the present database two archaeological complexes can be established: the Nubian complex and the Lower Nile Valley complex. In the Nubian complex, which appears in the Lower Nile Valley during the late Middle Pleistocene and coexists with a Lower Nile Valley complex issuing from the local Acheulean, hunting was a major subsistence strategy. From the last interglacial on the Nubian complex is found beyond the valley, whereas the Lower Nile Valley complex remains restricted to its riverine environment. Here, a technological transition to an Upper Palaeolithic type of production is attested as a punctuated event around 40,000 years ago at the latest. The appearance of the Nubian complex in the northern reaches of the Nile Valley would seem to correspond to the Out‐of‐Africa model of dispersal. However, the general reconstruction of behavioural repertoires from archaeological evidence does not satisfactorily correspond to the patterning expected according to either that model or its alternative. It is concluded that the Middle Palaeolithic record of Northeast Africa is the product of different populations with modern behavioural capacities. Their particular organisations of the subsistence domain and even their migrations are revealed in archaeological patterns of variability and change, but the record holds no evidence of anatomical constraints on this capacity for modern behaviour or of the social mechanisms by which it might have been transmitted.

Dental anthropology of early Egypt and Nubia

A survey of dental anthropological literature dealing with the ancient populations of Egypt and Nubia reveals that until recently little information was available. Recent salvage archaeology behind and in the vicinity of the New High Aswan Dam has considerably increased the volume of information. Using this material, an analysis of the dental morphology of ancient Egyptian and Nubian populations (Badarian, Merotic, X-Group and Christian) indicates that the Nile corridor showed considerable biological continuity through space and time and that there is little evidence for mass movements of intrusive peoples into the area as is sometimes argued. The dentitions of recently excavated Sudanese Mesolithic populations and those of early historic Nubian groups (Meroitic in particular) are used to test and partially confirm D.L. Greene's evolutionary hypothesis that contends reduction in tooth size and complexity since the end of the Pleistocene are best explained through selection for caries resistant teeth (i.e. those with simpler fissure patterns) in increasingly cariogenic environments after the Neolithic, rather than via C. L. Brace's Probable Mutation Effect.

Cattle in Africa: Distribution, Types, and Problems

dence of an extinct long-hored, straight-backed Bos primigenius, but its contribution to present breeds is not well established. Cattle, mostly Bos indicus, have existed in Africa for thousands of years.' The major groups appear to have been introduced into Egypt from Southwest Asia and to have spread from Egypt south across the Sahara, probably through the Nile corridor. Some groups then branched south to the Cape of Good Hope, while others spread west to the Atlantic.